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Game on!

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winter stew

When it comes to comfort food, nothing beats a hearty stew – just the thing for chilly winter evenings…

Here’s the recipe Lisa Holloway shared on Sunday’s show; served with creamy mashed potatoes and cavalo nero, this will have family and friends queuing up for seconds!

Oh and by the way, if you want recipes for the other two courses, just follow these links for the Celeriac Soup and the Warm Ginger and Plum Pudding…

Winter Venison and Beef Stew

  • Servings: Serves 6
  • Difficulty: easy
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Ingredients

  • Olive oil
  • 900g stewing venison, cut into large cubes
  • 200g chuck beef
  • 4-6 sticks celery
  • 300g fresh or frozen cranberries
  • Zest of 2 large oranges, finely sliced
  • 350g shallots
  • 600ml beef stock
  • Large glass red wine
  • Large glass port
  • 3 cloves garlic
  • 1 tablespoon wholegrain mustard
  • 2 level teaspoons plain flour
  • 2 teaspoons ground mace
  • Salt and pepper
  • Fresh oregano (dried if you can’t get fresh)
  • 2-3 bay leaves

Directions

  1. The day before, put the beef and venison in a plastic bag with the flour, mace, salt, pepper and herbs. Mix thoroughly and leave overnight in the fridge.
  2. Heat the olive oil in a large pan and brown the seasoned and floured beef gently. Transfer to a casserole dish. Add the onions, garlic and celery to the pan and sauté for 5 minutes, then add the wine, port and mustard. Bring to the boil and reduce for 5 minutes, then pour into the casserole, over the beef. Add the stock and half of the cranberries.
  3. Cover and cook slowly and gently for about 2-3 hours at 180C/375F/Gas mark 4, until the meat is very tender.
  4. Add the remaining cranberries  and orange zest 15 minutes before the end of the cooking time, stirring in well.

Simply s(o)uper!

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soup

The first of three recipes featured on Girls Around Town this morning – guest Lisa Holloway serves it as the starter of her warming winter menu but it’s almost a meal so just as good for lunch or a light supper too!

Want the recipes for the other two courses in Lisa’s menu? Just follow these links to her Winter Venison and Beef Stew and Warm Ginger and Plum Cake…

Celeriac Soup with Leek and Cheese Toasties

  • Servings: Serves 4
  • Difficulty: easy
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Ingredients

  • Olive oil
  • 4 sliced leeks
  • 3 garlic cloves, sliced
  • 1 large celeriac, peeled and chopped into fairly small pieces
  • 2 medium or large potatoes, peeled and chopped into smallish cubes
  • 500ml vegetable stock
  • 500ml milk (preferably whole)
  • 4 slices sourdough bread
  • Dijon mustard
  • 100g Gruyere cheese, grated

Directions

  1. Heat the oil in a wide, deep pan with a lid, add the leeks and cook gently until soft, about 10-12 minutes. Remove the leeks and set aside. Then add the garlic to the pan and cook for about 3 minutes.
  2. Add the celeriac, potatoes, stock and milk to the pan, bring to the boil and simmer for 15-20 minutes until soft and tender. Season well with salt and pepper, then blend in a food processor or with a stick blender.
  3. Heat the grill to high. Toast the 4 slices of sourdough in a toaster and spread with Dijon mustard, divide the leeks onto the slices of toast and cover with the grated cheese.
  4. Put under the grill until bubbling and golden.
  5. Serve the toasts with the soup, as a wonderful winter starter or a warming lunch or light supper.

Banish those winter blues!

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If you were listening to the show yesterday, you’ll have heard Fiona passing on some hints and tips for banishing the winter blues and keeping calm over Christmas. Here’s a reminder of some of the suggestions she shared…

Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is estimated to affect up to 6 per cent of us, making life very difficult indeed for those who suffer from it.

If the lack of light affects your mood substantially,  using a lightbox for up to an hour a day can helpful – find out more about light therapy here or check out the NHS and Mind websites for more helpful advice.

Even if we don’t suffer from SAD, for many of us the ‘winter blues’ leave us feeling more lethargic, less keen to stick to exercise we usually enjoy and eating too much stodge. And this dip in energy coincides with Christmas preparations – what a double whammy!

One of the key things about staying calm up to Christmas is to realise that panicky feelings may be due to low light levels. Try out these simple suggestions to adjust your regime…

Use your energy well. Decide what your goals are for the day and crack on so they can be progressed by about 2.30pm, leaving the afternoon for more routine tasks.

Get out in the sun – even if it’s just for 10 minutes, the sun on your face will stimulate your pineal gland, which helps regulate melatonin levels.  The action of the sun helps to make you feel alert and interested, less like hibernating!

Don’t eat too much comfort food – have hearty soups but not too much bread. Make time to eat and really enjoy your meals – mindful eating means tasting every mouthful and stops you from eating more than you need. This is a useful habit to get into pre-Christmas when it can feel as if there is too much of everything!

And if you do over-indulge – not that you would do such a thing! – here’s just the thing from Fiona’s blue box of homeopathic remedies…

  • Pre-Christmas, Nux vom 30 is great if you’re jangled from having too many deadlines and irritated from drinking too much coffee in order to meet them! You are short tempered and snappy, and may feel pretty rubbish inside, as you are not digesting your hastily-eaten meals very well.
  • And after the Christmas parties and celebrations, Nux vom 30 helps to restore you if you’ve had too much of everything, whether food or drink. You know that hungover feeling when everything is too loud and too bright? Nux vom will help sort that out. And it doesn’t have to be alcohol – if you go to a lot of Christmas dos and you end up feeling sluggish and irritable from lots of party food, take Nux vom.
  • December’s a busy time for children too, with all the excitement about presents, school plays and performances combined with tiredness towards the end of the long school term – while for teenagers there are mock GCSEs and A levels. If your kids are a bit more sensitive now, Pulsatilla 30 is excellent for helping when nerves about a school event mean some extra tears or tummyaches.
  • And then there’s the family get together – we know that can bring its share of hassle too. There’s something about the certain combination of relatives that makes the sparks fly. It may start with a familiar gripe, a throw-away remark that opens old wounds or leads to a bigger row. For emotional upsets that can leave you feeling rattled afterwards, try Ignatia 30.
  • Unfortunately bad news doesn’t stop for Christmas. A sudden bereavement, relationship break-up or death of a family pet – these big events can and do happen at any time. Again Ignatia 30 is a remedy for dealing with the shock that bad news brings.

You’ll find these and other homeopathic remedies in health shops and high street pharmacies – to use them, take one pill every 15 minutes for three doses. You shouldn’tt need to repeat but if symptoms return use another batch of three.

For more information about using homeopathic remedies at home, Fiona runs regular workshops. The first date in 2017 is Friday 27 January – email fiona@fionatheokritoff.co.uk for details and bookings.

Also on yesterday’s show, wellness coach Tina Mason joined the Girls Around Town to talk about the new science of mBIT and how to use your three brains instead of just one.

Listen to Fiona’s interview with Tina here and find out more about her practice on her website…