Sugar Free Prunes Muffins

Light, fluffy and full of flavour, these sugar-free and low-fat muffins make for a perfect treat at any time of the day or night.

Light, fluffy and full of flavour, these sugar-free and low-fat muffins make for a perfect treat at any time of the day or night.This recipe is a spin-off from my Sugar & Wheat Free Fruit and Nut Breakfast Muffins. It has more defined flavours, has less fats due to the reduce amount of coconut oil used and with the addition of the optional dark chocolate and almonds I find it works perfectly as a breakfast muffin too 🙂

Ingredients:

  • 250g prunes; chopped
  • 1 tin / 400ml coconut milk
  • 175g self-raising flour
  • 25g raw cocoa powder
  • 2 eggs; beaten
  • 1tbsp coconut oil
  • 1 1/2tsp bicarbonate of soda
  • 1tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/2tsp cinnamon
  • 1/4tsp nutmeg
  • 50g almonds; chopped coarsely (optional)
  • 50g dark chocolate; chopped coarsely (optional)

Light, fluffy and full of flavour, these sugar-free and low-fat muffins make for a perfect treat at any time of the day or night.Method:

Preheat the oven to 180C fan and prepare a 12 space muffin tin by lining it with paper muffin cases or silicon ones if you have them.

In a medium size cooking pot place the chopped prunes, add the entire 400ml tin of coconut milk after a good shake and bring slowly to a gentle simmer.

Cook on a low heat for 10 minutes or until most of the milk has incorporated itself into the fruit.

Put aside and allow it to cool for 10 minutes; then add 1 table spoon of coconut oil into the mixture and mix well until it has melted and combined into the mix.

Meanwhile sift the flour, cocoa powder, cinnamon and nutmeg, into a large mixing bowl and then add the bicarbonate of soda and mix.

In a seperae bowl, beat the eggs till they are uniform and fully mixed.

Once the prunes have reached room temperature add the vanilla extract, beaten eggs and again mix well.

Finally, fold in the flour mixture. At this stage, if you have opted for using the chopped chocolate and nuts then add them now and fold in gently.

Light, fluffy and full of flavour, these sugar-free and low-fat muffins make for a perfect treat at any time of the day or night.Spread the finished mix evenly between the 12 muffin casings and pop into the earlier preheated oven. Try to work as fast as you can… as the slower you are, the less fluffy the muffins will be when they come out of the oven.

Bake for 18 minutes at 180C fan.

When the time is up, remove them from the oven, remove from the baking tray and place on a wire rack and allow them to cool completely (if you can).

Enjoy all day and night 🙂

Light, fluffy and full of flavour, these sugar free and low fat muffins make for a perfect treat at any time of the day or night.

15 Delicious Rhubarb Recipes

Rhubarb, that weird looking vegetable, commonly mistaken for being a fruit is packed with goodness, minerals and vitamins all of which can be greatly beneficial for our body. This is the first eatable plant that has grown in our garden (not counting the spring onions) so I was on the lookout for some new recipes to inspire me; I really had no idea rhubarb could be so versatile… it turns out there is so much more you can do with rhubarb than the “go to” recipe of rhubarb crumble :-)Rhubarb, that weird looking vegetable, commonly mistaken for being a fruit is packed with goodness, minerals and vitamins all of which can be greatly beneficial for our body. This is the first eatable plant that has grown in our garden (not counting the spring onions) so I was on the lookout for some new recipes to inspire me; I really had no idea rhubarb could be so versatile… it turns out there is so much more you can do with rhubarb than the “go to” recipe of rhubarb crumble 🙂

Green Salad with Roasted Rhubarb, Goat Cheese & Tarragon Vinaigrette

Mini Strawberry Rhubarb Hand Pies

Orange Rhubarb Giant Financier

Rhubarb & Ginger Tartlets with Pistachios

Rhubarb and Hazelnut Cake

Rhubarb Barbecue Sauce

Rhubarb Berry Jam

Rhubarb Cream Cheese Cake

Rhubarb Rose Dark Chocolate Parfaits

Rhubarb Shortbread Bars

Rhubarb Strawberry Chia Jam

Roasted Aubergine with Rhubarb Salsa

Roasted Chicken with Smashed Peas, Roasted Rhubarb and Aleppo Honey

Spring Rhubarb Frangipane Chevron Tart

Summer Rhubarb Chicken Salad

Do you like rhubarb?

