Soup To Nourish Your Body

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5 a day, Asian Broth, blender, blitz, body, boiling water, bowl, carrots, celery, crème fraîche, crush, delicious soup, dried red lentils, eating, enjoy, fat free, flask, fresh, fresh thyme leaves, fry, goodness, ground coriander, gym session, heat, humus, leeks, lime, lump free, made from scratch, Nourishing food, olive oil, oven, pan, peel, pitta, quick and easy recipe, red chilli, red pepper., Roast Sweet Potato Soup, satisfying, silky smooth soup, small chunks, smooth, spring onions, steaming, stir, supermarket, sweet potato, tablespoons, tinned, tomato purée, vegetable bouillon powder, vegetable stock, vegetables, warming soup, wholesome, winner, winter, Winter Vegetable Soup with Lentils

If you are looking for wholesome, nourishing food that will feed your body this winter, soups are a real winner.

Yes, you can buy tinned and fresh ones at the supermarket, but there is something really satisfying about serving up a steaming bowl of goodness you have made from scratch.

Asian Broth
If you are looking for a light lunch option, you can’t go wrong with this quick and easy recipe that serves four.

You will need:
3 cloves of garlic
One piece of ginger (around 5cm)
200 g of pak choi, choy sum and Chinese cabbage
2 spring onions
1 red chilli
2 star anise
800 ml of clear vegetable stock
1 lime
Soy sauce

To make:
Peel and crush the garlic, then peel and grate the ginger. Trim the greens and finely slice the spring onions and chilli then add to a saucepan together with the garlic, ginger and star anise.
Put the pan over a low heat, add the stock, then bring to the boil. Gently simmer for around half an hour, then finally add the vegetables and cook gently until they are slightly wilted but still give a little bit of crunch.
Serve with soy sauce and a little lime juice and enjoy the fragrant flavours.

Winter Vegetable Soup with Red Lentils
This is a great warming soup to enjoy with family and friends after a country walk but also makes a hearty dinner when served with pitta bread and humus.

You will need:

85g of dried red lentils
2 medium carrots, diced
2 leeks, thinly sliced
1 red pepper, deseeded and diced
2 tablespoons of tomato purée
1 tablespoon of fresh thyme leaves
3 cloves of garlic peeled and crushed
1 tablespoon of vegetable bouillon powder
1 teaspoon of ground coriander
Boiling water
Salt and pepper to taste

To make:
Add the lentils and vegetables to a pan together with the tomato purée, thyme, garlic, bouillon powder and coriander, then pour in one litre of boiling water and stir well. Cover the pan and simmer for 30 minutes or until the lentils are tender.
You can either eat this as a chunky soup, or blitz in a blender and enjoy a smoother meal.

Roast Sweet Potato Soup

This delicious soup is a packed with 2 of your 5 a day and is perfect for taking to work in a flask or eating after a gym session.

You will need:
500g of sweet potato, peeled and cut into small chunks
300g of carrots, peeled and diced
Olive oil
2 small red onions, peeled and finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, peeled and grated
1 tablespoon of vegetable bouillon powder
100ml of fat-free crème fraîche, plus extra to serve
Salt and pepper
Boiling water

To make:
Heat oven to 220C/200C fan/ gas 7 then drizzle the carrots and sweet potatoes with olive oil plus salt and pepper and cook for around half an hour.
Heat two large tablespoons of olive oil in a saucepan and fry the onion until it is soft and translucent. Add the garlic and cook for several minutes then pour in the boiling water and vegetable bouillon powder and mix well and simmer for around ten minutes.
Take the roasted vegetables out of the oven and once cool, add to the pan mix and blend together until smooth and lump free.
Add the crème fraîche, reheat and enjoy.

