Find out a speedy dinner recipe that taste like you made an effort
We've officially hit peak 'what's for dinner?' fatigue. The average Brit now spends just 31 minutes making their evening meal – which, let's be honest, is roughly how long it takes to realise there's nothing in the fridge, panic-scroll for a recipe and then give up and eat toast.
It's a kale-laced chilli you can batch now and freeze for later. This kind of dish that make it look like you've got your life together – even when you absolutely do not.
Chicken and kale chilli
Serves: 4
Prep time: 15 mins | Cook time: 30 mins
Ingredients:
1 tbsp oil
1 leek, sliced
1 clove garlic, chopped
2 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp ground cumin
500g minced chicken
2 tbsp tomato puree
400g can chopped tomatoes
400g can black beans, drained and rinsed
250g bag kale
1 ripe avocado, diced
Soured cream and cooked rice to serve
Method:
1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan and fry the leek and garlic for 1 minute. Add the spices and then the minced chicken and fry until browned.
2. Add the tomato puree, chopped tomatoes along with ½ can of water and the beans. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, cook the kale in boiling water for 3-4 minutes, drain well then stir into the chilli. Season to taste.
4. Serve topped with avocado, a spoonful of soured cream on a bed of rice.
Recipe from
www.discovergreatveg.co.uk
The Independent
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Gulf Today
2 days ago
- Gulf Today
Find out a speedy dinner recipe that taste like you made an effort
We've officially hit peak 'what's for dinner?' fatigue. The average Brit now spends just 31 minutes making their evening meal – which, let's be honest, is roughly how long it takes to realise there's nothing in the fridge, panic-scroll for a recipe and then give up and eat toast. It's a kale-laced chilli you can batch now and freeze for later. This kind of dish that make it look like you've got your life together – even when you absolutely do not. Chicken and kale chilli Serves: 4 Prep time: 15 mins | Cook time: 30 mins Ingredients: 1 tbsp oil 1 leek, sliced 1 clove garlic, chopped 2 tsp chilli powder 1 tsp ground cumin 500g minced chicken 2 tbsp tomato puree 400g can chopped tomatoes 400g can black beans, drained and rinsed 250g bag kale 1 ripe avocado, diced Soured cream and cooked rice to serve Method: 1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan and fry the leek and garlic for 1 minute. Add the spices and then the minced chicken and fry until browned. 2. Add the tomato puree, chopped tomatoes along with ½ can of water and the beans. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes. 3. Meanwhile, cook the kale in boiling water for 3-4 minutes, drain well then stir into the chilli. Season to taste. 4. Serve topped with avocado, a spoonful of soured cream on a bed of rice. Recipe from The Independent
Gulf Today
13-05-2025
- Gulf Today
The reason why men are lifting weights more than ever
Ben Bryant, The Independent Paul Faulder is an enemy of cardio. 'It's a hangover from the Eighties,' he says. 'Cardio is dull as anything. I get bored out of my mind. For me, strength training feels like I'm building something that's going to last — whereas doing cardio just feels like burning fuel.' Some might find running appealingly meditative but for Faulder, there is nothing more mindful than perfecting the art of the incline dumbbell press. 'It is a real mindfulness-focused activity,' he explains. 'You pinch your shoulder blades back together. You point your elbows at 45 degrees. You start with the dumbbell over your wrists. Drive your heels through the floor. And now do your set. And by the end of it, you're adding the tempo of a one-second or three-second pause.' I am taking notes because Faulder is a gains guru. Only a few years ago, he was an 18-stone 'depressed Teletubby' with chronic pain. At the end of Covid-19, he decided to sign up with a personal trainer and fulfil a decades-old dream of becoming as jacked as Arnold Schwarzenegger in Conan the Barbarian. His pictures show that he has achieved his desire: four years on, he stands at six foot four with eight per cent body fat, and a body like a giant baggie of gleaming bronze conkers. 'The benefits it's brought me in business are just phenomenal,' he says. 'It's brought me a new level of mental clarity and focus. I've got loads of energy and people respond to that.' As the CEO of a tech company — Elixir software, which provides software to global pharmaceutical/biotech firms — Faulder has a demanding schedule. He has shaped his company in the image of his sculpted body: 'a lean, potent team that outperforms bloated, sluggish organisations.' And that includes requesting an unusual level of accountability for his board of directors. 'I've now got all my board having full blood panels,' he says. Wealthy businessmen used to be called fat cats for a reason: there was a time when men at the top of the status tree had a bulging waistline to match their wallets. These days, finance bros deadlift, wear slim-fit quarter-zips, idolise Patrick Bateman and post topless TikToks. Everywhere you look, male role models from neuroscientist Andrew Huberman and fitness influencer Chris Williamson to esteemed statistician Nassim Nicholas Taleb are extolling the benefits of lifting weights, and Gen Z is taking note. Record numbers of Britons are going to the gym, with a 'notable rise in the popularity of strength training', according to trade body UKActive. PureGym's annual statistical report found that a remarkable 89 per cent of 18- to 24-year-olds do some form of strengthening exercise every week. In 2022, ClassPass reported a 94 per cent increase in strength training class reservations compared to the previous year. 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Rare gene mutation lets some people thrive on just 4 hours of sleep
Scientists have discovered a rare genetic mutation that lets some people thrive with just four hours of daily slumber, an advance that could lead to new therapies to induce better sleep and rest. Doctors recommend at least seven to nine hours of bedtime each night, with sleep deprivation linked to early onset of conditions like Alzheimer's and heart disease. However, people with this rare mutation tend to feel fully rested after only four to six hours of sleep each night, without showing any of the adverse effects linked to chronic sleep loss. Such people have less need for sleep, as measured using the low-frequency Delta brain waves on EEG scans, and may also feel 'worse' if they sleep more, say researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Until now, four genes have been linked to such a natural short sleep, or NSS, in people. Previous studies have revealed that a phosphate molecule exchange process at the junction of two connecting nerve cells plays a critical role in the sleep-wake cycle. Researchers have now found that a mutation in people with NSS, within the gene salt-induced kinase 3 (SIK3), also plays a key role in human sleep duration. A mutation called N783Y was found to alter the SIK3 protein's structure, hindering its ability to engage in the phosphate molecule transfer process. In this mutation, the asparagine (N) amino acid in the SIK3 protein's 783rd protein building block position is replaced by the molecule tyrosine (Y). When scientists created mice with this N783Y mutation, the mutant mice were found to sleep an average of 30 minutes less each night, compared with unaltered mice. Further analysis confirmed that the mutation caused structural changes affecting the protein's ability to transfer key phosphate molecules to other proteins. The mutation did not seem to affect the levels of proteins in the mice, indicating that the sleep duration changes are linked to altered SIK3 activity and not to protein quantity within the rodents. It also led to a slight increase in EEG delta power, indicating that people with the mutation experience more deep sleep. With the study, scientists have confirmed the critical role played by the SIK3 gene in regulating human sleep duration, indicating it could be a promising target for sleep drugs. They hope to conduct further studies to gain more insight into how some enzymes linked to the process regulate sleep. The research may lead to potential new drug targets to improve sleep, researchers say. 'These findings advance our understanding of the genetic underpinnings of sleep,' scientists wrote, adding that it provides 'further support for potential therapeutic strategies to enhance sleep efficiency'. The Independent
