A Sumptuous Meal Thanks to POM Wonderful with La Belle Assiette
I don’t know about you, but I am regularly looking for ways to improve our family’s lifestyle and make sure we are striving to be that little bit healthier. A few tiny tweaks to your daily routine could make all the difference.
By simply swapping your usual morning coffee for a glass of POM Wonderful 100% Pomegranate Juice you could be consuming polyphenol antioxidants, vitamin C, vitamin K, fibre, potassium, foliate, copper, iron, calcium. Perfect as a breakfast accompaniment, afternoon refresher or non-alcoholic cocktail mixer, a bottle of POM contains the juice of at least six of the Wonderful variety of Californian pomegranates, so it’s packed full of flavour and goodness. Plus, it contains no added sugar, flavours or colours.
Thanks to the wonderful people over at POM, Ross and I were able to celebrate Valentine’s Day early by testing their juice as an accompaniment to an outstanding brunch created by top chef Mikael Perret from La Belle Assiette. Mikael also has his own catering company, Le Frog, based in Devon.
Mikael arrived mid-morning and turned out to be an incredible friendly and knowledgeable guy who is clearly passionate about his work – within minutes, he was giving us pointers as to how to better use our oven and make our own triple cooked chips! Also notable is that he brought all of his own equipment with him, from a hot plate all the way through to cutlery, so we didn’t need to provide anything. When it was all done, you wouldn’t have even known he’d been in our kitchen – it was as spotless then as when he had arrived.
We started off with a selection of pastries – pain au chocolat and croissants, served warm with generous amounts of butter, cured meats (pastrami, salami and parma ham) and two jams; the apricot was excellent but the red wine jam was superlative (three bottles reduced into a single jar!) and went just as well with the meat as it did with the pastry.
This was followed by Eggs Florentine, served in individual pots to keep them warm, with a swipe of Hollandaise (using lime rather than lemon) and caviar. This course was warming, filling and seriously sumptuous – Ross and I agreed this was our favourite part of the meal.
French toast (using Brioche), scrambled eggs with cream and salmon followed and was superb, and the meal was rounded off with light and fluffy crepes complimented by fresh strawberries and a generous dollop of chocolate hazelnut spread. The meal was outstanding, haute cuisine served in the comfort of our own home without having to go through the fuss of going out (and the inevitable complications that come with being amongst the public!), and filled us up very comfortably as the main meal of our day – sated and satisfied but not “stuffed”! Mikael did an admirable job, getting the absolute right balance of leaving us to enjoy our meal and happily chatting away with us before and after the meal (with pleasant chatter between courses!) His personality and enthusiasm matches the quality of his food for sure.
We accompanied the meal with POM’s pomegranate juice, which was an excellent companion to the food on offer; different, tasty and eminently drinkable. We will certainly be buying this on a more regular basis now. Ross, having never tried pomegranate juice before, was particularly taken with it!
Overall, this was a tremendous experience and we would absolutely recommend both Mikael’s service (more here) and will most certainly be drinking POM Wonderful again.
Grow your own vegetables and then cook with them
Use lots and lots of vegetables!
growing you own herbs and vegs
Don’t keep unhealthy snacks in the house. If you havent got them, you won’t eat them!
Have lots of fruit and vegetables available, and make sure everyone has at least 5 a day.
Make healthy pack lunches for work so you’re not tempted by unhealthy alternatives.
Freeze some grapes for a healthy, fun snack and I always have some ready made spiralised veg for those emergency-i-have-no-healthy-food moments! 🙂
I always try to have plenty of nuts and fruit in the house so I am not tempted by unhealthy snacks.
Make your own meals rather than buying ready meals
Make your own meals instead of buying ready meals.
Always cook from scratch so you know what is in your food. Then stick it all in the slow cooker-quick & easy peasy!
Fuel your body for exercise
Stay away from 3 whites; flour, sugar and salt.
have lots of fresh fruit around instead of chocolate
try to avoid pre prepared/bottled salad dressings. you would be surprised how much sugar and salt they contain
drink fruit smoothies!
Plan in advance so you’re not left with nothing ready or quick to cook, leading you to bad choices.
Plan meals in advance
prepare healthy meals at the weekend
Best to cook from scratch so that you can control exactly what goes in to a dish. It’s much cheaper too!
Slow-cooker food so you dont get tempted to get a takeaway
use a slow cooker and pack in loads of veg
Plan meals in advance
Smoothies
I weigh portions of food I eat regularly like breakfast cereal, so I get the right amount for me.
Always have some fruit in the fruit bowl 🙂
I always bring loads of fruit to work so that I’m not tempted by the vending machine later on
Buy frozen veg 🙂 It makes it so quick and easy and it’s just as nutritious (sometimes more so) as fresh
I try to have ready made healthy nibbles in the fridge so I reach for them instead of chocolate. I also buy lots of fruit and veg
I use my blender to get more fruit and vegetables into my diet.
don’t go shopping on an empty stomach.
