Breakfast Oat Cake

This is one of my absolute FAVOURITE things to make for breakfast, no lie. When I have time in the morning I love to bake some oats. It is so incredibly easy, it takes about 3 minutes to put the mixture together and 20 minutes to bake. Which is useful in the morning for me, as I can stick it in the oven and get some chores done in that 20 mins, like preparing my lunch boxes/watering my plants. It also makes your house smell amazing for the rest of the day! The circular/pizza looking creation above is my most recent attempt. The middle is strawberry protein oats and the outer ring is a chocolatey cinnamon flavour. I could not fit it into a bowl to eat it, so I broke it all up and topped with honey and peanut butter (below). Words cannot describe how scrumptious it was, it's like having cake for breakfast! Who'd of thought that could ever be healthy? Another great thing about it, is that I use the exact same amount of oats I would use for a bowl of porridge/over night oats (50g), it produces such a huge amount because it rises in the oven. I'm actually salivating right now just from writing about it...  

Broken up and topped with PB and honey!

I got the idea for this when I saw a recipe for mini oat cookies, I think it may have originally come from one of my favourite food blogs. I tried it out and they were delicious, so I thought that I could just scale it up to make one giant cookie for breakfast & it worked! Here is the recipe for my chocolate and strawberry ring creation...

Ingredients

Strawberry Centre

25g rolled oats

1 egg white

1/2 mashed banana

1 tsp honey

1 tsp stevia

1 tbsp desicated coconut

1 scoop strawberry USN Pure Protein Powder

1/4 tsp baking powder

Chocolate Outer Ring

25g rolled oats

1 egg white

1/2 mashed banana

1 tsp honey

1 tsp stevia

1 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp baking powder

Instructions

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180 deg Celsius, and grease a baking tray with butter.

1. In a bowl combine all of the ingredients for the strawberry mixture.

2. In a separate bowl combine the ingredients for the chocolate mixture. 

3. Pour the strawberry mixture into a circle in the middle of the baking tray.

4. Spoon the chocolate mixture round the edge of the strawberry circle as evenly as possible.

5. Put in the middle of the pre-heated oven and bake for 20 minutes.

6. Take out of the oven, tear up into pieces and put them into a bowl.

7. Top with peanut butter, it should melt over the top as the cake will be warm. If you have a sweet tooth like me then I would also recommend a drizzle of honey as well.

Enjoy!

Here are some other cakes I have baked:

Strawberry oat cake with strawberry protein powder & whole strawberries

Standard banana & oat cake - sometimes simple is best

Chocolate & cinnamon oat cake

Cake for breakfast is the way forward...

Lucy x 

Pink Pancakes

 Last week I had a bit of a pancake obsession and one morning I wanted to try something a little different. How cool do these pancakes look?! And no food colouring was used at all. The secret pink ingredient is a little weird... beetroot! Not enough to affect the flavour, but just enough to give the pancakes an amazing pink colour. And as they were pink, I thought what better than to make them strawberry flavoured? To get the strawberry taste I added some of the protein powder I use: USN Pure Protein. I also tried out a new yummy filling. Peanut butter is a must with pancakes, but I wanted more of a sauce for my little sandwich. So to do this I mixed PB with banana and cocoa powder, it was marvellous!

Ingredients

Pancakes

40g oat flour (blend oats in a blender)

1 whole egg  &1 egg white

3 tbsp liquid (I used unsweetened almond milk)

1 tbsp low fat cottage cheese

2 tsp stevia

2 large slices of beetroot from a jar (patted dry with kitchen roll)

1 scoop of Strawberry USN Pure Protein

1/2 tsp baking powder

Sauce

1 tbsp organic no added sugar peanut butter

1/2 mashed banana

1 tsp cocoa powder

Instructions

Pancakes

1. Put the oat flour, liquid and beetroot slices into a blender and blend until smooth. It should be nice and pink, if not then add a little more beetroot until you reach the desired colour. 

2. Pour the mixture into a bowl and add the eggs, cottage cheese, stevia, baking powder, protein powder and mix until you reach a batter consistency.

3. Heat a small amount of butter in a frying pan on a low heat.

4. When the pan is nice and hot, pour the mixture into small circles in the frying pan, leaving plenty of space between each one. I usually fit about 3 pancakes in the pan at one time. 

