Snack | The Mindfulness Kitchen

Fruit Muffins

By Emma Hawkins | January 24, 2018 | Comments 0 Comment

In every person’s healthy eating phase there comes a time where the ‘healthy muffin’ makes an appearance. They’re a sort of comforting link to the world of cakes, and yet are considered to be way more healthy (not sure why, but they are).

Whilst not great for the carb-free seekers, these are low in refined sugar, full of fibre and packed with fruit. The Greek yoghurt in the recipe might seem odd but it’s a clever way of getting really light muffins. The acidity in yoghurt reacts with the baking powder to send it into overdrive and causes it to make lots of lovely CO2, which will make your muffins really light and airy.

Recipe

Makes 16

Time: 25 minutes

Ingredients

160g Wholemeal flour
50g Plain flour
40g Rolled oats
1 ½ tbsp Baking powder
½ tsp Bicarbonate of soda
200g Greek yoghurt
2 Medium Bananas, mashed with a fork
2 Large eggs
100g Honey
2 tsp Vanilla
Handful of blueberries
Handful of raspberries

Method

Preheat the oven to 180˚C. Line a 12 hole muffin tray with muffin cases.
Put the flours, oats, baking powder, and bicarb into a bowl and mix together.
In another bowl put the yoghurt, mashed bananas, eggs, honey, and vanilla and whisk together.
Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients. Whisk to combine, then add the berries and whisk them a little more to mix them in. The mixture should be pretty thick, but if it’s too thick to work with you can thin it out with 2 tbsp of milk.
Distribute the mixture between the muffin cases and then bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes, until a skewer inserted into the centre of the muffins comes out clean.
Leave to cool on a wire wrack and then they’re ready!

Thanks for reading!

Emma x

Chia Seed Breakfast Pots

By Emma Hawkins | January 21, 2018 | Comments 0 Comment

Chia seeds are the new super-food that is flooding cookbooks and blogs. They’re full of fibre, omega-3, calcium, protein, phosphorus and much more, and they can be used to help tackle diabetes, heart problems and obesity. So if you’re looking for a nutritious breakfast, simply bung some of these in.

These little pots can be put together the night before so you can gobble it down in the morning without any fuss or bother. I’ve used berries to make the compote and to decorate, but you could use any fruits you like (mango and passion fruit is a really good combo!) You can also present these differently if you want to. I went for jam jars as I think they pretty cool, but you could also just make up the individual elements and serve them up in a bowl if you want.

Recipe

Serves 2

Time 20 minutes, plus chilling time

Ingredients

100g Frozen raspberries
100g Frozen strawberries
100g Frozen blackberries
1 tbsp Honey
80g Chia seeds
450ml Almond milk
1 tsp Vanilla bean paste
300ml Greek yoghurt/fruit yoghurt of your choice
A few fresh berries to decorate (I went for cherries, raspberries and blackberries)
2 tbsp Granola

Method

Begin by making the fruit compote. Put the frozen fruits and honey into a small pan and heat gently until they’ve softened and pulpy. Set aside to cool and then put into the bottom of a jar.
Now make the chia seed middle. Put the chia seeds, milk, and vanilla into a jug and stir with a fork. Let sit for 15 mins then stir again to break up the clumps. Put into fridge for at least 2 hours to set (overnight works well to).
When the chia seed filling is ready spoon it over the fruit compote. Then take your yoghurt of choice and spoon it over the chia seed filling. Top with granola and fresh fruit and serve!

Thanks for reading!

Emma x

Baked Egg Pots

By Emma Hawkins | January 2, 2018 | Comments 0 Comment

Now that it’s 2018 we’re into the new year and new years resolutions are flying all over the place. One that I’ve taken on along with thousands of others over the country is to eat more healthily. Whilst I can’t see this lasting long for the main reason that I write a bi-weekly food blog and I love patisserie, I thought a detox January would be a good way of exploring healthy food. So you can expect a month full of healthy (or healthy attempts) of recipes.

I first heard of baked eggs when I was on French exchange and loads of my friends were being served them by their host families. Since then I’ve wanted to give it a go and so now here we are! I instantly liked making these as I could just delve into my fridge and pull out the first things I could see which I thought would work well together. Whether you have some leftover roast chicken, or some about-to-go-off tomatoes, this is a great way of using it up. I’ve included three variations at the bottom of the post to get your imagination running as to how you could personalise your own baked egg pot.

As well as being really versatile in terms of ingredients, they also have loads of uses. As they’re so quick to make they’re a great little warm snack for a cold day, or you could serve them as simple starters at a dinner party. This is especially useful as they take very little preparation and can be easily altered to suit different dietary requirements! Alternatively you could do what I do and make one for lunch and serve it with a side salad to get a healthy, high-protein meal.

Recipe

Serves 4

Time: 10 minutes prep, 15 minutes to cook

Ingredients

3 Plum tomatoes
1 Small pepper (I went for yellow)
12 tsp Light Cream cheese
8 Large eggs
2 Cherry tomatoes
Pinch of salt and pepper
Basil to garnish

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 180C.
Chop the plum tomatoes into chunks and put them into the bottoms of 4 ramekins.
Chop the pepper up into chunks and again distribute them between the ramekins.
Take a teaspoon and put three little blobs of cream cheese into each pot.
Crack two eggs into each pot – you don’t need to whisk them up or anything, just pop them straight in.
Chop the cherry tomatoes into quarters and put two quarters into each pot.
Season with salt and pepper (a very important step so do not miss!)
Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes, the time will vary depending on how you like your eggs cooked.
Take out of the oven and garnish with fresh basil. Eat with bread and/or a side salad!

