Recipe | Good morning pizza

Start the day with a breakfast worth lingering over

Serves 2
Readymade pizza dough, halved to form 2 circles
2 eggs
Baby spinach
Grated cheddar or mozzarella
Pine nuts

1 Preheat oven to 220C/Fan 200C/ 425F. Spread about 4 tbsp grated cheese over each base. Top with roughly chopped baby spinach leaves making a slight ‘nest’ in the centre.
2 Carefully break an egg in the centre. Sprinkle the pine nuts around the egg.
3 Bake for 15 mins, or until the base is brown and crisp and the egg has set. Season with sea salt and freshly ground pepper, and serve. 

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Recipe | Spinach and lemon bars

News just in: you can get your greens from eating cake. No, really. Cake that tastes nice. These lemon-curd filled bars get their green stripe with the addition of spinach to the shortbread base. Almost virtuous!

SPINACH AND LEMON BARS
Makes 16
75g spinach leaves
75g unsalted butter, softened, plus extra for greasing
2 tbsp caster sugar, plus extra to finish
115g plain flour
FOR THE FILLING
4 large free-range eggs
200g granulated sugar
150ml lemon juice (from about 4 lemons) 
3 tbsp lemon zest
40g plain flour
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp icing sugar, to serve

1 Preheat oven to 180C/Fan 160C/350F. Grease and line a 20cm square baking tin. 
2 Wilt the spinach in a pan with a small amount of boiling water, then run under cold water to refresh, before squeezing out the moisture. Purée with a hand blender until smooth.
3 In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar together with an electric mixer until smooth, but not too fluffy and aerated. Add the spinach pureé and beat well. Sift in the flour and mix gently.
4 Pour the mixture into the prepared pan, spread to the edges and press down firmly with the back of a damp spoon. Be sure that the mixture goes right into all the edges and there aren’t any holes. Bake for 25 mins, or until the edges begin to turn golden.
5 Meanwhile, make the lemon filling by whisking the eggs and sugar in a saucepan until well combined, then add the lemon juice and zest and gently whisk until completely incorporated. Gradually sift in the flour, whisking gently to combine, and add the butter. Heat the mixture, stirring constantly, until thickened and the butter has melted.
6 Spoon the mixture over the warm crust, spread evenly to the edges and bake for 25 mins, or until the edges begin to turn golden. The filling will firm up as it cools. Leave to cool completely in the pan, then dust with the icing sugar and cut into squares to serve.

Recipe and photography from Veggie Desserts + Cakes by Kate Hackworthy (Pavilion)
 

Cake in the House is our monthly recipe feature - get a cake recipe every month in The Simple Things!

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How to create a personal almanac

In January, we look forward and our diaries become our close companions. But, poised between two years, it’s also a time to look back, and diaries, journals and almanacs are also a tool for reflection. As we turn the first page of a new year, we explore their history, purpose and what they mean to us on page 80 of January's The Simple Things.

How to create a personal almanac

Cover your own local area, festivities and personal celebrations, and use it as a guide through your own year. Buy a notebook, mark out the months and divide it into topics that interest you, perhaps...

1 Look up dates for local festivities and fetes and mark them in their correct month in your almanac. Add family birthdays, personal traditions and anniversaries.

2 Are there recipes that you revisit every year? A special birthday cake recipe? Your mum’s twist on marmalade? Even a recipe from a cookbook that you return to again and again for a summer barbecue or an autumnal dinner. Pop it in so that it is easy to find.

3 Moon phases, and moon and sun rises and sets will vary – if only by minutes – by area. Find yours. A great source is timeanddate.com.

4 Leave space to note the flowering of bluebells in your local woods, the arrival of the swifts, and the first touches of autumn on the trees.    

