Perfect Flour Free Pancakes

November 1, 2023 / No Comments

Everyone’s going mad for pancakes at the moment and quite rightly. They’re delicious with sweet or savoury toppings and they make the best brunch ever. But they’re not always the healthiest choice on the menu, especially if you’re trying to eat gluten free or dairy free.

So here’s my never-fail recipe for healthy and nutritious pancakes, I promise that once you try these you won’t miss the ‘normal’ ones!

Ingredients (makes one serving = 3 pancakes)

2 x medium eggs

1 x large ripe banana

½ scoop of your preferred protein powder (optional)

½ cup of raspberries/blueberries/strawberries (optional)

1 tsp organic coconut oil

Method

Peel and mash the banana with the 2 whole eggs until the mixture is batter-like. At this point you can add in your half scoop of protein powder (I find that vanilla works best) and your berries (I used raspberries). Mix the batter again to make sure all of the protein powder is mixed in thoroughly.

Just like with normal batter, leave it to thicken for 5-10 minutes in the fridge. In the meantime melt the coconut oil in a small frying pan but watch out, coconut oil gets smoking hot very quickly!

Pour a 3rd of the mixture into the pan and swirl the pan to make sure you’ve got a nice even spread.

Once the mixture starts to bubble slightly on top flip the pancake with a spatula and then it should only need 45-60 seconds on the other side.

The pancakes are perfectly delicious as they are or you could add some extras. Some suggestions are:

- dairy-free coconut yogurt or goats milk yogurt

- turkey bacon and agave syrup for that American feel

- fresh fruit (mango goes particularly well)

- chopped nuts and fruit compote

These were mine the other morning simply with some added blueberries.

Amazingly, this photo has gained the most likes out of any of my posts on Instagram… Just goes to show the power of pancakes!

Nutrition (for recipe listed above including blueberries on top)

Calories: 420

Carbs: 45g

Protein: 23g

Fat:17g

Let me know if you try them and what you think x

My 30 day paleo challenge – an egg too far

April 3, 2024 / No Comments

If you follow me on Instagram you’ll have noticed that for the past 30 days I’ve been trying out the Paleo diet, so called because you have to eat like a caveman.

Luckily that doesn’t mean eating ancient species of rodent but rather you eat unprocessed, natural and ‘whole’ foods.

Anything dairy is out as are grains (including legumes, so no green beans or mangetout. Sob) leaving you with a diet of meat, fish, vegetables, fruit, nuts (but not peanuts as these are a legume) and seeds. Healthy natural fats such as avocados, olive oil and coconut oil are allowed.

So here’s a typical day’s worth of food on my paleo diet:

Breakfast

1 x smoothie (banana + blueberries + mango + spinach + coconut water)

2 x hard boiled eggs (whites only)

Lunch

Mixed salad with poached salmon, beetroot and pumpkin seeds and a squeeze of lemon juice

Afternoon snack

Handful of carrot sticks with a teaspoon of natural almond butter

Dinner

Lean turkey marinara with sweet potato wedges and steamed greens

I decided to take on this paleo challenge after an incredible 2 weeks in India where I did nothing but eat white rice, garlic and cheese naan bread and paneer curry….

I felt fluffy, out of shape and wanted to get back on track. The first 2 weeks were easy as my motivation levels were high. I enjoyed all of the fresh food although eating out was very difficult when places weren’t flexible with their menus.

The final 2 weeks were much more of a struggle. I really missed plain yogurt, cheese and quinoa which normally form part of my everyday balanced diet. I ended up slipping a couple of times (one of which consisted of half a bag of kettle chips and 5 chocolate hobnobs but let’s not talk about that…) because I got frustrated that I couldn’t join in on family celebrations and eat some of the delicious food that had been prepared. Plus I was definitely over eggs. So many eggs.

All in all, after 4 weeks on the paleo diet, I hadn’t really lost any weight but I do feel leaner. My energy levels didn’t drop too much and I even managed to figure out how to bake paleo cookies to satisfy any sweet cravings. I think this diet would be good for those who want to build lean muscle but because of the higher fat content (from nuts, avocado etc.) it might not be such a good weight-loss diet.

However, I’m going to keep aspects in my diet, such as the healthier paleo treats and the morning smoothies.

Next up, the 30 day pescatarian challenge… GOODBYE MEAT!