First Attempt at Protein Balls

Warning; I am going to be saying 'balls' a lot in this post, so please refrain from giggling, I am being serious people.

I've been trying to get back to the gym recently, and I've been seeing recipes for protein balls everywhere, so I decided to give one a go. I found a really simple recipe which I tweaked slightly, and luckily I had all of the ingredients. They turned out pretty good

Each ball has just over 8 grams of protein in it, which makes them perfect for eating on the go just before or after a work out.

This recipe below should make 8 protein balls.

Ingredients;

4 tablespoons natural peanut butter

2 scoops (50g) vanilla protein powder

4 tablespoons coconut milk

Sesame seeds

50g dark chocolate

Method;

Mix the peanut butter, protein powder, coconut milk and sesame seeds in a bowl. Once mixed it should form a dough like consistency. I rolled mine out into a snake shape so that I could split the mixture evenly up into 8, then I rolled them into small balls.

Heat the chocolate in a pyrex dish over a pan of boiling water. Once melted dip each of your protein balls in and coat with the chocolate. Place on a plate and pop in the fridge until cool. Et voila! They are done! 

It was such an easy recipe, I'll definitely be using this as a base to try out lots of different variations! Have you got a good recipe for protein balls you'd like to share?

Laura xXx

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Easy Canapes - A Cheats Guide

These canapés could not be easier, which is one of the reasons I love them, but also because they are delicious! I served these at our cocktail party the other week and I think they went down pretty well!

Simply grab some cocktail sticks (I prettied mine up by using wash tape to make little flags), and slide on your ingredients.

For the meat eaters we had half a tomato, a slice of chorizo followed by a rolled up basil leaf.

We also had the option of tomato, feta and basil for those that didn't want to eat meat.

Easy peasy right!?

Laura xXx

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Cocktails Made Easy - 3 recipes to get the party started

This time last week I was adding the finishing touches as I prepared for my first cocktail party! If you saw my post about simple syrups earlier in the week, you will remember that I was going to share a bit about the party and the cocktails I chose to make.

Since there were about 15 people coming to the party, I decided it would be rather tricky to make a cocktail for each person individually. So instead I came up with 3 cocktail recipes that I could make and serve in bulk in my pretty drinks dispensers, which we originally bought for the wedding. You can buy them here if you fancy giving this a go yourself.

Here are the recipes I devised for my cocktails, all of them went down well, but I think the Mojito disappeared the quickest!

Drunken Watermelon (far left)

500ml Vodka

2 litres Lemonade

350 ml of Watermelon Simple Syrup - Recipe here

Lime Juice to taste

Watermelon chunks (I cut mine into pretty stars using a cookie cutter)

Frozen Blueberries

El Macho Majito (middle)

500ml White Rum

2 litres of Soda Water

350 ml of Mint Simple Syrup - Recipe here

7 juiced lemons

7 juiced limes

2 sliced lemons

3 sliced limes

Mint Sprigs

Elderflower Fuzzle (right)

350ml Gin

4 litres Tonic Water

350ml Elderflower Cordial

Raspberry and mint ice cubes

And here are some pictures of the madness that ensued after consuming these sugar filled cocktails;

My Dad recently came over and mounted the chalkboard that was used for the open-mic at our wedding, to the wall in our hallway. I was excited to use it to show where important things were located.

Check out my pretty Italian wine glasses from Liberty London. I was very brave and allowed everyone to use these, thankfully they all remain in one piece!

We decided to do some shots of Apple Schnappes. Unfortunately it seemed that my shot glasses were all different sizes, and mine was by far the largest! Oh well, bottoms up!

And so we have the last ones standing.  The alcohol has clearly taken its toll at this point as Chris has replaced his glass of delicious cocktail with some freshly squeezed lemon juice in a lemon juicer.

He seems quite happy about it though.

We had a lovely night and I would definitely recommend my method of bulk cocktail making. It meant that I could relax once it had all been done, and I think it meant less mess too.  Everyone said how yummy the cocktails were, so I think we did pretty well. The secret is just put loads and loads of sugar in it! None of us slept for days.