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Celebrate World Chocolate Day

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baking, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, boiling water, cake, caster sugar, chocolate, chocolate cake, chocolate hit, clean, cocoa, cool, cream, creative, dark chocolate, delicious cake, double cream, Double Decker, electric whisk, enjoy, enjoy life, firm, fool-proof, free range eggs, full fat milk, good stuff, grease, guilt free, healthy eating plan, hour, ice, ice cream, icing, liquid, low heat, lump free, Maltesers, Mars bar, melted, Minstrels, mixing bowl, mixture, money, pan, plain flour, pour, quality, rack, Rolos, sandwich tins, skewer, smooth liquid, squares, Thornton’s, touch, Twix, vanilla extract, vegetable oil, wash your hands, wooden spoon, World Chocolate Day

World Chocolate Day, also known as International Chocolate Day, is here once again on 7th July and it is a great reason to ditch your healthy eating plan and enjoy the good stuff, guilt free.

With so many bars and brands out there, just where do you start when it comes to chocolate?

‘I love nothing more than a Double Decker and quite like Rolos too.”
Jane

“I love dark chocolate and have a couple of squares everyday.”
Danni

“For me it’s chocolate ice cream with chocolate sauce.”
Vicky

“I wish I could stop at one chocolate but no, I can eat an entire tray of Thornton’s in one go.”
Annie

Whilst you can go out and buy a Mars Bar, Twix and family bag of Maltesers to enjoy on 7th July, why not make this amazing fool-proof chocolate cake that is bang on the cocoa money.

For one delicious cake you will need:
225g of plain flour
350g of caster sugar
85g of cocoa powder
2 teaspoons of good quality vanilla extract
1½ teaspoons of baking powder and the same of bicarbonate of soda
2 large free-range eggs
125 ml of vegetable oil
250 ml of full fat milk
250 ml of boiling water
For the top of the cake you will need
200g of good quality, dark chocolate
200 ml of double cream
1 large bag of Minstrels or similar

In preparation for baking, wash your hands then preheat your oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4 then grease and line two 20cm sandwich tins.

To start making your cake, put all the ingredients, except the water, into a mixing bowl and beat the mixture until smooth and lump free. You can do this using a wooden spoon or an electric whisk.
Next add the boiling water a little at a time, until you have a smooth liquid – don’t worry this is how it is meant to be.

Divide the mix in two and pour into the sandwich tins and bake for around 30 minutes, or until the top of the cakes are firm to the touch and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.

When ready, take the cakes out of the over and allow them to cool on a rack before you add the icing.

To make the icing, you will need to put the chocolate and cream in a pan and let them melt over a very low heat. Once they have melted, take away from the heat and whisk the mixture until it is smooth and thick then cover and let it rest for around an hour.

When ready, spread the icing onto the base of one cake, add the second cake then ice the top with the reminder of the mixture.

You can then get creative and add an extra chocolate hit with the Minstrels or sweets of your choice.

Serve as it comes or with ice cream and enjoy!

Team Pure Beauty

Get your clothes clean, whatever you throw at them

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14, 4, 4 months, 40, absorb, bleach, blood, blot, blotting, boiling water, bright red stain, brush, calm, chemicals, chocolate, clean, cloth, clothes, clothing, coffee, cold water, cool, create, dab, deodorant, distilled white vinegar, dry, excess, foundation, freeze, friend, grass, hairspray, kitchen paper, lifts, lipstick, liquid, litre, machine wash, make-up, material, melt, mild hand soap, mix, mud, nightmare, normal, nude tights, pain, paste, pink, products, Red wine, rinsing, salt, soak, stain, stained, sunshine, sweat, sweaty garments, teaspoon, texture, throw, tissue paper, wash, washing up liquid, water, wax, white shirt

Whether you are 4 months, 14 or 40, it is inevitable that your clothes will get stained and the worry will be it won’t come out in the wash.

Yes, you can go for bleach or products loaded with chemicals, but we are here to save the day when it comes to looking after your laundry the kinder way.

Blood – don’t freak out! Once you have dealt with the patient, soak the stained clothing in cold water before gently rubbing with mild hand soap before rinsing with cold water.

Chocolate – run the stain under cold water then rub with washing up liquid. Soak in cold water for 15 minutes then wash as normal and you will never know it had been there.

Coffee – rather than rubbing this stain, blot with a kitchen paper, then dab the area with distilled white vinegar before washing as normal.

