Jabernet, Author at The Body Retreat

Banana Oat Biscuits

These banana oat biscuits are refined sugar free, dairy free and gluten free.

Banana provides all the sweetness for these biscuits. The older the banana the sweeter it is so this recipe is a great way to use up the black bananas sitting in the fruit bowl. If you have any really ripe bananas chop them up and freeze – they also make a tasty instant dairy free ice cream. For this recipe take the banana out an hour before and it will be defrosted enough to use.

This recipe is a great base for lots of different ingredients, you can add dried fruit, cocoa nibs, nuts or different nut butters. Try using quinoa or barley flakes instead of oats.

You can make the biscuits thicker for a chewier texture or thinner and slightly crisper.

Makes 8 Biscuits

1 medium banana (about 100g flesh)

100g gluten free oats

30g raw coconut chips (or desiccated coconut)

40g peanut butter

1/4 tsp vanilla essence

Pinch of sea salt

Method for Banana Oat Biscuits:

Pre-heat oven to 160C.
In a food processor blitz the oats, coconut and salt until rough breadcrumbs.
Add the banana, peanut butter and vanilla essence and blitz again until a evenly mixed.
Divide into eight even biscuits or weigh out 30g balls. Flatten into a rough round shape and desired thickness.
Place biscuits of a tray lined with greaseprood. Bake for 12-16 mins. The biscuits should be crisp on the bottom and a light brown colour.

For a special treat uses the biscuit to make a dairy free ice cream sandwich using our chocolate ice cream recipe. A thinner biscuit works best for these!

Retreat@Home

The Body Retreat@Home

From despair came opportunity.

Seeing our business grind to a halt practically overnight when Lockdown happened like so many others brought feelings of panic, anxiety and despair. But once we’d dusted ourselves off, out of despair came the opportunity to develop an arm of the business we’d always planned.

If someone had said to us a few months ago that we’d be feeling excited and hopeful about The Body Retreat business, we would have definitely raised an eyebrow. But that’s exactly how we felt as we launched The Body Retreat @Home last week, and we’re pretty thrilled with it.

Body Retreat@Home has been something that has always been on our radar – something we really wanted to do but have never really had the time to dedicate to it and for us, if we’re doing something, we’re doing it properly. This sudden halt and new forced time in Lockdown allowed us to develop something that we’d been dreaming of for years.

When the lockdown started, we were pretty devastated. Our wonderful retreats that were fully booked and with every detail planned were not going to happen and we had an indefinite time of uncertainty ahead of us like many others meaning we couldn’t plan for anything in the physical retreat world.

Things were tough – we were both very up and down, and it definitely took time to come to terms with it. All the hard work over 10 years (we’re celebrating our tenth anniversary this year!) could be all over and that seemed deeply unfair.

However, once we’d shed the tears, had the outbursts and raised our fists to the sky, we settled and really thought about the situation and realised that this was a prime opportunity to do the thing we’d always wanted to do – launch Retreat @Home.

We had been afforded the gift of time which, for us and loads of others, is a highly valued commodity and we were definitely not going to waste it.

We set to work on formulating this new arm of the business and create something with longevity, mass appeal and, most importantly, something that will really give the women who take part in it, great value and life-changing insight.

As we were busily behind-the-scenes planning, we saw businesses around us knee-jerk into new territories and sometimes launch something as a quick reaction to the current business climate. But often, their offers weren’t thought out properly leaving them with limited shelf lives. For us, this new element of the business was here to stay, so we took as much time as it took to get it right.

There have been weeks, days and hours poured into Body Retreat @Home but we are so happy about what it is and what it offers. For us, it’s not just another online programme – this is a Retreat that’s personal and can be tailored to every woman that signs up and importantly, allows accessibility to The Body Retreat Team and fellow retreaters throughout.

A startling statistic is that with the support of a group you are 248% more likely to succeed than dieting on your own and we have seen this first-hand time and time again on our retreats. Going it alone to lose weight, get healthy and increase your fitness can be a lonely road which is why we created this arm of the business.

Retreat@Home is for women who maybe can’t commit to a full week’s retreat but want to make changes and make them in an honest, open, relatable and unintimidating way.

We can’t wait to share more with you! Please go and check out our gorgeous new website www.thebodyretreatathome.co.uk

Sprouted Green Lentils

Sprouted green lentils are a crunchy, fresh nutritious addition to any salad. I am often sprouting different grains such as rye and wheat to incorporate into my breads but for sprinkling on top of foods I like to sprout lentils and seeds.

Sprouted lentils can be more easily digested than cooked whole lentils due to some of the sugars that cause the intestinal gas being broken down. Sprouting also breaks down phytic acid making more nutrients available to the body.

You can use any lentils but they need to be whole, not spilt. Green, Puy and brown lentils work well. Red, yellow and split green lentils have already had the skins removed so you won’t be able to sprout these.

There are many ways to sprout pulses and grains. This method is super simple, you just need a sieve and a plate.

You need to soak the grain over night or for at least 8 hours to kick start the germination process.

