Shake Up Your Wake Up! - Healthy Breakfast 2016

Hello everyone! :-) How are you all? Hope you are well and healthy. Yes it has been a while and I have missed you all. Truly I have missed my nutrition world. The reason why I have been absent is because I have been busy with my other job at a lovely children's centre doing outreach work, which I am still currently doing. But today I worked as A H Nutritionist and did a healthy breakfast workshop to celebrate Shake Up Your Wake Up! and I loved it.

Healthy Ramadan 2014: A meal in a glass

For Muslims in Ramadan, it can be very difficult to eat two healthy full meals with very little time in between the two. And its even more difficult to ensure that we are getting all the essential nutrients from both of these meals too. Here I have explained how you can go easy on one of the meal times without missing it on the nutrients and ensuring you are getting a well-balanced meal too. 

Workplace Snacking

Hello! Hope you are all well. I have always realised that healthy snacking in any situation can be a problem, whether you are at home, with friends, family or even on holiday. In every environment there are choices to be made that have an impact on your health and well-being. However, having recently started a part-time office-based job I have come to realise how easy it is to fall into this unhealthy trap. But don’t worry I am here, to help you and give you to tips on how you can turn this around and learn to fight against the nibbles and treats that just keep creeping back. 

RECIPE: 3 Ingredient Snack Bars

After researching and writing up the product review on cereal bars/energy bars/snack bars, which are growing on our supermarket shelves, I was determined to find a healthy alternative. Many people have these high sugar high fat bars on a regular basis unaware of what is actually in them.

Interactive Health Check

It's important to get a health check regularly and I have not had one in while, so when my mum told me about the machine at the Hackney Service Centre (behind the town hall), I knew I had to go! I went today and here is how it went. 

RECIPE: Vegetable Crisps

Hiya! I feel like it's been a while. Hope you are all doing well and enjoyed the half-term holidays, I had a family wedding which was fun! But slightly unhealthy, so I am trying to get back into the healthy mode and work off all those extra calories I consumed. A little while ago I had some extra vegetables and decided to try the new craze of vegetable crisps. Don't knock it till you've tried it, find out how I made them. 

RECIPE: Eggless Pancakes

I didn't have time to make pancakes for breakfast this morning so I decided to have some for dinner instead. But I'd used up all the eggs for another dish.... Oops! Well, I didn't let that stop me making pancakes on pancake day! So I started searching for egg alternatives and egg-less pancake recipes. Here's what I came up with. 

RECIPE: Banana and Walnut Loaf Cake

What do you do when you have a few extra very ripe bananas on a spare Sunday afternoon? Use it to make something yummy of course! Even though I’m a nutritionist I love the smell and taste of freshly made straight-out-of-the-oven home-made cake or any bakes. With my first attempt at making banana loaf cake I kind of just made up the recipe as I went along, which came out really nice (if I do say so myself!). This is very rare for me as I usually have to follow a recipe for something to come out right.

RECIPES: 3 Things To Do With Beetroot

If you’ve been following me on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram you will have seen that I posted a photo of the beetroot dip that I made a while ago. I promised to publish the recipe in the mini recipe e-book that I was going to publish, but that didn’t happen…..instead I’m sharing it here with you in this blog, as well as the other things I made with the lovely vibrant nutritious beetroot. 

Breakfast Week 2014: Healthy Start to a Healthy Day!

Breakfast week is one of the most exciting weeks for me as a nutritionist. I’ve had fun sharing my breakfast’s photos with you this week on my Facebook page (check them out if you haven't seen them already); I hope they’ve inspired you. I’ve always enjoyed this meal, so much so that sometimes in the night I think about what I will have in the morning, especially if I am craving pancakes! 

Party Snacks: So Simple, So Healthy!

The healthy bug is going around; everyone is watching what they eat and drink, well most people anyway. Most of my family at the moment, especially with the New Year resolutions and making new goals (I’m still working on my dad!). So when my family get together, I try to experiment and make healthy foods that everyone can enjoy, including the kids. Here are some of the things I made for our last get together and I think it went well. They were all very quick and simple to make. Everyone enjoyed it, didn’t have any complaints and we all ate happily and healthily. I have included the recipes below; so try them out, give them a try and let me know what you think. 

