oat and vanilla cookies

Ingredients

3.5 oz butter
1.75 oz coconut sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
2oz barley flour
1.5 oz almond flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1.75 oz porridge oats
3 tbl almond butter (meridian organic if you can because it's the nicest but technically any almond butter will work)
Oven temp 180c (fan oven)

1. Cream the butter until soft and then add sugar and vanilla essence and mix some more.
2. Add the three tbl almond butter and mix well.
3. Mix the two flours with the baking powder and gently mix in.
4. Stir in oats and bring together to form a dough
5. Roll into a log and wrap in cling film. allow to chill in the fridge for at least 30 mins.
6. Remove the cling film and slice about 15 cookies from the roll
7. place on a baking tray and cook for about 12-15 mins (or until lightly golden)

Chocolatey buns

This recipe still needs a little tweaking but I wanted to share it anyway.
I just took a standard butterfly buns recipe from the bake cookbook and then changed pretty much all the ingredients so I could eat them :)

To make these you will need a hand mixer, mixing bowl, bun tin, bun cases and the following ingredients.

for the buns
3 oz of almond flour
3 oz of barley flour
2 eggs
4 1/2 oz butter
1 tbl vanilla essence
4 - 6 tbl coconut sugar
1tbl baking powder

for the icing
Coconut oil
green and blacks cocoa powder
maple syrup
rock salt

Mix the butter with the electric mixer until light and fluffy and then add the sugar and mix it some more. (I used 4 tbl but I think it might need a little more to make them just sweet enough)
add the eggs one by one and vanilla essence mixing some more with the hand mixer.
Mix the two flours and baking powder and gradually fold into the mixture.
When its all well mixed spoon it into cupcakes and put in a pre heated over 180C (fan oven) or 200C (conventional oven) for about 12 minutes
Leave to cool in the tray and when cold pour the icing to the middle of the cupcake and allow to drizzle outwards.

The icing
Add 4 tbl of coconut oil to a saucepan on a low heat and allow to melt
once melted add two tablespoons cocoa powder and mix thoroughly
then add a sprinkle of salt and maple syrup to taste ( add a spoonful and taste and if not sweet enough add more)
allow to set on buns (should only take about 10 mins or so) and then try not to eat them all yourself

really good protein bars

This is own adapted recipe for the yummiest protein bars I have ever eaten.
I first made protein bars as a way of getting more protein and then just as a sweet snack but now they have become something I only make occasionally because of the fact that I usually end up eating the whole batch in 2-3 days. Hopefully you will have slightly more restraint than me.

Ingredients.
2 scoops Sunwarrior chocolate Protein powder (Use the scoop that comes with the bag of protein)
2 scoops ground almonds
5 scoops porridge oats
a pinch of salt
Sunflower seeds
a handful chopped mixed nuts
 a dollop of Maple syrup
2 1/2 table spoons of coconut oil.
3 tablespoons of nut butter

1. Put the sunflower seeds on a tray, sprinkle with salt and put in the oven for about 2-3 mins until nicely toasted.

2. Mix the protein powder ( I use Sunwarrior rice protein in chocolate but really any protein works provided it has a flavor. If you use a non flavored protein the bars may turn out a little bland), ground almonds and porridge oats in a bowl.

3. Add the chopped nuts. I use pre chopped almonds (from the baking aisle of the supermarket) and then I chop some walnuts and pecans but really you can use any nuts you like or dried fruit if you prefer.

4. Add a capful or two of maple syrup and mix that in before adding the nut butter ( I use almond butter because it's the business but you can also use peanut, pecan, cashew or hazelnut butter) and mix until all the dry ingredients are looking a bit more sticky.

5. Melt two tablespoons of coconut oil and add slowly until the mixture is nice and sticky.

6. Here comes the messy part. Take handfuls of the bar mix and shape it into bar shapes, packing the mixture as tightly as you can and place it on an oven tray or plate.

7. Place in the fridge overnight and prepare for deliciousness.

8. Try not to eat all the bars at once.

There's more than one way to cook a fish.

I have spent years telling people how much I hate fish. Bleugh the smell, the texture , the very Idea I might eat some thing with eyes. No thank you. If you've ever read Dr Seuss's green eggs and ham you might have guessed where this is going. I had eaten fish fingers briefly as a child before they got blacklisted along with a million other foods so when I was trying to up my protein intake (There's only so many eggs a girl can eat) I bravely sampled some gluten free fish fingers and miraculously did not die. This went on for a few weeks while I tried to accept the fact that I was eating fish and it was actually okay  and then I went a step further and decided I was going to buy a fillet of hake (having been told it's the mildest of fish) and actually cook and eat it. I did and I lived and I've cooked it a few times since. So in case you're bored of fish the way you eat it or you're like me bravely broadening your cullinary horizons here's a few of the ways I have cooked hake.
I'm just putting the instructions for the hake cooking here, you'll have to decide what vegetables or other sides you'd like to accompany the fish all by yourself.

1) Pan fried. Season the hake with salt, pepper or other herbs. ( I bought an Italian herb grinder in my local supermarket and I seasoned my fish with it the other night, it was delicious). Heat a frying pan on a medium to high heat for about five minutes before adding coconut oil. Allow that to melt fully and heat before adding the fish. Cook for about 4-5 minutes on each side.

