Food 

Chana Dal lentils 

This is a grounding and soothing dish, a brilliant plain canvas to add some other big flavours on the top.

Recipe

For the Dal :

 200g chana dal ||1/2tsp turmeric || A few slices of root ginger ||

For the topping :

 coconut oil || 1 1/2 tspcumin seeds|| 1 tsp chilli flakes || 1 red onion sliced || root ginger grated ||2 garlic cloves chopped || 2 plum tomatoes chopped || 1/2tsp garam masala || handful of coriander leaves || Aubergine chopped || splash of Red wine vinegar .

Method :

Put the lentils in a pan and add 500ml of water, the turmeric and the slices of ginger. Bring to the boil then turn down to a simmer and cook till the lentils are falling apart. You may need to add more water. Once cooked I take half the lentils and blend. Then mix back with the unblended lentils to give a chunky texture and consistency.

To make the topping. Fry the chopped Aubergine in some coconut oil. Once brown place on a baking try with some red wine vinegar and some garlic and cook in the oven for 30mins.

Heat the coconut oil in a small frying pan and add the cumin seeds and chilli flakes. Let them heat up for a minute till you can smell the lovely spices. Now add the onion and fry till golden. stir the ginger and garlic and cook for a few more minutes. Add the tomatoes and garam masala and allow it all to soften .

Mix the cooked aubergine with the onion and tomatoe mix and spoon this on top of your hot chana dal lentils.  

Sprinkle some fresh coriander leaves on top and serve with flat bread, yogurt or I like it with a baked cauliflower.

G x



recipe inspired from Diana Henry book a "change of appetite"

Wellbeing 

Watermelon Gazpacho 

This is a great summer starter or as an afternoon snack .

 Recipe :

1/2 a Watermelon || 1 red pepper || 1kg of tomatoes || 75ml of red wine vinegar || 100ml Olive oil || I clove of Garlic || Passion fruit seeds || Ice cubes .

Method:

First flame grill your pepper over the flames of your gas cooker 

( or cook in the over for 30mins) place in a plastic bag and tie . The steam will help you remove the skin of the pepper.

Blanch the tomatoes in a bowl of boiling water. Put a lid on the bowl and leave for 5mins. Drain and then the skin should just slide of with a gentle squeeze 

Place the watermelon, Pepper and tomatoes in a blender a whizz up. And the garlic then the red wine vinegar and olive oil. Add some salt and pepper and taste to see if you need more vinegar or olive oil added depending on how you like it . 

 Give it a quick whizz then place in a jug with a handful of ice and leave in the fridge for a few hours 

when you are going to serve scoop the passion fruit in to the jug and stir before serving with some sourdough bread or taste greek Olives. 

G xx

Wellbeing 

Japanese Noodle Broth 

Recipe :

8 baby aubergines || 1 red pepper || handful of padron peppers|| 200g Dried udon noodles || coconut oil to cook in || pea shoots ||coriander.

For the Broth :
15g dried shiitake mushrooms || 500ml cold water||55ml tamari sauce ||1tbsp light brown sugar || 2tsp Mirin 










Method :

To make the broth add the dried mushrooms to the cold water in a saucepan and leave for 2 mins. 

Remove the mushrooms and put to one side for later. Now start to heat the sauce adding the tamari , mirin and sugar. Bring to the boil, then turn off the heat and leave.

Now in some coconut oil start to fry the aubergines which you have halved and scored a criss cross pattern on the skin and flesh.
This should take about 3/5 mins till they are golden brown. Add some salt along the way.

Now fry the padron peppers and sliced red pepper for 2 mins .

Add the aubergine and pepers to the broth with the mushrooms .

Cook the udon noodles in some boiling water for 10mins then drain and rinse under cold water. 

Place the noodles in a bowl and add the broth and veg. Sprinkle some herbs like coriander or mint on top with a handful of watercress or pea shoots.

Enjoy 

G xx

Wellbeing 

Homemade Ice cream 

( diary free ) 

Recipe :

3 bananas| strawberries | dates 

Chop up 3 bananas and freeze 

( so do this a day before you want to make your ice cream ) 

Blend the bananas togetehr with some water to make a thick creamy ice cream. Scoop in to a bowl .

Blend a handful of strawberries and 2 dates. Swirl this sauce in to the ice cream mix with a knife. Don't over mix as you want the ripple affect. 

Place in the freeze for 30mins and then eat . 

