Sweet treats

Here are a few treats that will satisfy your sweet cravings but won't end up on your hips.

Banana and nutty gooey chocolate 

Ok, this probably shouldn't be an everyday treat but frankly sometimes, only chocolate will do. It really hits the spot when you feel like chocolate and it's pretty filling - don't let your children see it though or you may have to share!

Ingredients: (serves 1)

• 1 banana sliced
• 1 heaped tsp. cocoa powder
• 1 heaped tsp. crunchy hazelnut butter (I use Meridian's)
• 1 tsp. coconut sugar or xylitol
• a bit of warm water (about 1 or 2 tbsp.)

Method:

Mix the cocoa powder, hazelnut butter and sugar into a paste  then gradually add the water until you get a smooth and spoonable sauce. Fold the chocolate sauce into the banana slices and tuck in!

Baked apple 

I grew up in the countryside in Brittany. We had a huge orchard so most of my Autumn weekends were spent picking apples in the rain in preparation for the cider making around December. Needless to say that I hated it, I hated the cold, the rain, the mud, the worms, the rotten apples, the lot. Thankfully we also had some eating apples, which were turned into all sorts of hearty desserts: apple tarts (mum always burned hers a little bit but I don't hold it against her anymore), apple compote, apple and banana compote, apple far (a traditional Breton cake, a bit a a flan) and of course baked apples. We were obviously sick of apples by Spring but now I'm quite nostalgic of those times (age I'm sure) and really wish my apples didn't come from Sainsbury's...

Ingredients: (serves 1 - I do sometimes make treats for other people then myself by the way...)

• 1 large apple
• a little chunk of marzipan
• a splash of water
• Greek/natural yoghurt
• Cinnamon

Method:

Wash and core the apple, ideally with an apple corer, it's less faffy. Place your apple in an oven-proof dish and insert a little chunk of marzipan in the hole. Add a splash of water in the dish to prevent it from burning and bake for 20 min or so in a pre-heated oven at 180 degrees. Serve with cold yoghurt to which you've added a pinch or two of cinnamon.

Raspberry ice cream

This is an old time favourite with the kids and it tastes so good that they have no idea it's uber healthy.

Ingredients: (serves 2)

• 1 ripe banana
• 2 handfuls of frozen raspberries (it works with strawberries too but not so well with blueberries)
• 1 tbsp. of cashew butter (again, I use Meridian's)
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

Method:

Place everything in a blender and blitz until smooth. You can eat it straight away but it'll be a bit like a slush puppy in consistency. If you place it in the freezer for an hour, you'll end up with a consistency closer to ice cream.

Protein power

I've found myself recommending protein powders to a lot of clients recently so I thought I'd share some recipes with everyone.

First of all, I know protein powders are hardly the unprocessed stuff I usually advise but I still think they can be useful, especially for vegetarians. I started using them when I was vegetarian and I still use them now when my meal is low in protein - when I work for example, I sometimes have a quick vegetable soup and a then a protein bar to keep me going in the afternoon.

Most people make milkshakes with protein powders but that try as I might I just don't like protein milkshakes, I don't know what it is about them but I hate them. Hence why I got the idea to experiment with bars.

Here are three recipes I make regularly and that I think are really tasty. You'll see, they all follow the same basic recipe and then it's a matter of tweaking a few things.

I know, I know, that's three recipes involving chocolate and some of you will wonder why she hasn't given you any non-chocolate recipes and that would be because she hasn't yet managed to come up with a non-chocolate recipe that doesn't taste like it's come out of a porcupine's bottom... When I do, you'll be the first to know.

I use Solgar Whey To Go chocolate powder because it tastes nice and it's a good quality with 20g of protein per scoop and rBGH free. It's quite expensive but it's worth it, there are some atrocities out there, full of chemicals and sugar. If you care about your health, care about the raw materials.

I've been told good things about Vital Health's vanilla powder but I haven't tasted it yet - I probably should since Solgar's vanilla powder is sooooooooooooo evil. Anyway, apparently it tastes nice and it's vegan.

