“Your gut is often considered your second brain – for good reason! In this workshop, you’ll appreciate the important roles the gut plays in your overall health (and potentially performance!), and you’ll learn ways to take care of it!”
-Meghan.
Meghan answers a very interesting question.. Is christmas dinner healthy? a question she is asked often!
Followed with another great recipe idea.
Tip 2 of our christmas tips with Meghan. Dealing with diet culture at this time of year!
VERY interesting topic.. The food first approach; supplement safety. Watch, learn, enjoy & take notes x
With Dr Meghan Brown. A very popular request from many of you about eating around competition time, so please enjoy this one and if you’ve any questions, we are here! x
How beautiful does this pea soup recipe look..
Just what you want for an early summer’s evening… this beautiful pea soup. It’s so quick and easy! Add an optional bit of fancy-ness with easy Parmesan dips (or plant-based equivalent) – delicious
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Per portion, this soup is a great source of fibre (~10g), protein (~15g) as well as providing your daily recommended vitamin C! Vitamin C is an antioxidant micronutrient and has lots of important roles and health promoting properties – including reducing risk and severity of illness. In fact, peas are a good source of lots of different nutrients, so a dish like this is perfect for packing in those peas!
There are dozens of varieties of pea and I absolutely love them all – I could just eat bowls full of mushy peas / pease pudding) … yummy!
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Ingredients (makes ~4-6 servings):
•900g peas
•Nob butter
•Tbsp olive oil
•1 potato (chopped)
•small bunch spring onion (chopped)
•900ml veg stock
•small handful mint leaves
•85g grated parmesan (or vegan equivalent)
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Recipe:
•Fry spring onion & potato in butter and oil for ~5 mins. Stir in stock and simmer for ~10 mins.
•Stir in peas and cook for 3 mins. Remove from heat, add mint leaves and whizz with a blender / food processor.
•For parmesan dips, line grated parmesan into 6 strips on baking parchment and grill for ~1-2 mins
Dr Meghan Brown x
I especially wanted to share this recipe because thanks to the edamame beans and chickpeas, it is really high in protein – so it is a perfect post class / performance dish to help with recovery! It makes it a nice satisfying / filling dish as well. And because risotto can keep well in the fridge for a few days and can also be frozen – it’s a good one to make in bulk.
You’ll find a list of ingredients below, and you’ll notice this can be plant-based, dairy free, and gluten free. Please remember that many of the ingredients are optional. For example you can absolutely make this without the spinach, parmesan, lemon juice etc. Even the tomatoes and chickpeas are ‘add-ons’! But this does make a gorgeous risotto with a lovely combination of flavours and textures ????????
Ingredients (makes ~4 portions):
•300g arborio (risotto) rice
•100g green pesto (you can get gluten /dairy/wheat free)
•~800ml veg (or meat) stock. Note that you might need more depending on your rice!
•1/2 onion, roughly chopped
•3 cloves of garlic, crushed/minced
•Juice of 1/2 lemon
•Olive oil / spray
•600g cherry tomatoes (1/2 chopped)
•1 tin chickpeas (drained, rinsed, dried and ideally de-shelled)
•2-3 tbsp paprika (or another spice / flavour)
•35g parmesan (you can get plant-based equivalents)
•90g spinach
•150g edamame (or cooked soya) beans
Tips:
•There are different types of rice that can be used for risotto, so make sure to follow the instructions for the rice that you buy. The arborio rice I typically use only needs about 20 minutes to cook, but some need longer. That also means that you might need more stock to help it along – so just bare that in mind!
•This usually makes 4 portions for me, but of course just divide the ingredients up for smaller portions. And even when making for 4 portions (as above) you probably won’t use the whole tin of chickpeas. But I just tend to do them all as roasted chickpeas also make a great little snack as well, or can be added to salads and soups too. So just pop what you don’t use in a Tupperware!
•When roasting the chickpeas, it is important that they are really quite dry so that they become nice and crunchy rather than soggy. So once they are drained, I tend to pat them dry with a clean kitchen towel/cloth, or just leave somewhere to dry for a while first. And taking a bit of time to de-shell them first also helps with the texture (plus it’s quite satisfying!)
Enjoy,
Dr Meghan Brown x
Honey & date flapjack
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Try out this super quick and easy flapjack recipe! It takes less than 5 mins to put together (simply a case of mixing all the ingredients), and then a 25-30 min bake in the oven…. Voila! What more could you want!? And they are SOOOO tasty! Thanks to the sticky toffee flavours of the dates especially
Packed with lots of good stuff, including that all important fuel – carbohydrates – this is perfect for a pre class / performance snack, or a little bite to keep you going through busy schedules.
Ingredients (makes ~16 slices):
•100g dates, ideally Medjool (pitted & chopped into small pieces)
•125g honey or ~6 tbsp (use golden or maple syrup as alternatives)
•125g mixed nuts, seeds, dried fruit – any work (chocolate chips & other additions could be used too!)
•100g light brown sugar
•125g butter
•200g rolled oats (gluten free works fine too)
Enjoy!
Meghan xx
What a workshop! More incredible insights, ideas and recipes From Meghan. Enjoy guys and please share with us your making of the recipes given x
Nutrition tip 2 with Dr Meghan Brown.