Thursday 28 September 2017

Autumn Series - Post #5 - Panzanella and all the best people


Recipe of the week...
... Tuscan Panzanella Salad with Mozzarella

Ingredients: 250g baby plum tomatoes, 30g pitted black olives, 1 ciabatta bread roll, 1 teaspoon dried oregano, 2 x 125g balls of mozzarella, 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar, 10g fresh basil leaves, 30g capers, half a cucumber, 1 garlic clove, 1 red onion, olive oil, sugar, salt and pepper

Time taken: Just 20 minutes – no time at all!

Serves: 2 super filing, super healthy, super tasty portions

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Hi readers,

How are you today, lovely people? Is the sun shining through your window, like it is mine in Sheffield today? We’re enjoying some glorious Autumn sunshine today – actual BLUE is visible in the sky. It’s grand. And it’s Thursday.. so we’re over halfway through the working week, which is always good!

This week, readers, I’d say I’m having a good one at work. Would you? I’ve been on a video storytelling training course down in the big smoke, which was most interesting indeed. And then I’m going to be heading back down to London – can’t get enough this week – to see uni friends over the weekend. Cannot wait for hugs and catching up with some of the best people. Love and miss them all the time.


How about you, readers? How are you doing? What’s occurring, of late? Hope you’re all well and having a wonderful time living life. This last weekend – in an epic I feel so alive type moment – I ran a 10K race. You may not know me from Adam, readers, but let me tell you.. this is out of character for me. Highly unusual. It’s the first time this has occurred.

And it was SO MUCH FUN. I’ve been running over the summer, with a couple of friends in Sheffield, and to go from breathless jogs and massive complaining, to being the kind of people who run and don’t stop to walk, for over an hour, covering over ten kilometres. It feels like SHIT we just did that and it was really cool. We’re achievers.


So, I’ve been feeling massively proud of myself this past week, readers, filled with self-belief. And we’re already contemplating taking on another, trickier 10K. Perhaps with the aim of get our time under an hour (we were only 5 minutes over!) and tackling some hills and off-road terrains. WHO KNOWS. Many possibilities await.

I hope, readers, that whatever personal or physical challenge you face in life right now, that you’re filled with this same fire in your belly. Really believe in yourself and surprise yourself. And push harder and further than ever before.. I know you have it in you! 


This week, readers, in terms of food-related thinking, I thought I’d sort of re-visit the food habit ideas that I was bandying about last week (see my previous blog post for full detail).

I was exploring the logic behind the notion that emotional eating can sometimes become a habit. My last post worked through a process whereby a thought or a situation acts as a cue, triggering an emotion. This emotion then leads a person on to a specific eating behaviour, they eat without even really thinking about it and perceive eating to be a reward.

Food has fixed everything, you’ve made sense of the troublesome emotion that you were faced with, and you’ve made things good again just by eating. Not really, right? A broken logic? But still you follow this loop all the way through, and you won’t be able to help trucking through these same steps next time, and it’s likely it will keep on happening before you even realise you’re at it again. Eating away. On and on we go, stuck on repeat.

To help demonstrate this emotional eating habit loop, the re:wellbeing program I’ve been working through uses a simple visual…



… and I find it helpful to think about each step one at a time, in sequence. Say you begin with cues and triggers – can you think of any cues that have perhaps triggered you to eat unnecessarily recently? A situation you found yourself in or a thought that struck you? When? Where? What did you see, hear or smell? Were you alone or who else was around?

Remember – this is different from times when you maybe just eat a bit too much. It’s more like you start for no rational reason, you don’t fully register it’s happening or you’re powerless to stop? Perhaps, readers, you don’t have any emotional eating habits? Nothing is springing to mind? Totes fine – good for you!

But, say you’ve identified a time when this maybe happened, what were the emotions you felt before you started to eat? How did the situation or the thought make you feel, and can you understand why? Maybe there were multiple emotions at play, or you had one feeling that overcame you? Maybe, thinking about it now, you notice a lack of a certain emotion?

Then, think back to your eating behaviour. What was it you ate? Did you choose this food or was it just the first thing to hand? Were you eating quickly or slowly? Rushed or unhurried? Did you take any pauses? Were you alone or with others? Did you taste the food? Was it your decision to eat, and could you have stopped eating without finishing if you chose to?

Then, finally, how do you think that instance of emotional eating provided you with a reward? How did the food you ate make you feel mentally and physically, as you ate and also afterwards? Did eating help to resolve or improve the situation you found yourself in or the thought that struck you? Was it the fix you needed to feel better?

I think this is all such interesting food for thought, readers! Like – why does that loop carry on when it’s so flawed, why do we perpetuate something that doesn’t even work? Once you see it for what it is, it’s so motivating to make a change. In the words of re;wellbeing, Once you understand why you may feel certain emotions and how these are connected to your eating behaviour you are in a better position to make changes to stop emotional eating.

