Fantastic Feijoa Smoothie

Hi everyone. I am finally back with a recipe! After a great Easter break away  I have been feeling a bit more inspired in the kitchen lately, so hopefully I'll get some great recipes up for you over the next few weeks.

I had a really nice Anzac weekend. On Saturday we went mountain biking at Woodhill mountain bike park. It's a really great nearby park full of great mountain biking tracks, however, it turns out that it is actually quite large so we ended up biking for around 3 hours! My legs were complete jelly at the end.

Sunday we went and got a couple of things in town as I wanted some things to put on the wall in our bedroom to make it feel more like 'ours'. Monday the weather wasn't very great, so we mooched around in the morning and then wandered around some more shops.

I came up with this recipe as a way to try and get through some of the dozens and dozens of feijoas that are covering a part of my lawn at the moment. There are four feijoa trees in our back yard and teamed with this year being a bumper season, I have quite the feijoa problem on my hands. I think this weekend I might have to try preserving some.

I love smoothies for breakfast as they are a great way to pack nutrients into a meal and they are nice and portable, so if i'm running late I can also take them along to work with me. I used a frozen banana in my smoothie, but if you don't like the taste of banana, a frozen apple would also be really nice! Haven't pre-prepared frozen fruit? You can always use fresh and add some ice cubes to the mix.

Ingredients

Frozen banana (or apple)

3 medium feijoas

1 cup almond milk

1/2 tsp vanilla essence

1-2 tsp honey

Scoop protein powder (optional)

Halve the feijoas and scoop out the flesh. Add all of the ingredients to a blender and whiz until completely smooth (I did around a minute all up). Enjoy nice and cold.

So here is one way to use up my feijoas, now to just find about 20 more. Let me know of you have any great ideas for how to use up my feijoas!

Apricot Surprise Muffins (Refined sugar free)

Hi All! I hope that you have enjoyed your weekend. I fit in a spot of shopping yesterday and got a couple of nice things. I managed to find a blouse for work and a striped dress from Valley Girl (gotta love cheap and cheerful). I don't expect these to last that long since they were really cheap, but they will be good for a season or so. I also got a nicer sweater for work from Farmers.

It is very hard to even imagine winter when it is still pretty consistently in the mid 20s up here in Auckland, but I don't want the colder weather to creep up on me and have nothing to wear for work!

I also got out for a bit of Mountain Biking yesterday evening. I'm still very much a beginner at this, and as a result my technique isn't that great. Because of this, I did take a bit of a journey off my bike and onto the ground. Ouch! Luckily I only have a couple of scrapes and bruises to show for this.

I realise that I have been a little bit slack with the recipes lately. It's not that I haven't been creating anything, but I just haven't been taking the time to photograph and document it. I promise to try harder in the future :)

As this week's focus for the 12-week challenge is cutting refined sugar for one day I thought that I should post a recipe that allows you to still enjoy sweet food without all of the refined sugars. I definitely have a sweet tooth, so anything that allows me to indulge in a healthier way is a winner in my book.

These muffins have been sweetened using brown rice syrup, as it doesn't play havoc with blood sugar like refined sugars do and it is a relatively natural alternative. If you don't have access to brown rice syrup, I definitely think that these muffins would work with honey. If you do try let me know! These muffins also feel a bit more like a treat thanks to the creamy 'surprise' that they have in the middle.

Enjoy xx

(Makes 12 regular-sized muffins)

Ingredients
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup wholemeal flour (you could use all wholemeal but they will be stodgier)
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup chopped dried apricots
3/4 cup brown rice syrup
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk

1/4 cup cream cheese
1 tsp brown rice syrup

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. and line a muffin tin.

In a large bowl, sift the flours, baking powder and baking soda. Stir through the dried apricots.

In a separate bowl, beat together the brown rice syrup, eggs and milk. Make a well in the dry ingredients, add the wet ingredients, and fold together until just mixed.

In a small bowl, beat together the cream cheese and brown rice syrup.

Fill each muffin hole about 1/4 full with mixture, then add 1 tsp of cream cheese mixture. Fill each muffin hole evenly with the rest of the mixture.

Bake for 12-15 minutes, until the tops are golden and the top of the muffin springs back when gently pushed.

Eat within 1-2 days, or freeze for later.

A Nourishing Granola

Hi everyone

I did intend on publishing this post a little sooner, but unfortunately I got knocked back by quite a nasty bug, which involved having absolutely no inclination towards food (which for me is just insane!).

