I love this coffee + A couple of things I've been cooking

A lot of times I turn to tea and coffee when I feel the need for a distraction or a nice ritual or just something to consume (this would be very familiar to those who have given up something like sugar!) But recently I had been having trouble getting to sleep at night so amongst other things I stopped having caffeine after lunch. I already had some nice herbal teas from Tea Tonic, so I needed a good decaf coffee. I chose this one: Republica 100% Pure Decaffeinated which I found in Coles.

It was well worth the 10 bucks I spent on it because to me it tastes as good as regular coffee and the fact that its fairtrade and certified organic doesn’t hurt either! Now I always bring it to work with me and to my boyfriend’s house and it’s a nice ritual to enjoy after dinner instead of dessert.

Thought I’d share some things I've been making that are paleo/primal. This is a breakfast hash (recipe in the link) made with pumpkin and bacon and other nice things. Damn it was nice and I was able to use leftovers for lunch the next day as well! Excellent. 

The other day I made a simple salad for lunch:

I used baby spinach, tomato, avocado, crispy bacon and pan fried haloumi with a dressing of 1tbs olive oil, 1tbs apple cider vinegar and 1tsp mustard. Delicious and easy, woo hoo!

And now for a bit of a laugh here is a link to "The Many Stages of Eating Paleo." Love it!

Happy Happy Chef + A recipe for Creamy Chicken, Carrot and Leak Soup (Grain Free)

It's my 9th day without sugar (hooray!) and I have had a busy morning cooking and baking. First, I made my own almond milk using nuts I had let soak overnight. This was because it is an ingredient in what I made next, Danielle Walker's Grain Free Sandwich Bread:

Oh, I really love this bread. It smells delicious while it is baking and I love the taste and texture of it, especially when I toast a slice. I'm perfectly happy to not be able to have normal grain bread when I can eat this! My favourite thing is to put some butter and jam on top. I use a really good quality jam or you can make your own. 

Next up, I had the desire to make a chicken and leak pie (recipe down the bottom), so called my sister who is an expert in pies for a recipe. I made it grain free by using quinoa flour and gelatin to thicken it instead of wheat flour. Gelatin is so good for you so I'm quite happy with it and it turned out really well. Okay, I couldn't be bothered to make the almound flour pastry so I made it into a soup instead. But now that I know how to make it, next time I will make a larger quantity and make it into a pie. 

Oh, and last night I whipped up some homemade pesto in a food processor, using almonds instead of pine nuts and adding in avocado as well, then I stirred this through cooked chicken with some cream. I had peeled a zucchini into strips and sliced it to the size of fettucine, and used this as my "pasta" which I then stirred through. This worked out well! You can't taste the difference between zucchini and pasta when it is in sauce. Next up I'd like to experiment making "fettucine" carbonara...stay tuned. 

I am so happy now because all the recipes turned out so well. Making so many delicious recipes more than makes up for the fact that I am not eating sugar. If I can eat all these great things I don't care if I never get to eat sugar again. And guess what, I have noticed my skin is clearer from not eating sugar as well. 

Yesterday realised that this isn’t something I am just doing for 21 days…this is the way I want to eat for life. I feel a lot more free from compulsive eating now that I’m out of sugar’s “grasp”, so to speak. I’m not anxious about what I can eat. I’m not really having any sweet cravings, and if I do they are easily alleviated by a small amount of fruit or by tea. My love for cooking and baking is still being indulged as I try new dishes and creations. And in the future I will bake sweet treats but they will be just that – TREATS – not something I eat every day! More like a once every 1 or 2 weeks kind of thing that I can share with friends. Good quality dark chocolate is going to taste so much nicer when I have it less often and can really savour the bittersweet flavour. I’m looking forward to trying 85% Lindt!! 

Creamy Chicken, Carrot and Leak Soup (serves 1)

- 1 chicken thigh fillet
- 1 carrot
- 1 leak
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ~ 2 cups vegetable stock 
- 1 tsp gelatin
- 1 tablespoon quinoa flour
- 1/4 cup thickened cream (I'm sure coconut cream would work too if you can't have dairy)
- Salt & Pepper

- Put the chicken thigh fillet into a small saucepan and pour in enough stock to cover it. Bring to the boil then cover and let simmer until cooked. This takes about 15 minutes altogether. 
- Remove the chicken and let cool on a plate. Save 1/4 cup of the stock.
- Meanwhile, dice up the carrots and steam them in a covered microwave proof dish with 1/2 cm of water on the bottom, in the microwave for 2 minutes. Let drain. 
- Heat the oil in a small saucepan. Thinly slice the leak and dice the garlic, then saute in the oil until softened.
- Add the quinoa flour and stir to combine.
- Slowly add the stock and the cream, season with salt and pepper, and stir to combine.
- Stir in the gelatin, letting simmer for a couple of minutes to thicken up. 
- Slice up the chicken.
- Finally, add in the carrot and chicken and voila!

