Honestly Healthy Flapjacks

A perfect guilt-free snack for revision during exam time, or for any lunch box - whether it is for kids at school or to enjoy with a cup of tea at work.

They have a satisfying texture and a natural sweet taste, with oats and seeds that will give you more energy for longer, providing you with good, honestly healthy nutrients.

With finals approaching, I find myself constantly reaching for the chocolate. Food that makes you feel good for a bit, but doesn't really provide any long-lasting energy or nutrients. I flicked through my new 'Honestly Healthy' cookbook to find something I could make that was actually good brain-food, and that also tastes really delicious and satisfying. I came across some 'Granola Bars'. As always, I played around with the recipe a bit, and have created something with easy-to-get-your-hands-on ingredients.

I wouldn't describe mine as granola bars since they are not crunchy, but are soft and gooey, more like flapjacks. If you use jumbo oats then perhaps they would turn out more crunchy, but I used porridge oats. Don't go on a crazy shopping spree to hunt down every specific ingredient - play around with fruit, seeds and nuts that you already have at the back of the cupboard.

They are easy to make one evening to set you up with snacks for the week - and you know exactly what is in them, unlike all the cereal bars out there claiming to be healthy or low fat, when they are packed full of extra sugar and additives. 

These flapjacks are gluten-free, rich in vitamins, high in fibre, and bursting with energy.

Go on, take a bite...

Makes 9

- 200g oats

- 250g dried prunes, chopped

- water

- 75g dried cranberries

- 2 tbsp milled linseed mix with gojiberries, sunflower & pumpkin seeds (you can find in Aldi)

- 2 heaped tbsp pumpkin seeds

- pinch of cinnamon

- 3 tbsp agave nectar (or honey)

1. Preheat the oven to 160 degrees. Spread the oats on grease proof paper on a large baking tray and bake for about 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tray.

2. Place the chopped prunes in a saucepan and pour in water to double the depth. Bring to the boil and reduce for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally (and adding more water if necessary), until a sticky syrup is left with chunks of prunes.

3. Add the cranberries, linseed mix, pumpkin seeds, cinnamon, and agave nectar and stir until well combined. Then mix in the toasted oats.

4. Spread this oaty mixture into a baking tin (on grease proof paper) and bake for 15-20 minutes.

5. Remove from the oven and cut into squares. Leave to cool completely.

Enjoy :)

Rocky road

I didn't know whether to call this rocky road or refrigerator cake - but either way it's biscuity, chocolatey goodness. I didn't put raisins in which I would prefer, and there are no nuts either since I'm not that keen, but the good thing about these is that you can basically add anything you want to them. They're so quick and easy to make with no baking at all!

Makes 8 squares

- 50g butter

- 100g milk chocolate

- 1 tbsp runny honey

- 100g dark chocolate digestives, crushed

- handful of marshmallows, chopped

1. Simply melt the butter and chocolate in a pan over a low heat. Stir in the honey.

2. Mix in the crushed biscuits and chopped marshmallows.

3. Line a baking tin with grease proof paper and pat down the mixture into it. At this stage I decorated it with edible glitter and chocolate hearts.

4. Refrigerate for about two hours then cut into squares. 

Enjoy :)

Summer smoothies

It's been such a lovely sunny, hot day here today even though it's September now, woo, so these cold smoothies were perfect for today. I have also had a really bad cold these last few days (surprise surprise) so although I haven't had much of an appetite, I've been trying to eat as healthy as possible. I really wanted to make the pineapple and spinach smoothie that I've posted on here about before because it has lots of yummy and nutritious ingredients in, and in the end I made two different smoothies. The purple (and more attractive) one is exactly the same as the pineapple and spinach one, just without the spinach! They are both really delicious, I had the spinach one with my lunch and am going to have the sweeter one after dinner later!

You can find the recipe for the smoothie here - it is low fat natural yogurt, frozen berries, fresh pineapple, fresh spinach leaves and some water.
This time I added a little more of everything (particularly yogurt) so it made two drinks rather than just one. I also added some fresh blueberries as well as the frozen berries. Add everything but the spinach into the blender then pour half of it into a glass.

Add the spinach to the remaining smoothie in the blender, continue to blend, then pour that one into a glass too!

Enjoy :)

Herb puff pastry sausage rolls

Credit goes to my mama for this post, since she made these, and was the one who came across the pastry with the recipe on the packaging. I just wanted to share this with you guys because they were soooo delicious, the best sausage rolls i've ever tasted! I've had home-made sausage rolls before but they were just the standard sausage cut in half and rolled in plain puff pastry with some beaten egg and seasoning - they are good too but you should definitely give this recipe a go, it has a lot more flavour. The pastry is from Sainsbury's in the fridge section (not freezer, although you can freeze it) - it is the ready rolled herb puff pastry. The recipe is on the packaging but I will write it here anyway for you to look at.

