Paleo Brownies: Lottie Style

Food porn getting any yummier looking? I can vouch that these are lick-the-screen-worthy brownies!

There are so many brownie recipes out there on the Internet, all advising different measurements and different ingredients... I decided that with all these differing ideas, I'd screw the recipe book and make my own concoction (which has turned out to be not too shabby!).

Lottie's Paleo Brownies

Ingredients:

- 2 eggs (beaten)

- 1 cup of raw honey

- 1/3 cup of almond butter

- 1/2 cup of almond flour/ground almonds

- 3 tablespoons oil (I used olive oil)

- 100 grams Carob chocolate (melted)

- 2 small tablespoons of cocoa powder

Method:

- Mix together the eggs, honey, almond butter and almond flour.

- Add the melted Carob chocolate to the mixture, followed by the cocoa powder

- Finally add the oil and mix together thoroughly.

- Pour into a small greased baking tray 

- Cook for roughly 40 minutes (I cooked it in an Aga and it took an hour, but that's because I'm awkward...)

- Do the skewer test and a little bit of gooeyness should be left on but not TOO much!

Stay Strong & Enjoy!

Eastern Chicken

I was cooking for two today as my Mum is working from home so I thought I'd do something a little different (but obviously including cherry tomatoes... what can I say? I've now run out of these little beauties so I'm going to have to start getting creative!).

I went for an Eastern Chicken recipe that came to me as I stood staring at the spice rack in vain.

Eastern Chicken (Serves 2)

Ingredients:

- 2 chicken breasts (cut into small pieces)

- BART Baharat Spice Mix (or your spice mixture of choice)

- Large handful of cherry tomatoes (halved)

- 1 white onion (diced)

- 1 clove of garlic (finely chopped)

- Large handful of cabbage (shredded)

Method:

- Heat your oil of preference in a medium sized frying pan
- Add onion & garlic, cook until beginning to lightly brown
- Take chicken breast pieces and rub spice mix so that the chicken pieces are lightly covered in the mix
- Add chicken breast pieces to the onion & garlic and cook through
- After about 10 minutes (or when the chicken breast pieces are cooked), add the shredded cabbage and baby tomatoes
- Cook until the cabbage is slightly softened and the baby tomatoes have expressed their juices
- Serve & enjoy!

Stay Healthy & Strong!

Cauliflower Hash Browns, chou-fleur?

Whilst raiding the fridge for a yummy lunch earlier, after spending 2 hours ironing and having taken a brief trip to the gym to try out a 'VIPR & Abs Blast' class (which was great fun!), I found a lonely looking cauliflower at the back of the fridge.

I'd heard of Paleo folk rustling up "Cauliflower Hash Browns" but had no idea how to go about it! I decided that I'd set myself the challenge of making Cauli-Browns WITHOUT looking up a recipe... Surprisingly, common sense seemed to be on my side today and my meal turned out to be delicious!

Tomatoey Chicken With Cauliflower Hash Browns (Serves 1)


Ingredients:
- 1 chicken breast (sliced)
- As many cherry tomatoes as you're addicted to (I had 6 or 8... I'm hooked!)
- A large handful of cauliflower florets
- 1 clove of garlic (chopped finely)
- 1 cm (ish) of ginger (chopped finely)
- 1/2 or 1 beaten egg (depending on size of egg)

Method:
- Fry chicken in a splash of olive oil until almost cooked through
- Tip chicken into a dish with the halved cherry tomatoes in
- Put into the oven for roughly 5 minutes (or until the cherry tomatoes have expressed their juices and are squidgy)

- Take the cauliflower and whizz in a hand blender until finely chopped (make sure you don't liquidise it!)
- In a bowl, add the cauliflower, garlic and ginger
- Pour in the beaten egg with the cauliflower and mix (get your hands dirty - it's the easiest way!)
- Take handfuls of the mixture and roll into a circular shape
- Place these balls into a saucepan (pre-heated) with a splash of olive oil in
- Flatten the balls so they are patty shaped and cook through on each side until browned and the egg is no longer raw

- Serve with the chicken & tomatoes

Apologies - my food is more personality than porn... It tastes damn good though!

My next challenge is going to be "homemade tomato ketchup" to go with my Cauli-Browns and a few rashers of organic, farm shop bacon...

Stay strong & healthy!

Berry Tasty Smoothie

My whole30 is going really well - I've been sticking to it as rigidly as possible and am really feeling the positive results.  I feel stronger, more alert and healthier.  I felt as though I was in a bit of a rut, however, as recipes didn't immediately spring to mind and I was getting sick of eggs for breakfast.

I grabbed a few things from the cupboard and chucked them in the blender to make this amazing smoothie.

