Offer includes:

1 hour consultation + 30mins follow up consultation
15min Indian Head Massage (for new clients)
Email support in between consultations
Goody bag

Make an appointment now!

*offer ends 29 February 2012  (total package £125)

Offer ends 00.00 11 January 2012.

For further details, please contact Francesca on: 07903 954 550 or fran@positivevoice.co.uk Just want nutritional therapy: Contact Julie Deeks 07957 806 207 or nutritionaltherapylink@gmail.com Just want Coaching: Contact Francesca Gordon-Smith: 07903 954 550 or fran@positivevoice.co.uk

After inviting my friends for dinner, I needed to find a completely gluten free dessert.  I set to task with my Mrs Beeton’s cookery book to see if she could inspire me.  I converted an old crumble recipe as follow:

Ingredients:

4 oz butter (cold)
6 oz Flour (I used a combination of corn flour and gram flour and ground almonds)
3 oz of sugar (you can use any type of sugar – I used golden caster sugar and some brown sugar)
3 gluten free ginger snap biscuit crumbs (Lazy Days brand) whizzed up in the processor
1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
16oz of fruit (frozen is fine) I used frozen and added a few apples and blackberries which I had in the fridge, you can use up any odd bits of fruit, rhubarb works with well with strawberries.

Oven preheated to 150 (gas)

In an oven proof dish, add a selection of fruits to fill 2/3 of the way up.

In a large bowl add the butter, sugar and flour mix and rub together to form breadcrumbs.  Once you have achieved this, add the spices and biscuit crumbs and mix together gently,  poor the crumb mixture over the fruit making sure all the fruit is covered.  Press down to compact the mixture.

Cook for 30mins or until brown and bubbling (middle of oven).

Serve with booja booja ginger ice cream.  Yummy!!!

Tips to help keep your weight stable over the Christmas Holidays?

1. Always eat a good breakfast, incorporating some protein, such as poached eggs with grilled mushrooms, or nut butter on wholemeal bread.
2. Keep hydrated, those who drink alcohol will benefit from drinking more water during the day, so you dont’ start the evening dehydrated, which may make you feel hungry and encourage you to eat more.
3. Load your plate with the vegetables rather than the potatoes, you can have potatoes but not as many as you would normally eat.
4. Dessert, again it’s portion size, have a little and enjoy the flavours rather than eating at speed (use smaller plates or little tea cups to serve your desserts).
5. Don’t put left overs out, put it all away and make it into something yummy the next day.
6. Take a walk, get some fresh air.
7. Offer to wash up!

These are not rocket science, however if you over eat and drink lots of alcohol you will feel pretty terrible, so eat in moderation and enjoy the day.

Have some healthy snacks to hand, such a mini turkey sandwiches with salad and some fresh fruit and nuts to nibble on.  Try displaying them on pretty plates to make them look even more delicious.

Take some time out from work and family and the looming excitement of christmas to book yourself a very relaxing Indian Head Massage.

As part of your new healthy lifestyle that you have decided to adopt, to improve your health and well being, energy levels and drive.

Make an appointment now, because you deserve it.

I love asian food.

Try this simple soup.  Lets call it Julie’s Miso special.

Miso paste
Tamari
Seaweed salad
Rice noodles
Roasted salmon or stir fried prawns or tofu
Chopped spring onions
stir fried mushrooms (cooked in coconut oil)
Toasted sesame seeds
Crushed garlic
Squeeze of lime

Stir fry with the coconut oil the garlic and  mushrooms on a high heat for 5 minutes or until slightly brown.  Add some miso paste and 1 pint of boiling water or stock.  Stir until the paste has dissolved.

Take off the heat

Add the rice noodles and stir for a couple of minutes until the noodles are soft.  Serve in bowls and add the salmon, spring onions and sesame seeds and splash of *Tamari.  Have this with a green salad with a large chopped chilli and a squeeze of lime and some steamed broccoli.

* Tamari is gluten free soya sauce.

Watch tonight’s #FoodHospital to see what they do for their patient with gallstones.

Any left over vegetables left in the fridge?  If so make a soup.

The basis for a good soup is the stock, and also plenty of onions and garlic.  I love garlic, so feel free to leave it out if you don’t enjoy it as much as me.

Recipe:

Sweet potato soup with chilli and ginger.

This is a smooth soup,

3 large sweet potatoes peeled and roughly chopped

1 large white pototo peeled and roughly chopped

1 pint of chicken or vegetable stock or more if required

1 dessert spoon of grated ginger (add more if you like it hot)

1 small red chilli finely chopped or 1/2 teaspoon of hot chilli powder

1 onion finely chopped

3 cloves of garlic crushed

1 dessert spoon of coconut oil

In a large saucepan, add the oil onions and garlic.  Soften over a low heat until the onions and garlic are sweated.  The add all the vegetables and cook for a further 10minutes until the vegetables are softening.

Add the ginger and chilli, then add the stock and cook until the vegetables are soft.  Taste and add a little salt and pepper and if too spicy a little sugar.

With a hand blender, smooth the soup and serve.

Lovely with some toasted pumpkin seeds and a dusting of paprika.

For added antioxidant and anti-inflammatory benefits add a teaspoon of turmeric before you blend.

I would be booja booja maple and pecan ice cream flavour….

Because, it’s amazingly tasty, it’s raw, it’s healthy, it’s smooth and it looks fabulous with some gluten free ginger cake…

What would you be?

Soups are a great way to get lots of vegetables into your diet.

One of my favourite soups, which is really simple is leek and potato soup, all you need is some leeks and potatoes and some stock, infact some recipes use just hot water.

Try this:

3 large leeks, washed and trimmed and chopped into small pieces
2 potatoes (baking) peeled and chopped into small pieces
1 pint of stock (vegetable or chicken)

In a large saucepan, melt a knob or butter and place all the leeks into the pan.  Stir, making sure they don’t brown.  The idea is to soften the leeks.  This will take no longer than 10mins.

Add the chopped potatoes and make sure they get well covered with the leeks and butter.  Cook gently for a further 10mins, making sure not to brown the leeks.

Add the stock, and cook until the potatoes are cooked.  Let the soup cool, then add some salt and pepper to taste, #Alpro natural yoghurt works well to bring some creaminess .  If you would like your soup smooth, use a hand blender to smooth the soup, otherwise reheat and serve with some mini salad sandwiches with egg and watercress and a splash of olive oil.

More recipes, watch this space.