Extras : add honey , nuts , berries ... the choices are endless .

Gaby x

Wellbeing 

Welcome back and enjoy Lucinda's last article for Voila. 

Thank you for opening up our understanding of food and for me it's been a wonderful development in to listening and having a deeper awareness of my body. I needed a little push into the world of nutrition and with all the wonderful recipes and facts lucinda shared with us over the year it has set me on a new path, which I truly love! My boyfriend and kids are thrilled with my new passion and I even cook for fun now ( as you will see from my instagram account) It has been a revelation So thank you for helping me on this new journey xx    

  Self Love and believe, we are truly meant to be happy! 

Click on recipe to print out and save . 

January Article 

"Happy New Year! I hope you all had a joyful Christmas and saw in the New Year in whichever way brought you the most happiness – for me it was curled up in front of the telly with my husband in my pyjamas…bliss!

The past year has been a strange one, both personally and it seems for others too, a real mixture of incredible highs with sadder, less celebratory times. I think it is really important at the start of a New Year to reflect on the past twelve months, to honour your achievements and acknowledge where perhaps you feel you fell short. These short-fallings can give us an excellent focus for the next year, and whilst I don’t strictly believe in resolutions (they seem always to be hard and negatively worded), I think it is really valuable to align ourselves with things we would like to grow in ourselves or set on a new path. The best way of doing this, in my humble opinion, is to phrase our intentions positively, so, rather than saying ‘I will lose weight’ or ‘I won’t eat such and such’, we shift our focus to, ‘I will be kind to my body’, or ‘I will introduce more fresh food into my life’ or ‘I will find an exercise I REALLY enjoy’. This way we are not making a judgement on our past selves, but simply offering more love and attention to what we need to have a happier, more full life, rather than one plagued by asceticism and denial.

2015 was a year of change and upheaval for me, both enjoyable and at times tough. At the start of the year I knew I needed to take a break from writing a novel I had been working on to reconnect myself with the world. I did this through joining and becoming more active in social media, training as a yoga teacher, making more time for friends and family, and generally trying to be less of a recluse! It worked – I felt the benefits of being part of the world and my spirit for my writing was re-invigorated, in no small part by writing for Voila, which I have loved.

However, it is now time for me to return to what I love most, which is writing for myself. In order to do this a certain distance is required and so it is with sadness and with hope for new things that this will be my last post for Voila. I am also withdrawing from social media, although I will keep my Facebook and Instagram accounts open to advertise yoga classes I will be teaching in Bristol and Bath. I hope you have enjoyed reading my monthly updates as much I have enjoyed writing them. 

What has been the most interesting for me has been discovering and exploring what my own food ethos is: what matters to me, what I feel vs. I’m told is good for me, and what it is I want other people to understand about food. My main conclusions have been that there are no hard and fast rules to eating healthily and well – we are all different and require personally developed eating habits to feel our best; that for me, a high fat, low fructose diet which includes good quality, easily digestible carbs is what gives me the most energy and vitality, but that this in no means works for every one; and that finally, I mainly want people to realise that healthy eating need not be restrictive or unpleasant, that it is one of the greatest kindnesses we can do for ourselves, and that it brings far more peace and happiness than it does feelings of loss or deprivation. Maybe I’ve achieved this, maybe I haven’t, but it is enough for me to know that I tried. I hope, if anything, to have offered a few recipes that have been enjoyed and perhaps the odd bit of inspiration to make recipes of your own."

Wishing you all the best for a happy and healthy 2016 and the years which follow!

Love Lucinda x

Wellbeing 

Can't believe this is the last post for 2015!

Have fun this festive season, laugh lots, eat scrummy food and mingle with some fabulous friends. 

Gx 

Wellbeing post by Lucinda Leachman @yogilucinda 

Indulge

" OK, its time to stop the denial and start enjoying the festive season! Whilst it seems that this time of year comes around all too quickly when you get to a certain age, it is nevertheless a time of thanks giving, sharing, compassion and, most importantly, indulging. I know, it’s not a word that is often linked to healthy living and eating, but indulgence is an important part of any balanced lifestyle. The problem, however, is that we have long equated indulgence with what’s bad for us and with over- indulgence, the side-effects of which are unanimously negative (there are very few of us who haven’t experienced the joy of the morning after the night before, or the sickened stomach of the post-Quality Street binge on Christmas Day). 

