Star Ingredient: Himalayan Crystal Salt

You might be forgiven for thinking that pink salt is just another fad, only used by gourmets and food snobs. In fact, Himalayan crystal salt is a kind of super-food, chock-full of trace elements that our body really needs.

What’s wrong with ‘normal’ salt?

For years we’ve been told to cut down on salt, which is certainly a good idea if you’re using refined table salt. A nutritional expert I know once suggested that if there were two things you should chuck out of your kitchen right now, they would be refined table salt and margarine (note: I’ll be dealing with butter vs margarine in another post), and I completely agree.

Tip: Using Left-overs

Herb salad with left-over spinach, beetroot and cranberry White Rock

I get weirdly excited when I can use up a bunch of left-overs or small quantities of fresh food that were just a little more than I needed for the original dish. In fact, I often buy/cook more than I need so I can actually create left-overs and then use them in something else.

Examples of left-overs could be meat or chicken from a roast, rice, grilled veggies like sweet peppers, onions or aubergines, the dregs of a can of sweetcorn, the last bits of cheese, the end of a packet of mushrooms or baby spinach, or the last spoon of cream cheese. Obviously the key with many of these ingredients is not to leave them too long before you use them, and definitely sniff them beforehand!

Star Ingredient: Coconut Oil

I first heard about coconut oil when I attended a raw food course run by Soaring Free Superfoods a few years ago. It’s a key raw ingredient and is known as a ‘superfood’ as it’s so good for you. It’s not only for raw food ‘cooking’ though – it’s extremely versatile and I use it all the time in many different ways.

Coconut oil has been widely used in the East for thousands of years, but here in the West we have been lagging a bit behind (as usual with this sort of thing). For many years, we were told that all saturated fat is bad for us and causes high cholesterol. Research has now more finely tuned this information though and, as it turns out, it’s only long-chain saturated fat that’s harmful.

Tip: Individual Servings

If you live alone or there are just two of you, it can get expensive and time-consuming to buy for and cook individual meals each time. I have two tips for you that have worked really well for me