My late husband Peter was a great cook. We did a programme on TV once. I love food, but I have to watch what I eat now.
Chicken leg and thigh: I have it roasted. I like the leg but not the breast — my dad always ate that. I make chicken soup with the wings.
Baked potato: With the skin, of course, all mushed up with butter or marge. I have it with my chicken. I usually microwave them.
Salmon: It’s my favourite, I always steam it. I like it with a sauce or just a lump of butter.
Eggs: In any form — hard-boiled, poached scrambled. You can’t go wrong with an egg.
Greek yoghurt with Greek cherries: I get this from M&S. If I could just have one item, this would be it. I used to have yoghurt every day for breakfast.
Greek yoghurt is generally made from full-fat milk with added cream, so choose the lowest-fat versions. Yoghurt is a good source of calcium. Potatoes and other starchy carbohydrates will indeed become “fattening” if you add fat or eat very large amounts, but they also provide energy, fibre, vitamins and minerals, and should be included in some form at every meal.
Moisten baked potatoes with milk instead of fat and eat the skin for its fibre. Baked sweet potatoes are rich in heart-protective anti-oxidants. Although eggs contain naturally occurring dietary cholesterol, they do not tend to raise increase blood cholesterol levels as much as foods high in saturated fat.
Young children, pregnant and nursing women, and elderly people should avoid eating lightly cooked or raw eggs because of the risk of salmonella. Chicken, eaten without the skin to reduce fat intake, and salmon with its omega-3 fatty acids are both healthy protein choices.
Thelma Ruby’s website is at www.thelmaruby.com