Choco-seeds

Ingredients: (for 2 bars)

• 2 scoops of chocolate protein powder
• 2 tbsp toasted sunflower seeds
• 2 tbsp toasted pumpkin seeds
• 1 tbsp cocoa powder
• 1 tsp coconut flour (it prevents it mixture from being really sticky)
• 2 tbsp almond butter
• 2 tbsp + 2 tsp water (40ml)

Method:

Place the protein powder, seeds, cocoa powder and flour in a bowl. Add the almond butter and squish it about to try and incorporate it to the powder. Add the water and mix until you get a slightly crumbly mixture and that kind of holds togehter. It probably will look too dry but trust me, and press it down with your hands to make it stick together. You really don't want too much water or you'll end you with a sticky mess. 

Once it all sticks together, shape it in a log and cut it into two to make 2 balls/bars. Wrap in non PVC film (not cling film please!) and store in the fridge. It keeps well for ages, although it doesn't really last long in our house so I can't tell you how long.

Choco-cocoa

Ingredients: (for 2 bars)

• 2 scoops of chocolate protein powder
• 1 tbsp cocoa powder
• 1 tsp coconut flour
• 1.5 tbsp cocoa nibs
• 2 tbsp peanut butter
• 2 tbsp + 2 tsp water (40ml)

Method:

Same as above

Protein Bounty

I call them like this because they really do taste like Bounty bars but slightly healthier! I usually roll them in dessicated coconut once they're done but, for some reason, I forgot today.

Ingredients: (for 2 bars)

• 2 scoops of chocolate protein powder
• 1 tbsp cocoa powder
• 2 tbsp toasted dessicated coconut
• 1 tsp coconut flour
• 1 tbsp coconut oil (not 2 or it ends up being too greasy and not very pleasant)
• 2 tbsp + 1/2 tsp  boiling water (32.5ml)

Method:

Pretty much the same as before except that I mix the oil and the water together first and then add that to the dry mixture - I think it blends better.

That's the mixture, just before adding the water.

Ok, it doesn't look good and suspiciously familiar. Yet, if you have a 4 year old/husband, they'll think it's hilarious....

That's them done, ready for the fridge.

Stuffed Tomatoes

Do you remember me mentioning stuffed tomatoes a while back when I had done my paleo trial? Vaguely? No? Well, let me refresh your memory...

On the hunt for low-carb recipes I had tried to make stuffed tomatoes, something my mother often did in the summer when I was little. So a few weeks ago, before it was too late to get decent tomatoes I thought I'd take some pictures in the view to share the recipe with you.

It's nothing fancy I suppose but it hits the spot: it's filling, warm and juicy not to mention healthy, of course...

Now I used chicken because that's all I can cope with meat-wise. I was vegetarian for a long time and then understanding the impact of protein and carbohydrate on our metabolism literally forced me to put meat back on the menu. I'd like to eat other meats but I don't think I can, at least not now. I cried the first time I ate chicken... My mum's recipe used sausage meat and lardons (bacon), hence why I've added feta and smoked paprika. I'm sure you could use minced beef too.

Ingredients:

• 4 beef tomatoes
• 400g or so of boneless chicken
• 1 + 1 cloves of garlic
• 1 egg
• 100 feta in small cubes
• 2 tsp of smoked paprika
• 1 tsp of hot chilli powder
• 2 tbsp of parmesan
• 1 big handful of fresh herbs, I used a combination of parsley and basil
• 1 tin of chopped tomatoes
• 1 onion 
• salt 
• pepper
• olive oil
• dried oregano and thyme

Method:

Cut the top of each tomato. Core and season them all. Turn them upside down in an oven-proof dish while you make the rest.

Finely chop your onion and one clove of garlic, place in a saucepan with a glug of olive oil and the dried herb and saute until soft. Add your chopped tomatoes, season to taste (I sometimes add a tiny bit of ketchup to balance the acidity but don't tell anyone) and simmer until you have a nice sauce - not too thick as it's going in the oven later on and you don't want to end up with jam.

Now place your chicken, herbs, egg, paprika, chilli powder, parmesan and garlic in the food processor and blitz. Season (not too much salt but a decent amount of pepper), add the feta and mix to distribute the cubes evenly.

