Spiced Eggs

It has been a busy couple of weeks! Three weeks ago, Hungry Male and I flew down to Dunedin for my Nephew's first birthday. It was really nice being able to go back home and see everyone, since they were all together for the birthday party. We had a Hairy Maclary theme, and my sister made an amazing Hairy Maclary cake!

We had a weekend to ourselves and then for the following week we had house guests, as Hungry Male and some friends were taking part in the 90 Mile Classic IRB race. For those of you uneducated in Surf Life Saving language, this was an event where they raced one of the orange surf boats 88km down 90 mile beach, with a couple of transition stages in between. I was the support driver and had to follow them down the beach and make sure their petrol was ready at the transition stages. It was really nice getting to head further north for a weekend, even if it was quite a busy one, as I have never been up that way before and we even had enough time to go to Cape Reinga.

Because I was trying to catch up from a hectic weekend, necessity was the mother of invention when it came to lunches, as it was mostly a case of trying to figure something out from what I had in the cupboard and fridge. These eggs were one of my creations. 

I was actually a little obsessed with eggs this week and I had these on crackers, in salads and on toast. They were really a bit of a life saver. I boiled up a bunch of eggs on Monday night and that did me for almost the rest of the week.

Now I haven't quite perfected the easy-to-peel boiled egg yet, so if anyone has any tips please tell me! This batch I added a little baking soda to the water and peeled them under cold water, however, the shell still took a bit of the egg white off with it.

So if you are stuck for lunch or snack inspiration, give these a go!

Ingredients

4 eggs, at room temperature

1 tsp smoked paprika

2 tsp sesame seeds

1 tsp cumin seeds

Place the eggs in a saucepan with a pinch of baking soda and bring to the boil. Reduce heat to a gentle boil and boil the eggs for 6 minutes. Remove the saucepan from the heat then put the eggs immediately into cold water. Once the eggs are cool to touch, gently peel them while holding under running water.

On a small plate, place the paprika, sesame seeds and cumin seeds. Roll the eggs in the spice mix until well coated. Serve on toast, on crackers or in salads.

Enjoy xx

Super Green Smoothie

It's been so long since I last posted!! If you follow me on Facebook and Instagram then hoefully you won't feel forgotten, but if you only follow this blog I apologise for neglecting you! A lot has been happening in the last few weeks, including one of my best friends coming up to see Singing in The Rain together. The cast did an amazing job and the water curtain was so impressive! It somehow made me want to go and dance in puddles and I tend to hate rain!

I have been having some pretty delicious food in the past few weeks! We went to some awesome little Japanese place before Singing in The Rain (no idea what it was called but it was across from the Civic Theatre in Auckland). I always love a good Donburi. On Monday this week, I had a work Dinner at Depot. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures, but we got a bunch of share plates of delicious things like Turbot sliders, lamb ribs and Fig and Goat's cheese toasties. Pretty much everything was amazing and I would definitely recommend it (if you can get a seat).

Not all of my meals have been out of course. When my friend was up we attempted to cook our way through the bags and bags of Feijoas that i had from the trees in my back garden. We made Feijoa jam and stewed Feijoas, both of which are delicious. Another great thing I made is this smoothie.

After a pretty jam-packed week last week, including a night of only 3 hours sleep (it was conference alright!), I was feeling in need of a bit of a nutrient boost. This is when I think smoothies really come into their own, as you can jam so much into them, and they are so tasty and easy.

My rule of thumb with smoothies is to include a fruit, some healthy fats, protein and if possible some form of vegetable. This one checked all of the boxes. I had frozen banana, as I love how cold and thick they make the smoothie, coconut oil for some healthy fat, almond milk and protein powder* to keep me full, and baby spinach as the vegetable. To top it off, I added some Vital Greens powder to up my vegetable-based nutrient content.

It's pretty much a power smoothie.

*NB: With Protein powder, aim for one with no refined sugars. I use a Whey Protein Powder that is sweetened with a little bit of Stevia, but plain Whey or plant-based protein powder will also work.

Makes 1 Smoothie

Ingredients
1 banana, chopped and frozen
1 cup almond milk
1 tsp coconut oil
1 scoop protein powder
Handful baby spinach
2 tsp Vital Greens powder
1 tsp pure maple syrup (optional)

Place everything in a high-powered blender or food processor. Blend in two 30 second bursts, or until everything is completely blended together (no one wants chunks of spinach in their smoothie!).

