Mackerel & Quinoa Salad

My boyfriend invented this salad & it's yummy!

Ingredients
1 red pepper, chopped into short strips
1.5 inch x cucumber,  cubed
1 avocado, stone removed & cubed
250 g x smoked mackerel
250 g x pre-cooked quinoa (or cook your own)
2 cups x mixed salad leaves
1 tbsp x Sunflower seeds
1 tbsp x Pumpkin seeds
2 tbsp x olive oil
1/2 tsp x balsamic vinegar
salt & pepper to season

Instructions
1. If cook your own quinoa, follow instructions on package.

2. Combine pepper, cucumber, mackerel, salad leaves, seed into a bowl. Cover in olive oil & balsamic vinegar. Season to taste & mix all thoroughly. 

Exercise: Mindfulness (1) The Relaxation Journey

It is important to have a safe, protected, personal place in your mind where you go when things are hard, especially during your rehabilitation.  It should have at least one daily visit from you. 

You can tailor this exercise if you don't like the sea, but it must have a downward sensation to replicate the deep level relaxation that you want to achieve, e.g. you can travel to the earth's core. If you want me to make a recording of this as my experience is that reading is difficult, then please let me know. 

Lie down comfortably without any body parts crossing, face your palms to the sky and gently close your eyes. 

Relaxation journey 

Imagine you're lying on a soft, warm sandy beach that supports your body; gently caressing your shape & moulding to your muscles.  Feel the warm sun gently penetrating your skin as you can smell your warm skin.  Hear the sounds of people playing and talking on the beach, but they are too far to hear any words; it is just a muffle. You are secluded enough not to be disturbed by anyone, but there is life around you.  There is a slight breeze and you can hear the wind gently moving some bushes nearby.  

Draw your attention closer so that you can hear the waves lapping near to your feet, slow and gently, in and out.  Your breathing is in time with the waves and as each breath draws in you can feel the waves coming closer, bringing cleansing salt water to your feet and minerals to feed your soles.  As the waves come in your body soaks up those minerals and as the waves recede they wash any impurities away. 

Slowly each wave travels up your body, it cleanses each part of your body & washing away impurities.  First the feet, hen the ankles, calves, knees, thighs, hips, pelvis, abdomen, lungs, heart, shoulders, arms, hands, fingers, neck and finally your head.  Now you are totally cleansed, your body is lighter than the sea water, it is purified. 

The next wave carries you out to sea so that you float on the top of the sea waves.  Each wave gently rocks your body which is so relaxed that is gently rocks with each wave. 

You drift away on the water until you are far away from land and people.  You are alone and all there is around you is clear blue sky & clear blue sea. Enjoy being alone with no one to disturb you & look gently at the clear blue around you.  You are your own bubble, as though you are in a plastic inflated bag; protected and safe. 

Gently you begin to sink down between the water creating a cavern as you sink but your bubble stops water from covering where you have come from.  You can see the sky above the water as you sink deeper, all the time feeling safe in your bubble.  You keep sinking and sinking deep into the ocean.  It is still warm in your bubble so the depth is comfortable and the colours gently become darker hues of blue. 

Eventually you sink so low that it is no longer blue, but black.  You cannot see the sky at the end of the tunnel you created from sinking down, but you know that it is there if you want to return to the world.  You are safe, warm, away from distractions & the world.  Look around you (in your mind don't actually open your eyes) - it is black. There is nothing but you here, this is your space - you are alone, safe and protected.  Nothing can come here, nothing can find you, no one knows this place except for you. 

Keep using your eyes to see the black, the nothing is there to never disturb you.  This is your place to enjoy, relax & hang out, so just be there.  Stay as long as you need to in this place. 

When you're ready to come out, slowly float up to the surface of the sea.  Bob on the waves for a while before floating back to the beach.  Let the water wash away and come back to the sound of the people at the beach. 

Then gently wiggle your fingers & toes before you open your eyes and rejoin the world. 

Kale, Kipper & Rye bread for breakfast

A filling and rounded breakfast to start the week.  This can take a bit of time juggling so I'll set out the times in order. 

Serves 2

Ingredients
2 x kipper fillets, smoked
50 g kale, spines removed
2 x medium eggs
2 x slices rye bread
Salt & pepper 

Instructions
1. Cook kippers according to instructions - if in a bag then boil in the bag for 14 minutes. 

2. Steam kale for 7 minutes. 

3. Grill rye bread until lightly toasted.  Meanwhile, boil egg for 4-7 minutes depending on how hard you like it. 

4. Combine on plate & season with salt & pepper to taste. If you have chilli salt I think this adds something extra delicious!

