These muffins are quick to whip together and they are so nice and warming as the cool weather settles in. Spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice, its like the best part of a pumpkin pie is in muffin form making it totally acceptable to eat for breakfast. 
Prep: 10 minutes
Bake: 25 minutes
Morning everyone! I hope you all had a lovely weekend.
I’m waking up to a delicious bowl of Bircher Muesli to soothe the Monday Blues.
It’s not hard to fall in love with this overnight oats recipe – so easy to prepare and totally delicious.
I was introduced to Bircher Muesli in Mallorca on the RAAMIN4Charity training camp last month. Thanks to Suzanne, I now have a new favourite breakfast!
With the weather warming up too it is the perfect time to really appreciate this refreshing and filling breakfast.
Here’s how…
Whether it’s bloating, heartburn or you feel it in your joints, inflammation causes wear and tear and interferes with you being the best version of yourself. We often get used to the discomfort and consider it normal to feel and react this way.
Over the past 5 weeks, my left knee has been bothering me a lot. I went to the doctor about it a few weeks ago, where they tested my knee strength and joint function. Everything seems OK, so they suggested it is just irritated by inflammation.
It’s amazing how quickly something painful and restricting can become our ‘normal’… something we get used to living with. My knee is a lot better lately, but I still experience discomfort when running and cycling.
After doing some reading, I have learned that inflammation can be worsened or made better depending on what we eat. Avoiding food that is fried or high in sugar is a good start. More importantly, adding anti-inflammatory foods to your diet can reduce discomfort caused by inflammation.
Add Turmeric, Ginger, Hot Chilli and Cinnamon to your diet and take advantage of the compounds they contain, which inhibit inflammatory pathways.
Turmeric especially, has long been used as a powerful anti-inflammatory in both Chinese and Indian medicine.
These four wonderful spices enhance health and well-being in many ways as well as prevent diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Heart Disease risk factors. Forget about restricting your diet for a minute, and first focus first on incorporating these spices into your daily diet.
Not to mention, cooking with these Super Spices can make any boring ol’ vegetable dish, full of flavour and warmth. It is a great way to enjoy eating healthy without sacrificing flavour.
Here’s a recipe to try that is full of anti-inflammatory goodness…
Every year around this time I start to feel the aftermath of all the heavy Christmas meals I ate in December. So far, I’ve had a pretty healthy January, yet I feel like I’ve gained a little weight since the new year… which is frustrating. It happens every year though… I know that for me it is normal and to ignore the scales in January; to just stick to my routine and things will balance back out in time.
I do however end up with cravings for the hearty meals to continue… so porridge is my go to breakfast dish. It satisfies a craving and keeps me full until (I’d like to say lunch but..) 11.
Traditional porridge – just milk and oats – can get tiresome for me. So here is an alternative porridge recipe I’ve been enjoying lately.
Originally, I wanted to test out quinoa flakes (rather than oats). I intended to hop on the bandwagon and share a quinoa inspired recipe… but here’s what I learned in the process…
One notable nutritional difference quinoa has over oats is it’s protein content and quality; there’s more protein in quinoa.
Each cup of cooked quinoa provides 8.1 grams of protein, compared to 5.6 grams in an equivalent portion of cooked oatmeal.
Well first of all, they are £6-8 for only 400g. Oats are around £1-2 for 1kg! It’s a no brainer financially.
But quinoa does offer 118 milligrams of magnesium per serving, compared to oatmeal’s 61 milligrams — Oatmeal however offers more than five times the amount of iron found in quinoa.
Quinoa flakes and oats are both great breakfast foods and a healthy source of carbohydrates, protein, fibre and micronutrients.
In my opinion it’s not worth breaking the bank for quinoa flakes… I’ll stick with oats for my porridge. I did experiment though and it turns out that regular quinoa (usually £2.50 per 500g) is quite tasty in this porridge recipe as well… but the texture is a bit funny.
In this recipe you can use oats or quinoa flakes.
Prep: 1 minute
Cook: 5 minutes
I have always been mesmerized by the spiralizer, but never fully appreciated it until we invested in one last month.
I assumed that spiralizer’s would be easy to break, hard to use and difficult to keep clean. It was a nice surprise to learn the exact opposite.We have the Dexam Spiralizer – it’s easy to use, durable (I spiralized a raw sweet potato and it didn’t break) and easy to keep clean.
Some extra bonuses…
Here is an easy to prepare and healthy Pesto Courgetti recipe (aka ‘courgette spaghetti’ or ‘zucchini noodles’).
Prep: 10 minutes
Cook: 5 minutes
LIVE LOOSLEY 