Serve immediately.


Enjoy xx

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.

Chia & Oat Pudding

Hi everyone. How is your week of wholegrains going? I will admit that not every single grain-based food that I have eaten this week has been wholegrain, but I would estimate that around 80% has been, a balance that I am happy with. One of my wholegrain foods that I loved this week were some chickpea and quinoa patties from Donna Hay. Quinoa is a great source of protein, fibre and lots of other vitamins and minerals, so it really is a great wholegrain to try to include.

This weekend is Waitangi weekend, which means that we get an extra day of weekend. Yesterday we spent doing chores around the house, including sorting through the pantry (which is a great way to see what ingredients need using up in the next few weeks). Today we headed North up to the Matakana farmers market for breakfast. We found ourselves some Bacon, Egg, Chorizo and Veggie breakfast wraps which were delicious! After that we headed to a nearby Marine Reserve to go snorkelling for a few hours. It was amazing how many fish there were and how close you could get to some of them!

So on to today's recipe. I'm not the sort of person who can keep eating the same breakfast day after day. I like to mix things up a little, which means that I am constantly on the lookout for great new breakfast ideas (I actually judge a food blog primarily on its breakfast recipes).

I had seen lots of recipes around for chia puddings, but I thought that I would try and make a slightly more filling and interesting version. This recipe contains the wholegrain goodness of chia seeds and oats, and is the sort of recipe that you can customise with your own flavours and toppings. This breakfast was pretty easy to make, tasted great, and kept me full all morning.

Enjoy x

Serves 1, but easy to double or triple quantities.

Ingredients
2 Tbsp chia seeds
1/4 Tbsp rolled oats
1/4 Cup Greek Yoghurt
1 Cup Almond Milk
1 Banana
1 Tbsp Rice Malt Syrup, honey, or other liquid sweetener
1/2 tsp cinnamon (optional)

In a bowl place the chia seeds, rolled oats, yoghurt and almond milk. Stir to mix, cover and place in the fridge overnight.

In the morning, place the contents of the bowl in a blender or food processor, along with the banana and sweetener of choice.

Blend until smooth, thick and creamy.

Enjoy topped with your favourite fruit and nuts (mine had blueberries hidden in the middle).

Lentil Bolognaise with Zuchinni Noodles

So much has happened in the last few days!! All of our stuff got picked up today and in one week's time we will be beginning on our journey to live up in Auckland. Eek!

I also managed to get food poisoning or some kind of tummy bug, so have been feeling absolutely awful the last couple of days. Five days on and I still have almost zero interest in food. I am still really looking forward to Christmas and preparing to do all of my christmas baking this weekend. I found the best recipe for caramello biscuit fudge that will definitely get made, but I'm still yet to decide what else I will make. I do have a truffle recipe in mind that if it works out I will try and post before christmas.

Today's recipe I made a few weeks back, but thought that it would make a great, lighter meal during this hectic christmas period that often involves waaaaaaaay too much food. I made the zuchinni noodles using my spiralizer which is great! I just bought a cheap, plastic one that you twist by hand, but it works really well. If you don't want to go out and buy yet another gadget for your kitchen, you can still make zuchinni noodles using a wide-blade potato peeler and run it down the length of the zuchinni.

Ingredients
1 onion
1 tin brown lentils, drained and rinsed
400g tin chopped tomatoes
2 Tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp dried oregano
salt and pepper, to taste
3 large zuchinni

Peel the onion, then cut in half and slice thinly. In a large frypan, over a medium heat, sauté the onions until soft and clear. Add the lentils, tomatoes, tomato paste and oregano and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and let simmer for around 15 minutes or until the sauce is to your desired consistency.

Using a spiralizer or vegetable peeler make noodles out of the zuchinni. Add to the tomato mix and let cook for 2-3 minutes.

Remove from the heat. Great served with parmesan

Black Rice and Chickpea Salad

I'm heading up to Auckland to try to find somewhere for me and the boyfriend to live next year so this will just be a short post today.

I popped into an Asian food store the other week as I wanted to grab some sushi rice and seasoning. As I was wandering round (which I love doing in foreign food stores) I spied some black rice. I remembered reading somewhere that black rice has a great nutrition profile, so I thought that I would grab some to make myself some lunches for the week. This salad was my first go using black rice and I absolutely loved it. It has a lovely nutty flavour, with a slightly chewier texture than white rice. Black rice is also full of amino acids and antioxidants from the black colour.

