Easy Mackerel Pate

Systemic inflammation is the driver of chronic ill health in the body and pushes our beautiful midlife bodies to age faster.

And we FEEL it in all areas of our health.
1. Stiffness on standing and aching joints when we walk. Truly, you feel like an old woman!
2. Low energy and forgetfulness. ‘What did I come in here for?’
3. Rough and reddened skin breaking out on our faces or eczema on our bodies.
4. Unexplained gassiness and bloating when we eat certain foods. Usually the ones we love or crave right???
5. Varicose veins and poor cardio vascular health. Okay, so now your doctor is worried.
6. Gums that bleed not matter how gently we brush at night.
7. uncomfortable and debilitating hot flashes and night sweats when other women do not feel bothered by menopause at all!

Sometimes, the science of nutrition can seem complex, with contradictory advice and new information. But when it comes to inflammation, nutrition is super easy!
Some foods create inflammation in the body and you need to eat less of them.

1. Sugar….all sugar especially processed sugars and high fructose corn syrup.

2. Trans fats and hydrogenated vegetable oil…and yes that might be your ‘heart healthy’ margarine.

3. Vegetable and seed oils…those clear yellowy ones that come in a large plastic bottle.

4. Refined carbohydrates. think white flour, white pasta, cookies, bought cakes and pastries.

5. Excessive alcohol…are you on a daily glass of wine to unwind?

6. Processed meats such as sausage, hot dogs and pepperoni that contain nitrates and nitrites.

Some foods are hugely anti-inflammatory for the body, they promote health and help you to feel younger than your chronological years. We need to eat more of them.

1. Leafy green and cruciferous vegetables.

2. Berries and cherries and low sugar fruits that are packed with antioxidants

3. Virgin cold pressed oils such as olive oil, avocado oil, hemp and nut oils and coconut oil.

4. Raw nuts and seeds of all kinds

5. Omega 3 rich foods such as oily fish, grass-fed meats and flax or chia seeds

This recipe packs a punch in omega 3 fatty acids, thanks to the oily fish mackerel.

My experience is that humans resist the oily fish, we have forgotten the recipes and dishes that we used to eat routinely and enjoy. We have to re-learn our palate and oily fish love!

This recipe combines goats cheese with mackerel to make a delicious pate. This is dense nutrition that helps you to feel satiated and energized, adds lean protein to you lunch/snack plate and loads in anti-inflammatory ingredients to build health on the longer term.

It is also easy to make, lemony, herby and delicious!

This is the food that we should be eating during midlife to support our bodies easily through hormonal change and create the health we want to enjoy when we are in our 50’s, 60’s, 70’s and 80’s.

Fill your plates ladies!

Ingredients

2 wild mackerel filleted and de-boned to give 4 fillets

or

2 cans mackerel in olive oil

1 goats cheese with herbs

1 small handful parsley finely chopped

1 lemon zested

1 tbsp finely chopped capers optional

1/2 tbsp ground black pepper

Instructions

Add the mackerel, cheese, finely chopped parsley, lemon zest and pepper to a small bowl

Toss in the capers if you like the salty zing!

Mash all ingredients together to make a pate consistency

Serve with crackers or oatcakes for a delicious, sugar free snack.

In the photograph, Mackerel Pate was paired with anti-inflammatory and quercetin rich Pickled Pink Onions. You can find that recipe here.

Egg Drop Soup - when you need real fast food!

I write repeatedly on this blog about the benefits of bone broth for reducing inflammation in the digestive tract to resolve Leaky Gut Syndrome and for supporting tired adrenal glands. Think anxiety, lost sleep and powerful feelings of overwhelm. It would be unfair to talk about the benefits of bone broth without also mentioning how supportive this mineral and collagen dense elixir is for midlife bone health and in the prevention of joint pain and osteoarthritis .

I often get asked the question, “what do I do with bone broth once I have made it?” and my answer to that is …Put It In Everything!

Make a great soup, add to casseroles, cook rice in broth and put it into a tea cup with a big pinch of sea salt and drink as a healing beverage.

This recipe is one of my go to quick fixes for a simple breakfast or lunch when I am wanting to get more bone broth into my own diet and it is to be commended for both its simplicity, speed and flavour.

A simple ingredient list of quartered cherry tomatoes, a handful of kale, green onion and flavoured eggs are cooked quickly in bone broth to create a delicious and aromatic bowl of goodness. Literally 15 minutes flat is all it takes to get this dish of easily absorbed amino acids, mineral dense vegetables, vitamin C rich tomatoes, and choline dense eggs onto the table and it takes less time than that to get it into your belly!

