Gut-friendly Prebiotic Guacamole

I don’t know about anyone else, but I’ll be happy to never see another Easter egg (and definitely happy for my kids not to!) for at least another 12 months. By Easter Sunday I generally can’t bear to see any more recipes for delicious chocolate fudge cakes, and I start craving anchovies on buttery garlic bread. This year, Easter Sunday also fell on my son’s 7th birthday, so we had the double-whammy of ice-cream cake too!

Anyway, this guacamole doesn’t have any anchovies (although I might give that a try sometime…), but it’s a good ‘re-set’ dip to keep in the fridge for meals and snacks, with lots of veggies, good fats, and prebiotic fibre.

We hear all about probiotics in health and wellness land, the good bacteria for our gut, which are found in yoghurt, kefir and other fermented products – and the food industry has jumped all over the marketing opportunities. But we rarely hear about prebiotics. In his book ‘The Clever Guts Diet’, Dr Michael Mosley discusses the importance of prebiotic fibre. This is plant fibre the body cannot digest, but which acts like ‘fertiliser for the gut’, laying the foundations so that the good bacteria can thrive.

Maybe gut fertiliser just isn’t as sexy to sell. 😉 Continue reading →

Mocha-Banana Breakfast Smoothie

Breakfast is one of my favourite meals of the day, and will often see me in the kitchen making some annoyingly elaborate concoction, while my husband rolls his eyes and accuses me of overcrowding the dishwasher to make yet another ‘complicated breakfast’.

Over the last few weeks though, I haven’t had much of an appetite in the morning – but unfortunately my tendency towards low blood sugar means I usually need to eat something ‘proper’ to keep it in check (honestly, my blood sugar is sometimes like the beast lying dormant within, ready to explode in hanger at a moment’s notice…). On one such morning I also wanted coffee, albeit decaf. And so, the mocha-banana breakfast smoothie was born, with a little hidden veg. It’s a coffee-and-healthy-breakfast all in one, summer-friendly start to the day.

As we head off for a family holiday on Tuesday, this will be my last post for the year. I hope for all of you to have a lovely holiday season, but I’m also thinking of those who find this time of year difficult – because it can also be a fraught time, can’t it?
Take care,
Erin xx Continue reading →

Family Favourite: Easy One-Pot Jambalaya

Oddly enough, I came across this post in my drafts folder – it was one I started writing three years ago and I recently rediscovered this family favourite recipe. This easy jambalaya used to be on regular rotation on our family dinner menu and then we suddenly stopped making it. On reflection, I think this coincided with the time we got food poisoning from chorizo (from a different dish) and we both went off it for a couple of years!

I have been making this jambalaya for so long, I have no idea where the original recipe came from. Over the years, it’s evolved as I’ve made various tweaks, amendments and additions, and will probably continue to.

We love to serve ours with a fried egg on top (in fact, I consider this mandatory), and it’s one of our favourite comfort food meals. If you have children, be sure to read the tips at the end for making it more family-friendly.  Continue reading →