When it cooks up it turns more of a purplish colour, and as you can see in the photo, it does turn other things a bit purple too. This salad is bulked out with chickpeas, avocado, red capsicum, celery and baby spinach, making for a perfect take-to-work lunch.

Ingredients
1 cup black rice (sometimes also called forbidden rice)
2 cups water
1 red capsicum
1 avocado
2 stalks celery
2-3 spring onions
400g tin chickpeas, rinsed and drained
4 Tbsp apple cider vinegar (or you can use any dressing that you like)
Few large handfuls of baby spinach to serve

In a pot place the rice and water. Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. Cook the rice for around 20 minutes or until almost all of the water has been absorbed. Remove from the heat, cover and let sit for 5-10 minutes.

In the mean time dice the red capsicum and avocado. Slice the celery and spring onions thinly.

Once rice is ready add the apple cider vinegar or dressing, vegetables and chickpeas and mix well.

Serve on top of baby spinach.

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.

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.

Pear, walnut and blue cheese salad

We are getting chilly here in Dunedin!! I suppose that it is now June and we are nearing the shortest day of the year but I think I forget just how bitter Southern winter days can be. It also doesn't help that my best friend is currently sunbathing in the Greek Islands, so I keep seeing pictures of clear blue skies and picturesque white-washed walls. Oh that and my grandparents have just jetted off to Rarotonga. I suppose all a girl can do in these sorts of situations is dream of beautiful warm weather and eat some delicious warming food.

Oh and keep warm by going shopping. I do love winter fashions.

I am still on a bit of a break from uni at the moment working on my dissertation so it is easy to snuggle up on the sofa with a cup of tea and do some research. Today Mum had the day off work so we went out for lunch up to Coffee Culture in Roslyn. For anyone who lives in Dunedin or is visiting you should definitely check it out! They have converted an old fire station which has some amazing views out over the city, the food was tasty and importantly the coffee was excellent.

Speaking of warming foods, winter isn't exactly what I would consider salad time of year, but in my opinion it just means that you need to change up the type of salads you have. Pear, walnut and blue cheese isn't exactly a ground breaking combination, but they go so well together that I thought I would share my version of this winter favourite. The delicious pan-fried pears help to warm it up a little, while the raspberry vinaigrette adds a lovely tang.

I'll add a wee note that I used Raspberry Vinegar in my dressing. This is a little bit of an investment type vinegar as it is more difficult to find and a little more expensive, but I absolutely love it!! It really does make a great alternative to apple cider vinegar. I haven't tried it, but if you don't want to go out and find raspberry vinegar, apple cider vinegar should work in the dressing.

Ingredients
2 pears, cored and slice thinly
Approx. 1 Tbsp butter
1/2 cup shelled walnuts, roughly chopped (or put in a snaplock bag and give them a bash with a rolling pin Jamie Oliver style)
Approx. 1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese (just use however much you like really)
Couple big handfuls mixed salad greens

3 Tbsp raspberry vinegar
1 Tbsp honey
2 Tbsp olive oil
Grinding of salt and pepper

Melt the butter in a pan and lay the pear slices flat. Pan fry for around 4-5 minutes or until golden and then flip over. Fry the other side for a following 3-4 minutes adding a little more butter if needed. You may need to do this in 2 batches.

In a jar, shake together the dressing ingredients (vinegar, honey, oil and salt and pepper) until well combined.

On a large serving plate (or bowl if you prefer), spread out the salad greens. Drizzle with some of the dressing and toss a little to coat. Sprinkle over the blue cheese, add the cooked pear and then sprinkle over the walnuts.

Voila!

Store the remaining dressing to enjoy over the rest of the week. Just give it a bit of a shake up before you use it.

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.

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

Wholemeal and Buckwheat Pancakes

What a glorious Saturday it has been!!! It hasn't been exciting or anything, probably boring by many people's standards, but it is just one of those kind of Saturdays that make me feel rebalanced. My bedroom is looking beautiful and immaculately tidy, with fresh flowers on my duchess, all of my meals are planned for next week and a shopping list made, I have caught up on Revenge and I even got the chance to make the most of the beautiful weather and sit outside on the deck for lunch and to finish my book.

Now I feel all ready to go out and have a great night with friends as it is Hungry Male's birthday. Unfortunately he was busy all day with surf lifesaving, so I think tomorrow will be my day to spoil him with breakfast in bed. These pancakes that I made last weekend may just be good enough that he won't notice that they aren't the traditional refined sugar and flour version.

