By Camila Karalyte
The current worldwide situation has led to an increase in stress and anxiety, but cooking can be a creative outlet to relieve any tensions we’re experiencing. This is the perfect opportunity for us to spend more time in the kitchen and be more inventive with our recipes, especially if we usually struggle to find the time to cook.
To help bring some inspiration into your kitchens, we have teamed up with the founders of Eat Biotiful to give you some healthy and delicious recipes to try at home.
We encourage shopping from farmers and small businesses. Farmers have a wider range of seasonal and local produce, as well as being organic, so it is well worth making a trip to your local market, if still open, instead of a supermarket.
If you are unable to leave the house, here are some companies who will deliver organic and foods from local farmers to your door in the UK:
Breakfast
Kick off your Easter morning with this recipe, a great way to start your day and is more interesting than your usual slice of toast. Packed full of vitamins, this smoothie is an easy way to get your 5-a-day in too!
The Green smoothie:
Preparation
Serves: 1
Time: 10 minutes
Ingredients:
- ½ avocado – (You can try Kale leaves instead, which can be easily found locally)
- Handful of spinach
- 2 apples
- Mint leaves
- ½ lime juice (Or lemon if you don’t have limes)
Directions
- Put apples into the mixer first.
- Add your greens, lime and avocado. If your blender has speeds, start it on low to break up the spinach. Mix all ingredients in a blender until smooth.
Spinach benefits
Low in fat and cholesterol and high in niacin and zinc, as well as protein, fiber, vitamins A, C, E and K. Spinach are abundant in flavonoids, that act as antioxidants to keep cholesterol from oxidizing and protect your body from free radicals.
TIP
Retain the iron content of spinach while cooking by adding lemon juice or vinegar.
Snacks
Big, exciting and reminiscent of our youth, Easter eggs are the obvious choice of snack for the day, however, if you don’t want to over-indulge in chocolate-based snack, here is a recipe that should help you get through the day. These are also great as a post-work out snack as they’re healthy and boost your immune system.
Matcha green tea bars
Preparation:
Time: 20 minutes
Ingredients for 16 bars
Bars:
- 75g of flour
- 2 eggs
- 50ml of agave syrup/ honey
- 3g of tea
Chocolate :
- 50g of dark chocolate
- pinch of salt
- pinch of powder
Directions
- Mix the eggs and the agave until you get a firm and foamy mix. You can do it with an electrical mixer or manually.
- Add the flour and the tea to the mix. Sieve the flour and the tea previously to avoid lumps. The more tea you add, the darker the bars will be.
- Prepare a flat tray with baking paper and pour the mix, making sure it’s even and has a height of 1cm, approximately.
- Bake it at 200º for 7 minutes.
- Let it cool and freeze it, in order to be able to cut it later into bars.
- Melt the chocolate. Once melted, add a pinch of salt and and stir.
- Dip half of the bar in the chocolate and place it on the tray until cold to serve. Repeat this process with every bar.
Matcha tea benefits
High in antioxidants, Vitamin C and tannin. Reduces cholesterol and the sugar levels in your blood and it helps weight loss
Lunch
You don’t want to eat all your calories with a heavy lunch so this cauliflower rice is perfect for keeping hunger at bay whilst also providing you with essential vitamins and energy.
Cauliflower rice
Preparation
Serves: 2
Time: 15 minutes
Ingredients:
- 1 washed and drained cauliflower
- 3 cloves garlic (chopped)
- 1 tsp olive oil
- finely chopped fresh parsley
- 2 tbsp bone broth or water
- Salt and pepper
Directions
- Remove leaves and the hard end of the cauliflower. Use a food processor or a grater to grate the cauliflower into rice-sized pieces.
- In a pan, add the olive oil and fry the garlic over a low heat until golden. Then add the grated cauliflower and the broth or water. Stir to mix.
- Lid on, cook over a medium heat to let the cauliflower steam for 5-6 minutes until tender and dry.
- Add fresh parsley and season with salt and pepper to taste.