Blueberry, Kale & Quinoa Salad

The last day of my course & I made this salad. It's a bit fruity!

Ingredients
1/2 cup x blueberries
1/2 cup x quinoa
1 cup x water
50 g x kale, shredded & spines removed
75 g x feta cheese, cubed
1/2 lemon juice
1 tbsp x olive oil
1/2 cup x sliced almonds (I only had whole ones but flaked is better)

Instructions
1. Boil 1 cup of water in saucepan & add quinoa.  Cook according to instructions on packet. 

2. Meanwhile, steam kale for 5 minutes.

3. Mix feta, kale, almonds, blueberries & quinoa in bowl. Drizzle lemon juice & olive oil over the salad & mix. 

Tofu, Tomato, Flower Sprout Rice Salad

Flower sprouts are not commonly found, but are a cross between broccoli and kale - so a dream super brain food! They taste a little nutty and look like flowered sprouts of mini kale bunches. If you can't get flower sprouts you can substitute with kale. 

Serves 2 

Ingredients

200g flower sprouts (200g kale as alternative)

50g silken tofu, cubed

2 tomatoes, chopped into cubes

1/3 cup basmati rice

1 tbsp sunflower seeds

1 tbsp pumpkin seeds

Piri piri lemon sauce: 

1/2 red onion

2 cloves x garlic

1 bird's eye chilli (remove stalks)

1 tbsp x sweet smoked paprika

1 lemon, juice

2 tbsp x white wine vinegar

1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

Instructions

1. In boiling water, boil the rice for 20 minutes or until soft depending on the packet. 

2. Meanwhile, steam flower sprouts/ kale for 5 minutes and drain. 

3. Mix all piri piri sauce ingredients into blender & whizz until smooth. If you don't have a blender you can cheat with a pre-made piri piri lemon sauce. 

4. Combine tomatoes, tofu, flower sprouts/ kale, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds & rice in a bowl. Mix in piri piri lemon sauce. 

Mindfulness

Most brain specialists will tell you that one of the best things that you can do for your brain to heal is mindfulness aka meditation. Calming the brain into a relaxed state not taxed by thoughts can make you feel less anxious, more positive & even help manage pain! These are only a couple of the benefits that have been shown in studies. 

I have no training in this & will post what I have learnt from my own self-training during my rehabilitation. It has helped me control emotional problems, engage better with my physical and mental self, and luckily manage my migraines so that I do not need pain killers. 

Jumping straight to "emptying your mind" is likely too much for a beginner, even concentrating on your breath won't be enough. Therefore, I created other exercises to help me as I progressed my skills in mindfulness. I will cover some of these in the blog. As reading can be a challenge with a mild TBI please let me know if you want me to post audio recordings of the mediation exercises & I will arrange for some to be made. 

For all exercises make sure that you won't be disturbed throughout. 

Enjoy them!

Some links about mindfulness below
TBIs & mindfulness:
Brainline article 
Medscape article 
Vinland Center webinar (presentation)
Traumatic Brain Injury Support
A fellow TBI sufferer's story

Mindfulness generally:
Psychology Today
The Guardian Lifestyle - How to Meditate
TED talk by Andy Puddicombe 

Mussels in red Thai curry broth

Another lovely dish from my boyfriend to support me doing my course. Mussels are so simple to cook and really quite cheap bought fresh from the fish counter!

Serves 2 

Ingredients

1/8 cup butter

1 plum tomatoes, seeded & roughly chopped

1 tbsp x garlic, minced

1/2 tbsp x ginger, peeled & minced

1 can unsweetened coconut milk

1 can water

1/2 tbsp x Thai red curry paste (more if you like the heat)

1/2 tsp x salt

1.5 lbs mussels, scrubbed & debearded

3 tbsp coriander, chopped

Instructions

1. Melt the butter in a large pot over medium heat. 

2. Add the tomatoes, garlic & ginger, sauteeing for about 2 minutes (until the garlic is tender).

3. Pour in the coconut milk and can of water, then add the the curry paste, coriander & salt.  Stir together & simmer for 4 minutes.

4. Add mussels, cover & cook for about 5 minutes until the mussels are opened. 

5. Discard any unopened mussels as they are not good for you! Serve in bowls with crusty wholemeal bread if you require. 

Salmon, spinach & kale lasagne

My boyfriend made this for me one night after my course to show me his support to feed my brain. It was so yummy! 

Maybe serve it with a green leafy side salad. 

