Anzac biscuits

Wow! Last post of 2013! This year has gone by so quickly, but has definitely been the best so far! University life has just been amazing this year, and it really saddens me that I only have 1 more term left as a student!

Throughout this year, I managed to have a great summer internship in Mauritius, meet lots of new people, win an iPad, make great memories with my family & friends, help '4lunch' with market stalls and by helping with cooking lessons, be an Econometrics PASS leader and most important of all, start this blog. Whether I decide to opt for a career linked to food at some point in my life or not, this blog has given me a great way to convey my passion and love for food and it feels great to be able to share that with so many people!

I believe that one of the main reasons making 2013 such a great year is the fact that I have been open and willing to take on any opportunities that have come my way, always having a positive attitude along the way. The power of the mind is such a powerful thing, and I do believe that as long as you think positive, only good things will happen to you!

On that note, I want to wish everyone a great new year no matter where or how you are celebrating! Make the most of every moment, think positive and always have fun, life is short! 

Now on to this quick and easy recipe. These Anzac biscuits are extremely tasty little treats with minimal amounts of sweetener or fat, the perfect substitute to those calorific cookies and cakes.

ANZAC BISCUITS

• 100 g oats
• 40 g almond
• 40 g coconut
• 1 tbsp coconut oil, butter or light olive oil
• 1 heaped tbsp honey
• 2 tbsp water
• Good pinch of cinnamon

1.Pulse all the dry ingredients together (not too fine).
2. Pulse in the water, honey and fat until it all just about comes together.

3. Form little ball of dough and flatten them down on a baking tray.

4. Bake in a preheated oven at 170 degrees Celsius for about 10-15 minutes, or until golden brown.

5. Once cool, you could drizzle with some dark melted chocolate. 

Yum yum, try not to finish all of these in one go!
Also, why not fit in a last workout in 2013! Don't postpone getting fit to 2014, there is no better time to start than now!

I had a go at this workout yesterday along with some weights and it gets you dripping in no time!

Xx

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Quick update

Hello :) it feels like it has been ages since I have last posted any recipes on here! And sadly, it will be a little while until I'm back to my own kitchen ready to cook. The past couple of days have been so hectic and I am now in London with Emily and mum, ready for the Christmas festivities! I made some gingerbread cupcakes with vanilla meringue frosting to greet Lis, John and mum with at my arrival.

I recently hosted an Xmas dinner with Ember at my place, and although it took a whole day of cooking, it was definitely worth it! For some reason we managed to cook ridiculous amounts, however there's nothing quite like left over roast on the next day:)! I also managed to try out my new ice cream machine. We made a simple raspberry frozen yogurt with raspberries, yogurt and honey and it was delicious!!

I decided to make everyone some blueberry pancake stacks as a pre Xmas breakfast and they seemed to go down a treat!

We also watched 'The Book of Mormons' yesterday which was good fun, followed by a little Christmas shopping down Oxford street! Although London can be a little chaotic, nothing quite beats the buzz of the place!

Now time to get some revision done and then whip up some sort of healthy lunch for everyone! Although the holidays are a time for indulging, it is important not to go overboard and go crazy on unhealthy treats or disregard exercise, as little as 20 minutes a day is still better than nothing! Put on some good music and give this quick workout a go!

Wishing you all a fabulous christmas full of family moments and good food!

Xx

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My healthy birthday cake!

Hello hello,
What a crazy couple of days it has been! My birthday celebrations started on Wednesday with a lovely meal in town, after that, it was a couple of nights out along with lots of birthday cakes and treats with friends, including an amazing rainbow cake- best birthday ever!

The only downside is that I now actually feel old. At 21, I believe that I am now considered as an adult who is expected to be independent and fend for herself in the big wide world, also, I can definitely see some wrinkles appearing. Oh the joys of ageing!

On my actual birthday, I had a friend popping over for tea so I decided to make some macarons (it has been about a year since I last made them, and I now recall why I left it for soo long!) and a healthy banana birthday cake which was surprisingly satisfying.