Ingredients (serves 6)

- 1 pack of Sainsbury's ready rolled herb puff pastry

- 250g lean minced pork

- 100g lean bacon, finely chopped

- 1 medium onion, finely chopped

- 50g fresh breadcrumbs

- 1 egg, beaten

- pinch grated nutmeg

- salt and pepper

1. Remove pastry from the fridge 20 minutes before use, and pre-heat the oven to 200 degree / gas mark 6

2. Mix the mince, bacon, onion, breadcrumbs, 3/4 of the egg, nutmeg and seasoning together until well combined.

3. Unroll the pastry and cut in half lengthways. Spread half the filling along the centre of each pastry strip. 4. Roll up the pastry to enclose the filling, leaving the join underneath.

4. Using a sharp knife cut each length into 10, and make 2 shallow cuts into the top of each. Brush with the remaining beaten egg.

5. Place on a lightly greased baking tray and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until cooked through and golden.

Enjoy :)

Viennese fingers

Wasn't really sure what to call these - I thought I was just making shortbread, but the way I piped the biscuit and put chocolate on some of them makes them more like viennese biscuits. Not much to say about these other than that they were divine buttery, sugary delights! Really light but still comforting, so a definite winner. The reason why only some of the biscuits are dipped in chocolate is because these were soo fragile - they kept breaking when I was covering them in chocolate ahh! Shortbread is meant to be crumbly but I think I must have made these slightly too thin...

Makes about 16

- 100g butter

- 25g golden caster sugar

- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

- 100g self-raising flour

- 100g plain chocolate

1. Pre-heat the oven to gas mark 3 and line two baking trays with grease proof paper.

2. Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, and stir in the vanilla extract.

3. Stir in the flour to make a fairly stiff dough.

4. Place the mixture in a piping bag with a star nozzle and pipe about 16 fingers onto the baking sheets.

5. Bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes, or until pale golden. Leave to cool.

 6. Melt the chocolate and gently dip the ends of each biscuit in the chocolate to coat. Leave to set in a cool place.

My mum bought me this 'bake' ornament thing in the picture below which is so cute, I'm hopefully going to find a place for it in our kitchen at uni, otherwise I will just keep it in my room. Couldn't resist featuring it in a photo!

Enjoy :)

Pineapple and spinach smoothie

I know it doesn't sound or look particularly appetising (hence the snazzy bit of pineapple on the side trying to improve it...) but don't turn your nose up at it until you try it! It honestly does taste pretty good, although you have to like the texture of smoothies to enjoy this. I usually opt for really sweet, berry smoothies, and although this does contain berries, it isn't as sweet as I usually prefer. Having said that, I will definitely make this again as I love the tang the pineapple gives, and I love knowing how nutritious it is - perfect if you're having a detox day. It sounds weird, but you really can taste all the ingredients individually, yet they taste delicious together. I got the idea of putting pineapple and spinach together from Jordan's workout DVD, believe it or not - her nutritionist makes a juice with those 2 main ingredients, alongside tons of other fruit & veg.

Ingredients (makes 1 large glass)

- 2-3 heaped tbsp natural yogurt

- 80g frozen strawberries & blueberries (or any berries)

- 2 rings fresh pineapple, cut into chunks

- big handful of spinach

- few splashes of water (depending on how thick/runny you want it)

Put the yogurt into the blender first with the berries and blend. Add the pineapple, spinach and water and blend until smooth. Taste and add more of anything if necessary.

Enjoy :)

Strawberry, peach and yogurt trifle

 This is a delicious snack or dessert that is healthier than it looks! I named it a trifle purely because of the way it looks - it doesn't contain sponge, jam or whipped cream unfortunately, but it is a perfect substitute if you don't want to be so naughty or spend lots of time putting together a dessert. Although I made this with plain, natural yogurt, the syrup from the tinned peaches sweetens it so it doesn't taste bitter or bland. The fresh strawberries compliment the peaches well - the colours also make this look amazing! I topped it with full fat crème fraiche because it was all we had in the house, but opt for reduced fat if you want it to stay healthy. Do not be sceptical of a healthier dessert - this will seriously satisfy your sweet tooth! If you are craving chocolate you could grate some dark chocolate on top, or melt it to drizzle over the top. Don't forget that the tinned peaches in syrup will be quite high in sugar so don't be fooled in thinking this is perfectly healthy. The glass I used was quite big so I had half as a snack and am saving half for dessert later. It was hard to resist eating it all at once I must admit...

