Eating pud and feeling good!

Sometimes, chicken and veg just doesn’t cut it. Sometimes, you need something to finish a meal off. And there really is nothing better than a nice warming, hearty, apple crumble.

Now this is my healthified version, but by no means should it be eaten every day. When it comes to desserts, making them healthy all comes down to the ingredients. If you are one of these who hates “new” ingredients and won’t step foot into a health food store look away now. (In this particular recipe there is only one ingredient that requires sourcing from somewhere other than a supermarket. Although, by now I bet the really big ones do stock coconut sugar.)

I chopped up two cooking apples into bite size chunks and put them in a pan with a splash of water, literally a splash, you don’t want over gooey apples. When they were softening slightly I sprinkled over a little bit of coconut sugar and a squeeze of honey. Then I let it all cook and caramelise and get yummy.

It is also worth mentioning at this point that I did extra so that I had this delicious apple mixture as an extra topping for my yoghurt in the morning  - so worth it!

Once this cooked I distributed it into to little ramekins. My top tip here is to serve it in individual ramekins for portion control. By serving it this way, you can’t make too much and then go back for a second serving. :( Yey for waistline nay for taste buds. 

 

While the apple mixture was cooling I combined some oats, with a small amount of butter – this is why it isn’t 100% “clean” – some coconut sugar and lots of cinnamon. I pressed it all together in my fingers until it was just about combined and then sprinkled it evenly over the apple mixture.

Then I just baked it in a 180 degree oven for 20 mins. We were so excited that I totally forgot to get a photo of the finished product but I guess that just gives me an excuse to make it again. :) 

For the full recipe visit my recipes page

Homemade fish tacos - Friday night feast

This is one of my favourite recipes! It is a "taco" so it feels naughty, however, it is anything but. It is also a feast and if you serve it the way I did, it feels more indulgent as you grab at ingredients to stuff your home made tortilla so it's bursting with flavour!

First thing's first, make the tortilla. This is sooo easy I don't know why more people don't do it.
You need 100g of flour - use whatever healthy flour you have, I used a mixture of brown and rye as that's what I had in.

Mix the flour with around 60ml of water. Add it slowly as all flour is different, sometimes it may need more, sometimes a little less. Use your judgement to get a nice firm dough. Let it rest for 10 minutes and make yourself busy.

Now roll the dough out, this makes four for me so split it into quarters. I'm not that good at getting a super thin dough but roll it out as thin as you can and then slap it on a dry non stick pan

Can you see the bubbles?

Caution! Do not leave unattended. These tortillas cook soooo quickly. As soon as it starts to puff up, flip it over. This will only take a minute or two. 

Now clean up the floury mess before the other half comes in a shouts at you for leaving footprints all over the floor *flashbacks*.

Chop up your chosen fish, I would recommend haddock, it is cheap, sustainable and is filled with seven essential vitamins and minerals. Chop up your peppers - by choosing different colours you are getting even more vitamins. I also grilled spring onions whole to give them a sweetness and a char that is delicious. 

Whilst chopping I also diced the chilli, lime and coriander for the dressing. The next step is to cook it all. Just whack it all in one pan to save on washing up! 

While this is all sizzling away, it's time to make the dressing. This time I wanted a nice fresh and light tasting sauce so I took my greek yoghurt and mixed it right in the pot, (this is what real home cooking looks like).

Grate the zest of one lime into the yoghurt, squeeze the juice from half the lime in, chop some chilli and throw it in, as much or as little as you like and then add coriander or other herb of choice. Coriander is my fav!

Once everything is cooked put it on plates for everyone to help themselves like so...

Squeeze over extra lime and voila! Enjoy x

For full recipe details go to my Recipes page

A day in food

I have a few staple healthy meals so I thought I would share another trio of recipes.

These three dishes encompass a day of food in our household. Monday tends to be egg night so I have a few eggy recipes in my arsenal as they are quick, healthy and yummy. This particular one can also be served at breakfast or lunch and as it is such a popular choice between myself and Matt, it made the cut for this post.