Very Crispy Fried Chicken (Paleo; Grain & Dairy Free)

One thing I've been sad to miss out on since going grain/gluten free is KFC fried chicken. Man that stuff is so amazingly greasy and delicious. I had previously made crispy chicken before using a combination of almond meal and parmesan cheese but it wasn't perfect and I felt like experimenting, and also trying out different herbs and spices to mimic the flavour of KFC chicken.

What I ended up with was crispier than I even hoped for and positively delicious! And totally guilt free, unlike KFC chicken (who knows the sordid details of how they prepare that stuff).

Very Crispy Fried Chicken (Serves 2)

2 chicken thigh fillets 
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup quinoa flour
1/4 cup coconut flour
1/4 cup almond flour
1/4 cup flaxseed meal
1/4 tsp of each of the following: cayenne pepper, dried oregano, dried coriander, dried basil, paprika
1 tsp Moroccan seasoning
1 tablespoon of garlic granules (I have a feeling I was a lot more generous than that amount though...)
A good amount of cracked pepper and cracked sea salt
Beef dripping (I think this is the best fat to use to get it really nice and crispy)

- Mix all the dry ingredients together
- Cut the fillets into strips then bang them with a meat mallet to tenderise them. You may need to cut slice them again to make smaller strips if need be. 
- Heat the dripping in a large fry pan, enough to make about 1 cm of oil
- Dip each chicken strip into the egg to coat it, then into the dry mixture. Make sure it is well coated with crumbs and press the crumbs into the strip with your fingers to make sure they stick. 
- After you have crumbed each strip, place them into the hot oil

- After a few minutes turn the strips and cook for another few minutes on the other side until they are golden brown

- When they are ready, let them dry on a cooling rack. 
- Serve with your choice of side dish. I'm quite partial to steamed veggies tossed in butter. Enjoy!

A Sugar Free Saviour + Pilates Update

Hello! Happy New Year! I can't believe yet another Christmas and NYE has come and gone but then again, I say that every year. This one was pretty good - caught up with all the fam and my brother got engaged. Made an AMAZING pavlova for Christmas lunch. Yep, it was full of sugar. I wasn't ready to cut out sugar over Christmas so I gave in. I don't regret it as it's an indulgent time of year and I was only 5 days into quitting sugar.

It brought home again how much one taste of sugar - when you're a sugar addict - just makes you want more and more. I experienced that for a few days, just eating with abandon (still grain and gluten free but all the sugar I wanted). But then - instead of waiting until the new year again, I realised I was sick of being stuck in the eat-eat-eat cycle and back to binge eating again so 5 days ago I went cold turkey. The only sugar I eat is in one piece of fruit per day. I'm proud to say it has been a really good 5 days! I'm feeling good! I know it will take a couple more weeks at least (I'm aiming for 21 days straight) before I get rid of my sugar addiction, or at least vastly increase my sensitivity to the taste of sweets. I was offered a chocolate from a box of Gillian sea shells yesterday and I declined, and as I sat there afterwards I thought about what would have happened if I had had one. I just knew that one wouldn't have been enough. I would have wanted another and been anxious about when I could politely ask for another. And another. It would consume my thoughts. That tells me I am definitely not ready.

But going cold turkey has worked surprisingly well for me. I'm not worried to have 1 piece of fruit per day because the fibre in fruit slows the rate of absorption of glucose into the blood stream. Plus they are good for you.

So - onto my sugar free saviour. I've been using all the tricks in my arsenal such as drinking herbal teas but I stumbled across this recipe from Mark's Daily Apple: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/make-your-own-primal-energy-bars-in-10-easy-steps/#axzz2pEaUu1aI

It's hard to find sugar free recipes that are actually sugar free. As in, no stevia, no rice malt syrup, no artificial sweeteners, no fruit juice. But these energy bars use dried fruit to sweeten them, as well as cinnamon and vanilla extract. Now, I don't mind that because dried fruit has fibre in it and cinnamon is good for lowering blood sugar. They are also full of satisfying fat and protein from nuts and coconut oil. I made a few slight modifications:

- I used dried apple instead of dried berries
- I added 1/4 tsp cinnamon
- I used 1/8 cup flaxmeal and 1/8 cup almond meal instead of 1/4 cup almond meal
- I added 1 tsp chia seeds
- I froze them for an hour or two before cutting them up and storing them in a fridge.