But what about indulging in a positive way? What about ‘allowing you or someone else something enjoyable’, for no other reason than it feels good? There is a lot to be said about giving ourselves the time and permission to do this, and very often during the Christmas period our attention is focused on indulging others and neglecting ourselves. I was talking with Gaby about this just the other day, and she was saying that she has recently realised that she was getting through a whole week without having given any time to herself, week after week! And so she made a commitment to herself to change that and to do something each week that was only for her, away from her responsibilities as a mother, stylist, Pilates teacher…(the list goes on), a series of roles which all require her to be focusing on others and not herself. I think this is a really important part of making ourselves truly available to others, and to carry through a strong and steady presence into our very hectic lives.

Of course, how you choose to do this is entirely up to you. For some, it may be an hour spent at the nail salon, or lunch in their favourite café, a massage, meditation class, yoga or Pilates, or perhaps a long-overdue afternoon nap. For many of us though, indulgence is equated with food and drink, and this is sometimes where the difficulties start. High-sugar food, the sort most frequently sort when we think of indulging, is highly addictive, damaging to our bodies, and the enjoyable effect always too short-lived as we crash and burn with headaches and indigestion quickly afterwards, only to crave more the second the sickness has abated – as far as indulging goes, I can think of far better ways to treat myself.

This is not to say that we shouldn’t enjoy a sugary treat or two, or raise one too many glasses, but perhaps we should change our understanding of what ‘indulgence’ actually is. If we want to have a drink, or five, or eat a whole tub of ice cream, that is fine as long as we do it in full awareness of the fact that it is in no way enjoyable for our body or mind in the long-run, and will not provide the satiating or enjoyment we are actually looking for. It is a quick-fix (albeit one that at times is well worth the repercussions). Indulgence is to do something truly enjoyable, something that has a wholly positive effect on us, and we all know by now that what is good for our body is good for our overall sense of well being, health and happiness, and that when we crave a physical indulgence it is very often linked to a deeper emotional need.  Whilst no food or material thing can fill an emotional void in our lives (no, not even those glorious velvet party dresses!), the good news is that today it is completely possible to indulge ourselves in a really healthy, happy, non-hangover way, with everything from chocolate, to ice-cream, to cake and beyond. And whilst those sorts of treats may not cure whatever emotional issues we may be having, a balanced internal physical state is proven to effect how we feel and think. 

I’ve already shared with you my recipe for homemade chocolate, and my favourite websites and books to find healthy versions of all your favourite treats, but I have included them again below along with links to some of their best (in my opinion) recipes. I have also included a few suggestions for healthier options when you are in need of indulging yourself with food, a need that is not to be ignored, especially in darker colder months when food and nutrition has to supplement the lack of light in our days and help keep us warm!!

Click on image to read or print 

Have a wonderfully indulgent Christmas Voila readers, see you in 2016! xxxx "

Wellbeing 

Take a look at all the changes going on around you. Nature is forever changing it's that life ,death ,life cycle and Autumn and Spring are such examples of this. With a new start (life) a change an end( death) of something else happens in order for this new change and the key is not to be afraid of this but to notices this and accept it. In our relationships their is this cycle, if you are open to see it, you will realise this needs to happen in order for your relationship to be closer and for you as people to grow. One obvious example is when a new baby is born it is life at it's best but with that comes an end of a way of life for you both. So their is a big part of you that has to let go and change and the more you fight to hold on to what was, you will find you miss what is here now and the new path you are now on. It's a fear of the unknown but trust life. 

Sometimes in work we feel stuck in making changes or decisions. so we are not in a life or death cycle we are in limbo and we are not creating. So something needs to end in order for life a new beginning a new creative engery line or pathway to start. 

Think about how many ends and beginnings you create in your day today life while drinking a turmeric tea from Lucinda's recipe this month. 

Gx 

I have been reading this book for the last few months and it has come just at the right time for me . 

  Novembers article for you to enjoy from @yogilucinda.

Turmeric tea and chocolate coated popcorn
(click to read and print or save in pinterest recipe file ) 

"November for me is a month for staying in, getting cosy, and preparing myself for the Christmas frenetic that December inevitably brings. Food wise this means soups and stews and movie-snacking food, like healthy loaded nachos and the chocolate-covered popcorn recipe you can find below (although I can barely call it a recipe). As we prepare for winter and the festive season, and the weather changes from blustery and mild to damp and cold, we can sometimes find ourselves feeling tired and under-the-weather. While it’s really important at the time of year that encourages steamed puddings and fruit crumbles with thick yellow custard, to indulge in the warmer, heavier foods we crave, we also have to look after our health. 

