You know how I am about keeping my beauty drawers in order and nice and tidy? Well I’m the same with my kitchen cupboards too. It’s an all too often occurrence that I spend my Sunday morning with my head in the back of the cabinets, moving things around and shuffling about in my dressing gown. In fact, I feel like that’s my happy place. Working from home I’ve found the key to eating somewhat healthily is to make sure that my cupboards are filled with good, fillings foods that can be mixed and multi-tasked into a multitude of meals. There are some things that I don’t use that often, then there are other ingredients that I use all the darn time. Case in point of the latter: these five handy, healthy foods…
ALMONDS. I LOVE ALMONDS. I must use them in some kind of form – either the full nuts, or flaked, or ground, or butter, or milk or the essence of – at least once a day. They are great for hitting that sweet spot and are used a tonne in baking. I like just grabbing a handful of raw nuts for a snack or taking a spoonful of almond butter as an afternoon pick-me-up.
CHIA SEED. Now chia seeds are a bit of a weird one because there are not really something I have as the base of a meal – though Chia Seed Pudding is pretty tasty if you can get over the texture – it’s more something I add to things just to get a bit of extra nutritional benefit in there. I sprinkle them into smoothies or over Porridge and though it’s not something you can really taste, it adds a bit of crunch and makes you feel like you’re being a little bit healthier.
COCONUT OIL. I’m not the biggest fan of coconut, so it took me a while to find a Coconut Oil that I liked to cook with and didn’t make everything it came into contact with taste like pina colada. Say hello to the Tiana Organic and Fair-trade Coconut Butter. It’s coconut aroma and taste free but still has that heat resistance that makes it a good oil option to cook with. I go through one of these every few months I use it that much.
QUINOA. It took me a while to work how to pronounce this stuff and also where to locate it in my local supermarket, but now we’re well acquainted. With a low-gluten content and a high protein value I use quinoa both in sweet and savoury recipes. Cooked in Almond Milk it makes a nice alternative to Porridge, but boiled in just water it goes almost a bit like couscous and is perfectly paired with stews and chillis to bulk things out a little.
MEDJOOL DATES. Dates rule! Whenever I fancy something sweet, I stuff a few with Almond Butter and they don’t last longer than a minute on my plate. They are perfect for satisfying any sweet cravings and are used in a load of baking recipes so I always make sure I have a fair amount on standby. Nutrition-wise they are a source of dietary potassium, protein and fibre. Personally, I’m a fan of the medjool variety because I find them to be the soften and creamiest and they blend down well.
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