Laura xXx

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Fancy Pants Butter - A Cheats Guide

Ever wanted to impress with your culinary skills, but lacked the time or energy to do so? Here is a quick and simple trick you can prepare way ahead of time. Whip it out for dinner parties, or just when your friend pops over for a cuppa and a snack. 

Create your own delicious toast topper by mixing softened butter with a flavour of your choice. If you're going for a sweet sensation you might want to try cinnamon, vanilla or honey. Or if you prefer something savoury try finely chopped herbs. Whatever you like, give it a go, you can always make a few little batches at once before deciding on your favourite.

Scoop your butter mix into silicone ice cube trays and pop in the freezer. Next time you've got guests just take out a few cubes in time for them to defrost, and you will look super prepared!

Laura xXx

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Overnight Oats Breakfast Recipe - Apple, Raisins and Cinnamon

Today I want to introduce you to my new best friend, overnight oats!

This is now officially my favorite breakfast. If you haven't heard of overnight oats, they are basically  porridge without the hassle of cooking the oats. Oh, and it's cold instead of hot!  

You make up your oaty/porridge dry mixture and then soak them in milk (or a lacto-free version of milk. I use coconut milk), then you leave them overnight in the fridge. When you wake up in the morning your oats will be fully soaked and ready gobble down!

There are tons of recipes you can experiment with, but I am hooked on my first creation. Its an absolutely delicious apple crumble inspired recipe! If that sounds good to you, read on to find out the ingredients;

1 cup porridge oats
1 cup coconut milk
1/3 cup raisins
A small hand-full of goji berries
A squeeze of agave nectar
1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
3 tablespoons of apple sauce

The secret ingredient is the apple sauce. I made a massive batch of this a little while ago. It was really simple, I just stewed down some apples in boiling water and then strained and mashed them.  I put some of this in the freezer, so now I just take out as much as I need to defrost a few hours before I make my overnight oats. If you don't have any to hand you can substitute a little bit of the milk for apple juice which gives it a bit of an apple tang.

I really like the way that soaking them makes the raisins and goji berries so soft. Usually I find goji berries a little bitter, but you barely notice them in the mixture for this recipe!

Do you make overnight oats at all? If you do what are your favorite recipes?

Laura xXx

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Healthy Ice Cream Recipe - Mint Choc Chip

For my birthday my parents bought me an ice cream maker! Yay! Then I found out I was intolerant to lactose. Boo!

I do love regular ice cream, especially Ben and Jerry's mint choc chip when I'm at the cinema! But I have always been interested in finding healthier alternatives. The base for this recipe is coconut milk rather than cream. So it makes it much healthier and also ideal for lactose intolerant people like me.

The Ingredients

3 frozen bananas
1 tin of coconut milk (chilled)
1 teaspoon of peppermint extract
1 avocado
Cocoa nibs (or a few chocolate chips for those of you that can or want to have milk)
Agave nectar or honey to taste

The Process

Mix all ingredients other than the cocoa nibs/chocolate chips together in a blender.  Stir them in at the end.  Then pop into your ice cream maker and follow the instructions for your machine. Mine took about 20 minutes. It is probably best to eat it straight away, as this will have the best texture. But I put mine in the freezer to save for later. You just need to give it a little while to defrost before you want to eat it.

If you don't have an ice cream maker you can still make this. You just need to use the old, 'stir it every hour' technique, and then keep putting it back in the freezer. Or you could use lolly moulds and make Ice lollies instead!

The Verdict

I think that this is one of those tastes that grows on you. I was a bit disappointed when I first tried it, but the more I ate the more I liked it.  Lets be honest, it is never going to taste the same as Ben and Jerry's.  Once you get that comparison out of your head it tastes pretty good.

I think I will be trying out some other flavours of healthy ice cream before making this one again, but I will definitely be bearing it in mind, and I am sure it will be making a re-appearance!

Laura xXx

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Cinnamon and Nutmeg Toasted Butternut Squash Seeds

I am not a fan of waste.  I like to make sure I use as much as possible when cooking, and I get very sad when I find that something has gone past its best before I had a chance to use it.

