The Secret Ingredient: Family Cookbook

The Secret Ingredient: Family Cookbook
Sally Bee

Bestselling author, home cook, heart-attack survivor and busy mum of three Sally Bee turns her attention to family cooking.Sally Bee’s fourth book.At the time of writing this book, Sally is hurtling towards an anniversary that she has mixed feelings about. At the age of 36 Sally had three heart attacks in a week. This summer it will be nine years since Sally died. And nine years since she came back to life.Sally is a living miracle and it is her diet that keeps her fighting and strong. She knows better than anyone how to incorporate healthy eating into your daily life. In her bestselling debut The Secret Ingredient she shared clean and healthy versions of the classic dishes we all love. Now she shows you how to create affordable and simple healthy recipes all the family will adore.Sally believes the best way to keep your family healthy is to serve everyone the same food – food that tastes good, looks good and does you good. Whether it’s a super quick midweek Bolognese packed full of goodness or tasty Thai prawn skewers, an easy guilt-free chicken pie, delicious oatmeal cookies or a healthy take on your favourite takeaway classics.Sally knows better than anyone, when you’re feeding the family day in, day out, you want simplicity, speed and lots of great taste and health benefits. In this beautiful new family cookbook, she offers over 100 new recipes that deliver a healthy lifestyle and a happy home life.Alongside the recipes, there are tips on how to get your children involved, and lots of straightforward advice of how to change your eating habits. Sally’s plans are realistic and easy-to-follow, offering everything you need for a balanced approach to your family’s health.

Dedication (#ulink_4bf55062-c116-5348-8d0e-9895a2c36092)

I want to dedicate this book to my darling husband Dogan, who I love more than ever and I’ve always loved him a lot. And to my children and my Dad, we are a little family but everyone’s got a big heart. I also owe a lot to some of my most precious friends. Heather, who always keeps me grounded and comes with me to cooking shows and TV studios and is constantly telling people that SHE was the one who passed Home Economics at school – not me! Thanks for that Heather – I can always rely on you to big me up – not! To Anna, who is forever placed firmly in my heart and who helps me to look at the world with a different perspective even if I don’t want to. To gorgeous Mermaid Mel, the strongest, toughest most feminine heroine on the planet. I also dedicate this book to my great new friend Chrisp and his wonderful family. It doesn’t matter how long or short a time you have known a person, there are angels that walk this planet and Chrisp you are one of them.

Contents

Cover (#u9e55cab1-22ea-5e2d-810b-a0faff22cd0f)

Title Page (#litres_trial_promo)

Dedication (#ulink_3702f4eb-a94b-59f9-88d6-ade1bf94dfc5)

Introduction (#ulink_395b4b68-e2ec-59dd-8783-a5dea9afe0d8)

Brunches & light lunches (#litres_trial_promo)

Family meals (#litres_trial_promo)

On the side (#litres_trial_promo)

Sally’s Saturday night fakeaway (#litres_trial_promo)

Sinless sweets & drinks (#litres_trial_promo)

List of Recipes

Acknowledgements

Copyright

About the Publisher

Introduction (#ulink_b9d764a4-7c55-5681-a5e5-647a10960622)

I love mealtimes in my house. We live in a very modest little home and the kitchen is most definitely the heart of it. We have just built a new island in the middle of the kitchen and we are all like bees to a honey pot around it. There is always some music on somewhere, someone usually playing guitar, my daughter and her friends singing, dancing and talking non-stop! Lots of laughter, too much giggling and silliness, homework, spilt milk on the homework, heated debates, wrestling between boys, dogs eating the cat food and cats eating the dog food. Shouting, laughing, loving, crying – it all happens in my lovely little family kitchen. The thing that always surprises me is how quiet, all of a sudden, everything becomes when a meal lands on the table. Silence. Just while everyone takes the first bite, and then the hubble bubble starts again and we talk over each other, at each other, for each other. It’s chaos, but it’s our chaos and we all appreciate just how lucky we are.

For those of you who may not be aware, let me take you on a quick guided tour of my story so far.

At the time of writing this book, I’m hurtling towards an anniversary that I have mixed feelings about. I’m not sure if I should be celebrating with champagne and a cake or be in hiding in a darkened room. This summer it will be nine years since I died – and nine years since I came back to life. I was 36 years old when my life took this dramatic turn. One moment everything was just as it should be, taking care of my three babies, being supermum, whizzing from toddler groups to mums’ groups. The next minute my whole life got turned upside down, never to be the same again.

