Home-Made Granola

Packaged cereals are really a big no no for when you are trying to eat clean & healthy, as there is such a large amount of added sugar and other nasties hidden in these enticing boxes/bags. I remember when I first started to make an effort to eat healthily (before I discovered clean eating), I had Kellogs Bran Flakes for breakfast. I was completely conned by the healthy branding and assumed that it was good for me, but in actual fact when you look at the sugar content, it is incredibly high! None of these packaged cereals (no matter how healthy & natural the packaging may look) are actually good for you, as they have to add so much sugar in order to make the cereal tasty. This is because once they have processed the grain  to the point of it having no nutritional value, what is left has the taste and texture of cardboard. So to actually make it edible, they have to add so much cr*p like sweeteners, flavourings, artificial colour & preservatives. Even the vitamins and minerals that they claim the cereal contain, have been added artificially. Only once you  have cut out sugar from your diet, can you taste how unnaturally sweet these products are. I love granola, and think that it is absolutely delicious, especially to top Greek yoghurt and fruit, or with oatmeal. So, I decided to create my own home-made granola instead of buying packaged fakery, so I know EXACTLY what has gone into it. The results were delicious!

Ingredients

1 cup Scottish thick oats

1/2 cup organic honey

3 tbsp olive oil

Large handful of mixed chopped nuts

 Handful of sunflower, pumpkin & brown linseed

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to gas mark 5

2. Combine the oats, nuts & seeds in a bowl and mix to distribute evenly

3. Stir in the honey & oil. Make sure all of the mixture gets a good coating

4. Spread the mixture in a thin layer on a baking tray

5. Put in the pre heated oven for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally 

6. Leave on the side for 10 minutes or so to cool. The granola will still be a bit moist when you take it out of the oven, but it will harden once it has cooled

7. Once it has hardened, break the chunks up and put in a jar to store

Done!

Oat Mug Cake topped with my Home-Made Granola

   

I enjoyed my granola on top of some overnight oats this morning for breakfast. It was absolutely incredible, and added a lovely crunch to my normal oats. It's also very pleasant to munch on on it's own, but I will have to try not to munch my way through it too quickly - as I want to try it with a few other things as well. But to be honest, it is so quick and easy to cook up that I think I will make sure I have a constant supply of it!

Lucy x

New Daily Meal Plan

Last week I decided that I am going to follow a more structured and thought out meal plan to make sure I am eating right. I spoke to a personal trainer in my gym who really knows his stuff, and he told me I was not eating enough! I never thought I would hear someone say that. So on his advice, I plan to eat 6-7 small meals a day, leaving no more than 2-3 hours between eating. Eating this much does sound like it would be counter-productive to losing weight, but he told me that by doing this, your body never enters starvation mode where it stores food as fat. You also will not feel as hungry when it reaches meal time, so you are a lot less likely to overeat. As long as I am eating the correct things at the right time, then it will help me to get leaner and lose excess fat. I will also be aiming to increase my water intake as this helps to flush the body, and I will be forcing myself to enjoy green tea, as the health benefits are huge - it is a great natural metabolism booster.

Meal Plan

Meal 1 (Breakfast) - 7:30am :

40g oats made with water

+ 2 tsp Stevia

+ 1 scoop protein powder

+ 1 egg white

+ Frozen berries

Meal 2 - 10:30 am : 

1/2 cup Greek yog/cottage cheese/quark with berries

OR

1/2 can tuna

OR

Mixed nuts (handful)

Meal 3 (Lunch) - 12:30 am :

120g lean meat

+ Salad/broccoli 

+ 75g brown rice or 1/2 sweet potato

Meal 4 - 3:30pm : 

1/2 cup Greek yoghurt with stevia 

+ Banana

Meal 5 (only if going to the gym) - 5:30pm : 

1 serving of fruit 

e.g Grapefruit/dates/figs

Meal 6 (Dinner) - 8:30pm :

200g lean meat

+ Large portion of veg/salad

+ Optional: 1 egg (not every day)

