Sally Serves It Up

Celeriac is a delicious and versatile vegetable. From remoulade to mash, it’s one of my favourite winter treats… I especially like to eat it raw with a sprinkling of salt, just like my mother.

I made this soup for my packed lunches. It’s satisfying and creamy and according to my amazing new app, My Fitness Pal, only has around 100 calories per serving. I serve it with a dollop of natural yoghurt and some tabasco.

Ingredients - Serves 6

1 large celeriac, peeled and chopped into bite sized chunks

1 white onion, chopped

1 litre of chicken stock

250g spinach

2 cloves of garlic, crushed

4 sprigs of thyme (about 1 tbsp)

Cooking spray

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Heat the cooking spray in a large pot and gently fry the onion for about two minutes. Add the garlic, celeriac and thyme. Mix everything around for another two minutes. When the onions are soft and translucent, add the stock. Bring everything up to a boil and then simmer with the lid askew for about twenty minutes. When the celeriac is tender, turn the heat right down and add the spinach. Put the lid on and cook the spinach for approximately two minutes. Take off the heat and add a generous pinch of salt and a good seasoning of fresh black pepper. Combine everything together with a hand blender until you’ve got a thick, creamy consistency.

I had such a craving for this French classic over the weekend. Naturally, I looked no further than Raymond Blanc for a recipe. The thyme makes it taste really special and there isn’t too much cream or wine to make you feel guilty. Also, it’s a really affordable dinner - we got about a kilo of mussels from Waitrose for £3. Serve with crusty bread or frites.

Ingredients - Serves 4

1.8kg mussels

100ml dry white wine

1 tbsp unsalted butter

1 small onion, very finely chopped

4 fresh bay leaves

8 sprigs fresh thyme

2 tbsp whipping cream

3 tbsp flat leaf parsley, chopped

Soak the mussels in some floured water to get any grit out. Rinse thoroughly, remove the beards and then set aside, discarding any that are already very open (FYI the ones that open slightly when you remove the beard are fine to keep). In a small pot, bring the wine to a boil and let it boil for 30 seconds. Put to one side. Heat the butter in a large pot and add the onion, thyme and bay. Let them cook for about a minute and then add the mussels and wine. Put the lid on and bring to a boil. Cook for about 2-3 minutes until all the mussels are open. Then stir in the cream and parsley. Serve it up in a big bowl.

Now I know a lot of my recent recipes have featured salmon and/or rice noodles but I love them. Salmon is full of vitamin D and magnesium and a standard piece contains over half of your recommended B12, niacin, and selenium. Meanwhile, rice noodles are wheat free and add a beautiful, almost crunchy texture.

This recipe was inspired by one of my lunches from Soul Mate. I got the miso bouillon at Whole Foods.

Ingredients - Serves 2

80g rice noodles

2 salmon fillets

1 head of pak choi

4 spring onions

1/2 litre of miso bouillon

1 tsp ground ginger

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 tsp chilli flakes

1 lime

Salt and Pepper

Heat the oven to 180 degrees and bake the salmon for 12 minutes with a little salt and pepper. Meanwhile, cook the noodles per packet instructions, drain and put to one side. Heat the miso bouillon and add the soy sauce, chilli and ginger, along with a pinch of salt. Taste and add anything you think is lacking. Slice the pack choi and spring onion into big diagonol pieces and add to the bouillon. Let them boil for about 3-4 minutes. When the salmon is done, divide the noodles between two bowls and add a couple ladles of miso stock, along with the pak choi and spring onion. Serve the salmon on top and garnish with a big squeeze of lime. I added some crispy onion flakes for texture.

I saw a competition on Twitter about a month ago to win two weeks worth of the Eqvvs three 60 programme: four personal training sessions at the Eqvvs gym, two massages, and two weeks of food delivery from Soul Mate Food. I entered and… I won. I was shocked - I never win anything and never expect to (I haven’t even won a tenner in the lottery that I play EVERY Wednesday and Saturday). It was like all my dreams were coming true at once: personal training at one of London’s most exclusive gyms and home food delivery - next thing I know, I’ll be living in LA and interviewed on E! news about my amazing weight loss winning Dancing With The Stars, launching a workout dvd and cookbook to coincide. Gosh.

Anyway, I digress. It all started off with my In Body assessment at the Urban Retreat in Harrods. On a busy Saturday morning, I left Frank playing in the lego department of Harrods so I could stand on a machine that told me I was overweight, my right arm was abnormally strong, and my bone strength was great. I left confused and went to Itsu to repent for my sins via sashimi. But the point of all this was to work out my basal metabolism so that Soul Mate knew how many calories to give me.

My main thought was I just wanted to get my ass in the gym and get it sorted. I was nervous visiting Eqvvs on Monday but Miad (my trainer) made me feel instantly at ease. It’s a totally magical place: they only train three people at a time; you can only workout with a personal trainer; and you even get your own changing room… with your own shower! Naturally, I was in total luxe celebrity style heaven. The first session mainly assessed my fitness, which isn’t too bad apparently. We decided that since weight loss is my main goal, circuit training was the best option. So after my fairly light Monday sesh, I was shocked to find myself cripplingly stiff on Tuesday - my thighs were BURNING. But I powered through and waddled back to Eqvvs on Wednesday and after a great hour long workout, including boxing and circuit training, I was feeling full of vitality. I guess that’s what is so fantastic about training like this: you’re committed to going, you can’t get out of it and you don’t even have to be that self motivated - the trainer does that for you. Plus, it’s so wonderful to have someone tell you what to do without loads of other people staring at you and the security of knowing you’re getting a good workout.