2) Pan fried another way. Heat a saucepan on a medium heat and melt some butter on it. Once butter is melted add soya sauce and maple syrup and mix it all together.Allow it to heat up a little before adding the hake. Cook for about 6 minutes each side or until you see the fillet has cooked through.

3) Pan fried and almost battered. Pour some coconut flour on a plate and add salt, pepper and lemon rind and mix it around. Roll the the hake fillet around in the mixture making sure it's fully coated and fry on a low to medium heat until it's thoroughly cooked. Squeeze some lemon juice on cooked fish to serve.

4) Oven steamed hake. Get an oven tray and sprinkle some water on it. Lay a sheet of tinfoil on top of the tray and place the hake fillet on the tinfoil. Place a small amount of butter in the centre of the fillet (and some lemon rind if you like) and then cover the fish using the tinfoil but make sure to create a tent with the tinfoil (to allow air to circulate) Place in preheated oven for about 30 minutes. Squeeze lemon juice over the fish to serve.

5) Potatey hake bake. How much fish and potatoes you need depends on how many people you are cooking this for. I live all by my lonesome so I have cooked this in a tiny oven dish. And I used a potato and a half plus a fillet of hake, some olive oil, a smidgen of butter and loads of rosemary and thyme. Adjust quantities for more servings.
First peal the potatoes and cut into thin slices and then boil for 2 -3 minutes. Get your oven dish and coat the bottom with potato slices. Once that is covered, place the hake on the potatoes. Chop rosemary and thyme and sprinkle liberally over the fish and then cover the fish with potato slices. Drizzle olive oil over the top layer of potatoes and add a little butter before popping it in the over and cooking for about 30 minutes.

eh voila, enjoy

Pancakes

If you had told me a year ago that I could make pancakes without wheat or sugar or milk Id probably have laughed so hard a little wee ran down my leg but color me impressed because with a little help from my sister and a little bravery on my part I have done the impossible and they were really delicious om nom nom.

Makes 8 american style pancakes (drop scones) or more if you go for the skinnier regular pancake.

Ingredients

4 oz barley flour
2 oz almond flour (ground almonds)
1 tea spoon baking soda
2 table spoons coconut sugar
2 eggs (beaten)
coconut milk (as needed)

Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl and then slowly mix through the egg.
Gradually add milk until you have the right consistency. Use less milk if you want to go for
an american style pancake or more if you don't. I made sure to stop before the mixture became too runny.

Heat a frying pan on a medium heat until it's hot and then add the oil ( The food absorbs less oil if you do this and it means the first pancake doesn't turn out greasy. It's genius really) Fry until bubbles start to appear and then flip the pancake and fry it until it turns golden brown.

And then enjoy om nom nom. I had mine with a little butter but you could also try maple syrup and lemon and a few berries or what ever topping you like.

If you prefer you can use water, regular milk or another substitute milk like almond or soya in place of the coconut milk.

New life new rules.

So I'm starting another blog. I'm not sure if it's a good idea yet but I've never been one to let that stop me.
I have mentioned more than once in my other blog that I've made some pretty significant changes to my diet so this new blog is to detail my cooking adventures both successes and disasters and any helpful tips I pick up along the way. I learn from my mistakes so keep reading if you'd like to learn the easy way and not repeat  my disasters.

So if you would like to know what I'm dealing with here are some of my diet limitations. Firstly I'm a vegetarian and I've always been one (if you don't count the odd cocktail sausage and you really shouldn't because there's really so little meat in them and I don't eat them any more) and I'm from a family of vegetarians. That's right, there's more of us. I don't think that's somethings that is going to change as meat holds little appeal for me.

I am intolerant to wheat. Not quite as bad as being a coeliac but still pretty limiting. Now before you say you could never give up bread let me tell you I used to eat a ridiculous amount of bread and I'd eat biscuits and buns and pizza. Lots and lots of wheat all the time until it started making me so sick that I couldn't eat it anymore and if you know how there's plenty of ways around it.

I am not eating sugar right now. Admittedly this is voluntary so I could just as easily eat sugar but right now I don't so I'll be telling you how I cope without it. I just felt like my sugar consumption was getting out of hand and I had so much difficulty exercising control over it that it actually felt easier to not eat it at all. Well it got easier once the withdrawal wore off. I'm going to be looking at recipes with sugar alternatives but that are still delicious.

oh yes and if all that wasn't bad enough I have IBS which I'm working on keeping under control. I don't eat fast food and I steer clear of pretty much all processed food but I've recently gone on an elimination diet called the FODMAP diet to try and workout which foods are causing problems for me and which ones are ok. Below is the food list of what is and isn't allowed on this.

The foods in red are short chain carbohydrates which are known to create digestive problems for anyone with Irritable bowel or similar conditions. So yep that's a lot of foods. I have recently started eating fish which has broadened my horizons just a little but I'm going to start trying to make new things. I'll be experimenting and documenting it all on here. Maybe you'll find something to delicious to cook or perhaps you'll just laugh so hard you'll wet yourself. Even I don't know how this is going to turn out yet.