Oct 23, 2020 | Anna's Best Recipes, Main courses
My mother sent me the recipe cut out of the newspaper and I love it. Just the thing for a cold, dark Autumn night as we all stay in our houses. Many of my patients find that a paleo-style diet (vegetable-rich, virtually grain-free, dairy-free with meat, fish, eggs and good fats) makes them feel SO much better than a so-called “healthy diet” that is overloaded with grains and potatoes. The proof of the pudding is in the eating. This pot roast comes with its own gorgeous rich brown sauce. I love this pot roast because its delicious on the day and I can use leftovers sliced and either reheated in the sauce. Leftovers are your friend if you love eating well but don’t want to spend hours every night in the kitchen. We often eat this with cauliflower mash and a steamed green vegetable like cabbage, broccoli or green beans. Yum…
If you want to feed resolute carnivores and those who want to eat less red meat at the same meal simply add cooked butterbeans about 20 minutes before the end of cooking. They take up the fabulous flavour and are rich in protein.
1kg pot-roasting beef (housekeepers’s cut or topside). This will come tied up with string which stays on till you serve it.
Extra virgin olive oil
2 tbs tamari sauce (avoid if on SC diet)
6 tbs dry white wine
2 star anise (this makes the sauce extra flavoursome)
1 large/2 small cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1 rounded teaspoon raw cane molasses
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 onions, each peeled and cut in 8 wedges
2 large carrots, diced roughly
1 heaped tsp arrowroot powder (from health shops) to thicken
1. Preheat a heavy casserole, then add a knob of extra virgin olive oil and sear the beef for a minute each side until very lightly browned (browning isn’t essential, you can go straight to step 2 if you want).
2. Add the tamari sauce, wine, star anise, garlic, close tightly and simmer gently o the top of the stove or in a low oven or slow cooker for an hour.
3. Meanwhile dice the carrots roughly, peel and cut each onion into 8 wedges.
4. Add the molasses, some freshly ground black pepper, carrots, onion, and continue to cook very gently for a further 1½ hours. When cooked, remove the beef and keep warm.
5. If you want to increase the amount of sauce, add a little water (or some leftover vegetable-steaming water).
6. Blend a teaspoonful of arrowroot with a little water, add in a little of the hot liquid, then add to the juices in the casserole and bring up to the boil, stirring, until the sauce thickens and clears.
Serve with:
LOTS of steamed green veg and some mashed Swede turnip or cauliflower mash.
Why this is good for you:
Long slow cooking is much preferable to cooking at high temperatures because fewer toxic byproducts are created to would cause more inflammation in your body. For this reason, browning a single large piece of meat is better than browning small pieces. When I’m feeling really healthy I don’t brown this pot roast at all and it still tastes delicious – the sauce is so rich. Red meat contains acetyl-carnitine. For people with serious energy problems (eg M.E./chronic fatigue syndrome/long covid) eating foods that contain acetyl-carnitine every day can bring about great improvements in energy.
Sep 16, 2020 | Anna's Best Recipes, Main courses
This is super-easy and works with turkey or beef mince. It tastes even better the next day and freezes brilliantly too. That’s why I always make enough for 4 and freeze half for one of those “don’t feel much like cooking” nights.
For 4:
2 x 400g tins borlotti or red kidney beans, drained and rinsed (or soak 1 cup raw beans overnight, change water, then boil hard till ender)
2 medium onions (about 350g) chopped
500g lean turkey or beef mince
1 tbs extra virgin olive oil
3 cloves garlic, chopped or crushed
1 heaped tsp ground cumin (or more to taste)
1 heaped tsp plain cocoa powder (optional)
1 level tsp ground cinnamon
1 heaped teaspoon dried oregano (herb)
¼ – ½ tsp ground chilli or cayenne (optional)
1 x 400g tin chopped tomatoes with their juice/400g sieved tomatoes (passata)
1 heaped tbs tomato puree
Good splash (about 60ml) red wine if you have it
1 tsp miso paste OR a beef stock cube, dissolved in 50ml boiling water
Lots of freshly ground black pepper
Generous pinch Himalayan/sea salt
To serve:
Cauliflower “rice” (see recipe on blog) or if you don’t want weight loss you could use rice or millet (instructions on blog)
Steamed broccoli, green beans, peas or a green salad
Plus if you’re feeling fancy some roughly chopped coriander and some lime wedges
1. Heat a large, heavy bottomed saucepan (with lid) on a medium heat.
2. Add the onions, olive oil, small splash (about 1 tbs) water, cover with a lid and “sweat” (cook gently) until the onions are softened, about 10 mins.
