Clare’s Hot & Spicy Chicken Salad

Today I bring you my Hot and Spicy Warm Chicken Salad. The weather was so lovely last weekend so I made this and Its so easy yet it is so tasty, really quick this one is too. Super for a day you don’t want to be stuck in the kitchen and because the chicken is so tasty you feel like you are eating more than a salad.

Clare’s Hot and Spicy Warm Chicken Salad 

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Makes: 4 servings

Preparation Time: 15 minutes

Total Time:  30 minutes

Ingredients

• 200g mixed lettuces leaves
• 500g of skinned, boneless chicken breasts
• 3tbs of smokey paprika
• 1tbs cracked black pepper
• 1tbs salt
• 1tbs coconut oil
• 1 medium red onion thinly sliced
• 16-20 cherry tomatoes halved
• one carrot finely grated

REPARATION

1/ Place the chicken breasts between two sheets of grease paper and bash with a rolling pin to flatten them to about 1/2 an inch thick, once flat mix the paprika, pepper and salt together and press onto the Chicken, Place the coconut oil in the base of a heavy bottomed pan and place the chicken in on a med heat for 4-5 minutes , turn and continue to cook for another 4-5 minutes, leave to rest for 2-3 minutes before slicing as per image.

2/ Slice the red onions, tomatoes, and grate the carrots, mix with the salad leaves.

3/ Arrange the salad and vegetables on your plate and top with the chicken, you do not need an additional dressing as the chicken is very tasty but if you must have something, mix 1tbs lemon juice, tbs white wine vinegar, 1tbs of wholegrain mustard and 1tbs of cold water to dress the leaves.

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Top Tip: This is great with pork of lamb chops and equally great with halloumi cheese.

Thank you for reading you FABULOUS people

❤ Clare with the Hair ❤

Salt Awareness Week 2015

Like adults, children consume more salt than the maximum recommendation. Simple measures need to be taken to help reduce their salt intake and therefore reduce the number of people suffering from cardiovascular disease.

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Children are considered a vulnerable group in society often with little influence on or involvement in what they eat. Evidence suggests that dietary habits in childhood and adolescence also influence eating patterns in later life. Liking salt and salty foods is a learned taste preference and so it is vital that children do not develop a taste for salt in the first place. A high salt intake in children can influence blood pressure and may predispose a child to the development of a number of diseases including: high blood pressure, osteoporosis, stomach cancer and obesity. Unfortunately reducing ones salt intake isn’t as easy as it should be, with a lot of salt hidden amongst the foods we buy. This is shown in children’s survey, which found 1 in 4 meals to contain 2g or more of salt per dish, the maximum daily recommended salt intake for a 1-3 year old!

This year for Salt Awareness Week they want to ensure that everyone understands the importance of a healthy start for children. As part of the week they will be encouraging the food industry to act more responsibly by reducing the amount of salt they add to children’s food and to stop advertising high salt food to children.

How much salt do we eat?

Most people  eat too much salt without even realising it. You could be eating too much because about 75% of the salt we eat is already in the food we buy; only a small amount is added to our food at home. Cutting out processed foods and cooking from scratch can really help you with this.

How much salt should we eat?

Adults should eat no more than 6g of salt a day, and children even less. Reducing the average daily salt intake for adults to 6g could prevent about 17,500 deaths from heart attacks and strokes a year. (UK based stats)

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Our bodies need a little bit of salt to survive, but the amount we eat is far more than we require. Evidence has shown that  regularly eating too much salt puts us at increased risk of developing high blood pressure. High blood pressure is the main cause of strokes and a major cause of heart attacks and heart failures, the most common causes of death and illness in the world.

Here are some common questions answered about salt:

1. What is salt?
By salt, we mean table salt, which is otherwise known as sodium chloride. It is the biggest source of sodium in our diets and it’s this sodium that’s the problem in relation to blood pressure. While we do need some sodium in our diet to help regulate fluid in the body, it’s unusual for us not to get enough – and only too common for us to have too much.

2. What’s the daily limit?
The Government recommends that we eat no more than 6g of salt a day, which is about a teaspoon. Currently, we are consuming 8.1g a day, which is about a third more than the maximum recommendation, so we still have some way to go.

