Recipe - spiced granola

Can I call this "crack" granola? It really is ridiculously moreish!

Feel free to enjoy with milk of your choice, would be great with yogurt too. I particularly like the Coyo coconut milk yogurt at the mo. Me, I just nibbled on it throughout the morning with a fruit smoothie on the side.

Ingredients
200g whole unprocessed almonds
200g pecans
100g pumpkin seeds
100g unswetened desiccated coconut
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp sea salt
Pinch of ground cloves
80ml agave syrup
60ml coconut oil, melted
1 tsp vanilla extract

Handful of dried cranberries

Method

Preheat the oven to 150 degrees. Line a large baking sheet (or 2) with greaseproof paper. 

Add all the dry ingredients to a large bowl, tossing to combine, and set aside. 

In a pan or microwave bowl, melt the agave, coconut oil and vanilla together for 45-60

seconds. stir to melt completely.

Pour over the nut mixture and mix well, making sure to coat all of the nuts.

Spread the granola out on your baking sheets in a single layer and bake for 20-25 minutes, until golden.

Remove from the oven and cool completely before adding in the cranberries. 
Transfer to an airtight container, breaking up the larger chunks as you go.

In theory, this should keep for up to a week but mine only lasted a matter of days! 

Enjoy xx

Recipe - Pork and lettuce wraps with pickled carrot and sriracha

Be the envy of your work colleagues and make these delicious pork wraps the night before for packed lunch, far better than a boring old sandwich!!

Serves 2

Ingredients
For the pork
500g Pork mince
1 lettuce, leaves separated and washed (I like round but you could use Iceberg or Little Gem)
1 tbsp coconut oil 
1 cup mushrooms, diced
1/2 onion, diced
1/2 tbsp ground ginger
1/2 tbsp ground cumin
1/2 tbsp cayenne powder
4 tbsp Tamari sauce (gluten-free soy sauce)
1 tbsp dijon mustard
1 tbsp Sriracha
1/2 cup fresh coriander to garnish
For the pickled carrot
2 carrots, julienne or ribbons
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1/2 tsp sea salt

Method
To make the pork
Heat the oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat. Add onions and cook until translucent, around 4-5 minutes. Add the ground pork and cook until the pink is gone. Add in mushrooms, ginger, cumin, cayenne and 1 tbsp of the Tamari, reduce the heat to a simmer and keep warm.
To make the dressing
Mix together the mustard, 3 tbsp Tamari and Sriracha in a bowl.
To make the pickled carrots
Mix the water, vinegar and salt in a bowl and add the shredded carrot. Leave to soak for 30 minutes. These will keep for a few days in the fridge, great to add to salads.

Now put your wraps together;
Take a lettuce leaf and fill with the pork mixture, add some carrots and drizzle over some of the dressing, garnish with the coriander.

Enjoy xx

Recipe - Mexican hot chocolate pots

Mexican hot chocolate pots 

Makes enough for 4 large ramekins or 6 small

You know when you really fancy something naughty but then feel guilty afterwards…. No, me neither!!

Well, I discovered this great recipe. The only sugar and milk in it comes from the chocolate so the darker the chocolate, the less sugar and milk will be in the recipe. Plus, the only fat in it is from coconut milk, which is a good fat, okay!?

It’s also wheat free so is suitable for many allergy sufferers.

A great recipe to prepare ahead for your next dinner party, your guests will never know, it’s truly delicious!!

Ingredients

200g dark chocolate, either chunks or finely chopped

1 can full fat coconut milk

2 large free range egg yolks

¼ tsp chilli powder (or to taste)

1/8 tsp sea salt

1tsp ground cinnamon

1tbsp vanilla extract

Sliced strawberries to serve

Method

Place the chocolate pieces in a bowl and set aside

To make the custard;

In a saucepan, add the coconut milk, egg yolks, chilli powder, cinnamon and salt. Whisk until well combined.

Heat the mixture over medium low heat, stirring constantly until it thickens and coats the back of a spoon (approx. 10-15 minutes). Do not let it boil.

When the custard is ready, remove from the heat and pour over the chopped chocolate.

Now let the mixture sit for 5 minutes.

After 5 minutes, stir the mixture gently, folding as you go. Be careful not to mix too quickly or you’ll end up with grainy chocolate.

Once the custard is smooth, add the vanilla.

Divide the mixture into ramekins, cover with cling film and leave to chill for 4 hours.

Hello!

Call it a mid-life crisis... I don't know, but I've reached a point in my life where it suddenly dawned on me 'I'm not getting any younger'.  My exercise regime is pretty much non existent... My diet I always considered to be reasonably healthy, but baking cakes for a living facilitates a very sweet tooth and a little too much 'taste testing'.

It was time to make a change....

First came the running. I figured, if I run I can eat anything, right??  So I downloaded a Couch to 5K app... it was a start!! Early mornings have never bothered me, so with the dawn chorus I rose (well, around 6.15) dusted off my very old and very under used trainers, strapped my phone to my arm and headed out to the fields where I live.

Ok, the first time didn't go so well. I forgot to switch my location on so the app never recorded my distance, just that I'd been out for 30 minutes!

The second time wasn't much better. App on, location on, my phone switched to low battery mode and only recorded the first 5 minute trudge to the end of the road!

Third time lucky. App on, location on, low battery mode switched off and thirty minutes later a very respectable 3.71km and a very glowing complexion.

But I had done it!!

Two days later I was back out again, 3.88km done and even the rain didn't put me off!

Next came the healthy eating plan... Like I said, my diet is really quite balanced, I juice most days, eat lots of veg and salad, plenty of fish and meat but something was causing me to feel bloated and sluggish. On top of this there is an underlying history of stress induced stomach problems, of which I will spare you the detail.

A friend suggested I try the Paleo diet. So what is the Paleo diet?

It's a diet based on the types of foods presumed to have been eaten by our early ancestors, consisting of mainly meat, fish, vegetables and fruit and excluding dairy or cereal products and processed food. It's a healthy approach to food that works with our genetics to help us stay lean, strong and energetic. (A great source of information can be found on Robb Wolf's page here)

Here's an example, again from Robb Wolf's page;

Okay To Eat	Avoid
Fruits	Dairy
Vegetables	Grains
Lean Meats	Processed Food & Sugars
Seafood	Legumes
Nuts & Seeds	Starches
Healthy Fats	Alcohol

EEK!! No bread, no cakes, no rice or pasta!!!

Initial panic over... it's ok, I can do this!

I'm now 4 weeks in to it and I absolutely love it!! But I am still learning, eating chicken and avocado for breakfast took a little getting used to! I initially started with published recipes to get the hang of what I can and can't eat. I used resources such as Nom Nom Paleo and Paleo Grubs to help me to create weekly menus - this I found really important to help me stay on track. But with over 300 cook books on my shelves I've now turned to some of my favourite recipes in an attempt to make them paleo friendly so my family and I can still enjoy them.

And this is what I'd like to share... 

While I may repost some of our particular favourites from other blogs, I will always link credit back to the recipe source. For the most part though, I want to share some hopefully new recipes that WE think are a success and are worthy of a mention.

Please do feel free to comment, I'd love to hear any feedback, good or bad!!

Here we go....

xx