Category Archives: snacks

Chocolate week! the healthy (healthier) way… :)

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It’s “Chocolate week” this week apparently! Hurrah I hear you cry! 🙂

So in order to celebrate one of my favourite things I wanted to share some chocolatey goodness with you all. Sadly my kitchen is still in a state of disarray (tile dramas!) so I haven’t been able to create anything new but it offers the perfect chance to go back to some old favourites. So here, just for you all, are a few of my favourite chocolate creations:

These are naughty, but not too naughty…. They’re best served hot so the chocolate oozes out of them…. hmmmmmm

Chunky Cherry Chocolate Loaves

This has to come a close second. It was originally featured on the fab Pure Form Fitness Kitchen blog and it’s the Ultimate Chocolate Dessert. The spelt chocolate brownies (which are also used for the valentine Brownie Love Bites) are, in my humble opinion, out of this world, especially with the sauce on it (which you can make thicker and as more of an icing if you choose….)

You can’t beat a bit of simplicity and these Raw Chilli Chocolates certainly fit the bill. They’re so easy and quick to make, full of antioxidants and simply divine!

Another recipe featured on Pure Form Fitness Kitchen, is my Chocolate Treat Bar. These are fab – full of goodness, full of chocolate but still healthy! These are my go to bar if I’ve had a big work out day or if I’m just having a chocolate craving! 100 times better than any pre-packaged cereal bar and you can use whatever seeds (or nuts) and dried fruit you like in them.

I’m going to leave it at that for now, before we all pass out from a chocolate induced high! But as it’s chocolate week ALL week I’m going to keep on posting a few more chocolatey delights as the week goes on so watch this space! 🙂

Indonesian fruit salad – Rujak

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It’s been very quiet on the baking front for the last 10 weeks or so. I was away in Indonesia working on my primate conservation project for much of that (you can read all about it here) which is why I couldn’t really do much baking! I got home a couple of weeks ago but still couldn’t bake as the kitchen is being re-done (very very exciting! 🙂 ) and now I’m in Denver for a week presenting my research at a conference. So it’s been a bit of a whirlwind summer and I’m missing my cooking and baking enormously, but it’s all good and there are exciting times ahead with the new kitchen 🙂

So for now I thought I would share a little recipe I picked up in Indonesia. It’s called rujak and it’s divine! It’s basically a fruit salad with a peanut chilli sauce 🙂

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You can use any fruit you like but you really want nice tart fruits, it tends to be fruits like:
Pineapple
Mango (not too ripe)
Stone fruit
Cucumber
Apple (granny smiths work well)

You can also add things like plums, pear, water apple, guava (not too ripe), papaya etc.

Slice up your fruit and place in a bowl.

For the sauce you need:
Approx 50g peanuts (raw)
200g coconut palm sugar
Large red chilies (2 or more depending how hot you like it!)
Tamarind – a small ball of tamarind (2cm or so) or a good tbsp of tamarind paste.
Pinch of Himalayan rock salt

Fry the peanuts in coconut oil lightly for a few minutes. Place the chilli and salt in a pestle and mortar and grind in to a paste. Add the peanuts and grind again. Finally add the sugar and the tamarind and continue to grind. You will need to add a little water – just enough so you end up with a sticky paste.

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Mix well then serve on top of the fruit!

Enjoy 🙂

Honeybuns – delicious gluten free cakes

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Although I’m definitely a fan of making my own cakes sometimes it’s just not possible, so if you’re out and about and need a cake then I think I’ve found the perfect solution.

Honeybuns are a Dorset-based company that specialise in gluten-free (and some dairy-free) cakes, cookies, brownies and a whole range of other baked goods. I love this company – it’s what I aspire to become! The founder,  Emma Goss-Custard, started off cycling around town delivering her home-made cakes to local deli’s and cafés. Now it’s a thriving small-scale business, but still makes its cakes by hand using locally sourced ingredients where possible.

They very kindly sent me some samples to try so I thought I’d let you know what I thought of them.

I got to try:

Almond moon

Milk chocolate brownie

Snowy hills

Amondi

Sconeybun

Gosh, where to start! Think I’ll just make a cuppa…… 😉

Almond Moon

This is a polenta, cranberry and almond slice and oh my it’s good! As I’ve said before on here I am a massive fan of almond-based cakes so this was always going to be a winner with me! It’s lovely and moist with just the right amount of crunch in the base. The fruit is perfect and offsets the sweetness of the cake brilliantly. The texture is lovely too!