3. Why are we going over this limit?
Many people unfortunately don’t realise they are eating too much salt. That is because about 75% of the salt in our diet comes from process foods.It’s not just in ready meals, soups and sauces, though – keep an eye on everyday foods such as breads and cereals, as well as sweet foods harbouring a salty surprise. Foods don’t necessarily have to taste salty to be salty.  This is one of the reasons it can be tricky to reduce our salt intake, as it is often already in the foods we buy, and we can’t take it out.  Read food labels to make sure that you are making low-salt choices, our use our free health app FoodSwitch, which tells you which foods are less salty!

4. How can I cut back?
We acquire a taste for salt and, over time, get used to a certain amount in our diets. If you cut back drastically and suddenly, you may at first find that your food tastes bland. However, flavour doesn’t only come from salt. Fresh and dried herbs, spices, black pepper, chilli and lemon are all great ways to add flavour. So while you reduce the amount of salt you eat, substitute it with these other flavour enhancers and you won’t notice the loss as much. It only takes 3 weeks for our taste buds to adapt and become more sensitive to salt, so you get the same flavour impact from less salt.

5. Are other types of salt better for me?
Don’t be fooled into thinking that fancier types of salt are better for you. Whether it’s pink, black, rock, crystal or flakes, they still have the same effect on your blood pressure as standard table salt. Although less refined salts might contain more nutrients than everyday table salt, these will probably only be in very small amounts and can probably be sourced from other foods in your diet. Bigger crystals also taste less salty, so you are  likely to add more than refined salt.

It’s the sodium that we really need to watch out for; we should also monitor ingredients such as fish and soy sauce and raising agents such as baking powder and bicarbonate of soda.

Thank you for reading you FABULOUS people

❤ Clare with the Hair ❤

Clare’s Sticky BBQ Chicken

This tastes so good yet it is still super low in fat and packed full of goodness, a real family favourite, this is my Sticky BBQ Chicken, itis a little spicy, a little sweet but most of all it is low in fat and high in taste and goodness , it is a winner and one I will go back to more than a few times.

Clare’s Sticky BBQ Chicken

I am serving this with a little mixed salad, some cubed baked potatoes and roasted parsnip chips.

Makes: 4 servings

Preparation Time: 15 minutes

Total Time:  45 minutes

Ingredients

• 400g skinless , boneless chicken breasts (place between two sheets of grease proof paper & flatten with a rolling pin)
• 1tbs honey
• 1tbs mustard
• 2tbs tomato relish
• 1/2tbs of crushed chilli
• 1/2tbs grated garlic
• 400g Parsnips
• 1tb paperika
• 1tbs coconut oil
• 200g Potatoes
• 1tbs curry powder
• Mixed salad leaves
• Cucumber sliced and de seeded
• Cherry Tomatoes sliced
• Red onion sliced
•  1/2tbs cracked black pepper
• 1/2 the juice of a lime
• pince of salt

PREPARATION

1/ Flatten the chicken and place on a tray, mix the honey, mustard, relish, chilli and garlic and spread over the chicken, place in the fridge for at least 10 minutes but if you have an hour then leave it longer. One left to marinade remove from the fridge and place in the oven for 18-22 minutes, this will depend on how thick you have your chicken breasts.

2/ Peel and chop your parsnips into chip type shapes, place on a baking tray with 1/2 the teaspoon on oil and sprinkle with paprika, place in the over for 20-25 minutes until golden and crisp.

3/ Peel and chop your potato’s into cube shapes, place on the same oven tray (if large enough) as the parsnips, sprinkle with a medium curry powder and 1/2 the oil and place in the oven for 20-25 minutes until golden and crisp.

4/ Mix the salad leaves, cucumber, tomato’s, onions,  pepper, salt and lime juice

Serve as in pictures and enjoy.

Top Tip: Make a little extra chicken and sever in a baguette for lunch the next day , delicious.

Clare’s Sticky BBQ Chicken

Thank you for reading you FABULOUS people

❤ Clare with the Hair ❤

28 Day food Plan for Feburary 2015

So here we are , Week One of our 4 week food and activity plan.

Very like the four weeks we ran this in January but with so many asks and so many new followers and so many wanting to carry on beyond the initial four weeks, we just had to keep going.