I like to prep healthy snacks and fruit ahead to leave in the fridge.
Crikey, to be honest I am not really the person to give healthy eating advice. In fact I may have been the originator of the phrase ‘I shouldn’t really but..’ I would simply echo the earlier comments of little and often, balance, variety and freshness which in my opinion are all bywords for healthy eating.
At the moment I’m into caulirice, quick and easy and 100% vegetables
Substitute potatoes for sweet potato, it’s much better for you
Cook every thing from scratch so you know what goes into everything
Plan meals in advance
Buy lots of fruit and veg
Always cook from scratch and never keep sugar in the house (stevia all the way)!
I eat Avocados and other ‘healthy fats’
I avoid the sweet aisle in Tesco. Pretend it does not exist!
Don’t impulse purchase food and plan ahead and stick to it
Smaller plates & more “made from scratch” meals so you know what has gone into them
I use smaller plates
Ensure that half of the plate is fruit or veg
smaller portions and more fruit and veg is what i do xxx
Healthy breakfasts are such a great way to start the morning!
I would love this, I’m always the cook and would love the evening off!
Everything in moderation
Protien chips are a good snack standby and do little damage to the diet
Microwave some of your blackcurrants, redcurrants, raspberries, gooseberries and blackberries which you have stored in the freezer from the summer with little Stevia sweeter and use them on your muesli or porridge at breakfast.
Portion size bowls are an easy way to get on the right track!
cook with no fat or oil, use mayonaise in mash instead of butter x
implement ‘veggie night’ – a vegetarian meal a week, focus on lots of veg like a stir fry, veggie lasagne etc.
smaller portions and more fruit and veg
freeze old fruit so it can be used in smoothies
Add as much veg to your meals as you can, eat less meat and never add salt to cooking water or to your dinner without tasting first – most of the time it doesn’t need it
use a smaller plate so you are having smaller portions
Make your own soup
don’t be afraid to use packets of things, or things that you can easily microwave in a couple of minutes – ie. a packet of rice
Frozen vegetables make life 200% easier
Make your own soups
Brown rice and pasta – really yummy and much healthier
Cook from scratch wherever possible but if you buy something ready made, make sure you recognise all the ingredient in it.
Eat the colours of the rainbow! Reds, greens, yellows…..that way I know that my nutrition is packed with flavour and full of variety!
In the summer I have a fruit smoothie for breakfast – I like fruit but don’t always bother to eat it, making a smoothie means I’ve had my 5 a day without thinking about it, it gives me energy for the day, unlike toast, as I use banana and pineapple but also it’s soooo delicious!
My other tip, that we’ve just started doing, is only have crisps (our favourite snack) on a Saturday night – it means that you are not denying yourself to the point you want it all the more, gives us something to look forward to and we savour them more, meaning you eat less of them
Simply add a leafy side salad to each meal!
cook at home and drink water!
Cook your own food and try to use as many natural ingredients as you can 🙂
Scramble egg in microwave is a 2minute meal so no excuse for missing breakfast ! If you have time for Facebook you got time for scrambled egg
Always try to cook from scratch as much as possible and substitute unhealthy snacks for nutritious yummy ones!
smoothies for breakfast
Mine is just not to buy crisps, biscuits, etc in the first place – it’s harder to give in if you have to go out to buy it first 🙂 x
The main meal of the day should be 50% vegetables, 25% each of meat and carbs (rice, pasta, potatoes)
That’s a good balance to keep your gut (and you) healthy
Eat a rainbow every day – that way you get a great balance of nutrients. (Note – I don’t mean a REAL rainbow, just a rainbow’s worth of different coloured natural foods )
Always have lots of fruit in the house. We leave it in a fruit bowl so our son can take it when he wants. We also try not to buy the unhealthy stuff. If we dont have it in the house we cant eat it!
I make my own milkshakes for the family – quick and easy, milk, banana and strawberry – takes 2 mins.
Introduce smoothies for the kids at breakfast and add fruit to their breakfasts
Cook with less salt and use oil sprays rather than oil.
Just eat real food – good quality meat, veg, fruit & nuts – Easy!
Try and avoid processed foods
Lots of home cooked meals xx
I just do my best to avoid processed food. I don’t want to use palm oil anyway because of the environmental devastation it causes, and processed food is the worst culprit.x
Make your own desserts. You can cut down unhealthy ingredients and make substitutions. And there are no preservatives!
Check the ingredients on what you eat. You’ll be surprised at what’s in there, sometimes!
Prepping meals in advance – I stick to healthier eating once I have food already made ready
Cook more than you need so you can freeze some for a second healthy meal later in the week xx
Don’t buy the crisps and biscuits
Cut out ready made sauces which are often high in salt and sugar.
Have fruit and vegetable smoothies.
drink smoothies – great source of fruit
lots of fruit and veg thankyou
Use fresh ingredients and always cook from scratch.
Use also cooker for delicious meals with lots of vegs
I use the fry light sprays rather than traditional oil when browning meats.