“Food is rewarding – it tastes nice, it gives us a sugar rush, it contains chemicals that can alter how we feel, and lots of the foods that we crave are associated with positive memories. But food can’t satisfy our emotional needs or solve our problems in real-life. When we are emotional eating we may keep eating more and more to try and feel better, but it isn’t going to work because it isn’t addressing our needs.”

Makes total sense. And yet when I worked through this I was still like… OH. I do that. I’ve done that. And maybe you have, too? I’ll leave you to ponder on this, readers, and will share with you now my latest and most fabulous Recipe of the Week. Our recipe this week comes from Gousto, a Tuscan Panzanella Salad with Mozzarella, and here’s the recipe in just 10 simple steps…

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Recipe: Tuscan Panzanella Salad with Mozzarella


1.     Imagine yourself in rural Tuscany enjoying a peaceful evening. The sun is setting and it’s warm on your face and everything is quiet and calm. With this in mind – pour yourself a wine and get each of the ingredients you need out onto the counter.

2.     Heat the oven to 200C and boil the kettle. Peel and finely slice the red onion and add this sliced onion to a colander, then pour a full kettle of boiling water over it.

ChefBeHere Top Tip: The aim of the game here is to blanch the onion – you remove the raw onion’s acidity, making it less harsh to eat. I’m learning something new every day!

3.     Tip this blanched sliced onion into a small bowl, and add the red wine vinegar and a teaspoon of sugar. Give everything a good mix together, then set this bowl aside for now.

ChefBeHere Top Tip: If you remember, give the contents of the bowl an occasional stir. The vinegar and the sugar are further mellowing the flavour of the onion for you – better believe it.

4.     Meanwhile, rip the ciabatta into small bite-sized chunks and pop these on a baking tray. Drizzle generously with olive oil, and season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle half a teaspoon of dried oregano over the top, and carefully transport your ciabatta chunks into the oven for ten minutes.

5.     While your herby croutons are toasting in the oven, you can prepare your salad ingredients. Cut the baby plum tomatoes in half, chop the black olives and capers together roughly, and finely slice the cucumber.

6.     Add the chopped tomatoes, olives, capers and cucumber to a large mixing bowl. Remove the sliced onion from the soaking liquid (but keep the liquid!) and add the onion to the mixing bowl with everything else.

7.     Peel the garlic and grate it finely into the soaking liquid. Add half a teaspoon of dried oregano and 2 tablespoons olive oil, along with a generous pinch of salt and pepper, and stir together – this is your dressing.

8.     Now add the dressing to the mixing bowl and give everything a gentle mix – this is your Panzanella. Spoon the Panzanella evenly between two dinner plates.

9.     Once your croutons are golden and crispy, remove from the oven and turn the oven off. Dot your croutons about on top of the Panzanella and rip the fresh basil leaves over each plate, to garnish your meal with basil.

10.  Finally, pat the mozzarella balls dry and serve over the Panzanella. Season with a generous grind of pepper and a drizzle of olive oil – now tuck in to your Tuscan tea!

Some pretty fine tasting food!

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In the words of Gousto…

“This traditional Tuscan bread salad is made using crispy ciabatta which is mixed with the salad itself rather than served on the side. This adds substance while soaking up the juices from the capers, tomatoes and black olives. You’ll serve it with a big ball of beautifully milky mozzarella. Make sure you use your best olive oil with this dish!”

What do you think, readers? Would you be tempted to try this recipe? Are you thinking oh NO or perhaps oh myyyyy? If this looks like the kind of food you like – then I highly recommend, readers. This is another seriously tasty recipe from Gousto! Fun to prepare and filling to eat. It’s a quick and easy recipe to take on in the kitchen and there are only a couple of ingredients for the dish that you may need a larger supermarket for (I’m thinking red wine vinegar and capers).

What are you thinking? Please share your thoughts, readers! Is this an appealing recipe – yes/no/why? If you do give this recipe a go – what did you think? How did you get on in the kitchen? Did your panzanella turn out looking like mine? And tasting great? I’d love to hear your thoughts on this recipe, readers, fire away!

And if anyone would like to share running-related tales or maybe input on the food behaviour ideas I’ve been pondering – please do. I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Wish you allll a most wonderful end to your week and a brill brill brill weekend.

Salad safely,

Hayley

Bring on the weekend for fun times!

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An informative footer

I’d like to note, the above is part of a series of posts that I’m currently having fun writing, while undertaking a fresh start with food. Food bloggers can’t admit they got bored with food, you say? Well, I beg to differ! In August 2017, I made two wonderful decisions; I signed up for Gousto – a food delivery company who send recipes and ingredients in the post – and I began a health & wellness program to transform my food habits, with Rachel of re:Wellbeing. In this blog post, and others like it, I share one of the wonderful recipe that I’m taking on, and an idea that I’m exploring as part of this fresh start.

