Carrot, Orange and Ginger Soup

This soup is full of nutrients, perfect for boosting your immune system mid winter. The orange and ginger flavour really comes through, so it adds a little extra to a carrot soup, as well as adding extra vitamins, anti inflammatory properties and aiding digestion.

Ingredients

(Makes 4 servings)

3 carrots, diced

1/2 litre of vegetable stock (I use 2 tsp of Bouillon in 500ml of water)

1 onion, finely chopped

1-2 tsp grated fresh ginger root

juice of 1 orange

Method

1. Bring the vegetable stock to the boil in a large saucepan, and add the carrots and onion. Simmer for 20 minutes until soft

2. Blitz the ingredients in a food processor or using a stick blender, depending how smooth you like your soup. This wasn't blitzed for long, so it retained some texture.

3. Stir in the ginger and orange juice, and simmer for a further 5 minutes. Season to taste and serve!

Celeriac Slaw

This recipe is a nice alternative to traditional coleslaw, and a lot lighter too. This side dish is high in fibre, nutrients and vitamins, and you can play around with the veg, try swapping out the celeriac for cabbage or carrot. 

Ingredients

(Makes a large bowl)

1 celeriac, peeled

juice of 1/2 a lemon

2 tbsp light mayonnaise

1 tbsp 0% fat Greek yogurt

2 tsp Dijon mustard

Method

1. Grate the celeriac, toss it in lemon juice and put it to one side

2. Combine the remaining ingredients in a separate bowl, and then pour over the celeriac and stir it through. Garnish with lemon and coriander and serve as a side dish!

Maple and Pecan Granola

This recipe is adapted from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's granola recipe, which me and my mum made for some homemade Christmas presents. It is full of goodness, with fibre, slow release carbohydrates, healthy fats, protein and immune system boosting properties. Homemade granola is so much better compared to store bought options, and it's perfect served with yogurt, fruit or cold milk for breakfast.

Ingredients 

350g oats (I used a mixture of jumbo oats and normal oats)

150g broken pecans

75g pumpkin seeds

75g sunflower seeds

50g linseeds

50ml coconut oil

50ml water

2 tsp vanilla extract 

150ml maple syrup

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 150 degrees. Gently heat the coconut oil until it is liquid, and combine with the water, vanilla and maple syrup

2. In a separate bowl combine the dry ingredients

3. Pour the maple syrup mixture over the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly, so that all of the dry ingredients are coated

4. Line two baking trays with baking paper and spread out the mixture over the trays. Place the trays in the hot oven and bake for 50 minutes, turning the mixture every 10-15 minutes

5. Remove from the oven and let the mixture cool completely, then store in an airtight container or decant into jars for delicious homemade gifts!

Gluten Free Alternative Replace oats wit gluten free oats

Cleansing and Healing Green Soup

This soup is inspired by a Persian recipe, from a friend of a friend who is Iranian. The recipe is a variation of a soup from Persia, made by the pilgrims when they were sick to help them heal. The quantity of the herbs makes this soup very fragrant, with the lentils offering a boost of protein and the spinach adding iron. It might not actually cure your illness, but it is delicious and full of goodness to support your body.

Ingredients

(Makes 4 servings)

1 litre of veg stock (I used 4 tsp of Bouillon in 1 litre of water)

2 onions

1 tin of brown lentils

1 leek

1 bunch of coriander, roughly chopped

1 bunch of dill, roughly chopped

a packet of baby spinach

Method

1. Prepare 1 litre of veg stock following instructions on the packet, and bring to the boil in a large saucepan. Whilst the stock is boiling chop the onions and leek, and add to the boiling stock. Let it simmer for forty minutes

2. Drain the lentils and add to the pan, with the coriander, dill and baby spinach. Simmer for a further five minutes

3. Serve with a squeeze of lime and enjoy!

High Fibre Blueberry Breakfast Muffins

I made this recipe as I was looking for some new breakfast ideas and for some homemade refined sugar free alternatives to store bought cereal and protein bars. I wanted a high fibre content with slow release carbohydrates so they would be sustaining and energising, and most importantly I wanted them to be refined sugar free. These use buckwheat flour and oats rather than refined white flour, and a combination of banana and maple syrup to sweeten them. They work out at around 130 calories per muffin, and they taste so amazing, they really are a great swap for sugary coffee shop muffin or supermarket cereal bar.

