Guilt free chocolate cupcakes with an almond vanilla topping.

       

   So after a very unsuccessful first try of this recipe I decided I would tackle it again and change the quantities and make some additions. These have even got the seal of approval from family members who thought my healthy brownies were fairly unsatisfiying. I am very very pleased to say that it has been more of a success than I thought it would be and these are actually really quite tastey. This batch makes 8 cupcakes which is grand because when your eating better you don't need 24 cupcakes haha. 

Ingredients. 

 2 eggs

 1 banana 

 1& a half tablespoons of coconut flour

 1 tablespoon coconut sugar

 1teaspoon of organic caoco powder

 Half table spoon of coconut oil

A smidge of baking soda 

Almond milk

Frozen berries(optional but recomended cos it's amazing)

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees.

     First put your banana, eggs and coconut oil in a bowl and blend with an electric hand blender. Then mix in the flour, sugar, caoco powder in with the blender also. The mixture will be quite stiff so this is where I mix in some almond milk bit by bit till the texture is so that some will stay on the spoon and some will flop off. A spoon able texture if that makes sense haha. 

     Line 8cupcake cases in a cupcake tin and spoon the mix into each case. If you are including the Rosen berries, spoon a small bit in places one frozen berry in the centre and spoon more mixture over it to enclose it. Chocolate and berry is an amazing combination.

     Pop the filled tray in the oven for 20mins. 

     While these are cooking make the topping,

you can use any nut you prefer, I used almonds. 

Put around 15almonds, 3teaspoons of boiling water, 1teaspoon of coconut oil, a splash of vanilla essence and a squeeze of honey into and electric blender. And blend, till you can get it to the smoothest texture possible. Mine was fairly crunchy but I like it. 

     When the twenty minutes are up take them out and let them cool before you put on the topping. 

  Hope you enjoy your baking. Eat well, live well :)

Light and love Sally xx 

 

My cold/flu/cough soothing tea.

  Sooo, I have a head cold and I'm not mad on drugging myself up unless I literally can't function so this alternative remedy is super comforting to drink, tastes good and well I just love the warmth. I'm loving it the last 3days so I said I'd share the love. The ingredients are not set in stone you can swap the lemon and ginger bag for fresh lemon and ginger, whatever is easier. You don't even need the tea bags at all, you can leave out the green tea if you want but I just like it. 

   So ingredients are... Drumroll please haha 

  

  1 ginger and lemon tea bag. lemon is high in Vitamin C. It is also full of phytochemicals. These are plant constituents that help boost the immune system. 

  1green teabag.  

 3cloves, which is a powerful antiseptic. Cloves are warming, and useful for people who are prone to colds. Cloves are also an excellent natural anti-inflammatory, when used locally on swellings it can be quite useful if you have a sore throat from coughing. 

 Half a cinnamon stick, natural antiseptic

 Squeeze of honey, honey contains a natural "ingredient", which kills the flu germs and will prevent the person from getting the flu.

Loads of info in the link below for honey and cinnamon. 

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/039963_cinnamon_honey_healing.html##ixzz2xfibYeh

So boil the kettle. Put all the ingredients into your mug and fill with water, simple. After I've finished my mug I keep the stuff unit in it and just top up the honey and water to get a second mug out of them.

 That's my easy peasy tea anyway, so sit down chill out with a pack a soft tissues for your poor nose and drink this wonderful comforting tea. Woohoo.

Enjoy, happy drinking, happy sleeping. 

Sally xx  

       

Guilt free chocolate brownies.

 Sweet potato brownies 

     These brownies are super moist and fudgey, I will admit they are not supersonically amazing but when you restricting your diet to mostly rabbit food these are pretty amazing. Plus as an alternative recipe it actually worked cos I've had some dried up disasters haha.. They are not a sweet as a full calorie, full sugar brownie but they are very chocolatey and are delisious accompanied with strawberries or raspberries and Greek yoghurt. 

                     

Ingredients. 

 2medium or 1 large sweet potato

 2eggs

 2tsp vanilla

 Half cup of olive oil

 Half cup of honey

 1tsp baking soda

 1tablespoon baking powder

 2 tablespoon cocoanut flour

 1 cups of organic sugar free coco powder

PREHEAT OVEN TO 180

 

 First grate your sweet potato, I used an electric grater. 

Whiz up your wet ingredients and mix them into your potato. 

 Add in your dry ingredients, mix well. 

Pop the mixture a tin lined with grease proof paper. Cook for 25-30 mins. When they come out after 30mins they will still seem very soft and raw looking but once they cool a bit they or find. Really fudgey. 

  

Don't forget to clean the mess 

Happy cooking, happy eating. 

Sally

Xx 

   

Braid it up!

                       

                                

  My obsession at the moment are plaits, I wear my hair up in a plait most days, dress it up, dress it down, going shopping, going to yoga, working...I'm braiding it up.  The plait I'm doing is the Dutch plait which is the same as a French plait but instead of bring your hair over,over over, your bring each section under. This lets the braid sit on top of the hair and not into the scalp like a French plait does. Whatever plait you maybe rocking even the simple plait to the side, take it really tight and when it's secured with a bobble pull each curve away from each other, spreading the width.Don't be afraid of really dishevelling it, they always look better this way. same applies for any French or Dutch plait, really get your fringes into the braid and shake it to loosen it from the head. 

