Sweet Potato chips: vegan, gluten free

Oh yeah!  Today is the last day of my 30 Day Ab challenge.  For anyone who is new to the blog – it went like this…:

30 day Abs workout

I think after all that, I need a 30 day stretch challenge!  Or maybe some squats???  Anyway…

My hubby has become a whole lot more adventurous in the food he will eat.  We once had an argument because I had included some yellow ‘spaceship squash’ in our soup.  He initially balked at the idea of eating venison or rabbit (sorry for the suggestion to my vegan and vegetarian readers).  He did not like the idea of Meat-free Mondays, but now enjoys lentils, homemade veggie burgers, pasta dishes and any number of ideas I come up with.

This week Ben said I could serve him some sweet potato – something he would never try before. He suggested I put a bit of sweet potato mash on his plate but, remembering my first experience of sweet potato, I didn’t think this was the best introduction to a fab vegetable.

Zen bowl: vegetarian, gluten free

I was totally inspired by Nutritionist in the Kitch to make a Zen bowl.  Come to that I was also inspired to make the pancakes – but they were a complete disaster!  I’m sticking to smoothies and overnight oats for breakfast at the moment – much less opportunity to mess it up.

Scratch that – I know I’m going to keep trying until I get it right…

Anyway, the Zen Bowl.

Zen bowl

Butterbean bites: vegetarian, gluten free

I’ve been trying to master vegan and gluten free falafel and veggie burgers, but I seem to have trouble getting them to stick together.  I don’t want to fry them, so I have been trying to bake them, but they always crumble.

I have in the past had success at making veggie burgers with egg and breadcrumbs to bind.  But, I really wanted to make vegan and gluten free. I’ve settled for making them gluten free, for now. I’ll keep working on vegan baked falafel.

I had some leftover butterbeans and rice, so I thought i would give it a go.

butterbean bites

Clean eating

I saw this picture and it made me smile

I’m always getting those comments:

you’re skinny, why are you on a diet

you’ve been to the gym, you can eat that cake

you don’t eat any fat

you don’t eat sugar

you’re blog is about food with no calories

OK, yes, I don’t eat fried foods, and I am happy to turn down cakes and biscuits/cookies when they are in the office.  I try to explain that, I eat healthy, unprocessed food.  Yes, I exercise, but I also eat healthily.  I saw a good quote on the Skinny Confidential:

“You can’t exercise your way out of a bad diet”
Mark Hyman

Gorgeous Gooseberry Smoothie

Firstly a shout out to those people who know me and read my blog!  Do stop and say hi!  I love to know what you think, what you want, and if you like something I might even bring you a sample!

For those who keep saying, “I should try your recipes”: YES, you should! 🙂

Here’s an easy one to get you started.  No one wants to cook in this heat, so I’ve been eating yummy smoothies for breakfast.  I don’t advocate those smoothies full of fruit, and high in sugar.  I try to keep to natural ingredients, and only one fruit per smoothie.  This one breaks the one fruit rule, but gooseberries are low in sugar, and there is only a small amount of banana for sweetness.  I might try it again without.

I’ve even provided a relatively ‘normal’ smoothie, without spinach, other vegetables, and with ingredients you can get from the supermarket rather than making an online order or a trip to the health food shop.

I had to google the benefits of gooseberries, as they aren’t widely touted.  Gooseberries have only 44 calories per 100g, and the same amount contains almost vhalf of your daily intake of vitamin c.  They also contain vitamin A and a number of b vitamins in small quantities – every little helps!

This smoothie came about because my in-laws brought me gooseberries, and my Mother in Law suggested (I think tongue in cheek) that I make a smoothie.  It was too good an opportunity to miss.

Gorgeous Gooseberry Smoothie
Serves 1

• 80g gooseberries
• 40g frozen banana
• 100ml probiotic yogurt drink or vegan alternative
• 100g silken tofu
• 10g vanilla protein powder
• 2-5g fresh ginger, to taste.