They didn't crumble and they taste really good. A subtle sweetness and they are quite more-ish actually. Next time I would like to add some protein powder to them. I have been using these as a snack at work or at home when I don't want a big meal, or with a cup of tea. Yum yum in my tum.

I also made something else - Paleo Cauliflower Fried "Rice". Tastes as good as the real thing, as tried and tested by my Dad! Recipe and picture to come.

Now for my pilates update. I have moved onto the Intermediate Series from "Pilates for Dummies". Yes it is harder on the tummy! I am looking forward to doing it again and also doing the side kick series again to work on my butt and thighs. I have been playing "Just Dance" on Wii as well! That game is so fun! You're exercising while actually HAVING FUN! Shock. Horror. For me anyway. Exercise is usually not something I would refer to as "fun". But I have always enjoyed dancing.

Okay I am out for now!

Flourless Chewy-Nutty-Chocolate Cookies

Inspired by my recipe for ANZAC biscuits, I wanted to create a double chocolate biscuit. I thought a similar recipe would produce the combination of crunchy/chewy that I wanted, and all I had to do was make a few little changes and add in a few key ingredients:

I thought adding some hazelnut meal in addition to almond meal would give it an almost nutella-like chocolate taste. And, I was able to use half the amount of coconut sugar as last time with the addition of chocolate! Not to toot my own horn or anything, but I received rave reviews from the people who tried these.

So, here are the ingredients you need:

- 3 tbs cocoa powder
- 100g dark chocolate (I used 50g but decided after that it wasn't enough. You can adjust to your own taste and maybe use even less sugar)
- 3/4 cup dessicated coconut
- 1 cup blanched almond flour
- 1 cup hazelnut meal
- 1/2 cup coconut crystals
- 2 tablespoons golden syrup (or honey if you prefer)
- 125g salted butter (next time I'll experiment with coconut oil or cacao butter but I'm not sure if they will give the same texture)
- 1/2tsp bicarb soda
- 1 tbs boiling water

Chop up the chocolate roughly:

I prefer the texture of cutting up the chocolate myself rather than using whole chocolate chips. That way you get the big chunks as well as little crumbs of chocolate spread throughout the dough.

Melt the butter and syrup in a saucepan over low heat. Dissolve the bicarb soda in the boiling water then add this to the butter/syrup mixture.

Mix together the dry ingredients, then mix the wet ingredients in until it looks like this:

Roll tablespoon sized balls onto lined baking trays and flatten very slightly as they will spread while cooking.

 Bake in a preheat oven at 150 degrees celsius for about 15 minutes. Cool on a metal rack. Voila!

 Once they have cooled, I recommend wrapping the cookies in cling wrap if you want to keep them fresh. I find that grain-free baked goods are quicker to go stale.

Grain-Free ANZAC Biscuits

The Aussie favourite, created grain-free for a Paleo treat.

ANZAC biscuits were hard biscuits sent to our troops in the first world war because the ingredients meant they would last a long time without needing refrigeration. To Australians, they represent the sacrifice of our diggers in the war, and are traditionally eaten on ANZAC day. I have always loved them, especially when they are created with that perfect combination of crispy and chewy. It’s hard to get that being grain-free, and tonight I had a strong craving for a crispy ANZAC biscuit. And guess what?! I DID IT!*

Look, they are grain free and egg free. BUT they are of course a treat because they have a fair amount of sugar in them. So be sure to make these when you have someone to share them with, because trust me, THEY ARE ADDICTIVE! 

1 cup blanched almond flour

1 cup roughly chopped nuts (I used almonds and walnuts)

1 ½ tsp flax seed meal

1 tablespoon coconut flour

3/4 cup dessicated coconut

1 cup coconut crystals
1/4 tsp cinnamon

2 tablespoons golden syrup (I’m sure honey would work too)

125g grassfed salted butter

½ teaspoon bicarb soda

1 tablespoon boiling water

Preheat oven to 160 degrees celsius and line some baking trays with baking paper

In a food processor, roughly chop the nuts until they are about the size of oats

Mix together the dry ingredients

On a low heat in a small saucepan, melt the butter and golden syrup

Dissolve the bicarb soda into the boiling water, then add this to the butter/syrup mixture.

