Banana, Honey & Granola Crunch Muffins

I’m pretty sure I only bake in a bid to try and bribe people into liking me. In fact, I frequently turn up to work with sweet goods to keep on my managers good side, and seeing as I haven’t been fired (yet), I’ll assume it works. Now nothing says “please don’t lock me in the stock room or force me to deal with the horrible customers that make me cry” quite like a big batch of these Banana, Honey & Granola Crunch muffins. And if I really want to get on her good side, I’ll give these to her with a cup of tea and my butter-wouldn’t-melt smile 

Ingredients

Makes 12 Muffins

2 Cups Ground Almonds

1/2 Cup Plain Gluten-Free Flour

1 1/2 Teaspoons Baking Powder

Pinch Of Sea Salt

2 Tablespoons Coconut Oil

2 Tablespoons Honey

1 Teaspoon Vanilla

3 Eggs

3 Ripe Bananas

1 Tablespoon Dairy-Free Milk

Topping: Granola And Banana Slices.

Method

Preheat your oven to 175 degrees celsius. Grease your muffin tin with coconut oil and leave to one side.

In a large bowl, combine your ground almonds, flour, baking powder and sea salt. 

In a separate bowl, cream together your coconut oil and honey with an electric whisk until pale. Add in your vanilla extract and your eggs and continue to whisk until combined.

Slowly add in your dry ingredients to your honey and coconut oil mix and stir in well.

Mash your 3 ripe bananas and fold into your wet mixture with your dairy-free milk.

Using a 1/4 cup measurement, or a large ice cream scoop, fill each well with your mixture until about 3/4 full. Top with a banana slice and a sprinkling of granola. 

Bake in your oven for about 15 - 20 minutes, or until golden brown. They should spring back when touched.

Leave to cool.

Serve with a hot cup of tea to seriously impress your manager.

K

Cacao And Coconut Christmas Morning Granola

Get your fat pants ready, it’s Christmas! 

The days are long, long gone where sleep felt like an impossible task on Christmas Eve. When I would wake every hour on the hour to reach my toes nervously towards the end of the bed, feeling for a stocking filled up with treats and gold chocolate coins. When my Brother and I would sneak down the stairs to catch a glimpse of presents under the tree, and impatiently tear open our chocolate selection boxes. Jumping onto our parents bed at ridiculous o'clock to beg to go downstairs and open all the presents. And although Christmas Mornings now start with a cheeky run with my Dad rather than wading though the sea of wrapping paper, one thing about Christmas never truly changes. Chocolate for breakfast, and the excitement of the feasting ahead. 

This Cacao and Coconut Granola, served with coconut yogurt, fresh berries and a drizzle of chocolate sauce, is such a delicious breakfast to start a day of indulgence. Full of whole ingredients with amazing properties for our bodies, homemade and sweetened naturally with a mixture of ground cinnamon and local runny honey, this stuff is so much better for us than the shop brought stuff. Not that you needed a reason on Christmas Morning to be quite so decadent…

Serves 6-8.

Ingredients

2 TBSP Coconut Oil

185g Mixed Nuts

35g Pumpkin Seeds

70g Raisins

35g Unsweetened Desiccated Coconut

1 TSP Cacao Powder

1 TSP Ground Cinnamon

2 TBSP Runny Honey

Method

1. Heat the coconut oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat. Add the nuts, raisins and seeds to the pan first and stir frequently for 10 minutes. Then add the desiccated coconut, cacao powder, cinnamon and honey and reduce heat to low, stirring consistently for a further 5 minutes. Transfer the granola from the pan into a large bowl to cool completely. 
2. Serve with your chosen plant-based milk, or yogurt and fresh berries if you like.

Put on some cheesy Christmas music, sip slowly on a freshly brewed coffee and enjoy your Christmas Morning…

K

(This recipe was adapted from the Julie Montagu’s Chocolate and Coconut Granola recipe in the Sainsbury’s December 2016 issue).

Sweet Deceits Raw Caramel Slice

I’ve spoken previously about my intense love affair with chocolate. 

How that instant pleasure seems to overwhelm and derail me, leaving me seeking more and more to keep that thrill alive. And then later, when that delight and sugar rush has worn off, how dejected I feel, realising that the bar wasn’t even that great. Yeah. Chocolate is that boy that never called you back.

But I never really could give up going after the bad guys (or er, chocolate), so I set out to find my safe highs in this post. 

Sweet Deceits is a company that makes these incredibly delicious dessert kits, exclusively using natural and real ingredients. That means no funny business. No hidden nasties. No excuses. In fact the only ingredients in the kit are Dates, Almonds, Coconut Oil, Gluten Free Oats, Raw Cacao Powder and Natural Fruit Extracts (apple, grape and carob). Suitable for gluten free and vegan diets. Just pure unadulterated fun. 

I picked up the Raw Caramel Slice Kit from The Protein Pick And Mix store locally to me, but they are widely available across the internet and health food shops. And at only £7.99, they make a cheaper date. 

Not only are they easy to make, as the quantities are all labelled and measured out already for you, they're deceivingly good for you and they’re even easier to eat an entire batch of.