Milk Chocolate Brownie

This is possibly the best gluten-free, bought, brownie I’ve ever had. Too often they are overly sweet and too moist but this is just perfect. It’s dense but not too dense, moist but not too gooey and it tastes divine. It contains real coffee so there is a delicious hint of coffee flavour throughout which I love and naturally it goes brilliantly with a cup of the black stuff!

Snowy Hills

Wow, they just get better and better! This is a ginger and polenta shortbread with a lemon sponge topping and it is seriously good. The shortbread is lovely and crispy with  hint of ginger but it’s not overpowering. The sponge is fantastic – sweet, moist and just lemony enough! This is really really good!

Amondi

Another almond treat! This is like a macaroon but denser and moister and really very very nice indeed! It’s not light like an almond macaroon but I like that – you really feel like you’re getting plenty of cake for your money! It’s crunchy on the outside and chewy on the inside just like it should be and it tastes fab! It’s also dairy free as well as gluten free.

Sconeybun

This is probably my least favourite of the 5 to be honest, but then it would be hard to follow all those wonderful flavours! The sconeybun is basically a cross between a bun and a scone and this one is dairy free as well as gluten free. It does what it says on the tin! It’s basically a dense, cakey bun. It’s nice but after the other 4 cakes I felt it was lacking flavour a bit, but then again I think toasted with some jam it would be just perfect! Plus if you’re looking for something  a little less sweet then this is definitely for you!

The best thing about all of these cakes is that you wouldn’t know they were gluten free (or dairy free) at all – they taste simply amazing and just like “normal” cakes.

So which is my favourite? hmmmm I’m not sure…it’s so hard to decide! I think if I had to choose it would probably be the Snowy Hills lemon cake or maybe the Almond Moon… or maybe the brownie …. oh I can’t decide – they’re all just too good!

Do check them out – they’re available at various cafe’s and shops but they also do an online mail order service too  – just take a look at their website 🙂

 

Pineapple Coconut Yoghurt Heaven

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Ok, I think I’ve found the perfect way to eat my Indonesian Inspired Pineapple Bites.. with this!

It’s divine! Creamy and delicious and totally dairy free! Only 193 kcals for a pot too!

It was so good I’d eaten half before I remembered to take a photo! 🙂

You can get the yoghurt at your local health food store (check here for more info)

 

 

Indonesian inspired pineapple bites

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I’m off back to Indonesia for 2 months soon so I thought I’d get in the mood with some Indonesian inspired flavour combinations! The pineapple- peanut butter-tamarind combo is a classic sweet/sour flavour explosion in Asia and I just love it!  I used a dehydrator for these but you can use your oven. I like them cooked or dehydrated for a long time so they go all chewy, but they are also delicious cooked for only 20 mins and served warm and juicy over yoghurt or booja booja ice cream… 🙂

 

300 g Fresh Pineapple (approx half a big pineapple)

4 tbsp Peanut butter (smooth works best)

2 tsp Tamarind paste

2 tbsp Almond oil (or other neutral oil)

Cut the pineapple in to thing rings and then slice into small pieces. In a separate bowl mix the other ingredients. Stir well until it forms a runny paste. You may need to add a little more oil if the paste is too thick. Pour over the pineapple and ensure all the pineapple is coated. Place on a baking tray in the oven or arrange on your dehydrator rack and dehydrate for 3 – 4 hours or until it’s as chewy as you want it. If you want juicy, warm pieces to put on top of ice cream then oven bake at 190 C for about 20 minutes. If you are dehydrating it in the oven just leave it in longer at a lower heat.

Once ready either put on yoghurt or ice cream, or if it’s the chewy stuff pop it in a pot and snack on it to your heart’s delight! 🙂

Fruit balls! (raw, dairy and gluten free :) )

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I’m back on the Pure Form Fitness Ultimate Fat Loss Programme so have cut out gluten, dairy and sweetners for the last 2 weeks (amongst other stuff!). It’s going great – I feel good and have lost body fat and kg already! You should definitely check it out 🙂 Whilst I’ve been on the programme I’ve been trying out a few healthy snack options and these two turned out pretty well so I thought I’d share!