HEALTHY BANANA LOAF CAKE
Makes 1 mini loaf, double recipe for large loaf

• 1 large ripe banana, mashed
• 50 g almond meal/ ground almonds
• 60 g whole wheat flour
• 1 egg
• 30 g milk/ non dairy milk
• 1 tbsp coconut oil, butter or olive oil, melted
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 0.5 tsp of cinnamon
• About 40 g of honey (alter to your preferences)
• 0.25 tsp baking soda
• 0.5 tsp baking powder
• Dark chocolate chips or sultanas :optional

Topping

• About 4 tbsp low fat cream cheese
• Some vanilla (I used a pod, for the lovely freckled looked)
• Some honey/ stevia (according to taste)

1. Beat the melted fat, honey, egg, vanilla, milk and mashed up banana together until smooth.
2. Fold in the flour, ground almonds, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon into the wet mixture. Be care not to over-mix, quickly fold in the chocolate chips or sultanas if using.
3. Pour the batter into a well greased and flour cake tin. Bake in a preheated oven at 175 degrees Celsius for about 20 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean.
4. For the topping, just mix all the ingredients together, smooth over the top of the cooled cake and enjoy!

Xx

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Lentil & sweet potato nut roast

Although I call this a nut roast, I tried to cut down on the proportion of nuts as compared to traditional nut roasts, firstly because of the high calorie content of nuts and also because nuts aren't as easy to find in Mauritius and can be very expensive. This is a very decadent and moreish vegetarian dish, so much so that I made 2 batches of this within a period of two days! I wanted it to be very rustic and chunky, if you want a more refined a smooth nut roast, then just chopped everything up very finely.

I made slight changes to the second batch given what I had in the fridge, but both worked just as good, so I would really recommend you play around with this to your liking. Changes to the second batch are as follows: courgette slices instead of mushrooms, no cheese, more grated carrot, some oregano.

Also, my friend Moritz has just started his own blog (yay!). His will focus on traditional Italian food and if you are looking for a simple yet delicious Christmas cookie biscuit, definitely try his butter cookies, here is the link.

LENTIL & SWEET POTATO NUT ROAST

• 150 g split red lentils, wash and cook for a couple of minutes until just cooked (not too soft!)
• 1 heaped tsp cumin seeds
• Half a large onion, finely chopped
• 2 stalks of celery, roughly chopped
• 200 g of hard boiled sweet potato, cut into cubes
• 1 medium carrot, grated
• A few mushrooms, sliced, I only had 4 large ones left, you could use more and cut down on the sweet potato
• 1 heaped tsp crushed garlic
• 2 heaped tsp mustard
• 50 g oats
• 50 g nut of choice, I used broken walnuts
• Handful of grated light cheese; optional
• Seasonings of choice:  I used paprika, salt & pepper

1. Cook the red lentils until just cooked through (not let it get mushy) and set aside.
2. In a large pan, heat up some oil and fry the cumin seeds until fragrant, add in the onion and celery and fry for 2-3 minutes until onion pieces are translucent.
3. Add in the mushroom (or courgette), fry for about 2 minutes and add in the sweet potato chunks. Add in the grated carrots, garlic, mustard and seasonings and stir around until well incorporated. The carrots don't really need to cook for long as they will do so in the oven.
4. Remove from the heat and add in 50 g of oats, lentils, cheese (if using) and 50 g of nuts. Give the mixture a good stir, taste and add more seasonings if necessary.
5. Pour the mixture into a well greased or lined baking tray, flatten down with the back of a spoon and bake in a preheated oven at 170 degrees Celsius for 30-40 minutes until golden brown. I left mine in the oven when it was off, just to crisp up in the residual heat as the oven cooled.

To serve, I would have this instead of meat, so for instance as part of an English roast with potatoes, veggies and all the trimmings. I also had this for brunch after a great night out, I made a non- vegetarian savoury stack of goodness with thinly pan fried slices of nut roast, bacon, avocado, spinach and topped with a dippy egg, YUM!

Another recent obsession of mine is my tuna and sweet potato burgers, they seem to get tastier every time I make them! I find them so useful to have in the fridge, and if you are trying to be on a low carb diet, two tuna burgers stuffed with the filling of your choice makes such an awesome snack!