The feedback from the 1st four weeks has been fantastic and I really appreciate you taken the time to provide me with this feedback, we are all busy so thank you.

Below you will see an activity challenge for the next 30 days, we are doing 28 here but you can keep going for the 30 if you wish.

Meal Plan, very like before with lots of new meal idea’s added and lots of pictures to go with these 🙂

Each day we will add full details on how to cook each of the main meals, links to follow exercise at home (but please if you have any reason’s at all to run this by your health care professional then please do)

Eating clean should be a way of life and not a diet, if you can aim to follow the plan even 50% of the time then this 50% more than last week, and on week two maybe aim to follow 60% of the time and you will find the better you eat the better you will want to eat, you will no longer enjoy or even want the take out’s or processed alternatives.

Make little changes each and every day and you will achieve things you never thought possible.

Below are the details for out food plan from Monday the 2nd of Feb until Sunday the 8th of Feb.

Clare with the hair Food Plan 2nd Feb 2015

Each week a new plan will be posted and daily I will post how to make the meal’s listed.

I will also add links to all the exercise routines I do and any other activities I manage 🙂

So The Rules:

Eat 3 main meals and 1 – 2 snacks EVERY day .

Drink lots of Water, if you drink no water right now then begin with 2 glasses a day, adding a glass each day until you are drinking 8 good glasses per day.

Cut out all surgery drinks, diet, non diet, it does not matter, non of them are good for you.

Move EVERY day, a 20 minute power walk is a 100 times better than nothing, take up a spinning class, try Zumba, I will post lots of things you can do at home right here, so check in daily!

Ban Take out’s and as much processed foods as possible, no frozen chips, pizza’s, pies etc

Swap your cooking oil’s for coconut oil, trust me it is worth it and I will post why over the coming day’s

Sit at the table with family for meals , it is good for your weight and your mind!

Over cook in the evening is you know you have a busy day to follow, pack and have the things you need on the go.

No Chocolate

No Booze

No Candy

No Cakes

No White Bread, Pasta, Rice, swap these for wholegrain

No Junk food at all.

This is a 28 day plan so look forward to an evening meal out at the end, or a night in with himself and a bottle of wine, whatever it is you will miss most in these 28 day’s then plan and look forward to the end, you will be so proud of the work you have put in and most of all you will have started 2015 in the best possible way.

Swap white potatoes for sweet potatoes

Swap butter / oil for Coconut oil

Each day I will add full details on how to make each meal and I would love if you shared some of you pictures with me, your food and yourselves.

Lets Kick Start  February 2015!!! with my 28 day plan x

Thank you for reading you FABULOUS people

❤ Clare with the hair ❤

Day 20: Clare’s Chicken Salad

Today I bring you my Hot and Spicy Warm Chicken Salad. Its so easy yet it is so tasty, really quick this one is too. Super for a day you don’t want to be stuck in the kitchen and because the chicken is so tasty you feel like you are eating more than a salad.

Clare’s Hot and Spicy Warm Chicken Salad 

Makes: 4 servings

Preparation Time: 15 minutes

Total Time:  30 minutes

Ingredients

• 200g mixed lettuces leaves
• 500g of skinned, boneless chicken breasts
• 3tbs of smokey paprika
• 1tbs cracked black pepper
• 1tbs salt
• 1tbs coconut oil
• 1 medium red onion thinly sliced
• 16-20 cherry tomatoes halved
• one carrot finely grated

REPARATION

1/ Place the chicken breasts between two sheets of grease paper and bash with a rolling pin to flatten them to about 1/2 an inch thick, once flat mix the paprika, pepper and salt together and press onto the Chicken, Place the coconut oil in the base of a heavy bottomed pan and place the chicken in on a med heat for 4-5 minutes , turn and continue to cook for another 4-5 minutes, leave to rest for 2-3 minutes before slicing as per image.

2/ Slice the red onions, tomatoes, and grate the carrots, mix with the salad leaves.

3/ Arrange the salad and vegetables on your plate and top with the chicken, you do not need an additional dressing as the chicken is very tasty but if you must have something, mix 1tbs lemon juice, tbs white wine vinegar, 1tbs of wholegrain mustard and 1tbs of cold water to dress the leaves.

