Tag: Snacks

Our Wildlife Garden & Summer Fruits Energy Shake (‘Breakfast in a Glass’)

Published on by Sharon5 Comments

What a glorious summer we’ve had this year! After a spell of wet, overcast summers, it was such a refreshing change to have blue skies and sunshine for pretty much the whole of July and August.  I absolutely loved it and took every opportunity I could to be outside, making the most of it ♥

The plants and insects clearly loved the weather too!  This year, I decided to let the failed ‘veggie’ patch grow wild and turn it into a little haven for wildlife.

'Veggie' Patch Aug 2013 1 500

The whole summer it’s been a hive of activity, filled with all manner of bee, butterfly and beetle. We’ve also had baby toads and slow worms living in there too!

'Veggie' Patch Aug 2013 3 500

Does anyone know the name of the yellow plant below? I think it’s beautiful and it doesn’t get munched at all. As soon as I know its name, I’ll add it to my list of slug and snail resistant plants 🙂

'Veggie' Patch Aug 2013 4 500

We’ve also had success growing raspberries in the patch 🙂 A generous friend gave me six plants earlier this summer, and by late August they were already producing fruit. This raspberry is golden yellow in colour, which seems to make it less appealing to the birds. While the leaves of the plant have been munched, the fruits haven’t been touched at all!

Raspberries September 2013

Normally at this time of year, I would be out on my bike foraging for blackberries, but this year there was no need. By leaving the garden wild, we ended up with our own bumper crop!

Blackberries 4

In the mornings, I’ve been enjoying energy shakes for breakfast, made with a cup of freshly picked blackberries. By adding in some oats, ground almonds and chia seeds, the shake becomes a very satisfying ‘breakfast in a glass’. The additions make the shake so filling that I don’t get hungry all morning!

Blackberries 3

This shake also makes a fantastic post-exercise recovery drink and after-school ‘snack’ to revive energy levels.  I find they’re especially useful as a filling, energy booster on weekday nights when Lil’ L has after-school activities and dinner is going to be served late.

Blackberry Shake 1 500 copy

These smoothies have been a great way to encourage Lil’ L to eat berries. He still won’t go anywhere near whole berries (it’s a ‘texture thing’) but he’ll happily gulp them down in a shake. When he was little, I used to blend the berries and milk first, then strain it to make it completely smooth before blending in the remaining ingredients. These days, he’s happy to drink the smoothies straight up, pips and all!

Here’s how we make them:

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Summer Fruits Energy Shake

Makes 1 large drink
Hands-on time: 5 minutes    Ready in: 5 minutes

Ingredients
240ml / 8 fl oz / 1 cup fortified soya milk (or other non dairy milk)
4 tbsp soya yoghurt (or other non dairy yoghurt)
140g / 5 oz / 1 cup fresh summer fruits* (blackberries, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, tayberries)
1 TBSP rolled oats (use certified GF oats, if needed)
1 TBSP ground almonds
1 TBSP chia seeds
1 TBSP maple syrup (or agave syrup)
Ground cacao nibs (optional, for nutrient boost & garnish)

*You can use frozen berries to make a thicker, ice cream-style shake

Method
Place the ingredients in a high speed blender. Pulse to break up the fruit, then blend on high speed until smooth. Taste test and add more sweetener, if needed. Pour into a tall glass and serve.

Notes
To make a smooth, pip-free shake (which might be more appealing to small children), first blend the milk and berries on high speed for a minute. Pour through a sieve to catch all the pips. Return the shake to the blender, add in the remaining ingredients and blend on high speed for a minute or so.

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And to make to even more scrumptious, I like to top off my shake with some ground cacao nibs 🙂

Berry Shake with Cacao Nibs 1 500 copy

The Good Stuff ♥
Blackberries – Fantastic immunity boosters, packed with antioxidants, including vitamin C. Also a great source of dietary fibre, vitamin K, and manganese
Fortified soya milk & yoghurt – Good source of protein, calcium, vitamins B12 and D, yoghurt cultures
Oats – Provides slow-release energy
Almonds – Provides protein. Rich source of antioxidant Vitamin E, riboflavin, manganese and magnesium
Chia seeds – Good source of protein and dietary fibre. Rich in calcium, manganese, phosphorous and omega 3 fat
Cacao Nibs – Packed with nutrients, including lots of antioxidants. Check out my raw chocolate post to find out more.