The first thing to remember is that it is now possible to find a ‘healthy’ variation of pretty much any recipe you could wish for: peach cobblers, sticky toffee puddings, gingerbread, caramel shortbread…the list goes on. When searching, do try and find low-fructose recipes that use rice syrup (or any low-fructose alternative)  instead of dates, bananas, maple syrup, honey and agave as sweeteners. They are there, and they are better for you (and in my experience taste just as good). So don’t feel you have to miss out – be adventurous and try something new. 

The second is to feed your body with all those immune-boosting ingredients that we know and love: ginger, garlic, turmeric, cinnamon, lemon, dark leafy greens, dark berries, sweet potatoes, miso, sauerkraut…all of whose rich, strong and warm flavours fit perfectly with the season. The Hemsley and Hemsley Mung Bean Dahl recipe, from their book The Art of Eating Well, contains almost half of this list and is a delicious way to get your good stuff in, and the turmeric tea below is a super-quick way to get a bacteria-fighting boost.

Of course, as much as it may seem cold and wet and miserable outside, try and spend as much time out of doors as you can. It invigorates all parts of our bodily systems and gets you out in what little daylight there is. If you’re anything like me and you find the darker months slightly trying on your sun-loving system, then you may want to consider taking a supplement of vitamin D to boost your energy levels. Take it in liquid form and spend a little extra to get a good quality product. I use Solgar Liquid Vitamin D, and find it really helps.

And lastly, enjoy and relish the season! Take joy in stocking your fridge full of root vegetables of all colours, eating slightly more than is comfortable, and of cosying up in your warmest knits (I’ve got my eye on that American Vintage roll neck that Gaby blogged a few weeks ago!). I love the sound of wind and rain outside my window and the drama of walking the dog in gales and snow-storms (when they come). Watch fireworks, eat hot dogs (the vegetarian kind for me), pull your hats down over your ears flattening out and ruining your perfectly prepared hair. Get wet and muddy. Get warm and sleepy. Be happy in the moment. Oh, and eat lots of popcorn."

Lucinda xx 

Wellbeing 

September always feels like a new chapter, the opportunity to do and create. And having the opportunity to be out in the somerset hills walking my dog while the morning sun warms the earth has felt like a privilege and I feel a sense of smugness that I'm here and nature is showing me all her glory. Ask me this in 2 months time when Im walking the dog in the cold and rain I might feel differently but for now I'm embrassing this feeling. 

Take a read of Lucinda's October article and spicy up your meals with some Cauliflower in her delicuous stew this month. 

October 

"It may seem unbelievable that September is already over, but even with the glorious Indian Summer we’ve had over the past week, the early mornings definitely have the chill of Autumn about them and the sun is giving us less and less of his time each day. Whilst it’s always sad to say goodbye to summer, I look forward to the cooler months, the soft, rich colours, thick jumpers and warm earthy foods bringing with them a deep sense of comfort and peace. I try to respect the fact that my body wants to slow down, to take things at a calmer pace, and that my energy levels may need a little extra help to match up to the hot enthusiasm of summer. With this in mind I tentatively utter that ubiquitous word of the 20-teens, ‘superfood’.

The superfood list is ever expanding, covering a wide range of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and beans. Even more so nowadays, it seems to be comprised of a vast array of different coloured powders that we can add to our smoothies/ soups/ porridges and even baking. Acid green matcha powder contends with the dark pond-weed colour of spirulina and chlorella, the deep magenta of acai complements and off-sets the rich darkness of raw cacoa, and bags of pale sand sit next to each other on the shelves – maca, lucuma, baobab – all of them offering us the secret to eternal youth, glowing skin and a list of anti-oxidants as long as your arm. 

Now I am by no means adverse to a little extra boost in my juice – maca adds a delicious malty flavour to creamy shakes and a cup of match can (on some days) give me a greener substitute for my much-loved cup of coffee – and I am sure that they supplement my diet in a positive way. But the problem is we tend to pile them all in at once. What with the craze for liquid meals in the form of green juices and smoothies, its all too easy to shove a spoonful of everything ‘healthy’ we have in the cupboard into the mix and I’m not at all sure how much of these high-protein, fat-consuming, anti-oxidinating miracle workers our bodies can really utilise.  Indeed, the jury is definitely still out on whether or not they have an affect and there are all sorts of other factors to consider such as the miles travelled by said magic powders to reach us in the first place. A large number on the list seem to come from South America, and there have been accusations of the current trend for all things superfood to be depleting supplies and creating un-ethical production methods in their countries of origin. 