 

Lime, apricot and pistachio balls

100g Pistachios

185g Dried apricots

1 tbsp freshly squeezed Lime juice

A few more pistachios and some dessicated coconut to roll them in

Finely chop the pistachios for rolling the balls in and mix with the coconut and place to one side. Put the apricots and lime juice in a processor and blend until it forms a smooth-ish paste. Add the nuts and pulse to combine. I like to leave the nuts so they’re not pulverised too much! Once mixed use damp hands to roll them into balls and then roll them in the pistachio-coconut mix. Can be eaten immediatley or place in the fridge to chill.

Cherry-almond fig balls

125g Almonds

125g Dried figs

40g dried Cherries

1/2 tsp Cinnamon

1 tbsp freshly squeezed Orange juice

a few Almonds and some dessicated coconut to roll them in

Finely chop the almonds for rolling the balls in and mix with the coconut and place to one side. Put the 125g almonds and cinnamon in a food processor and blitz until finely chopped. Add the figs and orange juice and blitz again until the mixture forms a sticky dough. Add the cherries and pulse until mixed. Once mixed use damp hands to roll them into balls and then roll them in the almond-coconut mix. Can be eaten immediatley or place in the fridge to chill.

They shouldn’t need it but if you REALLY wanted to you could add a squirt of sweet freedom or agave to the mix.

Snack attack!

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I couldn’t decide if I wanted a savoury or sweet snack this afternoon so I made both!

These are super quick and make great snacks to munch on while watching a movie on a rainy bank holiday afternoon…. 🙂

Sugar and Spice Almonds

1/3 cup Whole almonds

1 tsp ground Cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground Ginger

pinch ground Nutmeg

Squirt of Sweet Freedom or Agave

Heat a small frying pan over a high heat for a few minutes. Throw in the almonds (don’t use any oil), and keep tossing them to avoid buring. After a few minutes squirt in the sweet freedom/agave and sprinkle the spices. Remove from the heat and stir to coat the nuts. Once coated remove to a plate or greaseproof paper and allow to cool.

Spicy seeds

1 egg white (I’m yet to work out what I could use as a substitute here)

2 tsp Chinese five spice (a mix of cinnamon, fennel, star anise, ginger and clove)

1 tsp ground anniseed

pinch of nutmeg

pinch of ginger

More cinnamon (if you like your cinnamon!)

85g Sunflower seeds

85g Pumpkin seeds

This makes a lot so reduce the quantities if needed! I found it hard to get a decent spicy flavour and I still don’t think I’ve cracked it but it’s getting closer! You may want to experiment with the spice quantities. Preheat oven to 150 C. Whisk the egg white lightly, add the spices and then add in the seeds. Make sure they’re well coated, then spread out on a baking sheet covered with lightly oiled baking parchment. Place in the oven for 10 – 12 minutes. Allow to cool then break up and eat!

Now you just need a good movie to enjoy while you munch on these 🙂

Concious Chocolate – chocolate that’s easy on the conscience! :)

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Well I’ve been lucky enough to be sent some of Conscious’ fab raw chocolate products to review.

Conscious is a small UK company that makes handmade raw chocolate. They’re all organic, handmade and free from gluten, soya, dairy and refined sugars. They also happen to be delicious!

Raw chocolate has considerable health benefits as the cacao beans aren’t roasted so they retain more of the vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and theobromine which make chocolate “good” for you.  They only use agave syrup to sweeten them which is another bonus.

They have a range of different flavours but I was sent:

Plain
Pure – 65% cacao with vanilla
The nutty one – brazils, cashews, hazelnuts and walnuts
Chilli hot – cayenne pepper
Love Potion No. 9 – maca and essential oil of rose
Essential orange – essential oils of orange and tangerine
Wild at heart – maca, vanilla and wilde blue-green algae
Mint hint – essential oil of peppermint


The best thing about these bars is the texture – they’re so silky smooth and they just melt in the mouth. They’re more like a truffle in texture than a chocolate bar and they’re beautifully creamy and rich. They all taste amazing but my favourites were the essential orange and mint hint, closely followed by chilli hot. The pure and plain ones were very nice, and the nutty one had very generous chunks of nut in it which is always good. I’m not a huge fan of rose flavoured chocolate generally but this bar was actually ok. It wasn’t overly floral and the maca balanced out the flavour nicely. The wild at heart bar tasted very nice but I couldn’t really detect the blue-green algae (that may be a good thing!) so it’s presumably there as a health benefit that doesn’t impact on the flavour too much.

