Marrakech Food Diary

Another food diary from a trip to Marrakech, Morocco. What an amazing place and the good is out of this world! The spices and herbs used on all the dishes are just heaven...

South of France Food Diary

A food diary in photos of a week long holiday to the South of France. Beautiful, fresh, delicious food...

Courgette Fritters

These fritters are my new go to for lunch and dinner! So tasty and go with many other dishes such as houmous and ratatouille. I top my fritters with slices of avocado and a squeeze of lemon and the combination is absolutely delicious! I even love them cold (but others prefer them as a hot meal!).

                          

These are a great vegetarian meal with high levels of protein that you will get from the ground almond and eggs.

Homemade Guacamole

Avocados are the best! Use it for a face mask, the base of an exfoliator, in brownies or making it the feature dish- Guacamole!

As the temperatures are getting warmer and we all aren't eating hot meals constantly for warmth, it is so nice to have a refreshing chilled meal once in a while, enter guac. So nourishing with a creamy texture and great flavour you can pair it with any dish or have it as your main meal.

There are so many benefits of eating avocado to boost your health. It is full

Avocado Toast

This is such an easy and filling breakfast. For the toast I use Biona bread Quinoa and Amaranth. This bread is great protein so perfect for breakfast.

I use half an avocado and 1 piece of bread as it is so filling but by all means add another half avocado or extra slice of bread.

Cacao Oat Crispies

This is my newest recipe that I absolutely love, they actually remind me of when I was a child making chocolate covered corn flakes as a sweet treat! They are refined sugar free and gluten free and include superfoods coconut oil and raw cacao. I have actually had one for breakfast before- why not?! But equally as perfect for a sweat treat or to make a batch for a special person, party or occasion.









 Makes 4-6

Energising Smoothie

I have been experimenting a lot with smoothies and juices at the moment. Differing flavour combinations to keep things interesting!

This smoothie is a great and energy boosting drink that you can drink either for breakfast or after a good workout as it includes Matcha Green Tea powder! You need a good blender if you are going to add the few cashew nuts and if the frozen banana won't break up just leave it at room temperature for 5 minutes to defrost.

There isn't really any need to put instructions to this recipe, other than chuck everything in the machine and blend away! Serve and enjoy :-)

Make Your Own Almond Butter!

Nut butters are one of my favourite foods. Seriously, half a pot could be gone in 24 hours! They are a nutritious, filling and a great addition to many meal.

They are generally quite expensive to buy, especially the organic nut butters that I love to get. So I wanted to create a recipe that you can make easily and efficiently at home that doesn't break the bank! My ultimate favourite nut butter is Almond! So here is my recipe for Almond Butter...

The only thing you need to purchase is almonds! There is two stages to making the almond butter and they can be done on totally different days if you want, the first stage makes the roasted salted almonds (great addition to meals) and then the second stage makes them into the butter we know and love!

Fruit and Nut Protein Flapjacks

I have had a lot of requests from you lovely people for a flapjack that is high in protein, but still clean and healthy. So I can't let you down and here it is! This tastes amazing and could seriously compete (if not beat) the traditional bakery flapjack that is high in sugar and fat. 

With so many different nuts it has the perfect amount of chew in it.

Healthy Hazelnut Frozen Chocolate

Okay so time for a great new chocolate recipe that is guilt-free and best of all good for you! Coconut oil really is the saviour of everything. The base to this amazing chocolate, a great hair mask and a body moisturiser! Cant get much more versatile than that can you?!

The recipe takes 10 minutes maximum to make and then frozen. You may think eating chocolate straight from the freezer would be strange, but seriously don't knock it until you have tried it!

Equally you can keep this chocolate just chilled in the fridge or at room temperature instead of frozen, as coconut oil is solid at an average room temperature. But remember if it is a hot day best to keep this in the fridge unless you want a chocolate fondue...

Makes 10 regular pieces if keeping at room temp or chilled or if frozen, freeze in block

Injured: A Guide to Eating For A Fast Recovery

Now this is not my normal food post (no yummy recipe unfortunately, sorry!). But I think equally important, so I felt I should share. When a person is injured, either a sports related injury or any accident, how important diet is in the recovery, mentally and physically! After all it would be easy to just eat rubbish junk food while on bed rest or not being able to exercise. This however is not the solution and have discussed these points below. Please do comment after reading this post and let me know your thoughts on this interesting subject.

I will start at the beginning on how intrigued I became with the subject of recovery. A few weeks ago I had a car accident. I was the only person in the car thankfully and I came out very lucky... Glass cuts, bruises and a very sore back but overall okay! I was told to rest, and to be honest I had no choice as my back was very sore standing and even sitting down. This continued for a good week after my accident. In the first few days after I completely lost my appetite presumably due to shock (anyone who knows me knows I am a complete foodie, yes hence the name). Not being able to eat the smallest bowl of porridge was surprising. But then it occurred to me that I wasn't active, doing my usual routine of work, gym or swimming. So it was good I wasn't eating as much food as my regular diet because I didn't need to. It was more about listening to my body, eating when hungry and stop when my stomach felt content.

