Tuesday 12 May 2015

Eat well, feel great.

It is becoming easier and easier to eat well and more cleanly nowadays, with easy to follow, inspiring recipes from a whole host of cooks, chefs, bloggers and general foodies who want to share their ideas with us - food porn is everywhere!

At Face Matters we just love browsing the web, the weekend supplements and monthly magazines for dishes that make us dash out to the supermarket and stock up on grains, seeds, greens and couscous by the bucket load! 

The effects of a good clean diet on our skin and complexion have always been well documented, we we were always told as children that if we eat sweets we'll come out in spots….Fact is there are way more things in our diet that could lead to our skin having an outbreak.  And avoiding too many of the bad things will lead to a clearer complexion, brighter eyes, shinier hair and generally a better mood (something which can of course be affected if we aren't looking our best on the outside, so not feeling our best on the inside).  As the lovely Ella Woodward - Deliciosuly Ella - says, it's about counting goodness, not calories and not to focus on deprivation.  What a great way of looking at it.

A few ideas here, handpicked by the Face Matters team that we know will make your mouths water!

Snack

Medjool Dates stuffed with nut butter - Deliciously Ella 

Soooo simple, the perfect go-to snack for an instant but lasting energy boost.  You need:

12 Medjool Dates
12 teaspoons of not butter.
Raw cacao sprinkling

Cut open the dates and remove the stones, place a small spoonful of not butter and a sprinkling of the raw cacao, push the dates back together, place in the fridge to firm up et voila! 


Lunch 

Quinoa & Hazelnut Salad - Deliciously Ella for Raw Press 

A perfect summer salad, easy to knock up with slow release engery and 

Ingredients

50g Blanched Hazelnuts
50g mixed red and white quinoa
100g cucumber
50g Pomegranates
Juice of 1/2 lemon
2 tbsp argan oil
Pink of Salt
Pinch of pepper

Cover the quinoa with boiling water in a saucepan along with the lemon juice and a pinch of salt.  Allow to boil for 12 minutes or until the water has been absorbed.  While the quinoa cooks, place the hazelnuts on a baking tray and place in 200c oven for 8-10 minutes.  Chop the cucumber into quarters, then into eighths.  Slice out the wet, seedy central part and slice into thin pieces.  Allow the quinoa to cool before stiring in the argan oil, pomegranates, chopped cucumber and hazelnuts along with the salt and pepper to taste!  Ooooh yes please!


Something sweet?

Hazelnut chocolate caramels. - Amelia Freer Eat Nourish Glow

Ingredients:
14 small medjool dates, pitted
75ml coconut milk
75ml melted coconut oil
¼ tsp Maldon sea salt, plus sea salt flakes for sprinkling
½ tsp vanilla powder
12 raw hazelnuts
Coconut flour, for dusting

Chocolate coating:
25g cocoa powder
25g coconut oil
2 tbsp coconut crystals
Soak the dates in a bowl of hot water for 20 minutes, then drain and put them into a blender with the coconut milk, coconut oil, salt and vanilla powder.
Blend into a smooth paste, then transfer to a freezerproof container and freeze for 1 hour.
Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper. Roll a hazelnut in the caramel mixture until it’s coated – it’s messy and the balls won’t be a perfect shape but this doesn’t matter, just keep using teaspoons to handle the caramel. Dust with a little coconut flour so the balls don’t stick together and put onto the lined baking tray. Repeat until all the mixture is used up, then put the tray into the freezer and freeze for 3 hours.
While the nuts are freezing, make the chocolate coating. Put all the ingredients for the coating in a pan and set over a low heat, stirring until melted. Remove from the heat and leave the mixture to cool a little until it is thick enough to drizzle over the caramel balls.
Pour the coating over the caramel balls, sprinkle a little salt over each, then pop back into the freezer for 30 minutes.
Makes 12 caramels

However you try to improve your well-being, keep guzzling that water, get plenty of sleep and try to do at least 30 mins of exercise every day.
See you soon x






No comments:

Post a Comment