Yummy Healthy Almond & Orange Flapjacks

We've been making the healthy flapjacks I posted about a while back almost on a weekly basis so much so I felt like it was about time for a change. The fab thing about this recipe is that it is so easy to adjust and I knew I was onto a winner when S got a whiff of the almond essence and declared it smelt like cake!

Almond & Orange Flapjacks

Ingredients
6 dried apricots
10 dates
3/4 cup raisins

1/4 cup flaked almonds plus some to sprinkle on the top.

5 tbsp ground almonds
1 cup porridge oats
2 tbsp wheatgerm
2 tbsp linseeds
1 tbsp sunflower seeds
juice and zest of one orange
1 tbsp honey
2 tbsp cold-pressed flax seed oil

1 tsp almond essence

Method

Put everything apart from the flaked almonds in a food processor and blend until you have a firm dough ball, add the almonds and mix well. Line a small baking dish with greaseproof paper and spread the dough into the pan to a thickness of roughly 2cm. Sprinkle over some almond flakes to decorate and press down well. Chill in the fridge for at least an hour before cutting. Store in the fridge covered with clingfilm.

Easy Peasy Sugar Free Low Carb Cookies

Some of you may or may not know but my son Zephyr was diagnosed with Epilepsy just after he was two after suffering a few seizures. This was and has been a massive shock for us and one we are still coming to terms with. 

This is something I will delve deeper into in another post, but to cut a long story short Zeph in now on the Ketogenic Diet. This basically means very low carbs (so no sugar) some protein and lots of fat. So hence I have been exploring lots of low carb baking and sugar subsitutes. I have made this recipe with liquid stevia and with sukrin gold which is made from Erythritol. 

Zeph being on this diet has been a blessing in many ways as its really made me look at our sugar consumption and as a family we are all eating a lot less sugar which has gotta be good. Zeph has also been incredible at excepting the diet and all the weird and wonderful concoctions I keep making him!

Hope you and yours enjoy them too. Much love Tess x

Makes about 12

Ingredients

130g (1 1/2 cups) ground almonds or ground hazelnuts

50g butter melted

120g (1/2 cup) almond butter

1 egg

1 tspn vanilla essence

10 drops of liquid stevia or 50g (1/2 cup) sukrin gold

Method

Melt the butter and leave to cool while you measure out all the other ingredients, then mix everything together, roll into balls and place on greaseproof paper on a tray. 

Squish with a fork and then bake at 175 degrees for 10-15 mins. Eat.

Zeph is also partial to adding a little bit of chopped up dark chocolate.

  

Healthy Flapjacks

Making these flapjacks are becoming part of our weekly routine. They are so easy and fun for kids to help make and better still they're actually good for you but still feel like a treat. We don't have a full size food processor so we blend ours in our mini chopper in parts and then mix everything together in a bowl. It does seem like a lot of ingredients but they last ages, we keep all ours together in a box in the cupboard so we can just whip it out when we want to make some.

Thank you to the lovely ladies from The Crockery Cupboard for the recipe! I've modified it slightly to use American cups rather than using scales as it makes it easier for little ones. These are the ones we have at home. Also I really recommend investing in a good zester, like this, rather than using a cheese grater.

Ingredients
6 dried apricots
10 dates
3/4 cup raisins
1 cup porridge oats
4 tbsp wheatgerm
3 tbsp oatmeal
2 tbsp linseeds
1 tbsp sunflower seeds
1/4 cup of mixed nuts
juice and zest of half a lemon 
1 tbsp honey
2 tbsp cold-pressed flax seed oil

Method

Put everything in a food processor and blend until you have a firm dough ball. Line a small baking dish with greaseproof paper and press the dough into the pan to a thickness of roughly 2cm. Chill in the fridge for at least an hour before cutting. Store in the fridge if they last that long!

Coming soon - Yummy Orange and Almond Flapperjacks

Healthy Ice Cream... Whats not to love!

In our house ice-cream whether right or wrong is our biggest bargaining tool. It solves a million disputes and gets a lot of dinners eaten!

Luckily I have discovered a clever way to make healthy ice-cream. It's so easy to make and delicious too. The funny thing is after devouring bananas when small neither of my kids will eat them and Zeph is also funny about berries but when frozen and made into ice-cream all of a sudden they are fine!

All you need for a couple of ice creams is...

1 frozen banana

1 handful of another frozen fruit of your choice

some rice/almond/normal/soya milk

ice-cream cones

Chuck it all in the blender, whizz until smooth, pop into cones and hey presto silent happy children!

Some combinations we have tried

Banana and raspberry, aka the pink one

Banana and mixed berries, aka the purple one

Banana and pineapple, aka the yellow one

Banana, mango and almond (we put in a handfull of almonds) aka the nutty one

Happy ice-cream making xxx

Rainy Day Muesli

As it was raining after school Zephy and I decided to make some muesli. A lovely afternoon was spent cutting, bashing, grinding, mixing and then tasting our wares.

To make muesli you can add whatever you fancy to oats. 

Our ingredients are as follows

a bag of jumbo rolled oats
a bag of porridge oats
a bag of dried apricots (expertly cut up by Zeph)
some sunflower,pumpkin and flax seeds (ground by Zeph)
some sultanas
soem almonds
some brazil nuts (bashed by zeph)

you could add
some toasted flakes
some goji berries
some cacoa nibs
some cashews
some dates

Zephy really enjoyed cutting the apricots, bashing the brazils and then mixing it all up and sinking his hands into the muesli and enjoying the feel of it slipping through his fingers.

