Vegan Hot Chocolate

A tastey, vegan, dairy, and refined sugar-free, low calorie alternative to your usual Hot Chocolate!

The perfect compliment to my healthy Chocolate Orange Brownies!

Ingredients:

250ml unsweetened almond or alpro coconut milk original (the coconut milk will naturally taste sweeter)

1 tsp Creative Nature Superfoods organic Cacao powder

1 tsp stevia

1. Heat the milk in a saucepan on a medium heat

2. As soon as the milk starts to boil, take it of the heat then whisk in your cacao powder and desired amount of stevia to sweeten

Healthy Chocolate Orange Brownies

As a food blogger constantly looking for new weird and wonderful recipes to experiment with, there are many things I make, and rarely revisit them unless requested to do so. This one however, is a definite exception! I've made these a couple of times now, and anyone who has tasted them would never guess what the main ingredient was, nor would they believe they were 100% healthy! 

Previously I used chocolate protein powder for additional flavour. However I understood that this one ingredient would potentially put a lot of people off for various reasons. This time, I went for all natural ingredients that were easily accessible to anyone and everyone - and they turned out just as good, if not better! Apart from the great taste and amazing nutritional content of this brownie, that one factor definitely made it my favourite and best recipe to date! 

This time I also decided to give it a slight Christmas twist by adding the sweet yet zesty flavour of clementines to this batch. As well as them being flourless, gluten-free, and unrefined sugar-free, they're naturally high in fiber, protein rich, and super nutrient dense! They'd make a perfect healthier (and definitely tastier) dessert alternative to serve to your guests than the traditional Christmas cake - totally guilt-free too! Plus, I can guarantee you no-one would ever guess that they weren't the real, unhealthy kind of brownies if you didn't tell them... An all round win win situation for you AND your guests I would say! ;)

Ingredients:

1 can drained and rinsed black beans (230g) - bet you wasn't expecting that one!

2 large free range eggs

50g (about 3 heaped tbsp) honey*

35g (about 3 tbsp) virgin organic coconut oil

15g (about 2.5 tbsp) Creative Nature Superfoods raw Cacao powder*

10g Xylitol (or can sub for more honey or alternative sweetener of choice)*

1 tsp natural vanilla extract

1 tsp baking powder (can use gluten-free)

Zest and 2 tbsp of 1 clementine* 

Optional: 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp all spice*

Pinch of sea salt

(*See below for possible substitutions)

1. Pre-heat fan oven to 180 degrees Celsius

2. Simply throw all of the ingredients together into a food processor and blend until a completely smooth consistency is reached. You may need to scrape the sides and/or blender in between.

3. Pour into a 6"6" baking tin lined with a little coconut oil on some grease-proof paper. Gently shake and tap the tin to make sure the batter reaches the corners and is spread evenly.

4. Place onto the middle shelf of the oven and bake for 18-20 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean when poked through the middle.

5. When baked, turn out and allow to cool on a cooling rack before cutting into slices.

6. Dust with stevia and some more clementine zest to make it look all pretty!

Makes 16 bite sized brownies.

Macros per brownie:

66 kcal, 3.3g Fat, 7.3g Carb, 2.3g Protein, 1g Fiber

*Optional additions/substitutions:

Add some dark chocolate chips for an even richer decadent treat, or some dried fruit or crushed nuts of choice for some added texture! Walnuts and hazlenuts in particular work great with this recipe.

Feel free to sub the honey with an alternative liquid sweetener such as pure maple syrup or agave, and the cacao with cocoa if you do not own any (although cacao is a lot better and 10x more nutritious for various reasons!).

Perfect accompanied with a hot cuppa! Cacao coconut hot chocolate, or a warm glass of milk! Mmmm delicious!! <3

Enjoy! :).

Healthy Chocolate Chia Ginger Bread Biscuits

When I think 'Christmas', I think of putting on a classic Christmas movie, cuddling up on the sofa with a thick wooly blanket, family around me, a nice big mug of hot chocolate, and a few little yummy treats to top it all off.

Since learning how calorific the Christmas period can actually be, this year I thought I would make a conscious effort to try and cut down on as many of the unnecessary fat gaining culprits as possible (those being chocolate, biscuits, pannetone, cakes etc.). Or at least try to replace them with some healthier alternatives so the guilt can be suppressed if I do find myself  over eating (which is quite common as I'm sure is with most of you throughout this festive period!). Lets face it- no one wants their new years resolution to be something like, "workout every single day until I get rid of all this christmas fluff" now do they?!

Given all of that, back to todays post, a family approved festive treat...

Chocolate Chia Gingerbread biscuits!

A healthy treat which not only contains some great super foods, but one that everyone can enjoy guilt-free, whilst being assured all that delicious warming christmas flavour is savoured.

They make for perfect little hand-made christmas gifts to give to friends or loved ones too...

Ingredients for the biscuit:
150g Buckwheat or Quinoa flour (I used buckwheat- to make your own simply grind the grains in a food processor until it becomes a flour, sift to ensure you're not left with any coarse grains)
100g Almond flour (or 100g of ground almonds)
50g (or 3tbsp) Honey
30g candied Ginger cut into small pieces
26g (or 2 tbsp) virgin organic Coconut Oil
15g (or 3 heaped tsp) Creative Nature Superfoods Cacao powder
15g (or 3 heaped tsp) Chia seeds
100ml water
Optional: 1/2 tsp cinnamon/all spice

1. Pre-heat fan oven to 180 degrees Celsius

2. Mix all ingredients together in a bowl or food processor until a dough is formed

3. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough flat on some grease proof paper until it's just under 1 cm thick

4. Using a ginger bread man cookie cutter (or any shaped equivalent) cut out as many biscuit moulds as possible before using your hands to roll the dough back into a ball and repeating step 3. Do this until all the dough is used up

5. Lay the gingerbread men onto a baking tray lined with grease-proof paper and place in the oven for approximately 8-10 mins or until lightly browned

6. Allow to cool for at least 10 minutes before removing them from the tray and decorating

Ingredients for the chocolate decoration:

15g (1 tbsp) Honey
1 heaped tbsp Cacao powder
10g Xylitol

1. Place all ingredients in a small bowl, then place that bowl in a larger pan pr bowl filled with a little boiling water
2. Stir until a smooth, shiny consistency is reached
3. Either spoon into a piping bag or simply spoon straight onto the biscuits
4. Allow to cool and set in the fridge for a few hours

Makes 34 gingerbread men.

Macro breakdown per biscuit (without decoration):

44 kcal, 2.5g Fat, 4.5g Carb, 1.1g Protein, 0.8g Fiber

With chocolate decoration:

46 kcal, 3g Fat, 5g Carb, 1.2g Protein, 0.9g Fiber

Healthy Vegan Ice-Cream

So anyone who knows me will know about my huge obsession with Ice Cream, and we all know how dangerous that can be when trying to keep in shape! 

Here's a tasty little soft serve ice-cream recipe that I like to use to keep me on track! Totally guilt-free and a lot more forgiving to your waistline! ;)

Ingredients:

1 medium/large frozen banana🍌

90ml Alpro Coconut Milk original

2 scoops (1 serving) Reflex natural vanilla whey (feel free to omit this, but tastes 10x better with!)

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1. Simply blend all ingredients together in a food processor or with a hand blender until a smooth creamy texture is reached, scoop out, and enjoy!

Optional: Top with berries, crushed nuts, or dark chocolate for an even bigger taste-bud party!

Macros based on 120g banana with whey, minus toppings:

221kcals, 22g Protein, 2g Fat, 27g Carbs, 5g Fiber