Something I’m keen to address here on The Particular Kitchen is blood sugar. Hypoglycemia, a very low drop in our blood sugar levels, can influence us more than just physically. It brings on that manic state of hunger, our senses are heightened, our moods are all over the place, our head starts to spin. Believe me, imbalanced blood sugar levels are never a good thing.

In fact, they can be a potentially life-threatening issue. Your body is designed to get things back on track, but if you spend your life eating foods that will cause severe spikes and dips in your blood sugar, things can go from bad to worse. You could end up with type 2 diabetes or hypertension. Just another reason why eating a balanced diet as well as living a balanced life is so important!

How do you begin to balance your blood sugar levels?

This is something I’ve brought up with my detoxers, who are starting the program tomorrow! If you are trying to get over a sugar, caffeine, or alcohol craving, the best thing you can do is follow some of these crucial blood sugar-balancing steps:

1. Breakfast. Having a healthy and balanced breakfast sets your glycemic balance for the entire day, so be sure to include protein and healthy fats into your morning meal (and don’t skip it!)
2. Protein. Incorporating protein into every meal and snack can be challenging, especially if you are vegan or vegetarian. Try not to rely on animal protein sources only; legumes, lentils, nuts, seeds, quinoa, and fermented soy, such as tempeh and miso, are all good quality plant-based sources.
3. Healthy Fats. I can’t get enough of the stuff. When I don’t have a spoonful of ground flax on my morning smoothie or breakfast bowl, I feel… off. Failing that route, you can always add in some avocado, nuts, seeds, hemp, chia, or the freshest, wildest cold-water fish (salmon, mackerel, herring) you can find.
4. Snacks. Yes I’m telling you to eat snacks. But not just anything! One that contains a protein, a healthy fat, and a complex carb. Eating a little something every 2-3 hours ensures you don’t end up at the extreme hunger stage (which inevitably leads to the sugar binge stage). Examples of good snacks? A handful of raw walnuts and an apple. A handful of celery sticks and some hummus. A brown rice cracker with some almond butter.
5. Limited Carbs. Limit your carb intake, but not in an Atkins way. Have as many leafy and sulphurous vegetables as your heart desires. Chomp away on kale, broccoli, fennel, onions, spinach, asparagus, etc. Just limit the amount of starchy veggies and grains you’re having (whether they’re whole grains or made into pasta or baked goods). Two to three 1/2-cup servings should suffice for a day.

Many vegetable soups do not contain that all-important protein, so it’s crucial to make sure you’re getting it from somewhere else if you decide to have some for lunch. However, this soup recipe below is ideal for balancing our blood sugar levels. It contains healthy fats in the form of olive oil and almonds and protein in the form of chickpeas. It also has some wonderful spices and herbs, including smoked paprika, which is such a lovely strong flavor – adds a bit of Spanish red to the soup too! This is adapted from a Mark Bittman recipe out of his fabulous Food Matters Cookbook – he uses dried chickpeas in his original version, so I wanted to make it a bit of a cheater’s version. I’m sure I’m not the only one

In other news…

• Buy my cookbook, A Wholesome New Year, packed with recipes to inspire a healthy 2012!
• I’m teaching an afternoon of Allergy-Friendly cooking at The Avenue Cookery School in Putney. There are currently 12 spaces left, so book your place with me today by emailing me. It takes place on Thursday 26th January from 11am-2pm.
• Missed out on joining the Renewal Detox, which kicks off tomorrow? No worries! I’ll be running seasonal detoxes from here on out. The next one starts on April 14th, so more information will be coming in the spring about that one!
• The free Healthy Food Series continues at Nourish Health Foods in East Sheen – my next talk tackles Winter Blues this coming Tuesday (Jan 17th) at 2pm. Come along for some mood-boosting recipe ideas and a healthy treat to take home!

