Tag: Healthy

Healthy Banana Split

Healthy Banana Split

Something that’s really hard to balance when you’re trying to eat healthy is that end of a meal slump when you want something sweet but not so sweet it’ll spike your blood sugar. This is where these beauties come in! I used to eat banana splits a lot as a child, piling them high with sweets, ice cream and chocolate, but now I’ve found a way to make them healthy and just as delicious! Start with a banana and some yogurt (whatever variety you like) and then you can top that with whatever you want. Personally I like a mixture of fresh fruit with some nuts and a little bit of super-dark chocolate, but you can top yours with whatever you fancy – which is partly what makes it so good!

Recipe

Serves 1

Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 Banana
  • 3 tbsp Greek Yogurt (or yogurt of choice)
  • 1 Passion fruit
  • A handful of fresh Berries (I went for strawberries and raspberries)
  • 1 Chunk (about 50g) of 100% cocoa chocolate
  • A few Coconut flakes
  • 1 tsp Runny honey
  • Optional extras (granola, nuts, melted chocolate, peanut butter, ice cream etc)

Method

  1. Peel and then slice your banana in half and splay out on a plate or in a bowl.
  2. Spoon the yogurt generously over the top, sandwiching the two banana halves.
  3. Prepare your fruit toppings, for example halve the passion fruit and scoop out the seeds and then hull the strawberries. Scatter the fruit over the top.
  4. Grate the chocolate over the top of this, sprinkle over the coconut flakes and finish with a drizzle of honey. Add any extras you want to the mixture and the enjoy!

Thanks for reading!

Emma x

 

Walnut Falafels with Beetroot Hummus

Walnut Falafels with Beetroot Hummus

This summer I’ve been on a healthy food pilgrimage – slowly crawling towards finding enough tasty meals that will benefit my waistline, whilst also keeping my culinary fancies happy. So you could say I was pleased as punch when I first discovered beetroot hummus. I never thought I’d be one for messing around with the wonder that is traditional hummus – why mess with perfection right? But this stuff is really cool. It’s kind of earthy, rich hummus with the most incredible colour. I mean can you be sad when you have something this bright on your plate? The artist in me is very, very happy with this.

There is also this massive trend at the moment for making falafels out of everything left right and centre. Name an ingredient, someone somewhere has probably tried making a falafel out of it. Millennials and vegans eh? Anyway, the other day I had some beetroot hummus on this amazing spicy aubergine dish and they served it all with a walnut sauce – something I’ve never tried before but it was really good! So I thought hey, why not make some walnut falafel to go with my pinker than pink hummus? And boy jove, it works!

Recipe

Serves 2 (with lots of hummus left over!)

Time: 1 hour

Ingredients

For the Falafel

  • 1 Small onion or shallot
  • 1 Garlic clove
  • 2 tbsp Olive oil
  • 75g Walnuts
  • 150g Chickpeas
  • Zest of 1 Lemon
  • ½ tsp Paprika
  • 1 Small egg (or a 50/50 mixture of water and oil if you want to make these vegan)
  • Salt and pepper to season

For the Hummus

  • 250g Raw Beetroot (about 2 small beetroot)
  • 400g Chickpeas, drained
  • Juice of 1 Lemon
  • 1/2 tbsp Ground cumin
  • A large pinch of Salt

To serve

  • A handful of Rocket leaves
  • A sprinkling of Feta cheese

Method

  1. Begin by making the falafel. Pre-heat the oven to 200˚C and line two baking trays with baking paper.
  2. Chop the ends off the shallot and garlic, peel and then the finely chop them.
  3. Put half the oil into a small pan and put over a medium heat. Add the chopped onion and fry for 2-3 minutes until starting to caramelise. Then add the garlic and fry for another couple of minutes before taking off the heat.
  4. Tip the onion, garlic and walnuts into a food processor and blitz until coarse. Add the chickpeas, cumin, lemon zest and paprika and blitz again until the chickpeas are just broken down and the mixture is coming together – you want it to be more breadcrumb-like in texture than like a puree.
  5. Season the mixture with salt and pepper and pulse again to mix. Then add the egg and pulse to bring the mixture together as a dough.
  6. Divide the mixture into 10 small balls. Place these onto a lined baking tray and then leave in the fridge to chill for at least half an hour.
  7. When ready to bake take the falafels out of the fridge, drizzle with the rest of the olive oil and then put into the oven to bake for 20 minutes, until golden brown and crisp.
  8. Meanwhile make the hummus. Bring a large pan of water to the boil. Add the beetroot and then leave to simmer for 30-40 minutes until tender. Drain the water from the beetroot and leave to cool.
  9. When cool enough to handle take off the roots, stalks and peel the beetroot. Then roughly chop the flesh and put it into a food processor.
  10. Add the chickpeas, lemon juice, cumin, salt and pepper into the processor and then blend until smooth and creamy. Taste the mixture and if needed season with some extra salt, pepper, paprika or cumin.
  11. Serve the warm falafels with a dollop of the hummus, a sprinkling of feta and some fresh rocket!

Note: this also works really well as a wrap for eating on the go! Just layer up the hummus, rocket, nuts, feta in a line on a wholemeal wrap. Then crush and sprinkle over pieces of the warm falafel and roll up!

Thanks for reading!

