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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Raw peanut butter protein bars

These are the perfect on the go, protein packed snack! They are pretty easy to make and as a plus, require no baking. These remind me of cookie dough flavoured foods!

I added some protein powder to mine, which is worth investing in if you exercise a lot, but these are just as nice without the protein powder, just add in some more ground almonds and some unsweetened cocoa if you want a chocolate tasting bar. The chickpeas in this are also rich in protein, fibre and help to lower cholesterol.

Here's a few pictures from our Halloween party.

PEANUT BUTTER PROTEIN BARS

• Half a can (120g) of cooked chickpeas, rinse and pat dry,
• 35 g ground almond,
• 30 g protein powder (or use 20 g = ground almond + cocoa if desired)
• 3 heaped tsps of peanut butter (crunchy or smooth, crunchy gives a nice texture!)
• 2 tsps honey ( or more if you want very sweet bars, you could also use a few soaked then squeezed dates for sweetness)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract, optional,
• 2 tsps chia seeds or anything crunchy to add to the texture i.e; walnuts, pumpkin seeds, optional,
• Dark chocolate to cover the bars, optional

1. Using a hand blender, blend the chickpeas until you obtain a smooth paste.

2. Add in the peanut butter, ground almonds, protein powder, honey and vanilla and continue blending. The mixture will get very dry so you might want you use your hands at some point.

3. Once you obtain a uniform dough, add in the seeds or nuts if using, and fold until well combined.

4. Flatten the dough into a flat dish (my dough was about 1.5 cm thick). You can decorate the top with a fork or knife. Leave in the freezer for about 25 minutes or in the fridge for atleast 1 hour. 

5. Cut into rectangles and coat in dark chocolate if desired. Keep in the fridge until consumed. Enjoy!

Xx

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