This nine-year anniversary is particularly pertinent to me because I remember so well lying in my hospital bed, in shock, in pain, no breath, hooked up to wires and bleeping monitors. I whispered to one of the cardiologists at the time to ask if I was going to survive. He looked down at his shoes and shook his head. They had performed an emergency procedure the night before and had seen the damage my heart had sustained during my three long and painful heart attacks. They had called my husband into the operating theatre to say his goodbyes to me. After a couple of weeks recovering in hospital I remember having a heart-to-heart with one of the doctors. I needed to know how long I would live. I needed to make arrangements and plans and make sure my babies were going to be OK.

It was clear that they were surprised that I’d survived the attacks. They were amazed I had survived the night. It was a miracle that I had survived two weeks. I asked about the next ten years… pushing my luck, I knew, but determined to face everything head on. The doctor smiled to me and said, ‘Sally, if you can survive 10 years after all this, you can survive forever!’

At 36, I wasn’t your typical heart patient, and while recovering I remember looking around the coronary care ward and feeling out of place. A nurse came to talk to me about life after a heart attack and gave me leaflets about what I could and couldn’t do. These leaflets bore no resemblance to my life at home whatsoever. Washing up my cup and saucer was fine, they said, I could also smooth down my bedspread to make my bed and should try to resume sexual relations – no more stressful than watching a TV comedy, apparently! But this was advice for heart patients in their 70s, 80s and 90s. Smoothing down the bedspread? How would I manage just this when I had three children at home wanting to have ride on the super-king-sized flying-carpet-quilt whenever I made the bed?

It was a valuable lesson for me, medicine often sees patient as a cut out, with everyone put on the same plan as the person before them. I realised that if I had any chance of regaining my normal life then I would have to rewrite the leaflets to make them apply to me.

This went for healthy eating too. Very quickly after my heart attacks I realised that when I ate healthy, nutritionally-packed food, my body reacted in a positive way. But if I didn’t take care with what fuel I fed my body, I would very quickly begin to lose any of the precious energy I had and start to feel poorly again. It’s important that every member of the family bends and shapes their diet to suit their age and lifestyle.

If you are super busy and energetic, flying here and there, you will need to eat more and more often. If you are sitting at your desk most of the day and don’t get to move around so much, you’ll need smaller portions and lighter meals.

So if you are hoping to gain good health through healthy eating, make sure the recipes you choose match your lifestyle and your taste. The Secret Ingredient Family Cookbook has recipes that are suitable for everyone in the family. Whether you have time to plan and cook or need speedy dishes that can be super quick to prepare, you are sure to find something that pleases your taste buds and matches your lifestyle and that of your family.

Food to feed your emotions

Emotionally, my recovery after my heart attacks was very tough and, as crazy as it sounds, food played a part in my emotional recovery too.

It took about a year to start to recover properly but eventually me and my family became strong and happy again. To begin with I was afraid of absolutely everything. I was afraid to laugh, cry, love, feel anger, feel passion; I was just a quivering mess of worry and fear.

Gradually, with the help of my darling family and my precious friends, I started to rebuild the old Sally. I had to get strong again, physically and emotionally. I had no strength, no spare breath. If I walked up the stairs to read my boys a story before bed, I would have to lie down at the top of the stairs for 10 minutes to get my breath back before I could speak to them. I had also lost all my confidence that everything would be OK. The future was bleak for me, or so I thought. I was grieving the loss of my health and used to look at my family, thinking I wanted to do absolutely everything possible to make their lives wonderful, yet I didn’t even have the strength to simply pick up my baby and cuddle her tears better.

Luckily for me, and for them, I had this little flickering flame, a little sparkle somewhere deep down inside me that kept tickling me and prodding me and refused to give up. As each day passed, it grew a little more until eventually it had no choice but to burst out of me like fireworks from the ground, filling me again with all my hopes and dreams and plans for the future. I tell you, I grabbed hold of that sparkle and have been running and jumping with it ever since. Every morning, when I wake up, I am alive therefore I am happy.

I believe that life is all about balance. A balanced diet feeds your heart, body and soul. No one can live forever on cottage cheese salad and an apple. We all need variety, treats and food that feed our soul. I learnt that over time and I hope that this is one of the things you will gain from this book. All the recipes are developed with great health in mind. Some have some ‘treat’ ingredients and this is absolutely fine as long as these ingredients are balanced with health-giving foods. Don’t worry, they are!

A few years ago, reaching the 10-year milestone was for me a mirage that was far beyond my grasp. But now I look forward to celebrating my nine-year survival anniversary – if only so that I can then start the year-long planning for the big celebration on my tenth anniversary! That doctor was right. If I can survive 10 years after all I went through, I can survive forever. Being a healthy eater has empowered me to get my life back. Take that, heart!

