Pumpkin Pie Brownies

Really nice treat for a cold winter afternoon, you wouldn't tell these are so healthy, sugar, dairy, gluten and grain free!

oh yeah - and super simple to make :)

Ingredients


2 Eggs
1/2 cup Almond Butter
1/2 cup Pumpkin Puree
1/3 cup Maple Syrup
2 tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice
2 tsp Vanilla
1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Baking Soda


Directions

Preheat oven to 180C, Generously grease an 8 x 8 pan with either coconut oil or butter. I actually used a round flan dish and it was ok. In a medium bowl whisk the eggs. Add the almond butter, pumpkin, maple syrup and whisk mixing well. Add the rest of the ingredients and do a final whisk mixing well. Pour into prepared 8 x 8 pan. Bake for approx 25 min at 350. Edges will be golden brown and toothpick should come out clean. I cut it into 16 bars and figure 2 bars as a serving.

recipe from Beyond Diet

11 months, 3 weeks to a party

so Harry is now 11 and a half months, well, I say that but we do have a whole 3 weeks until his birthday. 3 week until my gorgeous little guy is no longer considered a baby. Really?

Yes really.

If you have you been reading this blog for a while you probable remember I am from a rather large family. Put that together with my passion for baking and of course I had to plan a nice birthday party for my little guy.

I just can't explain how much I love the whole party planning thing. It can be hard to get everything done - proper and in time - still I like sitting down and planning it all, with loads of help from google and amazon of course!

Choosing the them was easy, Harry loves In the Night Garden - specially Makka Pakka - so that was helpful to guide me towards the right table cloth, baloons and so on. To keep it cheap - I have just gone back to work and can't really spend much - we will not go full on with the themed decorations but that does helps when you have to decide on what invites and cake to make.

Also to keep it in budget, I'll be cooking most of the food. That's only possible because my sister is coming over from  Brasil (sorry can't write that with Z, that hurst) and that means an extra pair of hands, as a bonus those two hands are as used to organising parties as my own. One great idea I came up with - I know I know blowing my own trumpet here - was to serve pimm's cocktails to the grown ups. Since the party will happen on a picnic vibe I thought juice and water for the little ones and iced tea and pimm's for the big ones would be a good option in terms of taste and price.

I found a really nice sugar free recipe for the babies' cakes and will be topping it with this deliciously healthy sweet potato frosting, I know it all sounds a bit tree hugging but I promise you they are amazing and not too sweet either!
I will make the little ones their own individual cupcakes so they can play and smash and eat however they like. For the grown ups I'll make my favourite chocolate cake and I found these really cute hand made In the Night Garden baloon weights and am trying to find a way to use them as cake toppers. Wait and see.

That's it, I just can't control myself as I am super excited about through Harry's first birthday party and I can't wait to have our family and friends together, the only thing I'm sorry about is that my big Brazilian family won't be there with us but at least my sister will be here to represent them.

That's it, on the next few weeks I'll be putting it all together and keeping my fingers crossed for us to have good weather on that lovely day. What do you think of birthday party for little ones?

a couple of weeks ago I discovered this great healthy eating plan names Diet Solution Program, the whole idea is to eliminate processed foods and eat loads of delicious fresh, natural and organic foods that will nourish you and keep you healthy allowing your body to slowly get into the correct weight.

this recipe is just a sample of a great meal that was well within the DSP and still is the kind of thing I would've cooked on a lazy Saturday morning which was the case today.

One thing has to be said, this is no miracle solution, I'm finding relatively easy but have gradually started cutting down on processed foods months ago but I see on the website - they have a really good community as a support tool - that some people struggle a bit, mostly when they went from being junk food addicts to a brand new super healthy life style.

I will be talking a bit more about the philosophy behind this program but for now I leave you with this very simple but super healthy recipe:

OMELET (lactose free by the way, I think for the first time in my life i am eating omelets without lashes of cheese)

2 eggs

1 rash of bacon (make it organic and without Nitrate)

1/2 cup of peppers

1/2 cup of spinach

3 olives

1 shallot

2tsp of butter

salt, pepper and dried chives for seasoning.

beat the eggs with salt and pepper to taste.reserve

put the butter into a cold frying pan (I actually use a wok because mine is non stick) and add the chopped shallots, its important that the pan is cold at the beginning at this will allow the butter to heat up slowly.

do not let the butter go brown, put the shallots to the side and pour in the eggs. add all the other ingredients and then turn the omelet. that is it! read and delicious!!!

I am on a gluten, lactose and grain free week and that is why there was no cheese and I did not serve it with bread.

note: the first 2 weeks you can choose to go gluten and lactose free, this is basically to give me a kick start and after loosing 800g in 5 days I have to say it's working!

I will be back with more details about the ideas behind the program and loads more great recipes!!!

 

trying new things

I've known for a while that wholegrain (wholemeal and wholewheat) bread and pasta are meant to be a lot better for you than the normal processed white flour stuff  however to this date, I haven't yet found a good wholegrain pasta that I could actually say I liked and since I love pasta, that was a big issue for me.
A few weeks ago I found on the Tesco's website this brown rice penny from Dove Farm and thought that could be a good idea since I've used quite a few products from this brand and had good results so far.
EASIER SAD THAN DONE I did order the pasta at least 4 times and this weekend was the very first time they actually had it in stock, just as well as i was already thinking of ordering the stuff straight from the Dove Farm website.
My goal today was to make a nice ragu type of sauce to go with the brown rice pasta and I have to say, it came up a treat!

Sauce


250g mince beef (I usually buy mince with less than 12% fat and still drain it after browned but on this sauce I think the little fat makes a difference) - a good option here if you don't have the meat at home is to open some sausages skins and blend the meat on the food processor or use turkey meat which will make your meal even healthier!
1 stalk of celery - cut julienne
1 onion, medium oo large - cut into small cubes
2 carrots - cut julienne
1tbsp of ramp seed oil
1/2 a tin of chopped tomatoes
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tbsp tomato pure
2 slices of red jalapeño
3 cloves of garlic
3 orange bell peppers - cut into cubes
salt, pepper and oregano to taste

150g of brown rice pasta and Parmesan cheese to top it

pass the carrots and celery sticks as well as the jalapeños and garlic through the food processor and reserve -  I do that because I don't have a slow cooker, also it's a great trick when you just want to cook a quick meal - fry the onion on 1tbsp of oil until soft then add the carrot and celery mix and stir to combine, fry for about a minute then add the mince meat. Once the meat is brown add the bell pepper and fry for another minute before add the chopped tomatoes, mustard and tomato pure - I like to run a bit of water on the tin where the tomatoes came from and add to the sauce. Turn the heat down and leave it to seamer.
on the meantime bring a saucepan of water - with a spray of oil and a bit of salt - to boil and add the pasta, cook for 5 to 7 minutes (that was the instruction on the package but it cooks too much so next time I'll probably cook for 4 minutes then leave it to rest so it doesn't go too soft).
Add at least a ladle full of the pasta water to the sauce then drain the pasta and transfer it to the sauce pan where you a cooking the sauce and leave it there to cook for another minute. That will allow the pasta to really suck up the juices on the sauce
Serve it topped with coarsely shredded Parmesan cheese. And well, what can I say? ENJOY IT!!!