recipes

Mains, Recipes

With December's festivities approaching, we're all starting to think about changing things up a bit and bringing the best seasonal ingredients together with warming spices and flavours. As we do truly love our rainbow food, red cabbage and apples are just perfect and will accompany game meat, real butcher's sausages, gammon or a Sunday roast perfectly.

Nov 7

Nov 7 warm winter glow high protein bowl

A warming winter bowl perfect for lunch on those days when you just can’t get warm. Full of robust flavour and textures. A high protein and high fibre salad with 50g of protein and a whopping 30g of fibre (your recommended daily amount).

Aug 30

Aug 30 Beetroot, feta, quinoa and toasted seed salad

If you have ever attended a talk of ours or been a client of Kat’s you know one of her favourite vegetables for just about all areas of health is beetroot. It’s great for heart, liver and hormone health. We grate a large batch of beetroot to keep in fridge and add to salads through the week. With the quinoa, feta and seeds you are looking at around 25g of protein for this salad.

Jul 5

Jul 5 Broccoli, edamame and chickpea salad

A high protein salad with the added benefit of broccoli, a cruciferous vegetable that supports liver and hormone health. I always stock green beans and edamame beans in the freezer as quick options to add to dishes.

Nov 21

Nov 21 Quinoa, squash and halloumi salad

A perfect warm salad for when it gets colder and you need some warmth. The addition of pomegranate seeds also makes it more wintery in my eyes. Squash contains beta-carotenes which our body converts to vitamin A to help support our immune system.

Aug 2

Aug 2 Green buckwheat courgette salad

Buckwheat is a gluten free seed and is very useful in a gluten-free diet as it gives a grain-like texture. It’s slightly nutty in taste and cooks in les time than quinoa or rice. For the health benefits see tip below. This salad is also a good way to top up your calcium levels. You’ll find calcium in the buckwheat, tahini, sunflower seeds and feta cheese.

Mar 17

Mar 17 Spicy black bean and corn soup

A spicy vegetarian soup packed with protein and fibre to keep you fully satisfied until your next meal. Even better it’s super quick to make and so makes a speedy lunch warm option. Freeze any leftovers for a quick meal another day. You can use frozen corn and peppers as I usually do.

Mar 11

Mar 11 Lentil and black bean bolognese

You can still enjoy a vegetarian version of the classic bolognese sauce. I use a lentil pasta which is high in protein (100g = 26g of protein) for added satiety. The addition of rosemary and balsamic vinegar are essential to the moreishness of the dish so don’t leave out. For a low-carb option you could serve with courgette or cauliflower rice.

Feb 12

Feb 12 Halloumi and butter bean bake

This is a very versatile vegetarian dish. you can add more chilli if you like heat and can change the beans around to whatever you have or use chickpeas instead. Did I also mention it’s super quick to make and can be on the table in less than 30 minutes. Makes a warming lunch or even an evening meal. Can serve on its own or with a slice of crisp sourdough.

Nov 27

Nov 27 Spicy chickpea & butternut squash soup

Butternut squash is one of our favourite winter ingredient as it is so versatile, colourful and filling with its high fibre content. Good quality chickpeas are essential to make this soup insanely smooth and creamy. Ras el Hanout if you don’t know it is an excellent blend of spices bringing warmth without being too “hot” spicy. Very very simple comfort food at its best. Even better if you make double and keep for another lunch or evening.

Nov 6

Nov 6 Cauliflower & red lentil one pot

Oct 26

Oct 26 Super quick chickpea veggie curry bowl

Great option for those short on time but wanting flavour! Packed full of goodness with chickpeas, tomatoes, peppers, mushrooms and spinach this is a vegetarian option but you could add any leftover roast chicken. This takes very little prep, especially if you decided to go for ready chopped frozen vegetables. As always, make extra and save yourself portion for lunch the next day!

Oct 14

Oct 14 Chilli ginger butternut squash soup

Soups are a wonderful way to pack essential nutrients into a delicious meal. One of my favourite taste combo is chilli and ginger anti teams up perfectly with all the winter root vegetables. This is a treaty soup you can happily eat on it’s own or with a nice slice of garlic grated toasted sourdough. I always add a little crunch with lots of seeds to serve. Leave out the chilli if you have young kids who don’t fancy it. Oh and that little bit of bacon, if you chose to use it, makes such a difference.

Jul 25

Jul 25 quinoa, aubergine, chickpea halloumi salad

At the Health Boost we are not vegetarian but we encourage everyone to increase the consumption of mostly plant based meals a couple of days a week if possible. With some pulses providing some good quality protein such as the quinoa and chickpeas in this salad and the added halloumi we make sure to provide a balance of all macro nutrients. We also get asked often what to do with aubergines as they are a good source of fibre, vitamins and minerals and low in calories for those counting.

Jun 23

Jun 23 French vegetable "tian" with goat cheese

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!

May 24

May 24 Top 7 summer salads you will love

Recipes, Soups and salads, Blog

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

May 7

May 7 Simple and delicious oat cakes

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.

Apr 14

Apr 14 Quick and easy broccoli and bean soup

Apr 5

Apr 5 Watercress and wild garlic soup