Ingredients

(Makes 12)

100g oats

50g buckwheat flour

2 bananas (the riper the better)

3 eggs

1tsp cinnamon

1tsp baking powder

1tbsp maple syrup

15g chia seeds

15g pumpkin seeds

15g sunflower seeds

120g blueberries (I used frozen blueberries)

For the topping:

1tbsp coconut oil

1tsp maple syrup

1tbsp oats

2tsp sunflower seeds

2tsp pumpkin seeds

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees and line a muffin tray with 12 muffin cases. In a food processor, combine the oats, buckwheat flour, baking powder and cinnamon, and blitz until the ingredients are combined and the oats are finely milled

2. Place the flour mixture in a bowl with the rest of the dry ingredients and put to one side. In the food processor combine the banana, eggs and maple syrup, and blitz until the ingredients are fully mixed

3. Stir the egg mixture into the bowl of dry ingredients

4. Gently fold in the blueberries, be careful not to over stir here as you want the blueberries to keep their form!

5. In a separate bowl you can prepare the topping- gently heat the coconut oil and maple syrup until the oil is liquid, and stir in the oats and seeds so they all have a coating of the syrup/oil mixture

6. Spoon the muffin mixture into the cake cases, evenly among the 12 cases. Add a teaspoon of the topping onto each muffin, and place the cakes into the oven

7. Bake for 20 minutes (give or take a couple of minutes depending on the oven- you can check if they are done by sticking a fork into the muffin, if it comes out clean they are done!) and remove from the oven. Place on a cooling rack and when cool store in an airtight container. Enjoy in the morning for a sustaining on-the-go breakfast or throughout the day for a fibre rich boost of energy!

Gluten Free Alternative Replace buckwheat flour with brown rice flour and oats with gluten free oats

Berry, Greek Yogurt and Honey Smoothie

This isn't really a recipe, but it is such a good smoothie combination it had to be shared. I used a handful of frozen berries, 1/2 cup of Greek yogurt, a teaspoon of honey, topped it up with almond milk and just blended it up- delicious!

Dairy Free Alternative Replace yogurt with coconut yogurt for a similar creamy consistency

Healthy Chocolate Orange Flapjacks

I love making flapjacks, there are so many healthier alternatives for making them. This isn't my healthiest recipe, but these taste incredible and they have a lot of goodness in them too! They are higher in sugar and fat then I would normally use, which makes them great for an occasional treat, and you can feel good knowing you're still getting fibre, healthy fats and vitamins and minerals from these too

Ingredients

(Makes 10)

100g coconut oil
90g black treacle
15g muscovado sugar
25g agave nectar
240g oats
50g chopped pecans
20g cocoa nibs
grated rind of one orange
optional desiccated coconut to decorate!

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees
2. Gently heat the coconut oil, treacle, sugar and agave nectar in a pan over a low heat
3. When the ingredients have melted and combined, mix the remaining ingredients into the pan and give it a good stir
4. Spread the mixture into a baking tray (I used 8 inch by 8 inch but it depends how deep you want your flapjacks), sprinkle with desiccated coconut if you want to, and bake for 18-20 minutes
5. Remove from the oven and leave on a cooling rack
6. When cool, using a sharp knife cut the mixture into bitesize pieces. I made these into 10 flapjacks, which works out at around 250 kcals a flapjack, but feel free to adjust how many you want!

Gluten Free Alternative Replace oats with gluten free oats

Roasted Red Pepper and Feta Pasta

This recipe was the result of craving pasta and having run out of chopped tomatoes, so I was looking for alternative to my go-to tomato pasta sauce. This is a completely clean from scratch recipe, no processed ingredients (minus the pasta!) and takes 15 minutes of prep time (45 minutes if you add in roasting time!), as you can prepare the sauce whilst the pasta is cooking. I use whole wheat pasta as I prefer the taste and it is higher in fibre, but you could substitute for white pasta. You could also substitute the feta for pine nuts for a vegan option or chicken for a meat eaters option!