Top Tip: This is great with pork of lamb chops and equally great with halloumi cheese.

Thank you for reading you FABULOUS people

❤ Clare with the Hair

Why I Start Everyday with Lemon Water & The Reason’s you should too

If you are looking for a super easy trick to improve your overall health, than look no further. Drinking lemon water first thing in the morning, every morning, this is a pretty simple habit to get into and will have tremendous effects on your overall health.

Not only does the refreshing taste wake me up in the morning, it helps to kick start digestion and finalizes my body’s natural detoxification processes and lemons are packed full with vitamin C, B, calcium, iron, magnesium, potassium, enzymes and antioxidants.

1/ Boosts your immune system 

Lemon juice is rich in vitamin C, which helps strengthen your immune system and  will help fights cold and flu. But not only vitamin C is important for a good working immune system, iron is another important nutrient, and lemons improve the ability to absorb more iron from the food you eat.

2/ Improves Digestion

Lemon juice has a similar structure to your stomach’s acids and helps to loosen and flush out toxins from the digestive tract. Lemon juice can help ease indigestion, heartburn, and bloating. It also helps to move your bowels in the morning, hydrates your colon, stimulate bile production, and infuses water in your stool. (Not the most attractive thought 🙂 )

3/ Keeps you hydrated

It is so very important to stay hydrated. Plain water is best, but many people find this boring and are not drinking enough of it. That’s where lemon comes into play to make things more interesting. So feel free to not only start your day with lemon water, but drink as many glasses as you wish during the day to stay hydrated. Maybe then aim for every 2nd glass plain water, you will be surprised how quickly you get into the water habit and you will be reaching for the plain options.

4/ Boost your energy

Lemon water gives you an instant boost of energy and improves your mood right at the start of your day.

5/ Promote Healthy And Rejuvenates your Skin

Lemons are a rich sources of antioxidants that prevent free radical damage. These free radicals are responsible for pre-mature aging of your skin. Vitamin C helps to maintain your skin’s elasticity to prevent the formation of wrinkles and decrease blemishes.

6/ Fantastic Weight Loss Aid

Although lemon water on its own is no weight loss miracle, it can definitely help you to achieve faster and long term results. Lemons help to assist in fighting hunger cravings, boost metabolism, and gives you a full feeling, making you less likely to snack in between meals.

7/ Freshen Breath

Lemons freshen your breath and fight mouth bacteria. Although lemons are great for your overall oral health, avoid drinking or using it undiluted. The citric acid can erode tooth enamel, so don’t brush your teeth with it, but have a glass of lemon water instead.

8/ Anti-cancer

Lemon’s antioxidants not only protect your skin from ageing, but also reduce the risk of several types of cancer. They are great in neutralizing acids as well. Cancer loves to grow in an acidic environment. Alkalizing your body may stop cancer cells to grow and may reduce the risk of getting cancer in the first place.

This is just some of the super reason’s why you should start everyday with a large glass of this super juice x Now here is how to make it x

How To Make Lemon Water

Making lemon water is super simple. It takes less than 5 minutes. Just squeeze half a lemon in lukewarm water.

Why use lukewarm (or room temperature) instead of cold or hot water to make this healing morning drink? Well, hot or cold water takes more energy to process, so your first glass in the morning should be lukewarm or at room temperature to slowly wake your body and kick start digestion.

If you love the taste feel free to add more lemon water to your diet during the rest of the day, cold or hot. It adds up to your daily water need, is less boring than plain water, and adds tons of benefits for body and mind.

Thank you for reading you FABULOUS people

❤ Clare with the Hair ❤

Welcome to my Kick Start 28 day food plan

Just a quick post to welcome my new readers and followers, currently hitting over 15,000 readers per week and 100’s or new followers this week , it is incredible.

Thank you for following and I look forward to all your feedback on how you are getting on, I am here to listen, support and motivate you whenever you need me, you are always welcome to email me and I will always do my best to help x

I am re posting day 1’s recipe for all you newbies 🙂 I want to hear how this went down and I want you to share your pictures here and on my Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/ClareBlog

x x Clare’s Warm and Zesty Thai Beef Salad x x

Today I bring you ‘Clare’s Warm and Zesty Thai Beef Salad‘ and this is a hit with my husband, children and friends alike and it is one you will go back to time and time again. This works really well with Chicken, Tofu and Mushrooms also.