3. Add the mince and stir around for a minute to break it up a bit. There is no need to brown it. Then add the garlic, cumin, cocoa, cinnamon, oregano chilli/cayenne, tomatoes with their juice and the miso/beef stock.
4. Cover and cook at a simmer for around 20 mins stirring occasionally, till the meat is cooked. If the sauce begins to dry out you can add a little water or vegetable stock. If theres more liquid then you like, simmer uncovered until until it reduces.
5. Add borlotti/kidney beans and tomato puree and cook for a further 10 mins.
6. Season with freshly ground black pepper and salt.
Why this is good for you:
Turkey and beef are rich in amino acid tryptophan which is a building block of feel-good neurotransmitter serotonin. Serotonin is one of the brain chemicals that makes you feel calm, happy and is essential for sleep (it gets converted to sleep-hormone melatonin). If you have a good balance of healthy gut bacteria AND good levels of certain vitamins and minerals your body will convert tryptophan to serotonin easily. Did you know that low serotonin in your gut can be a trigger for IBS? Not a lot of people know that.
Did you know that ALL herbs and spices have many effects – from helping you see off infections to helping you maintain a healthy weight and age agelessly? These magical taste-bombs also have anti-inflammatory effects, even in your brain (did you know that depression involves brain inflammation?). Herbs and spices selectively encourage growth of good bugs in your gut. AND they make your gut a hostile environment for disease-causing organisms.
When you cook meat WITH spices or herbs, you protect the meat (and whoever eats it) from much of the damage produced by heat. A study of diabetic people monitored blood samples for inflammatory markers before and after eating 2 different types of grilled beef patty. One cooked just with salt and pepper, the other mixed with at least 6 different herbs/spices before cooking. After eating the patties, guess which group had less inflammation in their blood – you guessed it, the herb and spice group. The WAY you cook your food has a massive effects on it’s power to help or derail your health.
This recipe also has onions, which contain the fibre inulin. Inulin feeds beneficial bacteria in your gut. Healthy gut, happy mind, happy life.
Jul 6, 2020 | Anna's Best Recipes, Sides, starters, soups & snacks
Had this last night with some herb roast chicken and roasted cauliflower sprinkled with sumac. Fab. the recipe is courtesy of Domini Kemp and Patricia Daly’s Ketogenic Kitchen. If you are doing ketogenic diet and want to track carbs, protein etc, get the fatsecret app – even the free version is great.
For 4
4 large ripe beef tomatoes (1200g) 0r equivalent weight of vine tomatoes
Natural Himalayan/sea salt
Black pepper
1 medium red onion, finely diced
Small bunch of mint, finely chopped
1 large garlic clove, crushed
80ml extra virgin olive oil
Juice of 1 lemon or a splash of sherry vinegar
Macronutrients per serving: Net carbs 12.2g, protein 2.8g, fat 25.9g, fibre 4.1g
- Slice tomatoes into rounds, lay the slices out on a platter and sprinkle with salt.
- Leave for 20 minutes or more. This makes the tomatoes release their juices.
- Drain off juices and whisk together with the other ingredients.
- Add freshly ground black pepper to taste, and pour the dressing over the tomatoes. Serve.
Why this is good for you
Did you know that every vegetable, herb, spice and fruit contains a range of polyphenols (sorry, potatoes and bananas don’t contain many!). Polyphenols defend plants against threats e.g. viruses, fungi, bacteria, predators and UV rays. When you eat polyphenols they help strengthen all your body tissues and protect you against all chronic health conditions . Organic plants have more polyphenols because they are exposed to attack. They are not cocooned by pesticides and herbicides (herbicides kill soil bacteria). Attack stimulates plants to upregulate their defences – polyphenols. It’s a bit like when you train at the gym – you tear muscle fibres and the damage stimulates muscle to grow back bigger and stronger.