You can do it!

I get so frustrated when I hear about this diet, just eating cabbage or another diet, eating standing on your head. It’s crazy, it’s upsetting and it’s not healthy or sustainable.

Healthy eating is all about balance. I give talks to school children and like to ask them which is healthier – a big plate of broccoli or a big plate of chocolate? Of course they love to scream at the top of their voices that the big plate of broccoli is healthier! But that’s not strictly true. I explain to them that if you only ever ate broccoli you would get a tummy ache, be rather stinky and would be missing out on all sorts of nutrients, let alone flavourful delights that come from variety. Of course it’s OK to enjoy a bit of chocolate, as long as you have had a nutritious meal beforehand.

Meal matching

Meal matching is quite simply matching the food you eat to your activities. For example, if I am sitting at my desk for most of the week, writing, I don’t need lots of spare energy, but I do still need lots of good nutrients to keep my brain sharp. A full eight hours writing a day is not physically draining but it sure makes my brain hurt! In this case I would go for a light breakfast and lunch, consisting of fish or chicken with a delicious salad (no soggy lettuce leaves in sight I might add!) or some roasted vegetables. This would nourish me but not make me sleepy during the afternoon when I’ve got my editor breathing down my neck wanting finished work. I would then probably only need another light meal at around 6pm, as sitting all day at a desk doesn’t use many calories.

If, on the other hand, I am having a busy week, rushing around from one event to another, needing lots more energy to keep me active throughout the day, I would go for a slightly heavier breakfast that would keep me going longer, such as porridge and fruit. I would make sure I had plenty of nuts, raisins and fruit in my bag for on-the-go snacks and I would try and make time for a more substantial lunch. This is especially important if I thought I wouldn’t get a decent evening meal at an appropriate time.

Night-time meals

While you are planning your meals, it is really essential that you listen to your body and take note of what it’s telling you. Do you have trouble sleeping? Is this because you have a large meal too late at night or because you haven’t eaten enough throughout the day and are actually hungry?

The general rule is to have your last meal of the day no later than 7pm. If we treat 10pm as a usual bedtime, this gives your system three hours to break down the food you’ve eaten, and allow you to sleep well. However, you may not be such an early bird and you might stay up until 11pm or midnight, in which case, you will probably become peckish before bed. DO NOT hit the biscuit tin or the Pringles pot, instead have a slice of brown toast, with a little butter or low-fat hummus about 20 minutes before you go to bed. This will take away any hunger pangs and will give you a sedative effect to help you sleep. Because your body has to step up its metabolism to break down the bread, it will make you sleepy. This is especially true if you’ve been following a low-carbohydrate diet. These diets are good for giving you energy, but they can make you a bit ‘fizzy’ and unable to sleep, so taking a slice of bread at this time will definitely help you enter the land of nod!

Feeding the kids

Children who eat a healthy diet from birth are much better equipped to eat well throughout their lives and will have a reduced risk of health conditions as they grow up. Children gain a taste for the things they eat often so if you give your children healthy foods right from the beginning, they will develop a liking for those foods and continue to want them as they grow.

Teaching them early is important and so is getting them to listen to their bodies. My children know what it feels like to be healthy. To know this and understand what it means provides a fabulous tool which will hopefully help them make good healthy choices independently. At home my children have healthy home-cooked food without additives. This, to them, is completely normal. If they then go elsewhere and have processed food which is usually high in salt and fat, they immediately know they feel different. They talk about being too thirsty (because of the salt) and the fact that drinking to excess makes them feel bloated. One of my sons, who’s energetic to say the least, has real problems concentrating and staying calm after a processed meal. This is simply because he reacts badly to the additives included in processed food.

So my children do understand and feel the immediate effect of healthy and unhealthy food. I try to explain that balance is the key. It’s perfectly fine to enjoy a delicious dessert as long as it follows a healthy nutritious meal and isn’t eaten every day.

Looking back to when my daughter was around eight months old, I remember sitting her in a high chair next to her little friend, Tom, who was the same age. Tom’s mum gave him some specially prepared vegetable purée, mashed banana and baby breadsticks. I gave Lela a slice of home-made pizza! Shock! Horror! Well, actually no, I was very happy to give this to Lela. I have never given us adults and the children different food. I don’t understand how a parent can give their weaning baby the best, most natural, unprocessed food, but sit their other children down in front of the devil’s food that is chicken nuggets and chips!