Xx

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Dark chocolate covered protein truffles

So apparently today is national cookie day, perfect excuse to make some brownie cookies for my next PASS session! Also made some healthy Anzac cookies for myself:)!

One of my friends had a lovely cookie Christmas gathering where I was able to give white mulled wine a go for the first time, surprisingly good, spiced with cinnamon and apples, mmm!

These truffles are very similar to my protein bars posted not too long ago, however I do find that these set better when rolled up in little balls, and the slight crunch of the chocolate coating complement these perfectly! Although chocolate could be classes as unhealthy by some, I do believe that a little indulgence is good for the soul! Also, I would preferable use dark chocolate.

DARK CHOCOLATE COVERED PROTEIN TRUFFLES 

• 1 can chickpeas, rinsed and well drained
• 1 tbsp peanut butter
• 1 tbsp honey
• 3 tbsp oats
• 2 heaped tbsp of protein powder(I used chocolate) or oats or desiccated coconut
• Melted dark chocolate to coat

1.Process the chickpeas, peanut butter, honey, oats and protein powder (if using), together until nice and smooth.

2. With the paste/ dough, form mini balls and place on a non stick tray. Place in the freezer for about 15 minutes until set.

3. Cover the balls in the melted chocolate, place back onto the tray, the chocolate should set immediately as the balls will slightly be frozen. Keep refrigerated until consumed. 

Enjoy! X

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Spicy satay veggie egg parcels

This cold weather is really getting to me recently! Yesterday after a good HIIT session, I was starving and wanted something really warming yet fresh and light, something just like my dad would whip up on a typical lazy weekend at home- yes, I think that I'm starting to get slightly home sick!
Having to make do with what I had in the fridge, I decided to experiment and came up with this pretty awesome dish, not quite sure what to call it but definitely worth making, so full of flavour! If you want to make this more filling, I'm sure that adding some cooked rice or noodles to the veggie mix would work perfectly!

SPICY SATAY VEGGIE EGG PARCELS

• 1 large carrot, grated
• Half of a small courgette/ Quarter of a large courgette, grated
• Your choice of additional veggies: I used 3 mushrooms & a few corn kernels
• 1 egg
• 1-2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 large chilli
• Half a tsp of crushed ginger/ galangal
• 1 heaped tsp of crushed nuts/ peanuts, optional

For the sauce:

• 1 heaped tsp peanut butter
• 0.5 tsp soya sauce
• 0.5 tsp rice vinegar
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 0.5 tsp honey

1. In a frying pan on medium heat, add a little oil and fry the garlic, ginger, chilli and crushed nuts if using.
2. Once the garlic mixture becomes fragrant, add in the grated carrot and courgette. After 1-2 minutes, add in the additional vegetables. Season with pepper and let this cook down for a couple of minutes, you may need to cover the pan to allow the veggies to steam slightly.
3. Once the vegetables are cooked (after about 2-3 minutes), remove from the pan and keep aside.
4. Back to the pan, on low heat, heat up the peanut butter, honey, rice vinegar, lemon juice and soya sauce for about a minute until combined, stir the veggies back into the pan and flip around until well mixed. The filling is now ready.
5. Season your egg with some salt and pepper. For the egg parcel, you can either make a very thin omelette to wrap the filling in, or could try and make a lacy egg wrapper if you want to impress (I lost patience whilst doing this, so mine is a cross between the two!). Just make sure that your pan is well greased.
6. When the egg is cooked, place the veggie filling in the centre and fold the egg wrapper around to make a square.

Plate up with some fresh salad and top with chopped spring onion, fresh chilli and some coconut, delicious! Perfect revision food. Also just whipped up some quick spiced apple and vanilla Christmas cupcakes.

I also made some dark chocolate covered protein truffles, perfect festive treat without going over board calorie wise- recipe coming soon.

