Healthy eating inspiration

The irony of writing this post whilst I have a bag of mint imperials sitting next to the keyboard is not lost on me. However, as much as I am very aware I am far from the poster child for healthy eating right now, I am also aware of needing to make changes. With work being very busy and the stress of moving house it’s been all too easy to make excuses on the diet front and opt for the easier unhealthy options over the much more nutritious and ironically just about as easy options…  a few weeks ago I headed to an event with the lovely folks at ao.com to have an ‘Introduction to clean living‘ session with the lovely Naturally Sassy to get a bit of healthy eating inspiration

The session kicked off with a lovely relaxing light yoga session – I’m a bit of newbie to yoga really. I’ve tried it off and on over the years and always like it, but have never stuck with it really. This was a great one for someone who spends a little too long hunched over a desk (*sits up straight*) and can get a sore back after a while as it included some great simple stretches that gave me a bit of an instant refresh. One of my favourite bits was looking at breathing techniques and how these can immediately take you from flustered and stressed to a little bit more ‘zen’. Simply breathing in through one nostril, whilst holding the other closed. Holding in the breath for a moment and breathing it back out through the previously closed one. Simple but very effective. Makes you really aware of taking a good cool breath of air.

But alongside the lovely relaxing yoga, we were also there to taste and create some delicious healthy recipes created by Naturally Sassy. Including the cheese-free ‘cheesy quesadilla’ – now I’m a HUGE fan of cheese. So there’s pretty much zero chance of me going cheese-free anytime soon – but I am always open to trying healthy versions of meals I love and this one immediately appealed.

The recipe is basically a gluten free tortilla wrap with cashew cheese instead of the real thing. Now, I’m not going to tell you cashew cheese totally tastes just the same as cheese – it doesn’t. But it is a healthy alternative that does have a similar feeling texture so you don’t feel like you’re totally missing out without the melty good-stuff. When grilled on the snazzy Sage Heston Blumenthal Grill we each had around the table it looked just like a delicious cheese toastie, but with the added bonus of knowing it was less unhealthy. You could always switch it for halloumi if you prefer of course…

In all honesty, I heard cashew cheese and thought it sounded like a whole lot of work. But armed with a decent blender and it makes light work of the whole thing. It was quite literally whipped up before my very eyes. For the full recipe details you can have a look on the ao.com/life site but the key ingredients are:

Naturally Sassy ‘Cheezy’ Tomato Quesadillas

2 tortilla wraps (we used gluten free but could use wholewheat if you prefer)

2 plum tomatoes

1 handful of basil

Cashew Cheese:
1/2 cup cashew nuts
1/3 cup water
1 tsp tahini
1/2 clover garlic
1/3 cup nutritional yeast
a generous pinch of salt

Guacamole:
1 avocado
juice of 1 lemon
half a dozen cherry tomatoes
pinch of salt

For the full recipe: ao.com/life

I know the next couple of weeks for me aren’t going to be the healthiest, but I fully intend to start afresh when we’re all moved in to the new house and I have the space (and hopefully energy) to get back to really enjoying cooking and making some healthy but delicious meals again. To have a read of the ao.com story about the event take a peek over at ao.com/life/kitchen