Healthy Nutty Date balls

Here is a great idea for an after dinner sweet treat! I like to have a hot drink after dinner, usually green tea or just plain hot milk.
These nutty date balls are so easy to make and you can make so many different flavours!

These are gluten free, dairy free, vegetarian and contain NO processed sugars.

Recipe

1/2 cup chopped nuts. I used hazelnuts, cashews and almonds
1/2 cup chopped dates
1T cocao powder
1T  organic nut butter eg. almond or peanut
1-2 T coconut (optional)

Blend all ingredients in a kitchen wizz for 1-2 minutes depending on how powerful your kitchen wizz is.Or until smooth rolling consistency.
Roll your mixture into small balls
Sprinkle coconut on top

Enjoy!

Brit xx

Gluten and Sugar Free Apple Crumble!

 This week I created my own take off of Apple crumble. I have always loved apple crumble especially at this time of the year in New Zealand with the cold winter weather approaching!
This recipe is gluten free and is free of any processed sugars. It only contains the sweet sweet goodness of those lovely juicy apples! I also had some pears that I chucked in there too and they were perfectly ripe and were so sweet.
The Crumble is packed full of nuts and some seeds. I pretty much put any nut I could find in the house and crushed them up.

Gluten and Sugar Free Apple Crumble

Ingredients:

Apples and pears (just enough to cover the bottom of my roasting dish.) approx 4-6
2 cups chopped nuts. ( I used hazelnuts, almonds, peanuts and cashew nuts)
1 cup of seeds ( I used pumpkin and sunflower seeds )
25 g  organic butter
2 t cinnamon 

Method:

Chop up apples and pears
place in the bottom of your roasting pan

Finely chop half of your nuts and left the other half roughly chopped
Place nuts in a bowl and mix in with seeds.
Rub in butter

Sprinkle crumble on top of the fruit
Dust with cinnamon

Bake for 25-30 minutes at 170 C

Serving suggestions:
Serve with cream or some good old pro biotic yoghurt :)

Enjoy!

Let me know what you think in the comments :)

Brit

Raw broccoli and salmon salad with Avocado dressing

This recipe was written in the NZ Herald back in April this year. If you are looking for a meal idea that is healthy and tastes great, you've found a winner! This recipe caters for everyone! Gluten free, Dairy free, Sugar free, Clean eaters! If you are vegetarian or vegan you can easily take out the salmon :)

This recipe is so easy and can be achieved in 3 steps!

You will Need:

1 Head of broccoli broken in to florets

1 red capsicum, roughly chopped

Handful fresh herbs of your choice (I used coriander, Italian parsley and Vietnamese mint)

200 g salmon (smoked if you wish, I prefer mine not to be smoked)

1 cup black pitted olives

1/2 cup seeds (toasted if you wish, I use pumpkin seeds and sunflower )

Dressing:

1 avocado

Juice of a lemon

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/4 cup water

2 cloves garlic*

sea salt

pepper

* Note that the 2 cloves of garlic is quite strong, change this to 1 clove if you don't want it too garlic-y :)

What to do:

Dressing:
1. Blend up all ingredients together until smooth.

Salad:
2. In a food processor, Pulse the broccoli, capsicum and herbs until a rice like consistency.

3. Transfer to a large bowl and toss in dressing, salmon, olives and seeds!

Enjoy!

I hope you like this recipe as much as I do! Let me know what you think!

Brit xx

Sugar free Healthy "Banoffee Pie"

Lately I have been getting that sweet tooth craving that just won't go away! When this happens it is so easy just to go into the snack cupboard and find some chocolate for a quick fix. But this is not going to be an option any longer!

I have come up with an idea that will satisfy that sweet tooth but will leave you feeling free of guilt.

There are a few different variations, so it can suit everyone! It is even Gluten Free!

For this recipe you can use either Organic cream or yoghurt. Some of you may be thinking that the cream is not healthy. Personally I would rather have natural products that have fat in them over processed sugar any day. I also think the yoghurt option tastes great too if the cream isn't for you :)

Recipe

Banana

Coconut oil

organic cream or organic Pro biotic yoghurt ( I use BioFarm )

Grated (sugarfree) Dark Chocolate. The higher the cacao amount the better!

What to do

Heat coconut oil in a pan and saute bananas until they start to bring out their natural sugars and caramelise.

Take off the heat**

Whip cream until semi whipped (if you are using it)

Place caramelised bananas in your serving bowl, with cream or yoghurt on top and sprinkle your dark chocolate on top!

**If you are in a hurry you can always leave the caramel part out and leave the bananas raw :)

Let me know what you think!

Enjoy
Brit xx

Sugar free update week 2

Hey everyone!

Welcome to week 2 of "sugar free"

I put sugar free in quotations because this isn't a completely sugar free diet as I have been eating some fruits.

This week has been an interesting one.
I have been feeling like I have been replacing my sugars with fats which I am not really comfortable with.
I've never been a big fan of fatty foods mainly sweet ones so more fat is not making me feel great.

I'm trying to eat more fresh food this week, like my spinach wraps have been a hit at lunch time with some lean venison or lamb.

Just like last week, I have been super thirsty all the time!
So I have been drinking a lot more water which fills me up, so no room for sugary treats!

My breakfasts have generally been the same with my homemade muesli, poached eggs or toast with Vegemite.
On Saturday morning my boyfriend took me out for breakfast and I had the corn fritters which came with a poached egg and fresh avocado! It was so yummy and I wish I took a photo! (sorry guys!)

