Our recipes are specially created to be healthy, nutritious and family friendly. Tuck in!
Who does not like a smoothie? But sometimes if you’re at home it’s nice to actually enjoy it in a bowl. I find it easier to eat mindfully when sitting at a table, and using a spoon, rather than just sipping! This smoothie bowl is a total crowd pleaser at home with eaters of all ages! We always keep fruit in our freezer so we can enjoy colourful smoothie bowls all year round.
When my kids were little, as most toddlers do, they went through a phase of refusing everything green added to their plate. Shock horror! My way round it was to add Green Pesto to their pasta. From then on, pesto, was always going to be homemade. Over the years, I have made green pesto and red pesto alike. It is so easy and delicious. Pick and choose the vegetables you enjoy, pick and mix the nuts and have fun creating....and eating of course! This is my favourite Mediterranean combination.
For me, a slaw, is right up there as a great salad. A red cabbage slaw with its vibrant colour is just the best. I often feature red cabbage in a salad - it provides a great crunch and helps to fill you up with the fibre - without adding many calories. This salad can be served on its own or alongside a BBQ or just some grilled chicken or salmon.
We love black rice. It is higher in fibre than the other rices. It also contains some protein and so this salad will fill you up and keep you satisfied all day long. This is perfect on its own for lunch or you could serve in the evening alongside some grilled salmon, chicken or a BBQ.
A Tian is a classic dish from my beloved childhood southern France. It is perfect served alongside grilled meat or fish, or just aside salad for a light lunch. It is perfect to use up all of your summer vegetables. I like to use mixed provencal herbs and garlic for the seasoning but dried oregano works brilliantly too. A super easy one to make vegan by simply skipping the cheese. It’s a bit like a structured ratatouille!
This was inspired by a jar of Brindisa Monjardin organic lentils. The lentils looked so pretty that I wanted them to be the star of the salad. Do use whatever lentils are your favourite - although if you do find the Brindisa brand then I urge you to give them a go. This salad takes minutes to make and can be enjoyed on its own or alongside some grilled salmon or chicken.
When your spring or summer isn’t playing ball and you need an injection of sun to your day this is the smoothie to reach for. Also good when it’s hot and sunny outside! Zingy from the turmeric with the taste of tropical sun from the pineapple. Refreshing and filling.
Taking your own food into work is the best way of staying on track and hitting your health goals. You are in control of what to pack and ensure that it contains lots of protein, fibre and nutrients to fill you up and keep you going until the next meal without making you feel sleepy or needing to reach for a sugary snack or caffeine to keep you going.
This makes a lovely lunch either on its own or served with a salad. You can adapt the vegetables for whatever is in season or you have lurking in your fridge. If you make this in the spring during March and April then the addition of wild garlic is delicious. I tend to keep the quantity to 50% vegetables and 50% eggs.
We love salads at The Health Boost and nearly every day will have one for lunch and in the summer for supper too. However there's no limp lettuce and starving ourselves with our salads. The key to a good salad is to get the right balance of protein, healthy fats and some slow release healthy carbohydrates so that you aren't hungry again by 3pm. We include lots and lots of vegetables in our salads as we love them and recognise their health benefits. We hope this selection of salads will provide you with some inspiration. We change our salads weekly, depending on what's seasonal and what delights our vegetable box brings. Have fun experimenting with your salads! If you want to learn how to create the perfect salad we have a separate article How to create the perfect salad
When you love asparagus, the season is not really long enough, so I really try and come up with new recipes to include them at least a couple of times a week. This new recipe could very quickly become a seasonal staple for my family. It is quick to prepare, nutritionally balanced, can be adapted, can be eaten hot or cold, makes a perfect picnic or lunchbox item and when cut into squares it's a great finger food for the younger ones. What are you waiting for?
If you go into a supermarket the array of smoothies you can now buy is overwhelming. We find more and more people are reaching for a smoothie as a healthy choice. However, many of the shop bought smoothies are very high in fruit and contain very small amounts of vegetables. This makes them very sweet and palatable. While this is great for increasing the amount of fruit in one’s diet, it does mean that we often get a blood sugar spike. Without any protein or fat to slow down the absorption you get the same effect as reaching for a sugary drink. A blood sugar spike results in an evitable blood sugar crash a few hours later, which leads to cravings for more food (often unhealthy food) as your body needs the energy fast!
Sometime, a beautiful purple, green or yellow smoothie is not going to do the job! So, back in the days of taking my son to rugby, I embarked on a fairly long journey to convince a then pre-teen Rugby mad son that I could make him a healthy, nutritious and energy boosting shake he would be proud to take to rugby training. The aim of the game was to avoid him bowing down to the peer pressure of gulping a fluorescent blue or orange energy drink! Today, I can happily report that this shake is fab for my own post workout refuel too.
Good old fashioned oat cakes are so so delicious and versatile. They are also super easy to make, as a batch and keep. With the main ingredient being pinhead oats (or steel cut oats) they make the perfect high fibre savoury snack teamed up with our smoked mackerel pâté or French sardine pâté. Another French way to enjoy those is with a little butter, some sliced radishes and a little salt. I like to vary the herbs or spices I mix in them; I have tried and tested rosemary, oregano, garlic, turmeric, curry powder, cumin and paprika. If you want to have them with cheese, I recommend to stick to herbs.
This is one of my favourite breakfasts - packed with protein and healthy fats to keep me full for hours. You can use whatever mushrooms you have to hand and any soft herbs. I will choose the herbs depending on what is available in my herb garden. Parsley and chives work particular well together in this frittata.
With BBQ season kicking off soon and 2 teens looking forward to make up for lost social time, weekend gathering around food will hopefully be regular occurrence. There seem to be more and more vegetarians amongst my teens’ friends so I am busy creating, planning and testing some new recipes to suit all dietary requirements. This is so so tasty with a nod to my home country with French goats cheese and caramelised red onions! And no processed fake meat in sight!
This is a such a super quick and easy soup that is spring in a bowl. Wild garlic grows in March and April in shady, woody and wet environments. The smell will probably hit you before you see it. If you are in doubt rub the leaves between your fingers. If you don’t smell garlic then leave well alone.
Eating healthily doesn’t have to be expensive. Eating seasonal and local keeps the cost down. And what could be cheaper than foraging for some food to add to your plate?
