3 INGREDIENT BANANA FLAPJACK RECIPE

April 24, 2024 / 1 Comment

Ok, I’m not going to lie, this isn’t really a recipe because there is no skill involved in it at all but they taste delicious and I’m rubbish at baking so there we go.

At the moment I’m all about convenience food because my interest in cooking has completely gone out of the window along with my desire to eat meat, cooked vegetables or basically anything that isn’t a carb. Therefore, having some delicious snacks in the kitchen that contain at least some micronutrients is a bonus in my book.

This is where these easy flapjacks come in. They were inspired by having a large number of bananas that had gone past the point of decency with their ripeness. I made 3 of them into a sugar and butter-laden banana bread (which was perfectly delicious) but the rest of them became these flapjacks so that I could eat them mid-afternoon without getting a massive sugar buzz and crash.

 

 

Ingredients:

3 x very ripe bananas

1.5 cups oats

1 large tablespoon crunchy peanut butter

 

Method:

- Mash the bananas in a bowl

- Mix in the oats and peanut butter until fully combined

- Shape into 12 vaguely round shapes

- Bake at 180 degrees (fan) for 15 minutes until they’re a little bit crispy on top but not burnt

- Store in an airtight container for up to 5 days (if they last that long)

 

 

These are high in carbohydrates so they’d be perfect to eat around your workouts as an energy boost or to replenish the glycogen in your muscles after a heavy session if that’s what you’re into. Alternatively, just eat one whenever your peckish. They would be great as fuel on a long run or cycle because those gels do get tiresome after a while and can play havoc with your digestion if you take too many. I’ve also discovered that dogs love them so if you’re making them for your furry friend then just make sure that you use a peanut butter that is 100% nuts and doesn’t contain any xylitol which is poisonous to dogs.

 

 

You could add in a number of things too including:

- cinnamon

- chocolate chips

- raisins or dried cranberries

- matcha powder for a caffeine boost

 

Give them a go!

WELLNESS WITH JOHN LEWIS

April 6, 2024 / No Comments

Everyone’s talking about self-love at the moment and it’s something that I’m trying to work hard at so when John Lewis got in touch to see if I wanted to spend an evening with them talking about wellness I jumped at the chance.

For me, wellness is holistic, it’s not just about what you eat and it’s not just about what you do. Wellness goes into every aspect of your life. One of the most important though (for me at least) is what you put into your body. I know that eating a certain way helps stop me bloating, lets me sleep well and aids my recovery from working out and the stresses of everyday life. That way includes a lot of unprocessed food, plenty of protein and all of the fresh fruit & vegetables.

Smoothies are therefore a brilliant way of including all of the things above in my diet. During the summer I have them for breakfast a few times a week and if I’m short on time after a workout or I need to eat on the go then I’ll often have one during the day. They’re so versatile and as we learnt from Hayley, the nutritionist at the event, the body absorbs up to four times more nutrients and digests them up to twenty times faster when you drink your fruit & veggies.

Helen and I teamed up to make what turned out to be a huge amount of smoothie and it was delicious.

In our smoothie we had:

Banana

Pineapple

Cos lettuce

Spinach

Vanilla whey protein

Coconut water

Frozen berries

While I wouldn’t normally have quite so much fruit in my smoothies it was very tasty! My normal ratio would be 1 part fruit to 3 parts vegetable (plus other yummy bits like peanut butter and flaxseed) and my biggest tip for getting some extra veg into a smoothie would be to add cucumber. Although it’s not as nutrient-dense as other green veg it’s packed full of water and brings a freshness to the taste that the more leafy-greens don’t.

What’s your favourite smoothie recipe?

HEALTHY CHICKEN NUGGETS RECIPE

September 19, 2024 / No Comments

When we were kids Saturday nights for us consisted of all the fun stuff that we didn’t normally have for dinner, like cereal or scrambled eggs on toast or ‘oven food’ ie stuff cooked from frozen like oven chips, fish fingers or chicken nuggets with spaghetti hoops.