Fills 1 large glass

- 1/4 tub of low fat natural yogurt (I used Sainsbury's less than 2% fat probiotic natural yogurt)

- 1/3 tin of sliced peaches in syrup

- 5 or 6 strawberries, sliced

- small dollop of crème fraiche

- dark chocolate, grated or melted (optional)

1. Stir some of the peach syrup into the yogurt in a separate bowl to sweeten.

2. Spoon some yogurt into the bottom of a large glass, layer 2 or 3 peach slices on top. Spoon another bit of yogurt over the peaches. Top with some sliced strawberries. Repeat again.

3. Dollop some crème fraiche on top and garnish with some chopped peach and strawberry - delicious!

Enjoy :)

Peach and raspberry smoothie

 It can be really difficult to get your 5-a-day - I know that I've noticed that most days I'm only reaching 3 and some days none at all! I used to be really focussed on eating lots of fruit & veg, but recently it has slipped my mind. I was really craving a sweet, fruity drink and since we didn't have any fresh fruit in the house I had to improvise. So there was no banana, no natural yogurt, no fruit juice - all the ingredients that always make up the base of my smoothies. Instead, I used an Activia fig yogurt, some milk, frozen raspberries and tinned peaches, and I'm glad I did, because it was scrummy! Really thick and sweet. It wasn't the healthiest of smoothies, since the Activia yogurt wasn't low fat, but you can use low fat yogurt if you choose. This only contained 2 of my 5-a-day, but with sweetcorn at lunch and two different veg with dinner I am there! And I will try to keep this up, will keep you all updated...

Makes 1 large smoothie
- dash of milk
- 100-150g frozen raspberries (not entirely sure of quantities!)
- 1 Activia fig yogurt (or any flavour, any brand etc.)
- 1/3 tin of peach halves


Simply blend everything together in a food processor, and pour into a glass! Drink, or use a spoon.

You can blend the raspberries from frozen, but I let them defrost for about 20 minutes first so there weren't bits of ice in my drink. Using frozen is perfect for getting the smoothie refreshingly cold.
Taste the smoothie as you make it, and stir to check the consistency - this way you can add any other ingredients to change the flavour or texture. For example, if you have plain natural yogurt you may need to sweeten the smoothie with some honey, or if it is too thick add some water or juice!

Enjoy :)

St. Patrick's Day Peppermint Creams

Happy St. Patrick's Day! I'm not Irish, but this festive day seems to be increasingly popular in Britain and America so thought I would celebrate with some delicious sugar treats. My family and I usually make peppermint creams at Christmas time, and use Christmas shape cutters such as stars, holly leaves, bells etc. I wanted to make these today 1. because I could use green food colouring since mint is associated with green anyway and 2. because I got the recipe from my favourite baking and treats cookbook of all time (I will put a picture and link at the bottom of this post as per usual!) These are so simple to make, with only a few ingredients, and they are so cute and delicious. They are light and refreshing and go perfectly with dark chocolate decorations. So if you want to whip up something festive today, these are the winners!

Makes 30 (I divided it by 3)

Ingredients:

- 300g icing sugar, plus extra for dusting

- 1 egg white

- peppermint extract, to taste

- green food colouring

- dark chocolate, melted for decoration

1. Sift the icing sugar into a bowl. Whisk the egg white with a fork in another large bowl until a little frothy.

2. Beat in half the icing sugar to the egg white. Add a few drops of peppermint extract, then gradually add the rest of the icing sugar until you have a firm paste.

3. Add a few drops of food colouring and mix or knead in to the paste.

4. Sprinkle icing sugar on the work surface and roll out the paste.

5. Cut out any shapes you desire and place on a baking sheet on a tray. Leave to dry out in a cool place.

6. Melt the dark chocolate and spread or drizzle on the peppermint creams. Place in the fridge for an hour or two.

Enjoy :)

This is the book I got the recipe from, it is brilliant, it has pretty much anything you could ask for in terms of sweet treats. It even has savoury treats such as muffins, croissants etc. I definitely recommend!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/1001-Cupcakes-Cookies-Tempting-Treats/dp/1407573187 

Soured cream, cheddar and chive muffins

I have just bought a new baking cookbook (yay!) by love food - the same company that produced my comfort food cookbook shown in my post on spaghetti alla carbonara. I can't find a link for this new book online, but I got it in Debenhams for only £2.50 (half off!) and it seems really good so far, with different sections for cakes, small bites, desserts, baking with yeast and savoury nibbles. I couldn't wait to try something out and these muffins looked delicious. They were really quick and easy to make, but be careful because like with all savoury muffins, they do go quite dry the next day after baking them. They taste best warm out the oven either on their own or spread with butter for extra flavour, so make sure you bake them in the morning for lunch, a buffet, or a picnic. Having said that, you can heat them in the microwave up to a few days after baking to warm them through and retain some of the moisture - they were just as yummy when I did this!

