Minestrone - A nutritionally stellar soup

Soups are an actual necessity of warmth and comfort when the weather is cold.
Sadly, not many soups tick all of the nutrition boxes, which may mean one may start feeling hungry a short while after eating them.
Luckily, minestrone is pretty stellar.
It brings together an array of whole food ingredients, as well as the right combination of veggies and protein-containing beans to create a nourishing and warming bowl of food that’s perfect in winter. Or any season for that matter.

It ticks the box for:
- veggies - 3 portions
- antioxidants - thanks to the herbs, veggies and optional drizzle of olive oil
- protein - hello beans
- it is packed with gut-supporting fibre
- flavour
- comfort

Before you go on to the recipe, there is a small disclaimer: if you are of Italian heritage, please look away now.
This version of minestrone is far thicker than regulations permit and uses many shortcuts to make cooking this delicious soup much easier.
If you aren’t fond of thick soups, then feel free to add more water.
I quite enjoy the consistency being somewhere between a soup and a stew.

To the recipe:

Ingredients for 4 portions

1 medium onion
1 clove of garlic, peeled and sliced
1 bay leaf
1 little sprig each of rosemary and thyme
2 medium carrots, roughly chopped
2-3 sticks of celery, blend it into a paste if you don’t like celery, otherwise roughly slice it
120g pasta of your choice, I used small flower shapes
2 tins of any beans, I used butterbeans and white kidney beans
1 tin of plum tomatoes or chopped tomatoes
1/2 small savoy cabbage, roughly sliced
Around 4 tins of water. I made a thick version of minestrone that was more like a stew so if you prefer a soupier soup, then add more water. Just remember: more water = more salt & pepper required.
Sea salt & black pepper to season
Olive oil for cooking & drizzling

Optional toppings (recommended)
Freshly chopped parsley
Parmesan cheese
Lemon zest from an organic lemon

Bread of your choice

Method

For a video explainer go here: Minestrone Reel
1. Grab a large pan.
2. Add a couple of tablespoons of olive oil, the onion, garlic and herbs.
Turn the heat on to medium and cook for a couple of minutes.
3. Add the carrot, celery and cook for a further 5 minutes.
Stir it every now and then to stop things from catching on the bottom of your pan.
4. Add the tinned tomato and a tin of water.
If you are using plum tomatoes, then break these up roughly by stabbing them with a wooden spoon as you are stirring the soup. It’s nicer to have a few chunks of tomato, so don’t go too wild with the prodding.
5. Add the 2 tins of beans and another 2 tins of water.
Stir well.
6. Add the pasta.
Stir well again.
7. Season the soup really well. Remember this is at least 4 portions and it contains a lot of water so it will need a decent quantity of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.
8. Add the sliced cabbage and another tin of water.
9. Put a lid on the pan and allow everything to cook for 10 minutes.
10. Taste the soup to check the seasoning. Unless you went wild with the salt and pepper earlier then chances are it’s going to need a bit more seasoning. Season it, stir it and taste it again.
11. Serve with grated parmesan, lemon zest, parsley and chunky bread.

The soup stores well in the fridge for 3 days.
I haven’t tried freezing it.

Tahini hot chocolate

Cacao and tahini are both nutrient-packed ingredients that supply a whole host of otherwise hard-to-find minerals, such as magnesium and zinc.
I actually discovered this recipe at a cafe in Stockholm.
It was one of those “what in the name of hippies are we drinking now” moments but curiosity got the better of me so I ordered one.
It turned out to be a tasty drink whereby tahini added a nutty, creamy profile while the cacao gave it a rich chocolatey note. In summary, it is way more delicious than it sounds.

A word of advice: the quality of the ingredients you use will change this recipe quite considerably.
Basically, don’t be put off by getting this wrong in the first instance. If it’s not quite to your liking, then change the quantities of the ingredients. There is more on this below.

An even bigger word of advice: this is not a nighttime drink. Cacao is a stimulant, so it is much better to consume it in the morning or daytime.
Interestingly, some promising new research suggests cacao in the morning may help to reset our circadian rhythm.
Not that I needed an excuse for a morning hot chocolate, but in case you do then here it is.