• New workshop alert! I’m presenting a 30-minute talk at Well4ever Clinic in Putney on 20th January all about Detox Advice. Come along at 11am for tea, healthy snacks, and some great info!
• P.S. to keep up with all of my events as well as to get special recipes not currently featured on this blog, sign up to my monthly newsletter

On Tuesday morning, I woke up with that telltale tickle in the back of my throat, the one that usually means a cold is looming. I felt my energy start to flag, but I knew I still had time to fight back. It’s a crucial moment – the one where you notice the first hint of a symptom – because that’s your body’s way of telling you that something’s wrong. Time to reinforce your immune system.

There are a million and one supplements out there boasting about their effects on our immunity, so how do we know what to do? I’d always say, start with your food, and use supplements second.

This soup is a great start. It has vitamin C, a known antioxidant and immune booster, in the form of the greens. I went with tatsoi here (a cousin of bok choy) but all leafy greens contain C, so go with what you like or have. Tatsoi is also high in vitamin A, another known antioxidant, calcium and iron. The cruciferous veggies (onion, garlic, scallions) give us sulfur, which have greater concentrations of beneficial phytonutrients, supporting detoxification. Garlic – well, you probably already know how powerful garlic is. We use an entire bulb in this recipe, so you’re getting tons of the great antibacterial and antiviral properties garlic naturally holds.

Make this soup on that first day of your symptoms and have a bowl or two for the next few days. Get plenty of rest and drinks lots of water, more than normal, which will allow your body to flush out the bad guys. Drizzle with sesame oil for an extra boost of supportive healthy fats. (By the way, my cold never turned into anything much and I credit this soup and generous mugs of my immunity tea concoction – it really works!)

Super Greens Soup

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Serves 3-4

The particulars:

• 1 whole garlic bulb
• 1 tbsp coconut oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 6-8 scallions, chopped
• 2 zucchini, chopped
• 1 cup frozen fava beans or green peas
• 4 cups vegetable stock
• 2 cups greens (spinach, bok choy, tatsoi, kale, dandelion greens, etc)
• handful flatleaf parsley
• juice of 1 lemon

I’m starting to notice little baby pumpkins at the farmer’s market, which can only mean one thing: SOUP. If I had to pick one dish to see me through till spring, hands down it’s a hearty pumpkin or winter squash soup. Usually though, if it’s offered at a restaurant, especially in the UK, it will inevitably contain cream. That’s fine – I prefer making my own soup anyway! And while I’ve made my fair share of butternut squash soup before, it’s never been this good. I attribute it to the preparation, which admittedly takes a long time. Make a huge batch when you DO have time and refrigerate or freeze it.

This little orange-red bowl of delight will warm you up in three ways!

Roast

Can you think of anything more warming and satisfying on a cold day than roasted vegetables? This recipe takes time due to the fact that all of the main ingredients are roasted first. That smoky, almost sweet flavor comes directly from the oven.

Spicy

The easiest way to warm up your food, whether roasted for an hour or not, is via the medium of the chili pepper. I like to slice a red chili pepper very thinly, seeds and all, and toss with the rest of the vegetables to make sure the heat of the chili distributes evenly.

Soup

Clearly, soup is a warming food. What do you want more than anything when you’re sick? I remember bowls of Campbell’s classic tomato soup with buttered white toast when I was home from school with a cold. That stuff could cure anything. Now I’m not so sure! Canned soups are generally pretty high in sodium and laden with preservatives. Better to stick to homemade, where you can handpick the ingredients, adjust according to your taste, and keep it for months in the freezer! You’ll always have some to heat up as needed, just as simple as opening a can of Campbell’s.

