Milly White's Blog, page 60

Fantastic 99c/99p Offer on The 5:2 Diet Easy Slow-Cooker Recipe Cookbook - One Week Only!

The clocks change this weekend and with that comes leaving work in the dark and cold.  Are you on the 5:2 Diet but want to come home to a pipping-hot, ready-to-serve, delicious dinner that is well within your Fast-Day calories allowance? What about Beef in Guinness Stew, satisfying filling and only 298 cals!  Find this 5:2 Diet Recipe plus over 30 more in Milly White’s 5:2 Diet Easy Slow-Cooker Recipe Cookbook The Best Make-Ahead Meals.  What's even better, for this week only, it's only sale at just 99c/99p!    The 5:2 Diet Easy Slow-Cooker Recipe Cookbook makes eating on your fast-day: 

Healthy Easy Convenient Foolproof 
This easy-to-use cookbook takes the hard work out of eating well on 'Fast' Diet Days. You will be able to enjoy over 30 fresh, tasty, Complete Meal Calorie-Counted Recipes, all under 300 calories, including: 

Slow-Cooker Breakfast Fruit Compote 100 cals Autumn Harvest Festival Soup 100 cals Cauliflower & Stilton Soup 140 cals Slow Cooker Meatballs with Cauliflower "Cous Cous" 200 cals Slow Cooker Pork & Pepper Chilli Pot 296 cals 
Packed full of flavourful, natural, healthy ingredients, prepared in advance and ready and waiting for you, these delicious recipes won't leave you feeling hungry or unsatisfied after eating.
The  5:2 Diet Easy Slow-Cooker Recipe Cookbook The Best Make-Ahead Meals is available from Amazon and is on offer for one week only at 99c/99p.

To de-thread or not de-thread (celery) - that is the question!

'Tis Nobler in my mind to de-thread!
Celery is a wonderful ingredient, it helps add a depth of flavour to savory dishes as well as crunch and texture to salads. However, I sometimes find people saying that they are not keen on celery and when you probe a little deeper, it's the threads that they don't like.
De-threading celery may seem to be a faff, but all you need is a vegetable peeler!  Peel the outer ribs of celery as though you were peeling a carrot and in a few seconds, you will have de-threaded celery.
Why bother?  Well, de-threaded celery makes smoother soups, improves the textures of stews and casseroles and makes salads crunchier.  Do give it a try the next time you cook with celery and see if it's a minute or less of time well invested!

Support HEARTUK's National Cholesterol Month with Healthy Heart Granola Recipe

Today see’s the launch of HEARTUK ’s first National Cholesterol Month , and with it their Great Cholesterol Challenge .  HEARTUK – the Cholesterol Charity want you to treat your heart by pledging to adopt a new healthy habit, and raise funds for HEART UK at the same time!  They’ve made it super easy to get involved, there are lots more details here.

There are all sorts of healthy habits that you can adopt and they don’t have to be hard.  Here’s a really simple one from me – why not swap your regular morning breakfast to my own Healthy Heart Granola, packed full of cholesterol-lowering superfoods?  It's Suitable for Vegetarians, Gluten Free, Dairy Free and Suitable for Vegans (if using maple syrup instead of honey). At only 184 Cals with just 6.3g Total Fat and 0.7g Saturated Fat Per Serving, it makes a delicious and healthy start to the day.  Here’s the recipe, which makes 31 servings - enough for breakfast daily during October's National Cholesterol Month:
Healthy Heart GranolaIngredients
10ml (2 tbsp) Rapeseed Oil (Canola Oil)75ml (5 tbsp) Honey or Maple Syrup150ml (½ Cup +2 tbsp) Apple Juice450g (5 Cups) Quick Cook Rolled Oats110g (1 Cup) Wheat Flakes115g (1 Cup) Barley Flakes75g (¾  Cup) Rye Flakes35g (¼  Cup) Pumpkin Seeds35g (¼  Cup) Sunflower Seeds35g (3 ½ tbsp) Golden Linseeds60g (½ Cup) Dried Blueberries60g (½ Cup) Dried Cranberries70g (½ Cup) Raisins50g (½ Cup) Walnut Halves50g (½ Cup) Blanched Hazelnuts50g (2/3 Cup) Flaked Almonds
Directions (Ready In: 1hr 15 mins + cooling time)Preheat the oven to 140C fan, 300F, Gas Mark 4. Line two baking sheets with parchment.

