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The marvellous Joy Skipper has done it again.  A delicious (and slightly less calorific) version of this seasonal favourite. Thank you Joy ! 300g mincemeat (or you could make your own....if you had absolutely nothing else to do in the whole world) 25g dried cherries...

(Not my recipe you'll be relieved to hear). This gorgeous cake comes from the woman at the centre of all things home-grown and home-baked, Joy Skipper.  She has very kindly shared this recipe with us, so here it is: Vegan Christmas Cake Serves 12-16 slices I kg dried...

The pelvic floor muscle (PF) is a sling of muscle, like a hammock which goes from your pubic bone, under your bits and bobs, to the coccyx (tailbone). It is part of the ‘core’, and works with the deep abdominal muscles and the diaphragm to strengthen the spine and...

  Cholesterol.  Smacks of bad news, doesn’t it?  But actually cholesterol is pretty jolly vital. It’s made in the liver and forms part of the membrane of every single cell. It’s used to help us make vitamin D and hormones and we can’t do without it. It’s not...

I stole this recipe from Woman&Home magazine (November 2021) because it's so lush. Perfect for meat-free Mondays. Serves 6. 400g prepared butternut squash (actually you can get this in the freezer cabinet too) 3 garlic cloves skin on 2 tbsp olive oil 2 large...

You might be by the pool in a quarantine-free country, lapping up the cheap beers and endless sunshine so motivation for anything other than reading the next chapter of your book or choosing which bistro to visit is way down the list.  But September is here and that...

Many of you followed me on Instagram during my recent  4 day trip walking The St Cuthbert's Way (100km in Border country up north) and it seems my enthusiasm for plodding along in the outdoors has is contagious.  You want to know more.  So here are my tips for a very...

I feel I’m in the perfect zone to write this, given not long ago, I returned from a very wet cycling trip.  Cold feet.  Cold hands.  Just cold.  I can barely dip a naked toe in the Mediterranean in mid-August, let alone submerge my whole body, yet my Facebook feed is...

The Yorkshire Dales Cycleway is an official circular cycle ride of 250km (extended version) or 210km if you want something shorter. In July 2021 me and my cycling buddy Fiona did the extended version, starting at Skipton and taking 4 days.  We arrived on Wednesday 21...

I’m going to shout this bit.  Protein is VITAL for our bodies, even more so as we get older and it’s not just about keeping fat levels down…(but yes, I’ll talk about that too). First we’re going to look at how it makes our bodies beautiful. Brace yourselves for some...

Pick it up.  Dust it off.  Give it mouth-to-mouth. (The libido, that is). I told some of my clients I was tackling this topic…  “Save us and our stuttering sex drive” they begged.  Busy family lives, work issues and fluctuations in how we feel about our partners can...

Never mind beach ready.  Let's get menopause ready !  Let’s look at some numbers. Between 2007 and 2017 the population of age 65+ increased almost 3% to 12 million people.  6 million of those are women. Life expectancy in the UK is 82.9 years for women (79.2 years for...

Delicious cinnamon spiced lamb with the coolness of yogurt, this is a perfect summer dish.  Perfect to serve at a barbecue, but almost easier to cook in the oven. For the Koftas: (makes 12) 800g lamb mince 2 tsp ground cumin 3 tsp ground coriander 1 onion, very finely...

As the days get longer, people will soon be pressing the button on their “2021-let’s -get-fitter” projects.  A more apt name might be ‘let’s-make-the-best-version-of-ourselves-because -oh-my-God-we-don’t-want-another-year-like-2020”, but that doesn’t really roll off...

It's made its way into the papers recently and I've never been a fan of this measurement. Here’s why.  The BMI (body mass index) is a simple equation used in the medical profession to determine if someone’s weight is healthy.  What they’re really trying to do is use...