Trick or Treat Autumn Smoothie

Today is Christmas day.

Well, ok, no it isn't.  But it is at my mum's house as my brother leaves to rejoin his ship in the Navy in a few days and won't return until May time thus missing out Christmas, New Year, Easter and my birthday in the process...come to think of it, we should make today my birthday as well, I'll mention it.  Anyway, because of all of that he has declared it Christmas lunch day today and we shall be gorging, I mean delicately nibbling on a full turkey dinner.

Which means I don't really want a great big breakfast.

Which means a smoothie is perfect.

And given that it's not really Christmas at all (although looking at Five's TV schedule you'd be forgiven for thinking it was), but actually looking like Autumn for once, and that Halloween still hangs in the air, I thought I'd make an Autumn pumpkin type smoothie.

The trick is the fact that rather than dash outside and chop up what's left of the slightly mouldy and probably rat infested pumpkin I carved the other day, I've used canned pumpkin.  I thought such a delight was only bestowed upon our cousins state side but seems I was wrong and picked some up the other day in my local Tesco Metro.

The treat comes in the drinking. It's yum.

So, I bunged some bits in the blender but this time I actually attempted to remember what they were so I could share on here, as follows:

-1 cup almond milk (any milk will do)

-1 banana
-6 dates
-1 laden table spoon pumpkin puree (it may have been closer to 2 really)
-1/2 an apple, skin on but the yukky core bit chopped out...you could chuck a whole apple in but I had 1/2 lying around from yesterday
-1/3 cup oats (leave those out if intolerant, obvs)
-a teeny tiny splash of pure maple syrup (not the maple flavoured stuff)
-a tspn cinnamon
-a tspn mixed spice (who am I kidding? I didnt measure the spices, I just chucked them in)
-2 dessert spoons greek yogurt
-1 tspn peanut butter (preferably a nice kind that's literally just peanuts and not full of sugar, salt or putrid palm oil...check your jar)
-optional: 1 tbspn maca powder (that was an accident, the packet tipped over and more went in, probably should be a tspn but it didn't matter, I like the taste, it's kind of a malty butterscotch taste.)

All you need to do is just whizz it all up in a blender and hey presto, abracadabra you have yourself a delicious smoothie.

The husband is a bit old school and still thinks food should need chewing and can't be doing with just drinking his meal so I also toasted him up a cinnamon bagel (and then ate some myself as was jealous of the smell!)

The only problem for me was the lack of green stuff so I'm going to make myself a green juice in a minute to make up for it.

Anyway, an all round resounding success I'd say.

Happy Halloween/Autumn/Christmas and Happy Birthday to me!

x

Cheat's Millionaire's Chocolate Ginger Pot

On Friday night Alex and I decided to have a 'nice' meal in rather than go out.  We went a bit lardacious for the main meal itself opting for a beef wellington we'd been lusting after in M&S for a while.  I lightened the whole affair a little by making yummy mashed cauliflower instead of potato (So nice, chop cauli, steam, mash with dijon mustard & a sprinkle of parmesan) and I rustled up some green cabbage with chestnuts and bacon. Yum.

But I also fancied a pudding.  There were loads of things in M&S that looked lovely, but I didn't fancy the bloaty yukiness they'd bring, especially after the main we'd lined up.

So I decided to make my own!

Ever since making the sweet potato brownies the other week I've been wanting to try something chocolatey and gingery and decided that's what I'd go for.  I also wanted to bring in an element of one of Alex's favourites, millionaires chocolate shortbread.

So, I created a nutty biscuit base topped with a creamy caramelly type layer, with a deep rich chocolate layer on top.  I was SO happy with the results.  Very very tasty, deliciously chocolatey but without any nasties.

And it went like this...Actually before I tell you, a note...I totally made this up as I went along and fiddled and adapted as I went.  Don't be afraid to do the same, it won't hurt anybody.  Just find what works for you!

First layer:
1/2 cup almonds
1/2 cup pecans
6 pitted dates
tablespoon pure maple syrup
tablespoon almond butter

2nd layer:
1/2 banana
1 tablespoon water
1 tbspoon maple syrup
5 dates

top layer:
1 avocado
3 tbspoons raw cacao powder
5 dates
thumb sized bit ginger
pure maple syrup to taste

to serve:
greek yog & berries

So, first of all whizz up the nuts in a blender and then add the dates, syrup and nut butter.  It should get a bit sticky and hold together slightly so add dates/syrup/nut butter if that doesnt happen...I did fiddle about a bit adding a few more bits until I liked the consistency.

I then pressed this mixture down into the bottom of 2 glasses - I had LOADS left and have been eating  it sprinkled on yogurt ever since, it's delicious.