Chop the nuts into bite size pieces. In a large bowl, mix together all the dry ingredients. Mix the oil, honey and apple juice in a jug and pour over the dry mix. Stir well to ensure that all the ingredients are wet. Spread onto two large baking sheets lined with baking parchment and place into the oven. Bake for a total of 45-60 mins, checking every 15mins and turning it over. The granola is ready when it is all toasted and dry.

Remove from oven and allow to cool completely. Store in a sealed container. Makes 31 servings and will keep for 3 months in a sealed container or in the freezer.
Serve 1 portion (40g or 1/3 cup) with 60mls (¼ Cup) of plain Soya Yogurt.

NB: You may be able to purchase a “Muesli Base” from your local health food store, offering a ready mixed combination of oats and wheat, barley and rye flakes (this is not the same as ready prepared Muesli). If so, just substitute those ingredients for 750g (9 1/3 Cups) of “Muesli Base”.

Fantastic 99c/99p Offer on Easy Low Fat and Low Cholesterol Recipe Mediterranean Diet Cookbook - One Week Only!

With Autumn fast approaching, do you fancy tucking into a guilt-free, delicious Fall dessert – Pumpkin Meringue Pots?  A luscious, spicy layer of pumpkin pudding topped with mallowy meringue and all for only 185 cals, 5g Total Fat and 2g Saturated Fat!  Find this heart-healthy, low cholesterol recipe plus over 100 more in   Milly White’s Easy Low Fat and Low Cholesterol Recipe Mediterranean Diet Cookbook.  What's even better, for this week only, it's only sale at just 99c/99p!    If you find it hard to find tempting, delicious, flavoursome Low Fat, Low Cholesterol Recipes to support a healthy-heart diet plan, why not treat yourself to Milly White’s Easy Low Fat and Low Cholesterol Recipe Mediterranean Diet Cookbook?  The Easy Low-Fat & Low-Cholesterol Mediterranean Diet Cookbook  features: 
Over 100 Easy Heart Healthy Recipes Full Meal Plans for Weight Loss Diets or Weight Maintenance Health Eating Everyday Recipes for One or TwoSatisfying Recipes for Family Meals, Kids and even Entertaining Recipes and Options for Vegetarian CookingRecipes that use healthy, natural, wholesome, delicious foods Recipes that are low in fat and salt but incredibly high in flavour and taste.This is not a fad diet or a “miracle” cure.  The cookbook follows exactly the healthy diet and food recommendations of both the US and UK governments in relation to cholesterol management and provides practical recipes that mean that anyone can incorporate these principals in their everyday meals and eating.If you are worried that adjusting your diet to support your cholesterol-lowering goals will be difficult or leave you feeling unsatisfied or deprived, think again. There are tempting and delicious good food recipes for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner along with mouth-watering Desserts and scrumptious Bakes & Cakes. You will find flavourful, cholesterol-lowering, healthy make-over recipes of:
Mediterranean Diet Meals including Baked Falafels Pittas with Tzatziki, Bellissima Beef Lasagne and Risotto Primavera American Classics including Cinnamon Apple Pie Pancakes, Quick Eggs Benedict, BBQ Chicken Sliders with Fruity Slaw and 'Hearty' Mac 'n' Cheese Traditional British Pub-Food including London Particular Soup, Shepherds Pie and 'Fish, Chips & Mushy Peas' with Tartare Sauce World Flavours such a Bircher Muesli, One-Pot Pilaf and Fragrant Chickpea, Pumpkin & Coconut Stew Slow Cooker & CrockPot Specials such as Boston Baked Beans, Chile Blanco and Lamb & Flageolet Bean Ragout Delicious Desserts and Baking including Strawberry & Rhubarb Vanilla Crumble, Ginger, Lemon & Blueberry Swirl Cheesecake and Mini Cinnamon Doughnuts The  Easy Low Fat and Low Cholesterol Recipe Mediterranean Diet Cookbook  is available from Amazon and is on offer for one week only at 99c/99p.

Read Milly White's Diet Cookbooks for Free in the UK or US

Exciting news if you'd love to read and use diet cookbooks, most of Milly White's Diet Cookbooks  are now available to download free via Kindle Unlimited on Amazon, which is now available in the UK as well as the US!
In the UK - all Milly White's Kindle CookBooks are here
In the US - all Milly White's Kindle CookBooks are here

Kindle Unlimited allows you to enjoy unlimited access to over 650,000 titles and thousands of audiobooks on any device for just £7.99 a month in the UK or $9.99 in the US.  What's even better, you can try for a month absolutely free.