On a side note, here are some pretty cupcakes I made. I made lemon and raspberry ones adapted from this recipe and they were delicious!!

Today I thought that I would share with you a recipe that I adapted for granola (or muesli if you live down the bottom of the world). I really love granola/muesli in the morning, however, almost all of the packaged ones contain refined sugars and quite a lot of it! That's why when I can I try to make my own. Unfortunately, when I get busy I seem to forget how quick and easy it is to actually make your own, even the toasted variety.

I would note though that if you do decide to make your own, watch it like a hawk when it is in the oven! It only takes a minute for your delicious, toasted muesli to turn into bitter, burnt stuff. If it looks like it is getting overdone, take it out! It will crisp up more as it cools.

I adapted this recipe from My New Roots based on what I had in the pantry. I also didn't add any extra sugar aside from the rice malt syrup, but you could add in around 1/4 of a cup of brown sugar or coconut sugar if you feel the need.

Ingredients
3 cups rolled oats
1 cup puffed millet, puffed brown rice or similar
1 cup hazelnuts, roughly chopped
1/4 cup chia seeds
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup rice malt syrup (or honey)
1/3 cup coconut oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup dried cranberries

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Line 2 baking trays with baking paper.

In a large bowl combine oats, puffed millet, chopped hazelnuts, and chia seeds. Mix well.

In a small saucepan combine salt, rice malt syrup, coconut oil, vanilla extract and cocoa powder. Heat over a low heat, stirring often, until melted and combined.

Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry and mix well until all of the dry ingredients are coated (I used a bit of a smushing-movement with my spoon).

Press the mixture onto the baking trays so that there is a thin, even layer of mixture.

Bake for 15-20 minutes, watching it closely. Remove from the oven, give it a really good mix around and then pop back in the oven for around 10 minutes, stirring every 3 minutes or so. The mixture should feel nice and dry.

Leave to cool and then store in an airtight container.

Homemade custard

Whoops! I am so overdue for a post!! I have been pretty busy these last two weeks, first going on a field trip for one of my papers and secondly preparing and doing my experiment to collect the data that I need for my dissertation. Unfortunately I only managed to collect half of what I need, so I will have to do one more day of data collection. To make things scarier, we were told today that there are only 8 weeks left until we have to hand in our dissertations. Eek! 

But of course I can't let that stop me making good food....

Up until earlier this year, custard to me was going to the cupboard, finding the custard powder, adding milk and cooking it up. Sometimes, if I wanted a really nice and creamy custard I may even add a few eggs. Because I relied on a package that had lots of numbers on it, it didn't really factor in as part of my whole food diet, it was more of a treat. However, because I really love custard, especially when I get sick, it made me determined to find a better way of making it. So I went searching on the internet and came away absolutely gobsmacked that I have been making it from a packet for so long.

It is so easy to make!!

I really didn't find it any more difficult than using pre-made custard powder. What's more, making it from scratch I know exactly what is in it and can use a more natural form of sweetner. Now I don't feel bad about enjoying custard all the time and it most definitely counts as a part of a real food diet.

Ingredients

2 cups milk (full fat works best)

2 Tbsp cornflour

1 tsp vanilla essence (or vanilla bean paste, which makes it taste awesome!)

1 egg

1/4 cup rice malt similar (or othe liquid sweet```ner)

In a small bowl whisk together the cornflour, egg and vanilla essence.

Place the milk in a pot and place over a medium-low heat unitl the milk gets nice and hot but not boiling. 

This next part you need to do quickly. Add the egg mixture and thoroughly whisk the mixture so that the egg white doesn't scramble. Keep whisking until the custard gets nice and thick.

Stir in the rice malt syrup, adding more or less to taste.

Serve immediately (Delicious with some grated chocolate)

Vanilla Mango Smoothie

I am now back into the full swing of my second semester. I'm pretty excited about a 3 day field trip up to the Central Otago wine region at the end of this week and I now have a date booked to do my experiment for my honours dissertation so a lot is happening! The three day field trip is essentially fend for yourself in terms of food so I have decided that to save money I am going to try to make my own breakfasts and lunches from home and just buy dinners. This has two benefits: 1) It will be far less expensive than trying to buy all 3 meals for 3 days and 2) It is much easier to eat healthier when all the food prepared for you is nutritious, real food. My plan at the moment is to make some whole wheat spinach and feta muffins to go with hard boiled eggs and fruit for lunches and to bring a chia porridge mix for breakfast. I tested the chia porridge this morning and it was fantastic!! I stayed full all morning. I will have a little play around with the flavours before I share it with you, so watch this space.