Ingredients

(Serves 2)

150g whole wheat pasta (I used fusilli)
2 large red peppers
2 red onions
1 tbsp olive oil
1 clove of garlic (or 2 if you want it extra garlicy!)
a handful of basil
60g feta cheese (I use the lighter one) cubed
40g brocolli chopped into florets


Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. While the oven is heating, roughly chop the peppers, garlic and onions and chuck into a baking dish. Add the olive oil and toss the vegetables in the oil, then roast in the oven for about 30 minutes, stirring the veg half way
2. After the veg has been in the oven for about 30 mins you can start cooking the pasta- follow instructions on the packet
3. While the pasta is cooking, take the veg out the oven and add the vegetables plus the olive oil and a few leaves of basil to food processor and blend until smooth
4. About 6 minutes before the pasta is done, add the brocolli florets into the pasta so it can finish cooking together
5. When the pasta is done, drain the pasta and brocolli and place it back into the pan. Add the sauce and the feta cubes and stir it all in
6. Serve with a few leaves of basil on top and enjoy!

Dairy Free Alternative Replace the feta cheese with pine nuts
Gluten Free Alternative Replace wholewheat pasta with gluten free pasta

The Best Protein Pancake Recipe

Pancakes are my favourite breakfast, and this recipe is so good. They taste amazing, you wouldn't know there was nothing bad in them, and the macros are spot on, with protein from the eggs and protein powder, slow release carbs and fibre in the oats and banana, and a little bit of fat in the eggs. Topping possibilities are endless, these have got banana, raspberry puree (made from frozen raspberries microwaved with a tbsp of xylitol) and a drizzle of agave nectar, but you could mix up the fruit, add nut butters or yogurt, or substitute the agave with date syrup, maple syrup or honey.

Ingredients

(Serves 2)

1 banana
2 eggs
1/2 cup banana protein powder (or substitute with rice flour if you don't have/want protein powder)
1/2 cup almond milk
1/2 cup oats

Method

1. Blitz the ingredients in a food processor, whilst gently heating your frying pan
2. Spoon the mixture onto the hot pan (I dry fry these to make them healthier) into a pancake about the size of your palm
3. Cook for a couple of minute on the first side, until the mixture starts to bubble, then flip the pancake and cook for a couple of minutes on the other side until cooked through
4. Stack them up, add whatever toppings you like, and enjoy!

Gluten Free Alternative Replace the oats with gluten free oats

Cherry and Acai Berry Recovery Smoothie

My post workout smoothie!

This is a blend of frozen cherries, 2 scoops of acai powder, a banana and a spoonful of Greek yogurt, topped up with almond milk.

The cherries contain antioxidants and anti inflammatory properties, and acai berries can boost energy levels, contain antioxidants and support the immune system. The Greek yogurt and almond milk contain protein, which makes this smoothie great for recovery after exercise.

Dairy Free Alternative Replace the Greek yogurt with coconut yogurt for the same creamy texture

Avocado Chocolate Cookies

These little cookies are perfect, the avocado gives the cookie texture and the oats add a bit of bite, and the raw cacao gives them that chocolatey flavour  without all the added fat and sugar in chocolate. Avocado is a great source of healthy fats which aids in heart health, and the oats contain fibre and slow release carbohydrates, providing energy so the body is less likely to experience cravings for sugary and fatty foods. Raw cacao is rich in antioxidants, and contains heart healthy fat oleic acid, as well as essential minerals and vitamins. They aren't the perfect replacement for real chocolate cookies, but you can have them a lot more often, they are doing a load of good for your heart, and they are still delicious!

Ingredients

1 ripe avocado
1 egg
40g raw cacao powder
50g oats
2 tbsp xylitol (or a little more if you prefer it sweeter)

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees and line a baking tray with baking paper
2. Blitz the oats in a blender/food processor for about 30 seconds, so that they are finely blended with a flour like consistency
3. Add the cacao, the avocado and the xylitol to the blender and blend again to combine the ingredients. Have a taste and add extra xylitol if you want it a little sweeter!
3. Add the egg to the mix, and blend again to make your cookie dough
4. Dot the mixture out on the baking tray in small balls, it should be enough mixture for about eight cookies
5. Bake for 8-12 minutes until they are firm, then take out the oven and leave on a cooling rack, or enjoy hot straight from the oven!

Gluten Free Alternative Replace oats with gluten free oats