Complete the Cook – week 2

30th June 2016

In this weeks Complete the Cook we have 3 product recommendations for you that will help you complete the 2 recipes below:

FLATBREAD TOPPER

Ingredients:

Garlic and parsley flatbread (1/3rd)
Fresh raw baby spinach leaves (a generous handful)
Green olives in oil, cooked red peppers and chilli (another generous handful)
Feta cheese chunks (we cut 1 slice from the block and divided that into 6 pieces)
Quinoa Salad Topper (big tablespoon full)
Honey (just a nice drizzle over the top)

Method:

Put the stuff on top of the bread, in the order as listed above. Enjoy!

FRUIT & NUT SMOOTHIE

Ingredients:

Unsweetened almond milk (enough to cover the fruit in blender)
Perfectly Imperfect Strawberries AS PER LAST WEEKS BLOG (large handful)
Frozen cherries (large handful)
Acai powder (heaped teaspoon full)
Chia Seeds (tablespoon)
Cucumber (1/3rd)

Method:

Add the fruit and chia seeds to the blender / Cover with the milk / Pop in the powder / Blend til creamy (find the consistency you prefer adding less milk, more chia for thicker and vice versa for more diluted) / Drink and enjoy with your breakfast or as a super boost snack!

You can find out about the products we used to Complete the Cook : HERE

And for more complete the cook recommendations and recipe rounds ups, tips sheets, nutrition, health and wellbeing info and lots more, directly to you – Be one of the first to receive our free newsletter: HERE

Remember we offer fully comprehensive weight management programmes and health coaching, so for more about what we do and how we can help you create your own healthy recipe and healthy eating plans, give me a shout on info@nitakothari.com if you’d like to find out more. We’d love to work with you to create healthy recipes using the foods YOU like so YOU enjoy them!

For a free, no obligation, consultation just get in touch: info@nitakothari.com

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Portion Size?

26th June 2016

Bonus Q & A. This week you asked mostly about Portion Size. And ladies and gents – SIZE MATTERS. How many? How much? What weight? How many grams is that? How big a handful? Is that enough? Am I putting in too much? …..etc…..

You asked in relation to our recipes/ideas/creations. When sharing my ideas I need point out its usually instant so I can give you a list of ingredients, BUT I know, I don’t usually tell you how much to use, so I wanted to address this question of portion size firstly in relation to our “recipes” and secondly in general.

PORTION SIZE in our creations:

The simple, honest, no nonsense answer as to why we don’t usually include a weight or measurement is because

A) We don’t usually weigh or measure our ingredients. *

B) Because the recipes or ideas we share are usually a one off/first time/instant/this is what I just made and its great – kind of thing. So making it again could mean we use a different portion size of each ingredient or other ingredients!

C) Also, we don’t TELL you how much because we try to EMPOWER you to make your own decisions and creative choices when it comes to food. You might not like one of the ingredients we use, so you can try the recipe and leave that out/substitute it. You may love something in there, so want to include more. And that’s fine.

(* Can I just add we haven’t really attempted baking yet in any pro manner – baking will and does require more precise measurements and when we cross that bridge things may become more precise – for now a cup means use the same cup for all cupfuls in this recipe, a handful means your own hand size, table spoon is the one in the drawer next to the knife and fork, tea spoon is the one your stir the milk in with)

more “Portion Size?” …

Complete the Cook – week 1

23rd June 2016

Welcome to the first in a series of Complete the Cook posts, where we share our favourite product recommendations that work in what we are eating / cooking / blending and creating now! This is without money changing hands, no endorsements etc just what we use, find helpful, cheap, easy – what makes sense, comes in on budget, tastes good and of course is pretty healthy too! This should help you create your shopping lists if you want to try any of these no nonsense meal ideas too!

Full Complete the Cook blog CLICK HERE but here are the bones of it for you:

3 recipes this week:

Breakfast – with the “Straight Up” yoghurt pots from The Collective Dairy

Strawberry Salad – with the “Perfectly Imperfect” range from Tesco

Green Smoothie – with chopped mango chunks from Tesco

If you like Complete the Cook and you want more, or you simply want to get ahead of the game and receive more recipes, ideas, tips and cheat sheets etc just sign up to be one of the first to receive our new email newsletter starting this summer!