Products used in this recipe
Alpro soya milk and plain soya yoghurt (available in all major UK supermarkets)
Mornflake Superfast Oats (available from Tesco and Asda)
Chia seeds (available from health food stores and online. I purchased mine from Earthfare)
Duronic 1200 1.8 litre Jug Blender, available from Amazon
Cacao nibs – available from health food stores and online. I use the Elements for Life Cacao Nib Grinder

 

Have you had any success growing fruits or veggies this year? Do you ever go foraging?

 

Maple Glazed Nuts

Published on by Sharon11 Comments

Today I have a delicious treat for you that takes only five minutes to prepare…

Maple Glazed Nuts ♥

Mapled Glazed Almonds, Pecans & Walnuts

These taste SO good! And they’re packed with lots of nutty goodness.

I’ve just made a fresh batch as a treat for Lil’ L and his friend when they get home from school.  I’m also going to bag some up for Mark to take out on his mountain bike rides this weekend.

As well as making a great post-school and exercise snack, they’re also the perfect snack to munch on at work to keep your energy levels up.

Be warned though, they are addictive and they will test your will power!  If (like me) you’re tempted to devour the whole lot in one go, I suggest bagging it up into individual size portions and hiding them.

Here’s how I make them..

Hands-on time: 5 minutes    Cooking time: 5 minutes
Ready in: 8 minutes

Ingredients

  • 2 cups of nuts (I use a mix of raw walnut halves, pecans and whole roasted almonds*)
  • 4 tbsp maple syrup (I use Clark’s Original Maple Syrup, which is a mix of maple and carob syrup. It tastes great but is much cheaper than pure maple syrup)
    sea salt, optional

* You will often find that nuts such as almonds, cashews and peanuts are cheaper in Asian grocery stores or in the World aisles of large supermarkets.  Currently, a 750g bag of Aasani Almonds costs £5 in Tesco.

Method

1.  Preheat a dry frying pan (skillet) on a medium-high heat.

2. Add the nuts and dry fry for 2 minutes, stirring continuously.  Add the maple syrup and continue stirring for about 3 minutes, until the nuts are fully coated and the syrup has caramelised and become very sticky.

3. Space out the nuts on a piece of non stick baking paper.  If you like the sweet and salty combo, lightly sprinkle the nuts with salt as soon as they have left the pan.  As they cool, the nuts will firm up, become shiny, and not sticky at all.  Store in an airtight container in a cool, dry place.

Mapled Glazed Nuts

Have a wonderful weekend everyone 🙂  xx

Apple & Cinnamon Dough Balls (Healthy ‘Monkey Bread’)

Published on by Sharon20 Comments

When I first started blogging, I recall there was a wave of health food bloggers posting recipes for ‘Healthier’ Monkey bread.  I had absolutely no idea what ‘Monkey bread’ was or why it had such a funny name!

Wikipedia soon filled me in…

Monkey bread, also called monkey puzzle bread, sticky bread, African coffee cake, golden crown, pinch-me cake, bubbleloaf and monkey brains is a sweet, sticky, gooey pastry served in the United States for breakfast.  The bread is made with pieces of sweet yeast dough which are baked in a cake pan after first being covered in melted butter, cinnamon and sugar. It is traditionally served hot so that the baked segments can be easily torn away with the fingers and eaten by hand.

Sounds yummy doesn’t it?  However, traditional Monkey Bread isn’t particularly healthy.  It contains A LOT of fat and sugar.  In contrast, the ‘healthified’ versions often use bread or pizza dough as their base, and are glazed with healthier alternatives to butter and refined cane sugar.

One Sunday, I decided to have a go at making some Apple and Cinnamon-Spiced Healthy Monkey Bread as a ‘special breakfast’.  It was a huge hit with Lil’ L and M and,  I must admit, I’m rather partial to it too.

