Butternut Squash & Coconut Soup

Butternut Squash & Coconut Milk Soup

INGREDIENTS:

1 tablespoon olive oil

50g thinly sliced shallots

1 tablespoon minced garlic

1 tablespoon minced peeled fresh ginger

240ml water

125ml canned coconut milk

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper

680g fresh cubed butternut squash

1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

METHOD:

1.      Heat a large heavy saucepan over medium-high heat.

2.      Add oil to pan; swirl to coat.

3.      Add shallots; sauté 3 minutes or until softened, stirring occasionally.

4.      Add garlic and ginger; sauté 1 minute.

5.      Add 2 cups water, coconut milk, salt, red pepper, and squash; bring to a boil.

6.      Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes or until squash is tender, stirring occasionally.

7.      Place squash mixture in a blender. Remove center piece of blender lid (to allow steam to escape); secure blender lid on blender.

8.      Place a clean towel over opening in blender lid (to avoid splatters). Blend until smooth. Stir in juice.

Garnish with additional pepper and some coconut shavings

Tips to get Kids to eat Healthier

1. Lead by example. If you are making healthy food choices and offering them to your children they are much more likely to follow suit.
2. They won’t starve: Ensure the food they eat isn’t just ‘kids food’ in other words your plate and theirs looks the same, just smaller. They may turn their noses up the first few times, but if nothing is offered in place of it you will surprised how a child will come round. A hungry child becomes a lot less fussy, believe me it works!
3. Educate yourself: Get to know what healthy eating is. It’s very hard to ensure your children are getting the right food if you don’t know yourself. There are lots of websites and forums which give you information, but a good rule of thumb is, the closer the food is to it’s original state (e.g an apple is in it’s original state, processed square chicken nuggets look nothing like a chicken!) the better it is for you. Processed, ready meals – even when labelled ‘low fat’ or ‘healthy’ are usually very far removed from this. These should be used sparingly if at all. Making food from scratch is not as time consuming as people think. You can email me at jillskitchen 2012@gmail.com for some great family favourites meal recipes, that are budget conscious and easy to do (they also freeze great so you can be extra prepared!)
4. Get them involved. Don’t panic, but including children in shopping trips to supermarkets has proven to get them more interested in the food they consume.You can choose age appropriate tasks for little ones. If they are sitting in the trolley, hand them the produce naming it as you do and let them put it in the trolley..best not to do this with eggs and such like! Older kids can have their own shopping lists and tick off items as they go or it can even be a game to see who completes their list first. Get kids to help unpack bags at home and then set them age appropriate tasks to help with prep too.
5. Grow your own. Studies have shown and my experience in my home and cooking classes has bore fruit(excuse the pun!) to this, when children are involved in growing fruits and vegetables there is a better chance that they will then be interested in eating it. Whether you have a balcony or an acre plot grow your own has become a lot easier in the past few years. I have found the people at www.quickcrop.ie extremely knowledgeable and helpful and they have some pretty funky tools on their website that make it easy even for someone like me!
6. Work with their tastes. If you and your family lean towards sweeter items then work with rather against this by purchasing (or growing) some sweeter produce—such as strawberries, sweet peas, corn, oranges and similar foods—to make this trait work in your favor.
7. Make it a game. There are arguments for and against this, but if you’ve ever dealt with a fussy eater you’ll try anything and in the scale of things this isn’t a bad one. Let children arrange fruits in snacks into faces or animals and engage their creative side.
8. Discerning palates: Children have double the taste buds that adults have so they can be more susceptible to subtle tastes or changes in food. But this is not a reason to shy away from mild spices or herbs and seasoning. Each child is different and some will find the texture of new food are what turns them off. Continue offering a child something they have turned their nose up at in the past, a good way of doing this is offering it to them when a friend is over, competiveness amongst their peers can be a powerful tool!
9. Positive Reinforcement: Focus on using positive talk around food choices. E.g tasting new foods, even if they don’t eat them is something to be encouraged.
10. Don’t give up. It can be a battle, but it’s one worth winning. Keep at it, and soon your family will be asking for seconds!

Asparagus

 

We are getting close to the very short season of the wonderfully elegant Irish asparagus. This short season, only 5 or 6 weeks in May and early June belies the fact that we see asparagus in our shops year round. 

 The thin spears of Irish asparagus, called sprew, can be eaten fresh from the ground, dreamily covered in a glossy hollandaise or as an accompaniment for soft boiled eggs. 

The slightly plumper ones can be quickly cooked, in a special asparagus pot if you are lucky enough to have one, or in a regular pot of boiling water for a few minutes and served as a side to many beautiful dishes or finished on a griddle pan for a crisper outer shell. Add it to a risotto for extra body, cover with a poached egg and serve with crispy pancetta or bacon pieces or steam and serve with some garlic butter.

Whatever way you enjoy your asparagus, be sure to get hold of some of our home grown goodness before the season is out and we are back to getting our green goddess’ from foreign shores.

A wonderful way to enjoy this incredible, nutritious vegetable is below. As it’s a good source of magnesium, iron, fibre and zinc as well as low in cholesterol and sodium enjoy asparagus in the full knowledge that you are adding to your daily nutritional store.

Roasted Asparagus with Lemon Butter Sauce

This light dish works great as a side dish at any time of the day. It also address the issue that some people have with asparagus , some find it slightly bitter. Roasting brings out the natural sweetness in this vegetable so it’s another alternative way of cooking it.