I have found that for some reason I am not responding to the cold weather the way I usually do. Usually first thing on a cold morning I want something warm to fill me up like porridge. However, for some wierd reason after not really craving them all summer I keep getting cravings for smoothies. At least it means that I have a great use for all the mangos I keep buying (2 for 1 was possibly getting ambitious). If I do forget about the mango and it starts to turn a little to the mushy side I can just slice it up and throw it in the freezer, ready for a tropical inspired smoothie that leaves me dreaming of lazing around in the sun somewhere.

Ingredients

1/2 medium mango, sliced and frozen

1/2 banana

1 Tbsp peanut butter or other nut butter

4-5 almonds, chopped in half (unless you have a really good blender)

1- 1.5 cups coconut and almond milk (or milk of choice)

1/2 tsp vanilla essence

Make sure that you have skinned and chopped the mango before you freeze it. I find snack-size snaplock bags work well for this.

Place all of the ingredients in a blender and blend until nice and smooth. 

*NB I found this sweet enough for me but if you like things on the sweeter side you could easily add in a chopped medjool date or two :)

Pumpkin Pie Smoothie

Hi everyone, hope that your week so far is going well. After having a few quieter weeks to try and decompress after a crazy semester, I actually need to start getting some dissertation work properly underway before the next crazy semester begins! This means that I have been neurotically timetabling my days, but hey, it seems to work for me and I had such a productive day yesterday!!

This weekend I am heading to Queenstown to catch some of the Winterfest events. I think some of the planned action will be going to watch some ice hockey, ice skating, going to a concert and maybe heading up the mountain to watch the slope style competition. Should be heaps of fun and the place we are staying in is quite flash with our own spa!! I cannot wait! Since the weekend is likely to be not quite as healthy as usual, I am trying to balance out with lots of nutrient-dense foods during the week. I will also try to pack lots of healthy snacks so that I'm not eating junk all day long. Where we are staying also has a kitchen which makes it easier to have healthy lunches etc. I will document some of what I am eating via my instagram (@libbysfood) so check it out!

This smoothie recipe is a fantastic way to increase your veggie intake for the day. I will warn you that if you don't like pumpkin pie, do not go near this smoothie, but if you love it like me, this is a fantastic way to get all of the flavours without all of the sugar. Unfortunately in New Zealand, or at least Dunedin, we don't get tinned pumpkin that is already nice an pureed, so I just used some steamed pumpkin that we had from dinner the night before. You can easily play around with quantities to adjust it to your taste.

NB. Medjool dates are fantastic in smoothies, but if you don't have any you can sub in dried dates that you soak in boiling water for 10-15 minutes.

Ingredients
1 cup cooked, mashed pumpkin
2 Tbsp rolled oats
2-3 medjool dates
1 tsp maca powder (optional)
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 cup milk of choice (almond would be nice)

Place all of the ingredients in a blender and blend until really nice and smooth. Took me about 40 seconds all up.

Banoffee Porridge

I hope everyone in New Zealand had a great Queen's Birthday weekend and a nice 4-day working week. I am currently sick! Not an annoying wee snuffle kind of sick, but a keep-me-up-till-2am-sneezing kinda sick! Yea not so fun. So basically I plan on spending my day on the sofa, wrapped in a blanket in my pyjamas, blogging, chick-flicking and maybe working on my dissertation.

One of the great aspects of being on dissertation leave is that with my stress levels being waaaaay down I am actually feeling incredibly inspired food-wise. This means that you can expect some fantastic recipes coming your way on the blog over the next couple of weeks.

Today's recipe was something I came up with for the holiday Monday. Porridge is a fantastic winter breakfast, but I always like to jazz it up a little for a weekend breakfast. While it is tempting to throw in a bunch of sugar to make it a sweet treat, this porridge is completely decadent without any refined sugars. Think caramel porridge, topped with banana and whipped coconut cream. I know that there is a lot of controversy over the fat in coconut cream, but hey, a little bit isn't going to hurt. I also find that a little bit of extra fat makes me feel a lot more satisfied and helps stop me reaching for extra sweet treats.

I hope that you enjoy this porridge as much as I did!

