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You have grown your own fruit and vegetables, defeating all that the elements, pests and diseases have thrown at you, and then you find that you cannot lay your hands on suitable recipes that take advantage of the large quantities of fruit and vegetables that you will grow. This section hopes to give you the necessary ideas to bridge that gap.
Most of us are trying to eat more healthily these days. To this end, I have re-formulated my recipes to cut out most of the additives that most health experts now agree are bad for our health. Sadly, most of the professional chefs on TV food programmes, have still not woken up to the fact that their recipes are very bad for our health. Therefore, in the interests of lowering levels of bad cholesterol and blood pressure, I have followed these criteria in my recipes:-
No saturated fats added; liquid vegetable oils used instead. If the recipe calls for meat, there will be some existing saturated fat in the meat. You can reduce this by cutting off as much fat as possible.
Health Hint. It has been discovered that if you eat a low fat dairy product with a fatty meal, the calcium in the dairy product combines with some of the fat and helps it to pass straight through the digestive system.
No hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated fats used; liquid vegetable oils used instead. Hydrogenated fat is frequently found in margarine, and other solid fats formed by hydrogenating liquid fats. Hydrogenated fat has been chemically hardened using hydrogen, and is a man-made fat that is not found in nature. Hence, the human body cannot process it properly and some of it ends up on our artery walls.
No trans-fat added. This is formed when liquid oils are chemically hardened with hydrogen, and is a man-made fat that is not found in nature. Again the human body cannot process it properly and some of it ends up on our artery walls.
It is found in many processed foods such as ice cream, chips, popcorn, cakes, biscuits. It is frequently used to fry Restaurant and takeaway fried food.
As trans-fats to not need to be labelled in the list of ingredients in the UK, avoid any foods that have words such as “shortening, margarine, or partially hydrogenated vegetable oil or fat” in the list of ingredients. Other countries such as Canada, Denmark, Switzerland, and some parts of the USA, have legislation to restrict or even ban it.
No interesterified fat added. Another man-made fat which has been chemically hardened using enzymes or acids. Frequently found in margarine and spreads, and may well turn out in the long run to be bad for health.
Reduced total fat; more fruit content gives a moister end product.
No added salt; herbs, spices and natural flavourings used instead. At first, this may take some getting use to. Salt was not readily available till quite recent times, and it was extremely expensive. In the UK climate, you should not need extra salt above what occurs naturally in meat, fish, fruit and vegetables.
Reduced sugar; you soon get used to it, but be aware that you may have to keep cakes in the fridge, as sugar is a preservative as well as a sweetener. Again, sugar was not readily available until quite recent times. The human body does not need large amounts of added sugar from a nutritional point of view.
If you decide to replace sugar with artificial sweeteners, be aware that “Aspartame” sweetener is alleged to be a cause of some heart problems in some people. As a result, many manufacturers are removing it from their products.
The recipes given in this section are just a few of my favourite ways of using some of the fruit and vegetables that I grow.
HEALTHY RECIPES FOR ALLOTMENT FOOD
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