Voila

 Wellbeing 

I'm very excited to feature our first article from the beautiful Lucinda ...Enjoy. 

" Hello lovely Voilá readers!

Let me start by introducing myself: I am Lucinda of the Instagram account @thelonelycook (lonely only in the culinary sense, as since the husband is living overseas I am mainly cooking for one). I am a writer, yogi, and amateur health and nutrition geek!* Despite it being such a cliché, I truly believe that a healthy body equals a healthy mind, and that we should treat our insides with as much love and respect as we do our outsides, which is why I am so excited to write this monthly wellness section on the gorgeous Voilá blog.

Each month I will share a recipe with you along with a few general wellness tips that I have picked up along the way. Most of my recipes feed two, or one with leftovers for a delicious lunch or supper the following day, and they can all be adapted to fit most dietary needs. I would encourage everyone to play with all recipes as much they feel like, substituting, adding, eliminating wherever suits and I will try and include a few suggestions to help with this. 

I should briefly say something about the way I eat and my food ethos. I generally follow a pescatarian (fish, no meat), refined-sugar free, low fructose, low wheat diet which is largely made up of tons of fresh vegetables and healthy fats. Wow, what a lot of nutrition buzz-words in one sentence – please bear with me! Of course it is possible to choke on the number of diets/ detoxes/ cleanses being shoved down our throats on a daily basis, but I am a firm believer that everybody is as unique on the inside as they are on the outside, and that our diet, like our style, should be put together with this uniqueness always in mind. This to me is the only real benefit of following a set detox or cleanse, whether it be macrobiotic, paleo, Whole 30, juicing (the list goes on…) – to rid the body of all accumulated toxins so that we can reset it in a way that enables us to judge for ourselves what it does and doesn’t like. Anything done with the sole intention of losing weight is likely to feel depressingly restrictive and ultimately unsustainable. Getting to know your body takes time and patience and it’s taken me years and countless obsessive nutritional missions to find out what works for me. Don’t be alarmed, it need not take you years! Just one really good month-long cleanse approached with an inquiring mind should do it. Just be kind to yourself and interested in what you discover, and unless you have a serious intolerance, never say never – if you really want that fluorescent pink Krispy Kreme, have it, enjoy it, don’t beat yourself up about it. The magic thing is, though, when you do eventually start giving the body what it needs, the things you crave miraculously become the healthy nutritious things that make your body feel loved and happy – et Voilá, happy insides, happy outsides!"

So, to the recipe! As we know Voilá loves a good basic – I’m still lusting after the American Vintage cardigan – so I was tempted to make the first recipe I share with you one of my go-to daily basics that I cannot live without, but then THOSE deliciously fluffy shoes from &otherstories came along and stole the show, putting me in the party mood! So instead I am sharing my latest favourite festive dish with you, especially as vegetarian options at Christmas are often left over-shadowed by the glory of the turkey. 

These stuffed pumpkins look as good as they taste, shining orange baubles that will satisfy even the most devoted of carnivores, although you could always add some crispy pancetta or bacon lardons to the stuffing for an extra meaty hit. They are already gluten-free, but brown rice can be substituted with quinoa if you are grain free, and if you omit the cheese for a vegan option just add a couple of tablespoons of Tamari (wheat-fee soy sauce) to deepen the flavour and seasoning. Use whatever nuts you fancy or have in the cupboards, and if you want a bit of extra sweetness use dried cranberries instead of fresh, only make sure they are unsweetened. 

Party pumpkins

2 small pumpkins (such as Hokkaido)

1 cup brown rice (I use short-grain for its nuttiness and extra nutrition, but long-grain would be fine)

2 small or 1 large red onion, thinly sliced

Roughly 100g bunch of cavolo nero, thicker stalks sliced thinly, darker leaves in 1” pieces

75g pecans, roughly chopped

150-175g of strong blue cheese, goat’s is delicious if you can get it and easier to digest than cow dairy

1 large handful of fresh cranberries

A sprinkling of cinnamon (optional)

Some chopped fresh parsley

Coconut oil for cooking, about 2-3 tbs

1 clove of garlic, bashed with a knife but skin left on

I bay leaf

Cook the rice. It is best if you can soak the rice in cold water for up to 8 hours before cooking as this makes it more digestible and neutralises phytates which prevent the absorption of some nutrients, but if you don’t have time then just give it a really good wash before adding it to a pan with a tablespoon of coconut oil and the whole clove of garlic and bay leaf. Heat briefly, coating the rice with the oil. Then add two cups (or 1 ½ if you have soaked the rice) of boiling water. Stir the rice and bring the pan to a gentle simmer then cover and leave until all the water has been absorbed and small tunnels have appeared on the surface. Taste to check that it is cooked – if it is not just add a little more water and continue cooking until ready. Do not stir the rice during cooking. Set aside. 

Pre-heat the oven to 200c. Cut a lid into the top of each pumpkin and scoop out the insides (reserve the seeds, they can be washed, dried and baked in the oven with cinnamon to make a nice crunchy snack or topping for the pumpkins). Rub some coconut oil around their insides.

Next, heat about a tablespoon of coconut oil or ghee in a large saucepan or frying pan and add the sliced onions. Fry them slowly and gently until they are completely soft and starting to colour. Add the cavolo nero and half cover the pan to allow the greens to steam slightly. After about three or four minutes, take the pan off the heat. Stir in the rice, pecans, cranberries, cheese and parsley, and add a sprinkling of cinnamon. Season with a little sea salt and some black pepper.

Stuff each pumpkin with the rice mixture, pressing it down as you go and filling them to the top. Put the lids on top and bake the pumpkins on a baking tray in the middle of the oven for 30-45 minutes, depending on the size of your pumpkins. The skins should darken and the pumpkins should feel soft when you squeeze them. The longer you cook them, the sweeter the pumpkin flesh will be.

Serve alongside with all the usual Christmas trimmings or a simple watercress salad dressed with extra virgin olive and lemon juice. Any leftover stuffing can have an egg stirred through it before being pressed into patties and fried until golden and crispy in some ghee or coconut oil for a light lunch.

Happy Christmas one and all, see you in the New Year! Xxx

Feedback or any requests let me know and we will try our best to help. 

*Please note that I am not in anyway trained to provide specific nutritional advice and that all suggestions are based purely on my own experience and research