Serves 3-4

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
1 1/2 cups milk
1 1/2 cups water
Pinch salt
1/4 cup dates
2 bananas, sliced
1 tin coconut cream (must be full fat- in New Zealand I find that Pams works fantastically)
1 Tbsp rice malt syrup (could also use honey or agave)
1 tsp vanilla extract

The night before you make the porridge, open the tin of coconut cream. Leave uncovered in the fridge overnight. (This separates the cream from the water and makes it reeeeeeeeally thick).

Place the rolled oats, milk, water, salt and dates in a pot over a medium heat. Bring the boil, stirring regularly and then reduce to a simmer. Continue to stir until porridge is thick.

Either place the porridge in a blender or food processor and give it a little whiz or use a stick blender to do the same.

Scoop the thick coconut cream out of the top of the can (make sure that you leave the water behind). In a bowl, whip the thick coconut cream with the rice malt syrup and vanilla.

Place the porridge in bowls, top with the sliced bananas and then the coconut cream. If you want an extra touch, grate a little dark chocolate over the top.

Healthy Hot Chocolate

It's snowing!! Well if you can really call hail and sleet snowing, however, it has settled on the ground in Dunedin and therefore shut down most of the schools. I am currently on dissertation leave at the moment so it hasn't affected me too much. One thing it does mean is that i am very keen to just stay inside with lots of warming food.

This hot chocolate definitely fits the bill! I came up with this last week when I was trying to watch the amount of sugar I was consuming. This actually makes a great afternoon snack as it is quite filling. I will note that I tried this with both full-fat cows milk and with an almond milk/ coconut  milk blend (both were delicious!). I know that there is a lot of debate around full fat dairy vs. low fat dairy, but at the moment I find full fat dairy much more satisfying. You also have to watch low fat dairy as often extra sugar is added to improve the flavour.

This would probably work with almost any type of milk so let me know what you used and if it tasted any good!

Ingredients
1 cup milk of choice
2 tsp raw cacao or cocoa powder
1-2 tsp rice malt syrup or honey (depends on your sweet tooth)
1 tsp vanilla extract
Cinnamon for sprinkling (optional)

In a mug mix the honey/rice malt syrup, vanilla and cacao to form a paste. Add the milk stirring to combine a little. Heat in the microwave for a minute or so, depending on your microwave. Stir very well to make sure that the paste has fully combined with the milk.

Sprinkle with cinnamon and enjoy!

Better than Powerade- Homemade Electrolyte Drink

I did intend on posting this recipe about a week ago, but between my sister's wedding and beginning my honours course classes I got a tad busy. 

Being a tad busy is something that I am pretty sure I am just going to have to get over this year. After 2 days back at uni I have a list of about 10 things to do including 2 assignment due in about 2 weeks time. I also have to begin all of my prep to write my dissertation now. Hungry Male, if you are reading this I advise you to find some sort of project or hobby for the year as you may be abandoned for the library quite often.

I will try to keep creating recipes for you and posting them, but it may be a case of me sharing more what I am eating at the moment than recipes themselves and be prepared for busy periods when it may be a matter of weeks between posts.

I am also pretty sure that I am going to be needing this recipe a lot this year! Last Saturday I unfortunately woke up with what we know at Otago as "Fresher Flu". Basically it was a head cold with a bit of a nasty cough, but with a busy week ahead preparing for the wedding I wanted rid of it quickly! After looking at a few didn't recipes for homemade electrolyte drinks I develoepd this one to my tastes. While I definitely have a sweet tooth, I tend to quite dislike things like drinks that I think have waaaaaay more sugar added to them than is necessary. Electrolyte drinks such as powerade and gatorade fall into that category. I much prefer this homemade version as it is packed full of Vitamin C and it is very easy to adjust it to your tastes.

Ingredients

2 large lemons

2 organges

1/2- 1 tsp fine salt

2-4 tsp honey (I went with 2)

1 cup coconut water (or if not available, 1 cup cold water)

1 litre cold water

Squeeze the lemons and oranges and pour into a jug. Add the salt and honey and stir until they have both dissolved a bit.

Add the coconut water and cold water and give everything a really good stir until well combined.

Best served chilled

Valentines Treat- Raw Double Layer Freezer Brownie

Valentine's Day is just around the corner so I thought that I would get somewhat into the spirit by creating a special treat to give to any loved one. Valentine's Day isn't really anything for Hungry Male and I. Every year I tend to get quite jealous when I see all of the girls carrying around their over-priced flowers, but then Hungry Male points out that he would much rather just spoil me randomly throughout the year and there doesn't need to be a special day for it.