There really is very little need for a separate ingredient list or method section here.

Place a bunch of asparagus on a baking tray and drizzle with olive oil and a little balsamic vinegar (optional). Roast for 10 -15 in a high oven, until the asparagus starts to get crisp and slightly browned.
Meanwhile, melt 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter in a pan and add 1 tablespoon of freshly squeezed lemon juice to this. Add ½ teaspoon Dijon mustard and season to taste.

Once you remove the asparagus from the oven place on a serving dish and drizzle with sauce.

Serve and enjoy!

10 helpful tips to getting families eating healthier

1. Lead by example. If you are making healthy food choices and offering them to your children they are much more likely to follow suit. Sitting together as a family for at least one meal a day is something that everyone will benefit from.
2. They won’t starve: Ensure the food they eat isn’t just ‘kids food’ in other words your plate and theirs looks the same, just smaller. They may turn their noses up the first few times, but if nothing is offered in place of it you will surprised how a child will come round. A hungry child becomes a lot less fussy, believe me it works!
3. Educate yourself: Get to know what healthy eating is. It’s very hard to ensure your children are getting the right food if you don’t know yourself. There are lots of websites and forums which give you information, but a good rule of thumb is, the closer the food is to it’s original state (e.g an apple is in it’s original state, processed square chicken nuggets look nothing like a chicken!) the better it is for you. Processed, ready meals – even when labelled ‘low fat’ or ‘healthy’ are usually very far removed from this. These should be used sparingly if at all. Making food from scratch is not as time consuming as people think. You can email me at jillskitchen 2012@gmail.com for some great FREE family meal recipes that are budget conscious and easy to do (they also freeze great so you can be extra prepared!)
4. Get them involved. Don’t panic, but including children in shopping trips to supermarkets has proven to get them more interested in the food they consume.You can choose age appropriate tasks for little ones. If they are sitting in the trolley, hand them the produce naming it as you do and let them put it in the trolley..best not to do this with eggs and such like! Older kids can have their own shopping lists and tick off items as they go or it can even be a game to see who completes their list first. Get kids to help unpack bags at home and then set them age appropriate tasks to help with prep too.
5. Grow your own. Studies have shown and my experience in my home and cooking classes has bore fruit(excuse the pun!) to this, when children are involved in growing fruits and vegetables there is a better chance that they will then be interested in eating it. Whether you have a balcony or an acre plot grow your own has become a lot easier in the past few years. I have found the people at quickcrop.ie extremely knowledgeable and helpful and they have some pretty funky tools on their website that make it easy even for someone like me!
6. Work with their tastes. If you and your family lean towards sweeter items then work with rather against this by purchasing (or growing) some sweeter produce—such as strawberries, sweet peas, corn, oranges and similar foods—to make this trait work in your favor.
7. Make it a game. There are arguments for and against this, but if you’ve ever dealt with a fussy eater you’ll try anything and in the scale of things this isn’t a bad one. Let children arrange fruits in snacks into faces or animals and engage their creative side.
8. Discerning palates: Children have double the taste buds that adults have so they can be more susceptible to subtle tastes or changes in food. But this is not a reason to shy away from mild spices or herbs and seasoning. Each child is different and some will find the texture of new food are what turns them off. Continue offering a child something they have turned their nose up at in the past, a good way of doing this is offering it to them when a friend is over, competitiveness amongst their peers can be a powerful tool!
9. Positive Reinforcement: Focus on using positive talk around food choices. E.g tasting new foods -  even if they don’t eat them is something to be encouraged.
10. Don’t give up. It can be a battle, but it’s one worth winning. Keep at it, and soon your family will be asking for seconds!

Turkey Sausage Frittata

Using either fairy cake or muffin tins you can make these and they can be frozen.
I used a regular cupcake tin (which is a little deeper than ‘fairycake’ one for the quantities below but really just use whatever you have, fill to the top and then they will rise a little to give a nice ‘muffin’ top – the only one you’ll see after following the 3 day detox (www.facebook.com/jkjuiceireland) and a healthy eating regime.

 Note: You can use a different types of protein for this, turkey burgers, chicken, tuna, lean beef pieces, just make sure you cook any raw protein BEFORE putting into the frittatas.

For 5 cupcake size frittatas you will need:

INGREDIENTS:

5 organic free range eggs
(you can use more whites than full eggs if you want)
2 Turkey sausages – cooked and sliced into small thumb-nail size cubes (165g)
½ leek or ½ white or red onion
½ teaspoon chili powder
½ teaspoon tumeric
2 handfuls spinach
black pepper
pinch sea salt

METHOD:

Cook off the turkey sausages and cut into bite size pieces
When starting to brown add the leeks/onions. Cook for 3 minutes
Add garlic and spinach and cook for about 1 minute
Remove all from pan
Meanwhile using a fork whisk eggs in a bowl  and add pepper & salt, chilli and turmeric (or whatever spices you are using)
Add the cooked sausages and onion mixture and combine.
Grease the tins using a little coconut oil
Add enough mixture to each one to reach below the rim
Cook in preheated oven at Gas Mark 3/ 150⁰C for approx 20 mins. The egg will be just set in the middle.
Leave to cool for just a few minutes  (leave them too long and they will stick to the tins) and use a knife or spatula to go around the edges to release from the tins.

Eat hot or cold!