We absolutely need to be eating a wide range of plants including herbs and spices, over the course of every week. Tomatoes, mint, extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice, garlic all contain a big range of polyphenols. Tomatoes alone contain hydroxycinnamic acids, flavanones, flavonols, and anthocyanins, rutin and kaempferol-3-rutinoside and a lot of naringenin chalcone.
Raw extra virgin olive oil is a fantastic source of vitamin E. Vitamin E is anti-viral because it helps vitamin C work longer in your body. It also moisturises all your surfaces, outside and in. It is essential for the health of your heart, your skin, your brain, everything. Only VERY expensive vitamin E supplements contain the full range of vitamin E compounds. But if you eat many plants, a variety of raw nuts and seeds, lots of extra virgin olive oil and your digestive system is working perfectly you will be getting more vitamin E than most.
Jun 15, 2020 | Anna's Best Recipes, Desserts & drinks
I thought up this one day while casting around for a healthy mixer or stand-alone summer drink. It is YUM and seems to go down well with folks not into “healthy stuff”. A good substitute for normal high sugar or toxic zero calorie mixe, I must admit it also nice with a shot of vodka or gin. Ginger helps detoxification and is highly anti-inflammatory for your whole body (especially your digestive system).
For a super quick version, drop the xylitol/erythritol syrup and just use stevia drops but I think the flavour is better, more rounded when the syrup is in there.
If you are on a keto diet you can still enjoy this – just use stevia/erythritol instead of xylitol.
For 4 servings:
1 big thumb of ginger, juiced (if you don’t own a juicer make fresh ginger tea with 1 mug boiling water, 2 thumbs of ginger, finely grated, cover and leave until cool, strain and use as per ginger juice)
Juice of 2 large lemons, strained
3 heaped tablespoons of xylitol or Dr Coys Stevia Erylite sweetener (a blend of stevia and erythritol)
100ml filtered water to make the syrup
Stevia drops to taste (products should contain stevi/steviol glycosides and NO toxic additives e.g. sucralose, aspartame, saccharin)
1 litre of filtered or sparkling water
Ice
Optional: a few sprigs of mint to garnish
1. In a small saucepan combine the xylitol/erythritol/Stevia Erylite with 100ml filtered water and boil till dissolved. Allow to cool.
2. In a big jug, combine the syrup with the lemon juice, ginger juice or cooled ginger tea.
3. Dilute with your water of choice and if you have them, add a few sprigs of mint.
Why this is good for you:
Although this is a lovely summer refresher, its also a therapeutic drink because both lemon and ginger are powerful supports for your immune system and your liver detox systems. There are hundreds of high quality peer reviewed studies on ginger in relation to alleviating various health conditionSome of the research focusses on gingers ability to reduce inflammation in your joints and digestive system as well as helping reduce nausea in pregnant women. Reductions in nausea, inflammation (in the brain and stomach), supporter of detoxification (i.e. headache reduction) – I wonder could this be the next “hangover cure”…..Ginger, like many spices,is anti-viral and helps modulate gut bacteria in favour of the “good guys”.
Jun 1, 2020 | Anna's Best Recipes, Desserts & drinks
I first tasted almond milk in its traditional Italian form 20 years ago in Puglia. It was a beating hot day in the city of Lecce and we were given large glasses of iced sweet almond milk. It tasted amazing. I prefer something that’s a little more vitality-enhancing (i.e. not full of pro-inflammatory, immune sabotaging added sugar) so here’s my take.
Use this drink in place of animal milk OR for a summer cooler add liquid stevia to sweeten, a bit more water, lots of ice and maybe a couple of drops of natural almond extract.
100g almonds, soaked overnight in filtered water (you don’t need blanched almonds)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (if you are glulten-free make sure to avoid vanilla “essence”)
1.25 litres filtered water
Drain the soaked nuts, blend with the filtered water.
Strain through a nut milk bag or muslin cloth, milking it to squeeze out all the liquid.
Add the vanilla extract, mix and serve.
Tip:
If you want to get more “value” from your almonds, blitz the soaked nuts with just 3/4 l of water. Strain through the nut milk bag. Put the ground nuts into the blender again with the remaining 3/4L water. That way you will find you get more almond milk out of the nuts.