My logical side fully understands this reasoning.


My not so logical side is still waiting for flowers :)



Even though I don't really 'do' Valentine's I still thought that it was a great opportunity to come up with a sweet treat, because really, Valentine's is about sweet not savoury. This particular treat is full of goodness, with lots of fruit and nuts and no refined sugar.

Ingredients
1 cup dates, chopped
1 avocado, removed from skin
1 cup mixed nuts (I used a combination of raw peanuts and almonds)
1 Tbsp real maple syrup or honey

1 cup cashew nuts, soaked for 2+ hours in cold water

In a food processor, add the dates, avocado, nuts and maple syrup. Whiz in the processor until well broken up and clumping together. Press the mixture firmly into a metal slice tin using your hands.

Wipe out the food processor. Drain the cashews and add to the food processor with 2 Tbsp water. Whiz for around 30 seconds, thens crape down the sides and repeat until the mixture has turned creamy. Spread over the top of the date mixture.

Place in the freezer for 2 hours. If you want heart shaped bites, use a heart shaped cutter, pressing firmly down. If not cut into small squares. Store in the freezer.

Tropical Green Smoothie

I had a fantastic weekend last weekend at my sister's hens party in Martinborough. We had a delicious lunch of antipasto-type platters, and then picked-up some bike/pedal car type things and went around a couple of wineries doing tastings. And some of the wine was soooo nice!! I was very tempted to buy an apricoty dessert wine that we tried, but at $36 for a 500ml bottle it was a lil pricey for my budget.

Sunday was Mum's birthday so we went out for a light dinner and desserts. For desserts I got chocolate hazelnut churros! Yum! I definitely think that homemade churros need to go on my to-do list. Anyway, as is usual when I am away and relying on restaurants and cafes for food I really missed my fruit and vegetables!! So the first morning that I was back I made myself this smoothie to give myself a great start for the week!

Ingredients
1/2 large banana, chopped
3-4 thick slices mango (frozen is best)
1/4 large avocado or 1/2 small
Large handful baby spinach
1 Tbsp real maple syrup or runny honey
1 cup coconut milk
2-3 ice cubes (optional)

Place all of the ingredients in a blender. Blend for 30 seconds at a time or until the spinach and mango have broken up.

Serve chilled

GF Apple Crumble Muffins

I am so excited to share this recipe with you!! These muffins just ticked so many boxes.

First of all they are the first gluten free recipe that I have successfully developed (after a horrible, dry first attempt).

If you choose not to use the crumble topping, they are refined sugar free (they are just as delicious without)

They are nutritionally good enough for breakfast with fibre, protein and some fruit in there.

All of this and they got hungry male's seal of approval.

The only downside of these muffins........

..... They were all gone in less than 48 hours.

I suppose that just means that I will have to make some more. Since I am really busy at the moment that may be a bit of a challenge, but I have found that if I schedule in some baking time as 'me' time, I get yummy food and get to have some time to myself away from study.

These muffins use oat flour, which isn't readily available in New Zealand, but don't worry about that as it is ridiculously easy to make. I either make a big batch by whizzing up rolled oats in my food processor or to make smaller batches just throw some into the magic bullet. I have also made these muffins with apples, but tonight when i make them, I am going to try them with some peaches for a change. I will keep you posted on how they go.

Ingredients
1.5 cups oat flour
0.5 cups almond meal/flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1 cup apple puree (I steamed 3 peeled green apples and then used my stick blender to puree.)
1 egg
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup butter, melted (Could use coconut oil to make dairy free)


1 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1/4 cup almond meal/flour
2 Tbsp oats

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Grease a muffin pan

In a large bowl, whisk together the oat flour, almond flour and baking powder and cinnamon.

Whisk together the apple puree, egg, honey and butter, then add to the dry ingredients.

Gently fold together until just mixed. Fill the muffin tins until 2/3 full.

In a small bowl, rub together the butter, sugar and almond flour and oats until the mixture is crumbly. Sprinkle the crumble topping on top of the muffins.

Bake in the oven for 12-15 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean (These muffins are very moist).

Leave to cool for 10 minutes before removing muffins from the tin.