Variations-

Smoked salmon – Take out the plum tomatoes and instead add 1 handful of wilted spinach to each pot. Then put some smoked salmon in with the cream cheese before you put on the eggs. Serve with sour cream and chives!

Bacon and Cheese – If you’re not bothered about the whole healthy eating thing you can use full fat cream cheese, or even go two steps further and add bacon and cheddar cheese to make them really indulgent.

Chicken and Sweetcorn – Take some leftover roast chicken, or chopped up cooked chicken breast, and 4 tbsp cooked sweetcorn and divvy it up between the pots with the cream cheese, eggs and seasoning.

Thanks for reading!

Emma x

Florentines

By Emma Hawkins | December 24, 2017 | Comments 0 Comment

It’s less than 24 hours till Christmas day and I’ve got a one more quick festive recipe for you. For as long as I can remember I’ve made florentines as gifts for friends and family, and this year was no exception. Somewhere amongst the art, drama rehearsals, and work I found time to make 50 florentines which I’ll be giving out over the next couple of days.

If you’ve never had one of these before they’re little orangey, almondy biscuits coated in chocolate, which are really delicious and moreish. I’m not a huge fan of almonds or oranges, but somehow I really love these and just the smell of them baking brings back memories of Christmas. They’re also really easy to make – essentially just bung everything in a pan and then bake them in little mounds!

You can then serve them as a snack, nibble or even bag them up as I do and give them as gifts. I find 4 or 5 in a little cellophane bag, with a ribbon and tag makes perfect presents for anyone and everyone.

Recipe

Makes 30

Time: 1 hour

Ingredients

225g Butter
375g light brown sugar
375g Flaked almonds, chopped roughly
200g Raisins, chopped roughly
2 Oranges, rind only
150g White chocolate
150g Milk chocolate
150g Dark chocolate

Method

Preheat the oven to 180˚C and line 3 baking trays with baking paper.
Put the butter into a pan and melt on a medium heat. Add the sugar and heat slowly until the sugar dissolves in the butter and the mixture starts to bubble.
Take the pan off the heat and stir in the chopped almonds, raisins and orange zest.
Put blobs of mixture onto the lined baking trays, making sure they’re well-spaced apart as the mixture will spread (about 4 per-tray).
Bake in the oven for 12-15 minutes until starting to turn golden. Take out of the oven and after a couple of minutes use two spoons to reshape the biscuits if they’ve spread too much and then leave them to harden completely.
Transfer the biscuits to a cooling rack and then continue with spooning and baking the rest of the mixture.
Once all your biscuits are baked take the chocolates and put them into three separate heat-proof bowls – one for each chocolate. Put these over pans of gently simmering water and leave to melt.
Take one of the biscuits and spread a little of the chocolate over the back, flat side of them. Then use a fork to make zig-zag marks through the chocolate and then leave to set. Repeat with the rest of the biscuits, making 1/3 white, 1/3 milk and 1/3 dark chocolate. Serve!

Thanks for reading and Merry Christmas! This is my last post for this year, but I’ll be back on in January with plenty more recipes for 2018…

Emma x

Easy Christmas Canapes

By Emma Hawkins | December 20, 2017 | Comments 0 Comment

We’re hitting the party season of the year and it’s time to bring out the canapes! Here I’ve got three really simple ones which are perfect last-minute nibbles for any party. Of course vol-au-vents and palmiers are classic go-tos, but as not everyone has the time or energy to make them we have these. If the word ‘cooking’ strikes fear into your heart this is perfect for you as it’s essentially just assembling.

Pigs in Blankets

Also a favourite on the Christmas table, these work really well as canapes at a party. Just wrap them up, cook them off and stick them with a cocktail stick.

Recipe

Serves 18

Time: 5 minutes plus cooking time

Ingredients

18 Mini Sausages
9 Rashers of bacon, cut in half

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 180˚C.
Take one of the sausages and wrap it in the halved bacon rasher.
Put this onto a lined baking sheet, with the bacon join on the bottom to stop it from unravelling.
Repeat for all the sausages and then cook in the oven for 10-15 minutes until cooked through and so that the bacon is crispy.
Take out the oven, stick cocktail sticks into them and serve warm!

Bruschetta

This is an Italian classic, usually served as a starter, but when downsized can also act as a great canape!

Recipe

Serves 18

Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients

1 Thin baguette
1 tbsp Olive oil
1 Garlic clove, crushed
3 Plum tomatoes
1 Handful basil
Pinch of salt and pepper
2 tsp Balsamic vinegar

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 180˚C.
Take the baguette and slice about 2cm thick into 18 slices. If the slices are too big for a one-bite canape you can halve them. Put these slices onto a lined baking tray and drizzle with the oil. Put into the oven for 8-10 minutes and bake until crisp.
Roughly chop the tomatoes into chunks and the basil into pieces. Put these and the garlic into a bowl and mix until combined. Season and set to one side until the bread is ready.
Spoon this mixture onto the bread crostini.
Drizzle these with the balsamic just before you serve!

Cream Cheese and Salmon

For me these are the quintessential Christmas party canape. Quick, simple, delicious and decadent they’re everything you need for a snazzy drinks party.

Recipe

Serves 18

Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients