» Recipes

Simple Protein Shake by James Haskell

Matt Lovell — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 08:30:45 +0000

Nutritional Cooking Tips and Omelette by Matt Lovell and James Haskell

Matt Lovell — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 01:10:46 +0000

Breakfast Tips – Porridge by James Haskell

Matt Lovell — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 08:47:22 +0000

Palm Sized Plan and Fist Full of Food have arrived

Matt Lovell — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 10:03:01 +0000

After what has been a very long gestation period my two new books are here.

Tell me what you think. By dropping a comment, Liking on facebook or tweeting.

Bundle on Launch of Palm Sized Plan Recipe Book

James Haskell Pro’s Protein Shake

Matt Lovell — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 05:13:53 +0000

Series of nutrition videos with James Haskell the England Rugby player

Matt Lovell — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 10:51:25 +0000

Cooking with Balls

Matt Lovell — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 04:11:01 +0000

Signed copy of ‘Cooking with Balls‘ is available here

Hang over cure

Matt — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 16:08:25 +0000

Bit of a sore head after team building last night! So some decent food always helps you get back on track. Tonight it’s panfried salmon, roasted carrots in thyme and manuka, plus aubergines in chilli garlic and fresh herbs inspired by Nigel slater one of my favorite cooking experts. I tweaked a recipe he had in the paper to sage, oregano and mint. Basically what was fresh from the garden. All the stuff was cooked on coconut oil partly because I ran out of olive oil!

Souper Soups

Matt Lovell — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 12:52:34 +0000

Soups allow a real “shotgun” approach to immuno-nutritional cooking. If making a soup to provide a number of servings, and also considering the low calorie content of many of the required vegetables, it’s possible to add a huge variety of colours, flavours and nutrients, all to a single dish! The psychological and physiological effects of [...]

Massive salads

Matt — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 12:33:11 +0000

The stir fry section was closed today so instead I got a huge salad with peppers, corgettes,mixed leaves, olives, beetroot and pumpkinseeds with extra tuna and a pint of fizzy water all for five quid!

Red meats like lamb roasted with garlic and fresh Rosemary

Matt — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 19:33:11 +0000

With the late summer evenings drawing in it’s nice to have some red meats like lamb. This one was roasted with garlic and fresh Rosemary from the garden. Rosemary provides antioxidant protection against the free radical produced when oven roasting. These are called age’s and occur when you burn meats or cook at high temperatures sugar can also form age’s. Advanced gylcation end products for short! Well be chatting a bit more about these and enzymes from raw food in a future article!

Power porridge

Matt — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 00:00:24 +0000

This morning there was definitely a chill in the air. Out came the jumbo rolled porridge oats, filtered alkaline water, 2 tsp of cinammon, raisins and dried blueberries as I’d planned a naughty circuit on the way to work that morning. Power porridge always a favorite and one recipe I’ve noticed is eaten by some of the leanest people I work with. He high soluble fibre content clearly assists blood glucose regulation later in the day a phenomenon known as the 2nd meal effect. Whereby a good gi stable breakfast or meal stabilizes the glucose effects o subsequent meals.

Tuna and stir fry for a fiver

Matt — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 16:38:14 +0000

On the hoof again and another stir fry with tuna. As I said before I’m mildly allergic to tuna but eat it every few weeks. The igg allergy causes a bit of fatigue and mental fuzziness. Any factor which stresses the immune system can negatively influence recovery so not something you want to do too much. We’ll be launching our immune series shortly as the autumn approaches. For now one of the best things you can do is to up your vitamin d levels with a decent supplement. Aim for 5000ius for adults and 1000ius per lb body weight for children over 1; source vitamin d research council. Ideally you’d get your levels checked and supplement accordingly.

