Are You in the Mood for Love?

Here are a few last minute suggestions on how to make your Valentines Day one to remember without fear of packing on the pounds!

The hormones testosterone, dopamine, oxytocin and serotonin play an important role in mood and desire and what you eat can do more than you might imagine to heighten both for a memorable Valentines Day! Here are some quick, easy and delicious suggestions, most of which can be eaten with your fingers - the last thing you need on the 14th Feb is a load of washing up!

Fresh king prawns painted generously with garlic butter and grilled (what could possibly be the problem with garlic if you are both eating it and it has long been associated with promoting love and arousing desire!)

Slice up some creamy buffalo mozzarella, scatter some basil leaves around (full of libido-lifting nutrients) and lots of sliced, sweet tomatoes (the first tomatoes grown in Europe were called love apples because they were related botanically to the mandrake or love plant which was noted in the Bible for its reputed aphrodisiac qualities). Add a few sea salt flakes, a generous grinding of black pepper and drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

Eggs are hard to beat for a quick, easy and delicious snack for two! They are a great source of protein, rich in iron which helps circulate oxygen around your body, creating the kind of energy that you are looking for on Valentines Day and there’s so much you can do with them! Scrambled with smoked salmon (or even more indulgent, with shavings of fresh truffles), Eggs Benedict or Florentine or just soft boiled eggs with toast ‘soldiers’ or steamed asparagus tips to dip in. And it’s not only hen’s eggs - try boiling a few quails eggs, peel them (that’s a job for 2) and hoover them down with a cocktail and a bowl of salted almonds while you are putting other delicacies together in the kitchen!

And while we’re talking eggs, let’s not forget caviar (fish eggs). Caviar packs a real nutritional punch containing almost all the proteins, essential fats, vitamins and minerals required to get those hormones singing! Beluga is expensive but we’re talking one night of the year here and a little goes a long way.  A few slices of brown toast, a spoonful or two of caviar, a couple of glasses of champagne and you might find you’ve lost your appetite for food and moved on!

If you both like getting into the kitchen, why not experiment with fish baked in a parcel. If you’ve never tried it you are in for a treat and keep in mind that studies indicate that historically, those who lived by the sea and feasted regularly on fresh fish and shellfish had impressively-boosted levels of testosterone throughout most of their lives! Place your fish fillet of choice on a large square of foil, top with very finely-sliced onions, crushed garlic, spinach (bursting with zinc, an essential mineral involved in the production of sex hormones), asparagus tips, finely-sliced tomatoes and diced, fresh chilli, season with sea salt crystals and lots of freshly ground black pepper, scrunch the foil to create a loose parcel and bake in a medium oven until the fish is cooked through and the juices are running clear.

And for dessert, well it has to involve chocolate (which has the added bonus of being rich in a chemical called phenylethylamine which plays a vital role when we fall in love and feel passion and levels are believed to peak during orgasm!) How about ‘fingers’ of mango and papaya or whole strawberries dipped in melted dark chocolate or a small, dark, rich chocolate mousse topped with silky smooth double cream – unbeatable!

Chicken Soup to Beat a Cold is not just an Old Wives’ Tale!

A major study found that chicken soup helps to prevent the migration of inflammatory white cells into the lungs - this is pretty significant because cold symptoms are a response to the accumulation of these cells in the bronchial tubes. The amino acid cysteine, which is released from chicken during cooking, is chemically similar to the bronchitis drug, acetylcysteine, which is regularly prescribed in a bid to inhibit the inflammatory response but who wouldn’t opt for a daily bowl of deliciously-rich and comforting chicken broth versus a few hard-to-swallow pills? Not me! If you haven't already gotten into the chicken soup habit, start now, beat the colds and flu viruses that are all around us right now and be assured that great granny really did know best! Try my Chicken and Barley Broth - a fabulously-comforting concoction!

From Giant Omelette to Longest Pizza!

The bigger the better appears to be the order of the day on the food front! Last month I blogged about the humble but oh-so-nutritionally-fabulous egg on the back of the annual celebration in a small french town where chefs join forces to create a 'giant easter omelette' and now it seems to be time for pizza to hit the headlines!

Naples has recently claimed the 'longest pizza' award - have a look at the Telegraph video - that's one mighty big pizza!

I am often asked about whether pizza can feature in a healthy, balanced diet and those who are trying to lose weight, regularly want to know if the odd slice or two of their favourite pizza combo is going to wreck their diet and/or encourage weight gain. Yes and no is the answer. It all depends on the base and the toppings!

Image by Matt Lewis

I happened upon this image a while ago and thought it looked so darned delicious that I decided to have a go at creating something similar. Instead of the 'classic' refined wheat flour pizza base, it involves a chickpea flour flatbread. So... why should that be a big bonus for pizza lovers? Because chickpea flour is higher in protein, higher in fibre, lower in carbohydrate, lower in calories and richer in healthy fats than wheat flour. It is also gluten-free and is bursting with an array of vitamins and minerals. This impressive combination makes it more filling (so we eat less), a splendid route to keeping blood sugar levels balanced (so we don't find ourselves hungry a couple of hours after our pizza fest) and as it is slightly sweeter than wheat flours, satisfies any niggling little sugar cravings.

The quickest and simplest route to making one 9-10 inch chickpea flour pizza base is to whisk together 120g chickpea flour (also known as gram flour and readily available in supermarkets and health shops), 235ml water, 2 tablespoons olive oil, 1 or 2 peeled, crushed garlic cloves and a good pinch of sea salt. Cover the bowl and leave for around an hour. Meanwhile, prepare your toppings. I roasted thinly-sliced onions, red, yellow and orange peppers (lightly coated in olive oil, salt and pepper) in the oven until cooked through and caramelised around the edges, steamed some kale and spinach until just wilted, crumbled some feta cheese, drained some anchovies and sliced up some pitted black olives. 

When you're good to go, heat a heavy-based, oven-proof frying pan until hot, swirl 1 tablespoon of olive oil around before spreading the batter evenly over the pan surface and cooking over a medium heat for 3 minutes each side (or until the flatbread is cooked through and beginning to get slightly crispy around the edges) then spread a little more olive oil over the surface and get topping (leaves first, then onions and peppers, then anchovies and olives and finally feta). Pop the whole thing into a hot oven and bake for 6-8 minutes or until the cheese is starting to brown and the pizza base is nice and crisp.

You can get super-experimental with your toppings (the more vegetables and the fresher the better) but stick with cheeses with a lower fat content (goats, fresh mozzarella, parmesan, pecorino, Swiss - and be sparing) and if using meat and poultry, lightly cook fresh cuts rather than opting for processed, pre-packed products.

Now that I am firmly on the road to creating healthy pizzas that are not going to compromise my waistline, I intend to try all manner of different base and topping combinations - I'll keep you posted but in the meantime, let me know about any that feature regularly in your pizza world and I will include them in my recipe page - send images if you have them!