Why the Recipes are Healthy:

In the creation, testing and selection of recipes for this site, all the latest nutritional targets and guidelines have been borne in mind – plenty of complex carbohydrate and fibre, moderate amounts of protein, and very little saturated fat, refined sugar and salt. With all the groundwork done, you can simply eat and enjoy the dishes and learn from the choice of ingredients and cooking methods a great deal about healthy eating to apply to some of your old favourites.

The carbohydrate content in main dishes varies widely because some have rice, pasta, or potatoes as an integral part of the dish. Others have starch in a supporting role. Where this is not so, there is often a suggestion to serve bread, potatoes or some other carbohydrate food with the dish.

Starchy foods, such as cereals, potatoes, grain, pasta, peas, beans and lentils, are varied and filling. How you cook them makes a difference to the diet. Potatoes should generally not be creamed with milk and butter, or fried, although the occasional helping of creamed potatoes or chips does no harm. Rather than mash potatoes with fat, you can steam them or bake them with other vegetables to make them moist. If you do fry potatoes, cut them in thick slices so there is less fried surface in proportion to the inside. There are very simple recipes that give you the roast potato taste without lots of fat.

Pasta in itself is a very good thing to eat, but do not serve rich sauces with it or sprinkle on too much cheese. It is simple to make your own sauces based on tomatoes or other vegetables and avoid the saturated fat, salt and even sugar that some ready – made sauces contain.

Grains, another excellent carbohydrate source, are the staple of some of the world’s healthiest diets. Rice is at its most nutritious when it has brown bran coating, which also gives it a satisfyingly chewy texture and a nutty flavour; it is an excellent base for salads. However, some dishes, fish for example, require the softer texture and less pronounced flavour of white rice.

Many of the recipes include beans and other pulses, all excellent starchy foods. The recipes are based on using home – cooked pulses. Since most tinned varieties contain salt. Dried pulses take some time to prepare at home but they need supervision for very little of that time.

The majority of the recipes have no added sugar. Some desserts, and drinks with sour ingredients make use of it, and a few savoury recipes contain a small amount to produce a sauce or glaze. A little sugar now and again will do no harm, but it si better to gain sweetness from fruits (and some vegetables) which also contribute fibre, vitamins and minerals to the diet.

Even in dishes where sugar is used to give a particular effect or to make special – occasion desserts it has been kept to the minimum needed to make the recipe work well and taste good.

There are carefully adapted recipes for several old – fashioned tea-breads, which are also excellent for packing to eat at work or school as a change from straightforward bread. The aim has been to give recipes for bread that taste good on their own without fatty or sugary spreads.