Tuna in Tuscany

Matt — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 09:18:33 +0000

A good couple of weeks in Italy with plenty of decent food. Did an interesting experiment on cardio training which we’ll discuss in another post. Just before I left I discovered to my horror I was mildly allergic to my old favorite tuna. I’d switched to albacore as I’ve got raised mercury and only taking it once per week but now the mighty big fat tuna might be off the menu in the main part, for me at least. To find out how to get yourself tested for allergies go to the www.adrenaltest.co.uk here you can order any functional blood test. Most people should moderate their tuna intake due to the high mercury levels particularly if you are or plan to get pregnant.

Soup recipes

Matt Lovell — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 00:00:32 +0000

Soups can either be made from the following recipes or bought as discussed in the menu plans. Whenever you are making the effort to cook, it’s worth thinking ahead and preparing a few extra pieces of chicken or things that you can freeze and use at a later date.

Chicken Broth

1 cooked chicken carcass
2 onions
3 sticks of celery
2 strips of wakame seaweed
3 pints of water
2 carrots
1 dessertspoon of olive oil

This is a perfect example of recycling ingredients and getting the most out of your food. Plus you’ll benefit from the musculoskeletal support generated from boiling up the chicken bones.

Gazpacho

This is a great soup as you can eat it cold on a hot summer’s day, and it makes an excellent appetiser.

550g of fresh tomatoes (skinned)
4 shallots
2 tablespoons of lemon juice
1 tablespoon of fresh parsley
1 red pepper
1/2 large cucumber
Black pepper (freshly ground)
2 cloves of garlic
Chopped fresh mint

Blend all the ingredients together, chill and serve.

Generally, soup can be made from any ingredients. You need to lightly fry them first, then add some sort of stock either made before or just water with stock cubes added. Bring to the simmer and serve. As an option, part or all of the ingredients can be removed and blended depending on the consistency required.

Cover the carcass with the water and simmer for 45-90 minutes, get any excess meat off the chicken and store. Sieve the stock and leave to cool before refrigerating overnight, scoop the fat from the top of the mixture. Fry the vegetables in the oil until slightly soft. Cut the seaweed into strips, pour the stock on top of the vegetables and bring back to the boil.

Salads, snacks and sneaky ways to increase your vegetable consumption

Matt Lovell — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 13:12:32 +0000

Small salads can be made at any time of the day as a light snack, you could even stuff them into a wholemeal pitta bread if you were exceptionally hungry, and here are some possibilities:

Tuna and beans: 1 tin of tuna in water, 1/2 tin of kidney or other beans, 1 small diced orange, 1 tablespoon of dressing (low fat).

Avocado and grapefruit: 1 avocado, 1 grapefruit, 1 teaspoon of ground ginger, balsamic vinegar.

Red onion and cherry tomatoes.

Carrot and beetroot.

Broccoli and beans: 1/2 tin of kidney beans, 2 spring onions, celery, cashew nuts and dressing.

Red cabbage and raisin salad: finely shredded red cabbage, handful of raisins, handful of hazelnuts.

Coleslaw: cabbage, onion, carrots – 1/3 of each plus some protein.

To get extra servings of vegetables into your day try juicing fruits and vegetables to have with your breakfast, or buy some V8 or organic tomato juice and have that instead. Quick fruit salads and yoghurt make an ideal snack, as do chopped vegetables dipped into low fat humus or guacamole.

Power cake

Matt — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 10:29:24 +0000

You gotta love it when you can eat cake and drink coffee for breakfast. This naughty little fella is actually a low carb power house. Here’s how you make it. 200g pistachio. 1 cup sucralose (splenda) 4 eggs. 1/2 cup of spelt flour. Tablespoon of coconut oil. Grind the nuts up in a blender. Mix everything together stick in a cake tin and bake for 35 mins at about 160.

Burgers cant be choosers

Matt — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 10:55:44 +0000

Venison burgers with mushroom and chilli sauce! Awesome. Venison’s a decent choice of sustainable and generally wild grass fed meat. Low in fat and high in nutrients it’s a poor mans grass fed beef. Remember we are what we eat. Not just that we are what we eat, ate. Grain fed meats tend to have a very poor omega 3:6 ratio. Its around 1:20 3:6. Grass fed comes in at a decent 1:3. If you want your omegas tested go to adrenaltest.co.uk.

