Stuffed Pork Steak...

Yeah that's right... STUFFED pork steak..... stuffed with STUFFING!

Since stuffing is generally made with breadcrumbs, it's definitely not something that pops up in my recipes. Until I made this Seed & Nut Bread... this changes everything!

Certain foods just need to be stuffed, and pork steak is one of them. I find it dries out & lacks flavour if it's not cooked carefully.

For the stuffing:

50g breadcrumbs
100g grain free sausage meat
50g finely chopped sun-dried tomatoes (not dried in vegetable oil)
2 stalks of celery, chopped
handful of fresh parsley
sea salt
freshly cracked black pepper

Mix all the ingredients together until you have a well combined ball of stuffing. Use your hands... don't be a baby!

To prepare the pork steak:

• 1 large pork steak
• 1 quantity sausage meat stuffing 
• 150g streaky bacon

Start by creating a pocket in the pork steak. Using a sharp knife, slice 2/3 into the pork steak. 

Press the stuffing into the pocket firmly. 

Next using a rolling pin, flatten the bacon between two sheets of baking parchment (this just makes them slightly thinner and spread out a little... the thinner the pieces are, the crispier they'll get) 

Pull each side of the pork streak together & wrap tightly with the flattened bacon. 

Place in a Pyrex baking dish, cover with tin foil (to prevent the bacon burning) and cook at 170d for 45 minutes. 

After 45 minutes, remove the tin foil. Turn on the grill, and brown the bacon for 3-5 minutes. 

It's really important not to overcook pork or it gets really dry & stringy... Do as you're told & this meat literally falls apart when you go to carve it & seriously, it tastes incredible! 

I grilled some mushrooms & tomatoes using some of the cooking juice from the meat and wilted a little spinach in the wok. This literally takes less than 5 minutes so you can do it as you're waiting for the pork to brown. 

I hate waste... so I added 2 tbsp of the cooking juices to some homemade garlic & herb aioli I had leftover. AMAZING!!!

The leftover meat is going to make a fantastic breakfast!! 

Coconut Pancakes

I posted a photo of these pancakes on the Facebook page yesterday and they got lots of attention.... Thing is, I had them for lunch. How can you eat pancakes for lunch when your goal is fat loss??

Well... it's pretty simply! First of all these pancakes are full of fantastic ingredients which won't affect your goals. They're high fat & protein and low carb...Secondly, and most importantly, I'm smart about it.... if I have something like this for lunch that's a little high on the calorie side, you can be sure that the rest of my meals are planned with this in mind. I'm not for one second suggesting that you should eat pancakes every day of the week.... BUT if you're going to, make it these beauties :) 

For the pancakes:

• 3 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 tbsp coconut milk (or full fat cow's milk) 
• 1 tbsp coconut flour
• 1 scoop protein powder of your choice (usually approx 25g)
• 1 tbsp dessicated coconut
• 2 tsp baking powder

Whisk all the ingredients together in a large bowl until light & fluffy. 

The mixture will be quite runny at this stage, so you need to put it in the fridge for 15 minutes. Coconut flour absorbs a lot of moisture, but it takes a few minutes to do this & give you a thick pancake batter. 

While you're waiting.... you can make the most amazing topping for pancakes ever...Frozen raspberry fluff!! 

For the fluff (can't believe I'm calling it fluff but hey... it tastes good!)..

• 60g frozen raspberries 
• 1 scoop protein powder (I used vanilla whey protein)
• 2 tbsp Greek Yoghurt

Blend together in a food processor/using a hand blender & watch it form a frothy pink fluff! 

By now your pancakes will be ready to cook, so pop the fluff into the freezer until you need it to keep it like frozen yoghurt... 

To cook the pancakes: 

Simple cooking at it's best... 

Melt a little coconut oil in a frying pan, drop large spoonfuls of the batter onto the hot oil. 

Don't attempt to flip the pancakes until you see little air bubbles on the surface of the pancakes. This means the underside is cooked. 

To assemble your mountain of pancakes:

Take your frozen yoghurt from the freezer. It will have solidified slightly at this stage. You can use a stick blender to break up any ice crystals that have formed. 

Simple really... a pancake, a layer of fluff & repeat.... 