Apricot Muffin Bars

Today's post is going to be on the subject of breakfast. I am a sit down and eat kind of breakfast girl. Oh and I must eat my breakfast. Those of you who know me know that I am not pretty without my breakfast! For me this means that I like to be able to eat something substantial in a bowl or plate.

However, as much as I do try to do this it is not always possible. My hair will not behave, I spent a little bit longer in the shower as it was so nice or warm, or I just got busy doing other things. Now like I said, not having breakfast just isn't an option for me so I find it really handy to have a couple of things in the freezer or pantry that I can just grab.

More recently, hungry male decided that he liked the convenience of grab and go breakfasts and the extra 5 minutes they gave him in the morning. His solution was just to grab a couple a muesli bars and while that's not the worst breakfast in the world, it could be a whole lot better. My concern is generally the amount of sugar in them.

Due to this I was inspired to make these muffin bars with no refined sugar in them. I initially made apricot ones as I knew that dried apricots would really help to sweeten them up, however, I am very keen to try them with some other dried fruits. I also amped up the nutrition of these bars by using oat flour instead of ordinary white flour.

Delicious, nutritious and so quick and easy. That's what I call a perfect breakfast on the run!

Ingredients
1 cup chopped, dried apricots
1 cup oat flour (grind oats in a food processor or magic bullet)
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 eggs
1/4 cup milk (if needed)
1/4 cup reserved water from the apricots
1/4- 1/2 cup honey (this will depend on how sweet you want it)
1/4 cup dark chocolate chunks (optional)

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C.

Place the chopped apricots in a microwave safe bowl and cover with water. Cover with glad wrap and place in the microwave for 3-4 minutes or until the apricots are very soft. Drain the water, reserving 1/4 cup. Using a stick blender or potato masher, puree the apricots (stick blender works best).

In a large bowl, whisk together the oat flour, whole wheat flour, baking powder and baking soda and chocolate chunks if using. In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs, reserved apricot water, and honey. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and fold till just combined. If the mixture looks very dry add the 1/4 cup milk.

In a greased square cake tin (approx 20x20 cm), spoon in half the mixture and spread out as evenly as possible. Spread the pureed apricots on top followed by the other half of the mixture.

Bake for 10-15 minutes or until golden on top and cooked through. Leave to cool then cut into 16 pieces (4x4).

NB: I haven't tried this with other tried fruit but it should work.

Better Made At Home- Bounty Bar Bites

I am all finished with my second week at uni. Apart from a couple of research proposals and some readings things haven't gotten too busy just yet. This have given me some time to think up ideas for the blog and do some experimenting in the kitchen.

I was thinking the other day, that while I try to have a relaxed attitude to food and not completely restrict myself to completely unprocessed foods, there are quite a few foods that I really like that are heavily processed and have a lot of sugar in them (yes I have a major sweet tooth). What really sparked my interest was a bounty bar. Wikipedia describes these delights as a coconut filling enrobed with milk or dark chocolate. What they are is freaking delicious! However, they are really quite a simple concept.

As they are one of my favourite chocolate bars, I was inspired to get into the kitchen and make my own! I challenged myself to make a version that was completely refined sugar free so that I could enjoy them without guilt. I have given you two versions in this post. One is completely refined sugar free and uses a chocolate coconut oil coating. The other uses normal semi-dark chocolate to coat it. To be honest the normal chocolate ones look better and do taste slightly better, but if you are trying to reduce refined sugars, the sugar free ones are more than satisfying.

This recipe is also linked to my last post about how much I love coconut oil. Coconut oil was the perfect ingredient to bind them together. You could potentially use butter as an alternative to bind the coconut but I haven't tried it so therefore cannot vouch for its taste or success.

So welcome to the first post in the 'Better Made At Home' series.

Ingredients
1 cup dessicated coconut
5 Tbsp melted coconut oil
2 Tbsp honey

In a medium bowl stir all of the ingredients together thoroughly until the coconut is binding. You may need to let the mixture sit for a few minuted for the coconut oil to firm up for this to happen.

Using a rounded spoon (I used my Tablespoon measure) scoop out the mixture and firmly press into a half circular shape. Alternatively you could try to mould it with your hands. Place in the freezer for 30 minutes.

Either melt 4 rows of semi-dark chocolate or melt together 4 Tbsp coconut oil, 2 Tbsp honey and 4 tsp cocoa powder. If using the coconut oil option, let it sit to firm up until it is melted chocolate consistency.