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How to travel like a twentysomething

Embracing travel as a mindful, life-enhancing activity means recapturing a bit of the adventurous spirit of youth. In January's The Simple Things, Erin Spens (founder and editor of BOAT magazine) shares her travel secrets 

How to travel like a twentysomething (sort of)

Erin’s ways to make grown-up backpacking a little easier

• Ditch the wheelie bag and dig out the backpack. I’m not saying you have to stay in a hostel (though you’ll socialise more and pay less), but there’s no denying: the lighter your bag, the longer your days feel.
• Pack light, then cut that in half. It’s hard to be in the moment when your bag is digging into your shoulder.
• Try not to plan, at least not every minute of every day. Leave some time to wander. You’ll see a different side to a place this way. l Book accommodation that you’re comfortable in. If it’s a challenge to show up to a new place without all the details planned, I’d let where you stay be your respite from days with less structure than you’re used to.
• Bring a towel. More than anything else, it’s changed the way I travel. I have a thin Turkish hammam-style towel that packs up super small and can be used for anything – wiping things down, as a blanket or a bunched-up pillow on a bus, to wrap things in when you pack, or to take to the beach.
• To cut down on packing, I simplify my skin and hair care by replacing practically everything with coconut oil. It can remove make-up, moisturise, serve as shaving gel, condition wet hair...
• Take just one book. I have only recently become more realistic about how much I actually read when I’m travelling.
• Set a goal for phone time. I actually feel less stressed when I am away if I allow myself to check and respond to emails every so often. Do whatever works best for you, but have a loose plan so you don’t end up down an Instagram hole in the middle of a beautiful foreign city.
• And finally: be totally and utterly present. Breathe deeply. Walk slowly. Take pictures. Listen more and talk less. Look up.

Turn to page 81 of January's The Simple Things for more of Erin's advice.
 

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Wellbeing | Good mood food

Bouts of depression prompted journalist Rachel Kelly to explore the relationship between mood and food. 

A healthy eating book that says we should eat more food. That sounds like the sort of healthy eating book that we’d all love to read. Especially when one of the foods it suggests we eat more of is dark chocolate. Its author, Times journalist turned mental health advocate Rachel Kelly, includes dark chocolate as one of her top three “good mood foods” alongside oily fish and green leafy vegetables. “We’ve got so used to hearing that certain foods are ‘bad’ and that we ‘shouldn’t’ eat things,” she says. “But food is your friend and food is on your side.”

Harnessing the nutritional power of food to boost mental wellbeing is at the heart of The Happy Kitchen, the book Rachel co-authored with her nutritional therapist Alice Mackintosh. Five years in the making, the book is her way of sharing the knowledge she has gained during her recovery from severe mental illness.

Turn to page 32 of January's The Simple Things to read more on Rachel, Alice and their work together, and download the Mood Food Checklist to ensure you're eating enough good mood foods. 

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She believed she could so she did

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How to hold a Wassail

Singing to apple trees to encourage a bountiful harvest is making a comeback. Look out for a wassail in an orchard or allotment near you

For many of us, Twelfth Night signifies little more than the deadline for taking down the Christmas decorations. For others, however, it’s an occasion to pull on the wellies, head out into the cold and wake the fruit trees from their winter slumber through songs, offerings and some cider-fuelled revelry. In orchards and allotments across the country, the ancient tradition of wassailing is making an unexpected comeback.

Hold your own wassail

Traditionally, the wassail takes place on Twelfth Night – either 5, 6 or 17* January, but modern versions can take place at any point between these dates.

A back garden can work just as well as an orchard. 

Torches, wellies and warm coats are a must.

Involve the kids. Deck them out with face paint, feathers and foliage and they can lead the parade as the wassail King or Queen. 

Ensure there’s a generous supply of mulled cider as well as juice for little ones, and encourage participants to bring snacks, such as home-baked apple muffins, to share with the group. 

Drive out evil spirits by banging pots and pans together before serenading the tree with a wassail song.

* 17 January is Twelfth Night, or ‘Old Twelvey’, following the pre-Gregorian calendar.

More on Wassails in the January issue - turn to page 116.

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How to embrace change

Change happens to us all, it’s how we deal with it that matters

• Set reasonable expectations and you’ll be better able to manage change and cope with disappointment.
• Instead of resisting, allow change to unfold and try to understand what’s transforming and why.
• Notice the change in nature and how it can be a wonderful thing.
• Learn to live with uncertainty. It’s necessary sometimes, if you want to move forward.
• Remember that when you accept and learn from change, you inevitably grow stronger. 