Roasted Pumpkin & Red Pepper Soup

serves 4

The Particulars:

• 2 red peppers, stalks removed
• 2 red onions, cut into 1/8ths
• 4 cloves garlic, smashed
• 1 red chili, finely sliced
• 1 small pumpkin, seeds removed, chopped into chunks
• 3 carrots, chopped
• 2 tbsp coconut oil
• 1 quart vegetable stock
• fresh cilantro leaves to serve

1. Heat the oven to 400F / gas mark 6.
2. Place the red peppers on a baking tray, season with salt and pepper, and place in the oven to roast for 30 minutes. Rotate the peppers half way through. When finished, leave to cool. Peel off the skins, roughly chop and set aside.
3. Meanwhile, place the coconut oil, pumpkin, onions, garlic, red chili, carrots, and some salt and pepper in a roasting pan. Toss to coat and place in the oven. Roast for an hour, tossing and rotating the pan half way through.
4. When all the roasted veg is done, spoon everything into a large pot. Turn on the heat, pour in the vegetable stock, and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer for 5-10 minutes.
5. Take off the heat and puree the soup, either with a hand-held blender or transfer to a standalone blender or food processor.
6. Serve with a garnish of fresh cilantro leaves.

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it’s the last of the cold temperatures so i whipped up one last vegan soup for dinner. usually, i much prefer a non-blended soup, but this is creamy without being heavy. plus – no dairy at all. bonus! this is definitely a keeper – one for the colder months on the other side of our upcoming summer (although, here in london, the temperatures this week have been tropical!)

i loved the addition of fresh parsley and a drizzle of white truffle oil. it just added a kick of flavor that would have been missing otherwise. try this for dinner alongside some hummus and wholegrain toast. a perfect vegan meal!

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carrot soup has easily become my favorite winter time meal in the past year, and why not? it’s so versatile and so wonderfully good for you. there are many ways you can “jazz up” carrot soup, of course, and readers of this blog are no stranger to the many jazzy ways. there’s carrot & coriander soup (a british staple), carrot & maple soup, and spiced carrot soup (with a homemade curry powder). but this time, when i bought my bag of carrots from the farmer’s market this weekend, i wanted something a bit more exciting. and here she is (in a chipped bowl… oh well, life is imperfect!)

there are so many flavors going on that it’s hard to nail down exactly what you’re tasting with each spoonful. there’s a bit of spicy heat, a bit of fiery ginger, a bit of earthy sweetness, and plenty of garlic. that cold i thought i was coming down with this weekend is now a distant memory. i like to think this soup had something to do with it. good thing i’ve got a huge container in the fridge to carry me through the week! i like to serve it with some organic spelt crackers that look like matzo. yum.

complex carrot soup

serves 6-8 people

the particulars:

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 medium yellow onions, roughly chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
• 1 thumb-sized piece of ginger root, peeled and roughly chopped
• 4 celery sticks, roughly chopped
• 10-12 carrots, washed and chopped (don’t bother peeling unless they’re really dirty)
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 tbsp garam masala
• 1 tsp ground turmeric
• 6-8 cups vegetable stock
• juice of 2 oranges
• 1/2 cup raw almond butter
• optional: 1/4 cup nutritional yeast flakes

1. in a large pot, heat the olive oil and add the onions, garlic, ginger, and celery. saute for about 5 minutes until gently softened and sizzling.
2. add all of the spices, as well as some salt and pepper, and add the carrots. continue to cook, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes.
3. pour in the vegetable stock. add more boiling water if necessary to cover the veggies. bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook with the lid on for 10-15 minutes, or until the veg is softened.
4. take off the heat and leave to cool for 2 minutes before transferring to a blender. blitz until smooth, then carefully return the mixture to the pot.
5. stir through the orange juice, almond butter, and nutritional yeast (if using) and cook over a low heat until warmed through. taste and add more seasoning or spices according to taste.

kale is one of the only locally grown vegetables this time of year, and frankly, by february we’re sick of it. but i’m here today to encourage you to rethink the curly green goodness. don’t think of it as cabbage – that will only evoke thoughts of bland, tasteless food of a bygone era. instead, let’s look at all the great things kale has to offer. and believe me, there are many!

