
Alternatives to Seven 'Healthy' foods
There was an article published in The Guardian a few weeks ago about seven foods that are marketed or commonly perceived as healthy but are in fact fact full of sugar. Here I run through them and talk about alternatives for each. 1. Pasta Sauce Bottled sauces are full of sugars with some simple pasta sauces containing the equivalent of as many as 6 teaspoons of sugar. In all reality, a simple pasta sauce is easy and cheap to make at home. Here are my two favourite recipes fo

New Year, New Resolutions
This is sometimes quite a depressing time of year. Christmas is over, the weather is cold and the worst months of winter stretch seemingly interminably ahead. I think it is also a positive time of year though and I always find it so. The year is almost over and the New Year is just around the corner full of potential and possibilities and the opportunity for a new start. Most people make resolutions of some kind at this point and many people fail to keep them. I am certainly

Tonight’s recipe-North African Squash and Chickpea Stew
As some of you will know, I set myself a challenge to cook one recipe a week using my extensive cookbook collection. Tonight I chose a recipe from Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall’s Veg book. North African squash and chickpea stew is a lovely warming and filling winter dinner. With around 10 minutes prep time and just over 30 minutes cooking it is a perfect midweek meal and even leaves enough left over for lunch tomorrow-a great way of eating economically. The stew is full of chic

A fresh take on Healthy Eating Guidelines
Just about every government in the world has a published set of healthy eating guidelines. In the UK one of the most well-known form is the ‘Eatwell Plate’. This is roughly based on a third each for fruit and veg and starchy foods such as bread and pasta with the remaining third made up of meat and fish, dairy and high fat and sugar food and drinks. While this is basic good advice there are some flaws. For example, although starchy foods are important, they should be limited