Remember we also offer personal, made to measure plans (online or 1 to 1) to get your health/energy/weight/fitness back on track, put a spring in your step, help you shop smart, budget, and eat well. We also offer fully comprehensive weight management programmes and health coaching, so drop me a line info@nitakothari.com if you’d like to find out more. We’d love to work with you to create healthy recipes using the foods YOU like so YOU enjoy them!

For a free, no obligation, consultation just get in touch: info@nitakothari.com and mention this post before the end of July!

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Remember, remember…this chilli recipe

5th November 2015

How do you celebrate bonfire night? I think its traditional here that we all gather in someones garden (whoever has the biggest space), the men build a bonfire, we make Guys from paper, balloon faces and charity shop suits…the catherine wheels are lit and never really work scaring the life out us all but we still oooooh and aaaaah when the big bangers go off and the at the “grand finale” of garden fireworks. We do this until our toes and fingers are numb, while wearing all the winter clothes we own and we eat chilli that is hotter than the sun to warm us from the inside out – I love bonfire night!

So as its November 5th and Thursday blog day we are sharing with you our veggie chilli recipe to enjoy tonight, along with some safety tips for your fireworks celebrations.

Be safe and enjoy!

You can read the full blog and chilli bake recipe HERE

Hello Pumpkin!

29th October 2015

Well its nearly time for trick or treating this weekend and in this weeks blog there are a few pumpkin based treats just for you! Check out or scarily spicy version of the classic pumpkin soup and our no nonsense recipe for your very own, make at home, pumpkin spice latte!

You can read the full blog here: Hello Pumpkin!

Harvest – Seasonal Eating and the Autumn Lader

16th October 2015

As we are heading into the UK’s golden, rustic autumn, it’s the season of harvest festivals and from schools and churches up and down the country you’d be forgiven for thinking Octobers seasonal foods came in cans, consisted of fruit salads and soups and that the harvest festivals were to celebrate beans and pasta…. Harvest – and October – is actually the season for reaping and gathering, then cooking up a storm of comfort foods as the chilly air draws in, it’s soups, stews, pies and pickle season. It’s the season for celebrating All Things Bright and Beautiful so this weeks blog focuses on the traditional meaning of harvest with a guide to eating the best of this seasons fruit and veg:

You can red more here: nononsensenita blog – Harvest – Seasonal Eating and the Autumn Lader

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Pepper and Sweet Potato Soup with Chilli

13th October 2015

This week our Tasty Tuesday dinner is a home made delicious (even if I do say so myself) and comforting pepper, sweet potato and chilli soup. Seriously easy to make – take the ingredients list, pop everything in a pan until its cooked then BLEND until you find the right consistency you love!

Full ingredients are also listed on our RECIPES tab

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Smoothie “Recipe” Round Up

1st October 2015

In this weeks Thursday Blog we are rounding up the smoothie recipes we have been enjoying for breakfast this month – there are 5 so far, please go ahead and try them yourself! Bear in mind this is no nonsense, no juicing, no mess, minimal washing up and about a 2-5 min prep to drink time. Also be aware our quantities are estimates – feel free to play around and mix it up as you like, then share your smoothie snaps via our facebook and/or twitter pages!

You can also sign up to our newsletter via the panel at the bottom right of this page so you don’t miss further updates, recipes, blogs, news and offers……

NEW: No nonsense Recipes page added

23rd September 2015

Check it out, we have now added a page full of recipes (its a dropdown under the “About” heading)

Just click Recipes to see our new page.

So far this month, we’ve made the greenest of green smoothies for breakfast followed by a warming chicken and chilli soup in the eve – full details here: Recipes

We will share as we experiment but don’t want you to miss out, therefore you can subscribe to our newsletter via the panel on the bottom right of this page. In doing so our TastyTuesday recipes will be delivered straight to your inbox so you can give them a go yourself and let us know the outcome!