What’s your favourite way of preparing it?

Rhubarb, that weird looking vegetable, commonly mistaken for being a fruit is packed with goodness, minerals and vitamins all of which can be greatly beneficial for our body. This is the first eatable plant that has grown in our garden (not counting the spring onions) so I was on the lookout for some new recipes to inspire me; I really had no idea rhubarb could be so versatile… it turns out there is so much more you can do with rhubarb than the “go to” recipe of rhubarb crumble.

Morning Fruit Booster Smoothie

A fresh and zingy morning smoothie which will wake you up and help you stay energized for those busy hours to come.

A fresh and zingy morning smoothie which will wake you up and help you stay energized for those busy hours to come.Sometimes it’s really hard to wake up in the morning and once we are up even a cup of coffee can’t always help us to stay awake. Well, next time you have one of those mornings, try my fruit booster morning smoothie. It will definitely help your energy levels peak and it will also provide your body with some much-needed vitamins and microelements.

One thing to remember: quality over quantity! Good quality ingredients are becoming harder to come by. Low-quality food, including fruit and veggies, is cheap but at the same time worthless to our body. I know it might sound like a no brainier to some but always buy organic ingredients… yes, I know they cost more but we are what we eat… I think it is better by any measure to buy less of something and get to truly enjoy its real taste rather than a big plastic-wrapped bag of intensely farmed produce at a knocked down price. That’s not to mention the benefits obtained from eating healthy naturally grown foods. Thus ends the sermon, now what do we need for that pick me up smoothie…

Ingredients:

  • 250ml chilled coconut water
  • 1 banana
  • 1 large red grapefruit
  • 1 orange
  • 1 pear
  • 1 red apple
  • Ice cubes (optional)

A fresh and zingy morning smoothie which will wake you up and help you stay energized for those busy hours to come.Method:

Wash and quarter the apple and pear.

Wash and peel the banana and orange then chop into smaller chunks.

Chop in half and remove all the red flesh from the grapefruit. If you have a sweet grapefruit or you don’t mind an abundance of zinginess you might just peel and chop it. I normally just add the fleshy parts without any of the white pith bits which separate the segments as these can be very bitter.

As for the preparation part of the process simply add the coconut water into your blended, pop all your prepared fruits in and blend for 10-15 seconds on a high speed or until it is visibly smooth.

Serve over ice if you fancy a colder refreshment.

Enjoy!

Morning Fruit Booster Smoothie. A fresh and zingy morning smoothie which will wake you up and help you stay energized for those busy hours to come.

Super Green Morning Smoothie

This super green, high protein morning smoothie is packed with goodness, which will allow you to really kick start your day.

Every single ingredient brings something to the table:

Water – essential for good hydration; promotes weight loss and helps to flush out the toxins from our body.

Spinach – not only is it high in proteins and fibre but it is also loaded with microelements and vitamins like A, B6, C, E and K just to name a few.

Kiwi – with its low GI, high fibre content and alkaline properties kiwi is a perfect morning fruit, which adds tonnes of vitamin C, vitamin E and antioxidants into the mixture.

Matcha – super high in antioxidants helps to increase our energy levels, endurance and concentration but at the same time, promotes calmness and relaxation.

Wheatgrass – it contains chlorophyll, which is a natural liver cleanser and detoxifier; additionally it contains all minerals known to man, as well as many other vitamins.

Chia seeds – low calories, high in fibre and proteins, just what you need in the morning.

Protein powder – well this one is optional but if like me, you are struggling with food in the morning, I would highly suggest adding some into your smoothie to boost your protein intake, which will help with metabolism and keep you fuller for longer.

So let’s mix!

This super green, high protein morning smoothie is packed with goodness, which will allow you to really kick start your day.Ingredients:

  • 250ml filtered water*
  • 1 large organic kiwi; peeled and halved
  • 1 scoop of diet whey protein powder**
  • 1 large handful of fresh organic spinach***
  • 1tsp organic chia seeds
  • 1/2tsp organic matcha
  • 1/2tsp organic wheatgrass

*as its winter time I don’t like my smoothie too cold in the morning so I don’t use chilled water, but come the warmer weather, you can use chilled water or reduce the amount of water and add a good handful of ice cubes on top

**I like strawberry flavour from PhD

***frozen would work great too

Method:

Well, you will need a blender, a high power one would be ideal.

