Jo Pratt - In The Mood for Healthy Food

A big healthy thank you to everyone who helped create this book

My wonderful family and friends who have been my chief tasters, giving me invaluable inspiration and ideas along the way. At least with this book it was always healthy food so you cant blame me for expanding waistlines this time!

A special thanks to my brilliant husband Phil and my two adorable (most of the time!) children Olly and Rosa.

Everyone at Nourish and Watkins Media, especially Grace Cheetham, for always having such enthusiasm for the book. Becci Woods and Elinor Brett for editing and fine tuning, Vicky Hartley, Francesca Yarde-Buller, Sian Jones and all in marketing, publicity and sales for shouting about the book and getting it into peoples homes. Georgina Hewitt for designing and art directing, Tamin Jones for his beautiful photography, Luis Peral for creative styling, Stephanie Howard, Ellie Jarvis and Katie Marshall for assisting on the shoot. What a great team everything looks amazing, it was such fun and a really refreshing change to tuck into a nice healthy lunch each day!

Thanks to Borra Garson and the team at DML for your continued support and making things happen.

And last but by all means not least, thank you to everyone who buys this book. I hope you enjoy using it as much as Ive enjoyed putting it together.

This cookbook is all about well-balanced, fabulous-tasting recipes that will make you feel full of vitality and not full of guilt. Whatever the time of day, or day of the week, there are recipes and ideas that will satisfy your mood for food that is good for you.

Its very apparent that we are now far more conscious of what food we eat and our wellbeing than ever before. Demand for the more healthy things in life has grown massively just check out your local supermarket or grocery stores and see the vast range of healthy ingredients from all over the world. Who knew what quinoa or flaxseed was a few years ago, except maybe that quirky art teacher who taught you at college?!

Its important to say that this cookbook isnt a diet book. Theres no calorie counting, eliminating, restricting, portion controlling, fasting, detoxing there are no rules and dont worry about this book being just a fad and ending up on a shelf in a second-hand bookshop. Itll be a book that takes pride of place in your kitchen and something you turn to for your everyday cooking and entertaining. It makes use of the wonderful ingredients you can buy and really will make a difference to how you feel about yourself.

I have put together all of the recipes so that they taste as delicious as youd expect from a cookbook. Ive then really thought about the ingredients and replaced some with more healthy alternatives for example, how do Beef and Quinoa Meatballs sound? By reducing the meat, Ive reduced the saturated fat content and really increased the overall nutrient content of the dish with the addition of quinoa.

Heres another Kale Pesto Pasta with Crispy Prosciutto. Using kale as an alternative to basil provides a powerful boost of vitamins and antioxidants and tastes just as, if not more, delicious than regular pesto and makes you feel superhuman!

When it comes to sweet things, there is still no missing out. Try the Pear, Pecan and Spelt Cookies that dont actually contain any sugar, but still taste out of this world.

I have also added wonderfully healthy ingredients, such as chia seeds, into the recipes. Chia seeds contain everything, including vitamins A, C and D, magnesium and zinc, and are the highest known whole-food source of omega-3 fatty acids ever. Plus, theyre readily available from everyday shops. I love them in my Chia Seed Flapjack recipe and as a crunchy topping for Seeded Baked Salmon with Crushed Minty Peas, making the fish double healthy.

When it comes to the actual cooking, Ive also tried to be clever there, too. The recipes suggest poaching, grilling and steaming to name a few. If there is a way to make it slightly healthier without compromising on taste Ive done it.

As you go through the book youll see that Ive divided it into the chapters Breakfast & Brunch, Light Meals, Main Meals and Something Sweet.

How do Buckwheat and Coconut Crpes with Baked Figs sound? Buckwheat is high in fibre, gluten-free and contains calcium, protein, iron and B vitamins. Definitely worth getting out of bed for and will have you skipping out of the front door to tackle the day. Or, my husbands favourite breakfast EVER! Poached Eggs, Tahini and Pan-fried Avocado. Its a great hangover brunch probably due to the protein-rich tahini and eggs. Youll also find some great drinks, amazing alternatives to high-sugar boxes of bought cereals and some sugar-free muffins.

These ideas are perfect for lunches or first courses if you are entertaining. The Baked Root Vegetable Falafel with Green Yogurt always go down a storm when I serve them at dinner parties in fact, I always make twice the amount so Ive plenty for lunch the next day. I love the Fried Sesame Tofu with Soba Noodle Salad for a Saturday lunch. The tofu acts as a sponge and soaks up all sorts of lovely flavours and its super-good for you. There are soups both light and hearty, salads for warm weather and comforting dishes for times when you need... comforting.

The main meals are for the evenings, dinner parties and those lovely long weekend lunches when all your friends or family come round for a catch-up while the kids trash the place. Youll find Chicken and Date Tagine with Cauliflower Couscous and Spelt and Hemp Pizzas. There are dishes that can be prepped ahead and recipes that you can throw together in no time at all, just in case you have guests drop by as a surprise.

No book of mine will ever be without desserts so writing this chapter has been a challenge to say the least. I swapped sugar for natural sources of sweetness such as agave syrup, pure maple syrup, honey and dried fruits. Ive used different flours, kept fat contents low, added courgette to a cake to give you one of your five a day and even added a couple of chocolate recipes to satisfy the chocoholics out there.

So, in a healthy Brazil nut shell, the recipes are well-balanced, nutritious, delicious, easy to shop for and cook and will help you feel less guilty next time you see a runner and feel bad you have not done any exercise for a week or so, or given in to that bag of crisps thats been calling you from inside the pantry. Im 100 per cent positive youll find something to satisfy all those times when youre in the mood for being healthy.

Enjoy.