There isn't a carbohydrate in the image but this dish needs one to compliment it really, a nice slice of wholegrain toast sat under this is perfect. We had a crumpet with it recently as that is what we had left over. But that's just another example of how flexible healthy eating can be.

The Stages of the Egg

These eggs are cooked in a yummy tomato base made up of with whatever you like really. Usually, I start with garlic and onions and throw in whatever veg we have, spinach and mushrooms is great and then tip in chopped tomatoes. I added a chopped up rasher of bacon too recently which was left over. As mentioned, this is such a flexible and versatile dish, you can make it your own!

Make some wells in the sauce and crack in some eggs, give them five minutes to cook through and bob's your uncle. I have to say, it may be yummy but certainly it isn't the prettiest dish to photograph.

I love salads. I hate when people perceive salads as the bog standard lettuce, tomato and cucumber -boring! I experiment with different ingredients and new recipes all the time. It isn't hard and doesn't take up any more time then any other lunch prep would. Often you can make enough to last a few days too.

This (almost) raw Pad Thai salad is one of my latest creations. I draw inspiration from various cook books such as Get the Glow (the most recent edition to my collection) and Jamie's Superfood (my current favourite) and make my own versions of salads based on something I see in other places.

Almost Raw Pad Thai

The Pad Thai combines wholewheat rice noodles with finely sliced veggies. Just choose your favourite it's easy! Then simply make a dressing, this had lots of lime juice, tahini and soy sauce. Ooze it over the salad and let the flavours come together. Yum.

All  ingredients and the final result of the overnight oats (including in a to go tub)

Overnight oats are one of our favourite breakfasts, perfect for those with a busy lifestyle who need a grab and go breaky. The best part is, it takes a matter of minutes to prepare the night before, and if you want you can prepare two days worth.

All you need is a banana, mash it up, mix it with oats and milk and let it soak over night. I often include other soft fruits, mainly berries when mashing up the banana. It is so tasty and if you have a sweet tooth (like me) add some extra honey into it too.

Then, when you wake up, grab it out of the fridge and eat it. Hey Presto!

I will put the full recipes up on my page here in the next couple of days.

Happy eating! <3

A trio of top recipes

I realise I have been very sparse with providing my latest recipes on here recently.

So to make up for it, here are three of my favourite from the last couple of weeks - maybe give them a try this bank holiday?

The absolute best in my opinion and one that will become a regular mid week supper is stuffed peppers.

Now who doesn't like a stuffed pepper? But I have to admit, it took me a long time to master the recipe. It sounds easy enough to make but as it is such a simple concept it is important to get the flavour.

I also found a fast way to make the creation.

I hollowed out the peppers and then put the lids back on. I put them in the over in a little tin foil chair so they didn't fall over and just baked at 180 degrees whilst I prepared everything else.

Make up some cous cous and flavour it how you prefer. I had mushroom cous cous. Whilst that is soaking fry off some onion and turkey mince. I added in some oregano. (I think fresh oregano is too strong but I loved the dried stuff and it is a match made in heaven with turkey). Once it was all cooked I mixed the turkey mixture with the cous cous and cooked spinach for added benefits and then stuffed the peppers.

I left them in the oven for a further 10 minutes to make sure everything was cooked through and hot. It also lets the flavours combine. Then serve with salad. Yum!


This next dinner is a rarity as my other half hates courgettes so I take the opportunity when he is away to have this super healthy tea.

Spiralize your courgettes. They can be eaten raw or cooked slightly but I recommend keeping some crunch in them or they become a bit watery.

For a sauce I blended an avocado with half a sachet of creamed coconut. It was a very luxurious and tasty sauce. Just season it to your liking and add some lemon juice. The coconut was a new twist I hadn't done before but I had some left over so I gave it a go and now i'll never look back.

I fried some onions for some lovely texture, added the sauce and courgetti to warm it all through and served with a couple of poached eggs on top. When the luscious yolk runs into the courgetti it is heaven.

My third creation, and one I am currently eating is an adaptation of lots of recipes for protein balls. I see them all the time and wanted to give this type a go. I have made some before but these were easier and so good!