It wasn't until fairly recently that I discoverd that you could cook up and eat the seeds of a butternut squash. The other day I was cooking a butternut squash and caramelised onion soup, and I decided I would give it a go.

First I washed the seeds thoroughly to get rid of the slimy bits. Then I coated them in olive oil.  Next I sprinkled them (quite heavily) with cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, and a little bit of caster sugar. Then I popped them in the oven for about 10 minutes until they seemed crispy. They were actually quite yummy and full of that autumn flavour!

I sprinkled some of them on top of my soup, but they are delicious as a snack on their own

Below is a picture of my soup, it is definitely not Maser Chef worthy to look at, but it tasted fantastic! If you are interested, here is how I made it;

Ingredients
1 Butternut squash, cubed
1 large red onion, sliced
1 litre of Vegetable stock
Knob of butter
1 tsp of Sugar
Garlic
Olive Oil
Sour Cream
Bacon
Peas

Process
Chop up the butternut squash into cubes, coat with olive oil and pop in the oven until they are nicely browned.  Meanwhile, fry the onions in the butter over a low heat and keep stirring and add the sugar.  I cooked mine for a really long time so that they were nice and caramelised.

When that is all cooked combine in a saucepan with the stock, and whizz until smooth with a  hand blender. Pop in your frozen peas and cook for a few more minutes.  Serve with a dollop of soured cream and some frazzled streaky bacon.

Laura xXx

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Tri-This; Quinoa

Quinoa is supposed to be pretty much the perfect food. It is super high in protein, low in sugar, and gluten free! It is actually a seed not a grain, did you know that? Quinoa has recently become one of my favourite ingredients. So here are a few experiments I have tried with it that turned out well!

1. Quinoa Crusted Turkey Burgers

This is an adaptation of a recipe I posted about here. But instead of using breadcrumbs to coat the turkey burger, I used Quinoa!  It crisped up really well and is obviously a fantastic healthy substitute for breadcrumbs. I actually added curry powder to the turkey mixture this time, which turned out great! I also put in a little bit less garlic.

Ingredients;

Burger
400g Lean Turkey Mince
1 Clove of Garlic
1 or 2 tsp Ground Cumin (or/and curry powder)
Chopped coriander

Crust
Cooked Quinoa
Pepper and Salt to taste
2 eggs
Olive oil

For the full recipe check out this post, substituting breadcrumbs for quinoa, obviously!

2. Quinoa Flap Jacks

I've seen a few recipes about which use quinoa as an ingredient in a sweet dish, so I thought I would give it a go myself! My idea was to make little snack bars, but I think actually they taste better served with yoghurt, so these are perfect for a breakfast treat! Full of goodness and no naughty ingredients at all!

Ingredients;
1/2 cup uncooked quinoa
1 cup oats
2 mashed bananas
1/4 cup coconut oil
1 cup raspberries
sesame seeds
Ground flax seed
Agave nectar to taste

Rinse and cook your quinoa, then put to one side. Mash the bananas and mix with the coconut oil, oats, sesame seeds, ground flax seed and quinoa. Add agave nectar to taste. Add the raspberries last and mix in carefully. Put the mixture in a flat baking tray. It would probably be a good idea to line the baking tray with baking paper, but I didn't think of this at the time! I cooked this in the aga for about 30 minutes, but just keep checking on it until it is brown on top, but not burnt!

3. Quinoa Salad

I like to make all sorts of quinoa salads, it really just depends what is in my cupboards! My favourite is probably salmon with peas, sweetcorn and avocado. This one is really tasty too!

Ingredients;
Quinoa
Broccoli
Onion (Diced)
Chorizo Sausage
Butter

Rinse and boil up your quinoa. Meanwhile fry up some diced onions, small chunks of chorizo sausage, and broccoli with a little butter. Rinse your quinoa then chuck it in the pan with everything else for a minute or two. Finished!

Are you a fan of quinoa? 

Laura xXx

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Tri-This - Avocado

I've got a bit of a thing about avocados, I could eat them all the time! Hence why I have chosen them to be the subject for todays Tri-This! Aside from delicious guacamole, (which I made in this post), there are soo many things you can make with Avocados, some even rather unexpected! 