Focusing on the quality of what I was eating was of course another light bulb moment. Just like an injured runner I needed to eat right for a fast recovery. I eat clean anyway but this was adapting my diet to aid the repair of my muscles, tissue and ligaments specifically. This meant eating a balance of the following and definitely not cutting out any food group: 

Powders and Spices for Optimum Health

I think it is so important to add additional nutrients, vitamins and minerals in your daily routine. 

Mainly these do come from the meals we eat for example sweet potato which is so rich in Vitamin A as well as high in Vitamin B-6 , magnesium and potassium. But these powders are the nutritions and minerals in their most raw and potent form that will aid the bodies functions to perform and live to our best!

After adding these in my, already healthy diet, I have more energy and am able to keep healthy at optimum level (AKA no sick days needed from work- Literally!)

Dont stress about adding all of these straight away because it might not be what your body needs. Read below the benefits of each powder and if you feel like you could improve that area of your health then try it out! Small changes do make a big difference.

My personal Top Five are: 

Homemade Garlic and Basil Pesto

Got a perfect dish like a salad or rice pasta but cannot think to add to it, that is clean and tasty?! Enter pesto!

There are many different pesto flavours, and this is a recipe for Garlic and Basil, which means I can use my basil plant! So great and satisfying using your own fresh produce, not just for freshness and flavour but also a lot more cost efficient.

Also so quick to whip up a batch, can be easily done for last minute flavour!

Warming Vegetable Bolognese

The most famous pasta dish is Spaghetti Bolognese, everyone knows and loves it (well almost everyone!). Warming, nourishing, filling and the rich tomato, garlic and herb flavours combined creates a quick dish for anyone to enjoy. But for all you vegetarians and vegans out there, here is a recipe for you! 

The bolognese can be combined with many different options! The lightest meal would be to add it to a base of my marinated kale and spinach salad (click here for the recipe). In contrast for a more comfort food dish that is still clean, is on a bed of spaghetti rice pasta (gluten free)! This is the closest to the 'traditional' Spaghetti Bolognese and tastes amazing! 

Quinoa, Almond and Mint Salad

I am feeling really inspired at the moment with Moroccan food! The mix of flavours are amazing and create an unbelievable combination. This salad is inspired by a Moroccan couscous salad, that includes sweet raisins, crunchy salted almonds and fresh herbs!

This dish is not only gluten free it is also vegan too! I cannot get over the taste of this salad, the quinoa makes it so filling, as well as the avocado. No green leaves are this recipe so it is very much a hearty salad.

The Trick to a Great Kale Salad

A portion of kale is hard to beat when talking about the number of nutrients and minerals it contains. It is great to include if you want a healthy and balanced diet. There are so many benefits of eating the green stuff including a high source of vitamins A, C and K, as well as improve blood glucose control in diabetics, lowering the risk of cancer and blood pressure and improving bone healthy!

So that leads me on to introducing a trick to creating a great Kale Salad.

Sweet Potato, Lentil and Coconut Curry

If you are looking for the perfect winter warming dish then look no further! Such a healthy dish with no added nasties like your shop brought curry. Filling and nourishing ingredients like the sweet potato and lentils, that are also great for your overall health- what's not to love!

I served it on a bed of steaming brown rice, but alternatively you can use quinoa or just on its own if you want!

Healthy Fish and Chips!

Who doesn't love a good fish and chips right?! I live by the sea and there are so many fish and chip shops around being an English country town so I did some research and found a healthy version of battered fish. 

Of course I had to give it a try and it was honestly better than the fatty battered fish they serve in those shops as I find the amount of grease that you find at the bottom of the paper is not great to say the least! Plus you could actually taste and appreciate the fish with this recipe!

Then I had a thought that it wouldn't be right to serve these delicious healthy fish fillets with unhealthy chips- Enter sweet potato fries! The perfect nutritional alternative to normal potato chips. 

Serves 4
This recipe is just for the fish, for the sweet potato fries recipe click here.

Sweet Beet Raw Juice

This recipe below I fell into by chance with the leftovers from my Green raw juice. This was my added extra experiment juice- but boy does it rank up there with my green juice!

I'm okay to admit that I am not the biggest beetroot fan. I mean I can eat it if it is in small quantities but in this juice I could hardly taste it and it gave the juice an amazing vivid colour that looks so appetising!

Spinach and Nutmeg Gratin

If you are hosting a meal for a group this is an excellent choice as you can prep this meal before and once it is cooked it is ready to serve! Crowd pleaser indeed- I have been asked for repeat of this ever since I brought it out the first dinner party.

The nutmeg spice in the gratin really compliments the egg and cheese in the recipe. Gluten free and sugar free recipe of course. Try and see for yourself. I serve it with a full salad and you will hear rave reviews- trust me!

Serves 4-6 depending on appetites.