Easy ways to boost the heart you love

Tags

additional calories, arteries, bake, balanced diet t, banana, beer, beneficial, binge watching boxsets, boil, boost your heart health, booze, bowl, breathe more easily, cancers, cheese, consumption of alcohol, cream, dance class, dat, decrease inflammation, desk jobs, exercise, extra-large hot chocolate with cream, fat, fill you up, fizzy drink, food, friends, fruit and veg, frying, fun, garlic, Give up smoking, goodness, GP, grill, handful, happiness and connections, healthy, heart, heart attack, heart happier zone, heart harming, herbs, high blood pressure, ideas, lemon juice, live well, liver, Loneliness and isolation, lower your cholesterol levels, moderation, nuts, Online abnormal heart rhythms, or poach, overload your plate, portion sizes, prepare your food, protein, quitting, Red wine, rich source of the omega-3 fatty acids, risk, sad, salt, save money, smell better, smoke free, Snack on nuts, social media scrolling, spices, sport, steam, stokes, stress hormones, sugar, take-aways, taste good, teeth, treats, Valentine’s Day, vodka, waistline, walnuts, water, well, wholegrains

Valentine’s Day may have been and gone, but you still need to look after your heart and keep it healthy and strong if you want to live well.

On the go food, desk jobs and social media scrolling can all lead to a life that isn’t so great for your heart.

We aren’t here to spoil the fun or lay down the law, but we have some easy to implement ideas that could help you to boost your heart health and lead a better, fitter, happier life in 2020.

Look at portion sizes
The extra-large hot chocolate with cream, the super-size fizzy drink at the cinema and just one more slice of cake might taste good, but the additional calories, sugar and fat could play havoc with your heart as well as your waistline and your teeth. When it comes to portion sizes, you don’t have to overload your plate at every meal or fill your bowl to the top when it comes to cereal. Go easy on meat, stack up the veggies and be sure to drink plenty of water.

Snack on nuts
Yes, we know they come with fats, but eating nuts can help lower your cholesterol levels and half a handful with a banana will help to fill you up. You might want to try walnuts because they are a rich source of the omega-3 fatty acids that can help decrease inflammation in the arteries and protect your heart.

You generally want to eat a balanced diet that is rich in fruit and veg as well as wholegrains, protein and water. Yes, have treats but don’t make take-aways your daily supper staple or you may end up in trouble.

Think about how you cook
As well as what you eat, when it comes to your heart, you need to think about how you prepare your food. To boost your heart and overall health, we suggest you avoid frying or cooking foods in fat and this includes meat, fish and vegetables. If you bake, boil, grill, steam, or poach you will get all the goodness without the nasty heart harming extras. If you are worried about losing flavour, add in spices, herbs, garlic and lemon juice but ease up on salt, cheese and artery clogging cream.

See your friends
Loneliness and isolation aren’t good for any of us. As well as leaving us sad and prone to eating junk food and binge watching boxsets, it can raise the levels of stress hormones which can interfere with circulation and this makes your heart work harder, but not better. So, why not get out and see your friends, make new ones at a club or start a hobby and fill your heart with happiness and connections? Even better, play some sport or join a dance class and get some of the exercise your heart craves and loves.

Give up smoking
We know quitting is hard, but if you do smoke now is the time to stop. Smoking is one of the main causes of heart disease and as soon as you stop, your risk of a heart attack begins to fall. Quitting will also mean you smell better, breathe more easily, save money and generally live life in a smoke free, heart happier zone. There are many free resources out there to make this easier, and you can speak to your GP for help with this.

Ease up on booze
We always say everything in moderation, and that includes drinking. Some research says drinking red wine could be beneficial for your heart, but this is a ‘may’ so if you want to boost your heart health, limiting your consumption of alcohol will be a step in the right direction. Too much wine, beer or vodka won’t be good for you and can lead to abnormal heart rhythms, high blood pressure as well as strokes, liver issues and some cancers.

The thing is, you only have one heart, so love it and look after it and it will serve you well.

Team Pure Beauty

Christmas cooking the fun way

Tags

are easy to make, bake, baking powder, baking trays, caster sugar, cheese, cheese stars, cherry tomatoes, Christmas tree cookies, Christmas tree cuter, cling film, cook, cookies, cream, cucumber, decorate, dough, drinks, eat, eggs, escaping, family and friends, festive fun, fridge, friends, goodness, grated cheese, herbs, homemade biscuits and snacks, icing sugar, jolly, look good, love, messy, mild cheddar, milk, mix, mozzarella, mug, parchment, pens, plain flour, pre-made puff pastry, pretty boxes, recipes, salt, school party, scrubbing, sift, silver balls, silver foil platter, star cutter, stars, super healthy, table salt, tissue paper, tree, tree trunk, unsalted butter, vanilla extract, veggie, winning treats, wrap, yellow pepper

This year, why not impress family and friends with homemade biscuits and snacks, and as well as saving yourself some money, you can have festive fun too? We have several tried and tested recipes we love, and hope you will too!

