Have Your Cake and Eat it too ! Sally Bee's new book !

As regular readers of my blog will know I really admire the work and personal courage of Sally Bee. I have been really lucky to be given the opportunity to review her latest book "Have your cake and eat it too !", her ethos being that life is too short to miss out on cake and puddings just because you are trying to eat healthy. Along side her common sense advice of positive thinking and living an active life, she has re worked all your favourite cake and dessert  recipes to be more heart healthy.

The book is presented with a sensible wipe clean cover for the busy cook and is well illustrated, the recipes are laid out in different sections to cover all the options for a sweet treat, Large cakes, small cakes, cookies, puddings, ices, etc. Each recipe is easy to follow and the instruction are comprehensive and feature healthy ingredients which should be easily sourced at your local supermarket, recipes are also provided for healthy toppings and frostings for your delicious creations.

This book makes a great addition to any cooks bookshelf, whether a beginner or a more experienced baker, and is available from Amazon or your local book shop. I can  so recommend the Blueberry Muffins !! 

Favourite Healthy Recipes

In the last week or so I have been trying to eat more healthy, trying to beat the genetics I have been born with, I have both heart disease and diabetes in my family, so I thought it was about time that I started working with recipes that are that little less decadent and more about health and vitality. One of my major inspirations around this is "Sally Bee", she has published a couple of fab recipe books which focus on heart friendly recipes. Sally's story is inspirational after surviving major health problems, her positive attitude is inspirational. Read her story on her website.

One of the best of her recipes is her Chicken risotto parcels, this is awesome, it's so easy and so so very tasty and its low fat, low salt and according to friends very child friendly. It is also easily scaleable. I often get the parcels ready before going to work, I put them in the fridge until I get home and then just pop them in the oven.

Ingredients

( this makes 1 parcel, but scale up as necessary)

• 1 skinless chicken breast
• 4 mushrooms - sliced
• 4 cherry tomatoes
• 1/4 onion, finely sliced or a couple of spring onions chopped
• drizzle of olive oil
• 1/2 cup rice ( easy cook or long grain work well)
• Roughly 1/3 cup of chicken stock or wine
• Good squirt of tomato puree, about a tablespoon
• Dash of Worcestershire sauce
• sprinkle of chopped herbs, fresh or dried (mixed herbs is fine)
• finely chopped clove of garlic
• Freshly ground black pepper

Method

Take a large piece of foil, do double thickness for strength, place all the ingredients in the parcel, folding up to make a tight parcel so nothing leaks. Place on a baking sheet and put into a preheated oven @ 200C and cook for 45 minutes to an hour. All the stock should be absorbed when ready.

You can easily substitute other vegetables such as peppers or courgettes, what ever you have available.

I can't encourage you to try this enough, its awesome, everyone I know who tries it makes it time and time again.