Eating Your Way to Healthy

If you missed our “Eating Your Way to Healthy” article in our 15 Minutes magazine, fear not- we’re sharing it with you today.

We know eating healthy isn’t the easiest thing sometimes, that’s why we asked professional chefs Anna Pinder and Naomi Twigden from Lunch BXD to help us out by sharing their tips for creating a substantial lunch to power you through the day. They’ve also shared with us one of their favourite, easy to make recipes.

1. “Vegetables are always a key element to our lunches, we like to steam them until they are just cooked (al dente) so they retain their natural flavour, brightness and add crunch to a salad. Steamed tender stem broccoli tossed with toasted flaked almonds makes a great side element. Always go with what is in season too as it will have a better natural flavour.”
2. “Make sure your meal has a slow burning energy component that will fill you up till dinner such as grains, pulses, beans or a starchy vegetable. Cook up a batch on a Sunday night and use it throughout the week in lunch boxes, soups and evening meals.”
3. Pack some protein into your meal. Meat or fish are great, or sometimes a handful of nuts, beans or boiled egg makes a nice (and cheaper) alternative.
4. Dressings and dips make a lunch. It takes minutes to whizz up a homemade hummus and you can spice it up with chilli or a handful of spinach for extra iron.

This Paleo ‘Nachos’; smoked paprika sweet potato chips recipe is a vibrant, full-of-flavour dish, yet also substantial and energizing to fuel your working day. It’s allergen free, and whilst you can have it as a vegetarian salad, you can also add pulled pork or beef fried with cumin or garlic for extra protein. However, if cooking is not your forte, you can always opt to have these meals delivered to your desk without you having to lift a finger. Use code SHAVE to enjoy 10% off your first Lunch BXD order.

Ingredients
(serves 2)

1 Red chilli

1 Red pepper

1 garlic clove

A handful of cherry tomatoes

A few sprigs of coriander (¼ of a bunch)

2 bulbs of spring onion

2 medium Sweet potatoes

1 good pinch smoked paprika

1 avocado

2 limes

50g rocket

METHOD:

Preheat the oven to 200 C

To make sweet potato chips, scrub the potatoes well under cold water, pat dry and slice into thin strips with a sharp knife. Place in a bowl and toss with a splash of vegetable oil, salt, pepper and the paprika. Place the sweet potato on a baking tray. Spread out across a single layer and ensure the potatoes do not touch (or they won’t crisp up). Bake in the oven for 20 minutes, turning halfway through, until golden and crispy.

Meanwhile, prep the rest of the vegetables; deseed and finely slice the red chilli and red pepper, finely slice the spring onion and garlic and cut cherry tomatoes into quarters.

Combine these ingredients together in a bowl with a squeeze of one of the limes and season well.

Now make the chunky guacamole; roughly chop a few coriander leaves, dice the avocado and mix through the rest of the lime. Season and crush together lightly.

Serve the nachos stacked to one side, along with the rocket, guacamole and lime marinated crunchy vegetables. Garnish with a few extra picked coriander leaves and additional wedge of lime.