1. Avocado and Haloumi Salad

This might look simple, but eating avocado's in a salad is as delicious a way as any! And now that I have discovered Haloumi, I'm sure I will be eating lots more too!

Ingredients;

1 Avocado

Haloumi - Pan fried

Tomatoes

Tinned Sweetcorn

Spinach

I don't think I really need to give you instructions how to make this, it's pretty self explanatory!

2. Avocado and Chocolate Brownies

Ok, so this might sound a bit weird. But I'm sure you are used to me putting avocado in desserts, and if you aren't you can see my last try here. I found the original recipe, which I adapted slightly, here. I'm not going to lie, this isn't the healthiest recipe I have ever done featuring avocados, but it is better for you than a normal brownie, plus it is wheat free and you would never know! These are yummy and I highly recommend you try them!

Ingredients;

1 large avocado (well mashed)

1 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup agave nectar

2 tablespoons coffee (not coffee grounds, mixed with water)

1 large egg

1/4 a cup melted butter

3/4 cup cocoa powder

1/2 cup gluten free flour

2 tablespoons vanilla extract

Essentially just mix it all together well, then put the mixture in an 8in x 8in baking tin. I baked mine in an aga for about 50 minutes, but you can refer to the original recipe if you are unsure.

3. Avocado and Tuna Sandwich

And last but not least, this is one of our all time favourite lunch go-to recipes. It is so simple and healthy too!

Ingredients;
1 Avocado
1/2 tin of tuna
Bread
Tomatoes (optional)
Mayonaise (optional)

Again, I'm sure you don't need much guidance with this one. The key is to mash the avocado before adding the tuna, then mix it all together well. Sometimes I chop up some baby tomatoes and pop them in the mix. And when I'm feeling naughty, and Chris isn't watching, I PUT MAYONNAISE IN IT! Shh, don't tell Chris.

What are your favourite Avocado recipes?  

Laura xXx

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Tri-This - Blueberry Recipes

I don't mind admitting that I'm having a little bit of a creative slump at the moment. The same thing happened last year after I came back from my holiday too. I like my routine it seems, and whilst my holiday was fantastic and relaxing, it seems to have gotten me out of the swing of things somewhat.

Anyway, to get out of this rut I thought I would challenge myself to a new series of blog posts. Each week I will be picking one of my favourite foods and making 3 (because good things come in threes)  different recipes that use it.  It might be my first ever try, or it could be something I've made before, or maybe even a twist on an old recipe. And I've wittily named it 'Tri-This"! Actually you can thank Chris for that! It does sound a bit like something the candidates on The Apprentice would come up with, not sure if that is necessarily a good thing!

So today I am going to suggest you Tri Blueberries! 

Blueberries are one of my favourite fruits and they are also a superfood, hurrah! Whats not to love?

1. Cooked blueberries with vanilla yoghurt and fried oats.

This is something I have made a couple of times before, you may have even seen it on my Instagram feed, but it is becoming a firm favourite! It would be perfect as a breakfast, although I have been eating it as a healthy dessert!

Ingredients;

Blueberries

Vanilla yoghurt

Oats

Coconut oil

Agave nectar

Heres the deal - Cook your blueberries (I used frozen) in a frying pan until they are nice and juicy, then pop them in a glass, and add your yoghurt. Next use same pan as you had your blueberries in and heat up some coconut oil, pop in some oats and add a little agave syrup. Continue to heat whilst occasionally stirring until they have gone a golden brown colour and soaked up some of the delicious blueberry juices. Then add them to the top of your dessert to finish off.

 2. Blueberry and Banana Smoothie

You may remember that I love a good smoothie, I have one first thing nearly every morning. Whilst I like to change it up and have something different most days, I always keep some blueberries handy in the freezer, and a banana and blueberry smoothie always goes down well!

Ingredients;

Blueberries

Banana

Water

Pretty simple this one, grab a large handful of blueberries and one banana and throw in a blender. Add water until you are happy with the consistency. If you like it a bit sweeter you can always add a dash of agave syrup. Or if you like it super healthy why not pop in a little bit of watercress?