Watch the warm pancakes melt the fluff slightly....Yum! 

Drizzle the top of the mountain with the remaining fluff. 

To decorate, I drizzled with a teaspoon of Keen Almond Butter, some flaked coconut & a raspberry. 

It took serious self control to have the patience to take photos before devouring these!! While it's a real treat to have something like this... there's lot of healthy fats from the coconut, eggs & Greek Yoghurt, and they're a great protein source....

YUM! 

Super Spicy Crispy Chicken Wings...

We seem to be a little snobbish about chicken... everyone wants chicken breasts, and the rest of the chicken gets ignored... I guess it comes back to the whole 'fat is the devil' perception. Well now that we know that fat isn't actually bad for you, we can make the most of the really tasty parts of the chicken. Best of all?? They're super cheap cos nobody seems to want them...

I love chicken wings, but they're really not something I'd ever order if I was out for dinner.... mainly cos table manners go out the window when it comes to eating wings. So... chicken wings get cooked at home, as an incredibly simple but delicious dinner.

Girls... cook these for the man in your life and they'll think you're a legend... men don't want pretty dishes, they want meat. Give a man lots of meat for his dinner & squat often and he'll think you're awesome... which clearly you are! Guys... if a girl is happy to munch on wings in front of you, then you're either just a friend, or she adores you... cos let's face it, there's no way you're looking attractive eating these!

If you follow me on Facebook, you may have seen my post about the ingredients of popular brand of chicken wings...

Ingredients: Chicken Wing Sections, Water, Salt, Rice Starch, Sodium Phosphates, Spice Extractives, Maltodextrin, Extractives of Garlic and Onion.
Battered and Breaded with: Water, Bleached Wheat Flour, Wheat Flour, Modified Food Starch, Yellow Corn Flour, Wheat Gluten, Salt, Leavening (Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate, Sodium Bicarbonate), Rice Flour, Spices, Spice Extractives, Extractives of Paprika, Sugar, Onion Powder, Yeast, Xanthan Gum.
CONTAINS: WHEAT.
Prepared in vegetable oil (canola oil, corn oil, soybean oil, hydrogenated soybean oil with TBHQ and citric acid added to preserve freshness).
Dimethylpolysiloxane added as an antifoaming agent.

Wow... that's a long list.... As a rule, and it's a pretty simple rule to follow, don't eat anything with more than 5 ingredients on the label or unpronounceable ingredients...

Make these instead!!!

For the coating:

• almond flour
• paprika
• cayenne pepper
• cumin
• turmeric
• sea salt
• egg, beaten

No need to be too exact here... basically toss almond flour with as much/as little as you like of the above spices ...

Dip each wing in beaten egg & coat in spice mix. 

Once all the wings are coated, drizzle with melted coconut oil & bake at 170d for about 20 minutes until cooked through. 

For the spicy glaze: 

• Franks Original Hot sauce (the only bottled sauce I'll use because it's actually pretty decent stuff... don't buy the 'Wings' version... it has sugar added!) 
• Tomato Purée
• 1 tbsp melted coconut oil or 2 tbsp butter (if you're ok with dairy)

Best & simplest recipe in the world... just add as much of each as you want... 

Toss the wings in the glaze. 

Melt a little coconut oil in a frying pan, and cook the wings for a further 5 minutes to allow them to get crispy and browned. 

Once cooked, drizzle with a more hot sauce & melted coconut oil & serve. 

I'm a bit of a baby about really spicy stuff, and since I went a bit mad with the paprika & cayenne pepper, I served this with a quick yoghurt dipping sauce to balance the flavours & didn't go too mad with the hot sauce at the end... You should definitely go mad & toss them in hot sauce though!

For the dip: 

• Equal parts Greek yoghurt & coconut milk
• chopped fresh coriander

Mix together & serve...Pretty simple right? 

The food you love doesn't need to be full of unhealthy ingredients. Experiment with natural herbs & spices and you'll be amazed how much you enjoy the food you cook. 

If you're in doubt....send me a message on Facebook... I'm pretty delighted with the amount of people who are taking the time to send me messages to ask questions and advice, keep them coming... I'll always reply & try to help :) 

Oh... you'll find me here... https://www.facebook.com/grabbinglifebythekettlebells 

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????