• it is an antioxidant powerhouse – not to mention full of anti-inflammatory AND anti-cancer nutrients too. this is mostly due to its high concentration of carotenoids and flavonoids (45 to be precise). delicious noids.
• it has a ton of fiber and omega 3s. yes, omega 3s in a leafy green!
• kale packs twice as much vitamin k as its other leafy cousins. and what does that mean? lots of anti-inflammatory goodness.
• other vitamins and minerals appear in abundance in kale: vitamins a, c, b6, as well as manganese, copper, calcium, tryptophan, and potassium. no wonder it’s a superfood!

now, i’ve mentioned before my infatuation with kale chips. weirdly, i haven’t put a recipe on the blog yet. that will come shortly as i have half a bag sitting in my fridge, waiting to be eaten! the other half went into this soup. it is sort of a kind of a twist on caldo verde, without the potatoes and chorizo. instead, i’ve substituted some delicious vegetarian sausage (but feel free to use your favorite organic meat sausages). this is a meaty soup, bordering on a stew, so it really fills you up for dinner. i added a sprinkling of rawmesan at the end (you are more than welcome to grate in some real parmesan if you’re not dairy-free like me) and that provided a real boost of flavor.

spicy tomato, sausage & kale soup

serves 4

the particulars:

• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 red chili, deseeded and finely chopped
• 3 celery stalks, finely chopped
• 4 cups vegetable stock
• 1 can chopped tomatoes
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 4 sausages (can be vegetarian/vegan), cooked and chopped into large chunks
• handful of curly kale, torn into thin strips
• grated parmesan or sprinkling of rawmesan to serve

1. in a large pot, heat up some olive oil and cook the onion until softened. add the garlic, celery, and red chili and saute for a further 2-3 minutes. season well.
2. add the vegetable stock and chopped tomatoes and bring to a boil. reduce to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. add the beans and tomato paste and continue cooking for another 5 minutes.
3. when almost ready to serve, stir through the chopped sausages and kale. heat through and serve with the parmesan/rawmesan on top.

i have phil to thank for coming up with this meal the other night. he was craving french onion soup, but we decided to think about ways that we could adapt the recipe to be a) healthier and b) molly-friendly. the result was effortlessly tasty, without compromising much in terms of authenticity but also health!

the biggest differences come in the form of the cheese-topped “croutons” that float in the soup. traditionally, it would involve a lovely crusty piece of baguette, topped with gruyere cheese. the whole thing would sit in a hot oven for a few minutes before serving, allowing the cheese to melt. but because we don’t have any of those wonderful little clay pots that french onion soup is usually served in, i decided to make the cheesy toasts separately and sit them in our bowls of soup just before serving.

after coming away with some wonderful bits and pieces from the farmers market on saturday, i decided to roll with some goat’s brie (while phil opted for country cheddar). all of this was delightfully melted on some homemade spelt bread, lightly toasted. i’m in love with this spelt bread of ours. it’s such a simple recipe that works every time and never feels too heavy.

as far as the soup itself goes – it’s a bit of a hodgepodge. the onions vary from the large yellow variety, to a couple of small red ones, and a large shallot snuck its way in there too. some dried thyme (although i would’ve preferred fresh) and a generous glug of red wine created a beautiful soup that tastes so satisfying, you’d happily enjoy it for a main course. which we did.

french onion soup with spelt toast

serves 4

the particulars:

• 2 tbsp goat’s butter
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 kg onions (whichever varieties you prefer), thinly sliced
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 3 tbsp thyme (either dried or fresh)
• 3 tbsp plain spelt flour
• 1 pint vegetable stock
• 1 cup red wine
• 4 slices honey spelt bread, toasted
• 4-5 slices of cheese (goat’s brie is delicious, but use whichever cheese you prefer)