Christmas tree cookies
These cute cookies look good, taste great, are easy to make and even the youngest members of the family can get involved and help you to decorate them!

For these winning treats, you will need:

470g of plain flour
1 level teaspoon of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of table salt
225g of unsalted butter
300g of caster sugar
Two medium eggs
Two teaspoons of vanilla extract
A Christmas tree cuter
Colouring icing sugar pens
Silver balls

Sift together the baking powder, flour and salt. Cream together the butter and sugar until you have a light and fluffy mix, then beat in the eggs (one at a time) and finally stir in the vanilla. At this point you can then slowly add the flour mix, and when you have a ball of dough, wrap it in cling film and put it in the fridge for around an hour.

When you get the dough from the fridge, pre-heat your oven to 200 C / gas mark 6 /180C fan and line two baking trays with parchment paper – this means the cookies will slide off once cool and you won’t have any nasty pan scrubbing to do.

Roll out the dough on a floured surface and cut out your cookies.

Bake for about eight minutes or until the edges are just turning light brown, and transfer from the baking trays to cooling racks.

Decorate with the icing pens when the cookies are completely cool and put on the little silver balls for an added touch, then either eat them (fast) or put them in pretty boxes with tissue paper and give them out as presents!

Cheese Stars

For the school party, or drinks with friends, these easy to make cheese stars are winners.

You will need:

A pack of pre-made puff pastry
One mug of grated cheese – a mild cheddar / mozzarella mix works well
Flour for dusting
2 table spoons of whole milk
A star cutter

It is best to make these on the day of eating, so when you are ready, preheat the oven to 200C / 180C fan / gas mark 6 and line two baking sheets with parchment paper, or grease them with a little butter.

Next roll out the sheet of pastry and put your grated cheese on half of it, fold it over and then on a floured surface, gently roll to around double the size. At this point just make sure no cheese is escaping from the sides as this can get messy in the oven! Next, cut out star shapes from the folded sheet and place on the baking sheets, brush with milk and cook for around ten minutes. You can add some herbs or salt to the tops of the stars if you like! They will last for a couple of days in a tin, but we don’t think they will be around that long!

Veggie Tree

For something super healthy for the party table, you can’t go wrong with savoury festive tree made with goodness and love.

For this you will need:

Lots of cherry tomatoes – cut in half
Green grapes – cut in half
A yellow pepper with a piece of the flesh cut into a star shape
Half a cucumber
Salsa
A large silver foil platter

Chop a 5cm piece of cucumber and place it at the bottom of the foil platter to make the tree trunk. Then you need to make a row of tomatoes and grapes to make the first part of the tree, and then add more layers, each one shorter than the last so you end up with a cute Christmas tree shape. At the top you can add your yellow pepper star, then serve with the salsa and the rest of the cucumber cut into sticks! This looks fun and jolly and also help to keep up your five a day!

Got a recipe you love, let us know about!

Team Pure Beauty

An apple a day

Tags

an apple a day keeps the doctor away, apple, apple juice, apple pie, Apple purée, bake, baking sheet, brown sugar, bruises, comfort food, comforting, cooking apples, cool, core, countryside, crisp winter afternoons, crop, delicious, divine, easy, fresh, fridge, gin, ground cinnamon, ham, harvest, home, honey, hot, juicer, last-minute dessert, lemon zest, menu, mid afternoon snack, munch, mushy, natural goodness, oce, pick, pip, Plastic, recyclable bottles, ripe, roast pork, shortcrust pastry, slice, soft, spices, sterilised bottles, sticky, store, treat, true, vanilla ice cream, vitamin packed drink, wholesome

The old saying goes, ‘an apple a day keeps the doctor away’ and while we aren’t sure this is 100% true, they are packed with natural goodness and they taste pretty too delicious.

Go out in the countryside right now, and you are bound to come across trees bearing fruit that is ripe to pick, but once you have got them home, what can you do with them if you can’t munch your way through them as they are? Well, we have a few ideas.

Apple juice
There is nothing quite as delicious as fresh apple juice. Take your washed apples, cut out any bruises and then use a juicer to blast your crop. Put your smooth blend into sterilised bottles and either store in the fridge for several days, or if you have a lot then you can put in the freezer – but we suggest going for plastic, recyclable bottles for this. Add ice and drink alone, mix with a little gin or add to smoothies for a really fresh, vitamin-packed drink.

