Hassleback Courgette

Hassleback Courgette

I first discovered the 'Hassleback' concept when I was in Sweden in 2010 and I have my Swedish Aunt Ia to thank for introducing me to the simplicity of swedish cooking. These special cutters were on sale in a supermarket and I thought they were for cutting 8 slices of cheese off a block at once....but, obviously, they were not! The idea of Hassleback potatoes has stuck with me for a while but for some strange reason, I havn't gone ahead and made them. Perhaps because I have cut so many unnecessary calorie dense foods from my diet.....however I think these will make an appearance at Christmas this year.

And on to the courgette. As I prepare for my competition in 10 days (I compete as a figure athlete in bodybuilding) I have begun to think more and more about the foods I am going to slowly ease back into once I am no longer quite so limited by the size of my sparkly bikini. One food I have been eating quite a bit of in an attempt to fill me up is courgette. I was beginning to get a bit sick of it until I thought today "what if it was baked without the soggy aspect"?
So off I went on a mini flurry of creativity in my kitchen to create something new - and I think I hit the jackpot.

So obviously these babies had to have a little garlic - not raw, squeezed out of a mincer garlic! It had to be roasted softened fragrant garlic...but I had 20 mins to get these together...never mind an hour to roast the garlic bulb. So I separated the cloves, left the skin on and put them in a dry pan on a very low heat. I covered them with a glass cover and every couple of minutes turned them so they wouldn't burn. I turned the heat off and left them for a further 5 mins in the warm pan while I mixed some olive oil, coconut oil and butter with some fresh thyme and rosemary. Then I peeled and smashed the garlic and squeezed it into the butter. I allowed the mix to melt in a pan and just come to a bubble before I turned off the heat.

So, the trick with Hassleback is to allow a thin line of uncut spine to allow the item to fan out as it cooks. To do this, I lay a chopstick down beside the courgette and the knife hit that every time instead of the chopping board. Once this was done, I lay the courgette on tinfoil and bent it to one side so all the layers opened up. This allowed the butter and garlic mix to fall between the layers as I brushed it on generously.

I then sprinkled a pinch of himalayan sea salt and some cracked black pepper along the courgette and put it in the over wrapped in tinfoil for 40 mins at 180 degrees. Once it was done, I opened the foil and sprinkled the courgette with a tablespoon of parmesan cheese and banged up the temperature to 200 degrees for a further 15 minutes to allow everything to crisp up.

Let me tell you, the smell of this alone in the kitchen has my stomach rumbling.
This dish would go wonderfully with a roast or as my crew had it this evening with baked hake.
If you do decide to make it - I would love if you would send me a picture on facebook.com/westcorkfit or on twitter @westcorkfit.
Let me know what you think or if you have any ideas you would like to run by me :)

Gluten Free, Sugar Free Muffins

Muffins are difficult.....not that they are difficult to make, they are in fact, rather easy to make and there are hundreds of recipes out there. What I mean by difficult is that they are difficult to resist....and once eaten, they are difficult to shift from the hips. So, in a huge attempt to eat as clean and healthy as possible, I have altered the recipe somewhat to make these little treats a little less difficult! I made these at 7:45 am today while the kids were eating breakfast and the smell in my kitchen was simply amazing. So much so that after their scrambled eggs, my little minions begged and begged for a taste of warm muffins fresh from the oven. Knowing that these are made with grass fed butter and a rice flour blend along with ground flaxseed made the handover easy and I was eager to see what my little food critics thought.
 The response was very positive...no words...just moans and
mumbles....always a very good sign in my house. Two elements I will mention about these little cases of bliss, is that depending on your tastebuds, you may prefer to substitute a tablespoon of xylitol for a tablespoon of honey. This always add a richness to the flavour of the vanilla muffins as I occasionally find xylitol even a little too sweet - but this is down to personal preference. So, without further waffling from me....Im sure you want the recipe. There are one or two steps here that are essential to keeping these muffins super light and fluffy - so do try to be precise with the technique!