Cauliflower benefits
It’s high in antioxidants. Contains a ton of vitamin C and manganese, as well as carotenoids. It also has anti-inflammatory properties, plenty of fibre and increased blood flow. It’s packed with vitamin B and vitamins 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, and 9.
This cauliflower rice can be eaten on its own, but is also a great side dish. If you haven’t made the complete switch to vegan, then this is a healthier alternative to normal rice or roast potatoes and can be served alongside meat (or fish).
Dinner
Green and vegan dinners don’t have to be bland or boring, this recipe is easy to make and so delicious, you won’t even miss the meat! We eat with our eyes first, so incorporate lots of seasonal ingredients to give your plate plenty of colour.
Courgette spaghetti with avocado pesto
Preparation
Serves: 2
Time: 30 minutes
Avocado Pesto
- 1 avocado (or you can add spinach puree instead)
- 50g brazil nuts
- 1 handful fresh mint leaves
- Juice of 1 lime
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- salt and pepper
Spaghetti
- 2 courgettes
- 1 tsp olive oil
Directions
- Prepare the courgette spaghetti by simple putting the courgettes through a spiralizer. Gently heat them in a frying pan with the olive oil for about 5 minutes until they are soft.
- While the spaghetti cooks, place the nuts into a food processor and blend for 1 minute until they are crushed. Then add the avocado, fresh mint leaves, olive oil, juiced lime and a bit of salt and pepper. Blend all together until you get a nice and creamy sauce.
- Mix the spaghetti and pesto in a bowl and serve.
Avocado benefits
Good for weight management and protects from cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, treating osteoarthritis and enhancing the absorption of nutrients for the body. Avocado also helps keep eyes healthy and protects the skin from signs of ageing and the harmful effects of UV rays.
Courgette benefits
Contains very few calories and has a high-water content, which makes them a dieter’s Friend. It provides useful amounts of immune system-boosting vitamin C, and significant levels of potassium, which is key to controlling blood pressure.
Dessert
As a result of the restrictions on how often we can leave the house and exercise, we are burning less calories than we normally would. Keeping this in mind, it might be an idea to skip a heavy dessert, but to curb your sweet tooth, here are a few of our favourite organic Easter eggs which you can order online to avoid unessential shopping:
The brand Cocoa Loco has a variety of chocolate treats, including a range of Easter eggs. This dark chocolate egg is handmade using fair trade palm oil and is suitable for vegans too! The eggs come in a range of flavours such as cherry bakewell and crystallised ginger, and they’re also filled with giant chocolate buttons for a little surprise.
Green & Blacks is a popular brand when it comes to fair trade treats. They have a range of organic Easter eggs in a variety of flavours, but this milk chocolate and butterscotch one is one of our favourite. If you’re after vegan eggs, they have a range of them too.
This sea salt Easter egg from Love Cocoa ticks all the boxes; it’s vegan, plastic-free and the packaging is completely recyclable, as well as using fair trade chocolate. It looks and tastes fantastic too!
If you’re after a more interesting egg, this free-from splat egg from Hotel chocolat is perfect. It’s aesthetically pleasing, as well as tasty but the best part is that it’s completely vegan and suitable for anyone intolerant to gluten, nuts or wheat.
Using this free time to explore the kitchen and shopping sustainably sourced ingredients is a step towards a more ethical lifestyle. Cleaner cooking will help you stop focusing on the stress that is happening worldwide while helping the planet at the same time. Be creative and have fun with it, as we all need to find ways to be positive in this moment and expressing ourselves through food will allow that.
All these recipes and more can be found at Eat Biotiful, where founders Claudia and Elisa share their tasty and healthy recipes and foodie ideas.
Camila Karalyte
Camila is a recent graduate in English literature and creative writing. A lover of books and music, with a passion for writing.
1 comment
Transfer the leek mixture and sweet potatoes back into the pan, add the artichoke hearts and mix. Season with salt and pepper and pour in the egg mixture.