Apple pie
Who doesn’t like apple pie? This is a really easy, comforting way to use up apples and why not make extra and freeze some for those crisp winter afternoons when comfort food is on the menu but the shops are shut. We would say go for shortcrust pastry, cut and cook your apples in a little water and sugar, load in the fruit in a pie dish with some spices and extra raisins and your pudding is good to go in the oven to bake.

Apple crisps
Whether you have eating or cooking apples, you can make fruit crisps with your harvest. Slice the apples thinly, take out the core and pips, then place on a lined baking sheet with a little ground cinnamon and bake for about half an hour, turning over halfway through. Let them cool and store in an airtight container, and enjoy as a mid-afternoon snack, add to cereal or use them to top ice cream dishes.

Apple purée
If you have a lot of apples, making them into purée could be a good move and save any waste. Peel and core the fruit, then add them into a pan with about 1cm of water. Add some lemon zest and a little sugar, cover the pot and gently cook on a medium heat until the apples are soft and a little mushy. Freeze in pots, taking out what you need, when you need it and enjoy with roast pork, ham or add to some creamy custard for a sneaky treat.

Baked apples
The baked apple is the perfect last-minute dessert that looks wholesome and tastes divine. This simple winter pudding is budget-friendly and even more delicious when it is served with a huge scoop of vanilla ice cream and a drizzle of honey. Wash your apples and heat your oven to 200C. Mix cinnamon, brown sugar, orange zest, and lemon juice together then spoon the juice onto each apple, then bake for around half an hour. They should be soft and sticky when served but mind little mouths because the apples will be hot!

So, what are you waiting for? Get cooking!

Team Pure-Beauty

Pumpkins are for more than just Halloween

Tags

all year round, bake, batch, bicarbonate of soda, blender, boil, carving, caster sugar, chickpeas, cloves, cook, crème fraise, cubes, doorstep decorations, easy to make, eggs, fireworks, flour, fun, garlic, ginger, golden squash, great tasting recipes, ground cinnamon, icing, ingredients, lemon, olive oil, pan, pitta bread, Pumpkin Cupcakes, Pumpkin Hummus, pumpkin soup, pumpkins, red onion, salt and pepper, seasonal beauties, self-raising flour, simmer, soft and golden, spoon, stirring, stock, super smooth soup, tablespoon, tahini paste, teaspoon, vanilla essence, vegetable oil, vegetable stock cube, warm crusty bread, washed, wet ingredients, winter warmer, yellow pepper

With Halloween fast creeping up on us, many people will be buying pumpkins and carving them out to create impressive doorstep decorations.

Rather than throwing the golden squash away, we have put together some easy to make, great tasting recipes that will help make your celebrations go even better.

Pumpkin Hummus

Hummus comes in many wonderful varieties and we love the creamy consistency of it when you make it with pumpkins.

You will need:
Around 500g of pumpkin flesh
A little olive oil
Garlic (we would say two cloves)
The juice of half a lemon
2 tablespoons of tahini paste
A 400g can of chickpeas, washed and drained
1 orange and one yellow pepper, deseeded and sliced thinly
Pitta bread and carrot sticks to serve

Firstly, heat your oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Scoop out the pumpkin and cut the flesh into cubes, discarding the seeds, drizzle with oil and cook for around 45 minutes, with the garlic.

Once cool, add the pumpkin and garlic into a blender together with the chickpeas, lemon juice and tahini paste and chickpeas. Add a little salt then blend until smooth and serve.

Pumpkin Soup

As well as being perfect for Halloween, this is a great winter warmer for fireworks night too.

The ingredients needed for one batch are:
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 medium red onion (finely chopped)
500g of pumpkin flesh
1 vegetable stock cube and water for dissolving
100ml of crème fraise
Salt and pepper to season

Put the onions in a large saucepan and gently cook for around 5 minutes, until soft. Then add the pumpkin flesh and continue to cook for ten minutes, stirring now and again. Make up the stock and add to the pan, using salt and pepper to season as required. Bring the mixture to the boil and then simmer until the pumpkin is very soft and golden. At this point add the crème fraiche then bring back to the boil. If you want super smooth soup, use a blender, then serve with warm crusty bread and enjoy.

Pumpkin Cupcakes
Everyone loves cupcakes and these seasonal beauties taste so fantastic you’ll want to eat them all year round.

For 12 cakes, you will need:

225g of self-raising flour
1 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda
1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon and the same of ginger
2 large eggs
150ml of vegetable oil
225g of caster sugar
150g of pumpkin, grated
½ a teaspoon of vanilla essence

For icing you will need:
50g of soft butter
200g of cream cheese
50g if icing sugar
½ teaspoon of vanilla extract
Pinch of ground cinnamon

Preheat your oven to 200°C/fan180°C/gas 6 and line your cake tin with paper cases – Halloween patterned ones if you can find them. Put the flour, bicarbonate of soda, ginger and cinnamon into a bowl. Pour in the oil, sugar and eggs into another bowl and beat until blended. Mix the wet ingredients with the dry, then add the pumpkin and stir together.