The ‘authentic’ way to serve Monkey Bread is to invert it onto a plate…

Apple and Cinnamon Healthy Monkey Bread

However, we prefer to eat it straight from the pan.  Hands get less messy, and you can use the balls to mop up any syrup left in the pan. 😉

Healthy Apple & Cinnamon Monkey Bread

If you’re lucky enough to have a breadmaker, then this recipe requires very little effort at all.  You simply throw all the dough ingredients in the machine and press a button.   I’ve had my breadmaker for a couple of years now and it’s been fantastic!  I reckon it’s easily paid for itself in terms of the amount of times we’ve chosen to stay in rather than going to Pizza Express!

Today, I made some Monkey Bread as an after-school treat for Lil’ L and his friend, and I made it by hand to see how it compared to the bread-maker version.  To be honest, making dough by hand doesn’t require THAT much effort.  It takes less than 15 minutes, which isn’t too bad at all.  Plus kneading dough is great exercise for the arms.

Below I’ve given instructions for making the Monkey Bread by hand and in a breadmaker.  If you’re planning to eat it for breakfast, you can easily prepare the dough the night before and chill it in the fridge.  In the morning, simply remove the dough from the fridge about 20 minutes before you need to use it.

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Makes 18-20 dough balls (serves 3-4)
Hands-on time: 10-30 minutes (depending on whether you make the dough in a breadmaker or by hand)
Dough resting time: 1 hour
Cooking time: 25-30 minutes

Dough
½ tsp fast action/easy blend yeast
300g / 11oz / 2¼ cups wholemeal (wholewheat) bread flour or chapatti flour (I use the latter)
½ tsp sea salt
170ml / 5¾ fl oz / ¾ cup lukewarm water
1 tbsp olive oil

Cinnamon Sugar
1 tbsp coconut sugar (or use granulated sugar)
1 tsp ground cinnamon

Apple Cinnamon Syrup
1 organic apple, cored and chopped (I keep the skin on)
2 tbsp virgin coconut oil (or you could use non dairy margarine, like Pure)
2 tbsp maple or agave syrup (I often use Clark’s Original Maple Syrup)
1 tbsp coconut sugar (or brown sugar)
1 tsp ground cinnamon

Method

  1. Prepare the dough.
    – In a breadmaker: Throw all the ingredients in the pan and select ‘pizza dough’.  The programme should take around 45 minutes.  When it signals that it’s ready, leave the dough in the machine for a further 20 minutes or so to rise.
    – By hand: Place the yeast, flour and salt in a large bowl.  Add the warm water and oil.  Mix well with a spoon, then bring it together with your hands until you have a sticky dough.  Knead for 5-10 minutes, until the dough is smooth.  Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with a damp tea cloth or oiled cling film (plastic wrap), and leave in a warm place for about an hour until it has doubled in size.  If your house is cool (like ours) then cover with oiled foil and leave in the oven at 40C / 100F for an hour.  When the dough is ready, remove from the oven, knead for a couple more minutes then set aside.
  2. Preheat the oven to 200C / 400F / Gas 6.  Brush or spray a 23 cm / 9″ loose bottom pan with oil.
  3. Prepare the cinnamon sugar: In a small bowl, combine the sugar and cinnamon.
  4. Prepare the apple cinnamon syrup: First blend the apple into a smooth puree.  I find the easiest way to do this is to place the apple pieces in a bowl and use a hand blender (stick / immersion blender).  Place the apple puree, coconut oil, syrup, sugar and cinnamon in a small pan and gently heat until the oil has melted.
  5. Pull off small amounts of dough and roll them into balls about 2½ cm / 1″ in diameter.  Roll them in the cinnamon sugar and place in the oiled pan.  Repeat until all the dough has been used.  Evenly space out the balls in the pan (they will expand when baking).  If you have any cinnamon sugar left over, add it to the syrup pan.
  6. Spoon the apple cinnamon syrup evenly over the top and in between the dough balls.  Place in the preheated oven and cook for 25-30 minutes.
  7. Serve warm, either inverted onto a plate or straight from the pan.