Sunday lunch munch

Matt — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 08:14:21 +0000

Salad for lunch salad for supper! For a Sunday routine where you cook up all your evening meals and make Tom yum soup for the week have a search around the site or you tube. Complex salads are the back bone of a healthy diet try to get 10 salad ingredients, at least 2 proteins and some nuts. Dressing wise cider vinegar, tamari and raw garlic with mustard normally does the trick.

Steak n salad

Matt — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 10:15:09 +0000

One of the quickest meals to enjoy at night is simple steak and salad. The salad had red cabbage, chicory, beetroot, red onion, garlic, cider vinegar and mustard. The steaks black pepper and 4 mins each side on a griddle. A 12 minute meal from scratch.

Lunch munch

Matt — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 11:43:02 +0000

Up north at the mercy of a canteen. Luckily they did a stir fry option with an extra side order or tuna I wasn’t far off the mark.

I normally travel with some greens and protein sachets as well just in case you get stranded and at the mercy of garage foods!

What i had for tea last night

Matt — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 09:37:02 +0000

Last night for tea.
2 organic burgers grilled
Large mixed salad with 2 tomatoes and 1 onion. 2 romaine lettuce.
Dressing with mustard, cider vinegar and raw garlic 2 cloves

2 small servings of wild alaskan smoked salmon with lemon

Keep your meals coming in it’s good to share some ideas

Beckham told ‘Eat Chicken Soup’ to heal achilles

Matt — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 04:02:24 +0000

Sure he can afford the finest food, but there's nothing better to accelerate his recovery process and heal his broken achilles tendon than Home Made Chicken Soup.

Boiled up chicken bones that have been used to create a Chicken Stock are packed full of collagen and gelatin, the stuff that your body needs to help strengthen and repair new ligaments and tendons.

If you've ever made stock before you will have notice that the stock on cooling turns to jelly, this jelly is REALLY GOOD nutritional stuff, when it comes to healing and boosting your immune system and building new connective tissue.

Some tips on making an immune boosting tendon repairing Chicken Stock

Use an Organic Chicken Carcass
Remove any large bits of skin
Get a cleaver out and smash up the bones
Use a big saucepan cover the bones with filtered water
Add tomatoes to the stock ( acid in tomatoes help the bones break down)
Boil the bones for at least an hour, longer is better
Pick bits of chicken off bones as you remove the bones.
Wrap bones in newspaper and discard.

I'm not sure if he'll be getting Posh to make the chicken stock, she'll find that it's very versatile and you can use it as a base to create many different soups, stews and curries.

Becks will need to keep an eye on his overall calorie intake and ensure he doesn't include too many carbohydrates as he won't want to bloat up during his recovery.

Here are a couple of variations so that he doesn't get bored.

Thai Style

Add Tom Yum Paste
Extra Chicken or Prawns
Turmeric (anti inflammatory)
Ginger ( anti inlammatory)
Noodles
Any Green Leafy Veg like Cabbage or Bok Choi
Bean Sprouts

Traditional English Chicken Soup

Carrots
Parsnips
Celery
Onions
Pearl Barley
Split Peas or Lentils
Salt and Pepper
( still add the Turmeric as above)

Blend the soup in a liquidizer or keep it chunky!

Make sure you subscribe for updates because I'll let you know the supplements that I would recommend that Beckham takes and we'll be creating a Video on how to create Chicken Stock, watch the cleaver in action.

Matt

Questions

Matt — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 12:23:17 +0000

If you’ve got questions then please ask them here and I’ll answer them as soon as possible.

I value your questions and look forward to hearing them and helping assist you.

Best regards

Matt Lovell

Immune boosting Foods

Matt — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 08:49:29 +0000

I was watching Rick Stein – on his tour of the orient last night and looking at all the delicious ingredient those guys use in their cooking.