Ingredients; 

-150 g Doves Farm Baking Flour Blend
(If you don't want GF, just use self raising flour)
-150g butter (If you even consider using margarine for these, I'll have to track you down and beat you with a block of kerrygold!)
-150g of xylitol OR (120g xylitol & tblsp honey)
- 3 tablespoons of linwoods milled flaxseed
- 3 eggs separated
- tsp of baking powder
- tsp of vanilla essence
- 60g of greek yoghurt
For the Chocolate Muffins-
3.5 tblsp of raw cacao (this is the healthy version - use regular cocoa if thats all you have)
2-3 tablespoons of coconut milk (again regular milk is fine as a substitute)

Instructions;

Before you do anything else, separate the eggs and whisk the whites until they form stiff peaks. Switch the oven on to 185 degrees and allow it to heat up while you throw the mix together.
Cream the butter and xylitol, then add the egg yolks one at a time and mix them through well. Sift in the flour and baking powder. Add in the flax and finally the greek yoghurt and vanilla. Now for the important step....With gluten free cooking, we try to keep as much air in the mix as possible so be careful not to mix these muffins to death.....fold in the egg whites and mix through. Fill 12 cases with half the mix, then add your cacao and fill another 12 cases. If you want all chocolate mix, use about 4 tblsp of cacao. Bake until golden on top and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Don't wait until these are cold....you just have got to try one of these luscious buns while still warm!

If you want to be really bold...(you didn't hear this from me), throw a handful of white chocolate buttons into the vanilla mix or some dark chocolate chopped up....whatever your preference is!

In the meantime, if you bake these babies, Please Please Please share a picture with me on Facebook at www.facebook.com/westcorkfit or on twitter @westcorkfit ....OR of course on Instagram @westcorkfit. Enjoy!!!

GF APPLE CRUMBLE - NO ADDED SUGAR

 No Added Sugar Apple Crumble

Macros; (per slice - 8 slices) 174 kCals
Fat 9.9g  Carbs 22.1g Protein 2.8g

This recipe is gluten free if you use gf oats and rice flour - if you only have plain flour available, that can be used with no other changes.

Apple crumble is one of my favourite desserts. It has such a wonderful balance of sweet, tart, smooth and crunchy and it is one of those desserts that you can change around every time you make it and turn it into something different.
I will post the recipe I use most ofter below and but I will also add some of the optional extras that can be added or taken away to make this recipe your own. I always give credit where its due to people who have inspired different recipes for me - I like to acknowledge intellectual/culinary/creative rights - so thanks for this one goes to my aunt Ia. Ia is Swedish and for as long as I can remember has never used a weighing scales for any baking. She introduced me to the idea of adding nuts to the topping and they make such a delicious crunchy addition to the recipe.
Anyway - here it is ;
Magic Ingredients
For the filling- 
4 Apples (red or green - sweet or sour!)
2 tblsp xylitol
1 tsp coconut oil
20g butter
punnet of raspberries
For the Topping
60 g of butter
3 tblsp of oats
1 tblsp of flaxseed
1 tblsp of roasted chopped hazlenuts
 an alternative would be flaked almonds
3 tblsp of white rice flour
4 tblsp of xylitol

Instructions;
Melt the coconut oil & 20 g of butter in a pan on a high heat, add the xylitol then immediately toss in the chopped apples.
Turn down the heat and toss the apples to coat them and let the outside caramelise a little. Don't wait until they get too mushy - you want to retain a little of the crunch. After about a minute, add in the raspberries and allow those to disintegrate a little. The colour will bleed into the apples, once this starts, remove from the heat.

Put all the ingredients for the topping into a bowl. With your fingers, mix the dry ingredients into the butter, rubbing through your fingers. You may end up with a dryish paste or depending on whether you used heaped teaspoons of your dry ingrediants, it may be more like breadcrumbs.
If it is too dry, add another tsp-tblsp of butter.

