Nuts about Coconut Oil

Coconut oil has soared in popularity lately, and rightly so. It is infinitely useful - I use it to condition my hair, cleanse my face, as a mouthwash and in the bath when my skin needs some extra TLC. Not all coconut oils are equal though - here are my thoughts on the ones I've tried so far.

Superdrug Coconut Oil £2.29 125ml

This was the first coconut oil that I tried and I bought it without paying much attention to the ingredients. I assumed that all coconut oil was the same, but further research told me that hydrogenated oils (like this one) block pores, making them unsuitable for facial cleansing. The instructions also say that it isn't for "internal consumption" so unfortunately it can't be used for oil swilling either. It's not all bad though - this oil is fine to use as an intensive hair mask. As with all coconut oils, a little goes a long way, so it is good value and an effective conditioner. I'll keep using this until it runs out, but most likely won't repurchase as I'm not fond of the artificial coconut scent it contains.

2/5

Biona Organic Coconut Virgin Oil (Raw) £4.49 200g

This is my favourite oil as it ticks ALL the boxes. It is carefully produced, with no pasteurisation or bleaching and it is cold pressed, meaning the oil is as natural as possible. It has a beautiful, naturally occurring coconut fragrance and it really is a pleasure to use. After over a month of having this oil and using it in so many ways every day, I've yet to make a dent in the jar. It is a wonderful cleanser and leaves skin feeling soft and supple. It's nonhydrogenated so it won't block pores like some other coconut oils. I'll definitely repurchase this if the jar ever runs out - it's my coconut oil holy grail

5/5

Cocofresh Coconut Oil £1.59 250ml

I picked this up on impulse at my local green grocers. The packaging is pretty coy about the processing of the product - it simply claims to be "100% Pure Coconut Oil". As I don't know whether it's hydrogenated or not I avoid cleansing with it, but have found it really good to use on hair and for shaving my legs. It is an absolute bargain, so I would recommend it for everywhere but the face. 

3/5

Clarified Butter

Frying foods in butter gives a wonderful richness, but if the temperature is too high whatever is being cooked can often end up with unappetising black flecks. There is an easy way to avoid this and it's by clarifying the butter before use.

Clarified butter is basically butter with the impurities removed. The impurities are milk solids and water, so the key is making the butter anhydrous so it has a higher smoke point and can withstand longer cooking periods. Removing the water and milk solids from butter increases the smoke point by a whopping 150°C.

It is incredibly easy to clarity butter. Simply take a block of unsalted butter, place in a pan and gently bring to the boil. Milk protein in the form of a white scum will form on top and this is what we want to discard. Simply skim this off with a spoon until you are left with the luscious, yellow butter underneath. Decant this into a sterilised jar and store in the fridge, where it will solidify. Clarified butter keeps a lot longer than regular butter - up to three months -  leaving you plenty of time to get through it. It works well in curries, shallow frying, and garnishes.

Blood Orange Fizz

Blood oranges are my favorite fruit and are in season for a while longer, so I've been trying to think of imaginative ways to use them. 

As it was Valentine's Day last weekend, I thought I would juice them to add to champagne in order to create an alcoholic drink that is acceptable before noon.

The result was so delicious that I didn't even mind cleaning my juicer for once! It went really well with my luxurious Valentine's Day brunch and I'm desperately trying to invent another special occasion so I can have it again soon.

Brioche French Toast

My motto is that brunch should be easy to make, even after a glass or three of Buck's Fizz. Thankfully, french toast fulfils this requirement and is also luxurious and delicious to boot. I use brioche for mine, as it lends a sweetness that goes wonderfully well with whatever you serve it with, whether that be salty bacon or fresh fruit. It's best to slice the brioche and leave it out for a couple of hours before cooking, so that it hardens slightly, allowing it to absorb more of the egg mixture. 

Ingredients 

Serves 2

4 slices of brioche 

3 eggs

50ml milk 

1 tsp cognac (optional)

Pinch of nutmeg

Few grinds of black pepper

3 tbsp sunflower oil

1 tbsp clarified butter

I served mine with some crispy streaky bacon, but it's also delicious with red berries or maple syrup.

Method

In a large bowl, beat the eggs, milk, cognac, nutmeg and pepper until well combined. Press the bread into the egg mixture, giving it a few minutes to soak it.

Heat the oil and butter in a frying pan over a medium temperature until the butter has melted and the fat is hot.

Add the egg soaked bread and fry for two minutes on each side, until golden brown. Serve immediately. 

5:2 Fast Day Recipes: Chicken Jalfrezi with Cauliflower Rice

Before embarking on the 5:2, Tuesday night was Curry Night in this household. I wanted to recreate that occasion, but knew the pilau rice, naan bread and popadoms would have to go. Curries in themselves are quite healthy meals- packed with fresh vegetables, tasty spices and lean meat, it only takes a bit of tweaking in order to make them suitable for a fast night. My biggest concern was what to replace the rice with in order to make the dish both taste and look like the treat we were used to.

Having recently discovered courgette spaghetti, I'm already a big fan of substituting carbs for vegetables. So for this dish, grated cauliflower replaces rice. This brings down the calorie count substantially, but also tastes great. Cauliflower is already a popular side accompaniment to curries (Aloo Gobi, anyone?) and once fried, it has a wonderfully nutty flavour and even looks like rice.

For obvious reasons, I've omitted the ghee in this recipe and replaced it with some crème fraîche to add a bit of richness. 