3. Blueberry and Vanilla Yoghurt Ice Lolly

This one was a bit of an experiment but it turned out really great! Since we have been having a bit of a heat wave I thought it was time to try out a new type of ice lolly. I really love the taste of cooked blueberries and I had some vanilla yoghurt hanging around in the fridge, left over from the earlier recipe. The rest is history.

Ingredients;

Blueberries

Vanilla Yoghurt

Agave Nectar

Cook your blueberries in a frying pan until squidgy and juicy, then mix with vanilla yoghurt and a little agave syrup. Then decant into your ice lolly moulds (this is the messy bit) and leave in the freezer over night! Yummy!

I hope you enjoyed my blueberry recipes this week. Are you a blueberry fan? I'd love to hear some of your recipes too! 

Also, any suggestions for future 'Tri-This' posts will be most welcome!

Laura xXx

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Guest Post - {BEST EVER} Carrot Cake

Hello all - it's rather exciting to be introducing myself for the first time over on Laura's lovely blog!

I'm Rachel of OH NO Rachio and I'll be sharing with you the recipe for the world's best carrot cake {bestowed upon me by the lovely Leoni of From Leoni With Love at our Craft Party.}

So whilst Laura is away enjoying herself, here’s a little opportunity for you to enjoy yourself too AND I promise you, there’s little skill required {win!}.

Here’s what you’ll need to make your cake:

* 5 eggs

* 450ml vegetable oil

* 400g self raising flour
* 570g caster sugar

* pinch of salt

* 12g ground cinnamon

* 530g peeled & grated carrots
* 150g walnuts chopped

* {optional} handful sultanas}

AND here’s what you’ll need for the topping:
 * 200g cream cheese

 * 150g sugar

 * 100g butter

The reason it’s a super easy cake is that {despite killing your arms with all of that carrot grating} all you need to do is throw all of the ingredients together into a food processor or mixer and mix for 5 minutes.
That’s it!

Grease your cake tin all over and pour your goopy mixture in {it’s ok for it to seem abnormally thick!}.

Then you pop it into a pre-heated oven at 160° for 45 minutes. Once your timer goes - take him out and insert a skewer into the centre, if when you pull it out it has cake goo on it, it isn’t done yet and pop it back in the oven for another 15 mins. If your skewer comes out clean, your laughing - and you can pop it onto a cooling rack to, well, cool!

Then beat together your three icing ingredients and spread on - I use a cake palette knife to get a level smooth finish, then you can decorate however you like!

I hope you enjoyed drooling over some gratuitous cake shots today! Thanks to Laura for asking me to fill in whilst she’s away - and if you like what you saw then why not pop on over to my blog to see lots of other cake based posts, recipes and craft DIYs here.

xo

Thanks Rachel! This cake looks yum, and with the addition of sprinkles it is perfection!

Check back on wednesday for my final guest post with Erica from Caught on a Whim. She is going to be showing us how to make a DIY necklace!

Laura xXx

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Healthy Wheat Free Turkey Burger Recipe

Last week I came up with an idea for a healthy, wheat free, turkey burger. And it was pretty yummy! So here's the recipe...

Ingredients;

Burger

• 400g Lean Turkey Mince
• 2 Cloves Garlic
• 1 or 2 tsp Ground Cumin
• Chopped coriander

Crust

• 2 Slices Wheat Free Bread
• Pepper and Salt to taste
• 2 eggs
• Olive oil

Toppings

• Avocado
• Tomato
• Crushed Garlic (probably not a whole one! Just a little bit)
• Coriander
• Lettuce
• Small amount of finely chopped onion

Start off by getting your hands dirty. Crush your garlic cloves into your mince and add the cumin and finely chopped corriander. Mix it all together with your (clean) hands until you think it is even throughout the mixture.  Ball up the mixture then flatten to make the burgers. I made 4 regular sized burgers and 2 mini ones out of this mixture.  Then put them in the fridge to set for an hour or so.