In a blender I whizzed together some peanut butter, unflavoured protein powder, vanilla essence and honey.

Once it all came together in a crumbly consistency I scooped some out and rolled it into a ball. I did this 12 times and let the balls cool.

I then melted some chocolate with some coconut oil and dipped the balls into the choccy mix. One lesson I learnt was to keep the balls separate and in the fridge to set. As you can see from the below image they look a bit messy when they have been stuck together. Lesson learnt!

Once they set they have kept in the fridge for two weeks now (it has killed me trying not to binge on them) and they are a great healthy, on the go snack!

The nobbly bits give off the 'homemade vibe' or so I tell myself

Find all these recipes on my recipe page soon.

This week's healthy feasts

Vegetarian Mexican casserole,
Avocado, rice cake and poached egg,

Banana cookies

This week I have embarked on a culinary experiment.

I eat meat but I do love having a few days without it as it can be a bit heavy on my stomach. I have also been having trouble with my stomach lately and I suspect it is a wheat or gluten intolerance.

So I have tried a couple of new healthy recipes to try and get my tummy happy again. (Apologies about my sloppy presentation and photographs).


Guacamole and poached egg on rice cakes: 

The avocado, rice cake and poached egg is pretty straight forward and came from me having half an hour to rush a lunch using the few ingredients I had in.

So these new buckwheat rice cakes are brilliant. Only 29 calories and full of healthy seeds.

I love avocado, it is rich and creamy and full of healthy fats, it was a no brainer really - the guacamole and rice cakes would be a match made in heaven. But I needed more. It had to be more substantial to keep me going for the rest of the afternoon. My go to protein is eggs and I love poached egg.
Essentially I made my own healthy version of egg on toast. I upped the benefits by using super foods.

It was really delicious and will be a regular meal in future.

Banana cookies

These banana cookies were delicious and satisfied my sugar cravings. You only need three ingredients and they take 20 minutes to make.

Mash or blend two medium bananas to make a smooth paste, mix in a cup of oats and a quarter of a cup of chocolate chips - or dried fruit if you prefer. Scoop out onto a baking tray, (it made about 12 for me) and bake at 180 degrees for 10-12 minutes.

Then enjoy!

Mexican casserole

Now this was something special. As someone who loves Mexican food and peppers this was perfect. I made it for friends and it served six so I had two portions left over for the next day.

I fried a load of peppers and onions in a pan, added some sweetcorn once the peppers had softened and sprinkled everything with chili powder and cumin.

Then I mashed up a tin of mixed beans and pulses with a bit of water to loosen them and made some enchilada sauce.

I used whole wheat tortilla strips and layered all the ingredients in a baking dish. Popped it in the over with some cheese on the top for 20 minutes and viola - a stunning dinner.
My boyfriend didn't even miss the meat!

Enjoy and keep an eye on my recipes page for instructions...

Feeling better with food

I am one of those people that feels really at home in the kitchen. 

If I am down, I cook.

If I am happy, I cook.

If I am celebrating, I cook.

If I am commiserating, I cook.

If I am ill, I cook.

Which is what I am right now - ill. Unfortunately I am having some severe stomach issues that are leaving me with no appetite one minute, to starving from lack of food the next. And once I indulge, welcoming the urge to eat which has been rare, I feel sick and writhe in agony.

So I decided to cheer myself up by recipe testing.

I had a go at making homemade, wheat and rye bread, chicken, vegetable and pearl barely soup and cinamonutty granola.

And am I pleased with my self or what?!

The granola is delicious and goes so well on top of yogurt. The soup is also great, made with homemade chicken stock really makes all the difference, and the different textures make it a pleasure to eat. And what more could you ask for when you're poorly than homemade chicken soup.
The rye bread is nice but it is a bit dense and heavy - but I guess rye bread does tend to be like that. One thick slice, toasted has been tasty and filling to dip in the soup, so I will definitely make it again - maybe tweaking it slightly each time.

To find out more watch out on my recipes page where I will shortly upload the method.