RECIPE: Aubergine Towers

I came upon this recipe when browsing a low-fat recipe book and it just looked delicious. I first made this in Ramadhan 2013 (the month of fasting for Muslism), to have as a light snack/meal for iftaar, (the meal at sunset when you break the fast). I had it with a side of couscous and it tasted so yummy. In fact it tasted like I was having pizza. I would even use this as a healthy pizza alternative recipe, or a low-carb meal. 

The 3 Cores of Healthy Eating

There are so many tips and advice on what to have and what not to have, that we often get confused by the many misunderstood messages flying around making us question every single thing we eat and drink. If you want to be healthy AND happy at the same time (which can be done), follow my 3 core guidelines below. 

RECIPE: Oaty Protein Pancakes

You probably all know by now how much I love pancakes, I am always experimenting and trying to make it more yummy and healthy. I love having pancakes for breakfast especially in the weekend, I do prefer my sweet fruit topped pancakes but I am growing fonder of the savoury ones too. My spinach and feta pancakes are divine! If I do say so myself...check out my savoury pancake recipes. 

Homemade Protein Shake

Since, my brother has become more active; going to the gym regularly and been going to play football (a lot!!), he has been asking me to make him a protein shake for a while. I have made some before and have been experimenting but I think I have finally mastered it.

With people being more health conscious, going to the gym and being doing more exercise, the interest in protein shakes has grown so much over the last couple of years. But what does it actually do? 

RECIPE: Homemade Granola

<<- This is the dessert I usually make with my homemade granola, fruit parfait. Since the first time I made everyone has loved it, even unhealthy sceptics! I usually bulk bake the granola and store it in a airtight container so it there for me to have and use whenever I want, a healthy convenience food! You can have the granola by it self as a snack, with milk for breakfast, top it on your porridge or any yoghurt for a healthy crunch. Try it yourself just to see how simple it is to make, recipe below: 

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 20 minutes

Total time: 30 minutes

Serves: 10

Ingredients

·         200g rolled oats

·         2 tbsp of canola/coconut oil

·         3 tbsp of honey

·         100g of mixed seeds

·         50g nuts (of your choice, I used flaked almonds)

·         Dried fruit, pieces.

How to make it:

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C.
2. Mix the oats, oil and honey together in a bowl. Make sure the oats are coated and sticking together a bit.
3. Add the nuts and seeds. I usually use a pack of mixed seeds and flaked almonds.
4. Lay the oats on a baking tray, evenly and pop it in the oven.
5. Bake for about 10 minutes, depending on how brown you like your oats. I like it really brown, so I bake it for a few more minutes but careful not to burn it.
6. Give it a mix and bake it for another 10 minutes.
7. Take it out the oven and let it cool. Add your dried fruit pieces.
8. Enjoy! Great for breakfast, snack or dessert. 

To make the fruit parfait dessert: I crushed some berries with the back of a fork, layer it in a dessert bowl or cup with Greek yoghurt (I used Total Greek), and top with the granola. Simple yet scrumptious! 

VARIATIONS: - You could add, walnuts, cashew, pine nuts. – Add honey to the yoghurt for a sweeter taste. 

By Ayshabibi H. ANutr

A H Nutritionist

14th November 2013

RECIPE: Savoury Pancakes - Pancake Day 2013

This year I decided to make savoury pancakes instead of the usual sweet pancakes. The great thing about savoury pancakes is that it can be eaten as a meal for lunch or dinner, not just for breakfast. I was so overwhelmed with the different recipes out there for savoury pancakes, I was spoilt for choice, they all sounded too scrumptious that I found it very hard to decide which to include in this blog. Keep in mind that you can vary the recipe according to your own taste and feel free to experiment with different ingredients and spices. Here are the ones I made for me and family:

RECIPE: Leek and Potato Soup

So last week I finally made leek and potato soup for the first time. With leeks being in season in February I thought it was a good time and it tasted yum on some of those cold wintery nights. It was very easy to make and I used the recipe from the ‘Eat Seasonally’ website.