Meanwhile you can make the crust. Get your wheat free bread, preferably a bit stale, but if not just pop them in the toaster for a bit. Then put them in the blender until it has turned into breadcrumbs. Add a little salt and pepper and put this mixture in a shallow bowl. Take another bowl and break 2 eggs in it, then mix together.

Take your burgers out of the fridge. Heat some olive oil in a pan. Dip your burgers in the egg, and then in the breadcrumbs. Now pop on your pan and turn over when nicely browned on one side.

While these are cooking you can make your topping. Take your avocado, chopped tomato, onion, garlic and coriander and mix together in a bowl.

When the burgers are cooked assemble in your bun with a lettuce leaf and your avocado mixture. I also made some sweet potato chips by covering them in oil and baking them in the oven.

This meal felt really satisfying and like I was eating something naughty, but really it is pretty super healthy!  Plus the breadcrumbs were delicious and I don't think you would have been able to tell they were wheat free at all!

This would have been great without the bun too to be honest, and that would have been even healthier!

What are your favourite wheat free meals?

Laura xXx

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Grape Expectations - Grape Covered Chocolate Truffles

These might look like chocolate eggs, but in actual fact they are chocolate covered grapes! You know me, I like a healthy snack, and although the coatings of these might not be all that great for you, the centre certainly is!

I had a bit of a brainwave when I heard about people freezing grapes and eating them as icy snacks. I tried them and they were great! So I thought I would try to devise a recipe that turned them into mini chocolate ice lollys (without the stick). I had grape expectations for this experiment (grape, hah, see what I did there!?)

In actual fact I think these were much nicer when they had just been refrigerated rather than frozen. To get the best flavour you have to chew them quite quickly, rather than suck them. As you can imagine this is pretty difficult when they are frozen!

I started off the experiment by sending Chris to the shops to get me a bunch of grapes, and a packet of dark chocolate. Whilst that was being taken care of, I raided the cupboards to see what I had that would work as a coating.

I re-emerged with the following ingredients

• Hundreds and Thousands
• Sesame Seeds (my healthy option)
• Cocoa Powder
• Vanilla Sugar
• Cinnamon

The hundreds and thousands and the sesame seeds were ready to roll, but I mixed the cocoa powder, cinnamon and vanilla sugar together. I'm not quite sure how much I used of each, it was mostly cocoa powder, a bit less sugar, and then a fair sprinkling of cinnamon. 

Then I found some little dishes to put each topping in. A small deep bowl is preferable to a large shallow one. I also got out a large piece of baking foil to lay my finished grapes on.

Next I got on with melting my chocolate. The usual way of boiling a pan of water and sitting a pyrex dish on top, I popped in my broken chocolate and stirred until completely melted.

Now for the fun bit! I took my washed grapes, one by one, dipped them completely in the melted chocolate, then put them straight into my coating dish. I used a spoon to pour the coating onto the top. Then I rolled it around a bit until I was sure it was covered. You want the toppings to completely cover the chocolate, otherwise the melted chocolate will just stick to the bottom of the dish and make a mess. The cocoa powder one was easiest, I just had to shake the dish and the grape would roll around on its own.

I found it best to leave them in the dish to set for a moment, so I had a little production line going on where I would do one in each coat then remove it when I got back to the first one again. At this point I carefully removed the coated grape from the dish and placed it on my tin foil, and popped them in the fridge to cool for a little while.

I have to admit, these were a bit strange to get used to, but after I'd had a few ... yum! Chris and I devoured all of these during one episode of Game Of Thrones.

My favourites were the hundreds and thousands, weirdly they tasted a lot like a toffee apple! I loved the cinnamon kick in the cocoa ones, but you definitely had to chew them, if you sucked it you would just end up with a mouth full of powder. And the sesame seed ones are great too, they will be a perfect healthy treat. They say dark chocolate is good for you right!?

Ok, they were a little bit fiddley to make, but well worth it!

I think these would be really fun at a party. I would like to see peoples expressions as they eat them and  don't get what they are expecting! A good way to trick children into eating fruit also, no?  Although I never understand children who don't like fruit, particularly grapes, I loved them as a child!

I'm trying to think of some more topping ideas now. Can you think of any that would be good?

Laura xXx

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