Emma x

Black Wild Rice, Cherry, and Rocket Salad

Black Wild Rice, Cherry, and Rocket Salad

Recently I’ve decided to try going on a detox again and this time I’m really going to try to get into the habit of healthy eating. I’ve said this before, however at the moment I’m not going away in the near future, I’m not being catered for and I’m free to really focus on what I’m eating, so I’m determined to make this work. They say it takes 30 days to make a habit and 90 days to make a lifestyle, so that’s what I’m aiming for! As of yet it’s going really well: I’ve started thinking out of the box and I’m now getting into the habit of making things that will nourish my body but also taste great. I am craving cake and would like nothing more than to make some danish pastries right now, but I’m standing strong and I’m hopeful that this time I won’t crack.  Something I experimented with the other day was this wild rice and cherry salad and I was chuffed with how well it worked. Delicious, filling and super quick to throw together!

Recipe

Serves 2

Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients

  • 100g Black wild rice
  • Roughly 8 Fresh cherries
  • 4 tbsp Puy lentils
  • 50g Feta cheese
  • A handful of Rocket

Method

  1. Fill a medium sized pan half way full with water and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to medium and add the rice. Stir once and then leave on a gentle simmer until soft to preference.
  2. Meanwhile, halve and de-stone the cherries and leave to one side for now.
  3. Then put the puy lentils into a medium sized bowl and microwave for 20 seconds to gently warm through.
  4. Drain the rice and then add it to the bowl with the lentils. Stir gently to combine.
  5. Portion the rice out between your two plates. Arrange the halved cherries on top and then scatter over chunks of the feta cheese. Finish with a sprinkling of rocket leaves.

Thanks for reading!

Emma x

Halloumi and Parma Ham Salad with a Peach Coulis Dressing

Halloumi and Parma Ham Salad with a Peach Coulis Dressing

I admit to writing this a little jet lagged and sleep-deprived as I’ve just got back from a trip to the Austrian Alps with my Mum. After a week of stunning snow and sun it’s a surprise to see that the weather here is just as gorgeous as it is over there! The sun is shining, the sky is the lushest blue and all I want to eat right now is lots of salads (weird right?). I’ve always been more of a comfort food kind of girl than a healthy one, but I’m now trying to fuse the two by making tasty salads. I’ve found that the best way to do this is to accessorise a base of leaves with any meats, cheeses and fruits that appeal, and hey presto – delicious healthy salads!

Recipe

Serves 2

Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients

  • 225g Halloumi
  • 3 Ripe peaches
  • 1 tbsp Olive oil
  • 1 tbsp Lemon juice
  • Salt and Pepper
  • A couple of handfuls of Bagged salad
  • 4 slices of Parma ham

Method

  1. Put a frying pan over a medium heat. Slice the halloumi into slices roughly 1cm wide. Place in the pan and fry for 30-60 seconds on each side until starting to go golden brown. Set to one side until needed.
  2. Cut the peaches in half and de-stone them. De-skin one of the peaches and put it into a small bowl. Use a hand blender to make it into a puree. Add the oil and lemon juice and pulse again to make a smooth dressing.
  3. To plate up scatter the salad leaves over two plates. Then slice the each peach into 8 and scatter the slices around the plate. Then arrange the halloumi and the parma ham around he plate. Finish with a drizzle of the peach dressing and serve!

Thanks for reading!

Emma x

Zoodles with Ricotta, Spinach and Pesto

Zoodles with Ricotta, Spinach and Pesto

These past few weeks I’ve been comfort eating like crazy. It’s been one of those times where everything feels up in the air, I have no idea what I’m doing and every now and then I crash into a pile of Cadbury’s and cookies. I’ve never cared too much about my body image; I’m not the weight I’d like to be but in compete honesty I’ve got more to worry about than that! At the same time though I know that I’m getting to the point where I’m eating so much rubbish that it’s making me feel even more sluggish than usual. Therefore this holiday I’m going to do my best to go on a cleanse. More veg, less sugar. More salads, less cakes! Something I’ve found hard in the past when dieting is the conflict with running a food blog: I love making patisserie and I want to keep on baking, but it doesn’t do wonders for my waist line. Therefore I’m gonna start alternating between bakes and healthy things like this salad…

I’ve always wanted to try making zoodles – aka noodles made out of zucchini (or courgette if you’re English like me!) and so I thought this would be the perfect time to try them out. Traditionally they’re made with a spiralizer, but I don’t have one of those so I’ve experimented with a peeler and a knife and it’s worked fine! These are so much lighter than normal noodles and have they same kind of effect in a dish, so when put with some pesto and ricotta it makes a really light, fresh spring salad!

Recipe

Serves 2

Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

  • 2 Courgette/zucchini
  • A squeeze of Lemon juice
  • ½ tbsp Olive oil
  • A Handful of Baby spinach
  • 4 tsp Ricotta
  • 4 tsp Green pesto
  • ¼ tsp Paprika (optional)

Method

  1. Take a medium pan, fill it with water and place it over a medium heat. Leave covered with a lid to bring to the boil.
  2. Meanwhile take a peeler and peel even strips out of the courgette. Layer these strips up in piles about 1cm tall and cut thin strips out of them using a sharp knife.
  3. Place the zoodles into the boiling water and take the pan off the heat. Leave them to sit for 1 minute (more if you want them to be softer). Then drain the zoodles and leave them to dry on some kitchen towels.
  4. Put the zoodles into a bowl and add the lemon juice and oil. Then tear up the spinach into small pieces and add them to the mix. Carefully toss everything together.
  5. Portion out the zoodle mix between the plates, then scatter the ricotta over the top. Finish with a few spoonfuls of pesto and a sprinkle of paprika. Enjoy!

Thanks for reading!

Emma x