Take the frozen coconut mounds and gently coat them in chocolate using two forks. Place back on the plate and then place in the freezer until completely set (about another 30 minutes)

Apple Breakfast Barley

I really feel like I have had a really relaxing couple of days, which is great cos hopefully I can go back to uni feeling refreshed. On Tuesday I baked my perfect failed macarons and then had a nice catch up and a walk with mum. I also got to go for my first run in about 5 weeks. Although it was a little tough fitness-wise my ankle held up fine.

Yesterday I had a beautiful sleep in until 8:30 which meant I got around 10 hours sleep, bliss! I caught up with Dad for lunch and one of my best friend's for afternoon coffee. I also did some spring winter cleaning in my kitchen draws. Everything looks so much nicer and organised now.

I got another 9.5ish hours sleep waking up at 8. Then this afternoon I made some delicious profiteroles!! These worked perfectly and are filled with a caramel creme pattisiere. I can't wait to have them for dessert tonight. Oh and even better my last exam result came through today! Two A minuses and an A. Not my absolute best semester but I'm very happy with that as none of my papers this semester were things that I was strong at.

Anyway, I thought after posting a couple of recipes for sweet treats it was time to get back into Real Food. To be honest I needed to get a little more on track myself as I noticed a few more processed foods like potato chips creeping back in. If you haven't caught up on it, I am trying to follow more of a real food diet. The aim is that 80% of my food is unprocessed, which means that when I do buy ready-made or packaged stuff, I should be able to identify all of the ingredients on the packet and they should be things that I could use for cooking and baking at home (i.e. no long, sciency sounding ingredients).

The other day I was watching an episode of Dr Oz. There are a couple of people in this world that I trust pretty much everything they say. One of them is Jamie Oliver as I believe that he is just a ktchen genius. The other is Dr Oz, not entirely sure why, but pretty much everything that he describes seems to be pretty reasonable. Its not that I jump and immediately start doing everything he says, but I take a lot of things into consideration.

The other day he suggested sometimes changing up your morning bowl of porridge/oatmeal for barley. As I had already planned a trip to a local shop, Taste Nature, that stocks organic foods as well as heaps of different types of grains, I thought I would give this a go. I cooked mine in the rice cooker so that I could go away and have a shower/get ready, but it can also be done on the stove top.

I wanted this to have some familiar breakfast flavours, so I used some fruit juice and chopped apple. However, like oats, you can flavour it with whatever you want. Now I will warn you, the texture may not be for everyone. It is veeeeeery different to porridge. The barley was much chewier but I loved it!!

Serves 2

Ingredients
1 cup pearl barley
1 medium apple, cut into small cubes
1 cup water
1 cup fruit juice

Option A: Place all ingredients into a rice cooker. Turn on to cook or the brown rice setting. Leave to cook until the moisture is all absorbed.

Option B: Place all of the ingredients in a medium pot. Bring to the boil over a medium heat, then turn the heat down and leave to simmer. Let simmer, stirring occasionally, until most of the moisture has absorbed and the barley is cooked through (about 20-30 minutes).

Serve with your choice of toppings such as yoghurt, nuts  or dried fruit.

Deliciously Natural Banana Bread

Welcome to the first post of the new blog! After updating the blog, I created a Facebook page to make it easier to keep up with what's going on. Thank you so much to everyone who liked my page so far! You can find my Facebook page here.

I thought that since I had changed my blog to have a more real food focus, my first recipe should fit in with this. Everyone I know loves banana bread, but it is often full of white sugar. I decided that I wanted to have a go at getting rid of this refined sugar, while still having a delicious tasting banana bread.

I chose to use dates to sweeten this as dates create a really great caramel-like sweetness that lends itself really well to banana bread. While this may not be quite as sweet as some banana breads, I still really liked it and I thought that because it was slightly less sweet, it would make a really great breakfast on the go. I was also really impressed because this banana bread stayed moist for ages!

If you have a go at this banana bread, let me know how it goes!

Ingredients
1 cup dates
2 bananas
2 eggs
1/4 butter, melted
1/4 cup milk
1 cup white flour
1 1/2 cups wholemeal flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon

Turn the oven on the 180 degrees C. and line a loaf tin.

Place the dates in a bowl and cover with boiling water. Leave to sit for 10 minutes to soften, then drain.

Place the dates in the bowl of a food processor and whiz until they start to break up. Add the bananas, eggs, butter and milk and process until well mixed.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix until combined. If the flour is not combining, add some more milk to thin out the mixture.