Ingredients:
- blueberries
- raspberries
- strawberries
- baby spinach
- cashew nuts
- almond milk
- kiwi

Quantities:
Use as much or as little of each ingredient as you desire - I used 1 handful of the fruits and veg and half a handful of nuts.

Serving Suggestions:
As well as drinking straight away, I'm going to try and freeze it slightly so that it has more of a sorbet texture - future dessert choice!?

Mussels For Your Muscles

For supper tonight I had the most gorgeous mussels, thanks to Mark Sisson (Mark's Daily Apple) and his Reader's Inspired Cookbook.

Mussels are really healthy: full of protein, paleo friendly and filling. So here's the recipe:

Ingredients:
- 2 pounds mussels
- 2 tablespoons of butter
- 5 cloves of garlic
- 1 chilli (sliced)
- 2 large tomatoes (chopped)
- 1/2 cup of dry white wine
- pinch of sea salt
- small handful of basil (coarsely chopped)
- large bunch of parsley (chopped)

Directions:
- clean the mussels
- melt the butter and add the garlic
- sautee the garlic until golden and add the chilli
- add the tomatoes when the chilli is soft and cook until the tomatoes have expressed their juices
- add the wine and simmer until the sauce is reduced by half
- add the salt and mussels, cover the pot and cook for 3-5 minutes until all the mussels have opened
- toss with basil and parsley
- serve quickly

(recipe taken from Mark's Daily Apple)

On a side note, I have finally managed to get my mother to accept my "whole30" Paleo challenge - it's great to feel supported more with a fully stocked fridge of Paleo-friendly yumminess.

The Difficulties Of Non-Paleo Friends/Relatives

The Non-Paleo Pancake

As you may be aware, I'm 18 and still live at home.  I'm of a slender build with no desire to lose weight by taking up this Paleo lifestyle, merely to feel more healthy and treat my body the way that nature and evolution intended.

Unfortunately, my mother seems to be set against any "new diet" that I regulate for myself - a little lacking in support, one might say.  She insists on adding cream into soup (which I can't refuse to eat as I'll be accused of being "anorexic" or "starving myself") so I feel that today has been a slight failure in terms of my "whole30".  Included in this, I'm lactose sensitive so the cream will do double the damage that it would for most people!

I've tried to convince her whole-heartedly that I'm not attempting to diet, get skinny or lose weight; if anything it's the opposite, I want to get strong, healthy and toned.  I'm seeing it as more of a challenge - there has to be someone trying to push you in the wrong direction (I suppose) or it'd be too easy!  I'm going to build from my downfall of the soup incident today and use it to bolster my efforts because I want to complete this "whole30" in as efficient a way as possible!

I'm planning on having a 100% Paleo supper tonight to make sure that nothing that any parent might say to sway the matter will affect my meal!

Stay strong!

Scavenger's Lunch Delights

Smoked bacon, shrooms, cherry tomatoes, blob of mustard-y dressing 

I’m taking part in the “whole30” on Jenna’s blog (Paleo Project).  I’m not going to lie and say that so far it’s been easy - although I’m lactose intolerant so I can’t have dairy anyway, I miss the other things like CARBS! I’m also not that partial to meat so I’m trying to experiment with meat and other protein-rich veggie sources (I’m hoping to have a go at tempeh soon). Another set back is that I’m still living at home so I can’t fill the house with everything yummy and strip it of all temptation.

I managed to throw together an awesome lunch though which has left me feeling completely satisfied without having to go out and buy myself “special food”.

I can’t wait to keep up the paleo challenge, I know that there’ll be temptations and I might be lead astray - but fingers crossed I’ll be able to stay strong and pick the Paleo option!

Primal Feeding: Lunch

A plateful of colourfulness & health

Ingredients:

- 1/2 a squash

- whole red pepper

- 1 teaspoon of dried chilli

- ham (I had 2 slices)

- cherry tomatoes

- homemade mackerel pate (for non-paleo eaters)

Instructions:

Squash & Red Pepper (Mash):

1. take half the squash and peel and dice
2. dice red pepper & de-seed
3. fry in a little butter (or coconut oil if preferred) until soft (10 minutes roughly)
4. sprinkle dried chilli into frying pan
5. (if you want to make it mash) remove from pan and mash until desired consistency is achieved

Homemade Mackerel Pate:

1. skin some smoked mackerel fillets and whizz in the blender
2. add cream cheese and creme fraiche to thin the mix down a bit
3. add a little lemon zest
4. salt and pepper to taste
5. enjoy! 

Protein goodness:

1. pop the desired amount of ham onto your plate (I went for two slices) 
2. you could also go for some bacon (fry it up after snipping off the rind)

Finishing touches:

1. to adhere with my minor obsession with cherry tomatoes, I grabbed four and chopped them up to go with my meal
2. enjoy!