Simply pop all the ingredients into the blender bowl, starting with water, pop the lid on and blend.

I start with variable 1, turn it to 10 and then swap too high for around 10 seconds or so. In this time frame, my Vitamix will have blended everything nicely, including the chia seeds and kiwi pips.

This super green, high protein morning smoothie is packed with goodness, which will allow you to really kick start your day.Serve and enjoy!

This super green, high protein morning smoothie is packed with goodness, which will allow you to really kick start your day.

Homemade Nutty Falafel

Super crunchy on the outside and light and fluffy inside, this falafel delivers a delicious flavour combination – fresh herbs, nuts with a wonderful spicy finish of ginger and chilli.

Super crunchy on the outside and light and fluffy inside, this falafel delivers a delicious flavour combination – fresh herbs, nuts with a wonderful spicy finish of ginger and chilli.Ingredients:

  • 300g dry chickpeas
  • 50g pecans
  • 50g fresh coriander; chopped
  • 30g fresh flat leaf parsley; chopped
  • 3 large cloves of garlic; halved
  • ~2cm piece of fresh ginger; peeled and roughly chopped
  • 1 medium size onion; roughly chopped
  • 1tbsp spelt flour
  • 1 1/2tsp salt
  • 1 1/2tsp black pepper
  • 1tsp cumin
  • 1/2tsp chilli flakes
  • ~100ml olive oil for frying
  • 1.5l water for soaking

Method:

Pour 1.5l litre of filtered water to a pot, add the chickpeas, pop the lid on and leave to soak for at least 10h (overnight works best).

When you are ready to make your falafel, drain the chickpeas then pop them into a food processor.

Add all other ingredients spreading them evenly around the processor bowl but leaving the pecans to be added last. They will help to weigh down the fresh herbs, which means that everything will better stay in place while mixing.

Use the pulse function until your mixture is coarse to semi-coarse. Do not over pulse / mix or you will end up with a hummus-like texture, which isn’t ideal for falafels.

Once done, remove the blade from your food processor and start forming your falafels. I used an ice-cream scoop to measure mine out and the mixture should yield 24 almost perfect balls of falafel 🙂

Super crunchy on the outside and light and fluffy inside, this falafel delivers a delicious flavour combination – fresh herbs, nuts with a wonderful spicy finish of ginger and chilli.Do not squeeze your mixture too much as this will make it dense and remove moisture from it, which will result in dry falafels later on. If you are struggling to form your desired shape you can:

  1. Pop the blade back on your processor and pulse few more times.
  2. Pop it into the fridge to help firm it up a bit
  3. Or worst case scenario add some eggs to help it glue together, but you really shouldn’t need to do this, if you followed the measurements as stated.

Once all your falafels have their final shape, it’s time to fry!

Super crunchy on the outside and light and fluffy inside, this falafel delivers a delicious flavour combination – fresh herbs, nuts with a wonderful spicy finish of ginger and chilli.In a heavy bottomed frying pan, ideally a small cast iron one, preheat 100ml of olive oil (or more if you pan is bigger, ideally you are aiming for enough oil in the pan to cover half of your falafel).

Bring the oil up to 180C before popping your falafels in. Do not over crowd the pan. I cook 6 at the time despite having space for 12 or even 15. More falafels at one time popped into the pan means a bigger drop in the oil temperature once you put them in (this will result in your falafel soaking up the oil making them greasy) and a general inability to turn them with ease, so take it easy and fry them in batches.

When I fry the oil drops to 170C, this is temperature of my oil once all new falafels are in. I heat it up to 180C again as quickly as possible before turning the heat down and cook for about 5-6 minutes turning regularly

When done remove with a slotted spoon and place on some kitchen roll to soak up any residual oil.

Serve warm or cold with a green salad or go classic and add into a wrap.

Most importantly of all though… enjoy!

Do you like falafel?

What’s your favourite way of serving them?

Super crunchy on the outside and light and fluffy inside, this falafel delivers a delicious flavour combination – fresh herbs, nuts with a wonderful spicy finish of ginger and chilli.