Meal 7 (Optional) - 9:30pm  : 

100g quark with stevia

+ Frozen berries 

For lunches I will prep the food at the start of the week, so it is all cooked and ready to just put in to a lunch box in the morning. This will take a little time and effort one evening a week, but it's worth it to just be able to grab and go in the morning. Also, it removes the possibility of being tempted to have something I shouldn't. Fail to plan, then plan to fail. I have discovered that frozen meat is so much cheaper than fresh meat! Obviously it is not as tasty, but its great to be able to have a good portion of protein for lunch and dinner, as before I discovered this I could only afford chicken 2 nights a week.

I will be implementing a more comprehensive weekly work out plan to make sure I am incorporating every muscle group. Before, I was skipping chest & back in my routine as I was not looking to achieve muscle in those areas. But I now understand that it is important to work on every aspect of the body, and that it will help to lose all over body fat. Another important point the personal trainer pointed out to me, was to mix up the routine in the weights room every time you go. If you do the same routine every week then your body gets used to it and knows what is coming. So even if you change the order you do it in, make sure it is not the exact same thing each time.

Here are some examples of the dinners I have been having since starting my new plan. It's amazing how full you can make your plate look by just piling up the veg! I sprinkle Schwartz Piri Piri Seasoning on the meat/fish before grilling, and usually have some balsamic vinegar with the veg/salad.

Chicken breast, smoked mackarel, scrambled egg, mushrooms & broccoli

Chicken breast, mushroom, tomato, rocket, olives & avocado

Basa fillet, sweet potato chips, broccoli, avocado, rocket, tomato & mushroom

Basa fillet, scrambled egg, broccoli, salad, mushroom & tomato

I will let you know if I manage to keep this up for the first week!

Lucy x

Lemon & Lime Cheesecake Overnight Oats

My favourite overnight oats recipe so far. I absolutely love the tangy fresh taste mixed with the soothing, cool texture of the oats fresh out of the frdge. I made a lemon version last week, and decided I would try some lime with it as well. Previously when I made this, I mixed the quark up with the oats, but this time I did a layer of quark on top which made it feel even more like a cheesecake. I bought a pack of mixed seeds this week as well, so I thought I would throw some of those in as well for an added crunch!

Ingredients

40g thick Scottish oats

Water

2 tsp Stevia

1/2 lemon

1/2 lime

100g quark

Handful of mixed seeds (sunflower, pumpkin & linseed)

Goji Berries

Instructions

1. Put the oats in a jar and add just enough water to cover them.

2. Add 1 tsp of stevia, the mixed seeds and stir together.

3. Squeeze the half of the juice of the lemon and lime into the oats.

4. Grate the zest of the lemon and lime into the mixture and stir well to evenly distribute.

5. Put the quark in a separate bowl, squeeze in the rest of the lemon & lime juice, add 1 tsp of stevia and mix 

6. Spoon the quark over the top of the oats in an even layer.

7. Grate some more lemon & lime zest over the top.

8. Optional: Top with more seeds and goji berries.

9. Leave in the fridge overnight.

10. In the morning take them straight out of the fridge and eat them cold.

Topped with seeds

On a side note, I am thinking of doing some posts about my workouts, would this be of interest to anyone?

Lucy x

Strawberry Jam Pancakes

This is probably my proudest creation so far. I made pancakes for me and my boyfriend one lazy morning, and I had some spare strawberries that needed consuming. So I thought I would attempt to make a strawberry sauce for my pancake tower. First off I cooked up some chocolate pancakes using my usual recipe and adding cocoa powder. I then stacked them up layering peanut butter in between. For the sauce I simply microwaved 3 large strawberries in a Tupperware container for about 30 seconds. This will turn the strawberries gooey but you will need to mash them up a bit more with a fork. I then stirred in a tablespoon of Greek yoghurt and a teaspoon of Stevia for sweetness. Et voilà!  Pour over the top of your pancakes letting the sauce combine with the melted peanut butter, and there you have it; heaven on a plate!

