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Well, Hello There, January...

3rd January 2019
Well, Hello There, January...
Tags: Lifestyle

Well, Hello There, January...

 

Depending on your point of view, January is either a dismal month, devoid of the treats of the festive season and still a long way from spring. Or it’s a blank slate, bubbling with opportunity and buoyed up by new-year optimism. Wherever side of this particular fence you stand, chances are that after the season of indulgence and feasting, you’ll be feeling a bit rounder than you were in November. Taking a long hard look at what you eat and wondering how to make improvements is a classic January pastime. And one thing you can be assured of? You’re most certainly not alone.

Here at The Organic Butchery, crash diets aren’t our thing. If there was ever a way to make January really un-fun it’s subjecting yourself to spiralized salads and spirulina smoothies. The winter months call for comforting warm dishes to fill your tummy and keep your mood up through dark days. Luckily, food doesn’t have to be stodgy and fatty to be comforting. It can be lean but packed with protein to keep hunger pangs at bay and give you plenty of energy to tackle your January fitness drive. 

 

We’ve got a range of meat boxes specially designed to bring you delicious cuts and help you stay inspired. Try our Lean & Clean organic meat box and tuck into some of our tastiest and lightest cuts (including chicken breast, beef fillet steaks and chicken burgers). If you’re dieting and want to add fish to your plan we have the Sustainable Fish box and be inspired by favourites like organic salmon fillets and smoked trout fillets.  Or take some tips from our gut-health friends Eve Kalinik and Naomi Devlin to get your tummy in tip-top condition by drinking gut-friendly organic bone broth, and be ready to take on the following year.    

Need inspiration? Hearty but healthy weekday suppers are just a sizzle away…

Combine turkey mince with some finely chopped shallot, garlic and parsley before dividing into equally sized meatballs. Carefully brown the meatballs in a tiny spritz of oil before poaching them gently in seasoned chicken stock until cooked through. Add shredded greens (like iron-rich kale, crisp pak choi or sweet sugar snap peas) and some noodles to the pan a couple of minutes before serving. 

Slice some diced pork into strips and toss in a hot wok with a small drizzle of sesame oil until the outside is browning. Throw in sliced veggies – spring onions, peppers, courgette, carrot, broccoli – and some ginger, garlic and chilli. Stir fry until the veg is tender but still crunchy. Add a drizzle of honey, a squeeze of lime and a good splash each of soy sauce and sweet chilli sauce. Sprinkle with some sesame seeds and serve with steamed jasmine rice. 

Capture Mediterranean flavours in a simple chicken traybake that combines lean chicken breast with juicy tomatoes and colourful peppers. Put the chicken and veg into a roasting tray, sprinkle over some thyme leaves and dot in some whole cloves of garlic and a handful of pitted black olives. Nestle a few wedges of lemon around the edges for extra-fresh flavour. 

Lighten up your steak supper without making it feel like less of a treat by pan-frying your steak then cutting it into strips and serving it over a bed of watercress, fennel and apple salad. Add a dollop of mustardy yoghurt dip on the side. By serving it sharing style you’ll find your steak goes further but you won’t feel cheated.

Quick but simple salmon burgers are just as satisfying as their meaty counterparts, but a lot leaner. Just whizz your salmon fillet in a food processor with some seasoning, fresh chives and a good squeeze of lemon juice. Don’t over-process the fish – stop chopping when it’s still got a bit of chunky texture. Shape into burgers and chill before carefully frying in a few sprays of oil until brown on the outside and cooked through. Serve in a pitta with a zingy slaw and sweet potato fries

Give Your Gut A New Year Treat

After the excesses of the festive season, you might be feeling the need for a bit of a detox. While faddy dieting and fasting aren’t things we hold with, we do like the idea of giving your gut a bit of a break and feeding it some lovely, nutritious dishes it can easily digest. The easiest way to do your tummy a favour? Treat it to some broth. Made simply from bones (ideally joint bones) broth is a shortcut to a big hit of protein that’s low in fat but packed full of the vitamins and minerals your body needs for recovery and regeneration.

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