Ingredients 

Serves 2

For the curry

2 medium chicken breasts, diced 340 calories

2 medium onions, 1 grated and 1 chopped 92 calories

Medium green pepper, sliced 16 calories 

Medium red pepper, sliced 19 calories 

1 red chilli, chopped 20 calories

400g chopped tomatoes 82 calories 

1 tbsp cumin 15 calories 

1 tbsp ground coriander 10 calories 

1 tsp garam masala 12 calories 

1 tsp turmeric 12 calories 

1 tsp salt 0 calories 

1 tbsp chopped fresh coriander, to garnish 5 calories 

1 tbsp low fat crème fraîche 12 calories

For the cauliflower rice

1 medium cauliflower, stems removed and grated.144 calories 

Salt and pepper, to taste 0 calories 

Total calories: 779

Calories per serving: 390

Method

In a large, heavy-bottomed casserole dish, sear the chicken breasts over a medium heat until they are browned on all sides. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside.

Place the grated onion and all of the powdered spices into the dish and fry gently until the onion has softened. Stir often to prevent the spices from burning. Add the chopped onion and fry for a further 5 minutes. 

Add the chopped tomatoes, sliced peppers and browned chicken pieces to the pan along with 300ml of water. Stir until well combined, season with the salt and allow to simmer gently for 20 minutes. Add more water if nessescary.

To cook the rice, place the grated cauliflower in a frying pan and season with salt and pepper. Gently fry until it has browned slightly. This should take around five minutes. 

Just before serving, stir the crème fraîche into the curry and scatter over the chopped coriander. Eat immediately. 

5:2 Fast Day Recipes: "Faux" Pho - Prawn Noodle Soup

The wonderful thing about herbs and spices is that they are virtually calorie free - therefore liberal usage is encouraged. I wanted to created a dish like the pho I always order at my local Vietnamese restaurant, so my faux pho was born. I know the basic ingredients but have next to no idea just what makes the broth so delicious, so I experimented and was pretty pleased with the results.

To my delight, my faux pho was a heady, aromatic dream to eat - more feast than fast. I substituted the beef fillet I would usually opt for, for prawns - lower in calories but still meaty and delicious. For obvious reasons the noodles had to be rationed, but once I upped the quantity of bean sprouts this was barely noticeable.

Best of all though, this dish is both quick to prepare and to cook. One thing - this is one of those rare meals that does not get better with age... If left too long, the herbs and spices begin to lose their potency. For that reason it is best to eat this straight away which, given its deliciousness, shouldn't be too difficult.

Ingredients (Serves 2) 

150g fresh, raw prawns. 120 calories

150g dried egg noodles. 210 calories

200g beansprouts. 62 calories

100g babycorns, sliced lengthways. 24 calories

80g mangetout. 31 calories. 

1 red chili, thinly sliced. 7 calories

3 sping onions, chopped. 24 calories 

Inch sized piece fresh ginger, peeled and grated. 19 calories

1 garlic clove, finely chopped. 6 calories

2 lemongrass stalks, tough outer leaves removed. 10 calories 

Juice of one lime. 10 calories

Small bunch of basil, roughly chopped. 10 calories

500 ml chicken stock. 32 calories

Total calories: 565

Calories per serving: 283

Method

Heat the chicken stock in a large, heavy bottomed pan. Add the chilli, garlic, lemongrass and grated ginger. Allow to simmer for a few minutes, until the flavours have begun to penetrate the stock - this will form the base of the soup. 

Add the noodles and simmer until they have softened. This will take around 5- 10 minutes. Then add the sping onions, beansprouts, babycorns, mangetout and prawns. When the prawns have turned pink, they are cooked through.

Place in a warm bowl and squeeze over the lime juice. Scatter the chopped basil over the top and serve immediately. 

One last thing - the delicate but floral flavour of green tea and/or jasmine tea complement this dish really well and have the added bonus of being low in calories, so give them a try... Enjoy!

5:2 Fast Day Recipes: Pork and Basil Meatballs with Courgette Spaghetti

My love affair with courgettes continues in my new recipe. I bought a julienne peeler so that I could make the courgette spaghetti that is so popular at the moment. Replacing carbs with courgettes has allowed me to use a bit of meat in this meal, so I've added in some pork meatballs along with a tomato sauce. Although not as indulgent as my usual meatballs (which contain veal and breadcrumbs amongst other tasty ingredients) they hit the spot and this actually feels like a proper meal. Delicious, nutritious and just over half of the days calorie count... Delish! 

Ingredients (Serves 2)

200g lean pork mince. 302 calories

300 ml passata. 75 calories

2 garlic cloves, chopped. 16 calories

2 large courgettes (or 400g), julienned. 71 calories.

1 large shallot (or 40g) chopped. 26 calories.

100g mushrooms, chopped. 28 calories.

Small bunch of basil, roughly chopped. 6 calories.

Low calorie cooking spray. 1 calorie.

Salt and pepper, to taste.

Total calories: 525 

Calories per serving: 263 

Method

Preheat oven to 180 degrees.

Combine the mince and half the basil in a bowl and season to taste. Roll into bon bon sized balls and place in a frying pan, cooking over medium heat until the meatballs are browned on all sides.

The pork will release a bit of fat whilst frying, so that's what we're going to use to soften the veg. Remove the meatballs with a slotted spoon and place in an oven proof dish.

Add the onions to the frying pan, allowing them to soften before adding the mushrooms and garlic. Fry for a further five minutes before adding the passata, scraping the base to pick up all the flavours of the pan.

Pour the sauce mixture over the meatballs and place in the preheated oven. It should take around 15 minutes for the pork to cook through.

Five minutes before serving, heat the low calorie spray in a frying pan and add the courgette spaghetti. Cook until soft and on the verge of browning. 

Serve the spaghetti with the meatballs and scatter the remaining basil on top. Parmasan shavings are always a welcome addition if enough calories have been saved up!