Healthy eating tips

As your local Healthfoods Store, we're aware of our responsibilities towards our customers. That's why we'd like to help you achieve a healthy, balanced diet. For this, you need a combination of fats, vitamins, proteins, carbohydrates and minerals.
 
Vitamins
Vitamins play an essential part in healthy living. Eat plenty of fruit and vegetables as these contain high quantities of vitamins. These substances are also found in animal products such as fish.
 
Minerals
Minerals include calcium, phosphorus, iodine, iron, sodium and potassium. These help build healthy teeth, bones, muscles, nerves and maintain your body's supply of oxygen.
 
Unsaturated fats and proteins
The key to healthy eating is getting the balance right. Ideally this means as little animal or vegetable fat as possible. Proteins, on the other hand, are particularly important. They can be found in eggs, fish, poultry and dairy products, but also in potatoes and pulses.
 
Carbohydrates
Carbohydrates, our body's energy providers, are contained in sugars and starches in the diet - in rice, fruit and pasta, for example. Make sure you eat foods that are high in fibre.

 Try this easy and adaptable recipe

Vegetarian Ragu Sauce for Spaghetti Bolognaisse

Serves:4

Tip: Make as much of this sauce as you can at one time and freeze the

remainder in meal size individual containers to make other meals from as you can use this for so many recipes, including Lasagne and Cannelloni.

Make the most of your time in the kitchen to have more time for yourself later on and double up or treble up on the ingredients.

Ingredients:

6 tbsp/90ml Olive Oil

1 large  finely chopped onion

1  finely chopped carrot

2 sticks of finely chopped celery

2 cloves crushed garlic

1 lb/450g Vegemince

¼ pint/ 150 ml red wine (optional) If not used or required, then use a generous splash of Balsamic Vinegar instead

3 tbsp/45ml tomato purée

14oz/396g can of tomatoes

A generous amount of Worcestershire sauce

3 pinches of oregano

Salt and pepper to taste

2 bay leaves

Freshly grated nutmeg

Method:

Heat the oil in a large saucepan and fry the onion, celery and carrot until the onion is soft.

Mix in the Vegemince stirring all the time to keep the mixture on the move to prevent burning.

Add the tinned tomatoes and tomato purée, red wine (or vinegar), and enough salt and pepper for your taste.

Add the oregano, garlic, and a sprinkling of grated nutmeg and mix in the Worcestershire sauce. Place in the bay leaves whole.

Bring to the point of simmering, but do not allow to boil, stirring frequently.

Then turn the heat down to simmer. Place a lid on the saucepan and simmer for 30minutes, stirring occasionally.

Ensure the sauce does not thicken too quickly or dry out adding a little water or liquid stock now and then as necessary.

Serving suggestions:

Serve with cooked spaghetti and grated parmesan cheese for an authentic Spaghetti Bolognese.

A good leafy green Salad goes well with this meal

How to cook the perfect spaghetti to go with it:

Bring a large pan of water to a rapid boil – salt to taste (1 or 2 teaspoons)

Whilst on rapid boil, add the amount of spaghetti that you need. Hold the spaghetti in both hands, and then twist it (without actually breaking it, so it splays out at the bottom of the pan and so doesn't stick together.

Drop the spaghetti into the boiling water; submerge it, and stir, bringing it back to the boil. Then leave it for 8 – 10 minutes. Test to see if it is ready by nibbling on a strand. Alternatively if you want to be really authentic ( and have a bit of fun ) take a single strand and throw it at a flat piece of clean wall ( preferably tiled) - if it sticks its ready, if it falls off its not done yet, and if it falls apart - sorry but its already overcooked.

Carefully drain the remainder into a colander, add a small knob of butter or a dash of olive oil, stir it quickly in to stop it sticking together, and serve immediately.

You can also transform this sauce into a Chilli Con Carne simply by adding a can of red kidney beans at the beginning, a chopped chilli and/or pinch of chilli powder and a chopped pepper.

Freezer Storage Tip

Whichever version you choose be sure to make a large batch of it so that you can place meal size servings in the freezer.

First save up some small oblong plastic tubs with lids ( some Icecream brands are good), and  suitable  sized freezer bags.

With the leftover mix - allow to go cold then fill the freezer bag that you have already positioned inside the plastic tub until the mix almost reaches the brim. Seal the bag’s sealstrip or tie off, place lid on container and place in fast freeze section of freezer; more than one at  time can be stacked together.

As soon as it has frozen remove the bag from the plastic container, using a marker pen write the contents and date made on the now oblong brick & stack and store in the main freezer compartment.

The plastic tubs can now be reused and you have created efficiently stored ready to go Meals in a Bag.

For best flavour retention Try to use within 4 months. 

Copyright @ Ceres Natural Foods Ltd January2012

Basic Wholefood Cooking.

Check out our videos of quick, cheap, nutritious meal making ussing basic wholefood ingredients