Health wise spices are very much in the spot light scientifically with turmeric leading the pack due to it’s powerful anti-inflammatory effects.

Most of us won’t eat this unless we go for a curry when there will also generally be a lot of other poor fats and maybe some alcohol involved as well.

Incorporating Thai, Malaysian, Indonesian, Chinese and Vietnamese cooking into your weekly routine will do wonders for your health and performance.

Most of the meals are balanced nicely between, vegetables, salads, meats, spices, coconut and stock, with a small amount of rice included. This is a highly low inflammation and low allergy based diet.

No wonder many of these people never seem to age in the same way we do! Check out our list of beneficial Thai spices and also be aware that once you sign up for 4 week fat loss we give away a recipe book as part of your start up bundle.

Till next time.

Matt

Roast cod with artichoke hearts and green beans

Matt — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 10:31:38 +0000

Serves 1

1 thick cut piece of cod loin
4 artichoke hearts
2 slices Serrano ham, cut into strips
1 tsp sherry vinegar
100g green beans
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 shallot, sliced
Handful of flat leaf parsley
1 tbsp olive oil
Sea salt and black pepper

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Blanch the green beans in boiling water for 4 minutes, until just tender but still squeaky. Brush the cod with olive oil and season it liberally. Roast for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, heat the remaining olive oil in a deep frying pan, add the shallot and fry until transparent on a low heat. Add the garlic and ham and fry for a further few minutes. Throw in the green beans, artichoke hearts and parley and season, adding the sherry vinegar. This can be removed from the heat and served at room temperature as soon as the cod is done.

Sicilian braised squid with fennel

Matt — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 07:50:34 +0000

Serves 1

1 large squid tube cut into rings or 3 baby squid, cleaned
1 fennel bulb, finely sliced
1 red pepper, cut in strips
1 shallot, diced
2 cloves garlic, chopped or crushed
1 large red chilli, diced
handful of pine nuts
Zest of 1 lemon
Teaspoon of fennel seeds
1 tbsp capers, rinsed
Handful of chopped flat leaf parsley
Glass of dry white wine
Same amount of water
Tablespoon of olive oil
Sea salt and black pepper

Heat the oil in a deep frying pan; add the shallot and chilli and fry on a low heat for 5 minutes until transparent. Add the garlic, fennel and pepper and continue to cook for 5 minutes before adding the wine, water, fennel seeds and lemon zest and capers. Simmer for 15 minutes until the vegetables are soft, then throw in the prepared squid and cook for a few minutes until the squid is no longer transparent. Don’t cook for too long or the squid will become rubbery. Season and serve scattered with pine nuts and parsley.

Smoked haddock and spinach gratin

Matt — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 10:27:13 +0000

Serves 1

1 smoked haddock fillet, undyed if possible
500g spinach, washed
1 leek, sliced
40g Gruyere cheese, grated
1 tbsp double cream
Dash of white wine
10g butter

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Heat the butter in a large pan on a low heat, fry the leek, (taking care not to brown it), for 5 minutes. Add the spinach and white wine and cover the pan until the spinach has just wilted (it will reduce in size quite a lot!). Put the haddock fillet in an oven dish, pour the cream over it then put the spinach mixture on top. Season and sprinkle the grated Gruyere over the top, then bake for 15 minutes.

Tiger prawn stir fry with Pak Choi

Matt — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 07:57:10 +0000

Serves 1

6 large raw tiger prawns
2 bunches pak choi roughly shredded
2 handfuls bean sprouts
1 red chilli, diced
1 cm cube piece of root ginger, finely chopped or grated
2 cloves garlic chopped or crushed
2 spring onions, chopped
1 tsp toasted sesame oil
2 tsp flavourless oil such as groundnut
1 tbsp sesame seeds, lightly toasted in a dry pan.
1 tbsp soy sauce
Juice of half a lemon

Heat the flavourless oil in a wok on a high heat, then add the spring onions, chilli, ginger and garlic. Cook for a few minutes shaking the pan often so that they don’t burn, then add the pak choi, prawns and bean sprouts. Cook until the prawns have changed from grey to pink and the pak choi wilted then season with the sesame oil, soy and lemon. Serve sprinkled with the sesame seeds.