Stuff your tomatoes, place their tops (or hats as we used to call them) back on. Pour the tomato sauce all around and drizzle some olive oil on top of the dish before placing it in the preheated oven (180 degrees) for 30 to 40 min until piping hot.

Serve with a generous amount of greens and feel secure in the knowledge that it's not just your stomach and taste-buds that are happy, so is your entire body.

I'm hungry

It’s been a while, sorry – holiday and all that….

Did I ever mention I live in a house where everyone is always hungry? I reckon “I’m hungry” is the sentence (is it a sentence?) that I hear the most throughout the day. One of my 4 year old’s first words was yum quickly followed by cake – I should have known my pantry would never be mine again.

So in a bid to stall the said 4 year old’s hunger I decided to give him a bigger breakfast – it is after all what I tell my clients: start the day with a big breakfast.

I’ve been adding nuts, seeds as well as dried and fresh fruit to his cereal and that seems to help a bit but on days when he decides he wants toast I had to come up with something else.

So I give you banana smoothie! Sounds obvious, now that I mention it, doesn’t it?

First attempt wasn’t pretty and resulted in a runny mess that clogged up the straw, didn’t quite go down the drain but it may as well have.

Second attempt, however, was much more successful and was faintly reminiscent of those frozen snickers bar we ate in the 90s - Do they still sell them??? Hopefully not.

You need to be a bit organised and freeze your banana, say the night before, if you want it for your breakfast. It would probably work without it being frozen it won’t be as thick and not as a good I think. What I do is that I slice the bananas on a plate that I have first covered with non PVC cling film and then freeze. That allows me to have small pieces of bananas, which means my blender won’t break and having them on cling film means it’s much easier to peel off the plate.

Here’s the recipe for 2 people because quite frankly there’s no point doing it just for 1 as it’s so good that someone else is bound to want some.

Ingredients:

·      2 frozen bananas

·      2 tbp of good quality peanut butter

·      1 tbsp of coconut flour

·      ½ tsp vanilla extract

·      2 glasses of milk – we used oat milk because we don’t do dairy milk well in our family but you could

u  use whichever milk you wanted.

Method:

Chuck everything in the blender and whizz until it’s lump free and thick, yet pourable – add more milk if needed.

I’m in the process of tinkering with other flavours. I replicated the same recipe was raspberries and it was good but not OMG it’s good!, which means it needs to be worked on.

See how thick that is?? The straw stands by itself!

One happy and slightly less hungry child.
Gosh, the garden is messy!

Snack attack

I went to pick up my eldest from pre-school last week and was shown the perfect example of the effect low blood sugar.

He’d had a brilliant day, so I was told, joined in all the activities, helped tidy, sang songs and ran in the garden. He’d eaten “very well”: toast for breakfast, pasta and a flapjack for lunch, pitta and fruit for tea… As soon as I walked out my angelic child turned into some sort of wild beast that barely responded to human communication. Cunning as I am, I knew this would happen so I had brought him a snack. A really cool one as well (forgive the pun), I had brought him a homemade ice lolly since the weather was so scorching. That kept him occupied for a whole 5 min and then disaster struck: he was hungry and he wanted food NOW! I started by gently explaining to him that I didn’t have any but that I had prepared him green pasta (spinach, basil and feta sauce – it’s bright green and looks like ET made it, hence the appeal) and that he could have it as soon as we’d be back. He looked at me dismayed and began to stomp his feet and demanded food NOW, which made his little brother chuckle with gusto, which didn’t help. He was now enraged by my appalling mummy skills and by his brother “making fun of him”. He was refusing to walk, so I pointed out to him that he had just gobbled an ice lolly so the world wasn’t that bad after all and that the quicker we’d get home, the quicker he’d eat. I guess I should have known that getting into an argument with a hungry 4 year old is pointless but the mum in me was getting slightly poodled off. There I was in Exeter, so close and yet so far from home, walking away from my little demon who was shrieking at the top of his voice. After ignoring him long enough, he yelled, tears streaming down his little face, that he didn’t know how to stop crying… He just needed a cuddle I said and we finally got back to feed the ravenous beast. He polished his pasta, then looted the garden of all the strawberries and finally was back to his normal self.

