Live For Food

Want some tasty treats to make this Halloween?  Why not try out one of these great looking recipes from around the web:

Eyeball Pasta

Get everyone in the Halloween mood with this gory but tasty pasta dish from BBC Good Food.

Mini Stuffed Pumpkins 

 A cute mini pumpkin and minced beef recipe from Tesco Real Food.

Pickled Brains

Follow this simple recipe to turn cauliflower into a deliciously creepy Halloween hors d’oeuvre by Martha Stewart.

Halloween Sweet Potato Fingers

For a quick supper after trick or treating, try Angela Nilsen’s ghoulish Halloween dish, made with pizza flavours and sweet potatoes sliced to look like witches’ fingers.

Vampire Cat Cupcakes

Have a go at baking exclusive vampire cat cupcakes from cupcake queen Victoria Threader, featuring orange buttercream topped with a black cat.

Orange Pumpkin Face Cookies

Great fun biscuits from BBC Good Food for trick or treaters – make a day or two ahead, then fill in before your spooky guests arrive.

Spider’s Web Cake

This creepy spider’s web cake from Channel 4 Food is the perfect pud for a Halloween bash.

Ghostly Graveyard

A contest winner from Taste of Home: “I came up with this idea for my youngest daughter’s October birthday,” recalls Angie Dierikx of Taylor Ridge, Illinois. “Then my son requested it for a school treat. But I knew it was a hit when my oldest daughter took it to a class Halloween party and even her teacher asked for the recipe!”

Pear Ghosts

Spooky but healthy!  From Tesco Real Food.

Halloween Punch

Musn’t forget the drinks!  This blood-red punch is perfect for a Halloween party.

Whatever you’re up to on Halloween, keep safe and have fun!  

This is a quick and easy stirfry recipe.  It works well if you are eating late because the meat needs to marinate first, and then the actual cooking only takes about 15 minutes.

I want to try and get away from using packet stir fry sauces.  This recipe is one step better than that, although not quite a completely from scratch recipe.  All the ingredients should be in your local supermarket.

Ingredients (serves 2):
2 chicken breasts
6 mushrooms, sliced
1 bell pepper, chopped
3 tbsp oyster sauce
3 tbsp sweet chilli sauce
1 ½ tsp five-spice
1 tbsp olive oil

Method

Mix together 2 tbsp oyster sauce with 1 tsp five-spice and 2 tbsp sweet chilli sauce.

Toss 2 sliced chicken breasts in the mixture and leave to marinate for at least an hour.

Heat the oil in a frying pan, add the marinated chicken, the vegetables, and the remaining sauces and spices

Fry until the chicken is cooked through.

Serve with rice or noodles.

Copyright BBC Easy Cook Magazine, Immediate Media Limited
Reproduced with permission and adapted

Verdict

A flavoursome stirfry with a spicy kick to it.  Great for weeknights.  It would probably work well with other meats as well – pork strips or prawns. A variety of vegetables could be added to ring the changes, for example onion, mange tout, or beansprouts.

We hear a lot about the obesity crisis these days, but what are the facts behind the headlines?

Firstly, what is obesity?

Obesity is based around the Body Mass Index, a measure of your height compared to your weight. The following are the defined weight categories:

BMI 20-25 normal weight
BMI 25-30 overweight
BMI 30-35 obese

The BMI does not account for how much of the body is fat and how much is muscle, which can cause anomalies, mainly with athletes who have a lot of muscle.

What proportion of people are obese?

A recent report – have a look at this blog post from DK Fit Solutions – states that 36% of Americans are obese, and 11% are more than 100 lbs over a healthy weight.

An NHS report on the UK (that’s the UK National Health Service) from February this year states that 26% of UK adults are obese.

It also states that 42% of men and 32% of women are in the overweight category.

So nearly 2/3 of the UK population has a BMI in excess of 25.

The report also comments on waist circumference and says that 46% of women and 34% of men have a waist larger than the recommended maximum.

The above is all fairly shocking at face value. However there were two more statistics that sounded more hopeful.

Based on the above, per the report 22% of women and 14% of men have an increased risk of future health problems. You will notice then that this cannot include every overweight and obese person.

Also the average daily calorie intake of the population is 2300. Given that on average men should intake 2500, women 2000 and children 1800, this doesn’t sound TOO terrible.

So yes, we have a fair proportion of obese people in the country. Is this a crisis?

What are the health risks associated with obesity?

It can be shown that people who are overweight or obese are more likely to have the following metabolic indicators:

High blood pressure
High blood lipids (leading to blockage of arteries with fat)
High cholesterol
Insulin resistance

These indicators are risk factors for type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, strokes, and some cancers.

The link between obesity and these other risk factors seems to be definite correlation, but not definite causation.