If you would like to find out more about Gousto, please visit https://www.gousto.co.uk/

(I have a sneaky discount code! If you’re new to Gousto, then click HERE for 50% off your first 2 boxes and I’ll get a discount too for referring you… so errrrybody wins)

And, if you would like to learn more about re:Wellbeing, then visit https://www.rewellbeing.com/





Sunday 17 September 2017

Autumn Series - Post #4 - Mexican before it's Monday

Recipe of the week...
... Feta & Sweet Potato Taquitos

Ingredients: 1 tablespoon smoky chipotle paste, 1 little gem lettuce, 1 spring onion, 6 white tortilla wraps, 400g sweet potatoes, 100g feta cheese, 1 tablespoon mayonnaise, 2 tomatoes, 1 teaspoon ground coriander, olive oil, salt and pepper

Time taken: About half an hour

Serves: 2 super filing, super healthy, super tasty portions

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Hi readers,

How are we all today? As I write, it’s late afternoon in Autumn. A sunny September day – a Sunday, no less – and all is well with me. I’ve had a wonderful weekend spent reading a good book (Good Me, Bad Me by Ali Land), drinking cocktails and dancing with the girls. I’ve been on a walk in the country, watched When Harry Met Sally (for the first time – and I liked it) and I’ve baked buns to take into work with me tomorrow.

Pretty good weekend, I think? How about yours, readers, what wonderful times have you been having? Have you stretched your legs and cleared your head and danced around the room? I hope you have, readers. And if you haven’t yet – there’s still time! We have hours of the weekend left still – make the most and go crazy, Sunday evening style (ie. in PJs and slippers). Do it!


On the foody side of life, readers, I’ve been thinking these past few days about habits. I was talking with my Father Bear about this earlier on our country walk, about being stuck in a rut with food. But how is it that we get into the habit of eating habitually? A tongue twister, I know! But a curious question. As anyone that took psychology at school (hands in the air!) will know... habits develop when you repeat a behaviour in the same situation, and get a reward each time.

Then, over time, this continues and the behaviour gets to be more automatic and a habit forms. Like – without fail, I buy Belvita every time I see them on offer in a shop. This means I always will have plenty of breakfast biscuits in my drawer at work, I’m rewarded with breakfast on weekdays, and I never have to think about keeping this drawer stocked. Ta-da!

In some instances of habitual behaviour, it can be the case instead that the ‘reward’ = you stopping something bad from happening. Like – when we have leftover water in the jugs at work, which we didn’t drink the day before, I water the plants in the office with it. And then the plants (mostly) live. Like magic! I stop them (some of them, anyway) from dying. 

Can you think of examples of your own, readers? Instances where you perform a habitual behaviour effortlessly – it needs little / no conscious awareness on your part to make it happen – when you encounter a specific situation or a cue to trigger the behaviour in you.

According to the re:wellbeing program I’ve been working through, food habits can develop in childhood. “As a baby, you were given a bottle to comfort you. As a child you were likely given food as a reward for doing well, being good, or to console you when you were upset or something went wrong – do you remember a being allowed to buy sweets after a trip to the doctor’s office or a good exam result? We also learn to associate certain foods with special events and feelings, for example cakes are associated with celebrating a birthday and feeling a sense of fun and enjoyment.”

Then, it’s often quite simple to see how these associations can live on into adulthood. Research has shown that we might crave creamy foods when we’re in need of comfort – it’s mad to think, but the logic is that the creamy food’s simulating the milk we were given as children. Crazy, right? But, a real thing!

And a habit doesn’t have to just be an action, like buying Belvita or watering the plants, you can also develop habitual patterns of thinking. Say you treat yourself to dessert even though you hadn’t planned to – it tastes great but straight away you think to yourself ‘my diet is ruined’. And, then, it’s thoughts like these which can trigger habitual actions – like opening a tub of Ben & Jerrys! Why not – your diet’s ruined, right??

What a fucking nightmare. And, often, emotional eating (go see my last blog post) can be thought of as a habit because the eating is triggered by a cue – a situation or thought that evokes an emotion – which then causes you to eat food in order to deal. You see, readers?

Eating becomes automatic – often you’re done before you engage with what’s happening – and it can feel like you’re running on auto-pilot as you eat. In such times, eating is a direct response to an emotion that’s been thrown up by a specific situation or thought, and it leads to a reward, like a sugar rush or feeling like you’ve dealt with the emotion.

So, the habit goes on. This idea of emotional eating as habitual can explain why people continue to eat even if they feel bad about it… the eating is a habit triggered by a cue. Simple as that. Understandable and – in my mind – something to be overcome. You’re an adult now and habits can be broken, you can make up a new response to a cue.