Xx

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Sweet potato and tuna burgers

These are great! Quick to make, cheap and handy to have in the fridge/ freezer as a snack or as a meal in itself. As the afternoons get darker and darker, the weather is quickly changing here, lots of fog and some hail so far, this will be my first Christmas where I won't be heading back home to Mauritius, hopefully it will be a white one! As we all get into the festive mood, it is so easy to just forget about and neglect exercising! Therefore, I think more than ever, it is soo important to keep really motivated and to set yourself fitness goals, leaving less room for failure! Even as little as 20-30 minutes a day will make a difference. So get up, put some good music on and go workout!!!

Last Saturday was one of 4lunch's market stall where we decided to make a variety of burgers. I volunteered to make the bread rolls for these, although I really enjoyed making them, after a whole day of kneading dough, I do not want to see bread for quite a while!

TUNA AND SWEET POTATO BURGERS
Makes 4-5 good sized burgers

• 250 g boiled sweet potato (about 1 large s.potato)
• 1 can tuna flakes
• 1 egg
• 30 g any flour (I used whole wheat)
• Seasonings of choice (I used salt, pepper, chilli flakes, coriander, 1tsp garlic, 2 stems of chopped spring onion, 0.5 tsp paprika)

1. Mash up the boiled sweet potato and add in the tuna and seasonings, taste the mix at this stage and decide whether to add more spices or not.
2. Fold in the egg and flour until it all comes together nicely, if slightly too wet, add a bit more flour.
3. Preferably leave the mix to refrigerate for a minimum of 30 minutes. 
4. Once ready, heat up a frying pan with some oil on medium heat, form patties and fry for about 5 minutes on each side until a nice crust is formed.

Enjoy with salad or some nice crusty bread rolls.

These are a few naughty desserts I made the other day: lemon cheesecakes, mini carrot cakes and mini peanut butter and dark chocolate cakes. Now off to make some Xmas cupcakes!

Xx

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Eggless spinach brownies

Never have I wanted to say 'thank God it's Friday' more than this week!!! As the term comes to an end, a number of deadlines were fast approaching, the majority of mine being due this week! On Wednesday we had our final session with PWC on the personal development course. We had to pitch a business plan to a few PWC employees, whereby ours was a healthy snack manufacturer. Additionally, yesterday as part of my accounting dissertation, we had to simulate an investment agency's consulting session whereby we made recommendations for investments in the movie and entertainment industry! The best part of projects like this to me is the little personal details, therefore I made some protein bar samples and another team member made some awesome healthy Reese peanut butter cups for our 'Mama Nature' business and for the accounting project, I baked some batman cookies for our client.

I also baked a quick batch of banana crumb muffins as a prize for one of the games we set for our PASS class attendees.

Now on to the recipe! Do not let the sound of spinach put you off! The brownies don't actually have a spinach aftertaste and because of the use of cocoa powder, there is no vile green colour in sight! Good way to make children have their greens!

EGGLESS SPINACH BROWNIES

• 110 g fresh spinach, I haven't tried frozen spinach but I would use about 90g and squeeze away all excess water when defrosted
• 35 g coconut oil (or olive)
• 40 g water
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 50 g whole wheat flour
• 50 g ground almonds ( I used half almond, half coconut flour)
• 17 g cocoa
• 45 g honey (less or more according to your preferences- taste the batter)
• 1 tsp baking powder
• Pinch of salt
• Small handful of dark chocolate chips: optional but definitely recommended
• 2-3 tbsps peanut butter: optional for peanut butter swirls

1. Blend all the wet ingredients along with the spinach until smooth.
2. Sift the dry ingredients into the wet mixture, and fold with a spatula until well combined. Add in the chocolate chips if using.
3. Pour the mixture into a baking tray(I used a brownie pan) lined with grease proof paper. If making peanut butter swirled brownies, melt about 2-3 tbsps of peanut butter in a small bowl for a couple of seconds in a microwave, drop a few dollops of peanut butter into the batter and lightly swirl it around with a toothpick.
4. Bake in a preheated oven at 170 degrees Celsius for 15-20 minutes until a tooth pick comes out clean.
5. Allow to cool slightly before cutting into squares. These taste better once refrigerated for a while.