Regular exercise is a factor that reduces the risk of future health problems. According to the NHS report overall 39% of men and 29% of women met the governments guidelines for physical activity.This percentage was similar when split between each weight group: normal, overweight and obese. It was skewed slightly towards those with a healthy weight, but it is clear that around one third of the population do exercise, regardless of weight, and thus reduce their risk of future health problems.

We also know that it is possible to be a normal weight and not eat healthily or exercise. Again, a person can have a low BMI but a high body fat percentage.

However, the more obese a person is, the more their current mobility is impaired, and they may experience current minor health problems which inhibit the ease of carrying out daily activity.

To conclude:

The evidence suggests we  have a health crisis – not an obesity crisis.

Obesity is an indicator that a person may be at increased risk of future health problems.

Obesity may be a problem in a person’s everyday life if ease of daily tasks and mobility are impaired.

Obesity combined with some of the other metabolic indicators is a sign of poor health. If you are obese, a visit to the doctors for some tests should ascertain if you also have high blood pressure etc.

To address the problem the focus should be on a healthy lifestyle, not on a weight loss diet.

A person should not assume that because they are technically a healthy weight this means that they are healthy overall. They may also need to address their health.

All people, not just the obese and overweight, should look at improving the following lifestyle choices on a permanent basis:

      Regular exercise
      Healthy diet choices

It is probable that weight loss would then naturally occur, but even if it didn’t, the person may well have moved out of the zone of increased risk for diseases, and improved their daily quality of life and health.

Do you agree?

We are bombarded on all sides with information about what foods we should and shouldn’t eat. If you browse the internet looking for nutrition guidelines you will probably just end up getting more confused the more research you do.

The other week within a few days of each I came across two articles, one telling me why I should eat more eggs and the other one telling me I should avoid egg yolks like the plague.

The other issue is that even if you decide on your perfect diet, and you know exactly what you should be eating, sometimes food choices turn out to be emotional rather than rational. With the best will in the world you can find yourself indulging in some food you didn’t intend to.

So how can you improve your diet without doing hours of research, confusing yourself, or constantly letting your stomach rule your head?

The answer has to be to make small individual healthy choices when the opportunity arises. Eventually these choices will become habit. Don’t aim for perfection either, just make one diet decision that is healthier than the alternative.

Here are a few examples of the way to build healthy habits:

Buying a sandwich?
Choose brown bread over white

Cooking pasta?
Add some extra vegetables

Offered a large cake at work?
Offer to go halves with someone

At a buffet?
Pile on the salad and lean meats

Need an afternoon pick me up?
Get a banana not a biscuit

Out for dinner?
Choose melon for starter

Invited out for drinks?
Alternate alcohol with water

Breakfast on the run?
Grab a fruit smoothie

Can’t be bothered to cook?
Keep some healthy ready meals in the freezer

Can’t stop snacking?
Reach for cherry tomatoes

Your diet is the sum of the individual choices you make on a daily basis. Take baby steps to create healthy habits which will last for a lifetime!

This healthier muffin recipe includes some wholegrains, as well as fruit and vegetables.

Ingredients
140g self raising flour
85g wholemeal flour
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 tsp ground cinnamon
A pinch of salt
150ml sunflower oil
100g caster sugar
200g mashed cooked carrots
3 pineapple slices from a can, cut into cubes, plus 2 tbsp of the juice
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
50g sunflower seeds, plus a few extra

Method

• Turn oven to 200C/GM6.
• Sift together the flours, the bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon and salt, reserving 2 tbsp of the bran left in the sieve from the wholemeal.
• In another bowl, beat the oil with the sugar.
• Add the carrots, pineapple slices and juice, egg and vanilla extract.
• Mix in the seeds.
• Fold the dry mixture into the wet mixture.
• Line the holes of a muffin tin with baking parchment.
• Divide the mixture between the holes, sprinkle with the reserved bran and a few extra seeds, and bake for 25-30 minutes or until cooked.
• Leave to cool.

Notes
Takes 12
Takes 10 minutes, plus 25 minutes in the oven, plus carrot cooking and mashing time.
240 kcals each
Not suitable for freezing.

Copyright BBC Easy Cook Magazine, Immediate Media Limited
Reproduced with permission

Comments
I left out the bicarb as I suddenly realised I didn’t have any. However as my wholemeal flour was self raising, which was not specified in the ingredients, it probably didn’t make any difference. They certainly rose ok. The seeds I used were a mixture rather than just sunflower. I reserved too much bran for sprinkling – one tablespoon would have been enough.

Verdict
A nice moist fruity muffin which wasn’t too sweet. Suitable for breakfast, brunch or snacks. A great way to get a bit of fruit and veg in, although obviously not a substitute for the real thing. Lower sugar content than commercial varieties of muffin – just don’t forget that its still cake!

A brief warning – I had one left after 5 days and it started to go moldy. I think that’s fairly typical of cake made with soft fruit. I learnt that whilst eating cake with a bit of mold on doesn’t do you any harm – it doesn’t taste good!