Spoon the mixture into the loaf tin and gently smooth out the top. Place on the middle rack of the oven and bake for 40-50 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. If the banana bread starts to brown too much on top, just place a little foil over the tin.

Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before turning out on to a wire rack.

This will stay moist for a couple of days. If you do have any left in a few days, it is also really great toasted.

Honey Pear and Ginger Smoothie

It's about time for a super nutritious recipe so here it is. This recipe is from the Innocent Smoothie recipe book and is a great way to use up some of those end of season pears that are starting to go mushy. This one isn't for ginger haters though as there is quite a ginger presence, but for those who do like it it is divine.

I would recommend grilling your pears a little bit ahead as otherwise they make your smoothie a bit warm. If you don't have time for that add a little ice.

Ingredients
1 pear, peeled, halved and cored
2 tsps honey
Thumbnail size piece fresh ginger
1/4 cup orange juice
3 Tbsps yoghurt

1. Spread honey over the cut side of the pear.
2. Place the pears cut side up in a baking dish and grill in the oven until the honey begins to caramelise.
3. Place everything into a blend and blend until very smooth.
4. Best served cold

Bliss Balls

Here's a yummy wee snack that is a great to satisfy that mid afternoon sweet tooth. The dates give them the sweetness while also giving you some fruit and the nuts give these balls a nice texture. A batch of these can be made up in the weekend and kept in the fridge for the rest of the week. 

Ingredients

150g dates

1/4 cup sunflower seeds

1/4 cup pumpkin seeds

1 Tbsp cocoa

1. Place all of the ingredients in a food processor.

2. Process until the mixture resembles fine crumbs.

3. Taking tablespoon amounts of mixture roll them firmly into balls.

Banana Berry Porridge

I came up with this recipe using a few tricks learnt off Chocolate Covered Katie. The first was her volumous oatmeal trick, so tip number 1 for this recipe, it needs to be started the night before. I also used her melted banana trick to give the porridge a really nice natural sweetness.

Either fresh or frozen berries can be used, either are delicious. This breakfast makes a great start to a cold winters morning but would be great any time of the year.

Ingredients

1/4 cup rolled oats

3/4 cup water

1 banana

Handful fresh or frozen berries, defrosted if frozen

1.The night before, put the oats and water in a glass jug. 

2. Cook the oats in the microwave until most of the water has been absorbed, but leaving a few centimetres excess.

3. Leave to sit for 5 minutes, then cover and refrigerate over night.

The oats will absorb the rest of the water and become beautifully fluffy.

1. The next morning, break the banana into big chunks and place in a bowl.

2. Microwave in 20 second bursts until the banana melts (It sounds strange, but it really does seem to melt).

3. Mix the berries and banana into the oats.

4. Microwave the oat mixture until heated through.

Muesli bars

Today is my first day back at uni so I thought that I would post a recipe for a good uni/school/work snack. I'm not the three square meals a day type of girl, I get hungry. Those of you who live in New Zealand, picture the kettles chips add with the "FEED ME PHIL" stomach, yea well my stomach can be a bit like that, therefore I tend to need snack food with me at uni.

I really like muesli bars, so homemade ones were on my 200 list. By the way I'm getting through that slowly. So far I have made 14 recipes from it, including some amazing chocolate cherry crepes last night. (I didn't get a photo, but I may have to post the recipe anyway). Anyway, back to the muesli bars. While these aren't quite like the ones you buy from the store, they are still pretty good and they are low in fat and sugar.
23x23 tin
Ingredients
2 cups rolled oats
6 weetbix, crushed
1/2 cup sultanas
1/2 cup other dried fruit, chopped
1/3 cup honey
1 cup orange juice
2 egg whites

1. In a small saucepan, melt the honey into the orange juice.
2. Leave the honey and orange juice to simmer gently for 10 minutes.
3. Combine the oats, weetbix, sultanas and dried fruit together in a bowl.
4. Add the honey/juice mixture and stir to combine.
5. Stir in the egg whites, and mix well.
6. Press the mixture into a lined pan. (The one I used was approximately 23x23cm, but a smaller one is fine you will just have thicker bars)
7. Bake in the oven at 180 degrees celcius for about 20 minutes, or until golden.
8. While still warm, mark out into 12 bars.
9. Once cooled, cuts into bars.

The leftover egg yolks were turned into custard but does anyone have any good ways of using up egg yolks?