5. Cook for about 3 minutes or until you can easily get a spatula underneath to flip them over. 

6. Flip them over and cook the second side only for around 1 minute.

7. Stack them up on a plate adding the sauce in between each layer.

8. I then topped mine with honey!

Sauce

1. Mix together the peanut butter, mashed banana and cocoa powder.

2. Microwave for about 1 minute, until nice and runny.

Be brave & add the beetroot!

Lucy x

Sweet Potato Mug Cake

Sweet Potato Mug Cake

Sweet potato truly is the god of all foods and I think everybody should be eating them. Compared to your bog standard potato, they have a much higher nutritional value, and are lower in calories per 100g. A sweet potato is high in complex carbs and dietary fibre, and provides slow release natural sugars so will keep you full for a long time. Out of all the root vegetables, they are one of the best sources of vitamin C, D and B6 as well as other minerals such as manganese, potassium and iron. So, those are the health benefits of eating them, now let me tell you another reason why you should be eating them... They are delicious!

There are numerous different ways of preparing sweet potatoes. I have tried quite a few recipes myself, but this is the first time I have tried it in a mug cake. I got the idea here. For dinner last night I knew I wanted a sweet potato as it would be easy to prepare and I did not have time to cook much else as I had to rush out to play tennis with my Mum. So I decided to bake one potato and have half for my main and half for my dessert - this shows how versatile they are. For the main I topped the sweet potato with shrimps which I seasoned with paprika, cayenne pepper, chilli powder, garlic powder and onion granules. I then topped it with some Greek yoghurt and chilli flakes. It was scrumptious! (see pic below)

Main Meal

 I then used the second half of the potato to make a yummy dessert, which satisfied the sweet craving I get sometimes after my dinner. A mug cake is a brilliant way to get your cake fix minus the gluten. I personally find that gluten does not agree too well with my tummy, so this is a saviour for me. The base ingredients for the cake are items that you probably will already have in your cupboards, and any extras you want to throw in, you can! So start off baking a whole sweet potato by microwaving it for 10 minutes on full power (make sure you spike it with a fork a few times first).... 

Ingredients

1/2 baked sweet potato, minus the skin

1/2 banana

1 egg white

1/2 tsp baking powder

2 tbsp dessicated coconut

2 tsp stevia (or other sweetener)

1 tbsp cottage cheese

2 tsp almond milk (can add more if mixture is too thick)

Suggested Toppings

handful of goji berries

drizzle of honey

1 tsp natural peanut butter

Instructions

1. Mash the sweet potato and banana together with a fork in a large mug (mug needs to be quite tall)

2. Add all other ingredients and mix until you have a smooth batter consistency

3. Microwave for 2-3 minutes depending on how soft/firm you prefer it. I did  mine for 2 minutes and it could of done with a little longer to be honest as you can see it collapsed slightly

4. Leave to cool for 1 minute after taking the mug out of the microwave

5. Turn the mug upside down onto a plate, the cake should just slide out

6. Add your toppings

Eat!

This meal kept me full up, and fueled me enough to be able to play tennis late into the night. If I hadn't of made the mug cake, then I probably would of just had the whole sweet potato for my main. So really I've not actually added a huge amount of calories but still managed to incorporate a yummy dessert into my meal. It's a win, win situation! I will definitely be making this again soon.

Lucy x

Quinoa Overnight Oats

 So I have been seeing more and more people eating Quinoa & I was intrigued as to what it was and what it tasted like, so I bought myself some! At £1.39 for a 300g bag in the Tesco Wholefood range, it is quite a cheap buy. Last night I decided to cook some up for my dinner, so I measured out 91g which is what I thought was 1 serving according to the instructions. However, after cooking it I realised that it was referring to 91g of cooked Quinoa, so I ended up with 3 servings worth! Idiot. Therefore, I thought I would save some to use for my breakfast in the morning, as I had seen people use it in sweet recipes as well as savoury.  

For my first attempt at using Quinoa in a sweet recipe, I thought I would try it with a trusty old favourite; overnight oats. It was very simple, in that I just mixed in the cooked Quinoa with my eggy overnight oats mixture. 

Ingredients

31g cooked Quinoa

20g rolled oats

1/4 cup almond milk

1/4 cup water

1 tbsp dessicated coconut

2 tsp Stevia

1 whole egg

2 egg whites

2 tsp organic peanut butter

Handful of Goji berries

Instructions

1. Stir together the cooked Quinoa and oats into a jar with a lid.

2. Pour in the almond milk and water, stir.

3. Stir in the coconut and Stevia.

4. Put the lid on the jar and leave in the fridge overnight.

5. Mix in the eggs and stir until combined well.

6. Cook in the microwave on full power for 4 minutes or until all the egg has cooked.

7. Top with peanut butter and Goji berries.

Eat!