So what to do? Instead of spending your whole pay-cheque on stocking your cupboard full of the latest imported powdered craze, try looking closer to home and perhaps investing in one or two powders that have stood the test of time, are ethically produced and you like the taste of (I personally don’t care how good spirulina is for me, it tastes like duck weed and smells like my old fish-tank).  This month I have included one of my go-to suppers for when I want something warming and comforting that packs an equally strong nutritional punch. The star of the show? The humble cauliflower, and not blitzed into replica cous-cous or baked into faux-pizza, but simply roasted and topping a ludicrously easy and rich bean stew. "

recipe

Click on image to read or print 

Have a fabulous October Voila readers, wrapping yourselves up nice and warm in one of those cozy-looking coats Gaby posted about a few weeks ago!

Lots of love,

Lucinda x

Wellbeing 

After a summer break Lucinda is back with a lovely article for Voila's well being post. Take the time to read it and make a change if you feel you need to.I have found life is about choices and you make those choices and therefore what happens after is a direct response to that. When you say it like that it puts the power in your hands. So when people say to me they haven't got time to exercise thats a choice.You can choose to spend an hour doing your hair in the morning and say you have no time in the mornings to do anything else or you can make a conscious choice to say I'm going to spend half an hour doing my hair and half an hour meditating or a form of movement and stretching! 

Simply click on the recipe image at the bottom of the article to enlarge or print out and save in your recipe folder. 

   Move the body

" There is definitely a slight autumnal chill in the air these past few days and although I love the colours and light of October and November, I can’t say I feel entirely ready for it! This may have something top do with having spent five weeks in the never-ending heat and humidity of Miami during July and August. Despite the fact that every day was spent in a swelteringly hot yoga room, studying and practising until there was not a drop of sweat left in my body, I have since missed the deep bone-melting warmth that only tropical sun can bring. Stepping out into the pre-dawn morning to be cloaked in a swathe of thick breathless air brought a comfort that I can’t describe. And it certainly made my early morning practice more bearable! Unfortunately we do not live in the tropics but in the lush green verdure of rainy Britain and we have to find a way to continue to motivate ourselves on even the darkest and coldest of mornings, as moving our bodies is as central to our well being as diet is. 

      

With that in mind, I thought I would focus this month’s post on exercise, and how to cultivate for ourselves a regular and healthy routine that is sustainable through the winter months. There was a great quote doing the social media rounds a few months ago from some eligible nutritionist that went something along the lines of ‘if you need to exercise to lose weight then there is something wrong with your diet’. Whilst I wholeheartedly agree with this (a healthy diet should provide us with all the nutrients we need and no excess rubbish to gather around our mid-riffs), taken out of its greater context it could be somewhat misleading. I can see how for many people this might suggest that all they have to do is endlessly count-calories in order to be thin and healthy and to ignore and even discredit the need for an active lifestyle alongside this. This, of course, is not what was meant. Exercise shouldn’t be done to increase weight loss (a thing wholly measured in negatives – how many pounds less am I? How much thinner is my waist? etc…), but to strengthen, cleanse and invigorate our inner and outer bodies. The right nutritional intake can do a world of good towards creating a healthy environment for our organs to live in, but only good cardiovascular movement can really increase the power and life-expectancy of them. We can have the purest blood on the planet, but if it’s not pumping around our body with virility and speed, it cannot be replenished and refreshed. And although we may be beautifully slim with glowing skin and bright eyes, if our muscles are not strong and our bones are not dense our bodies will not support us into old age. Basically, if we are really serious about well being both inside and out, exercise is not an option.

For me, moving my body everyday is essential to both my physical and emotional happiness. When I was younger that meant riding horses everyday for over ten years and playing sport at school. In my early twenties I tried to justify a sedentary daily life by the fact I stayed up until the early hours dancing in a pair of deadly high-heels! This eventually wore me out and I became a mediocre runner and gym-goer. I found a great amount of satisfaction in being outside and alone with my thoughts and seeing the weekly improvement in my fitness that running gives you, but after a string of injuries I decided I had to do something to help heal my body as well. That was when I found Ashtanga yoga and over the past three years I have gradually built up to a six day-a-week practice and left running and the gym well and truly behind. My body has never felt better and I have felt all of the benefits that yoga so ubiquitously brags of. This dynamic and challenging form of yoga and its spiritual discipline suits my personality and mind, and I now cannot imagine my life without it, so much so that I am even starting to teach it myself!

