Preparation Time: 10 minutes

Cooking Time: 3 minutes

Serves: 4

This recipe is to make really healthy protein pancakes. The ingredients provided will make about 4 pancakes but you can make them how big or small you want.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup - Rolled Oats
• 1/2 cup - Cottage Cheese (full of calcium caseinate)
• 1/2 cup - Egg Whites
• 1/4 tsp - Baking Powder
• 1/4 tsp - Cinnamon
• 1/4 cup - frozen or fresh raspberries (or other fruit)
• 1/2 cup - Whey Protein

Steps

• Mix all the ingredients, except raspberries, in a food processor and blend until nice and smooth. Remove the blades and delicately fold in the raspberries. Coat a non-stick pan with a little cooking oil if you want and heat it over medium heat. When the pan is hot enough, cook your pancakes one at a time until set and golden, about 1-2 minutes per side. I like to divide my batter into 3 small pancakes, but you may choose to make one large, 2 medium or 3 small pancakes, whatever works for you.

This Indonesian dish packs a massive flavour punch and is quick and easy to make.

Ingredients

• For the spice paste

• 5 shallots, roughly chopped
• 3cm/1¼in galangal, roughly chopped
• 3 stalks lemongrass, roughly chopped
• 5 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
• 3cm/1¼in ginger, roughly chopped
• 5 dried chillies, soaked in warm water, seeds removed and roughly chopped
• For the salmon
• 5 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1kg/2lb 4oz salmon fillet, cut into cubes
• 2 cinnamon stick
• 3 cloves
• 3 star anise
• 3 cardamom pods
• 1 stalk lemongrass, roughly chopped
• 400ml/14fl oz coconut milk
• 2 tsp tamarind paste
• 6 kaffir lime leaves
• 6 tbsp desiccated coconut, toasted
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tbsp fish sauce
• 2 limes, juice only
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• For the mint salad
• 2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
• 3 tbsp toasted sesame oil
• 3 tbsp mint leaves
• 3 tbsp coriander leaves
• ½ cucumber, finely shredded
• 250g/9oz white cabbage, finely shredded
• 1 red chilli, finely shredded

Steps

• 1 For the spice paste, place all the ingredients into a food processor and pulse to form a paste. Transfer the paste to a small bowl and set aside.
• 2 For the salmon, heat a heavy-based pan over a medium heat, add half the oil then brown the salmon on all sides, remove from the pan and set aside.
• 3 Add the remaining oil to the pan and fry the spice paste for 2-3 minutes. Add the cinnamon, cloves, star anise, cardamom and lemongrass and cook for another couple of minutes.
• 4 Return the salmon to the pan, mix well then add the coconut milk, 200ml/7fl oz water, tamarind paste and lime leaves and bring to a simmer.
• 5 Add the toasted coconut, soy and fish sauces and return to the boil, stirring all the time to make sure it doesn’t stick.
• 6 Turn down to a gentle simmer and cook for 2-3 minutes. Add the lime juice and season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.
• 7 For the salad, whisk the rice wine vinegar and sesame oil together in a bowl then add the remaining ingredients and toss to combine.
• 8 To serve, spoon the curry onto the plate and pile the salad alongside.

• 4 servings

Copyright 2003. Associated Bodywork and Massage Professionals. All rights reserved.

When I go into my garden with a spade, and dig a bed, I feel such an exhilaration and health, that I discover I have been defrauding myself all this time in letting others do for me what I should have done with my own hands.
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1849

It's difficult to find a gardener who doesn't agree with Emerson. The reward, avid gardeners say, of cultivating the earth is nothing short of sublime. So what exactly is going on in the backyard plot that has captivated more than 85 million Americans? Well, in a word, healing.

Getting your hands dirty and letting your cares fall away can be a meditative experience for the gardener, explains Charlie Nardozzi, horticulturist for the National Gardening Association (NGA) in Burlington, Vt.

"It's a place to get lost in," he says. "When people go out to garden, it's often the first time that day they've slowed down and relaxed a little bit."

On a physiological level, this calming effect lowers stress hormones that may ease a variety of conditions such as heart disease, hypertension, gastrointestinal disorders and insomnia. "I encourage people to visit their garden everyday, even if they're not working on it," Nardozzi says. "When you reconnect with the weather, temperature, butterflies and other animals, you get a better sense of the cycle and rhythm of life."

Of course, many gardeners also welcome the physical workout. Planting, watering, weeding, raking, digging, spading, tilling and trimming increase flexibility, strengthen joints and work all the major muscle groups. "The key with gardening," Nardozzi says, "is to vary the type of work you're doing, for example doing three different activities for 10 minutes each."

As with any exercise regimen, the key is to start at a comfortable pace and gradually work your way up to longer, more difficult activities. Ideally, your heart rate while gardening should be the same as when you're at a brisk walk, but not so high you can't complete sentences between breaths. Overdoing it can result in sore joints and muscles, or worse, increased heart attack risk. As the summer heats up, make sure you drink plenty of water to avoid dehydration, which can contribute to headaches
and muscle cramping.

Cultivating your own fruits, vegetables and herbs gives you control over the produce on your plate. Conventional crops are sometimes genetically modified and may contain chemicals that can't be easily washed away. But in your own garden, for example, you can counter aphids with ladybug larvae rather than pesticide.

Finally, have at the bounty. Fruits and vegetables are full of important nutrients and antioxidants that remain key in preventing disease and maintaining wellness. And biting into a fresh, ripe strawberry never tasted so good.