Quinoa is classed as a superfood, this is due to it's high protein content, and it is also a good source of dietary fibre, phosphorus as well as iron and magnesium. Another plus is that it is gluten-free. But the fact that it is extremely tasty makes it even more super in my eyes. The texture is lovely, almost chewy, and the taste is slightly nutty and sweet. It is pleasant on its own, in savoury AND sweet dishes - not many foods can claim to do that. So I highly recommend you try Quinoa if you ever get the chance, and why not give it a go in your overnight oats?

Lucy x

Healthy Pancakes

Pancakes topped with peanut butter, banana and blueberries on the side

Pancakes are one of the best clean eating healthy treats in existence. They make an amazing breakfast, and can be made using basically the same ingredients you would use to make a bowl of porridge, so therefore you need not worry about the calorie content! You can whip them up in around 10 minutes, and you can go wild with toppings or extra ingredients. I have seen hundreds of different recipes and ways of making the pancakes, but I will share with you the most basic recipe I have used which works well.

Ingredients

To make 1 serving (roughly makes 6 small round pancakes)

40g oat flour (blend oats in a blender)

1 whole egg & 1 egg white, whisked

3 tbsp of liquid of your choice (almond milk, soya milk, milk, water)

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon

3 tsp stevia

Instructions

1. Mix together the oat flour, whisked egg and liquid until smooth. The mixture needs to be thick but runny, judge this yourself and just add more liquid if it is too thick.

2. Stir in the baking powder, cinnamon and stevia.

3. Heat a small amount of butter/oil/cooking spray in a frying pan on a low temperature.

4. Spoon in the mixture into circles on the frying pan, to whatever size you want your pancakes to be. Remember that they will rise.

5. Leave to cook for about 3/4 minutes until they are nicely browned, then flip.

6. The second side will only need about 1 minute of cooking.

7. Serve, and top with peanut butter and chopped banana, or whatever you fancy!

Done!

I initially struggled when cooking the pancakes, as the mixture always seemed to burn and stick to my frying pan, almost ruining my pan every time I tried to cook them! So I have found that cooking them on quite a low heat solves this issue, I need to learn to be a bit more patient when cooking... 

Variation: 

Chocolate pancakes topped with banana, peanut butter & honey. For chocolate pancakes, just add  1 tsp of unsweetened cocoa powder to the pancake mixture

Keep an eye out, as I am going to try some new ingredients & recipe ideas I have soon, there are so many to try. I think it is going to be pancakes for breakfast everyday for me for the foreseeable future. Nom nom nom!

Lucy x

Cauliflower Crust Pizza

Many people who adhere to a healthy eating diet, believe in using cheat meals to keep themselves on the straight and narrow - they find it helps to have something to look forward to. This may work for some people, but I myself enjoy my meals so much that I never feel the need to 'cheat'. There are so many great healthy recipes out there that when you get a pizza/brownie/ice cream craving, there is no excuse to succumb as there are methods of making healthy & clean versions of all these things. You just need to be a bit creative and do some research! 

I want to share with you one of my favourite clean recipes that I have tried so far, the cauliflower crust pizza. At first, I was very reluctant and sceptical to try it, as I really am not a fan of cauliflower and didn't see how it could possibly taste nice in a pizza crust. But one day I realised I had all the ingredients to hand so I thought I'd give it a go. The recipe I used for the crust came from Lauren Conrad's blog, and I decided to top mine with tuna. I can't say it tastes like normal pizza crust, and you will need a knife and fork to eat it due to it being crumbly. But the flavours work so well and it's such a wonderful texture- at only 109 calories per serving and zero carbs you will not be disappointed if you try it. 

Crust:

1 cup of cauliflower, chopped (can be frozen cauliflower)

1 egg, beaten

1 tspn oregano

1 cup of shredded mozzarella

1 clove garlic, crushed

Toppings:

Tomato Purée

1/2 can tuna, drained

1/2 red onion, chopped

6 small squares of mozzarella

1 tblspn cubed avocado

1 tblspn capers

1 large tomato, chopped

Handful of olives

Instructions:

1. Pre-heat the oven to gas mark 5, and grease a baking tray

2. Rice the cauliflower by putting into a blender, or by grating. Be sure not to blend it for too long, you are aiming for a rice texture

3. Put the riced cauliflower into a bowl and cook in the microwave for 8 minutes

4. Mix in the beaten egg, oregano, mozzarella and garlic

5. Pour onto the baking tray and pat into a circular shape until it is about 1/2 cm thick

6. Bake for 15 minutes at gas mark 5

7. Take out of the oven, spread an even layer of tomato purée, leaving an inch gap round the edge

8. Layer on all other toppings with the mozzarella on top

9. Grill for about 3 or 4 minutes until the mozzarella has melted

Enjoy!

