Chocolate Tart...

I'm sorry... I do try to be modest, but sometimes I come up with something that's so goddamn awesome that I just can't help getting excited about it...

Lots of people think that once you decide to live a healthier lifestyle, that's the end of interesting food. They're so far off the mark it's not even funny. Think about it... we've all got that friend, you know the one.... they go on the 'I'll eat a cube of cheese when I'm about to faint' diet.... then they can't take it any more and they eat ALL the cheese, and the cakes, and the Mars Bars and soon they've regained any weight they've lost and some more! 

Why does that happen? Because their diet plan wasn't sustainable.

The reason the 'Real Food Diet' is sustainable? Cos you can eat anything once you're creative and experiment with foods you've never tried before, or you've never dared to eat because you were busy avoiding red meat, eggs and anything else that contains fat. Realistically you're going to want dessert or a cookie at some stage in your life, why not make it one that's full of ingredients that are good for you! (Ok and as a disclaimer before you read on... I know dark chocolate isn't strictly Paleo, but the higher the cocoa content, the lower the sugar content.. just make smart choices,don't eat it all the time!) 

So...let's make some awesome desserts... 

Chocolate Tart (or 'Tart au Chocolat' if you're showing off... which I am!)

For the pastry case: 

• 200g almond flour
• 100g unsweetened dessicated coconut
• 50g melted coconut oil 
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• water 

Preheat oven to 160d (fan oven). 

Add all the ingredients except the water to a large mixing bowl. 

Stir together to form a stiff, dry dough. If the dough is crumbly, you may need to add some water. (This depends on the almond flour you're using so you'll just need to go with your gut). You want a firm but not too sticky dough, but not so dry that it's going to crack & crumble. (I know that's not really helpful!) 

Press into the base & sides of a loose base 9" flan tin. This should be simple enough if your dough is the correct consistency (think firm cookie dough). 

You need to bake the dough blind to prevent it burning (almond flour burns easily when the natural oils are released during cooking). This just means placing a sheet of baking parchment into the pastry case, and holding it down with ceramic baking beans, uncooked rice, lentils or even 2 knives in a cross shape! Improvise if you have to!! 

Place the case into the oven and bake for 20 minutes. When browned and firm, remove the parchment & baking beans & set aside to cool.

For the filling: 

• 1 large avocado, mashed
• 50g cocoa powder
• 100g dark chocolate (I used chocolate with 91% cocoa solids) 
• 1 tsp coconut oil
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tsp raw organic honey
• 400g Greek Yoghurt (ideally Fage... but Tesco do Greek yoghurt too. Just don't use Greek 'style'... it's not the same thing at all, lots of sugar and it's nowhere near as thick so the tart won't set)

Add the mashed avocado, cocoa, vanilla & honey to a bowl. 

Melt the chocolate & coconut oil together, and set aside to cool. 

Add the chocolate mixture to the avocado etc. 

I used a hand blender to purée the mixture so it was totally smooth & there were no lumps of avocado remaining.

Next fold in the Greek yoghurt. Make sure the chocolate mixture is 100% cool or the yoghurt will melt & separate. 

Pour into cooled pastry case. Spread evenly with a palette knife.

Decorate with fresh berries or nuts of choice. Leave to set in fridge for at least 2 hours before removing from tin & serving.

Honestly... this is incredible! Don't forget... these desserts are still only for treats, but they're super tasty & healthy :) 

Seed & Nut Bread

Lately I've been talking to a lot of people about nutrition, and getting lots of requests for healthy versions of the foods that they've always loved.

Irish people love bread. We love toast, scrambled eggs on toast, bacon sandwiches... Guess what? Bread isn't bad for you... not if you make this amazing loaf. It's packed with fantastic natural ingredients... seeds, nuts, flax & eggs. This recipe is inspired by a recipe on Elana's Pantry :) 

• 150g almond flour
• 200g ground flax seed
• 100g mixed seeds (I used pumpkin, sunflower & poppy)
• 40g walnuts, chopped
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tsp raw organic honey
• 1 tsp white wine vinegar
• 4 eggs
• extra seeds/nuts for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 170d (fan oven).

Start by adding all the dry ingredients to a large bowl. 

Whisk the liquid ingredients until frothy. Add to the dry ingredients. 

Mix until just combined. Don't over mix or you will have a dry dough. 

Spoon mixture into a loaf tin & top with extra seeds/nuts. 

Bake for 25 minutes until firm & golden. 

Remove from the tin and allow to cool on a wire rack. 

Chicken Parmigiana...

Chicken is boring right? Tastes like chicken etc etc.... I hate bland food. Grilling a piece of chicken & serving it with lettuce is a sure fire way to make me not eat it, and eat crap instead. What can I say... my taste buds are stuck up b*tches...