    

                 My freaky doll head with a Dutch plait. 

          Plaits on the runway. 

 

Work you plaits into a bun. Give the look texture by pulling all your baby hairs out around the front hairline. 

Alexander McQueen used this very severe look.  Plait your hair tight at night and the next day have an 'after plait' look when you take them out. 

Me myself and my braids. 

 Finishing. 

To dishevel and texturise my plaits I use redken a wax blast and pop flowers in around the back that I got in h&m. 

                           

Super grain salad

                               

   I spent the weekend in dublin with my sister and indulged in everything chocolate, alcohol and high calorie based so I'm back to reality today so I started it off with this super salad. Quinoa being the star of this dish is a super super food with a load of health benefits which I googled haha. But I read it all and it sounds great. My original reason for using this is because it keeps me fuller longer with out the calories which means I'll eat less between meals. The key to cooking with quinoa is to pack it with loads of flavor because it quite a tasteless grain, I've added loads of herbs and a chilli dressing to mine. 

    So here we go, zee ingredients: 

Tricolour or regular quinoa.   Sweet potato and red pepper chopped.  Toasted pumpkin seeds and almonds. Stock cube 

        Dressing! (Optional) or if you don't like chilli just replace it with garlic or ginger. A bit of lime juice is great addition here too. Love this dressing, no oil and can be used on all salads. 

    Bunch of fresh coriander and mint, chopped. 

        Zee method

Cook your quinoa to packet instructions, mine was 1part grain to 2parts water. I use a cup measure as 1 part. For this salad I did 2 parts quinoa. This grain is great but super plain so I add half a veg stock cube into my water for extra flavor. So cook away and leave to rest on the pot. 

  While that's on the hob,chop your veg (butternut squash is great here also) and pop in the oven at 190 for bout 15/20 mins, the smaller the chop the less time it takes. I seasoned mine with salt and pepper. 

  Everything is cooking away so make ur dressing as instructed by the picture above. And get your herbs ready, chop everything leaves and stalks. 

   When your veg is nearly cooked threw (check potatoes hardness) pop ur seeds and nuts in for literally 3-4 mins, watch these. They burn so easily. 

Now once everything is done, put them all into a big bowl, mix it up, let it cool and enjoy. For lunch I'll have this on its own, maybe adding fresh salad like cucumber and tomatoes. For dinner I'll serve this with grilled or roast chicken. Yummy. 

  

As always, happy cooking, happy eating.

Sally xxx 

Super filling hazelnut pancakes

                     

I'm a bit of a pancake fanatic but the classic pancakes drenched in Nutella just won't do the job when I'm trying to be healthier. So I've coined myself as the pancake whisperer and I'm coming up with all types of fabulous concoctions on my days off. Here is the latest one that I've demolished. 

Ingredients

   60g of gluten free flour (less gluten, less bloating)

    30g oatbran. (Great for filling you up till lunch time comes around)

     1 egg

 Combine these three in a bowel with a spoon and then add in the hazelnut milk slowly while continuously mixing. I've given no measure for the liquid because I just judged it, more liquid will give you a crepe type of pancake and less will give you a thicker scotch type. I like thick ones but it's totally up to you here. Then add 1tablespoon of your cocoanut palm sugar, mix well. 

   Pop a small bit of oil on the pan and cook them, if doing thicker use a lower heat so they cook through. 

While the first side was cooking I put some slices of strawberries on the none cooked side so that when I flipped it the strawberry cooked into the pancake. 

I served mine with fresh strawberry and blueberry yoghurt 

  

Alternatively, staying on the healthy scheme of things here's another topping I tried 

 Almond butter and agave nectar, yum. 

Happy cooking and happy eating. 

Sally 

Guilt free breakfast pancakes.

                       

                         

     So I made these epic pancakes, no flour or sugar. I saw the recepie on Facebook and added some tastey but healthy toppings. I served mine with almond Greek yoghurt, fig and seeds. 

  

        Ingredients.

  1fig, 1banana, 2eggs, agave nectar, Greek yoghurt or yoghurt of choice, almond butter and mixed seeds 

 

    For the yoghurt: mix 2tablespoons of yogurt with half a teaspoon of almond butter.

    

    Pancake mixing! 

    Super easy, just blitz the 2eggs and banana with an electric hand blender or normal blender or even by hand but it may take a little more strenuous mixing. 

     I put a drain of oil of the pan so they don't stick, but try use a non stick pan, medium-low heat so they don't burn. They are a big tricky to flip, easier if you make them small. 

 

Serve them up!!!

  

Put a nice blob of the yoghurt mix, chop the fig, sprinkle the seeds over and drizzle the agave nectar. 

 Eat them in under 30seconds, lol. 

  

Happy cooking peoples ;)x