Next, whizz up all the 2nd layer ingredients.  Bearing in mind the dates can be quite stubborn in the blender.  I added too much water to begin with so be careful, it doesn't want to be runny, it needs to sit on top of the biscuit and then support the chocolate layer that comes next.  I added some nuts/nut butter to stiffen up the consistency once I'd already made it too watery but could have avoided that by adding the water a bit at a time. Once you're happy with it, add that ontop of the nutty bottom layer, leaving room for the chocolate bit coming next and then stick it in the freezer so it can set a little bit.

Lastly, to make the chocolate layer I used an avocado for the creaminess and raw cacao powder (you can get it in health food shops or on amazon).  I added more cacao as I felt the brownies the other day weren't chocolatey enough and also because i wanted the top layer to be quite deep to counteract the sweetness of the other layers.  The result was a very deep rich chocolate mousse but it wasn't sweet enough hence adding the dates and the maple syrup to get it to a taste I was happy with.  This took ages as the dates just wouldn't blend but I got there in the end!  Then I just kept chopping up little bits of ginger and adding it until I was happy with the strength of the ginger kick.

After about half an hour, I put the chocolate mixture on top of the rest and put in the fridge.

When it came to serving, I then put a blob of creamy greek yogurt on top and finished with a few berries.

Stupidly, I used red glasses so you can't really see the layers but trust me, it was absolutely delicious and I was super proud of myself for making it all up thanks to following some recipes recently that used dates and nuts in this way.  Can't wait to see what I come up with next!

Something for the Weekend

Whilst I normally make myself a smoothie for breakfast during the week, at the weekends I like to make something a bit more special and brunchy for the both of us.

I love an indulgent breakfast, whether it's eggs benedict on a lovely, squashy muffin, or a big fat almond croissant or a stack of pancakes drizzled with maple syrup. Mmmmmm.

What I don't love, though, is how eating those things tends to make me feel.  Mostly greasy, dirty, sluggish and bloated.  With a headache.  Nice.

So, I like to find ways of creating delicious, indulgent breakfasts that taste just as yummy and feel like as much of a treat as their naughtier cousins, but are in fact much, much nicer to my mood and body. Sometimes that's by making things up myself, other times it's following recipes, or a bit of both.

Today we settled for pancakes and chose a grain free pancake recipe using coconut flour which you can find here.  I had some coconut flour in the cupboard from an experimental banana bread I made a while back so I dug it out.

I fully intended to follow the recipe properly as pancakes can be a bit funny, but Alex mentioned getting some flaxseed into the mix so I did.  Only the packet sort of slipped in my hand and I ended up chucking rather a lot more flax in than I intended which meant the mixture then looked a bit dry.  Having seen a load of recipes for greek yogurt pancakes earlier this morning I decided to counteract that dryness by chucking in a few spoonfuls of greek yogurt too.  So now nowhere near the original recipe. Oh well.

Anyway, they did take quite a long time to cook and didn't hold their shape that well.  That could be the coconut flour as it is a tricky one, or it could be my flax addition.

Texture wise they weren't as light as they could have been or others that we've tried...but again that could be because we totally fiddled with the recipe!

However, once we'd chucked on some berries, greek yogurt and pure maple syrup, it was just the yummy, indulgent, filling breakfast we wanted without any of the manky side effects or guilt of its less healthy alternative.  (Still prefer the banana and almond meal version I made once before, if only I could find the recipe...)

Green goddess

Since discovering green smoothies...um, whenever it was, I do like to experiment with different varieties every now and again.  This morning I fully intended to have an almond, avocado, spinach, banana and peanut butter one. Only I didn't have any spinach or bananas which made that quite tricky.

So, I bunged in what I did have instead. Which turned out to be:
A skin friendly, anti-inflammatory, slow energy burning baby avocado
Some frozen super food, iron-rich spinach I rooted out of the freezer
An apple for antioxidants and fibre
Some anti-inflammatory celery (which uses more calories to digest than it has in it)
Almond milk (always the base of choice and always unsweetened. I hate it when they sneak sugar in for no reason)
A drizzle of pure maple syrup  - not the nasty mucky 'maple flavoured syrup' kind. It's not great but it's better than sugar especially in baby drizzles.

There are so many reasons to drink green smoothies for breko. It's a great and yummy way to get more veggies in, and super nutrient rich green veggies at that, they set you up all fresh and clear headed for the day ahead, they release energy slowly, they can be drunk on the go, they're filling and they're yummy.  Plus, if you're having one of these you're not having sugar laden cereal or lard ridden bacon butties.  I do eat other things for breakkie but a smoothie is my go to especially during the week as all I need to do is chuck a load of stuff in, whizz it up, bottle it and take it with me to school.

Anyway, the result of today's experiment was clearly quite nice as this is all there was left...