New Overnight Oat Ideas

Over the past week or two I have had a bit of an overnight oats obsession. I have been trying everything and anything new to put in a jar with some oats, and I have come up with some pretty good results! I will post the ingredients I used for each photo so you can try them for yourself.

Chocolate Banana Oats

 Ingredients

40g thick Scottish oats

1/2 tsp cocoa powder

2 tsp stevia

1/2 chopped banana

1/2 small cup unsweetened almond milk

1 tsp organic no added sugar peanut butter

Mix the oats, cocoa powder & stevia together and add to the jar layering the sliced banana as you go. Pour over the almond milk and then spread the peanut butter over the top. Leave in the fridge overnight and heat in the microwave for roughly 2 minutes in the morning before eating.

Strawberry Protein Powder Oats

 Ingredients

40g thick Scottish oats

1 scoop Strawberry USN Pure Protein Powder

1 tbsp desiccated coconut

1 tsp stevia

Goji berries

1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk

1 tbsp organic no added sugar peanut butter

Put all ingredients in the jar, adding the almond milk and peanut butter last. Stir so all the ingredients are mixed equally and put in the fridge overnight. In the morning microwave for roughly 2 minutes.

Coffee Oats #1

This is attempt number 1 at coffee overnight oats, it did not go too well... I logically thought that by adding instant coffee granules to my oats mixture it would give me a nice coffee flavour. This was not the case. It ended up tasting really bitter and burnt. Thankfully, when I posted this picture on Instagram, one of my followers suggested I try using brewed coffee, which resulted in attempt number 2... 

Coffee Oats #2

 This is coffee overnight oats attempt number 2 - a brilliant suggestion from a follower to use brewed coffee worked fantastically.

Ingredients

40g thick Scottish oats

2 tsp stevia

1/2 sliced banana

1/2 mug of brewed coffee

2 tbsp unsweetened almond milk

1 tbsp organic no added sugar peanut butter

1 egg white

Add your oats, stevia and banana into your jar like usual. Brew a mug of coffee, (I used instant Nescafe), and use it where you would normally use the almond milk. Stir into the oat mix and then add the almond milk for a creamier flavour. Top with the peanut butter and leave in the fridge overnight. In the morning add an egg white, stir in and microwave for 3 minutes until egg is cooked through.

Fruit Explosion Oats

 Ingredients

40 g thick Scottish oats

1 scoop Strawberry USN Pure Protein Powder

1 tsp stevia

1 tbsp desiccated coconut

1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk

1/2 chopped banana

1 tsp organic no added sugar peanut butter

2 chopped strawberries

Raspberries

Blueberries

Add the oats, strawberry protein powder, stevia, coconut and chopped banana into your jar. Pour over the almond milk and stir well to mix all together. Spoon the peanut butter over the mixture then add the fruit on top of that. Leave in the fridge overnight and in the morning microwave the jar. The fruit will turn into a jam like consistency when microwaved, which is super tasty! You can stir it all in once cooked or it eat as it comes.

Lemon Cheesecake Oats

Ingredients

40g thick Scottish Oats

Zest and juice of 1/2 lemon

2 tsp stevia

1 tbsp desiccated coconut

75g quark

1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk

1 tbsp organic no added sugar peanut butter

Add the oats, lemon, stevia, coconut and almond milk in a jar, and mix well. Stir in the quark, it should turn nice and creamy. Spoon the peanut butter over the top and leave in the fridge overnight. I actually ate this cold and it was SO nice, I just didn't think it would be right having a hot cheesecake. This is definitely my favourite combination EVER, I highly recommend you try it. It is the first time I have used quark in any of my food, I was a bit dubious as people have told me it isn't that nice, but I absolutely loved it. It gave the oats that cheescakey flavour. The tub of quark I bought only cost 85p from Tesco, but I have already run out. So next week I think I am definitely going to buy like 5 tubs haha!

Let me know if you try any of my recipes,

Lucy x