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I hope you enjoy it as much as this little monkey 😉

Lil L & Monkey Bread

 

Good Hemp Seed Giveaway Results!
Before I go, I’d like to announce the winners of the Good Hemp Seed Giveaway.  The eligible entries were placed in chronological order and 3 winners were randomly selected using Random.org.

I’m delighted to announce that the winners are…

1. Emma
2. Samantha
3. Penniless Veggie

Please email your postal addresses and I’ll arrange for the gifts to be sent to you asap.

 

Have a great weekend everyone! xx

 

 

Sensible Snacking for Kids & Wise Yoda!

Published on by Sharon10 Comments

Hi everyone! I hope you’re having a great week so far 🙂

I had lots of fun this afternoon with the kids at my ‘Wednesday Workshops’ (the little Buddhist meditation classes I teach at our local primary school). After a beautiful meditation on ‘the kindness of others’, I thought it’d be fun to watch one of my favourite Star Wars clips.

 

When it ended, I asked them if they’d learnt anything from watching it. Their hands shot up in the air and they started reeling off the lessons they’d learnt including…

  • Never give up (even if you’re finding something difficult or have already failed in your first few attempts)
  • Don’t get distracted
  • Control your mind
  • Believe in yourself
  • Size doesn’t matter

All that wisdom from watching a 5 minute clip of Yoda! Just imagine how wise they’ll be after they’ve watched all six Star Wars films 😉

After watching the clip, we had great fun making paper fortune tellers and filling them with Yoda quotes and kind messages.

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Think you the relationship between Master and Padawan is only to help them?
Oh, this is what we let them believe, yes! But when the day comes that even old Yoda does not learn something from his students – then truly, he shall be a teacher no more.

 

WIAW – Sensible Snacking … Lil’ L Style!

 This month, the lovely Jenn over at Peas and Crayons has set ‘Sensible Snacking’ as the theme for our weekly ‘What I Ate Wednesday’ foodie parties. I think this is a great theme as it’s all too easy to reach for the junk snacks when we’re feeling a bit peckish. 

For me, the most important thing is making sure that Lil’ L has snacks that are going to sustain his energy levels. On weekdays, he has a morning snack at playtime and an after-school snack. I try to make sure that these snacks contain whole foods, complex carbs and minimal sugar so that his energy levels don’t peak and slump. I also want encourage him to develop healthy snacking habits for the future.

Now that he’s older, I involve him in the decision making about his choice of snacks. Here’s a run down of some of his current favourite snacks (all of which he’s eaten in the past week).

Morning Snacks

 

  • 2 seeded flatbread crackers with bean pate or houmous filling (his number 1 current favourite snack)
  • 2 wholegrain rice cakes with yeast extract (these taste like the Marmite rice cakes but they have the added bonus of being wholegrain)

  • 2 sesame wholegrain rice cakes with St Dalfour Strawberry spread or Manuka honey filling (the honey was a gift from his grandma!)

  • Packet of wholegrain mini biscuits with no added sugar or salt.

After School Snacks

 

  • Roasted pistachios nuts (salt free). 

 

  • Almonds and sunflower seeds roasted in a tiny amount of low-salt soy sauce (recipe here)

 

  •  Apple cinnamon pancakes with chopped pecans, ground linseed and a drizzle of maple syrup. 
    I make pancakes every Sunday and Lil’ L likes to have the leftover pancakes on a Wednesday before his swimming lesson (warmed in the microwave).

  • Wholemeal choc chip or almond cookie.

We also make a fruit smoothie after school. This week, he’s made smoothies with different combinations of pineapple, blueberries , banana and strawberries, non dairy milks and yoghurt, and chia seeds for an omega-3 boost (the seeds are completely obliterated in a high speed blender, so you don’t even notice them).

We’re always on the look out for new snacks, so do let me know if you have any suggestions.
If you have kids, I’d love to hear what their favourite snacks are.
And equally importantly, what’s your current favourite snack?

Enjoy the rest of your week everyone! 🙂 xx

 This time last year: Sugar Free Jam Tarts