For 12 muffins
Ingredients:
- 280g plain flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 25g cheddar cheese, grated (although I would recommend using more for a stronger flavour)
- 35g fresh chives, finely snipped, plus extra to garnish
- 1 large egg, lightly beaten
- 200ml soured cream
- 100ml plain unsweetened yogurt
- 4tbsp butter, melted (I used unsalted, but I would recommend using salted for more flavour - or just add a pinch of salt instead)
1. Line a muffin tin with 12 muffin cases. Sift the flour, baking powder and baking soda into a large bowl. Add the cheese and chives and mix together well.

2. In a separate bowl, mix the egg, soured cream, yogurt and melted butter together. Add this mixture to the flour mixture and gently stir together until combined. Do not over-stir the batter - it doesn't matter if it is a bit lumpy.


3. Divide the muffin batter evenly between the 12 muffin cases - they should be about two-thirds full. Sprinkle over the remaining snipped chives to garnish and transfer to a preheated oven; 200 degrees/gas mark 6. Bake for 20 minutes or until risen and golden. Remove the muffins from the oven and serve warm, or place on a wire rack to cool.

Enjoy :)

Cheese scones

Yes, the weather in England is turning slightly summery, but we all know the sunshine won't last for long so here is a real comfort food pick me up! Cheese scones, hot from the oven spread with butter that melts as soon as it hits the soft surface mm. And the best thing is, they are still delicious cold!

Ingredients:

- 225g self-raising flour

- pinch of salt

- 55g butter

- 25g cheddar cheese

- 150ml milk

Heat the oven to 220c / gas mark 7 and grease a baking sheet. Mix the flour and salt and rub in the butter until you are left with a breadcrumb consistency. Stir in the cheese and the milk until a soft dough. Knead lightly on a floured surface. Roll out until about 2cm thick and cut out using a round cutter. Place on the baking sheet, brush with milk, and bake in the oven for 12-15 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool briefly, and serve hot with butter.

Enjoy :)

Berry smoothie

Smoothies are so simple to make at home, deliciously healthy, and so much cheaper than buying cartons from the supermarket like Innocent Smoothies.

They are perfect for breakfast, a snack/drink, or for dessert!

Ingredients:
- Skimmed milk
- Natural yogurt
- Banana
- Fresh berries (I used strawberries)
- Frozen berries (I used blueberries, raspberries and strawberries)
- Honey
- Oats

Tips:
- Make sure you add the wet ingredients to the blender first (milk and yogurt) so nothing gets stuck. I will usually add milk, yogurt and banana, and blend until mixed, then add the berries and mix, then add honey to taste until it is sweet enough.
- Oats can be added to make the smoothie more filling and thick, but can often change the flavour so they are optional depending on what you like.
- The good thing about smoothies is you don't need exact quantities - you can add as much of each ingredient as you like depending on the texture or flavour that you want! I usually use 1 medium-large banana and then work the other quantities around it. That should make 2 smoothies - like in the picture.
- If you aren't using any frozen berries then add some crushed ice so it's nice and cold!

Other smoothie ideas:
- To alter the flavours, most ingredients can be kept the same (banana, milk and yogurt) and you can just change the fruit, for example using kiwis or pineapple etc.
- You can also buy flavoured yogurt, which I try and stay away from as it tends to be higher in sugar/sweeteners, but it is good occasionally. I used Onken peach yogurt once which was delicious with strawberries!
- Pretty much anything can be blended - all fruits which is obviously the healthy option, but other ingredients like chocolate and nuts could work, and try adding different things to change the sweetness/flavours like jam.

Simple tomato and mozzarella tarts

All you will need is puff pastry, mozzarella, fresh tomatoes, dried italian herbs, and a beaten egg.

You can use ready-made puff pastry, I use Jus-Rol pastry. Simply roll it out and cut into circles, or any shape, with a cookie cutter or something similar. 

Brush the outsides of the circle with beaten egg, and place a slice of mozzarella in the middle, topped with a slice of tomato. Sprinkle with herbs and bake in the oven for around 10-15 mins on about gas mark 4 or 5 (180-200 degrees)

I made these to take to a buffet once, they were easy to re-heat in the oven and tasted delicious.

Enjoy :)