Serves 4

Ingredients

200 g lasagne sheets (you could use gluten free)

200 g fresh salmon fillets, peeled, boned & diced

2 handfuls baby leaf spinach

1 tbsp x olive oil

Salt & pepper

Optional: 1 cup x flower sprouts

White sauce:

1 tbsp x butter

1 tbsp x plain flour

1/4 litre milk

4 tbsp x grated cheddar cheese

1/4 tsp x grated nutmeg

Instructions

1. Preheat oven at 180C & butter lasagne baking pan. 

2. Heat olive oil in frying pan over a low heat. Add salmon & spinach, stirring occasionally leave to cook gently until soft. Season with salt & pepper. 

3. If adding flower sprouts, steam or boil them for 4 minutes and add to the salmon & spinach mix. 

4. To make white sauce, in a sauce pan melt the butter over a medium heat. 

5. Add the flour to the butter and mix in thoroughly for about 1 minute. 

6. Slowly add the milk to the butter & flour mix, ensuring it is fully mixed in before adding more milk.  Constantly stir until it thickens into a creamy consistency. Remove from heat & add nut meg. 

7. Take a ladle of the white sauce & mix it into the fish & salmon mix. 

8. Pour half the salmon mix into the baking pan, spreading it out evenly across the pan. Place one layer of lasagne sheets over the salmon mix. Pour some white sauce over the lasagne sheets. Pour the second half of the salmon mix over, layer the lasagne sheets and then white sauce over the top. 

9. Sprinkle the cheese across the top of the dish. 

10. Bake in the oven for 40 minutes until golden on the top. 

Warm Broccoli & Mackerel Quinoa Salad

Serves 2

Ingredients
1 x broccoli head, chopped into small florets
1/2 cup quinoa
1 cup water
50 g feta, cubed
2 x tinned mackerel fillets, chopped into bite sized chunks
1 tbsp x pine nuts, toasted
1 tbsp x walnuts, roughly chopped
1/4 cup x sun blushed tomatoes
2 x spring onions, chopped
1 tbsp x French vinaigrette dressing

Instructions
1. Heat water until boiling & add quinoa for 10 minutes. Then turn off heat & leave to stand until all the water is absorbed.

2. Steam broccoli florets for 5 minutes. 

3. Lightly toast pine nuts in frying pan on dry heat until golden brown & slightly fragrant. 

4. In salad bowl, mix together spring onions, sun blushed tomatoes, walnuts & mackerel. Add quinoa and broccoli when cooked. 

5. Add vinaigrette to salad & mix in. 

Salmon & Kale Quinoa Salad

My next packed lunch this week was another salad. It's a bit more pricey because of the salmon, but I reckon it can survive tinned salmon as a cost saver.

Serves 4 (or 2 big lunches)

Ingredients
200 g kale, chopped & big spines removed
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 x can artichoke hearts
1 salmon fillet, cubed (tinned or sheets work fine)
1 cup dried quinoa
2 cups water
1/2 cup parmesan, large shreds
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp pine nuts, toasted
Salt & pepper to season

Dressing:
1/3 cup white wine vinegar
3 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp honey

Instructions
1. Heat water in pan until boiling, then add quinoa to boil for 10 minutes. Turn off the heat & leave for 10 minutes to allow quinoa to absorb all the water. 

2. Meanwhile, toast pine nuts in deep frying pan on dry heat until golden colour & fragrant (4 mins). 

3. Leave pine nuts on plate and re-use the deep frying pan to heat 1 tbsp olive oil on medium heat for 2 mins then add garlic & leave to warm until fragrant (2 mins). 

4. Add kale to garlic & stir in. Leave it to wilt in pan (2 mins). Keep turning the leaves to make sure that they all wilt. 

5. Turn off heat under frying pan & add artichokes, fish, pine nuts, parmesan & quinoa (when ready). Season with salt & pepper. 

6. Make dressing - add honey, vinegar & oil into a jar and shake/stir if no lid until combined. Pour over salad & mix together. 

Tofu, Kale & Avocado Salad

For the next 2 weeks I am doing a course, so I need some packed lunches to feed my brain! 

Serves 4 (or 2 big lunches)

Ingredients
2 x avocados, cubed without skin
325g silken tofu, drained & cubed
1 tsp x sesame oil
2 tsp x sesame seeds
1/2 lemon, juice
1 spring onion, chopped 
200g kale, rinsed

1 tsp x salt
Pepper to season
Optional: 
50 g brown rice

Instructions
1. Boil brown rice for 30 minutes until soft. Make sure that there is plenty of water in the pan so it does not dry out and burn (today's lesson for me)!

