Month: April 2016

Coconut & lime chunks

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We have had a few weeks of being really naughty recently, sharing a sticky toffee date pudding in a restaurant then practicing making chocolate fondant for a dinner party. And I must not forget the incredible Toblerone cheesecake I had seconds of at a friends house last weekend. These were all totally delicious but didn’t make me feel great.  The rush of ‘high’ from all that sugar, followed quickly by a real ‘low’ and body slump. So I am on the rampage to revamp our eating style and stay away from sugar and dairy packed foods for a while. I always notice I have more energy,  better skin and sleep well when I have a cleaner diet. When I say diet, I am by no means starving myself, I don’t function well if I skip meals, eat tiny portions etc. If that happens then I am angry, headachy and generally a nasty person to be around. Last night we had a delicious Moroccan stew packed full of root vegetables, spinach and lentils. It was gently spiced with …

Baked falafel on tabbouleh

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I adore falafel but I don’t adore how they are made by frying a lot of good ingredients in oil so I have tried making my own baked falafel which are pretty tasty and not too far off the originals. Also, rather than having them in a pitta bread I have made a tabbouleh salad and drizzled them in good olive oil. Alternatively you could water down a little tahini and pour over the top. A dressing I have used in the past on one of my salads is tahini, apple cider vinegar, honey, splash of water, salt and pepper would be delicious on these. Ingredients: 1 cup dried chick peas 4 -5 tbsp plain flour 1 tsp baking powder 3 large garlic cloves (crushed) 1 small onion or 2 shallots (roughly chopped) 1 tbsp harissa paste 1.5 tsp ground cumin Half tsp ground coriander large handful of chopped parsley 1 tsp salt flakes or half tsp pouring salt Soak your dried chickpeas over night in a bowl of water, making sure that there is at least 2 cm …

Pecan Pie – Deliciously Ella style

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I bought the new Deliciously Ella book a couple of weeks ago and I am slowly working my way through some of the recipes. Here is her original: Pecan Pie This has proved a new favourite in our house, and a real hit at a recent dinner party for those who were lactose intolerant. Rather than making one big tart, I made individual ones and halved the ingredient list as this is rather an expensive list of ingredients unless you are feeding 8-10 people. See below for my version of Deliciously Ella’s mini Pecan pies! Ingredients: Tart base: (makes 4 individual pies) 75g almond flour 63g buckwheat flour 1 tsp cinnamon 1 tbsp honey 2 medjool dates (or 5 normal dates) 1 tbsp coconut oil Oven to 180 degrees and grease the tartlet cases with a little coconut oil. In a food processor blend dates then add rest of mixture and blend till sticky. Divide this mixture into your 4 tart cases and bake for about 12 minutes, you will notice it firms up and starts …

Thai Bang Bang Turkey

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Tonight I am going to a friends house to watch a movie and was asked if I could bring the protein part of dinner. I have been told they will provide salad, potatoes and wine so I had to think of something easy that I didn’t need to cook once there. Thai Bang Bang Turkey is my low calorie, totally delicious and easy dinner protein option! Bang Bang Turkey uses a peanut thai flavoured sauce which you can basically put on anything, I would even have it on toast. That is perhaps as I am obsessed by anything that contains peanut butter. This is also a great dish if you have a few things lying around in the fridge to make a salad and you want a change from a normal chicken salad. I tend to have this cold as I think the sauce works best cold or at room temperature. Ingredients: Turkey/chicken – 400g 1 garlic clove crushed 1 thumb sized grated fresh ginger 1 large bag lettuce 2 carrots 1 cucumber/courgette 5 tbsp peanut butter …