This was pretty bad but not unseen when he comes back from pre-school because he’s been on a sugar roller coaster all day and when I pick him up at 5.30pm he’s crashing. Of course, he’s also tired from having had such a busy day but I’m convinced that he wouldn’t have been half as bad had he eaten properly. That day, apart from a bit of tomato sauce on his pasta, all he’d eaten really was wheat and sugar, barely no protein or vegetables so it’s no surprise really. I’m not having a go at his nursery because they’re pretty much all the same and at least there they don’t eat those turkey twizzler thingies. I guess it doesn’t matter so much in pre-school but it does at school – how can kids concentrate after having pasta and garlic bread followed by sponge and custard? Despite Jamie Oliver’s best efforts, I think the menus of most schools in the UK are still poor and are not conducive to focused learning. I’d love to see more protein and more vegetables on the menu as well as fewer puddings, which are fine now and again but not every day.

So today when I pick him up I’ve decided to come armed with something that will satisfy the appetite and taste buds of my ravenous beast but also something that is fairly nutritious… so I give you my chocolate cookies.

I made some the other day and they were a success, although I might tweak them next time. The chopped nuts kind of get lost in the sea of nut flour so I think I might swap them for dried cranberries next time, if I can find some that aren’t covered in sugar. I think it would add an interesting chew to the texture as well as some more sweetness, which would go well with the dark chocolate.

Ingredients:

180g ground almonds

40g coconut flour - I use Tiana because it’s easily found

120ml coconut oil - I use Nutiva as I found it the best value for money

40g coconut nectar

2 eggs

1tsp bicarb

½ tsp salt

1tsp vanilla extract

100g dark chocolate chopped - I used a 72% one from Sainsbury’s nothing fancy.

100g toasted hazelnuts, chopped. Do try cranberries or other dried chewy fruit instead. 

Method:

Add all the dry ingredients in a bowl, apart from the chopped nuts (or berries) and chocolate and mix well. Mix the eggs and oil together and gradually add to the dry mixture. Then add the chocolate and nuts/berries. 

Roll the mixture into small balls, flatten with a fork and bake in a pre-heated oven at 180°C for 15min.

As you can see, I was lazy and used my Kitchen Aid instead of doing things by hand. This is why I didn't mix the eggs and oil first but do it if you're doing things by hands or you may end up with clumps.

Ta da!

Be more organised than me and buy some baking parchment, it makes your life easier.

I made two batches, so 24 cookies all in all but I think I'll make them  a bit smaller next time.

Voila!

Update: I did try with cranberries (couldn't find unsweetened ones) and raisins and it was better, slightly tangy and chewy. I'm not a fan of sweetened cranberries so next time I'll try dried apricots, I reckon that'll work really well against the dark chocolate. I also entertained the idea of using less chocolate but then ended up adding the lot in - can there really be too much chocolate??

Chocolate dessert

As promised here’s my marvellous paleo chocolate dessert. It’s very easy to make and quite versatile: folding in a couple of beaten egg whites would turn it into a chocolate mousse and would increase the protein content, freezing it for 30min/1 hour turns it into a sort of ice-cream – don’t leave it for hours as it becomes too hard.

Ingredients:

·      1 large ripe avocado

·      1 can of coconut milk

·      4 tbsp of cacao powder

·      2/3 tbsp of agave syrup depending on how sweet you like it

·      1 tbsp of coconut flour

·      1 tsp of vanilla extract

Method:

Add everything to a food processor and blitz, add a bit of water to loosen it if you find it too solid – some coconut milks are more liquid than others so it depends on the brand you’re using.

Adding a bit of coconut oil would help it firm up and would make it suitable for piping onto cakes.

You can see, my coconut milk was quite "dry" so I ended up adding 2 couple of tablespoons of water to loosen the whole thing. 

My eldest son said it was "yummy-yummy" and trust me, he isn't one of those kids that choose to have smoked mackerel pate with olives for lunch... If the little rascal likes it, it must be pretty good.

PS: I added some cacao nibs on top as they're delicious and add a little crunch.