Chicken is not boring. It's actually the perfect meat to cook with... you can basically flavour it any way you choose since it hasn't got a really strong flavour to begin with.

I prepared all the ingredients for this meal in less than ten minutes, and left it to cook while I showered & tidied up. Be smart with your time... don't just stand there staring at the oven for 20 minutes, and then moan about how long your dinner takes. I wipe down the kitchen counter tops, sweep & mop the kitchen floor every evening as my dinner cooks. Why??? Cos I'm clearly a clean freak, but also I know that coming home to a clean & tidy house the next day is a great feeling.

There's no feeling of dread about having to clean because someone is visiting, or cos there's an ant invasion on your counter tops... That's stress right there... Small stress admittedly (actually ant invasions are pretty nasty stress), BUT my point is that all those little stresses have a huge impact on your body without you even realising it.... and we know that stress is bad for our health, our nutrition habits & fat loss goals so..... clean the bloody kitchen! :)

Right... the chicken... it's delicious! Simple ingredients are the best.. Make this for dinner & it'll become an instant favourite :) (And no... it may not look amazing... but it tastes so good!)

Oh... and you get to bash the crap out of the chicken... there goes more stress!!

• 1 large chicken breast
• sea salt 
• paprika
• passata/chopped tomatoes
• grated cheese of your choice

Start by butterflying the chicken breast. (Using a sharp knife, cut a slit 3/4 way horizontally in to the breast)

Cover with a piece of cling film/tin foil, and using a rolling pin/saucepan or anything else heavy in your kitchen...whack the chicken repeated until it's well flattened... Great fun! 

Season with salt & paprika. Place in a heatproof dish, cover with tin foil & set aside while you prepare the vegetables. 

I'm addicted to roasting vegetables lately... they just taste so much nicer than stir frying them... and they're perfect lazy food ... all you've to do is chop them roughly & pop them in the oven. You can use any combination of vegetables you have, drizzle with a little melted coconut oil & season. Simple.... 

You can now put the chicken & vegetables into the oven. Cook for 12-15 minutes (the chicken will cook quickly since it's so thin). 

Once the chicken is cooked, remove the tin foil & add toppings... 

Add a generous amount of passata/canned chopped tomatoes/leftover home made tomato sauce....season well with chilli flakes & fresh herbs. If you're using canned tomatoes/passata, I'd suggest adding garlic powder too... just mix it all in a bowl before topping the chicken.

Top with 2 tbsp of grated cheese. You can use mozzarella, cheddar, goats cheese or whatever you feel like here. I used oak smoked cheddar. 

Place the chicken back in the oven for 5 minutes (uncovered) to allow the cheese to melt, and for it to warm through. 

Serve with your roasted vegetables. 

Wasn't that quick? 30 minutes after I started, I've got a delicious healthy dinner, I've showered & the kitchen is sparkling. Now what was that about it being difficult or too time consuming to cook????

Chocolate Chip Cookies

I must admit, I've experimented lots with grain free cookies, but they've always fallen short of expectations.. I blame coconut flour. As much as I love the coconut flavour it gives food, I absolutely hate the way it tends to dry out recipes and leaves food a little grey..

These cookies are really nice, they're crunchy & a little chewy at the same time... You do need a little bit of time on your hands though since you'll need to chill the dough for a few hours to allow them to firm up. It's worth the wait!

• 60g coconut oil, melted
• 1 tsp organic vanilla extract
• 3 tbsp raw organic honey
• 1 egg
• 175g ground almonds
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 50g chopped Paleo friendly chocolate or any chocolate with a high cocoa solid content... 

Start by beating the melted coconut oil, vanilla, honey & egg together until well combined.

Next, add the dry ingredients and stir until just combined.

That's it!... Best & easiest recipe ever!!! Leave the cookie dough in the fridge for 2-3 hours. This allows the coconut oil to harden, giving you a firm dough. If you skip this step, you will have greasy cookies.... don't say I didn't warn you....

Once the cookies are chilled, take generous teaspoon size mounds of dough and roll into balls.

Place on a non stick baking tray, and flatten gently with your finger tips. The cookies only spread a tiny bit, so don't worry about leaving much room between them.

Bake for 10-12 minutes at 160d (fan oven), until the cookies are firm & golden brown.

Allow to cool on the baking tray, or just eat them warm...You can freeze the dough too, but I know you're not going to do that!

Caramel Slice

I posted a photo of these healthy Twix bars on the Facebook page & took them to a training & nutrition seminar on Saturday.... I was pretty thrilled with the feedback. I love showing people that even if you want a snack (lets face it, we all do at some stage), you don't need to go for the really unhealthy choice...