If you are a women experiencing issues with your bone health or arthritis, have unexplained gassiness and or bloating when you eat or are exhausted on a daily basis, this is a dish you need to include into your diet.

This ladies, is REAL FAST FOOD!

If you are looking for more ideas for easy and nutritious dishes that fit into your hectic schedule or just want to learn about what is happening to your body during midlife, you will love my Private Facebook group The Nourished Midlife Woman. Come join our community!

Ingredients

2 cups bone broth (any flavour)
1 handful of cherry tomatoes quartered
1 big handful of kale finely chopped or baby leaves
2 green onions finely chopped
2 farm fresh eggs
2 tbsp gluten free Tamari Soy Sauce
2 tbsp toasted sesame oil

Instructions

Warm the bone broth in a medium pan over a medium heat
In a small bowl whisk together the eggs, Tamari soy sauce and sesame oil until combined
Once the broth is simmering add the quartered tomatoes, finely chopped green onion and kale
Once the broth begins to simmer again, take chopsticks and whisk the broth and vegetables rapidly into a whirlwind in the pan
Whilst the broth is spinning in the pan, gently and slowly pour the egg mixture into simmering liquid
Within seconds the eggs should be cooked and the soup is ready
Serve with shredded toasted seaweed to add more minerals and especially thyroid supportive iodine.

Anti-Inflammatory Guacamole

The avocado is one of the foods that should be on the weekly shopping list of every midlife woman, every week of the year.
Packed with our relaxation mineral magnesium and healthy fibre for our daily detox (poop); full of mono saturated, heart-healthy fats and vitamin E to support supple skin and your cardiovascular system, the avocado is hugely protective of our all-round, midlife health. It is a super food sister!
An avocado is quick to prepare and can be thrown on top of a salad, sliced onto toast or added to an an egg to provide each plate with that satiating healthy fat that helps balance blood sugar levels, keeps you satiated and gives you energy for days.

Perhaps the most health protective aspect of the avocado is its anti-inflammatory properties. Research shows that the avocado will scour free radicals and antioxidants which damage health on a cellular level so efficiently that eating a meal containing avocado will reduce the inflammatory response that may be induced by other foods that you put on your plate.

Hass Avocado Modulates Postprandial Vascular Reactivity and Postprandial Inflammatory Responses to a Hamburger Meal in Healthy Volunteers

Read that again! An avocado when added to your plate is protecting your health from other foods that are on that plate as it is such a powerful antioxidant. This is the superhero of fruits people! Avocados should come with capes!

One of my favourite ways to enjoy avocado is to make Guacamole so that I can transport myself, by the mouthful, to one of my many favourite places in Mexico. Eating food should be a sensory pleasure ladies and Guacamole always gives me all of the feels as memories come flooding back.

I may have mentioned on this site previously, but I am a very lazy cook. One of the messy jobs I cannot bear is peeling or dicing a ripe tomato…I just end up with a smear of skin, seeds and juice on my chopping board. My solution is to quarter ripe cherry tomatoes and make my Guac chunky.
Hello, my name is Louise and I like my guacamole like I like a new born babies thighs - chunky.

More important for me is to add plenty of salt and lime, as I love my Mexican food to taste like a Margherita (cue more of those memories!) and I always add a quarter teaspoon of cumin to add a delicious depth of flavour.

I am also a cilantro heavy chef but, if you are one of those people that does not do cilantro because you only taste soap, just leave it out.

This is a recipe that is packed with nutrition, helps to reduce inflammation, will help you to maintain your energy all day and is as versatile as any dish I know.
Use as a snack with tortilla chips, serve on toast for breakfast, add and egg for a healthy lunch or top with smoked salmon, tuna or baby shrimp to create a more substantial meal.
Embrace the avocado lady (but not too hard cos bruising!), get them into your fruit bowl weekly and when they infuriatingly all go ripe together, get your guac on!

Anti-Inflammatory Guacamole

2 large handfuls of ripe cherry tomatoes quartered
2 large ripe avocados
11/2 limes juiced or to taste
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp cumin
1 large handful cilantro finely chopped

Instructions

Quarter the cherry tomatoes and place in a large bowl.
Add the salt and cumin, ripe avocado halves, lime juice and chopped cilantro.
Using a fork, the end of a rolling pin or a cute masher like my little chicken guy, gently mash the ingredients together to combine all the flavours.
Store in the refrigerator in a sealed glass container.

P.S. If you have 10 minutes to make guacamole you might as well go the whole hog and spend 10 minutes more making these quercitin rich Pretty Pink Onions to eat on the side and double your anti-inflammatory super powers.