Notes on ingredients:

Milk - the milk you use will change the drink. Oat milk is generally sweeter, dairy milk can add creaminess if it’s full fat and almond milk is more likely to be bitter.
Depending on your choice of milk, you may need to add more sweetness (dairy or soy) or less cacao (almond milk).
Cacao - cacao is the raw, higher-quality version of cocoa. It is unsweetened and generally quite bitter but it does contain more nutrients. It’s usually found in the health food or baking section of supermarkets.
My two favourite brands are Naturya and Aduna.
If your drink is not chocolatey enough, then you will need to add more cacao. To do this, mix 1/2 a teaspoon of cacao with one to two teaspoons of milk to form a paste and stir this in. If you try adding more cacao powder it’ll be clumpy and just float to the top.
Tahini - this is a sesame seed paste. You will find this near the spices or in the world food section of supermarkets. Alternatively, there are much nice quality versions in Middle Eastern stores.
The whiter the tahini, the milder flavour. The darker ones tend to be more bitter.
Sweetness - Unless I have really great quality honey then I generally opt for agave for sweetness because it is much sweeter, meaning I can use less. Maple syrup is another great option, however, it is much milder so you may need to add more to achieve the desired sweetness.
Xylitol is a good sugar-free sweetener option, just make sure it is fully dissolved.
Stevia drops work to a variable degree. Personally I find the taste of stevia a bit challenging.
Other ingredients - if you are into it, this recipe works well with a little bit of maca powder, a pinch of cinnamon, or 1/4 of a teaspoon of a mushroom powder such as reishi

Ingredients
1 mug of milk - literally pour the milk in a mug of your choice. Mine was approximately 250ml
2 teaspoons of cacao
2 teaspoons of tahini, reduce to 1 if you are using a non-white tahini
1-2 teaspoons of agave, honey or maple syrup

Method
Pour the milk into a pan and heat on a medium heat.
Put your cacao, tahini and agave in the mug and mix well. It will start forming a paste. This is a good way to avoid lumps of cacao.
Take a tablespoon of the warming milk and mix that into the cacao paste. It will loosen the paste and make sure everything mixes well when you pour the milk in.
Once the milk is fully warmed up, pour it into the mug.
Stir well to mix.
Taste it and adjust the flavour if required. (i.e. add more sweetness or more cacao if it needs a more chocolatey kick.)

Antioxidant turmeric and ginger shots

Whenever I feel below par, these antioxidant shots are the first thing I reach for.
Over the years, many of my nutrition clients also benefitted from (maybe “suffered” if we consider the flavour) these golden turmeric and ginger antioxidant boosters, all with a good outcome.

Here is the lowdown on antioxidants:
We have a steady supply of antioxidants inside every cell of the body.
These antioxidants are there to counteract anything that may be looking to damage our cells. This is fairly normal by the way, even the act of making energy from sugar creates unwanted “attackers” that are quickly neutralised by antioxidants.
Sometimes, however, our supply of antioxidants runs low, leaving us feeling below par.
The vast majority of our antioxidants come from food, especially from fruits and vegetables but every now and then a shortcut or additional top up doesn’t go amiss.
That’s where these turmeric and ginger antioxidant shots come in handy.

The intel on the turmeric and ginger shots:
Turmeric and ginger both contain a heap of potent antioxidants.
Sadly, they are pretty hard for us to absorb by themselves, especially curcumin, the active ingredient in turmeric.
The good news is, I appraised the scientific evidence (read I did some epic nerding) to ensure the antioxidants present are as absorbable as possible.
There were two key findings:

1. The active ingredients in turmeric are fat soluble, hence the base of coconut milk.

2. Turmeric benefits from a little bit of extra help to be absorbed.
For this reason, you may have heard of the combination of turmeric and black pepper in supplements.
I’m not a fan of that combination. A little bit more on that here.
Luckily, quercetin, an antioxidant found in citrus zest is a great alternative that can similarly improve the absorption of turmeric. In addition, citrus zest contributes even more antioxidants in the form of citrus polyphenols. Just make sure that lemon is 100% organic and unwaxed, for obvious reasons.