ENJOY!
Also, I've recently received several messages via Instagram and Facebook with respect to my blog, it's always great to get feedback and actually hear from the people using the recipes!
Have a great weekend everyone:)

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Spiced spinach & pea burgers

I have recently been obsessed with veggie burgers! I find them way tastier and more versatile than the traditional meat burgers we have all grown up on. The choice of combinations is endless, recently having made beetroot and sun-dried tomato burgers and chickpea, sweetcorn and coriander ones, you'll never fail to find something to please everyone. I'll definitely be posting a few burger recipes from now on, as and when I get to making them.

On another note, the cooking workshop on Saturday was amazing, I was really surprised at how creative the kids were, the lesson of the day was to teach them how to cook on a budget, we came in with a variety of reduced price items from Asda and asked them to make up a dish accordingly. My group made turkey breast stuffed with italian cheese and sun-dried tomatoes, topped with pesto and it was deliciousssss, they even tried to make a flower out of a tomato as decoration!

SPICED SPINACH & PEA BURGERS

• 120 g canned chickpeas (rinsed and dried): If you do not wish to use chickpeas, why not try a different cooked bean or stick to peas all the way!
• 100 g canned peas, I used marrowfat (rinsed and dried, or if using frozen, defrosted and dried)
• Additional 50 g peas to add in at the end for texture
• Big handful of fresh spinach ( or if using frozen, defrost and squeeze away as much excess water as possible)
• 1 heaped teaspoon chopped garlic
• 1 whole chilli (or more!)
• Good pinch of salt
• Good pinch of black pepper
• Half an onion, finely chopped
• 5 tbsp oats
• 1 heaped tbsp whole wheat flour (or oat flour if gluten intolerant)
• 0.5 teaspoon of cumin
• 1 heaped tbsp of chia seeds or a few pumpkin seeds: optional

1. Blend together the chickpeas, 100 g peas, garlic, spinach, cumin seeds and chilli until smooth.
2. Add in the additional peas, oats, finely chopped onion, seasonings, chia seeds/pumpkin seeds and flour and fold until well combined. At this point, try the mix and decide if you need any more chilli or cumin- bearing in mind that the flavours die down slightly when cooked, I added in some extra chilli flakes.
3. Leave the dough to chill for a minimum of 1 hour. Once chilled, put your frying pan on to heat, shape burger patties with the dough and fry for about 5-10 minutes, constantly flipping them around.
   
   
   
   
   These are perfect served with pesto or some chutney!

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Peanut butter granola bars

Good morning everyone- well afternoon-ish now in Mauritius!
So happy it is finally the weekend, started off with a great baking session this morning:)! Made some healthy banana muffins to stock up my freezer and tried out some egg-less spinach brownies, quite surprised at how fudgy and moist they are without any spinach aftertaste, that will be the next recipe to be posted, but in the meantime here is a little sneaky look at how they turned out.

 Off to meet a friend for coffee soon, HIIT class at 2pm then going to help teach underprivileged children to cook at the 'Factory' workshop organised by the social enterprise 4lunch. I've been involved with the 4lunch project as I think that youth empowerment by offering opportunities for all to learn how to cook as well as learn about business practices is a great cause, given the high percentage of youth unemployment and school drop out rates in the UK. We had a test kitchen for our next market stall and I managed to make some delicious crusty bread rolls for our bean burgers.

PEANUT BUTTER GRANOLA BARS

• 180 g oats
• 100 g oat flour (ground up oats)- I tried this with wheat bran as well: makes for a less crunchy bar
• 1 heaped tsp cinnamon
• 90 g peanut butter
• 90 g honey
• About 100 ml water (more or less if using optional ingredients)
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 2 scoops of protein powder: optional
• Handful/ about 70g of nuts of choice (Walnuts, slivered almonds, pecans etc..): optional
• Small handful of dry fruit: optional

1. Mix the oats, oat flour, nuts, dried fruit, protein powder and cinnamon until well combined.
2. In a small saucepan, heat up the peanut butter, vanilla and honey until melted and warm (do not let this boil).
3. Add the wet peanut butter mix into the dry ingredients, slowly adding in enough water to bring it all together.
4. Press down in a flat non stick (or line with baking paper) tray and bake for 15-20 minutes in a preheated oven at 170 degrees Celsius. NOTE: These can easily burn, make sure not to overbake these, as soon as they turn slightly brown remove them to cool.