We then decided we should probably try it so we had muesli for supper and both thought it was delicious....mmmmm.

Ottolenghi's Green Couscous

At the weekend we decided to take advantage of the amazing weather and headed for the beach for kids tea. Amongst the other goodies we packed this amazing green couscous from the book Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi. It's a fab salad for hot summers day, just bursting with flavour. On the side we also had Tessa's Chicory leaves with freshly podded peas which are definitely our new addiction! 

Ottolenghi's Green Couscous

Serves 4

Ingredients

150g couscous
160ml boiling water or vegetable stock
1 small onion, thinly sliced
1 tbsp olive oil 1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground cumin
50g pistachios, shelled & toasted
3 spring onion, finely sliced
1 fresh green chilli, thinly sliced
30g rocket, chopped

Herb Paste
20g flat-leaf parsley
20g coriander
2 tbsp tarragon
2 tbsp dill
2 tbsp mint
90ml olive oil

Directions

Place couscous in a large bowl & add boiling water or stock. Cover the bowl with cling film & let it stand for 10 minutes. 

Meanwhile, heat the olive oil over a medium heat & add the onion. Saute for 10 minutes, stirring now & then until golden & soft. Add salt & cumin mix well & leave it to cool.

For the herb paste...
Place all ingredients in the bowl of a food processor & blitz until smooth. Add the herb paste to the couscous & mix it all together. Fluff it up with a fork. Add the cooked onion, pistachios, spring onions, green chilli & rocket & gently mix until well combined. Serve at room temperature.

Tessa's Chicory and fresh peas

serves 4-5 as a side

2 white or red chicory heads
a bag of freshly podded peas
2 big spoonfuls of capers

for the dressing
some olive oil
apple cider vinegar
(in equal measures)
a teaspoon of wholegrain mustard

Directions
Split the chicory heads into leaves with the peas and then add the capers.
Add the oil and vinegar together with the mustard and shake vigorously.
If taking to the beach don't dress the salad until you get there as the dressing makes the chicory soggy and its best lovely and crunchy.
Pears and a hard goats cheese are a great addition to this salad.

A Simple Soup

Mini persons soup

Big persons soup

I wanted to share this soup as it is souper (sorry!) and really quick to make. My kids really love soup and its always a good choice on a cold and wet swimming class day as Zephy and I make it before we go then we just warm it up when we get back. It's great too as you can add a bit of spice for big people at the end.

Slightly Spicy Carrot and Lentil Soup 

3 tsp cumin seed

pinch chilli flakes

2 tbsp olive oil

750g carrots, washed and coarsely grated (no need to peel)

1/2 a small celeriac (not essential) chopped or grated

200g split red lentil

1 litre hot vegetable stock

125ml milk (optional)

plain greek yogurt and bread to serve

So first of all put the cumin seeds into the pan and toast them for a few minutes until they start to jump around and release their aromas. Then scoop out half of the seeds and set aside in another little pan.

Whilst doing this ask a little helper, if you have one, to grate the carrots (and not their fingers!)

Then add the olive oil to the pan with the remaining seeds along with the grated carrots, celeriac, red lentils and stock and bring to the boil. Simmer for 15 mins until the lentils have swollen and softened.

Now whizz the soup with a stick blender or in a food processor until smooth (or leave it chunky if you prefer). Stir in the milk to the required consistency.

While the soup is cooling add a little olive oil and chilli flakes to the reserved toasted cumin seeds and heat for a few minutes until the oil is infused. 

Season the soup to taste and serve with a dollop of plain greek yogurt and for those who like it spicy a little bit of your spicy oil.  

Serve with bread, toast, cheese, flat breads or anything else yummy you fancy.

A Perfect Cake For a Lazy Sunday

On Sunday we all really wanted cake. So after racing to get the recipe books we took a vote and settled on this cake by Dan Lepard from his book Short and Sweet. It is really quick and simple to make and is not too sweet. It was also super, delicious with a cup of tea...mmmmmm x

We did change a few things though - we didn't put as much sugar in as the recipe says, we kept the rolled oats whole and we didn't put as much sugar in the lemon syrup.

Sticky Lemon and Poppy Seed Cake

For the cake

175g caster sugar
125g unsalted butter, softened
100ml sunflower oil
Zest 3 lemons
4 eggs
50ml hot water
250g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
75g  rolled oats
4 tbsp (about 30g) poppy seeds

For the lemon syrup 
 
About 100ml lemon juice
75g caster sugar (we used soft brown sugar)

Line a 20cm square or round cake tin with baking parchment and preheat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4.

Beat 175g  sugar with the butter, oil and lemon zest until pale and fluffy, beat in the eggs one at a time.

Sift the flour and baking powder (we didn't!)

Whisk 50ml hot water into the egg mixture until smooth, toss the oats through the flour, add the poppy seeds, then beat through the egg mixture.

Pour into the tin and bake for 40-50 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean. Heat the remaining 75g sugar with the lemon juice until dissolved, poke a skewer deep into the cake dozens of times, then spoon all the syrup over the top.

Sprinkle with sugar if you want to.

Hope you like it too x