Obvs exercise is essential to a fit and healthy lifestyle. But as Miad wisely stated, your success in weight loss is 70% down to the food (or wine) you put in your mouth. And that’s where Soul Mate steps in. After telling them what I don’t like (mainly bananas and porridge) I got my first delivery on Monday. The food arrives every Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning, between 3am and 7am. I (/Frank) excitedly go down in the morning to collect it. It consists of three main meals and two snacks per day all summarised on a handy menu card. The lunches and dinners have been fantastic - I mean, REALLY delish: healthy turkey meatballs and spaghetti, salmon ramen, prawn paella, beef curry, lasagne. Admittedly, the breakfasts aren’t quite my genre - move over granola and beetroot pancakes, I miss my boiled egg and grapefruit. But the main revelation is the portions - no secrets here, you just have to eat less to lose weight, even if it is super healthy food. I’m generally a pretty healthy person but either way, your portions shouldn’t be huge, whether it be kale or pasta. And I know that’s nothing new but that’s generally where I go wrong - I’m greedy. Soul Mate gives you the discipline to keep you on track and hopefully that discipline will become habit. I’ve kept all the tubs that the food comes in so that I can make my packed lunches in them and keep my portions in check. Frank says my face looks slimmer and I’m feeling really good. This is all helped by the fact I haven’t had wine IN A WEEK. And that more shockingly, I don’t even want it.

So there you have it - I’ll let you know the final results of this incredible programme at the end of the two weeks (including more about my Ki Fit armband) and post some great Soul Mate inspired recipes. Watch this space.

For the past month, I’ve been doing an online course through Fit for a Princess, aptly called Food Management Made Easy. I’ve known about Fit for a Princess for a few years - my sister is a big fan and I like their Fit For a Fiver sessions on Wandsworth Common, every Saturday and Sunday. When I heard about this course and the idea of ‘fixing’ my attitude to diets and food forever, I was very intrigued. I had done Weight Watchers at university but I hated the idea of counting points for the rest of my life - I wanted a more realistic approach.

The course is run by Janey Holliday, the founder of Fit for a Princess. From the twice weekly webinars, to the online coaching sessions EVERY weekend, homework, online forums, and the one to one email advice, the course has been incredible and really helped me mentally and physically (half a stone off so far). I’m a sucker for this sort of thing but I have to admit, I’ve absolutely loved it (not to mention the daily vegetable juicing which is delish). It gets to the root of why you haven’t been able to manage your weight with regards to food rather than exercise and sets you up with principles that should work for the rest of your life. I would recommend it to everyone.

There’s a new 28 day Body Blitz course starting on the 11th November and another Food Management Made Easy course starting in January. Click on the links below to watch Janey explain more about the bootcamps. Give it a go and get skinny for the party season - it’s fantastic value for money.

28 Day Body Blitz Bootcamp: http://instantteleseminar.com/?eventid=23876715

Food Management Made Easy 2: http://InstantTeleseminar.com/?eventid=23914452

For more general information, click here: http://www.fitforaprincess.co.uk/online_coaching.html

I’m slightly addicted to rice noodles at the moment - they’re so versatile and less stodgy than egg noodles, not to mention wheat free. To continue my obsession, I cut them up into small pieces and fried them with some kale to make a really easy Asian inspired meal. It’s so quick and healthy too.

Ingredients - Serves 2

2 x salmon fillets

125g kale, washed and chopped into small pieces

100g rice noodles, cooked per packet instructions and cut into small strips with scissors

1 medium red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped

3 cloves of garlic, chopped

1 tbsp dark soy sauce

1.5 tsp fish sauce

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

1 lime

Pinch of salt

1 tbsp groundnut oil/spray oil

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees and cook the salmon for about 12 minutes. Meanwhile, heat some oil in a wok and lightly fry the garlic and chilli. After about a minute, add the kale with 1/4 cup of water. Toss it around and let it cook for about 2-3 minutes. Push the kale to one side and put a little bit more oil in the wok and turn up the heat. Then add the noodles and let them fry a bit. When they have crisped a little, toss through with the kale and add the soy and fish sauce. Let everything fry and mix together. Taste and add a pinch of salt if required. Give everything a good squeeze of lime and serve it up with the baked salmon on top.

I saw Gwyneth Paltrow make these on the Ellen Degeneres show the other day. The idea really appealed to me and I sadly abide by anything that Gwyneth recommends. They are moreishly delicious and the perfect substitute for potato chips or popcorn. And if you chop the kale up really small, it’s a much healthier alternative to Chinese style crispy seaweed. 

Ingredients - Makes 1 large portion

125g washed kale chopped into small pieces

A generous pinch of sea salt

1 tbsp olive oil

Preheat a oven to 170 degrees. Toss the kale in the olive oil and salt. Scatter onto a baking sheet and cook in the oven for about 10 minutes until crispy.