Testbourne Fitness Gym

This week we have Curried chicken and rice salad. It has my favourite foods in the title chicken and rice so it must be good.
Ingredients
• 75g/2½oz wholegrain long-grain rice
• 2 tsp medium curry powder
• 100g/3½oz long-stem broccoli, trimmed and cut into short lengths
• ½ chicken stock cube
• 1 chicken breast, b***d and skinned
• 1 small onion, half thinly sliced, half finely chopped
• 1 bay leaf
• low-calorie cooking spray
• 15g/½oz flaked almonds, toasted
• 1 small eating apple, cored, halved and thinly sliced
• 100g/3½oz cherry tomatoes, halved
• 3 heaped tbsp roughly chopped fresh coriander
• ½ lemon, juice only
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
Strps
1. Half-fill a medium saucepan with water and bring to the boil. Add the rice and one teaspoon of curry powder. Cook for 25 minutes, or until tender. Add the broccoli and cook for a further two minutes. Drain in a colander and rinse under cold running water until cold.
2. Meanwhile half-fill a small saucepan with water, add the stock cube and bring to the boil, stirring until the stock dissolves. Add the chicken, the sliced onion and bay leaf and reduce the heat. Simmer for 15 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through. Drain in a sieve, reserving the cooking liquor. Set the chicken aside to cool.
3. Return the pan to the heat, spray with oil and add the chopped onion. Cook over a low heat for three minutes, stirring. Add the remaining curry powder and stir for a further few seconds.
4. Pour 200ml/7fl oz of reserved cooking liquor into the pan and bring to a simmer. Cook the onion for 5-6 minutes, or until most of the liquid has evaporated, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat, spread across a plate and leave to cool for five minutes before transferring to the fridge until cold.
5. Tear the chicken into pieces and place in a bowl. Tip the rice and broccoli on top, add the cooled spiced onions, almonds, apple and tomatoes. Scatter with the coriander and sprinkle with lemon juice. Season to taste and serve.

“When you have a clear vision of your goal, it’s easier to take the first step toward it.” – LL Cool J

I can’t do a food feature without some tasty pork so our last recipe in the summer range is Southern-style pork and beans.
Ingredients
• low-calorie cooking spray
• 1 onion, sliced
• 250g/9oz pork tenderloin fillet, all visible fat removed, cut into 2cm/1in pieces
• 150g/5½oz gammon steak, all visible fat removed, cut into 2cm/1in pieces
• 2 tsp smoked paprika
• ½ tsp hot chilli powder
• 400g tin chopped tomatoes
• 2 x 400g tins cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
• 2 tbsp tomato purée
• 2 tsp prepared English mustard
• 400ml/14fl oz pork or chicken stock, made with 1 stock cube
• 3 heaped tbsp chopped flatleaf parsley, to garnish
• 4 tbsp fat-free plain yoghurt or fromage frais, to serve
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
Steps
1. Spray a large, wide-based saucepan with cooking spray and fry the onion over a medium heat for 4-5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until softened and lightly browned.
2. Add the pork and gammon, season with pepper and cook for two minutes, stirring constantly.
3. Add the paprika and chilli powder and cook for a few seconds, stirring. Tip the tomatoes and beans into the pan, and stir in the tomato purée and mustard. Pour over the stock and bring to a gentle simmer.
4. Cook for 20-25 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the pork is tender and cooked through and the sauce is thick. Season to taste and stir in half the parsley. Sprinkle the rest over just before serving. Serve with the yoghurt.

If you feel useless today, remember somebody has to be a lifeguard at the Olympics.

This week we have one for the ‘bad hunters’ Vegetarian Bolognese.

Ingredients
• 2 tsp olive oil
• 2 large onions, chopped
• 3 carrots, chopped
• 2 stems celery, chopped
• 2 tsp fresh thyme leaves, or 1 tsp dried thyme
• 2 tbsp tomato purée
• 500g/1lb 2oz Puy lentils, rinsed and drained
• 1 x 400g tin tomatoes
• 1½ litres/2½ pints vegetable stock
• 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 300g/10½oz dried pasta
• vegetarian cheese, to serve
• green salad, to serve
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Steps
1. Heat a large sauté pan or casserole dish until medium hot. Add the olive oil, onions, carrots and celery and cook over a medium heat for 5 minutes. You want them to soften but not colour – you can put a lid onto the pan to help keep the moisture in and steam the vegetables at the same time.
2. Add the thyme and cook for another minute then add the tomato purée and turn the heat up. Stir well so that the tomato purée goes all through the vegetables then add the Puy lentils and mix once more.
3. Tip in the tinned tomatoes and the vegetable stock, stir well and bring to the boil. Turn the heat down to a gentle simmer and cook for 20-25 minutes until the lentils are tender and the sauce reduced slightly. Add the balsamic vinegar and season with salt and pepper.
4. When the sauce has only 15 minutes left to cook, bring a large saucepan of salted water to the boil. Add the pasta and cook to al dente according to packet instructions, then drain, reserving some of the cooking water.
5. You have enough sauce to serve 8 people. To serve 4, set aside half the sauce at this point.
6. Tip the drained pasta into the sauté pan with the sauce and mix well, adding the reserved pasta water if necessary to coat all the pasta in sauce. Serve straightaway with a green salad and a grating of cheese.

Summer food

For the next few weeks we are going to look at some tasty summer dishes. This week it is
Salmon traybake with soy, chilli and lime

Ingredients
For the salmon traybake
• ½ lime, juice only
• 1 tbsp soy sauce (gluten-free if required)
• ½ tsp caster sugar
• 2 x 200g/7oz salmon fillets
• 100g/3½oz Tenderstem broccoli, trimmed
• 100g/3½oz green beans, halved
• 1 small red pepper, sliced
For the dressing
• 1cm/½in piece fresh root ginger, peeled and grated
• 2 spring onions, white part finely chopped, green part thinly sliced
• 1 red finger chilli, very finely chopped
• ½ lime, juice only
• 1 tbsp soy sauce (gluten-free if required)
• 2 tsp olive oil
• 1 tsp sesame oil (optional)
• ½ tsp caster sugar
Steps

1. Preheat the oven to 230C/210C Fan/Gas 8, or to its highest setting.
2. In a shallow bowl mix the lime juice, soy sauce and sugar together. Stir with until the sugar dissolves. Place the salmon fillets into the bowl and coat with the mixture. Leave to stand, skin side up, for 10 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, lightly grease a roasting tin with oil. Put the broccoli and green beans into a bowl and cover with boiling water. Leave to stand for 5 minutes, then drain.
4. Put the salmon fillets, skin side down at one end of the roasting tin. Tip the broccoli, beans and peppers into the other end of the roasting tin. Top with the red peppers and pour over the soy sauce mixture. Toss the vegetables to coat in the sauce. Loosely cover the vegetables with kitchen foil, leaving the salmon exposed. Roast for 12 minutes.
5. Meanwhile, to make the dressing, mix the ginger, white part of the spring onions, chilli, lime juice, soy sauce, olive oil, sesame oil, if using, and sugar together in a small jug.
6. Spoon the dressing over the vegetables, sprinkle the green parts of the spring onion on top and serve.

Getting ready for summer.
As we are now in the season of fairs and festivals I thought it might be interesting to look at exercises for Morris dancers. I was going to do Maypole dancers but I’m a bit late). Morris dancers need to focus on building stamina, ankle strength, calf flexibility, and core stability to handle high-energy dancing and jumping. Taking this into consideration Here are my top 7 exercises.

Jumping squats,
Lunges,
Calf raises,
Lateral raises,
Front raise,
Plank.