Say you’re in a situation where you’ve eaten an unplanned dessert – think how lucky you are to be able to afford to eat dessert. To have been born in an area of the world where anyone can eat desserts. To be able to enjoy dessert at the end of the day, as a reward for everything you’ve accomplished today. Think how many desserts the Queen must have eaten by now – and she’s in champion health. Aren’t desserts wonderful.

Say you’re hit by the thought ‘my diet is ruined’. Is it? Are you giving up on it right now? Are you about to throw it out the window? Really – after you’ve tried so hard? But, you’ve been enjoying it loads and feeling really good about yourself for eating well! You’re inspiring folk with tales of how well it’s working. A dessert won’t break a diet – you will, if you choose to.

Can you think of examples of your own, readers? If you keep enforcing a powerful response, one that you choose, and you’re of sound mind that this is the better response, then it could go on to become a habit of its own over time. Stick at it and you could soon have formed a new habit, one triggered by the same cue that you were responding to differently before.


ANYWAYS. I will leave it there with my food habit-related pondering, readers. I know it’s late on a Sunday and about time for brains to be turned off. But, interesting! I think so anyway. And now I have for you… a recipe! Hurray! Here’s a recipe I’d like to share with you to end this week on a foody high, readers, a Gousto recipe for Feta & Sweet Potato Taquitos, which you can rustle up in just 10 simple steps…

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Recipe: Feta & Sweet Potato Taquitos



1.     Set aside all your cares and concerns… now is the time for Mexican food. First, get your ingredients out on the counter, pour yourself a drink – you’ve earned one – and heat the oven to 220C.

2.     Begin by chopping the sweet potatoes (skins on) into small, bite-sized pieces. Then place the sweet potato on a baking try, drizzle with cooking oil, and sprinkle with ground coriander.

3.     Season your sweet potato generously with salt and pepper, give your potato chunks a good mix up until they’re well covered, then carefully transport into the oven to roast for 15 minutes.

4.     Meanwhile, as your sweet potato sizzles, prepare your salad ingredients. Cut the little gem lettuce in half lengthways, and finely slice. Chop the tomatoes into tiny, baby bite-sized pieces. Trim the spring onion and slice finely.

5.     Crumble the feta into small bite-sized bits and set a little aside for serving up. Once your sweet potato chunks are tender, remove them from the oven. Leave the oven turned on for now.

ChefBeHere Top Tip: If – like me – you’re not a fan of greasy foods, take a moment now to tip your sweet potato out on some kitchen roll and pat dry to remove any excess oil.

6.     Divide the sweet potatoes evenly between the tortillas, placing them on one side of the tortilla and leaving the other side empty for now. Crush the potato down gently with the back of a spoon, to help the contents of your taquito to stay together, and then crumble feta over the top.

7.     Roll each taquito tightly to form a cigar shape and place them snugly side by side on a baking try, with the seam face down. Pop in the oven to bake for ten minutes.

ChefBeHere Top Tip: When rolling wraps, I try to fold over the top and bottom of the tortilla first and then roll, so there are no escape routes for the contents of the taquito. But everyone has their own method – good luck however you roll!

8.     Meanwhile, mix the mayonnaise and chipotle paste with 2 tablespoons olive oil. Add the chopped tomatoes, season with salt and pepper, and mix together – this is your spicy tomato sauce.

9.     Once your taquitos are starting to brown around the edges, safely take out of the oven and turn this off. Serve between two dinner plates and top your taquitos with spicy tomato sauce.

10.  Add some lettuce and spring onion salad, and crumble the remaining feta over the top – now get stuck in and enjoy your Mexican feast!

Ta-da! What a cracking plateful of food!

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In the words of Gousto…

“Taquitos are Mexican rolled tacos, filled with a plethora of delicious meats, cheeses and vegetables. They are usually deep-fried, but without Gousto makeover we have made these incredibly easy to cook, at a fraction of the calories. Ours are filled with sweet potato and feta, creating the perfect balance between salt, tang and sweetness.”

What do you think, readers? Are you tempted by these taquitos?? Might you get the ingredients in and give these a go sometime this week? I recommend you do! These taquitos are – obviously – super tasty to eat, readers. Also, easy to cook – it’s a really straightforward recipe – and you use your hands so it’s a fun one to take on.

I say go go go taquito! Please let me know, readers, if you give this recipe a try – wat do you think of taquitos? Do you like? Did it go well? Did you have fun in the kitchen? Fill me in, readers? I’m wishing you every success in the kitchen – I’m sure you’ll be fine – and I’m wishing you a week filled with fabulous foods, readers. Eat only the best! Have a wonderful week.

Feast safely,


Hayley