Week 6: Happy and Healthy Summer Holidays

Week 6: Our guide to a happy and healthy Summer holiday

Let your last week of the Summer holidays end on a high, healthy note with these enjoyable recipes and activities. We have saved the best recipes till last, so you can treat yourself for all the hard work you’ve put in this summer! We have also sourced a variety of free family events and schemes that run towards the end of Summer so that you can stay on the health track from start to finish! Your family really wont want summer to end this year…

Recipes

Why not try thick slices of roasted aubergine with miso, garlic and ginger for a filling, vegetarian friendly dinner. You will be getting all the yummy health benefits miso and ginger provide, whilst still getting the indulgent taste. Serve this with chunky sweet potato wedges for a low-cal summer dish!

Miso-roasted aubergine steaks with sweet potato

Serves 2

Prep time: 20 mins

Cook Time: 1 hour 5 mins

Ingredients

• 1 large aubergine (about 375g)
• 2 tbsp brown miso paste
• 350g sweet potatoes, unpeeled and cut into chunky wedges
• 1 tbsp sunflower oil
• Thumb-sized piece ginger, grated
• 1 garlic clove, grated
• Pinch of pink Himalayan salt
• 8 spring onions, sliced diagonally
• Small pack parsley, leaves chopped

• 1. Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4.
  2. Peel the aubergine with a potato peeler and roughly spread the miso paste all over it – the best way to do this is with the back of a spoon.
  3. Put it in a roasting tin along with the sweet potato wedges. Pour 225ml boiling water into the base of the tin, and then add the oil, ginger and garlic. Sprinkle a pinch of salt over the wedges and place in the oven.
  4. After 30 mins, pour 125ml boiling water into the base of the tin and roast for another 20 mins. Repeat, adding 50ml boiling water and the spring onions, and roast for 10 mins more.
  5. Check the aubergine is cooked by inserting a knife in the centre – if it is ready it will easily slide in and out, and the aubergine will be soft on the inside.
  6. Sprinkle the chopped parsley over the potato wedges, slice the aubergine into 2cm thick ‘steaks’ and serve on top of the potatoes. If there is no sauce in the bottom of the tin, ass 3 tbsp water to loosen up the miso, then pour the miso gravy over the aubergine steaks and sprinkle with cracked black pepper.

Top tip: When cooking the vegetables, add the water gradually in this recipe to avoid the beg stewing in the liquid, plus it helps them stay juicy and moist!

It is hard to believe that this deliciously rich and creamy dessert could be low in fat AND gluten free – but luckily it is, and we have the recipe as proof. Finish off your summer with this exotic showstopper, filled with passion fruit and mango and lashings of fat-free Greek yogurt! Don’t mind if we do…

Mango passion fruit roulade

Ingredients

• 3 large egg whites
• 175g caster sugar
• 1 level tsp corn flour
• 1 tsp male vinegar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• Icing sugar, to dust
• 200g fat-free Greek yogurt
• 1 large ripe mango, peeled, stoned and diced
• 4 passion fruit, pulp only
• Icing sugar (optional) and a few Physalis, to decorate
• Raspberry sauce, to serve

• Preheat the oven to 150C/ gas 2/ fan 130C.

• Line a 33x23cm Swiss roll tin with non-stick baking parchment.

• Beat the egg whites with an electric whisk until frothy and doubled in bulk. Slowly whisk in the caster sugar until thick and shiny. Mix the corn flour, vinegar and vanilla extract, then whisk into the egg whites.

• Spoon into the tin and level the surface carefully, so you don’t push out the air. Bake for 30 minutes until the meringue surface is just firm.

• Remove from the oven and cover with damp greaseproof paper for 10 minutes.

• Dust another sheet of greaseproof paper with icing sugar. Discard the damp papers and turn the meringue out on to the sugar-coated paper.

• Peel off the lining paper, then spread yogurt over the meringue and scatter with mango and passion fruit.

• Use the paper to roll up the roulade from one short end. Keep the join underneath. Sift a little icing sugar on top if you like, decorate with Physalis and serve with raspberry sauce.

Top tip: For a quick and delicious raspberry sauce, whiz 225g thawed frozen raspberries with 2tbsp icing sugar in a blender, then press through a sieve.

Activities

For the last week of your Summer family extravaganza, we have sourced a variety of events and schemes that are (almost) completely free, family-friendly and uniquely fun!

• Fancy adding an extra dimension to your days out? Then give geocaching a go. Put simply geocaching is a modern, high-tech take on a treasure hunt and has become something of a worldwide phenomenon. Promising a fun challenge for children (and adults) of all ages, geocaching ticks lots of boxes: it encourages your kids to get out and about in the fresh air, provides a good bit of exercise, offers a chance to test their mental agility, explore different environments (great for boosting their interest in geography) and learn about ecology, as well as enhancing team-building skills. What’s not to love?! Find out more about geocaching here: https://www.geocaching.com/play

• London Kids Week will be back for 2016! Tickets will go on sale on Tuesday 14 June, for performances from 1 – 31^st August. Participating shows will be revealed nearer the time, so make sure to keep an eye on their website. Kids Week is all about encouraging young people to get involved in theatre. A child aged 16 or under can go free to any participating show when accompanied by an adult paying full price. Parents can also purchase up to two extra children’s tickets at half price. Children can also take part in a fantastic range of free activities and workshops

• Manchester‘s Spinningfields hosts a season of free, family open-air film screenings through the summer holidays. Films are shown every Saturday morning at 11am from 23rd July to 27th August, with the current schedule including Toy Story 3 and The Jungle Book. Sporting events are also screened free, while there’s an evening programme at £2 a ticket every Thursday for adults and older teenagers, which includes Touching the Void, Sex and The City and Saturday Night Fever. The season finale is a double-bill of The Devil Wears Prada and The September Issue. Bring your own picnic and blankets, or hire them for £2. Soft drinks can be brought in but only alcohol bought on site can be consumed during the film. This means that instead of being cooped up watching films in the Summer you can still get the excitement of a film but whilst your outside enjoying the fresh air – your body will thank you too.

• The Bristol International Kite Festival, takes place over the weekend of 3-4^th September and is planning on an aerial extravaganza to celebrate its 25th anniversary. Kite flyers from New Zealand, Kuwait and Thailand are expected to join flyers and enthusiasts from across Europe at the event, which will feature flying displays, kite-fighting battles and synchronised routines. Admission is free, though there is a £7 charge for car parking. It takes place at Ashton Court Estate, Bristol. Have a go at flying a kite yourself – pick a windy day and it may be more strenuous than you think.