So if you have a bit of a thing for the bad guys, I’ll tell you straight: the chocolate brownie is always going to look a whole lot better than it tastes, I promise. Unless of course it’s a Sweet Deceits brownie. So you know where to get your next safe chocolate high.

K

Blackberry & Apple Crumble

I reckon the crumble resembles me quite a lot. If we're comparing ourselves to desserts, that is.

I'd like to say I'm study, like a pound cake. Made of simple ingredients all in equal measures, reliable, and can be knocked about quite a bit and still taste great.

But no. Under my crispy surface, I'm all sweet and mushy and full of fruit. I'm a complex blend of cinnamon and spices, which in the wrong quantities can seem either overbearing or under powering. On the outside, I do this pretty great job at holding myself together, but if you go and take a big spoonful out of me, I'll just crumble everywhere. And don't think you can throw me about and I'll still look delicious, I won't. Take care of me, fly me first class, or I'll just be a soggy mess on the dinner table.

Anyway, now like many other berries, blackberries are little antioxidant powerhouses, which can provide many great benefits for the skin and body, potentially protecting against certain cancers, ageing and inflammation. They're also an excellent source of vitamins C, A, E and K when part of a balanced diet, and contain many minerals including potassium, magnesium, copper and manganese.

Not sure what most of that does to our bodies? Me neither. Basically just note they’re good for us and even more delicious at the moment because they’re in season in the UK. So the perfect excuse to bake a crumble.

Serves 4

Ingredients

For the filling:

4 Gala Apples

200g Blackberries

2 tsp Runny Honey

2 Cinnamon Sticks

2 Star Anise

For the crumble topping:

200g Porridge Oats

50g Rice/Spelt/Gluten Free Flour

2 tsp Olive Oil

4 tbsp Runny Honey

Ground Cinnamon

Serve with:

• Custard
• Ice Cream
• Yogurt

Method

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees celsius.

Peel, core and dice your apples. Add these to a large sauce pan with 160ml water, 100g blackberries, runny honey, cinnamon stick and star anise. Bring to the boil and simmer for about 10-15 minutes. 

In a large mixing bowl, combine your oats, flour, olive oil, runny honey and cinnamon together using your hands.

Take your apple mixture off the heat and spoon out any excess liquid. Pour the mixture into an oven proof dish and top with the rest of your blackberries. Cover with your crumble topping and put in the oven to bake for 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown.

Serve and enjoy.

And what dessert do you reckon you would be?

K

Sundried Tomato & Walnut Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms

I was one of those really deprived children that only got a roast dinner like once a year, at Christmas. I also never got that pony I asked for each year, or one of those little electric cars that I could sit and cruise about in. But one mustn't complain, at least I always got a new pair of underwear in my stocking to unwrap.

It hasn't got much better since on the roast dinner front. Or the pony, or the car, come to think of it. So when I do, on the very odd occasion, have something that slightly resembles one, I like to go in on it all guns blazing.

These mushrooms are loaded with lots of fresh and delicious flavours, and taste great drizzled with balsamic vinegar and served with a big salad. But I've got to say, they taste a whole lot better drowned in gravy, with roast potatoes and a mountain of steamed vegetables. The photos just wouldn't have been as aesthetically pleasing. 

So the choice is up to you, but for me, there's very little competition. Treat the veggie in your life to some damn good stuffed mushrooms to leave 'em feeling stuffed until their next roast dinner. 

Makes 4 Portobello Mushrooms

Ingredients

4 Portobello Mushrooms

Fresh Parsley Roughly Chopped

Spinach Roughly Chopped

1 Red Bell Pepper Finely Diced

1 Shallot Finely Diced

50g Sundried Tomatoes

30g Walnuts Chopped

Salt & Pepper To Taste

Method

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees celsius.

Remove the stems from your mushrooms and set to one side to add to your filling. Place the mushrooms stem side up on your baking tray and bake in the oven for about 10 minutes.

In a pan, dry fry your pepper, shallots, sundried tomatoes, walnuts, diced mushrooms stems, parsley and spinach with a little bit of salt & pepper to season. 

Remove mushrooms from the oven and pour off any of the excess water that has gathered. Fill the mushrooms and bake in the oven for a further 10-15 minutes. 

Drown in gravy, and enjoy.

What's your favourite vegetarian roast dinner dish?

K

Healthy Snacks To Keep You Dancing All Night Long

Gym?

No.

I thought you said Gin.

And never was there a more accurate representation of what my weekend at Bestival is going to look like.

Now a great deal of the time I love choosing to eat whole, clean foods. I drink plenty of water, I get my 8 hours sleep a night and I exercise regularly. I do my best to be a healthy individual. But that doesn’t mean to say I don’t like to let my hair down from time to time, drown myself in glitter and indulge in a multitude of sins.

Yes, sometimes I choose to eat a bit of junk food if it’s what I’m really craving.

Party all night long instead of getting some shut eye.

And hey, if you’re passing me a glass of gin, who am I to throw it back in your face?