Put the apple into a baking dish and spread the dry mix on top. Flatten down evenly with your hands and pop into the oven at 180 degrees (fan assisted oven) for 15 minutes or until the top of the crumble has started to change colour to a golden brown. You may see the caramelised juice baked around the edge of the cake.

If you want to reduce the fat content of this dish, leave out the butter for frying the apples - you can stick with the coconut oil. To reduce the natural sugars, you can replace half the apples with rhubard.
If the carbohydrate content is too high for you, take out the oats and substitute with some quinoa flakes (about 1/2 of the carb content). You can add cinnamon or vanilla to the apples as you caramelise them.  Or if you want to be really bold, add a drizzle of honey before you add on the topping.

Finally, to make this the perfect post workout cheat, mix a teaspoon of vanilla whey with some greek yoghurt and put a dollop on top of your cake and watch it melt! Enjoyyyyyy!

Free Banana Bread

                                                                          There are so many banana bread recipes out there that the question should be asked - do we really need another one? But most banana breads are judged on their deliciousness which is directly proportional to the amount of sugar in them. The argument for this is a valid one - if you're going to eat cake, eat cake..enjoy cake...go and work cake off afterwards. However, if like me you are continuously on the search for the 'healthy option' that actually tastes good and couldn't double as a weapon, the recipe choices are limited. 

I believe in crediting the people that I get my recipe ideas from, intellectual property and all that jazz, so I must thank Darina Allen at Ballymaloe for starting me out with this one. I began with her recipe for gluten free banana bread (which was absolutely delicious I might add...) and twisted and turned it until I managed to take the sugar out and keep the taste and texture in thanks to these two additions to the recipe. Flax, cocoa and berries is a delicious mix to add to porridge  or in yoghurt and works really well in this recipe for flavour and texture. Second is my new favourite ingredient is raw cacao - or rather, raw chocolate in its unprocessed state. Rich in iron, chromium, zinc and sulphur, this superfood is an excellent source of magnesium and has more antioxidants than our favourite superfoods, blueberries and goji berries! Also, if my kids see chocolate chips, they taste chocolate chips, so it makes this treat seem much bolder than it actually is! Lets get started then.....

Gluten Free, Sugar Free, Dairy Free Banana Bread ...made with feathers from the wings of baby angels and a puff of unicorn breath (all ingredients available in your local healthfood shop)

Ingredients

110g softened butter (grass fed....not spread)

100g xylitol (if you want to add a tblsp of honey, for real the die hard sweet toothie, go for it)

2 large eggs

125g of Doves Farm White Flour mix (if you cant get this, use 100g of rice flour, 25g tapioca flour, 2 tsp of xantham gum)

50g of Flaxseed (I choose the one above due to its cocoa & berries content for flavour)

2 tblsp of raw cacao

2 tsp of gluten free baking powder

3 tblsp of coconut flour (I use this instead of cornflour)

Fresh Vanilla OR a capful of vanilla essence

1 tblsp of probiotic yoghurt (obviously needs to be left out for dairy free option).

2 x large mashed bananas (If, like my daughter, you love the idea of  banana bread but not the bananas, peel and slice 3 apples and put them in a pot with some water at the bottom.....simmer for 8-10 mins until the apple softens, drain off the water and let them sit and steam until ready for use)

MACROS BREAKDOWN; (If cut into 15 slices) 129kcals, fat 9.2g, carbs 12.7g (fibre 2.2g, sugars 2.2g) protein 2.5g.

 Directions 

Turn the oven to 180 degrees (fan oven). In a bowl, mix the xylitol and butter until light and fluffy. Add one egg at a time mixing well. Sift in the flour mix, coconut flour, baking powder then add the flaxseed, cacao, vanilla and if using it, the yoghurt. Your mix should look relatively sticky and dry.