Tuna steak with Salsa Verde and courgettes

Matt — Mon, 25 May 2009 10:23:45 +0000

Serves 1

1 Tuna Steak
Olive oil, sea salt and black pepper
2 courgettes, grated

For the salsa Verde:
3 tbsp flat-leaf parsley leaves
2 tbsp mint leaves
3 tbsp capers, drained
6 anchovy fillets in oil, drained
1 garlic clove
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
½ lemon, juice only
120ml/4fl oz extra virgin olive oil

The salsa Verde will last for a week in the fridge, if you cover it with a layer of oil, and is great with any fish, lamb or chicken. To make it, just put all of the ingredients into a food processor and pulse until roughly blended. It doesn’t need to be very smooth so don’t blend it for too long.

You’ll need two pans, a cast iron griddle is ideal for cooking the tuna and any frying pan will do for the courgettes. The courgettes are very easy: just heat a dash of olive oil, add them and cook for a couple of minutes on a low heat.

Meanwhile, heat the griddle on a medium heat. Brush the tuna with olive oil and season it, Sear the tuna for about a minute on each side, it should still be pink in the middle. Serve on a bed of courgettes and with a tablespoon of the salsa Verde drizzled over it.

Questions

Matt Lovell — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 16:02:11 +0000

If you’ve got questions about Sports Nutrition then please ask them here and I’ll answer them as soon as possible.

I value your questions and look forward to hearing them and helping assist you in your goals.

Best regards

Matt Lovell

Chilli chicken and avocado salad with Brazil nuts

Matt Lovell — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 11:28:01 +0000

Chilli chicken and avocado salad with Brazil nuts

Here’s areally tasty recipe, that’s quick easy and doesn’t require heaps of skill.

Matt

Serves 2

2 free-range chicken breasts, cut into strips
1 avocado, peeled and sliced
A handful of Brazil nuts, chopped
2 red chillies, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 limes, zest and juice
A handful of coriander leaves
4 spring onions, sliced
2 little gem lettuces, washed and shredded
Juice of 1 lemon
Sea salt and black pepper

Marinade the chicken strips with the lime zest and juice, chilli, and garlic for half an hour, then fry them in a hot pan with just a tbsp of coconut oil until cooked through.

Combine the lettuce, coriander, avocado, spring onions and Brazil nuts in a large bowl, and dress with lemon juice, salt and pepper.
Top with the hot chicken, including the pan juices, and serve immediately.

Sports Nutrition Breakfast Routine 5 Meals in 15 mins

Matt Lovell — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 13:06:35 +0000

This video been viewed over 31,000 times on You Tube, it’s essential viewing for anyone interested in healthy eating especially busy sports people. In it I demonstrate how you can create 5 meals in 15 minutes, it should be required viewing for all athletes so let your team mates know about it too.

Matt

Tags: mattlovell, sports nutrition meal, healthy meal planning, sports nutrition vlog

Natural Sports Nutrition – Sports Nutrition recipe Why cows should eat grass not eat cornflakes

Matt Lovell — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 23:56:43 +0000

Here’s part 2 of my sunday ritual, while the Roast Chickens are cooking lets get the weeks meals sorted out.
The important take-away from this sports nutrition recipe is to choose grass fed beef.

Natural Sports Nutrition
Uploaded by SportsNutritionVlog

Natural Sports Nutrition- Part 1 of a Sports Nutrition recipe

Matt Lovell — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 11:54:57 +0000

This is the first of a 4 part series where I take you through a Sunday ritual. Sunday is usually a recovery day so lets have a bit of a treat and replenish with some good nutrition.

Natural Sports Nutrition
Uploaded by SportsNutritionVlog