Fish Sauce, Honey, Coriander, Ginger, Lemon, Chilli and Garlic

Makes: 4 servings

Preparation Time: 40 minutes

Total Time:  55 minutes

Orange , Purple and White Carrots

Ingredients

• A bunch of Fresh Coriander
• 3-4cm Piece Ginger, finely grated
• 2 cloves of Garlic, grated
• 4 red chillies, thinly sliced, remove the seeds if you don’t want it too hot
• 2 lemons, use the zest and juice
• 2 tablespoons fish sauce
• 2 tablespoons of honey
• 6-8 mixed colored carrots
• 550g Sirloin steak
• 1 red onion halved and finely sliced
• 1 Cucumber halved, de seeded and  thinly sliced
• 1 cup of mint leaves
• Chopped roasted peanuts (optional)
• 200g Thai rice noodles

• 

  Trim your beef before slicing into 1cm strips

PREPARATION

1: Remove the leaves from the coriander and place in a bowel, place the stalks in a food processor with the garlic, chilli, ginger, lemon juice, lemon zest, fish sauce and honey, turn the processor on until all ingredients are mixed well and finely chopped.

2: Trim and slice your beef into 1cm pieces, add to a bowel and top with half the Thai mixture in the processor, leave the other half to one side as this is used to dress the noodles, salad later.

Marinade your beef for 30 minutes

3: Heat 1 tsp of coconut oil in a large frying pan, place 1/2 – 1/3 of the beef into this and cook on hot for 2-3 minutes, remove and cook the next 1/2 or 1/3 until all has been cooked.

4: Place the Thai noodles in hot salted water and cook for 8-10 minutes , drain and rinse in cold water, they will stick together if you do not do this. Steam the carrots above the noodles. They need no more cooking than the 8-10 minutes. Place the beef, noodles and carrots back into the large pan and heat gently.

The original ‘Super Noodle’

5: Place the Cucumber, coriander, onion, mint and nuts in a large bowel, add the warm meat, noodles, carrots and pour over the remaining Thai dressing and mix well, server straight away.

Top Tip; If you are making an extra portion for your lunch the following day, do not warm the meat and noodles back up until you plan to serve, it is also delicious cold, so if no heating options then no problem, this is just as yummy.

x Clare’s Warm and Zesty Thai Beef Salad

Thank you for reading you FABULOUS people

❤ Clare with the Hair ❤

Day 13 : Clare’s Chicken Satay Fake Away Skewers

I use this tasty, versatile peanut sauce not only as a dip for grilled satay skewers, but also  for Stir Fried Rice or Noodles with Chicken and Peanut Sauce.. The sauce contains a little bit of heat, but you can cut back on it or eliminate it altogether if you wish. The sauce keeps for days in the fridge so make ahead of time for a simple go to sauce mid week. You also can thin the sauce with a little coconut milk, water, or chicken stock.

Makes: 4 servings (main meal) 8 (starter)

Preparation Time: 30 minutes

Total Time:  50 minutes

Ingredients

4 Skinless / Boneless Chicken Breast Fillets

1⁄2 cup  peanut butter ( I used Almond Butter, reasons in week 6 Food & Activity Dairy)
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon chilli paste / I clove of minced Garlic (Fresh can be unpredictable heat wise hence opting for the paste option)      1⁄2 teaspoon fresh chopped  coriander
1 cup water
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lime juice.

PREPARATION

In a small saucepan, combine the peanut butter, soy sauce, ginger, brown sugar, chilli, garlic and coriander. Stir in the water. Heat the ingredients over medium heat, stirring to combine. Do not let the sauce boil or it will separate. The consistency of the sauce should be pourable, like double cream. When the peanut sauce is hot, stir in the lime juice. Taste the sauce and add a little more lime juice if you like more acidity. The sauce will keep, covered in the refrigerator, for about 1 week. Then take the  chicken fillets and slice  into finger size lengths.  Thread onto skewers ( you can buy these in your supermarket or pick them up in your butchers.) then smother the chicken in your satay sauce, leave to sit for 30 minutes, place on a baking tray lined with baking parchment and grill, turning after 6-8 minutes and brushing with remaining sauce as you go.