2. Meanwhile, break kale into smaller chunks and steam it for 15 minutes. 

3. Whilst the rice and kale are cooking, if you haven't chopped the other ingredients then chop them into large cubes and mix all together in a big salad bowl (avocados, tofu, spring onion, sesame seeds, sesame oil & lemon juice). 

4. When the kale is cooked drain it off & chop off the spines of the leaves and then cut the leaves into smaller slices. 

5. Add the rice when it is cooked and mix all the ingredients together thoroughly. 

Nutrients Food Table

Nutrient	Fruit & Vegetables	Dairy	Seafood & Fish	Meat	Nuts, Seeds, Herbs & Spices	Cereals & pulses
Antioxidant Proanthocyanidins (enhance by taking with Vit C & E)	Blueberries, black grapes, whole cranberries, apples. Make sure you eat the skins of these! Beets.				Cinnamon, cocoa Hazelnuts, pecans, pistachios.
B12 * animal sources are better		Eggs, Milk, Yoghurt, Cheese - Swiss, mozzarella, feta, parmesan, cottage, ricotta	Tuna, shellfish, crab, lobster, snapper	Beef, venison, lamb, cooked turkey, cooked ham, poultry
B2 (riboflavin)	Kale, spinach, asparagus, broccoli, sundried tomatoes	Milk, yoghurt, cheese – Roquefort, camembert, brie, goats, Swiss, blue	Mackerel, Atlantic salmon, trout	Liver	Marmite, dried herbs, paprika, Almonds	Oats, rye, buckwheat, fortified breakfast cereals
B6	Bananas. Bell peppers, spinach, baked potatoes (skin included), green peas, yams, broccoli, asparagus, turnips, tomatoes. Raw garlic.	Eggs	Yellowfin tuna, less in salmon & cod	Liver, chicken turkey, beef, pork tenderloin	Dried herbs, chilli powder, paprika, garlic powder. Molasses. Pistachios, hazelnuts, sunflower & sesame seeds.	Bran – rice & wheat.  Chickpeas, lentils, soybeans, legumes, brown rice.
Coenzyme Q10	Soybeans, broccoli, cauliflower		Freshwater fish – tuna, salmon, mackerel, sardines, herring	Beef, poultry	Sesame oil, rapeseed oil, sesame seeds. Peanuts, pistachios,
Magnesium	Dried fruits (figs, bananas, raisins, apricots), blackberries, strawberries, raspberries, Raw spinach, kale, cabbage, avocados, okra, artichokes, butternut squash, rocket, sweet corn, baked potato (with skin), soybeans.	Low fat dairy – yoghurt, milk, cheese & hard cheese.	Shrimp, mackerel, turbot, tuna, pollock		Coriander, 70% dark chocolate. Pumpkin seeds, almonds, brazil nuts, cashews, peanuts & peanut butter	Beans, lentils, oats, cereals, bran flakes, wheatgerm, quinoa, bulgar, millet, barley.
Manganese	Pineapple, raspberries, strawberries, grapes. Spinach, soybeans, kale, chard, aubergine, tomatoes.		Mussels, oysters, clams		Cinnamon, cloves, saffron, turmeric, cocoa powder, dark chocolate, chilli powder. Roast pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, flax seeds, sesame seeds, hazelnuts, pecans, pine nuts, walnuts,	Spelt, brown rice, chickpeas, rye, oats, black beans.
Omega 3s	Soybeans, tofu, brussel sprouts, kale, spinach, watercress.	Eggs, milk, soy milk, yoghurt, margarine	Sardines, salmon, mackerel, oysters, trout, halibut, herring		Parsley, mint. Flax seeds, walnuts, rapeseed oil, flaxseed oil, walnut oil, cod liver oil	Rye
Vitamin C	Oranges, lemons, grapefruits, papaya, strawberries. Chilli and bell peppers, broccoli, kiwifruit, kale, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, tomatoes.				Fresh thyme & parsley
Vitamin D	Fortified orange juice. Mushrooms	Eggs, soymilk, fortified milk products – butter, yoghurt	Canned - salmon, tuna, mackerel, oysters, caviar	Liver, salami, ham, sausages	Cod liver oil	Fortified cereals
Vitamin E	Peaches, nectarines, blackberries, kiwis, mango. Avocados, spinach, tofu, cooked broccoli, squash & pumpkin, apricots, olives, sweet potatoes, carrots, bell peppers, parsnips, tomatoes, asparagus.	Eggs	Shrimp, rainbow trout		Chilli powder, paprika, oregano. Sunflower seeds, almonds, hazelnuts, pine nuts, peanuts, plant oils.	Quinoa
Gingko	Chinese herbal medicine from Gingko plant
Curcumin (Turmeric)	Turmeric spice from Turmeric plant