Toppings

Crust after baking with tomato purée

Pizza before grilling

I really want to try lots of different topping combinations like BBQ chicken, ham & pineapple, Sloppy Giuseppe,  so I am going to think of some clean ways of cooking these combos. You just need to make sure that the toppings you use are pre cooked as you only grill the toppings for a few minutes once on the pizza.

So next time you have a pizza craving, just get out some cauliflower and give this a go! 

Lucy x

Overnight Oats

Oats are a great choice for breakfast as they provide you with slow release energy throughout the day, and are extremely versatile. The amount of different recipes I have come across that use oats is mind-bending. Oats are said to lower cholesterol and reduce the risk of heart disease, plus the are very high in fibre which will keep you full for hours. Also they are extremely affordable, which is something that really makes the difference for me- seeing as I am on a budget!

Overnight oats are definitely my go to easy breakfast for most days, and one of my favourite ways to have oats. Preparation is done the night before eating, which takes all of about 3 minutes, so you can just grab them and go in the morning- no cooking required! (However, if I have got time, I do like to heat them up in the microwave) Leaving the oats to soak up the liquid overnight makes them super creamy and extra delicious.

You will need a jar, this can either be empty or an almost empty jar of something yummy like peanut butter or jam (the leftovers of the jar get soaked into the oats over night, so it all adds to it!) The size of the jar depends on the portion size you want but remember you don't always have to fill it. Next you will need some oats, I use rolled oats as that is all that's available in my supermarket, but steel cut oats are the best option if you can get your hands on them, as they have been subject to less processing. Then literally add whatever you like! This can be chopped fruit, compotes, nut butters, seeds, whole nuts, protein powders, egg, honey,  yoghurt, the list is literally endless... 

My favourite combination at the moment which I had this morning is pictured above, and the recipe is below...

Half a jar of oats

Almond milk (you can also use water/soy milk/cows milk)

2 tsp Organic no added sugar peanut butter

Half a banana - chopped

Drizzle of honey

1. Half fill your jar with oats

2. Pour in your almond milk, just enough to cover the oats, and stir with a spoon to combine

3. Add 2 tsp of peanut butter over the top so there is an even layer

4. Squish in the chopped banana

5. Drizzle your honey over the top

6. Replace the lid on the jar and leave in the fridge overnight

7. In the morning it is ready to eat cold, or pop the jar in the microwave for 2 minutes with the lid off

et Voila!

I plan to try lots of different combinations in the future, so I will post any successful recipes I discover. What's your favourite overnight oats combination?

Lucy x

Hello!

I have been micro-blogging food & fitness photos on Instagram for a little while now, and I thought it was about time I started a 'full-sized' blog where I can post my pictures & recipes in a little more detail. 

A Little Bit About My Journey So Far...

I started eating clean around the beginning of this year. I was completely inspired by people I started to follow on Instagram who posted amazing pictures of what they ate, and it wasn't until I realised that a lot of the recipes didn't actually require many ingredients or complicated cooking to create, that I decided to give them a go! 

I have been on a mission to lose weight and get fitter since the beginning of 2012, and have tried all sorts of diets which have never worked and left me feeling starved. However, since eating clean food, my body fat percentage has dropped and I never, ever, ever feel hungry. I enjoy my food more than I ever have done, and all whilst getting healthier and fitter. 

I feel that in the UK, so many people are trying to lose weight and become healthier, but not many people have heard of the the term 'clean eating'. There are lots of blogs around with brilliant recipes & tips, but they all seem to originate from America/Sweden/Finland. So I think as of yet- it is still a well kept secret in the UK! 

I am quite addicted to taking photos of my food these days (for which I get the mick taken out of me by my boyfriend!), so I will post them all here and if I try any new recipes then I will share them here also. 

My gym regime has altered quite a lot since the start of my journey, so I will be posting details on that soon.

Thank you for taking the time to read!