From here, add your mashed bananas or apple and mix well. Other possibles to include here would be a sprinkle of cinnamon and a tblsp of currants if you like these flavours. Remember, currants are full of sugars so be mindful of this when it comes to portion control. 

The mix should almost be wet enough to pour now. Pop it into a bread tin and bake for 30 mins (depending on your oven) sliding a knife into the centre before you remove from oven  - if the knife comes out with lots of mix stuck to it, give the bread another 5 mins at a lower heat. If the knife comes out clean, you're ready to go! Turn out on a wire rack and eat toasted with butter - or on its own with a cup of tea

So there you have it, a relatively low calorie snack to go with a cup of tea, but much more nutritious than a fruit yoghurt or a diet bar!!! REMEMBER - a treat is a treat....no matter how low sugar it is, its still 129cals !!! Consider this if you are on a calorie/carb restricted diet and decide if its the way you want to spend your calorie allowance! Other than that, enjoy folks xxx

Cockadoodle Corn Flakes

No point denying it, we have all done it......woken up, and with eyes still closed, reached for that familiar, easy to work meal. Pour, add milk, eat......and repeat if it's really tasty and you're still hungry (which is almost always). Aaaand there follows the upswing in blood glucose after a night of fasting...Instant sugar fix....instant gratification.....your brain thanks you for eating something so delicious and nutritious (so they tell us).
And as you move on towards the 10am mid morning feeding frenzy, I'm sure your body is just soaking up all that 'added fibre, Vit D, folic acid, wholegrain' and whatever other magical ingredient that caught your eye and made you buy this cereal in the first place. Correct? Hmmmmmm?
What's really in your breakfast cereal? Should we make a list or is that way too much mambo jumbo for a lighthearted food blog?
Let me tell you a small story about an incident that marked the turning point in my attitude to food. I had taken up marathon running (as one does) and whilst attempting to provide my body with slower burning, longer lasting, energy dense food, I switched cereals from the sugary, delicious, 'should only be used as a treat at the cinema kind', to a 'high fibre, healthy, full of bran and whatnot' kind. Of course, this would make me run faster, longer, feel better, and all the other things it boasted on the side of the packet. After about 3 weeks on this wonderful cereal, I noticed my teeth had started to darken. By the time I got to the dentist (because I procrastinate, this was about 2 weeks later), I had dark staining around the edges of my teeth, almost like a smoker. My dentist did a wonderful job polishing me back up then told me to stop eating whatever I was eating that was brown and out of a packet. You see, most of these brown cereals need to have dye added to make them a more wonderful chocolatey shade of brown. The alternative shades don't bare thinking about! So, strong food dyes were discolouring my teeth! And I have never had breakfast cereal since!

That's enough about the why....now about the what!
For those of you carb lovers who just need that hit in the mornings, there are lots of breads that can be made with extra ingredients to improve nutritional value. Needless to say the slice of white bread toasted just doesn't cut it when it comes to nourishing your body, activation your digestion and setting you up for the long day ahead.

As you can see, I do love my scrambled eggs. Some would argue that these are just broken omelettes as scrambled egg should be gooey and wet....I just prefer my eggs well done.
Eggs and mushrooms cooked with a bit of butter & thyme, egg and red peppers cooked with balsamic vinegar and grilled tomatoes, fried mushroom and eggs - these were my midweek breakfasts. I had a lie in at the weekend and had a shake when I woke up (a protein, probiotic thingy....we can come back to those at another time) and by mid morning, I was STARVED. Hence the beautiful spinach and red onion omelette with fried cherry tomato and spinach salad.
Now try to build your argument that a bowl of cereal is more nutritious!

I don't want to come across as preaching. Sure, on occasion, have your cereal....but in reality you are setting your body up for metabolic catastrophe. After all these years eating 'that cereal' have you really dropped a dress size and worn a red bathing suit? No, I didn't think so!
Next post - breakfast bread for those die hard carb grubbers.
With love,
Grass Roots xxx