Shortbread base:

• 275g unsalted butter
• 2 tbsp raw organic honey
• 1 tsp organic vanilla extract
• 1 large egg yolk
• 140g almond flour
• 40g coconut flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda

Preheat oven to 170d (fan).

Start by beating the butter, honey, vanilla & egg yolk together until everything is combined with no lumps remaining.

Next add the dry ingredient & stir well until you have a stiff dough. It will still be quite sticky, but should be firm.

Press into an 8x8' square tin lined with grease proof paper & bake in preheated oven for 25-30 minutes.

If you find it's browning too quickly, just place a sheet of tin foil over the tin to prevent it from burning. It's ready when it's golden brown and firm.

As the base is cooling, you can get started on the caramel filling...

Filling:

• 10 figs softened in boiling water for 10 minutes (you can use dates here too... I used figs because of their lower sugar content & cos I already had some!) 
• 50g pecan nuts
• 1/2 can of coconut milk (refrigerated overnight... just scoop the thick cream from the top half of the can. Keep the coconut water to add to a smoothie) 
• 2 tbsp raw organic honey
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 tbsp coconut oil, melted 

Ok listen up! 

Do not, I repeat do not add all these ingredients to the food processor at once... I always forget this, and end up covered in coconut milk! Just believe me alright! 

Start by adding the figs & pecans. Pulse until you have a thick paste. Scrape down the sides if you need to. 

Next add the liquid ingredients GRADUALLY. Yes, I'm shouting at you... cos you think I'm exaggerating here... I'm not! Just do as you're told... And yes, I know in the photo, I threw everything in at once.. this is the reason my kitchen wall needs to be painted now! Do as I say, and not as I do etc etc....

Once all the liquid is incorporated, you should have a thick caramel.

Spread over the cooled shortbread base. 

Chocolate topping: 

Next... whip up a batch of this homemade Paleo friendly chocolate, or I guess you could use super dark chocolate if you want... but make sure it's 85% cocoa solids at least... none of that milk chocolate crap! The higher to cocoa content, the lower the sugar content :) 

Cover the caramel with your chocolate. 

Allow to set at room temperature overnight, or for 2/3 hours at least. 

Cut into slices. I got 24 bars from this recipe. 

Pigs & Cows in blankets

I've mentioned I'm not a fan of New Year's resolutions...BUT if I'd to mention one thing that I'm going to change in 2014, it's my intake of fat. It's really hard to break some habits, and since it's been embedded into my mind that low fat diets are good... I've found that my diet still doesn't have enough fat in it... Of course I'm talking about healthy fats... the same principle applies when choosing your food, we're not going to buy anything processed just because it's high fat (chances are it's going to be a trans fat anyway). Keep it real and you'll be fine... 

I was always fascinated by pigs in blankets... you know what I'm talking about? They're little sausages wrapped in bacon. Delicious! Problem is.... sausages are basically a little bit of meat, mixed with all kinds of fillers wrapped in synthetic casing.... Not really what we're looking to be eating... Even the gluten free ranges aren't the best... they replace wheat with potato starch & other unpronounceables.. .

SO... long story short, get friendly with your butcher... ask him to make you some sausage meat.. all meat & spices (be sure to say you don't want the grains or sugar added)...buy a decent quantity and freeze it in small batches... it's no doubt a pain for him to clean out his mincer just for you to get 100g of meat! Or make it yourself... I've yet to give this a try, but I'll keep you informed :) 

Anyway, as usual I disgress... 

• 100g minced beef (buy the best you can, otherwise you may end up with 'horse in blankets')
• 1 tbsp tomato purée
• pinch of salt
• chilli flakes
• cayenne pepper
• 4 pieces of smokey streaky bacon (cut in half lengthwise)
• 50g cheddar
• 75g sausage meat

Start by mixing the minced beef & tomato purée together...Season to taste (I used cayenne pepper, chilli flakes & salt). 

On a chopping board/tin foil, lay out 4 pieces of bacon side by side. Using the remaining bacon, weave each piece through each alternative bacon slice on the chopping board. You're looking to create a bacon blanket! 

In the centre of your 'blanket', place the minced beef mixture & flatten to cover the centre. 

Next you're adding the cheese layer, I added chunks of smoked cheddar for this, but you can use whatever cheese you like. Again, just make sure it's actual cheese and not 'Cheez'.. 

Add a layer of the sausage meat and press down well. 

Finally, wrap the pigs & cows in the 'blanket' to seal in all the flavour, and stop the melted cheese from escaping! Cover with tin foil to prevent the bacon burning...

Place in a preheated oven (190d fan) for 30 minutes. Remove the tin foil and allow the bacon to brown & crisp for a further 5 minutes. 

This is great hot or cold. Just double the quantities and you'll have a great lunch to take with you tomorrow :)