FLOWER POT KITCHEN: BIG GIRLS DIET DETOX CLEANSING AND CHOLESTEROL LOWERING SALAD

13 Sept 2016

BIG GIRLS DIET DETOX CLEANSING AND CHOLESTEROL LOWERING SALAD

SELF SUFFICIENT DINNERS

(Home Grown and Raised on our Little Farm)

This is a powerful blood and liver cleansing fat busting cholesterol lowering lung protecting beautiful salad bursting full of zesty flavours and knowing what this food is doing for your health for me makes it so much more yummy, a real feel good eat, one of my top favourite salads.

I'm not sure we should do detox diet's as a short term fix, instead to me it makes sense to eat detox foods on a daily basis, to have to undertake a detox makes me think of low maintenance, (poor eating) and that is not how a loved and slightly mis-used (!) body should be treated, with that thought in mind and that I do regularly indulge in beautiful food, I therefore try to keep a good balance by eating a healthy gorgeous rainbow colour of organic home grown foods that nourish and naturally support and detox your body on a daily basis so those oh so naughty moments are counter balanced by a diet high in super for you foods, balance is the key for me.

Prep Time 5 minutes / Cooking time 7 minutes

Ingredients

(serves 2)

1 tsp organic coconut oil

2 skinless organic chicken breasts

1 red chilli sliced

1/4 fennel finely sliced

1 lemon juiced

1 tsp grated fresh ginger

1 tsp fresh grated turmeric (1/4 tsp powdered)

1 bunch dandelion leaves

1 bunch watercress

1 large handful spinach

1 stick celery finely diced

2 beetroots peeled and grated

1 spring onion sliced

Large pinch sea salt and black pepper

First finely slice the chicken breast, heat the coconut oil in a pan on a medium high heat and once hot add the chicken, sear the chicken on both sides for a couple of minutes, then add the ginger, turmeric, fennel, chilli and lemon juice, turn down to a low heat and pop on a lid to slowly finish cooking. Meanwhile...

Place on your serving bowls or plates a mix of the dandelion leaves, watercress and spinach, sprinkle over the grated beetroot, celery and spring onion.

Take the chicken of the heat and season with the salt and pepper and serve on top of your salad, that's it, now enjoy a bowl of beautiful body loving abundance.

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LIFE MY PASSION

Welcome to my daily life of cooking, one winters day many years ago my family and I were all inspired by a back to back rainy day of River Cottage this got us to stop talking about and start actually doing, suddenly three weeks later eight vegetable beds were dug, greenhouse erected and our first vegetables were propagating, this was the start to raising and growing our own food, our fabulous son Oscar changed our path in life which lead us to sell our small thriving restaurant of 10 yrs and to start our new life (Terrifying!) a life of the self sufficient in touch with nature and seasons, taking a step back and looking forward to a slower change of pace and making the most of every moment.

My passion for cooking was stronger than ever and having time at home with Oscar I found I had a new direction and I was no longer striving for perfection, I was suddenly very passionate for the enjoyment of the other side of food, something I had not realised, being the Chef/Cook and every other duty of your own small restaurant made me see that I never actually took time to cook what I wanted!

So there I was muddy boots and hands digging deep in more than one sense and I found myself transported back in time to where everyone grew some of their own food, it is a wonderful world with a real sense of achievement and loss, Slugs Snails and Caterpillars! But thats another story! Childhood memories of summers when I lived with my grand parents reminded me of so much that I had learnt about the make do and mend generation that I had forgotten.

Now as a family we love our free wild food days where we gather what nature has provided, have gone from being mini mini garden urban small holders, who did raised pigs at home because we could not wait to find land and supporting ourselves from our garden to now owning a very small farm that allows us to grow more vegetables for the whole of our family and neighbours, raise our own gorgeous Gloucestershire Old Spot pigs, (Sausages!) and pets! Dorset Down sheep, chickens for eggs and pet goats! Suddenly having large quantities of produce started to wake up the Cook in me!

The Cook was awake that part of me that wants to cook for the masses and I found myself setting up Flowerpot Kitchen, a Farmers Market Stall, I wanted to use our honest raised meats and make old fashioned pork pies, rabbit pies and game pies from the local game keeper along with old fashioned techniques and the best hot water crust pastry. This in turn grew to a small cottage industry from home weekly supplying three farm shops and a deli along with also attending three farmers markets A few years later there came a time when my son Oscar's health changed and it was an easy decision to stop.

I still hold the occasional pop up 40 seater restaurant or gourmet lunch which we do for local charities for the love of sharing food and to remind that Cook in me why I love our go slower self sufficient life!

So here I am sitting amoung the vegetables watching the chickens loving that every season nature teaches me something new and that nature is in charge! She has taught me to just go with it and grow. Give it a try from a tray of salad on your windowsill to a few tomato plants it all counts.