Simply put all the ingredients in your blender and blitz.  I started with the liquid yogurt drink to protect the blades of my food processor, and the banana and gooseberries to get them as processed as possible.  Then I added the protein powder, tofu and ginger and gave it another good blitz.  I didn’t even notice the gooseberry seeds, but you could strain it if you have a particular problem with seeds.

Read more

Nutrition and you:  Gooseberries

Health benefits of gooseberry

Summer pudding overnight oats: vegan, gluten free, no added sugar

My fabulous colleague gave me some redcurrants from her garden – isn’t she lovely!  Redcurrants say to me one thing – summer pudding.

redcurrants

For the uninitiated, summer pudding is a casing of white bread which soaks up the juices from the filling of syrupy redcurrants, and other summer fruit such as blackcurrants, raspberries etc.

It was my Grampy’s favourite, and he liked it sharp!  As it turns out it’s Grampy’s birthday, so in memory of him I am posting my healthy take on summer pudding.

Grampy

Now, on Monday I would have said: yeah, I’ll replace the white bread with thin slices of wholemeal bread fill with redcurrants – it’s ‘clean’ and yummy.  BUT, on Tuesday I noticed that I was looking rather bloated.  Then I realised it coincided with my decision to eat bread again.

I keep thinking: What’s all the fuss about?  I’m sure eating wheat is fine and I’m not one of those who is sensitive to gluten.  But then I notice I’m bloated, and it’s only then that I put 2 + 2 together.  Humph, I guess I had better stick to it in future.

So, next best thing – overnight oats.

Avocado noodle salad: gluten free, vegan option, raw option

Mmm…I really like this when I make it.  I have it for a few days, then I forget about it.  I resurrected the recipe this week.

With all the hot weather we are having, I fancied a light salad.  I didn’t want to do any cooking – just a bit of throwing it all together.

And I got to use my spiraliser again – whoop whoop!  I love that thing.

There was a time when I wouldn’t eat avocado.  Known as a high fat fruit/vegetable (technically it is a fruit because it has a stone) I wouldn’t touch it.  But I’ve seen the light, and know that it is full of ‘good’ fats and lots of vitamins.

Gooseberry crumble slice

gooseberries

Whats green and hairy and goes up and down?

A gooseberry in a lift. 😀

OK, so that’s a really cheesy joke – sorry!

The in laws came round at the weekend and brought me this big pile of gooseberries.  I love getting free food grown in someones garden (who doesn’t).  I once had a vegetable patch, and I’ve tried growing vegetables in tubs in the past.  It’s a no go at the flat though.

I was berry very pleased to get the goodies – but I didn’t really know what to do with them.  Ben doesn’t like them so they are all for me. Mother in law challenged me to make a smoothie – so expect one of these in the coming days.  They also make a nice tart sauce for some meats, but I tend to eat my fruit at breakfast.

Edamame amaranth burgers: vegan, gluten free

I guess I could call these Edamaranth burgers – but then you wouldn’t know what I was banging on about.  This was my second attempt at making burgers with amaranth – my first attempt at was a bit of a disaster.

not gone to plan

I outlined some of the nutritional benefits of amaranth before, but a quick recap:

• Amaranth is a seed, but can be used as a ‘grain’ in recipes
• Amaranth contains more protein than any other gluten-free grains, including lysine, ‘albumins’ and ‘globulins’ which are easier to digest than wheat proteins
• Amaranth contains more iron, magnesium and fibre than other gluten-free grains
• Amaranth is second only to teff in calcium content
• Amaranth contains Vitamin E in similar amounts to olive oil

blackforest smoothie: chocolate and cherry

Happy Monday!  Let this smoothie welcome you back to the working week.

I had some cherries left from making my birthday muffins.  Ben kindly pitted them for me, and I froze them.  Perfect for making a yummy high protein smoothie!