So if, like me, you love good food and great nutrition; and believe that eating well and healthily doesn't need equate to boring dining then do use Kindle Unlimited to download as many of my Kindle Unlimited Cookbooks as you like. You'll find loads of delicious recipes that are packed full of flavor and interest, but are easy to recreate in your home kitchen and made from wholesome, flavourful ingredients.

Currently, the following titles are enrolled in the Kindle Unlimted programme:
Title Price Easy Low Calorie, Low Fat Desserts, Cakes & Bakes Diet Recipe Cookbook All 200 Cals & Under
5* Rated, what customers say:"This is one of the best low-cal cookbooks I've read in a while" PB
$2.99/£1.99 orFree with Kindle Unlimited The 5:2 Diet Low Calorie Easy Meals For One Cookbook Healthy Low Fat Recipes, All Under 300 Cals
$2.99/£1.99 or Free  with Kindle Unlimited The 5:2 Diet Easy Slow-Cooker Recipe Cookbook The Best Make-Ahead Meals
5* Rated, what customers say:"just perfect for me because there is a wide range of recipes, they are very low calorie and I can plan and cook them during the day while I am at work" TR $2.99/£1.99 or Free  with Kindle Unlimited The 5:2 Diet Recipe Book - Fast Diet Days Cookbook
5* Rated, what customers say:"I wanted a simple reference book with great ideas that can be put together easily, with accurate calorie counting--and here it is!" BD $2.99/£1.99 or Free  with Kindle Unlimited Easy Low Fat & Low Cholesterol Mediterranean Diet Recipe Cookbook 100+ Heart Healthy Recipes & Meals Plan
5* Rated, what customers say:"this cookbook is a massive help to those who suffer with high cholesterol levels or wish to lower the cholesterol levels" SN $3.49/£1.99 or Free  with Kindle Unlimited Weight Watchers Breakfast Pro Points Plus Recipes Diet Cookbook $2.99/£1.99 or Free  with Kindle Unlimited Weight Watchers Soup & Lunch Pro Points Plus Recipes Diet Cookbook $2.99/£1.75 or Free  with Kindle Unlimited Weight Watchers Dinners 10 Pro Points Plus & Under Recipes Diet Cookbook 2014 Plan Edition $2.99/£1.75 or Free  with Kindle Unlimited Weight Watchers Desserts, Cakes & Bakes Pro Points Plus Recipes Diet Cookbook 2014 Plan Edition $2.99/£1.75 orFree with Kindle Unlimited

Your Slow Cooker – Your 5:2 Diet Friend!

Slow cooking is a great way to prepare meals on the 5:2 diet, you can do all your preparation in advance and then come home at the end of the day to a delicious, perfectly portioned meal, hot and ready to be eaten.  So if you have a slow-cooker or CrockPot tucked away in one of your kitchen cupboards, pull it out, dust it down and it will definitely be your 5:2 Diet Friend this Autumn!
6 Top Tips For Successful Slow Cooking on the 5:2 DietAs with all slow-cooker recipes, your ingredients should be cut into evenly sized pieces. When preparing meat for the slow cooker, all visible fat should be removed as should any skin.  Although it can be tempting to just bung everything into the slow cooker with no forward preparation, I would urge you to invest just 10-15mins sautéing some of the ingredients in advance before being added to the slow cooker.  This step intensifies their flavours, the caramelisation adds depth and complexity to the dish, and it also improves the finished appearance.  Many slow cookers now often a sauté function to aid this process.  Know your own cooker, guide times have been provided for each recipe but only you will know if your slow cooker cooks faster or slower in comparison.  You can often prepare the ingredients in advance the evening before, then store in the fridge overnight in a sealable, airtight container and add to the slow cooker in the morning.Care must be taken with dried beans when cooking in a slow cooker.  Make sure that the beans are soaked for at least 5 hrs in advance of use, then drain and rinse.  Put into a saucepan with fresh cold water, bring to the boil and boil rapidly for 10 mins before adding to the slow cooker, then cook thoroughly on low for 8 hrs.  Make sure you add any salt to the dish at the end of cooking not the start. If you are looking for low-calorie, slow cooker recipe inspiration, then perhaps you’d like to take a look at my book, The5:2 Diet  Easy Slow-Cooker Recipe Cookbook which helps make eating on your fast-day:
HealthyEasyConvenient FoolproofThis easy-to-use cookbook takes the hard work out of eating well on ‘Fast’ Days.  You will be able to enjoy over 30 fresh, tasty, Complete Meal Calorie-Counted Recipes, all under 300 calories, including:
Slow-Cooker Breakfast Fruit Compote 100 calsAutumn Harvest Festival Soup 100 calsCauliflower & Stilton Soup 140 calsSlow Cooker Chicken Chile Blanco 259 calsSlow Cooker Meatballs with Cauliflower “Cous Cous” 249 calsSlow Cooker Pork & Pepper Chilli Pot 296 calsPacked full of flavourful, natural, healthy ingredients, prepared in advance and ready and waiting for you, these delicious recipes won’t leave you feeling hungry or unsatisfied after eating.