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Nest | Soak in a spruce needle bath

Don’t throw away your Christmas tree clippings. Spruce needles are an invigorating natural remedy, great for clearing the head. If you feel a cold coming on or are simply exhausted, have a bath with this spruce tree essence and let the scent of a forest work its magic

You will need:

3 fresh twigs from a spruce tree, washed
1 litre water

1 Cut the spruce twigs into small pieces, place them in a saucepan and add the water. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes.
2 Now remove the pan from the heat, cover with a cloth, and let the solution of twigs infuse for another 10 minutes while you run your bath.
3 Strain and add the solution to your bath. Relax in the bath for 20 minutes, breathing in deeply and taking in all the wonderful forest scents.
4 Go to bed immediately and rest!

From Vinegar Socks, Traditional Home Remedies for Modern Living by Karin Berndl and Nici Hofer

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A could-do list for January

Things you might want to do this month (no pressure!)

• Have a digi-break from 8pm onwards
• Give somebody you love a big hug
• Make looking after yourself your number one resolution
• Spend all day in your pyjamas
• Try cooking with a new ingredient each week
• Relish the time to ponder new beginnings

What would you add? Come over and tell us on Facebook or Twitter. 

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Recipe | Bay and lemon wrapped salmon

Fish baked with lemon and bay makes a simple supper

Use bay to protect delicate salmon from the heat of the oven, and to infuse it with its fragrant notes.

Serves 2
2 salmon steaks
2 bay leaves
1–2 lemons, thinly sliced (you’ll need 8 slices)

Preheat oven to 200C/Fan 180C/ 400F. Lay each piece of salmon on a piece of baking parchment, around 25cm square. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and then lay on bay leaves and lemon slices alternately and drizzle with a little olive oil. Fold the paper around each piece of fish and tie with string, then place on a baking tray and bake for 25 mins. Serve hot alongside a salad or with salad potatoes and green veg.

Turn to page 37 of January's The Simple Things for more bay recipes. 

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Dry but not dull alternatives to alcohol

There was a time when, if you went out with a group of friends and turned down an alcoholic drink, people would assume you were either pregnant, driving or just weird. Nowadays there are likely to be at least a couple of people not drinking, maybe for that night or week, or just as long as they feel like it. On page 44 of January's The Simple Things we share the secrets of going dry. 

If you're after a dry but not dull alternative to booze, try one of these ideas:

Seedlip
The first alcohol-free spirit comes in two flavours – spice (wintry and smoky), and garden (savoury and herby). Drink with tonic or in a cocktail. From Ocado and Tesco. 

Kombucha is fermented tea in a slightly tart sparkling drink a bit like cider. Real Kombucha contains only natural ingredients and no added sugar; realkombucha.co.uk. 

Crodino Bitter
Aperitif from the company behind Campari, great for making an alcohol-free Apérol Spritz.

Big Drop makes a stout, pale and spiced ales, with no artificial extraction methods used. bigdropbrew.com. 

Lager lovers should try Heineken 0.0, Estrella Damm Free and Big Drop Nix Lager. 

Cold-brew and nitro-coffee are big trends for this year. They are brewed cold to create a sweeter, less bitter taste and the latter is infused with nitrogen to create a silky coffee with a foamy head.

Try drydrinker.com for more ideas. They can also create taster packs.

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Wish | January cover reveal

When you wish upon a star, it’s more out of hope than belief. And the new year is just the time for this kind of optimism. The crisp pages of a new journal are the place for a could-do list or the beginnings of a project. But acknowledge the darkness and still-short days too. Midwinter is also a time for thinking and reflecting, for sleeping deeply, rather than doing and achieving. Feed your body and your mind now as nourishment to see you through to spring. Daydream in a cosy corner and the world will seem a warmer place.

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Journal sparks

Longitudinal journal challenge

‘Longitudinal’ means you will make it a habit to look at the same thing every so often over a long time. The key is to find something that changes in some way – whether very gradually, daily, or weekly. You don’t have to track it every

day or even particularly regularly. Just be sure to continue to observe it, and try to remember to record your observations in the same journal or section of a journal. This way you can see how the thing is changing and how your observations evolve.

Things you could observe:

A tree
Your desk
Someone’s shoes
A lake or river
A chalkboard
A bookshelf
A storefront window
A garden
A street bench
The dinner table
The sky at night
An anthill

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Growing old is inevitable but growing up is optional

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Seasonal tonic

Make a batch of these immune-boosting shots to prevent a cold from ruining your Christmas

Opt for fresh, organic produce to maximise benefits – and if one ingredient is unavailable, just double up one of the others.