Deodorant marks can be a nightmare but rub the stain with a pair of nude tights and the texture of the material will work wonders and leave nothing behind.

Grass – create a paste from your usual washing powder and a little water and dab onto the stain. Let it texture of the material for 15 minutes then put through a normal wash.

Ink – blotting the ink to remove any excess liquid is the first task here, then cover the stain with hairspray and then immediately put through the washing machine as normal.

Foundation can be a real pain when you see if on a white shirt, but rub a little washing-up liquid into the stain then wash on a hot cycle and you will never know any make-up had been worn.

Ketchup – dab the bright red stain with a clean cloth then cover with washing-up liquid followed by distilled white vinegar. Soak the item in cold water for half an hour, then dry, ideally in the sunshine, and wash as normal.

Lipstick- your friend for this stain is hairspray. Spray generously onto the stain and leave for 15 minutes. Go back and blot the area with a clean cloth soaked in warm water, then put in the wash as normal….and be more careful next time!

Mud needs to dry before you can brush it off. Soak the piece of clothing in cool water with half a teaspoon of washing-up liquid and a tablespoon of distilled white vinegar.

Oil is best dealt with by keeping calm and rubbing with a mix of washing-up liquid and water. Then simply rinse in cool water and machine washing as normal.

Red wine – no need to throw that shirt away, simply cover the stain in salt and brush away after ten minutes and pink. Then pour boiling water onto the stain, carefully of course, and allow to sit until the stain lifts.

Sweat – add four large tablespoons of salt into a litre of cold water and soak the sweaty garments for 30 minutes. Rinse and leave to dry before then putting through cool machine wash.

The best way to deal with wax is to freeze the clothing to harden the wax, then scrape it away with a teaspoon. You can then cover the affected area with tissue paper and iron it to melt the remaining wax on to the tissue and wash on a cool setting.

Got any great ideas, let us know, we are all ears.

Team Pure Beauty

Bolognese and Mary Berry – what’s all the fuss?

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alive, authentic taste, boiling water, Bolognese, carrots, celery, chopped tomatoes, diced carrots, dish, double cream, Dried porcini mushrooms, dried sage leaves, family, fat, fettuccine, garlic, healthy source of protein, Italian mixed herbs, Mary Berry, media, minced beef, olive oil, onion, pan, pappardelle, pasta, Quorn, red meat, rich, salt and pepper, sause, sensation, slow-cooker, Soffritto, spaghetti, stock, surprise, tagliatelle, taste, thick, tomatoes, translucent, turkey, vegetarians, white wine

While Brexit and Trump are still toping the headlines, it was Mary Berry who stole the media show last week with talk about the ingredients of her somewhat unorthodox Bolognese sauce.

The kitchen veteran revealed that she added double cream and white wine to her sauce, but not everyone was impressed.

Whatever we thought of her ideas, she got on thing right by following the one rule of Bolognese, which is that it must not, under any circumstances, be served with spaghetti and rather pappardelle, as she uses.

For many families, Bolognese is a mid-week staple so we have put together a tasty recipe that will make everyone happy.

For one batch, you will need:

• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• 400g of minced beef
• 1 onion, sliced and diced
• 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 100g of carrots, grated
• 2 x 400g tins of chopped tomatoes
• 400ml of stock
• 400g pasta – ideally tagliatelle, pappardelle or fettuccine
• Salt and pepper to season

With the ingredients prepared, here’s how it goes?

• Heat the olive oil in a pan and once hot add the mince and a little salt and pepper. Cook the mince until browned then transfer to a bowl and set aside.
• Add another tablespoon of oil to the pan and gently fry the onions until softened and translucent. Add the garlic and cook for around two more minutes, then mix in the carrot and put the mince back into the pan.
• Next chuck in the tomatoes, stir and pour in the stock. Bring all of this bring to a simmer before reducing the temperature and cooking for around 45 minutes until the sauce is thick and rich.
• Cook the pasta as advised, we love fresh for a really authentic taste, then serve with the sauce and enjoy.

If you do want to have a little extra taste we do have some other ideas to bring your sauce alive.