I’m trying to master that tricky balance in being healthy and letting myself have fun, but know that both are completely acceptable. 

So when you’re reading this, remember that these snacks are not an accurate representation of my weekend (in the slightest). These snacks represent a small proportion of what I will be eating. They are “ideal” choices to grab if I get hungry and keep me full of energy to dance all night long.  And I am the Snack Queen, so it would be an awful shame not to live up to my name. 

Hippeas Organic Chickpea Puffs are great alternatives to just picking up a bag of crisps.

These Nakd and Trek bars both contain 1-your-5-a-day and leave me feeling full and satisfied, as well as providing instant energy from the dates and protein from the nuts and soya crunchies. 

Apples and Bananas are both ideal fresh fruit choices as they don’t require refrigeration.

These Pip & Nut Sachets pair well with the Kallo Rice Cakes to make a quick snack full of healthy fats and carbohydrates. 

I ordered a massive box of these Of The Earth Superfoods Cereal Pots to take with me as you can make them with both cold and hot water for a speedy snack. Made exclusively with super foods such as spirulina, barley grass, green tea, maca and goji berries, they’re a great energy boosting way to start the day.

I’m also taking a pack of the Koko Coconut Milk Cartons to either make teas/coffees with, or to drink with a piece of fruit.

Alcohol! Because no great story ever started with a salad…

K

Chocolate Chai Banana Bread

If I could choose how to spend my perfect Sundays, I would be in great company, exploring picturesque neighbourhoods and sampling plenty of overindulgent foods. Of course the majority of my Sundays are spent rising at 6 to cram in a 10 mile run, catching up with work from the previous week ready for the next, and just trying to find a few spare minutes to shave my legs and collapse on a heap on the sofa. What remains in both my expectations and realities of a Sunday however, is plenty of tea and sweet treats to see me through.

This a perfect bake to use up all those sad, bruised looking bananas long forgotten in the dark corners of your kitchen. And as well as being gluten and dairy-free, this subtly sweet Chocolate Chai Banana Bread is refined sugar-free, and when kept in an airtight container will see you through the week as a delicious, healthy snack.

Ingredients

Dry

1/2 Cup Buckwheat Flour

1/2 Cup Ground Almonds

1 1/2 TSP Baking Powder

1/2 TSP Baking Soda

2 TSP Cinnamon

1 TSP Ginger

1/2 TSP Allspice

1/2 TSP Nutmeg

1 TSP Vanilla Extract

1/2 TSP Salt

Dark Chocolate Chopped

Wet

2 Large Eggs

1/4 Cup Melted Coconut Oil

1/4 Cup Milk or Milk Alternative

1 TSP Apple Cider Vinegar

3 Medium Ripe Bananas Mashed

Topping

1 Cup Pecans

1 TBSP Coconut Oil

1/4 TSP Cinnamon

Method

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees celcius or gas mark 6 and line a loaf tin.

In a large bowl, mix together all your dry ingredients and set to one side. 

On a chopping board, roughly mash your bananas with a fork leaving some larger chunks of banana. In another bowl, whisk together your eggs, coconut oil, milk and apple cider vinegar. Add in your mashed banana and mix together.

Begin to fold in the wet mixture to the dry ingredients until only just combined.

Transfer the bread mixture to your loaf tin. Sprinkle on your pecans and drizzle with the remaining coconut oil and put in the oven to bake for 45 minutes, or until a skewer comes out of the bread clean. If you find your pecans are beginning to burn on top, cover with foil and resume baking. 

So slather up a slice with jam and peanut butter and thank me later.

K

Weekly Dinner Plan #4

I’m a nosy person by nature, and a lover of all things food, so it’s no surprise I’m always intrigued to know what other people eat. For anyone who eagerly questions colleagues every morning “so what did you have for dinner last night?” like it’s some hot gossip, this ones for you. Here’s what this weeks Dinner plan looks like:

Monday Smoked tofu and peanut stir-fry.

Tuesday Salmon parcels with spring vegetables.

Wednesday Prawn and cashew nut salad.

Thursday Almond lemon cod.

Friday Sweet potato wedges with garlic beans and spinach.

Saturday Ten-minute tomato sauce served with brown rice pasta.

Sunday Mushroom & cauliflower vegan shepherds pie.

• The first few meals this week are recipes I’ve been eager to try out from ‘The Louise Parker Method Lean For Life’. I like that Parker’s idea emphasises eating a diet rich in whole foods, and creating a sustainable lifestyle incorporating achievable exercise to get you looking lean, rather than the diet you ditch 4 weeks in. 
• Half Marathon training has officially started, which means between 3 - 4 runs per week, including a long distance run every Sunday morning. It’s important to incorporate plenty of carbs for energy and protein to aid in recovery to my diet. Saturday night is the ten-minute tomato sauce with black beans served with brown rice pasta to fuel me through Sunday morning. 
• Sunday is always a comfort meal type of night. I don’t actually eat meat, so I plan on making a vegan shepherds pie with mushrooms and a cauliflower mash topping instead of the traditional way. 

What does your weekly dinner plan look like?

K