Onto the recipe.
The ingredients are listed below but here are a few notes and storage options:

Turmeric root - larger supermarkets, especially Sainsbury’s and Waitrose tend to stock the root itself. It’s generally hidden next to ginger or fresh herbs.
Alternatively, check your local Middle Eastern or Asian store or order it online.
The recipe can still be made with turmeric powder, but it’s better with fresh root turmeric.
Turmeric powder tends to lose its antioxidant content over time. This is worth considering if you’ve left that jar of turmeric powder in your spice cupboard for years.
All in all, fresh turmeric root has a bit more going for it and has a milder (nicer) taste.

Ginger root - it’s pretty standard stuff. You get awarded extra points if you manage to get hold of organic ginger root because organic ingredients tend to have more antioxidants.

Coconut milk - this one is a biggie. Most tinned coconut milk contains a long list of unnecessary ingredients that extend to emulsifiers, thickeners and gums. Needless to say, these are not ideal but the good news is pure coconut and water-only coconut milks do exist.
Aim for one that does only contain coconut and water.
Clearspring and Biona are both brilliant options.

Lemon zest - as I mentioned before, please use organic, unwaxed lemon. Lemons, and other citrus fruit, for that matter, are usually coated with both synthetic wax and a couple of different antifungal agents. The latter are known carcinogens.

Storage:
Owing to how messy making these antioxidant shots is, my recommendation would be to make a larger batch and freeze it.
I tend to freeze them in a silicone ice cube tray and pop a couple of ice cubes every now and then.
Occasionally, I’ll defrost them by adding a little bit of hot water to the ice cubes.

Ingredients

1 tin of good-quality coconut milk
1/2 a teaspoon of cinnamon 
A large chunk of ginger 
4 bits of turmeric root 
Zest of 1/2 an organic, unwaxed lemon 

Method
Peel the ginger and turmeric root.
Please use gloves to peel turmeric because it will dye your hands otherwise.
Put everything into a blender and blend for a couple of minutes until smooth.
If the coconut milk you are using is particularly thick then add a splash of water for ease. It’ll help everything blend better.
The liquid will keep in the fridge for 3 days.
Freeze in ice cube trays for longer-term storage.

Chicken enchiladas and a herby slaw

During 2021 I ran a few online cookalongs with teens.
The idea was to introduce them to more whole foods and help them to stop relying on processed foods.
Herein lie some of the issues.
The flavour profiles of vegetables and other whole foods can be a steep slope unless those foods have been introduced during early childhood. Quite literally, we are biologically programmed to think that vegetables are poisonous, unless, of course, we learn that they are ok.
When children first start to crawl and walk, they’ll notoriously go through a fussy phase. Think about this way, they are learning about food, they are also picking things up and tasting them. Most poisonous things have a bitter undertone so evolution got clever with this and decided that anything bitter would be an instant nope.
Sadly vegetables also fall in the bitter undertone category but if they are introduced by a trusted guardian a child soon learns they are ok.
IF they are introduced.

So anyway, here I am, trying to encourage teens to get more veggies in. I had to pick a good medium as a vehicle for the introduction.
I had to start with something that they’d universally agree on as being delicious.
And that is how this chicken enchilada recipe was born.
I sold it to them as a pizza pie but the deal was it had to have a side of slaw.
They loved it and I think you’ll like it too.
So here is the recipe:

Ingredients for 4
2 chicken breasts, sliced
1 large bottle of passata, 600 - 690g
8 corn & wheat tortillas
spices: paprika, ground coriander, ground cumin
2 cloves of garlic, peeled & crushed
1 large red onion, peeled & sliced
1 red pepper, sliced
1 red chilli (optional), sliced
100g of spinach
1 block of cheddar cheese, grated

For the slaw:
1/4 of a red cabbage, finely sliced
1 tin of sweetcorn, drained
1/2 bunch each of fresh parsley, coriander & chives, roughly chopped
1 lime
1 teaspoon of agave or maple syrup
sea salt and black pepper to season
rapeseed oil for cooking
olive oil for drizzling

Method:
To make the sauce, pour the passata in a saucepan.
Add 2 crushed garlic cloves, 2 big pinches of sea salt, lots of black pepper and a heaped teaspoon each of ground coriander, cumin and paprika.
Leave this to bubble on a low-medium heat until you make the rest of the dish.