1. in a large pot, melt the butter and the oil together, then add the onions and salt. cook for 25-30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until softened and translucent, and just starting to color.
2. add the garlic, some freshly ground black pepper, and the thyme, stir, and cook for a minute or two.
3. add the flour and stir through, then pour in the vegetable stock and red wine. cover and allow to simmer over a low heat for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally and adjusting the seasoning at the end.
4. while the soup simmers, prepare the melted cheese on toast. preheat the grill or broiler, place the slices of toast on a foil-lined baking sheet, and layer the cheese on each slice. add some freshly ground black pepper to each, then grill for about 2-3 minutes, until the cheese is melted and bubbling and just starting to brown.
5. ladle the soup into bowls and top them with the cheesy toasts. serve hot.

it’s true – carrots love maple syrup (and honey, and brown sugar, and anything else with a robust sweetness). so why not give those orange veggies what they want and roast them up with some maple? this soup all starts with a nice glug of the syrup and allows the chunks of carrot to soak it all up in the oven before you begin bubbling it away on the stove.

but first, a word about maple syrup, and why it’s actually great for your health!

while it does contain natural sugars (but they’re NATURAL), maple syrup contains fewer calories and a higher concentration of minerals than honey. the two most important health benefits in maple syrup come in the form of zinc and manganese, both wonderful boosters for your immune system and your heart. zinc specifically supports your white blood cell count, while manganese helps to lessen inflammation and support healing.

pass the pancakes!

or, you know, this soup. considering it’s other wonderful healthy ingredients, it can certainly warm you up on a cold day, not to mention help keep illness at bay this fall and winter. for this version, i used carrots, onion, and garlic all bought at the farmer’s market and some canadian maple syrup (available pretty much everywhere) – the brits don’t know about vermont maple syrup yet, or maybe the vermontians are just trying to keep their syrup safe. wise.

it’s a bizarre phenomenon, but when it’s unbearably hot and you don’t have air conditioning, eat or drink something that will make you sweat. that lovely built-in temperature control system we all have in our bodies isn’t there for nothing! sweating cools us down – it may not be particularly glamorous, but it gets the job done.

which is why i went for it and made a warm (and spicy) soup for dinner last night, even though our apartment felt like an oven with temperatures in the 80s and no breeze for the past couple of days. our one little fan blasts air in our faces as we sleep, but when said air is muggy and hot, the nights have been restless. i’d just like to stop here and say: i’m not complaining! i love this weather – it reminds me of southern california, and i have been waiting for sunshine and heat like this all year. but in london, without a/c, without a seaside breeze or a pool to jump into when it gets too hot… it can feel a little bit too much.

my mom arrives this weekend and we’re having a bbq on sunday, so hopefully the sun sticks around until then! in the meantime, here is my soup recipe from last night. it is fabulous – i adapted it from a tiny one-paragraph recipe in self magazine (i think??) because i thought the ingredients sounded interesting. before you judge what this might taste like – sweet potato and peanut butter – just try it for yourself. the longer it cooks, the more curry-like it becomes, so you can always turn it into that and scoop up with flatbread or pita instead of slurping from a spoon. either way, we slept like babies last night. i’d like to think it was the soup.

by pure coincidence, we had a dinner last night that was totally relevant to cinco de mayo. obviously, it’s not actually that big of a deal here in london. maybe in some of the mexican restaurants, you’d notice it. but compared to how things went in san diego (try going to ANY bar without being confronted by pinatas and sombreros), it’s nonexistent.

this recipe was slightly adapted from real simple, one of my favorite magazines from the states. they have great recipes, but usually they’re pretty heavy on the meat. luckily, this is a completely vegan dish – and phil couldn’t even guess the secret ingredient. BEER. he calls himself a man…

i’d happily have this again. it’s so easy to make, tastes great, and can be scooped up salsa-style with some tortilla chips, making the whole experience even more fun (messy).

the more you cook it, the more it will resemble black bean chili, so it’s up to you depending on what consistency you’re going for.