Daily Archives: June 17, 2012

Gluten Free Lasagne – thanks to Tesco….

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  • Gluten Free  Main Meal

With thanks to:Tesco

Serves 6    Prep 25     Cook for  1 hour 10 min

 

Method:

Pre-heat oven to 200°C, 180°C fan, 350°F, gas 4.

Place mince, onion and garlic in a pan and fry,

stirring until the beef is browned with no trace of pink.

Stir in the tomatoes, tomato puree, herbs, pepper and wine.

Bring to the boil and simmer 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Meanwhile cook the lasagne in boiling salted water for 3 minutes,

until just pliable.

Drain, rinse in cold water and spread out on a work surface

in a single layer to prevent sticking.

For the sauce, bring the milk to the boil with the onion and bayleaf.

Take off the heat and leave to infuse for 10-15 minutes.

Strain the milk and place back in the pan with the butter and flour.

Whisking constantly, bring slowly to the boil and simmer for

5 minutes until thickened and smooth.

In an ovenproof dish, layer the meat mixture, lasagne and sauce.

End with the sauce and sprinkle with the cheese.

Cook in pre-heated oven for 30-40 minutes.

Cover with foil and leave to rest for 15 minutes before slicing,

so the layers hold their shape.

Meanwhile, lay the cherry tomatoes in a small roasting tin,
drizzle with the olive oil and season with salt and pepper.

Roast for 20 minutes.   Serve the lasagne with the tomatoes and a watercress salad.

 

 

 

                Ingredients:

50g (12 oz) lean minced beef (10% fat) – choose free range grass fed rather than lean, tastless, watery mince…

1 large onion, peeled and finely chopped

1 large clove garlic, peeled and crushed

600g tinned chopped tomatoes

2-3tbsp tomato puree

1tsp thyme

1tsp sage

1tsp oregano

1tsp rosemary

Pinch freshly ground pepper

1 glass red wine (125ml)

175g (6oz) Tesco Free From lasagne sheets (12 sheets)

For the Bechamel sauce:

425ml (3/4 pint) semi skimmed milk

1 bay leaf

30g butter

25g (1 oz) gluten free plain flour flourSee the electronic Food and Drink Directory for suitable products.

40g (1½oz) Parmesan cheese, finely grated

For the tomatoes:

220g cherry tomatoes on the vine

1tbsp olive oil

Watercress, make a really HUGE bouncy Watercress Salad – YUM!!!!

Enjoy.

Jax xx

 

Which Omega ? Is Omega 6 Good for Me?

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Food Rule #3.   anothwer 17 rules on their way…..

Most people need to be more aware of the omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acid ratio of the food they eat. The ancestral human diet of the Paleolithic era appears that it had a ratio of approximately 1:1 to 2:1 omega-6 fats to omega-3 fats. The current average western diet contains anywhere from 20:1 to 30:1 ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fats. This is a major problem and one of the causes of degenerative diseases.

In order to balance this out better, you need to AVOID corn oils, soybean oils, cottonseed oils (or anything cooked in these oils), and minimize grain-fed meats and farmed fish that were fed grains. Instead, focus on wild fish, grass-fed meats, grass-fed dairy, free-range eggs, as well as other foods that can help you get more omega-3’s like chia seeds, walnuts, hemp seeds, and fish oil and/or krill oil, which are vitally important sources of DHA and EPA. I personally take both fish oil and krill oil, as the fish oil has a larger quantity of DHA and EPA (and more omega-3 volume overall), while the krill oil has more antioxidant benefits from the astaxanthin and a higher absorption rate than the fish oil.  Capsule Krill Oil is easy to source, and Fish Oils can be added to smoothies and shakes – remember good quality oils WON’T make your burps fishy!!

Take note that animal sources of omega-3 fats are MUCH more powerful to your health than plant sources of omega-3’s like walnuts, chia, and flax. This is because animal sources of omega-3’s already contain DHA and EPA already converted whereas plant sources don’t, and your body is very ineffecient at converting plant sources of omega-3 fats to DHA and EPA.

Sorry, vegetarians – but its true….

Jax xx

Choose Your Protein Wisely

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Food Rule #2.

Focus on quality protein sources such as wild game, wild fish and seafood, grass-fed meats, and free-roaming organically fed eggs, while trying to avoid most farmed meats and farmed fish that were fed mostly grains and kept in unhealthy “factory farm” environments.

We aren’t supposed to live on a diet based on grains.  For more than 99% of our existence on this planet we chased our food or gathered it from the wild.  It was fresh, seasonal and contained very, very little grains.

The meat we ate would have followed their food and we would have followed them.  They and we would not have been overfed, innactive and certainly not obese.

The fats found in free range protein sources (animals, fish, eggs) are a healthy balance of saturated and unsaturated fats – just as we should have a balance of saturated and unsaturated fats in our own bodies.

Taste the difference when you buy free range, grass fed protein.

Intensively farmed animals and fish fed on GM Corn based feed fatten quickly and give the producer a fast return – but gives you a tastless, watery, high fat content food.

ALWAYS choose free range protein. If you can grass fed – Spring LAmb for example is born and raised outdoors.  Then if you can afford it go for organic as then you know their feed is healthy and non GM too.

Look out for the next #Rule…..

Jax xx

Control Bodyfat and Feel Fantastic !

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Food Rule #1.  look out for 17 more very useful rules…..

Carbohydrates don’t need to be eliminated… they are not inherently “bad” in reasonable quantities. But grains and processed sugars in particular should be minimized. So to make things simple, you will be leaner and healthier if you get most of your carbohydrates from fruits and vegetables instead of grains and processed sugar.

The biggest problem with grains, aside from the abuse to your blood sugar regulation system (pancreas and insulin sensitivity), is that grains contain a lot of anti-nutrients which prevent your body from absorbing some minerals, as well as gluten and other substances that cause chronic gut inflammation. Potatoes, sweet potatoes, and other tubers have less problems in terms of digestive system inflammation than grains do.

What do I personally do? Well, I avoid grains as much as possible, except on 1 cheat day per week. That will always be a meal dining out, so that we’re never tempted with breads and cereals in our house. I eat whole fruits (never juice) and veggies daily, and might have an occasional potato or sweet potato once or twice a week.

Jax Allen  ps I’d love to hear your comments and questions.  I’m creating a series of online products to help those of you that can’t attend my training sessions and workshops in person.

What would you like to see, learn and understand – Let me know. Jax