Now that I’m grown up (allegedly) comfort food has taken a slightly different turn with things like warming Thai soups, aubergines smothered in miso and sesame and spicy chilli con carne. The one thing that I miss though is chicken nuggets and chips. Very (very) occasionally I will give in to the lure of those golden arches and eat the horribly processed, deep-fried fast food nuggets but we’ve been thinking recently about healthy food for kids (nope, I’m not pregnant, just forward planning) and so this recipe was formed.

They’re high in protein, gluten-free, dairy-free and grain-free so suitable for coeliacs, those with dairy allergies and anyone following a paleo or low FODMAP diet. I don’t actually follow any of these diets but the recipe turned out this way and the more people that can eat delicious food the better!

Serves: 2 people

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 20 minutes

 

Ingredients:

2 x chicken breasts

1 egg

200g ground almonds

100g sesame seeds

good pinch each of salt & pepper

1 tsp oil of your choice (I like olive oil)

Method:

Chop the chicken breasts into nugget-sized chunks

Combine the ground almonds, sesame seeds, salt and pepper in a shallow dish

Cover chicken with beaten egg, allow to soak for 5 minutes

Remove individual pieces of chicken from the egg mixture and turn in the ground almond mixture, coating all sides

Lay nuggets in a single layer on a greased baking tray and drizzle the remaining oil over the top

Bake at 180 degrees C for 15-20 minutes until golden brown on top

Serve with homemade white or sweet potato chips, salad and a big spoonful of creamy homemade guacamole for the full experience or just salad for a lighter meal.

The best thing is that you can set up an assembly line and cook loads of these nuggets then freeze them into portions to be defrosted and reheated whenever you want some comfort. Long live oven food!

Hi-PRO HIGH PROTEIN CHICKEN SATAY RECIPE

November 4, 2023 / No Comments

You know those emails that pop into your inbox and you open purely because you’re on autopilot? Well luckily for me I did…

The lovely people at Hi-PRO Nutrition said possibly the best words anyone could ever say to me…. ‘Do you want to try our new high-protein peanut butter?’. Various phrases involving bears and woods came to mind but in essence I said yes and eagerly awaited my delivery.

There are plenty of protein nut butters out there on the market but what marks Hi-PRO out as different is that the extra protein in there comes from peanut flour and whole peanuts rather than added whey which means the taste is entirely peanuts. I’m not a fan of the flavoured nut butters either really because I just like the taste of the roasted nuts too much.

Hi-PRO is 33% protein providing 5.1g of protein per serving of 15g along with 7.4g of fat and 0.9g of carbs. Compared to other products on the market the protein is 1g higher and the carbs are 1g lower per serving making it perfect for people who are following a high-protein diet. Every gram counts people!

Seeing as I’m eating an awful lot of protein at the moment in a quest to build up my baby muscles this is music to my ears but rather than just spread it on toast (or eat it out of the jar with a spoon, who am I kidding…) I wanted to create something savoury with it.

Cue my favourite dish, chicken satay. It’s a really simple recipe, can be on the table within 20 minutes of starting cooking and packs a hefty protein punch. Oh and it’s totally tasty. What more could you want?

If you want to find out more head over to the Hi-PRO website or check them out on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

Recipe serves 1 person

Ingredients:

1 x tbsp Hi-PRO peanut butter (crunchy or smooth)

1 x tbsp soy sauce or tamari

1 x tbsp water

1 x tsp minced ginger

1 x tsp minced garlic

1 x tsp sesame oil

1 x chopped chilli (deseeded if you don’t want it too hot)

1 x chicken breast chopped into bite-sized pieces

Method:

In an oven-proof dish combine all of the ingredients apart from the chicken until it forms a paste. Pre-heat your oven to 180 degrees. Add the chicken, cover with the marinade, leave in fridge for 15 minutes to soak up the flavours. Put chicken in oven for 15-20 minutes. When the chicken is piping hot all the way through and not pink inside your dinner is ready!

To serve:

Transfer into a bowl or plate and garnish with sliced spring onion and a squeeze of spring onion. I served mine with steamed brown basmati rice and steamed cavalo nero and broccoli but you could have white rice, noodles or a vegetable stir fry on the side

In case you’re interested the macros for just the satay chicken made to this recipe are:

Calories - 426

Protein - 59

Carbs - 6

Fat - 18

 

Disclaimer: I was provided with the products and paid to create this recipe but all opinions are my own