This does not mean however that it is for every one. The single most important thing I would say about beginning to build an exercise routine is to do something you enjoy. There are a multitude of activities out there, from yoga to running to dance to rock climbing, karate, trapeze, hula-hooping and skate-boarding. Do not waste time doing something you hate and do not feel you have to do only one thing – a variety of activity is also really beneficial. However you do need to give any one activity time to settle in. Your first run on a cold icy morning in November will not be fun. Your first Pilates class will quite possibly leave you sore and stiff for few days afterwards. And I can guarantee that doing fifty weight-bearing squats will incapacitate you for at least a week! A month or two of regular attendance at any one thing should give you enough time to feel some of the benefits and to decide if it is something you enjoy. Commit to this and find what makes your heart sing so that it is no longer a chore!

The second most important thing is to build a routine. Exercise needs to become as much a part of your life as brushing your teeth – an ingrained habit that you don’t question or whinge about (unless you are four years old and have run out of bubblegum flavoured toothpaste). There is all sorts of advice on how much we should exercise each day or week and to what intensity. The current trend is for High Intensity Training (HIT) – regular but short bursts of very strong cardio activity that briefly pushes you to your limits. But perhaps the best and most achievable bit of advice I have found is that twenty minutes a day of movement that gets your heart pumping and helps build strength should be your target. Every day. Not an option, just a fact. Of course this doesn’t work for some people. So maybe, three days a week for an hour. Or five days a week for half an hour. But try and set the days and stick to them and have a minimum amount of time that you are going to exercise for, set at an easily achievable level – this way you more often than not end up exceeding it and feeling even better about yourself! If we chop and change too much, it is easy to let our targets slip and we often find a whole week has gone by where we haven’t done anything due to constantly putting something off till the next day or giving up before we’ve even started. Be strong and be disciplined and you will eventually build a healthy habit that lasts a lifetime.

The final piece of advice I would give is to make sure you balance the type of exercise you do with an opposing but complimentary practice. For example, in the gym every muscle you work on strengthening you also need to work on stretching and releasing. This is also true at a deeper level: if the exercise you do focuses entirely on strengthening the physical body you might want to consider adding in a meditation or mindfulness practice that helps strengthen your spirit and soul. Yoga and Pilates have had particular success because they offer a two for one – strong bodies and strong minds – but they can also compliment all other forms of exercise which often leave imbalances in the body and mind. If you haven’t already you should definitely try out Voila’s Pilates classes, as Gaby is a wonderful teacher who will challenge you and help you to build a really strong connection with your inner and outer body. And to top that she will also be able to make sure you look glamorous and gorgeous as you do it! 

So before I bid you farewell a quick re-cap: do something you love, build a disciplined routine around it, and create balance within it. But do it now, not tomorrow, and do it because you want to build your body into more than what it is, not because you want to shed the parts of it you don’t like!

Happy Autumn folks and happy exercising,

Lots of love,

Lucinda x "

Wellbeing 

I always look forward to receiving Lucinda's emails in my inbox. I definitely feel inspired when reading her articles so thank you xx

I agree with the fat and acid synopsis of dressing. I would say that has been my number one trick for dressing that has helped my create my style and would probably define my style, mixing smart and casual. I love an old battered pair of jeans with a silk shirt or a smart leather skirt and a relaxed t.shirt. Perfect !!

Gx   

   Get Inspired 

Well hello there lovely people! How are you enjoying the sunshine?

 It’s been sweltering here in Bath and, as a true sun-worshipper, I have loved every minute of it. I find that the longer days and cloudless skies really energise me in a way that I forget is possible during the dark winter months. I feel happier and more inspired by the warmth and the light and the colours of Spring and Summer, and find that I have less need to follow recipes and more desire to create my own out of what’s available at the market. Which gets me on to this month’s topic: inspiration.

Inspiration can come from every corner of the world in every form known and unknown to man. Sometimes it is obvious – we look at something someone else has put together and find it attractive or meaningful to us and so we try to recreate it in our own way. Other times we may feel a more ‘divine’ type of inspiration, where an idea comes to us as if from out of nowhere, as if it is ours and only ours. But more often than not, if we examine those ideas really carefully we can find a thread of inspiration that does lead outside of ourselves and to more tangible things in our day to day life. This is not to say that we are not original and creative, only that we are human and that almost all ideas have their own narrative thread that tells of their formation. Rather than finding this a depressing thought, I think it adds a depth, complexity and sophistication to our creations that honours all the work others have done in the same pursuit.