Why Break-fast?

There is the old adage of Breakfast like a King, Lunch like a Prince and Dine like a Pauper.
However, is there any truth to this advice, especially if you are on a diet to lose weight?  There are lots of scientific studies regarding the role that breakfast plays in the habits of successful dieters, including:

Research which found people who ate breakfast tended to be more active during the remainder of the day in mostly light-intensity activity (American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Apr 2014)Research which found that dieters who ate higher-protein based breakfasts felt more satisfied and ate fewer calories at the following meal (Int Journal of Obesity, Aug 2008)Research which found that people who had lost weight and maintained their weight loss, regularly ate breakfast (Obesity Research, Feb 2002)
When we wake up in the morning, breakfast can help provide a great foundation for a good day ahead. In can help us be more active during the day and keep us feeling full and much less likely to snack until lunch time.
However, just because eating breakfast is “a good thing”, it's not always easy to make healthy choices.  We've all read the horror stories of hidden sugar and/or fat in seemingly "healthy" breakfast foods.  Whether you want:

a quick and easy (but healthy) breakfast for school-days and work-daysa tasty, portable breakfast on the go that still keeps you satisfied until lunch-time a leisurely, social but healthy brunch with loved ones at the weekend,
you'll find all the recipe inspiration you need in my new breakfast recipe cookbook: Weight Watchers Breakfast Pro Points Plus Recipes Diet Cook Book will give you all the inspiration you need to be able to Breakfast Like a King, day in, day out.  

Available to buy on Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk or, alternatively, this book is part of the Weight Watchers Pro Points Plus Recipes Diet Companion Cook Book Complete Collection Box Set.

Michael Mosley & BBC Horizon - "Should I Eat Meat? - The Big Health Dilemma"

Eating meat, and in particular, eating red and processed meat has been back in the news again with Michael Mosley’s investigation for BBC Horizon into the health impacts of regularly consuming red meat and processed red meat products such as sausages, burgers, bacon and ham.

As Michael himself acknowledges, red meat can be a rich source of certain vitamins and minerals such as essential fatty acids, Vitamins B12 and B3, zinc, selenium and iron, as well as protein - all nutrients essential to health.  However, the counter-balance to this is that red meat and especially processed red meat products, can be high in fat, and in particular, saturated fat.

The Horizon programme looked at two well respected, recently published studies:
1. Red Meat Consumption and Mortality (Archive of Internal Medicine, April 2012) concluded that red meat consumption is associated with an increased risk of total Cardiovascular Diseases and Cancer mortality. Substitution of other healthy protein sources for red meat is associated with a lower mortality risk.
2. Meat consumption and mortality - results from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (BMC, March 2013) concluded there was a moderate positive association between processed meat consumption and mortality, in particular due to Cardiovascular Diseases, but also to Cancer.

So does this mean that red meat should be avoided at all costs?  Not necessarily so!  It comes down to how often you eat red meat and how you eat it.  Take a look at the picture on the right.  This is how I recommend you prepare lamb mince in my recipe for low fat Shepherd’s Pie ( Easy Low Fat & Low Cholesterol Mediterranean Diet Recipe Cookbook ) – the lean mince has been sautéd and then drained in a strainer to remove excess fat.  In my picture, you can see 200g of raw, lean lamb mince, sautéd in a non-stick pan and then drained, yielded 40g of drained juices.  I estimate that approximately half of this was fat.  My low fat Shepherds Pie recipe also matches the lean lamb mince with the same quantity of cooked green lentils as a source of low-fat protein.  By making these adjustments, and following my vegetable-packed recipe, a generous portion of my home-cooked low fat Shepherd’s Pie comes in at 437 cals, 14g Total Fat and just 6g of Saturated Fat.  The saturated fat level is half of that found in a well-known brand of premium ready meals, which delivers 397 cals, 22.3g Total Fat and 12.6g of Saturated Fat.