Makes 6-8 portions

100g whole green lentils

Cold water

Method for Sprouting Green Lentils:

Soak the lentils in cold water overnight or for at least 8 hours. Make sure they are covered in plenty of water as they will swell. Drain the next morning and rinse in cold water.
Spread onto a plate or tray, making sure to shaking off most of the water in the sieve and cover with a tea towel.
Rinse the lentils morning and night and they will start to sprout in 2-3 days. Sprout until the tail is your desired length, I like mine at least a centimetre.
Once sprouted they will last in the fridge up to a week. Sprinkle on top of salads, soups, bakes.

Sprouted green lentils can be added to stews, kale salad, and coleslaw. I like them on sprinkled on the egg mayo lettuce sandwich, let me know what dishes you like them on.

Tomato Fish Stew

Tomato fish stew is my go to recipe for a quick nourishing dinner that’s full of flavour. I use a tin of sardines to provide all the flavour rather than a fish stock so this recipe is great for using store cupboard tins with the addition of some white fish. Having access to fresh food may be a little bit more difficult at the moment, I used frozen Haddock for this recipe and put it into the stew frozen. Check cooking guidelines if cooking from frozen.

I love garlic so couldn’t resist serving this with garlic toast. I used a thin bit of toasted rye bread, rubbed on raw garlic, drizzled with extra virgin olive oil and sprinkled on some fresh parsley.

Serves 4

1 dsp rapeseed oil

300g of white fish (frozen is fine)

1 tin of sardines

1 medium white onion

1 small fennel bulb (or half a large)

1 carrot

1 tin of chopped tomoatoes

1 punnet (200-300g) of cherry tomatoes (or a tin of chopped tomatoes)

2 tbsp capers

2-3 garlic cloves

1-2 small chillies (optional)

1 tsp smoked paprika

1 lemon

Large handful of fresh spinach, chopped roughly (or 2 cubes of frozen spinach/kale)

Handful of fresh oregano or parsley

Salt and pepper

1 tsp extra virgin olive oil to serve (optional)

Method for making Tomato Fish Stew:

Finely slice the onion and fennel, dice the carrot and garlic. Chop the fish into 4 even pieces. Peel 2-3 strips of peel from the lemon.
Heat the rapeseed oil in a deep pan, add onions and fry for a few minutes before adding the fennel and carrot.
Once the vegetables have softened (about 5 minutes) add the tin of sardines to the pan and fry for a few minutes. Add the garlic, lemon peel, chilli, paprika tomato puree, tinned tomatoes, fresh tomatoes, capers and a can full of water. Bring to the boil then add the white fish and cook for 10-15 minutes or until the fish is cooked.
A few minutes before ready to serve add the spinach, squeeze of half a lemon and season. Mix in half of the fresh herbs and save the rest to decorate each plate.
Serve immediately with a side of garlic rye toast.

Beetroot & Goats Curd on Rye Sourdough

This weeks recipe is a tartine (open sandwich) with roasted beetroot, goats curd and rye sourdough. At the body retreat we use sourdough as the long fermentation process makes it an easier bread to digest. We also think about flour and choose sourdough bread that use rye, spelt or heritage grains. Your local artisan baker will be able to tell you what flours go into their breads, be careful at the supermarket as there’s no legislation for what a sourdough loaf should be. A bread may have commercial yeast, additives, even sourdough flavourings and still be called sourdough.

I love roasted beetroot and this is my go to recipe when I have some leftover beetroots from my veg box. It’s a quick way of preserving the beetroot for an extra week and infuse some flavour without having to pickle them. It works fine even if the beetroot have go a little soft. The red wine vinegar adds a hint of tartness without being too strong a vinegar flavour. Experiment with the spices, I’ve chosen coriander as it’s a great pairing to the rye bread. Caraway, fennel and even cumin work well – use what you have in your store cupboard.

I’m using goats curd in this recipe but a soft goats cheese or cottage cheese will work equally well.

I have chosen a dark rye sourdough with sprouted rye and sunflower seeds. If you have plain rye you you can add some toasted seeds on top of the beetroot for more texture.

Roasted Beetroot:

5 beetroot (medium size)

2 tbsp red wine vinegar

1/2 orange

3 sprigs of thyme

1/2 tsp coriander seeds

To serve:

2 slices rye toast

Goats curd

1 tbsp sauerkraut

Fresh chives

Handful of rock leaves (or other salad leaves)

Toasted seeds (optional)

Method for Roasted Beetroot:

Pre heat the oven to 180C.
Peel the beetroot and place in a cast iron pot or roasting dish. Pour over red wine vinegar along with 4 tbsp of water, the juice of half an orange, thyme sprigs, coriander seeds and season well. Cover tightly, either with a lid or foil, and roast for about an hour until the beetroots are tender. Check half way through cooking and baste the beetroots in the liquid.
Leave to cool. Then slice into 1cm rounds.

To serve spread the goats curd on the rye toast, top with sliced beetroot then fresh chives and toasted seeds (if using).

This roasted beetroot recipe makes 4 servings and will last in the fridge for up to a week. Try using the roasted beetroot can in our quinoa salad recipe or on top of our kale, beetroot hummus and lentil salad.