The Midlife Kitchen: Delicious Recipes for Perimenopause and Menopause

“No fads. No gimmicks. Just delicious, health boosting food.” — Daily Mail

As featured in The Times and The Daily Mail

This updated edition, revised by the authors and an expert nutritionist, reflects the latest research and guidance on nutrition for midlife health.

If you have reached a stage where health feels like more of a priority, the perimenopause and menopause years offer the perfect moment to reassess what you eat. Midlife is a time to take back control of your diet in the interests of long term health, happiness and vitality.

That is exactly what The Midlife Kitchen is about: celebrating beautiful, wholesome ingredients in the most satisfying ways to help you thrive through your forties, fifties and beyond. Mimi Spencer and Sam Rice share more than 150 recipes designed to restore, rejuvenate and revive, all with flavour at the forefront.

For busy lives, the recipes are simple and sustaining, using nourishing ingredients without unnecessary fuss. Each one features Mimi and Sam’s signature colour coded star anise system, which highlights the specific health benefits of every dish, making it easier than ever to eat well and feel your best.

Midlife Kitchen: Health-boosting recipes for midlife & beyond by Mimi Spencer and Sam Rice is available at Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk and Indigo.ca.

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Pot-Roast Chicken with Lentils, Parsley, Sage, Rosemary & Thyme

Why We Love It
This is one-pot Midlife cooking at its best: lean protein, slow-burn carbs, herby flavour and only one pan to wash up. Make it your new Sunday roast and you can pop it in the oven, play a game of tennis or tiddlywinks, and come back to a complete family meal. Job done.

Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp vegetable oil

• 2 onions, diced

• 4 garlic cloves, peeled and halved

• 2 rosemary sprigs, leaves picked and chopped

• 225 g (8 oz) red lentils, rinsed

• A handful of thyme sprigs, tied with string

• 5 sage leaves

• 750 ml (1¼ pints) chicken stock, plus extra if needed

• Juice of 1 lemon (keep the squeezed halves)

• 1 medium free-range chicken, about 1.5–1.8 kg (3 lb 5 oz–4 lb)

• 2 tsp butter, softened

• Sea salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper

• A handful of flat-leaf parsley, chopped

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F), Gas Mark 4.

2. Heat the oil in a large casserole dish, add the onions and cook over a medium heat until softened.

3. Add the garlic and rosemary and cook for 3 minutes more. Stir in the lentils, thyme, sage leaves and stock. Add the lemon juice and the squeezed lemon halves.

4. Rub the chicken with the butter and season well. Nestle it into the lentil mixture and bring to a simmer. Transfer to the oven and bake, uncovered, for 1 hour 15 minutes until golden and the juices run clear when the thickest part of the thigh is pierced.

5. Check occasionally that the lentils are not too dry; if they are, add a little more stock or boiling water and stir. Remove the chicken and let it rest.

6. Check the lentils for seasoning, discard the lemon halves, stir in any caramelised bits from the sides of the dish and finish with chopped parsley.

7. Carve the chicken and serve with the lentils.

Midlife Hack
If you want greens with this, try oven-baked kale. Spread sliced kale in a roasting tin, drizzle with a little olive oil and scatter with sea salt flakes. Roast for about 15 minutes before the chicken comes out of the oven.

Health Tip
Herbs add deep flavour without relying on salt, sugar or fat. Using a variety of herbs in your cooking also boosts your intake of plant foods.

Recipe published with permission from Mithcell Beazley.