Add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix well.

Roll tablespoon sized balls of mixture in your hands then place onto baking trays, flattening them out to about half a centimetre. Make sure you leave enough space between biscuits as they will flatten out a bit more while baking.

Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes, until golden brown. (They will still be a little soft to the touch but will crisp up while cooling.) Let sit for a few minutes then cool on a wire rack.

*I adapted this recipe from the traditional one found in "Beautiful Biscuits" published by the Australian Women's Weekly. 

Paleo Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Icing

It's my boyfriend's birthday tomorrow and he put in a special request for carrot cake, which is one of my favourites as well. The above picture is a version I made before I went grain-free, which I decorated with royal icing coloured and shaped into carrots. However to make a paleo version, I adapted one of Danielle Walker's recipes from her book "Against All Grain" for snickerdoodle cupcakes. 

I made a few small adjustments. I subbed in coconut oil instead of cacao butter, and added 1/2 cup of grated carrot and 1/2 cupped chopped walnuts, as well as another extra tablespoon of coconut milk. To lessen the taste of honey, I used 2 tablespoons of honey and 1/4 cup of coconut sugar to sweeten the batter instead of the specified amount of honey. 

To make the cream cheese icing, I whipped together about 200gm of cream cheese and 1/2 cup of coconut sugar, before sprinkling cinnamon on top. Voila!

Paleo Jam Drop Biscuits

One of the biggest challenges when doing grain-free baking is to be able to recreate the textures of the biscuits and cookies that I used to love. I've discovered that coconut flour is great for making fluffy cake-like textures, but not so great at making anything crunchy.

So, after making the Lemon Meringue Pie from Danielle Walker's cookbook Against All Grain, I noticed that the pastry crust base made from almond flour was a great colour and texture - that combination of crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside that I so desired. I decided to experiment and see if I couldn't use that basic pastry crust recipe, sweeten it up a bit and make jam drop biscuits.

The result? Mission: success. Read on...

Omelettes and workouts

Yes this will be a post about two unrelated things. Firstly, I just wanted to share a really good omelette recipe I have discovered after experimenting with different ingredients. I think omelettes are great because they taste great and you can stuff them full of a bunch of different healthy things. I put in 2 eggs, a small clove of garlic, some diced ham, chopped basil or spinach, and grated tasty cheese. It tastes so good, it's just filling enough and you can have it at any meal. I love that I got my serve of green leafy vegetables today so easily!

Secondly, workouts. Well I always feel overwhelmed by all the different ones that are out there in terms of strength/resistance training. I usually end up stalling because I can't decide which one to do and I end up spending all my time searching for new and better workout routines. So I decided I'm just going to do them all! That is, I'm going to have a go at all the workouts I come across that I like, and I think mixing it up is best for your body because it is always being challenged.

Today I finally did one of them and I'm really proud of myself because I've been putting it off for weeks. It was a total body routine which probably took about 15 minutes...I only did one circuit of it and you're meant to do two but I think I'll work up to that. Well, it was a good workout and I was sweaty and red faced and puffed out after! My thighs are a bit trembly too so it's good to feel it working:) If anyone is interested I'm happy to share what it was. Although I'm quite sure no one even reads this blog at the moment haha.

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A Seriously Delicious Roast Pumpkin and Goats Cheese Salad (That is seriously easy to make).

I love this salad, because it pretty much consists of a bunch of different things I love - pumpkin and pine nuts at the top of the list! (Oh and I think it has got to be very nutritious as well. But I mainly eat it because of the taste!) Here is my way of preparing it:

• Chop about 600g of pumpkin into small cubes. Toss them in a bowl with some olive oil, salt and pepper, and one crushed garlic clove. Bake in the oven until  tender in the middle.
• While that's baking, wash 150g of baby spinach leaves, then toss them with about a tablespoon of olive oil and a dash of balsamic vinegar. 
• Put some pine nuts onto a baking tray and toast them in the oven until they are slightly brown (a warning  - keep an eye on them because they can go from toasted to charred while your back is turned!)
• Chop a red onion into wedges and soften in the oven for about 5 minutes, when the pumpkin is nearly ready.
• Crumble up some goats cheese (or feta if you prefer) and toss with the spinach until just combined.
• Now put it all together! Arrange the spinach on your plate, then artfully place some onion and pumpkin on top, sprinkle the pine nuts and voilà. :) Mmmm yummy...