Dried porcini mushrooms add a depth of flavour that will really surprise you. Soak the mushrooms for around 10 minutes in boiling water and add them into the sauce for a real taste sensation.

If you aren’t a big red meat-eater, why not use turkey instead. This is lower in fat but does need a little added flavour so cook this in a slow-cooker and add a few dried sage leaves over the finished dish, and enjoy.

Soffritto is a mixture of diced carrots, onion and celery, and adding it to your sauce adds extra flavour, colour and texture. Because it’s finely chopped, it clings more easily to the pasta, too.

You can add various herbs for added taste. A teaspoon of dried Italian mixed herbs added at the start of cooking, or a tablespoon of fresh, chopped oregano added to the meat sauce towards the end of the process, can offer depth as well as taste.

For vegetarians, you can swap the minced beef for Quorn, which is a healthy source of protein.

However you cook your sauce, enjoy eating it!

Team Pure Beauty

Chocolate Week Comes to Town

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baking powder, bars, boiling point, boiling water, buttons, cake, caster sugar, chocolate, cinnamon stick, cold, cream, dark, egg, free range eggs, fridge, greate, jam, jar, marshmallows, milk, mug, mugs, organic, pan, recipe, salt, seeds, self-raising flour, semi-skimmed milk, smaller pieces, strawberry jam, sugar, tins, vanilla pod, white

Love chocolate then you will love the fact that this week is Chocolate Week, culminating in The Chocolate Show at Olympia National Hall, London.

Milk, white, dark, organic, buttons, bars, the list goes on so we have looked at the best ways to indulge in this worldwide food phenomena.

Let’s face is, everyone loves chocolate cake, don’t they?

It is easy to make and for one cake you will need:

50g cocoa powder
3 large free range eggs
6 tablespoons of boiling water
4 tablespoons of semi-skimmed milk
175g self-raising flour
1 rounded teaspoon of baking powder
100g of softened butter
300g /caster sugar

For the icing you will need:
150g of broken up, good quality dark
150ml double cream
3 tablespoons of strawberry jam
Icing sugar for dusting

The method for baking this chocolate delight is very simple:

Preheat your oven to 180C / 350F / Gas 4, then grease two 20cm sandwich tins.

Put the cocoa powder and boiling water in a large bowl and mix into a smooth paste. Add the rest of the ingredients and beat until they are all combined well.

Divide the mixture into the two tins then place in the oven. Bake for around 30 minutes, until well risen and slightly coming away from the sides of the tin.

As the cake cooks, start on your icing. Pop the chocolate pieces and cream in a bowl, put the bowl over a pan of simmering water until melted, then leave to cool.

When cool, move the cakes from the tins and spread the bottom of each one with jam . Spread half the icing on the jam, sandwich together and put the rest of the icing on the top. Dust with icing sugar and serve in slices with a mug of hot

When we talk about hot chocolate we don’t mean a packet mix but a delicious, creamy drink that leaves you full and satisfied.

This recipe is perfect for cold winter days and you will need:

1 litre of semi-skimmed milk
150g good quality, plain chocolate, broken into small pieces
Extra chocolate for grating
1 vanilla pod split and seeds scraped out
1 cinnamon stick
A little caster sugar
Mini marshmallows

Making this luxurious drink is super-easy:
Gently heat the vanilla pod and seeds, cinnamon stick and milk in a saucepan until boiling.
With the pan taken away from the heat, add the chocolate pieces and then stir until it melts.
Whisk the liquid until frothy, pour into your favourite mugs. Grate a little chocolate on the top and together with several marshmallows and you are good to go.

Chocolate spread is a kitchen cupboard staple for many but why buy it when you can make your own? For one decent sized jar, you will need:

140g of dark, good quality chocolate, chopped into smaller pieces
160g of double cream
45g of caster sugar
2g of salt

To make the spread put the cream, sugar and salt into a pain and bring to boiling point. Pour the hot mixture over the chopped chocolate and whisk until smooth. Use a hand blender to smooth the mix and once cooled, pour into a sterlised jar and put in the fridge.

Happy Chocolate Week.

Team Pure-Beauty