If you pay attention to these minor areas, it can improve your quality of life and increase your chance of longevity.

Sponge

• 4oz Butter
• 4oz Brown sugar
• 4oz Wholemeal self-raising flour
• 2 Eggs
• 1/2 tsp Baking powder

Filling

• 250g Mascarpone cheese
• 4 x 125g Longley Farm vanilla yoghurt
• 2 tbsp Vanilla extract
• 150ml Freshly squeezed orange juice
• 100ml Grand Marnier (you’ve got to have a treat!)
• 400g Fresh raspberries
• 2 tbsp Brown sugar

Method

1. Cream butter and sugar together. Beat in eggs, then fold in flour and baking powder.
2. Pour mixture into a greased 7 inch loaf tin and bake on gas mark 4 for 40-45 mins.  When done, use half and freeze the rest for next time.
3. Simmer raspberries, sugar and a little water for 5-10 mins.  Strain through a sieve, pressing the raspberries to extract as much of the juice as possible.  Keep the juice to drizzle over the trifle before you serve.
4. Whisk the mascarpone, yoghurt and vanilla together until smooth.
5. Cut the sponge into fingers.
6. Combine orange juice with Grand Marnier, dip in the sponge fingers and place in a trifle bowl.
7. Cover sponge with raspberries, then mascarpone cream.
8. Repeat process of sponge, raspberries and mascarpone cream.
9. Place in the fridge for 1 hour to chill.
10. Indulge yourself with this heavenly dessert!

• 2 tablespoons of oats
• soya/rice/nut or dairy milk – to suit your choice of consistency
• 1-2 tablespoons of probiotic yoghurt
• 1/2 sliced banana or fruit of your choice
• 1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon or mixed spice
• 1 tablespoon of whole or ground seeds (pumpkin, sunflower, sesame, flax etc) can be added if you like for extra nutrition

Method

1. To make the oats nice and creamy, soak them in the milk for about 30 mins.
2. Mix in all the other ingredients and eat…..yum!

Preparation Time 5 minutes

Cooking Time 20 minutes

Ingredients

• Lard, goose or duck fat – enough to cover potatoes
• 1 large potato per person – chipped

Method

1. Heat the fat in a deep fat fryer.
2. Once the fat has melted, add the potatoes and fry until golden.

Cooking Time 25 minutes

Ingredients

• Large knob of butter
• 1 large onion – chopped
• 4 chicken breasts – chopped
• 4 cloves of garlic – crushed
• 1 red chilli – thinly sliced
• 2 red peppers – chopped
• 200g mushrooms – sliced
• 200g tin of olives – pitted
• 2 x 400g tin chopped tomatoes
• Handful of fresh thyme
• Sea salt and black pepper to season

To serve:  Wholewheat pasta or homemade chips cooked in lard, goose or duck fat (see recipes)

Method

1. Heat the butter in a large pan, then add onion and fry until soft.
2. Add the chicken and fry until cooked through.
3. Once the chicken is cooked, add all the remaining ingredients, cover and simmer for 15 minutes .

High Density Lipoproteins (HDL) – Your body’s protector!

Low Density Lipoproteins (LDL)

Very Low Density Lipoproteins (VLDL)

We are persistently bombarded by the media with television adverts and magazine articles, that tell us our cholesterol should be low….this simple isn’t true!  Not all cholesterol is bad for you.  The VLDL and LDL are the bad types of cholesterol and the HDL is the good type.  The VLDL and LDL are produced from trans fats, which go to work on the inside of your arteries, making them narrower and increasing your blood pressure.  The HDL works in the opposite way, by galvanising your arteries and protecting your body against the VLDL and LDL, preventing them from penetrating your arteries and reducing the risk of hypertension.

To increase your HDL, you should be eating more good saturated fat.  Follow this link for more information:  http://www.fitnessmatrix.co.uk/2009/04/good-saturated-fat-the-past-is-the-future/

Ingredients

• 1 banana
• 3 strawberries
• 3 raspberries
• 1 tbsp blueberries
• 1 tbsp Linwoods seed mix (available from: http://www.linwoods.co.uk/en/super_food.php?cat=3#prod3 )
• 2 tbsp Yeo Valley Organic natural yoghurt
• 180ml double cream
• 280ml whole milk
• Drizzle of maple syrup to sweeten

Method

1. Place all the ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth.

Ingredients

• 500g Blueberries (try to buy local produce or grown in Britian)
• 200g/8oz Billington’s natural molasses sugar
• 200ml/7 fl oz water

For the base

• 250g/9 oz Porridge Oats
• 6 oz butter melted

For the filling

• 300ml of double cream
• 100g/4 oz of Billington’s natural molasses sugar
• 500g of full fat cream cheese
• Zest 1 lemon
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Method

1. Put the blueberries into a pan with the sugar and water.  Heat slowly to dissolve the sugar, then simmer for 7-8 minutes.  Strain through a sieve into a bowl, pressing the blueberries into the sieve to extract as much juice as possible.  Leave to cool.
2. Line a 20cm springform cake tin with greaseproof paper.  Melt the butter in a pan and mix with the porridge oats.  Make sure mixture is not too dry, if it is add more melted butter.  Pack into the cake tin to make the base, firming with the back of a spoon.
3. Whip the cream and sugar together until fairly stiff.  In another bowl, beat the cream cheese to soften, then fold in the cream with the lemon zest and vanilla extract.  Lightly fold through the berry syrup to create a rippled effect.  Spoon the mix onto the biscuit base, then place in the fridge for 2-3 hours until firm.
4. You may want to keep a few blueberries and a little syrup aside to decorate the cheesecake once cooled.
5. Run a hot knife around the edge of the cheesecake, then release the side of the tin and slide the cheesecake onto a board.  Cut into slices and serve each one with a generous helping of double cream.

The study revealed that the saturated fat content of many dishes from celebrity chefs’ recipes, contained more than 100 per cent
of the guideline daily amount of saturated fat in a single serving (30g for men and 20g for women).  Sian Porter registered dietitian on the fat
panel, says “having a celebrity chef treat is one thing, but eating these dishes regularly could bump up your saturated fat intake considerably”.

Yes it could and it should!  Your body wants good saturated fat, as it is its primary source of fuel, supplying sustained energy and acting as a protector, because it provides the immune system with the fuel it needs to become strong, resulting in the body being more equipped to fight-off infection.  Good saturated fat is also vitally important for the body to properly metabolise all other nutrients and receive the best from the food ingested.

I realise that this is contrary to popular belief and that you may be thinking that saturated fat will be detrimental to your health, but this couldn’t be further from the truth.  The human animal has historically lived on good saturated fat for hundreds of years, but in the last century, we have been brain-washed by the media and the power of advertising, to believe that foods that are ‘low-fat’, ‘light’ and ‘healthy option’ are good for us, but this is not the case.  Some of the products that provide good saturated fat are; whole milk, butter, cheese, double cream, free range eggs, lard, beef dripping, goose and duck fat, which are natural products and benefit from not being tampered by humans.

For more information on good saturated fat, follow this link:  http://www.fitnessmatrix.co.uk/2009/04/good-saturated-fat-the-past-is-the-future/