Paprika Shrimp with Red Pepper and Kale

When we are feeling depleted and everyday tired. When our hair feels brittle and dry and our nails split. When we begin to gain weight in midlife and we don’t even understand why. When we feel sluggish and a little bit blue; wanting to hide under the covers all day, we can support our very best midlife health by eating foods that support our thyroid gland.

Our thyroid gland is responsible for some of the heavy lifting in our bodies as it is the ‘control’ gland for our metabolism, circadian rhythm and menstrual cycle. When our thyroid gland is under nourished and under performing, then we can feel really ‘off’ and uncomfortable in our skin.

This dish deeply nurtures our thyroid gland with iodine rich shrimp and sea salt, metabolism boosting coconut oil to sauté all the colourful ingredients and cooked greens that will not run amok by introducing ‘raw green’ goitrogens into the body.

(Goitrogens are cruciferous vegetable based substances that block the thyroid glands use of the mineral iodine.)

I often make this dish with collard greens, as they are the leafy green most dense in easily absorbed plant based calcium, but kale is a great substitute.

Warming paprika will stimulate the thyroid gland and parsley and Vitamin C rich red pepper provide anti-oxidants to scour free radical and promote health. To find the recipe for another delicious seafood dish that supports the optimal health of your thyroid gland click here for my Moules Marinére recipe.

What I love most about this beautiful pan full of colour is that it is family friendly, quick to make and downright delicious!

Ingredients

1 tbsp coconut oil

2 cloves garlic roughly chopped

1 red pepper sliced

1 bunch kale or collard greens finely chopped

1 lb sustainably raised shrimp rinsed (I like Selva brand which supports mangrove planting projects)

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp sea salt

Welcome additions: 1 sweet potato finely diced, 1 cup halved cherry tomatoes

Instructions

1. Melt the coconut oil in a skillet and add the garlic and red pepper and sauté for 3-5 minutes until they are soft

2. Add the paprika and salt and sauté for 1 minute to ‘wake up’ the smoky paprika flavours

3. Add the shrimp and kale or collards and put a lid on the skillet. If you are adding sweet potato or tomatoes add at this point.

4. Sauté for 2 minutes and stir to ensure that the shrimp are cooked and go pink evenly. Return the lid.

5. Sauté for another 3-5 minutes until the shrimp are fully cooked. Garnish with finely chopped parsley.

6. Serve over cooked rice or barley or toss through pasta.

Beet, Celery, Apple and Ginger Smoothie

I want to eat healthy and I want to feel good at 52. What does that look like for me?

1. I want to feel energized everyday and fully capable to power through the activities I plan for myself.

2. I want to feel joyful when I wake up in the morning and excited for my day - no matter what life throws at me.

3. I want to feel resilient and strong in my mind and body and comfortable in my own skin. I don’t need to be perfect but I want to love myself when I look in the mirror.

I want to build the health that I am planning on enjoying until I am 90 years plus.

As a Certified Holistic Nutrition Consultant, I believe that the food I eat has the power to make to manifest this fabulous health and that the habit of taking the very best care of me, using food and nutrition, is also the perfect way to help myself through my menopausal experience.

Wahoo! This is exciting and empowering stuff right here ladies!

I do not have time for extensive meal prep, expensive ‘superfood’ ingredients or bullshit unachievable health goals that put me in a competition with my sister to be skinnier or ‘younger’ looking. Those days are over.

This recipe right here is, for me, the epitome of how simple everyday ingredients can build our health.

Beets are supportive of our liver function and we need that support in peri-menopause when our liver is working hard to de-conjugate (break-down) excess hormone in our bodies and carry it out of the body.

Celery is anti-inflammatory and supports our digestive health and blood sugar balance.

Apples are rich in vitamin C and pectin, a fibre that binds with everyday toxins and supports their removal from the body (think of your hot flash, night sweat and excessive bleed promoting excess hormone again ladies)

Ginger is highly anti-inflammatory, may help to reduce muscle pain (including menstrual cramps) and can help with osteoarthritis. Ginger aids chronic indigestion and claims have been made that it can reduce blood sugar levels and cholesterol levels. Excitingly, studies in midlife women have shown that it can help to prevent Alzheimers disease. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3253463/

All of these everyday ingredients can be found easily in the store and only take 5 minutes to chop roughly and blend.
There is nothing magical, expensive or arduous here! Just a simple smoothie that delivers easily absorbed nutrition into your daily meal plan, adds valuable fibre to your diet and supports your precious microbiome in the process…and a healthy microbiome equates to better immunity; 80% of our immune response is housed in the gut ladies and an improvement in your everyday mood. 80% of the serotonin-our happy neurotransmitter- is made in the gut ladies.

Hold up; Are the health benefits compounding with the benefits they provide to our fibre starved microbiome? This is the power of vegetables people!

Let’s do this thing Ladies!

Let’s bring a smoothie into our daily routine and in this simple step take a stand for our own longterm health.

Ingredients

1 apple washed and quartered

1 large beet washed and roughly chopped

2 sticks celery washed and roughly chopped

Juice of 1 lemon

1 thumb sized chunk of fresh ginger chopped

1 12oz glass filtered water

Instructions

Place all of the roughly chopped ingredients into a blender and add the water

Blend until smooth

You should make enough for two glasses of smoothie. Place 1/2 in a glass in your refrigerator and drink tomorrow. Look at that! You are ahead for tomorrow!

P.S. If you enjoyed this nutrition packed smoothie, click here to try my recipe for a Daily Mineral Dense Green Smoothie

Easy Omega 3 Rich Sardine Pate

How do you feel about these ingredients in a simple dish together?

I am a huge fan of the sardine.
1. Rich in protein to balance blood sugar levels, grow lean muscle and provide the building blocks for our happy mood neurotransmitters.
2. Packed with omega three fatty acids to cleanse the liver, reduce our risk of cardiovascular disease and to calm and fuel the brain to prevent anxiety and depression. ( Need more omega 3 fatty acids in your diet? Learn how to cook the perfect wild salmon here)
3. Rich in calcium for strong bones and teeth and do ensure that you do not fall and break a hip at 65!

THE SARDINE IS A SUPERFOOD PEOPLE!

I am English, and in my Narniaesque childhood, the sardine was a staple and often served mashed on toast for a quick tea. I fed sardines to my own kids and felt really good about the nutrition they were receiving, but in recent years and certainly in North America, the sardine has fallen from favour.

This fish is plentiful in our oceans and, as it inhabits the bottom of the food chain, it is not polluted with mercury and heavy metals unlike the mighty carnivore of the sea, tuna.

This pate is lemony, garlicky, peppery and vibrant with a burst of vitamin C from lemon juice and and parsley.

Give the humble sardine a place at your dinner table! Put it out on the counter with crackers when your kids come home starving after sports and introduce the sardine to a younger generation.

This is perfect student fuel at the price point sardines retail in the shops. This is a life saver recipe for a kid who is about to leave home for school!

What I love about this recipe is that it takes 10 minutes to make with a blender and is there in the refrigerator for a quick lunch or a snack and know that if you hoard it all for yourself you are offering yourself the very best in midlife nutrition.

P.S. In Europe, all of these ingredients would be celebrated when tossed through pasta together in an option 2 quick family supper....just saying!

Ingredients
• 1 can sardines in olive oil
• 1 tbsp organic butter
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 handful parsley
• 1/2 lemon juiced
• 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
Instructions
• Put all ingredients into a blender
• Pulse until smooth and combined
Serve on sprouted grain toast or with vegetable crudités