Spoon this mix into the paper cases and bake for 15 minutes, until well risen and firm but do not burn, then leave to cool.

Make the icing but mixing the butter and cream cheese until soft then stir in the icing sugar, vanilla and spices until totally smooth. Spread over the tops of the cooled cakes and if you can find some spooky sweets, add them to the top.

Whatever you do this Halloween, be safe and have fun.

Team Pure Beauty

Make yours a healthy breakfast

Tags

almond, bake, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, black pepper, blueberries, blueberry, bus, butter, cereal, chia seeds, cholesterol-lowering monounsaturated fats, classic, creamy avocado on toast, eggs, extra hungry, fibre, food processor, free range eggs, hearty dinner, home, lemon juice, light brown sugar, margarine, Monday meetings, nut butter, oat milk, olive oil, orange zest, organic oats, packed with protein, PB, peanut butter on toast, plain Greek yogurt, Poached Eggs, popular, pure orange juice, sahre, salt, scrambled eggs, slices of banana, smoked salmon, smoothie, strawberry, sugar, team, toasted rye bread, vinegar, white toast, wholewheat flour, work, yogurt

We all know breakfast is an important meal of the day, so getting it right is important.

Rather than opting for white toast loaded with margarine or a bowl of sugar-coated cereal that will have your mood drop before you get the bus, instead choose a meal packed with protein, vitamins and minerals that will keep you full until lunchtime, or at least your 11am banana break.

Poached Eggs With Mushrooms and Tomatoes
Beef tomatoes and golden brown mushrooms served with a perfect poached eggs is a breakfast winner. To help the egg whites set, add a splash of vinegar to your water and add a little olive oil to the toast. If you want to make this into a hearty dinner, add extra mushrooms, smoked salmon and a serving of iron rich spinach.

Avocado & Strawberry Smoothie
This creamy breakfast blend is high in calcium and low in calories and a great way to start your day, especially if you are on the run. You will need:

• ½ a ripe avocado stoned, peeled and cut into chunks
• 150g of strawberries
• 150g of blueberries
• 4 tbsp. of natural yogurt
• 200ml of almond or oat milk
• Lemon or lime juice, to taste
• Honey if needed
• Ice cubes

Put all the ingredients in a blender and whizz until smooth. If the consistency is too thick, add a little water then either enjoy at home, or put in a bottle and take to work.

Nut Butter, Banana & Chia Seed Toast

This is a superfood twist on classic peanut butter on toast. It is packed with vitamins and minerals and for one tasty serving you will need:

• Half a large banana (sliced)
• A teaspoon of chia seeds (soaked for 15 minutes)
• 1 slice of dark rye break, toasted
• 1 tablespoon of nut butter (we like almond)
• 4 strawberries

Toast the bread then spread the nut butter on top. Place slices of banana on the nut butter and top with chia seeds and serve with the strawberries for an extra vitamin boost and enjoy before making a second round!

Avocado on Toast
There’s a real benefit to starting your day with creamy avocado on toast, a dish that is popular with our team. The fruit is loaded with fibre and fab cholesterol-lowering monounsaturated fats. Plus, the whole meal is ready in just three simple steps so you have to time to make it every day of the week. Mash the avocado onto toasted rye bread, drizzle with a little olive oil and lemon juice, then sprinkle with black pepper and enjoy. If you are extra hungry, added a serving of hot scrambled eggs.

Blueberry Muffins
Made with plump blueberries, whole-wheat flour, oats and Greek yogurt, these healthy muffins keep you full during those long Monday morning meetings. For 12 muffins you will need:

• ¼ of a cup of wholewheat flour
• 1 cup of large organic oats
• 2 cups of fresh blueberries
• 1 teaspoon of baking powder
• 1 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda
• 1/2 a teaspoon of salt
• 1 cup of plain Greek yogurt
• ½ a cup of light brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons of melted unsalted butter, melted
• 1 tablespoon grated orange zest, plus two tablespoons of pure orange juice
• 2 medium free range eggs
• 1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract

To start with heat your oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6 and line a muffin tin with muffin size paper liners.

Place the flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, bicarbonate of soda and salt in a food processor and blitz until you have a fine powder. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the yogurt, sugar, butter, orange zest and juice, egg, and the vanilla extract. Add the flour mixture and mix together before adding in the blueberries. Make sure all ingredients are folded together well. Divide the mix into the muffin cases then bake for 20 minutes until they have raised and golden. Eat them at home or take to work and share.

Happy breakfast eating.

Team Pure Beauty