Tip: Soak the Skewer Sticks in water while you prepar all the other bits, this will help them not to burn under the grill

I served these with some sweet chilli Prawn Skewers and Brown rice for our Saturday Night ‘Fake Away’ (I will add full details for both.

If you have a favourite Take away and would like me to create a ‘Fake Away’ version then please get in touch 🙂

Thank you for reading you FABULOUS people

❤ Clare with the Hair  ❤

Day 12: Clare’s Oven-baked Fish & Chips

A classic combination given a  healthy makeover by oven cooking the ingredients instead of frying. All the flavour with a lot less fat! This is my healthy Fish and Chips , Enjoy!

Makes: 4 servings

Preparation Time: 15 minutes

Cooking Time: 40 minutes

INGREDIENTS

• 880g of floury potato, scrubbed and cut into chips, (leave the skins on) for a healthier option use Sweet Potato
• 2 tbsp olive oil, for me it is Coconut Oil but you can use one of the lite oil sprays
• 50g fresh breadcrumbs, I use wholemeal but feel free to use breadcrumbs of your choice
• zest the peel of 1 lemon
• 2 – 3 tbsp chopped parsley
• 4 x 140g/5oz thick  white fish fillets (up or down the numbers depending on your requirements) this is based on 1 per person,
• 200g cherry tomato, I like to sprinkle a little black pepper onto these

I also like to add a green veg on the side of this but you can opt for your favourite and steam this.

PREPARATION

1. Heat oven to 220C/200C fan/gas 7. Pat chips dry on kitchen paper, then lay in a single layer on a large baking tray. Drizzle with half the olive oil , coconut oil or spray and season with salt. Cook for 40 mins, turning after 20 mins, so they cook evenly.
2. Mix the breadcrumbs with the lemon zest and parsley, then season well. Top the cod evenly with the breadcrumb mixture, then drizzle, with the remaining oil again using your option. Put in a roasting tin with the cherry tomatoes, then bake in the oven for the final 10 mins of the chips’ cooking time.

As far as easy goes this is way up there. it tastes delicious and needs very little attention while in the oven, this is one of my families favourites

NUTRITION

Per serving: 366 calories

• Tip , Healthy benefits

  We have halved the fat and calories of this traditional favourite by cooking it in the oven instead of frying, and even better again with coconut oil of your lite oil sprays. Although potatoes don’t count towards your 5-a-day, they’re a useful source of vitamin C as well as B6, potassium and manganese and if you opt for a sweet potato you have seriously increased the health benefits, Remember to add a nice green vegetable with this to make it a truly great family meal.

Let me know how you get on with this and as always if there is something you would like me to make, then let me know in the comments section below or via the contact me page.

Thank you for reading you FABULOUS people

❤ Clare with the Hair ❤

Week 3 Menu Plan

We will begin week 3 on Monday 19th January but I am adding this today so you can get the shopping in over the weekend, Again we have a fabulous mix of meals to suit you and your families.

The meals I create are based on my want to eat healthier, to get leener and most of all meals that I can have on the table quickly, I am working every day, I am a mother of two and with homework in the evenings, house work, running the children to additional activities, I just do not have time to spend hours in my kitchen but I do not want to resort to the take out’s or frozen pizza’s, I want to eat clean, healthy, fresh yet easy to get on the table meals.

Week 3 looks delicious 🙂 with some fabulous main meals that you and your family will just love. Sometime the hardest part of eating well , is thinking what to eat, now we are on week 3 you have 21 different main meals with many breakfast, lunch and snack idea’s.

This week many of you have emailed me to say how you are getting on and the feedback has been lovely, you have loved the food post’s and I have loved creating all you have seen. Keep getting in touch with your questions and comments as I really do love to read them.

Recent newspaper piece on my 28 day plan x

Over 25,000 of you visited my blog this month and I really want to say, thank you so much, it means the world to know the hard work that goes into creating this blog is being seen and loved by so many of you x

Here is the Menu Plan

Thank you for reading you FABULOUS people

❤ Clare with the Hair ❤