Celebrate with Baked Salmon

It is the season of gathering and celebration and our focus turns to the food that we share with our friends and family. Things can get RICH and sugary!

I like to plan to eat fish or shellfish at least once or twice through the holiday period, on Christmas Eve and shellfish on New Years Eve, so that I know I will be regularly sitting down to lean protein and a healthy dose of omega 3 fatty acids for a food source. I also love that I can have a delicious roast on the table in under twenty minutes when I choose a gorgeous side of wild salmon!

Science finds it incredibly hard to measure the health benefits of nutrition in clinical trials, especially when using supplements, but whilst correlation cannot prove causation, numerous population studies have found that those folks who include cold water fatty fish in their diets enjoy many positive health benefits and I want in on that!

Omega 3’s are correlated with improved cardiovascular health, reduced incidence of dementia and depression and reduced inflammation in the body.

Our standard American diet provides us with an abundance of inflammation promoting omega 6 fatty acids and planning meals that will redress the balance of our lipid profile is a sensible choice. Especially during the stressful holiday season.

Simple, quick and deliciously easy to dress up, make wild salmon a part of your family holiday traditions.

Ingredients

1 1/2 lb wild salmon, filet or steak 1 tablespoon olive oil
1-2 sprigs fresh rosemary
1/4 tsp sea salt

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

Pat the salmon dry and place on sheet. Drizzle olive oil along the salmon and spread evenly with the back of a spoon or rub a teaspoon of paprika into the flesh of the salmon. Sprinkle sea salt evenly over the fish. Sprinkle fresh rosemary leaves evenly over the fish or cover with a few lemon slices.

Place in the oven for 12-15 minutes or until ready. The fish will flake and lose its opaqueness when it is ready.

Mexican Hot Chocolate

So you have wrapped all the presents, made all of the food and been outside in the cold for a hike, skate or ski.

Here is a soothing and delicious go-to recipe for warming up your gorgeous self, from the inside out. A hot chocolate recipe that instead of giving you sugar laden empty calories, supports your body with minerals, provides nutrition for the lining of your digestive tract and boosts your metabolism all in one delicious mug.

Raw cacao is rich in our relaxation mineral, magnesium and helps to boost our iron stores. The addition of digestion-soothing ground ginger, blood-sugar-balancing cinnamon and just a pinch of cayenne to kick start you metabolism is what elevates this beverage from being your average hot chocolate to a health supporting elixir.

I added collagen to support optimal gut health and add a dose of protein to this hot chocolate and topped with coconut milk so that a mug that is normally full of nutrition depleting sugar and milk powders becomes rich with nutrition and healthy fat.

Hot Tip: If you know that you are fatigued with a poor functioning thyroid gland or exhausted adrenals, add a pinch of sea salt to support your adrenal health and intensify the chocolate flavour of the drink!

This hot chocolate is self care at Christmas. Eat smarter not less ladies.

So delicious and soothing that even Santa wanted some!

Ingredients

1 tbsp raw cacao
2 tsp grass-fed collagen powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
2 tbsp coconut milk
1 tbsp maple syrup

Instructions

Put the raw cacao, collagen powder, cinnamon, ginger and cayenne into a large mug.
Add boiling water to the mug 3/4 of the way full
Top the hot chocolate with coconut milk and maple syrup and whisk until frothy and completely blended.
Sip before Santa gets to it!

If chocolate is not your thing! Is this possible? Then you might enjoy this delicious recipe for an immunity boosting, high vitamin C, mineral dense tea. Click here for my recipe for Kukicha Tea.

Immunity Boosting Kukicha Tea

The Holiday season is a busy time of year and so when we do get five minutes to ourselves it is helpful if we make that time count.

My guilty pleasure every year is to take time to watch Love Actually the movie. It is a ritual for me. This is the space I create to do nothing and to just revisit all the scenes I know and love at a time of year when I HAVE SO MUCH TO DO! During Love Actually, I take a breathe! (Also, London, at Christmas time!)

This ritual has worked so well for me each year that I am actively looking for new ones that will benefit my health and well being at the darkest time of the year when I am often feeling stressed out by my to do list and may also be stressing my body with additional alcohol and sugar.

Making and sitting to drink Kukicha Tea is a new favourite ritual of mine. Again I can take a deep breath!

Kukicha or twig tea is a blend of green tea made from four different stem, stalk and twig parts of the Camellia sinensis or tea plant. It is rich in nutrition because the growing part of the twig and stem is included in this tea with all of the nourishment that a plant would need to sprout a new shoot, included in your teapot.

This stem and twig tea is low in caffeine and rich in antioxidants and polyphenols which prevent free radical damage and support beautiful skin; but I love it for it’s vitamin and mineral content.
Twig tea contains minerals such as Zinc, Selenium, Copper, Manganese, and Fluoride and six times more Calcium than cows milk, making it perfect for supporting bone health as we move through menopause and our bones lose their estrogen protection. (Yes! Your hormones affect your bone strength!)
This tea also contains vitamins B1, B2, Niacin, vitamin A, and two and a half times more vitamin C than an orange so it supports your immunity, tissue health and the health of your nervous system during the Winter months.

It also replaces valuable vitamins and minerals that are eroded and leached from the body by alcohol and sugar, the two best friends of the Holiday Season.

I like to make a ritual of drinking this tea and to double down on its immunity boosting content.

I add fresh ginger and a cinnamon stick to my teapot and squeeze in the juice of a fresh orange. Then I add the twigs and stems of the tea and brew for ten minutes with filtered water that has just come off the boil. I then top up my pot with gently warmed pomegranate juice to boost the antioxidant content of this Christmassy beverage.

Then I sit. And enjoy. And breathe for a moment as I feel grateful for this direct action of self care.

Why not try something new and make Kukicha tea one of your Winter self-care practices?

Immunity boosting Kukicha Tea

Ingredients

4 cups of filtered water boiled and left for 1 minute
1 ounce of Japanese Kukicha, Bancha, Twig tea
1 cinnamon stick
1 thumb sized piece of fresh ginger sliced
1 large naval orange juiced into the pot
1 cup pomegranate juice

Instructions

Boil the water in a kettle and allow to rest for 1 minute
Whilst the water is boiling and resting, add the tea, cinnamon stick, ginger and orange juice to the pot
Pour the water into the pot and allow to steep for 10 minutes
Warm the pomegranate juice gently in a pan and add to the pot, or, if serving this tea to a child pour the pomegranate juice directly into a mug.
Pour the tea through a strainer and into your favourite mug or cup
Take five minutes of me time to just savour this seasonal health building tea!

P.S. If you love this tea, you will enjoy another decadent recipe for a nutrient dense winter beverage, Mexican Hot Chocolate. Click here to find the recipe and make this gorgeous hot drink your own.