Today we are bombarded with material from which to gain inspiration. The internet is full of images of everything imaginable, and we can find information on almost anything we want to by just the click of a button. Indeed, Instagram and especially Pintrest are huge social media sites who run entirely on our desire to be inspired by what others do. I absolutely love to see the outfits and styles that Gaby so perfectly puts together herself on Voila, but I also love that she posts images of where she gets her inspiration – its not only acknowledging the source of her own creativity, but showing how the process works (if you haven’t already, check out Voila’s swoon-worthy Pinterest page). Of course, if we see an outfit in Vogue that we love, we do not go out and buy every single thing the 6’ size 6 model is wearing and expect to look just like her (although advertising works on the premise we do!). We may think how we can incorporate one of the pieces into our current wardrobe, or what we have already that could look similar, or how we could alter the colour or cut of some of the things to better suit our own personal style or shape. And of course, for most of us, we will look for cheaper versions of the same thing. As we grow older, we learn (with the help of blogs like Voila), to know ourselves inside and out and to refine our style according to that. The more we feel ourselves in the clothes we wear, the happier and more authentic we feel.

I feel the same is true about cooking. Other than when I am baking (which is more of a science than most cooking), I very rarely follow a recipe to the letter. I tend to see something I like, have a look at what I have in my fridge, and then work from there. I like to add things or processes that I have learned from other recipes and add them in where I think they might enhance the finished result. One of the best cooking philosophies I’ve heard comes from Nigel Slater, which is colour = flavour. Whether it is adding a little charred edge to roasted vegetables, getting a really burnished gold crust on your pastry, or using the deepest yellow organic butter, I find that in most food related issues this is true. Of course, you also need a contrasting blandness to really strong flavour which is why the whitest of fluffy rice is the perfect accompaniment to a spicy curry and why gently steamed vegetables are a light and cleansing alternative to honey-roasted everything. Balance, as with everything in life, is always key. This links to another great piece of advice that I take into the kitchen which actually came as fashion advice from the ever-stylish Lauren Laverne: always dress with fat and acid, that is something hard with something soft, something bright with something neutral etc… I find this is equally necessary in the kitchen, the contrast of sharp and sweet in desserts, of hot chilli with cooling sour cream, lemon with olive oil in the simplest of salad dressings, avocado with chilli and lime….the list goes on and on!

I have few favourite cooking blogs that I love to look at too, and find incredibly inspiring. Aside from the big guns such as Nigel, Jamie and Yotam Ottolenghi, whose books I can while over for hours, my two absolute favourite blogs are www.mynewroots.com and www.greenkitchenstories.com  If you haven’t heard of these two yet, head over to them right away from some photographic, Scandinavian, vegetarian food heaven! I recently made the beetroot tart from Green Kitchen Stories which proved very popular in the home and on the web, but this month I thought I would share with you a recipe of theirs that I tweaked and played with according to what I had on hand. Of course sometimes this can go wrong ( I once made the most disastrous curry by altering the amounts and types of spices in the recipe – it tasted very, very strange). But that’s OK too, in fact going wrong is one of the ways we learn best. So here it is, my version of Green Kitchen Stories Asparagus, Fennel and Spinach Soup. You can find the original recipe here: http://www.greenkitchenstories.com/asparagus-fennel-spinach-soup-topping/

Click on the recipe to print out and read 

You can make any variety of flavour combinations with soup, and if you are not used to experimenting in the kitchen, it’s the perfect place to start as its hard to go wrong – just sauté or roast any combination of vegetables with onion and garlic and maybe some herbs or spices, then add stock and blend (if you want a creamy soup that is). I really love David and Luise’s addition of toppings to soups. It makes them so much more exciting and filling, so try different versions of the toppings too: crumbled feta and walnuts with a little honey perhaps to bring sharpness, crunch and sweetness on top of a creamy celeriac soup, or spicy roasted chickpeas with parsley and lemon to bring a Moroccan edge to your standard roasted vegetable soup. Whatever you do this summer, use those extra hours of light to get inspired, get creative, and get happy

Sending lots of summer love from,

Lucinda x