Oh and they are so so easy to make!!

N.B. This recipe makes enough for at least 4 very hungry people

Ingredients

1 cup wholemeal flour

1 cup buckwheat flour (Available from some supermarkets and health food stores. My local New World has it).

2 Tbsp maple syrup (preferably the real stuff)

4 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

300ml milk

2 Tbsp white vinegar

80g butter, melted

1 tsp vanilla

2 large eggs

Place all of the ingredients in a large bowl. Beat with an electric or hand mixer until fluffy. If you don't have one of these, get moving that arm! Thin with a little more milk if necessary.

Heat a pan to a medium high heat and grease with a little extra butter if it is not non-stick.

Using a large spoon or ladle, spoon the mixture into the pan. Cook for about 2-3 minutes, the top should have bubbles all over it and the bottom golden brown.

Flip the pancake and cook for another minute.

Serve with fresh fruit, yoghurt and of course some delicious, real maple syrup.

What is your favourite way to have pancakes? Do you have them by themselves or add lots of extras?

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)

Pumpkin and Red Lentil Soup with Gingered Leeks

1 exam down, 2 to go! Although my next exam is only 1 1/2 days away, at least I can just focus on one exam at a time now instead of having to do two at once. Since my exam was on a Saturday morning I decided that I would treat myself to breakfast at the local Otago farmers market. I had a delicious Blackcurrant and Apple porridge topped with some reeeeeealy good muesli. This was delicious and perfect to keep me going through my exam. I also had a coffee to give me a caffeine boost.

Anyway, I have been living off this soup for lunches the past week as it was a perfect, easy lunch to just heat up and since the weather has been a little chilly, it was what I was feeling like. The past couple of times that I have made pumpkin soup, they have been a little bland. This time around, I wanted to make sure that this soup had lots of flavour, so I decided to amp it up with some ginger. I also used some of my homemade chicken stock which tastes delicious!

Perfect on a chilli night, with some nice crusty bread!

Ingredients
1/2 a large leek, sliced thinly
1-2 Tbsp butter
Thumb-nail size piece of ginger grated
1 kg pumpkin, peeled and diced into 2cm pieces
1/2 cup red lentils
2 cups chicken stock (or more vegetable stock)
2 cups vegetable stock
(any leftover vegetables. I threw in some cauliflower)
Salt and pepper to taste

In a large pot over a medium heat melt the butter. Add the leeks and gently cook for around 10 minutes or until they are soft.

Add the ginger and cook for 2-3 minutes longer, or until fragrant.

Add the pumpkin and red lentils and stir to mix well with the leeks. Add the stocks and turn the heat up. Throw in any other vegetables that you want to use. If the stock does not cover the vegetables, add more water until it does.

Turn up the heat to bring to the boil and then turn it back down to a simmer. Cook for 20-30 minutes or until the pumpkin is very soft.

Using a blender, stick blender of food processor, puree the soup. Add more water to reach a consistency that you like (we like it really thick). Return to the pot to reheat.

Serve with sour cream or parmesan.

Slow Cooker Shredded Beef

Its a horrible wet Sunday here in Dunedin, which really makes me think that winter is here. At leasr this weekend is a long weekend, so tonight we can snuggle up and watch some movies with the fire on. The only downside?

I have to get studying! My first exam is just under a week away, so even though hungry male may get the day off, I have work to do. When I am busy studying, while I do enjoy getting to cook as a break, it is still better if I can have meals that don't take ages to make. I would prefer to use my study breaks on baking anyway.

This meal fits the bill perfectly as I think my prep time for this was all of 5 minutes. Perfect study food. I can throw it on in the morning and by dinner time it is all ready. This beef is also so versatile. You can throw it into wraps, add some chilli beans and make nachoes, use it for sandwiches and subs.... and there are probably heaps of other ways that I haven't tried yet.

So if you are busy studying, have a full on day at work or just cannot be bothered cooking, get this in your slow cooker now!

Ingredients
1kg beef chuck or blade steak (kept whole in steak form)
2 tsp olive oil
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp chilli powder
1/2 tsp coriander
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/4 cup water

In a small bowl, mix the olive oil, cumin, chilli powder, coriander and sea salt.

Rub the spice paste into the steaks and place the steaks in the slow cooker. Add the water to the slow cooker.

Cook on LOW for 8-10 hours and then shred the beef with two forks.