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Instant soft serve ice cream!

Ok so I've just made this and thought that it deserved to be written down in a post ASAP, especially given how hot it currently is in Mauritius (very jealous, it was hailing here in Manchester yesterday!). I've seen recipes for this easy ice cream so many times but have never really bothered making it, firstly because I'm not a big ice cream fan and secondly because the thought of puréed frozen bananas did not sound very appealing! However, I got home from a great circuit session at the gym this evening, craving something cold, sweet and indulgent and thought of giving this a go since I always have a big bag of frozen bananas in my freezer! Very surprised at how creamy and yummy this turned out! Adding cocoa powder definitely covered up the banana flavour, so I would recommended using any type of flavouring, next time I'm going to try vanilla, coconut milk and pineapple! You could also add in some honey for sweetness but I find that the bananas are sweet enough as is.

QUICK CHOCOLATE SOFT SERVE ICE-CREAM

Serves 1 

• 1.5- 2 frozen chopped bananas (always worth having in your freezer, great for smoothies too)
• 2 tsp cocoa powder
• 3 tbsp skimmed milk

1. Blend it all together, I used a hand held blender, which requires some time and strength but it would be much easier with a proper blender/processor.

2. Once it is smooth and well combined, spoon into a bowl and top with whatever you desire! I went for fresh mango and coconut, you could also mix in some cocoa nibs, chocolate chips, coconut flakes, raisins etc...

I'll be posting my peanut butter granola bar recipe up soon:) 

Xx

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Vegan millionaire's shortbread

Hello hello! Stressful times ahead, currently applying for graduate job schemes with a couple of companies here in the UK, the whole process of online questionnaires, tests, interviews and so on is so lengthy and time consuming but  understandable given the competitive nature of the graduate job market! Luckily I've got lots of other activities going on to keep me sane! We celebrated Bonfire night on Tuesday at Platt Field's park with a stunning firework show and a whole bunch of rides. Today is the Manchester Christmas light switch on with live performances by James Arthur and other guests as well as another firework show!
I'm currently laid in my bed, my muscles are ridiculously sore from this week's crazy workouts, today is definitely a well deserved rest day. What best to do on rest days then bake/cook?! :)

I found this great recipe on Instagram by 'Fitspo_eden' for healthy vegan caramel slices.

 

I altered the recipe as I went along according to the ingredients that I had in stock and according to when I was happy with the textures obtained. I also downsized the recipe to make 4-5 individual round 'slices'.

VEGAN MILLIONAIRE'S SHORTBREAD
Base

• 15g oats
• 35 g nuts (I used just walnuts but think that pecans would work best)
• 2 dates
• 20 g ground almond/ protein powder
• 5 g coconut oil

1. Blend/ Process everything except for the oil until you obtain a refined meal, add in the coconut oil and mix until it all comes together.
2. Flatten in the mould you'll be using. (I place cling film in muffins moulds, using the cling film to pull the cakes out once set). Place in the fridge/freezer whilst you make the filling.

Filling

• 15 dates soaked until soft, then squeeze excess water
• 1 heaped tsp peanut butter
• Pinch of salt
• 1 tsp coconut oil
• 1 tsp honey
• 0.5 tsp vanilla essence
• 2 tsp coconut milk (or other dairy/non-dairy milk according to your requirements)

1.  Blend everything together until you obtain a smooth caramel tasting spread.
2. Spread equally over the individual bases. Cool whilst you make the topping.

Topping
You could either top with melted dark chocolate, if you are not bothered about these being vegan or for the vegan option follow the instructions below which makes enough for 3 mini cakes:

1. Mix together 1.5 tsp cacao powder, 3 tsp honey and 3 tsp coconut oil until it is well combined (Taste and add more cacao or honey if desired).
2. Top the individual millionaire's shortbreads with the cocoa mix, leave to set in the fridge.

NOTE: These are quite gooey so definitely keep these in a fridge until ready to be consumed:)!

I also made some granola bars for my friends:) 

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