Makes 6 x 50ml shots
2 tbsp chopped garlic
2 tbsp chopped onion
2 tbsp grated fresh ginger
2 tbsp grated horseradish root
2 tbsp chopped cayenne pepper (or any other chilli)
350ml raw apple cider vinegar

1 Pile the garlic, onion, ginger, horseradish and pepper into a 350ml lidded sterilised jar. (To sterilise, wash it in hot soapy water, dry with a clean cloth, then place in a 200C/Fan 180C/ 400F oven for 10 mins.)
Fill the jar with raw apple cider vinegar, close the lid tightly and shake.
2 Store in a cool, dark place, shaking at least once a day for two weeks.
3 Filter the tonic through a clean piece of muslin, pour into a sterilised bottle. Take a 50ml shot three times a day (on an empty stomach) as soon as you feel the symptoms of a cold. It will keep at room temperature for up to six months.

Recipe from Tonics & Teas by Rachel de Thample (Kyle Books)

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Travel | The other Algarve

Explore the quiet side of south-west Portugal with Inntravel

The Algarve’s more obvious attractions are well known: sun, sea and sandcastles, villas with pools and water parks galore. And while there’s nothing wrong with these, Inntravel, the Slow Holiday people, take a different approach to this beguiling corner of southwesternmost Europe. They get well off the beaten track, and use footpaths – and some wonderful places to stay – to help you discover some of Portugal’s lesser-spotted delights.

COAST OF MANY COLOURS

Inntravel are the UK’s leading provider of self-guided walking holidays. Their hotel-to-hotel route, A Coast of Many Colours, takes you across the Algarve - from its honeyed, southern coast through an agricultural heartland to the wilder, western shores - and is one of the most enticing in their entire collection.

A world away from the region’s busy resorts, you can discover for yourself the unspoiled landscapes of the Costa Vicentina Natural Park, characterised by dramatic cliffs, pristine coves and quiet, rolling pastures. The colours are many and varied: long stretches of golden sand give way to grey-and-red jagged rocks before softening to a paler orange and rose as the coastal edge turns northwards.

Inland, the green hills are home to drifts of winter blossom, plantations of quince and oranges, and flower meadows carpeted with citrus-yellow Bermuda buttercups. It all feels delightfully remote.

FROM RUINS TO RETREAT

When he first set eyes on the village of Aldeia da Pedralva, visionary developer António Ferreira saw past the deserted houses, decaying walls and neglected streets... “I discovered Aldeia da Pedralva when I was looking for a holiday house. I worked in advertising, which was very stressful. I felt tired and my health wasn’t brilliant, so I thought that renovating a holiday home would be a good project to distract me. A colleague told me to go and see Aldeia da Pedralva, an oldrural village in ruins, where he had already bought a house to rebuild.

“I went there with my wife and we instantly fell in love with the place, so much so that we actually bought three houses. It made me look at the village from a different perspective and made me realise that there must be other workaholic people like me who need to disconnect from the real world. Pedralva (pictured above) was the perfect place to make this happen – a tourist project based around nature, detoxing – and surfing. Pedralva lies in the ‘other’ Algarve, part of a Natural Park with amazing wildlife, landscapes and wild beaches. It’s a place where you really feel that time has stopped.”

Today, António’s dream has become a reality, though it remains fundamentally a traditional place at heart – the houses are simply furnished in keeping with the spirit of the original village. Thanks to the vision, passion and tireless work of one man, Aldeia da Pedralva is alive once more...

SEE FOR YOURSELF...

Choose Inntravel’s walking holiday, A Coast of Many Colours (including a night in Pedralva), to discover the Algarve’s ‘quiet side’. From £670pp, inc 7 nights’ B&B,

4 dinners, 3 picnics & detailed route notes. Until 31 May 2018. Visit inntravel.co.uk or call 01653 617000; visitalgarve.pt.

