Health: Batch Cooking, Courgettes and Healthier Granola

Like many people during lockdown, I have made some changes to my health. Namely, I have taken up exercise on an unprecedented level, achieving 5-7 sessions a week. This is a mix of cardio and strength workouts, Pilates, yoga and walking. I am truly amazed at how easily this has become part of my life (but then I am saving 1 hour a day on not commuting). This is more exercise than I ever did at school, and I’m seriously wondering why it has taken so long to actually like it (I don’t love it yet).

Having said all that, my weight has not changed at all, and although my BMI is in the healthy range, my waist size is 4cm over. A larger waist size can increase risk of heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and cancer (source: NHS). So, I’m also making a more concerted effort to eat better. 

Having tracked my calories over the past couple of weeks, I actually eat pretty healthily. My downfall though is wine and the accompanying snacks. On nights that I drink, I think I add approximately 400 calories to my daily total. That’s a whole meal! And this is something I am addressing, but it's not easy.

Granola

That is an 80g portion of berries - surprisingly large!

Granola is one of those things that always appears healthy but is actually pretty loaded with sugar and fat. It’s not my go-to breakfast, but sometimes I do fancy it, especially when we have nice berries in the house (as an aside, we picked these delicious strawberries and raspberries up from a self-service kiosk on a local walk). I found this recipe for peanut butter granola by JoyFoodSunshine which isn’t so packed with baddies. It can easily be adjusted to suit taste (for example I omitted the salt). The best bit, is that it tastes amazing.

Courgettes

The success of growing my own vegetables during lockdown has led to an abundance of courgettes. I love them but my family aren’t that keen and it takes some thinking to vary the recipes a bit. Recently, I have made stuffed courgette (the Di Nizza ones are particularly good for this) but by far my favourite is marinating them and popping them on the barbecue. I drizzled in olive oil, and rubbed in some rosemary, garlic, lemon zest and black pepper. If you have time, top up the olive oil as it soaks in. They take around 7 minutes a side on the barbecue, depending on how thick you have cut them, and are delicious! Just watch out for how hot they are.

Batch Cooking: Adding Vegetables 

I followed this Veg Rich Tomato Sauce recipe from the Healthy Food Guide magazine which produces four sets of sauce (each for 6 people), which can be frozen. The sauce is packed with vegetables and makes a great base to add to pasta, or my favourite is the Slow Cooked Beef Dukkah. An easy and healthy way to increase your vegetable intake. I omitted the celery and added extra leek to use what I had. If you have a food processor, the prep is not so daunting.

Love Mrs Jones x