I gave my official taster, Colette some pieces for her and her hubby Rod to taste too and they were similarly impressed with it. I’ll let them tell you all what they thought of them themselves though 🙂

The really great thing about these bars is that they’re so rich you really don’t want to eat too much of them in one go. A few pieces after dinner is plenty. The fact that they’re free fom refined sugars as well is fab, so it means you can enjoy these treats even if you’re trying to control your sugar intake. They’re also suitable for diabetics which is handy.

You can get these from local health food shops of from Conscious direct. I highly recommend you treat yourself to a bar (or two!) 🙂

Raw Fruit and Nut Protein Bars

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I’m currently doing the amazing 28 day Ultimate Fat loss Programme from Pure Form Fitness. It’s a fantastic eating programme with natural supplements and education and involves eliminating various allergens from your diet for the first 14 days. So as a result there’s been no baking this weekend but I was inspired by Gabby’s recipe at the veggienook and decided to make a programme friendly snack. It’s a combination of my raw cocoa-orange balls and Gabby’s recipe and it’s delish! I was sort of making it up as I went along so I’m sorry for the measurements but to be honest you can just adjust these as you like until you get the texture and taste you like – if you like more apricots throw some more in, if you are a nut fan up the nuts! simple! 🙂

handful of raw cashews

handful of raw almonds (normal or blanched – your choice)

5 – 8 dried dates

small handful of raisins

small handful of dried, unsweetened apricots (the nice juicy ones!)

A good handful of shelled hemp

I – 2 scoops of Pure Protein Powder (vanilla)

a squeeze of fresh lemon juice

Pop all the ingredients into a food processor and blitz until it forms a sticky dough/paste. Adjust the quantities if necessary – if it is too moist add some more nuts and shelled hemp, if too dry had a date or two, or an apricot. I tried to make this into bars – they’re a wee bit soft but they work ok! Line a tupperware box with clingfilm and then press the mixture in to it. Place in the fridge and then cut and eat whenever you need an extra protein boost, or just a nice yummy snack!

Lemon Chia Muffins (dairy-free, gluten free)

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I’ve got a bit of a busy weekend and my kitchen cupboards are woefully bare so I wanted to see what I could whip up that wouldn’t take long and used what I had left in the fridge and cupboard. These muffins are the result!  It’s been such lovely weather this week here that I was really in the mood for something light and refreshing and something lemony seemed to fit the bill. These muffins use courgette but don’t let that scare you – you really can’t taste the courgette. It gives them a lovely moistness though and quite a cool greenish hue! 🙂 Chia seeds are my egg replacer of choice here – they work really well in muffins and they’re packed full of goodness so there’s an added bonus there. These take only a few minutes to make so are perfect for a busy saturday afternoon and would be great for a picnic.

200g Courgette (grated – you can peel it if you want but I don’t bother)

2 tbsp Chia seeds + 6 tbsp water

120g Unrefined golden caster sugar (you can substitute this for 100g honey/sweet freedom/agave)

Zest of 1 Lemon

150g Rice flour

50g Ground almonds

2 tsp Baking powder

1/2 tsp Bicarbonate of soda

1/4 tsp Himalayan rock salt

Golden icing sugar

a few drops of freshly squeezed lemon juice

Chia seeds for decoration

Preheat the oven to 180 C. Put the 2 tbsp of chia seeds and 6 tbsp water in a bowl, give them a good stir and leave to soak until the chia seeds have absorbed the water (this may take up to 10 mins and they will end up jelly-like). Put the sugar (or sugar substitute) in a bowl and add the soaked chia seeds and mix well. Add the lemon zest and grated courgette and mix with a fork. Add the flour, ground almonds, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt and mix well. If using sugar the mixture may be a bit dry, add 1 – 2 tbsp water if so. Spoon the mixture into muffin cases in a muffin tin (this should make approx 12 small muffins) and place in the oven for 30 – 40 mins until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out pretty much clean.These muffins are quite moist so there may still be some mixture on the skewer. Allow to cool in the tin for 5 mins then transfer to a wire rack to cool.

To make the icing mix the golden icing sugar with a few drops of lemon juice (to taste) and water until a smooth paste is formed. Wait until the muffins are totally cool before icing, then ice and sprinkle with chia seeds. These muffins can be frozon before being iced and will last a few weeks in the freezer (just ensure they’re inside a plastic bag or container to prevent freezer burn!).

Enjoy! 🙂