My dinners this week has been a "cous-cous" week haha, well I mean I have been having cous-cous most nights! Its becoming one of my favourites!

My Snacks have been consisting of fruit, cucumber, rice crackers with cheese and mixed raw nuts.

To finish off, here is some pictures of the sun set from my bedroom window tonight :)

Hope everyone had a great week!

Brit :)

Everyone should watch this video! It could save lives.

Hey guys!

I watched this video recently and other videos very similar on youtube and it has been bugging me all week!

I'm no scientist but I think this guy has a good point to put across.

according to this video, cancer feeds off sugar - so basically it grows when given sugar!

here is the youtube link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0c9xWNz8pP4

It would be great to get a good discussion about this topic

What do you think?

Why I'm going sugar free

As a lot of you may have read on the internet, seen on videos and through media, sugar is commonly getting called names like 'poison', the 'killer food' or 'toxic' because of modern day research that has taken place.

Being interested in nutrition I have been watching video after video and reading numerous articles on different opinions about sugar.

Personally I believe that sugar is a huge contributor to modern day diseases and deaths.
I also do believe that other factors such as saturated fat, exercise and people not eating in moderation is contributing to this world wide health epidemic.

  So where to now? Do we cut out fat AND sugar from our diets?

What do you think?

I believe that sugar is becoming a modern day drug and people are abusing it which is causing them to get very sick. Also I believe it can be addicting. Constantly I am reading stories about people who eat countless amounts of chocolate blocks a day, and liters of soda drinks a week. To me THIS has to be an addiction.

For me I am taking action for myself and cutting sugar from my diet for 8 weeks.

I have been reading Sarah Wilsons book "I quit sugar" It is amazing! And very inspiring.

I will be posting my daily meals and blog on how I am feeling.

Sugar Free Week one Update

Sugar Free Week one!

Week one is just to gradually take out sugar free foods. I decided I would keep fruit but only 1-2 max a day.
some foods may still have minimal sugar eg: yoghurt but no added sugars.

Monday

Breakfast
Poached egg on vogels toast with cracked pepper

Lunch
onion flaky pastry tart
1x pear

Snack
Small handful mixed nuts
2x Rice cake crackers

Dinner
1x Flaky pastry tart
2 large pieces broccoli

Dessert
1cup greek Yogurt with cinnamon

Water=1L

Tuesday

Breakfast
Homemade muesli with unsweetened almond milk

Lunch
1 onion tart
4x rice crackers with cheese

Snack
1/3 peeled cucumber

dinner
Green string beans and corn on the cob

Water=750ml

Wednesday 

Breakfast

Plain oat porriage with cinnamon and unsweetened almond milk

Lunch
Spinach wrap with lamb and pesto

Snack
1 pear

Dinner
Homemade vegetable pie with cottage cheese

Water=1.5L



Thursday

Breakfast
2x poached eggs on vogels toast with cracked pepper

Lunch
1x Pita pocket with grilled cheese and lamb

Snack
Handful mixed nuts

Dinner
Chilli tomato soup

Water= 750ml

Friday

Breakfast
Homemade muesli with unsweetened almond milk

Lunch
Spinach Wrap with lamb, pesto, lettuce,carrot and cheese

Snack
Rice crackers with vegemite

Dinner
Chicken saute

Water = 1L



Saturday

Breakfast
Homemade Muesli with banana and fresh berries

Lunch
Turkish crusty bread with avacado

Snack
Mixed raw nuts
and greek unsweetened yoghurt

Dinner
Seafood risotto

Dessert
Lemon Green tea

water = 1L



Sunday

Breakfast
Homemade muesli with fresh berries

Lunch
Leftover Risotto

Snack
Homemade hot cross bun
(left over from easter in the freezer!)
1 berry green tea

Dinner
Homemade vegetable soup with cheese and vegetable scones

Dessert
Homemade Rice pudding  (no added sugar) with greek yogurt

Water =750ml


Overall feelings of this week:
Starting the week off I actually felt a lot better than I thought! No sugar cravings at all. Except coming into the weekend on Saturday and Sunday I experienced some sugar cravings. Maybe this was because I would usually give myself a treat in the weekend.
When I got these cravings I drank green tea which helped so much!

And I have been feeling a lot more thirstier than usual. I don't drink a lot of water usually (bad bad bad!!)
but I'm not sure if it was because of a lack of sugar or other reasons?
But next week I'm trying to aim to drink 2L water a day!!

Also today (Sunday) I had spent most of the day researching desserts for my upcoming competition!
That was not fun...

Anyway... I'm just taking each day one at a time.
I have a meal planner on the fridge, which I would highly recommend to anyone wanting to change their diet.
It lets you know what to have for breakfast, lunch, snacks and dinner. Instead of spending ages dwelling on what to eat and wondering if you can eat it or not.
It also helps when I am going to be away for the day and I can pre-pack my lunches to take with me.

If anyone has any question or wants to know any of the recipes, please ask with a comment below :)

Lets see how next week goes!!

Brit :)

P.S
I had to take one of my cats ( I have 2) to the vet on Saturday because she has an eye infection :(

Now we have to put eye drops in her eye 4 times a day!

If anyone has any tips on doing this, please share :)
I'm finding it very difficult to do :/