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Christmas hacks | Style up shop-bought stuffing

Style up shop-bought stuffing for an extra special side dish this Christmas

1. Heat a couple of tablespoons olive oil in a frying pan.
2. Add a chopped onion and stir until softened.
3. Add stock and bring to the boil (you’ll need roughly three-quarters stock to stuffing mix quantity).
4. Take off heat and add to stuffing mix.
5. Stir in a few tablespoons of herbs of your choice, such as parsley or rosemary.
6. Spoon out the mixture into a shallow tin and cook for 20 mins with foil on, and another 10 without it.

The December issue features a cracker of a Miscellany Christmas special (page 99), packed with puzzles, games, stocking fillers, bad jokes, amazing facts and forgotten wisdom, including:

• Mix a great martini 

• Secret Santa gifts

• Make sweet frumenty 

• Christmas i-spy

• How to carve turkey 

• Fizzy amaretto sours 

• Make invisible ink

• Froebel stars

• Wrapping awkward gifts 

• Beat the family at games

• The Simple Things’ sprouts & crackers board game

• Identifier: Bestseller toys 

• Bah humbug word search

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Sponsored | Christmas cocktail recipe ideas

The weekend before Christmas is classic party season. If you're hosting friends over Christmas and New Year, stock up the drinks trolley and get those cocktail shakers pumping. Try one of these recipes to really get your party going with a bang.

Cherry Spritz

50ml English Rose Gin
150ml Fever Tree Naturally Light Tonic Water
15ml (approx 2 bar spoons) Maraschino Cherry Syrup

Build and stir over ice in a tall glass. Twist of lime peel and one maraschino cherry dropped in.

Whitley Neill Christmas Crumble Collins

50ml Whitley Neill Rhubarb & Ginger
50ml Cloudy apple Juice
10ml Fresh Lemon Juice
10ml Cinnamon Syrup
50ml Ginger Beer

Add all ingredients to a long glass along with cubed ice. Stir and garnish with a cinnamon stick and lemon wheel

Espresso Martini

50ml FAIR Vodka
35ml FAIR Cafe
One shot of espresso

Pour ingredients into a cocktail shaker. Top up with ice and shake. Pour directly into a chilled martini glass.

Whitley Neill Clementine Negroni

25ml Whitley Neill Gin
25ml Campari
25ml Italian Vermouth
25ml Fresh clementine juice

Add all ingredients to a rocks glass, along with cubed ice, and stir well. Garnish with a slice of fresh clementine

Aviation

40ml Silent Pool Gin
20ml Maraschino Liqueur
20ml Freshly squeezed Lemon Juice
2.5ml Crème De violette

Shake and Strain into a chilled cocktail glass

Recipes courtesy of:

FAIR 

Whitley Neill

Silent Pool

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Christmas | How to be grateful

Being grateful is about more than the occasional thanks. It’s an attitude that helps you feel contented in even the most challenging of times 

As gratitude has become more mainstream, the ways to practise it have become more varied. Writing down gratitudes is crucial, as the act of putting pen to paper fixes the gratitude more firmly in your long-term memory rather than simply thinking or saying it, and regular practice is where the benefits lie.

TOOLS FOR THE JOB

Write in a journal
If you like any excuse for new stationery there are a several gratitude journals. Try the Year Long Gratitude Journal (thegreengables.co.uk), The Daily Greatness Journal (dailygreatness.co.uk), a planner that helps you to organise your entire life and features gratitude prompts. Or Be Great Be Grateful, by Anna Murray and Grace Winteringham of design studio, Patternity, is a journal which encourages you to see the unseen in everyday life.

Send a letter
Robert Emmons found that writing letters expressing how thankful you are had a strong positive impact not only on the writer but also the person receiving the letter.
The Personalised Letters of Gratitude to Mum envelope book (andsotheymade.co.uk) makes a great gift. Little Notes of Gratitude Notecard Set (wearebreadandjam.co.uk) contains appreciative messages as well as space to add your own.

Do it digitally
What’s Good is a daily gratitude app that tracks your happiness over time and has a calming breath animation. Then there’s the Happijar app, a virtual jar where you store happy memories, ready to shake up, tip out and revisit on your phone, whenever you need a lift.

Take a snap
If writing it down doesn’t appeal, take pictures of things you’re grateful for. If you’d like to share, there are several gratitude hashtags #capturinggratitude #thisjoyfulmoment, #thehappynow and #savouringhappiness.

Turn to page 86 of December's The Simple Things for more on why saying thank you matters.

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