You can find lots of low fat, healthy recipe make-overs in my Easy Low Fat & Low Cholesterol Mediterranean Diet Recipe Cookbook, available to buy from Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk.

Vitamin D

The so-called sunshine vitamin, Vitamin D, helps control the amount of calcium and phosphorus in your body. The genesis of its nickname is because we obtain most the Vitamin D that we need from the action sunlight on our skin.  There are also excellent natural food sources too.

It is a fat-soluble vitamin (as opposed to water-soluble vitamins), and this means that it is stored all around the body.  It also means that you need to be careful not to take too much Vitamin D if you take dietary supplements containing the vitamin (for example, by consuming a higher than recommended dose by combining a fortified cod liver oil supplement with a high strength multi-vitamin).

Vitamin D keeps your bones, teeth and muscles healthy, and plays an important role in heart and nerve health.  Vitamin D deficiency is associated with muscle weakness, constipation and irritability and, in extreme cases, can lead to children’s bone deformities such as rickets or painful, tender bones in adulthood from the condition osteomalacia.  More recently, research has associated Vitamin D deficiency with increased incidence of dementia.  On the other hand, too much Vitamin D can be toxic as a result of increased blood levels of calcium.

You may be at risk of having too little Vitamin D if your skin rarely gets exposure to sunlight or if you are a vegan.

In 2012, the UK Chief Medical Officers highlighted the risk of vitamin D deficiency amongst certain groups particularly:

All pregnant and breastfeeding womenInfants and young children under 5 years of ageOlder people aged 65 years and overPeople who have low or no exposure to the sunPeople who have darker skin
As well as a regular (but safe) exposure to summer sunshine, you can also obtain Vitamin D in a small number of natural wholesome foods including:

oily fish, such as salmon, sardines and mackereleggs

Know Your Onions

Clockwise from bottom left - Shallot, Leek, Brown Onion, Spring Onion/Scallion, Red OnionIn savoury cooking, onions often provide the foundation from which to build depth and complex flavours in a dish.  Along with celery and carrot, onions are one of the three aromatic elements of traditional mirepoix, the starting base of many soups, casseroles, stews and sauces.

Onions are a bulbous root vegetable that belong to the same family as leeks and garlic. When fully mature, their dry, papery skins provide protection to a multi-layered root with juicy flesh.  Their sharp, pungent flavour mellows to sweetness with long, slow cooking.

Choosing the right onion or shallot for both your recipe and also your personal taste preferences can make an enormous difference to the flavour produced in the finished dish. Here’s the low-down on some of the different types of onion available:

Red Onion (my personal favourite!) – a sweet onion that is suitable for raw use in salads and salsas.  Their attractive purple flesh and mild taste adds colour, texture and flavour to savoury cooking especially ragùs, braises, stews as well as stir fries.

Yellow/Brown Onion – widely available and versatile, this onion has yellow flesh and a light tan coloured skin, sautéing prior to slow cooking adds deep caramel flavours to a dish.

Spanish Onion – the big cousin to the yellow/brown onion, larger in size but also milder and sweeter, with yellow flesh and a light brown skin.  It is therefore a good choice for use in both raw form (salsas, salads, garnishes) and also for quick-cooking recipes such as stir-fries and omelettes.

White Onion – a medium to large round onion, with a strong, pungent flavour. The root’s flesh is evenly white, lending itself to recipes such as Vichyssoise where you want to maintain a white or cream colour in the finished dish.   Due to their size, white onions are good for stuffing, baking (whole or in wedges) and fried onion rings.

Spring Onion/Scallions – these young onions are mild in taste and are most frequently used raw in salads, cold pasta dishes and salsas.  Thinly sliced, they can be used garnish soups or omelettes.

Shallot - Shallots are generally smaller than onions with thin, tightly compacted layers of flesh. They have mild and sweet flavour, and need to be cooked gently on low heat.  Varieties include small round shallots (that look like minature brown onions), round pink shallots and longer, larger banana shallots.  Small round shallots can be peeled and used whole in stews and casseroles, otherwise thinly slice and use in salads or sauté as a flavour base for soups and stews.  As they don't like high heat, it is best not to use them in stir-fries or other high-heat cooking methods.

Leeks – whilst not an onion per se, leeks (like garlic) are part of the allium family.  The reason that I have included them here is that leek is great substitute for onion if you want a really mild flavour in a delicately flavoured dish (such as risotto or chowder) or if you are cooking for anyone who has trouble tolerating the stronger flavour of onions.