Set the oven to 180 degrees C.
Put a frying pan on a medium-high heat.
Add a splash of oil and cook the chicken until it turns fully white.
Add the peppers, onion and chilli (if using) and cook for a further minute.
Season well with sea salt and black pepper.
Pour in half of the sauce and the spinach. Let it cook until the spinach wilts.
Divide the mix between the tortillas, roll them up to form wraps and put them on a baking tray.
Pour the remaining sauce over the top and sprinkle on the grated cheese.
Bake in the oven for 20-30 minutes until the cheese has melted and the tortillas are golden brown.

To make the slaw, put the cabbage, roughly chopped herbs and sweetcorn in a bowl.
Unless the stems of the herbs are particularly woody then there is no need to take the leaves off the coriander and parsley, just roughly chop the whole lot.
Season with a generous pinch of sea salt and some freshly ground black pepper.
In a smaller bowl, combine the juice of 1 lime with a teaspoon of agave and 3 tablespoons of good-quality olive oil. Pour this over the slaw and mix it well to combine.

To serve, divide the enchilada between 4 plates, serve with a generous helping of slaw and some extra fresh coriander if its your thing.

Coconut noodle bowl with miso sesame tempeh

I’ve recently made it my aim to try and come up with quick flavour combinations that require little equipment.
Here is one that is a total winner:

Rice noodles are dressed with a coconut, lime, ginger and chive dressing.
Tempeh is coated in a combination of miso and sweet sesame.
The bowl is then topped with some “match-sticked” veggies and a handful of herbs.
It’s a 10-15-minute dish. Swift and full of flavour.

Tempeh, for those of you that are unfamiliar, is the better cousin of tofu. Soya beans are fermented then pressed together.
The resulting product is similar to firm tofu but with more flavour and slightly more texture.
Just make sure to buy organic soya products, otherwise you are almost always guaranteed to be buying genetically modified soya beans/ soya products. Organic ensures a non-GM version.

The recipe also works with a piece of fish such as a salmon fillet in case you aren’t keen on tempeh.

Ingredients for 2:
A large handful of mangetout, sliced into matchsticks
1 large carrot, sliced into matchsticks
1 bunch of coriander
100g rice noodles
200g of tempeh, thickly sliced and each slice halved (the shape doesn’t matter, you are creating bite size chunks of tempeh)
Sea salt and black pepper

For the coconut dressing
100ml of coconut cream
The juice of 1.5 limes
1 tablespoon of finely chopped chives
Thumb sized piece of ginger, peeled & grated

For the miso and sweet sesame dressing
1 level tablespoon of white miso (miso shiro)
1 tablespoon of toasted sesame oil
1 tablespoon of sesame seeds
The juice of 1/2 a lime
1 teaspoon of agave or 1.5 teaspoons of maple syrup or honey

Method:
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.
Boil a kettle of water.
Whisk together the ingredients for the miso and sweet sesame dressing.
Put the tempeh pieces into the dressing, coat evenly and transfer to a roasting tray. Roast for 10-15 minutes until the edges start to crisp up.
Whilst the tempeh is roasting, chop the veggies and make the rest of the dish.
Put the rice noodles in a cereal bowl. Cover with boiling water and allow them to steep for 5 minutes. There is no need to cook these.
After the 5 minutes, drain and set the noodles aside.
To make the coconut dressing, put the coconut cream, lime juice and chives in a bowl. Season with sea salt and black pepper and whisk together using a fork.
Grab the grated ginger and squeeze as much of the juice into the coconut mix as possible. Stir again.
Divide the noodles between two pasta bowls and pour half of the coconut mixture over each bowl of noodles. Give it a mix to combine the noodles and coconut dressing.
Top each bowl with half of the mangetout, carrots and a large handful of coriander.
Finish with the tempeh.
Enjoy!