Sunday 15 September 2013

Protein brownies: A sweet potato & beetroot addition

Hello munkeys!

Everyone loves brownies, so I thought I'd make them - pluuuuus, they're super easy to make. If you haven't baked with beetroot before.. you should! It creates a great texture, is very dense and rich, and you can't even taste the beetroot at all. Crazy. Here's how it went down in the kitchen: (btw, this is a fairly huge batch, so shooooould last you the whole week.. :P)

INGREDIENTS

3 medium sweet potatoes
2 small cooked beetroots
150g 70+% dark chocolate
3 tbsp cocoa
4 tbsp coconut flour
1 scoop chocolate nut whey protein powder (or any other flavour)
1 tsp baking powder
3 medium sized eggs
10 small dates soaked
2 tbsp coconut oil/ghee/grassfed butter

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Peel & chop up the sweet potato in to small chunks & steam them until mash-able.
2. Chop up the beetroot too & add it to the steamer.
3. Boil the kettle & soak the dates.
4. Preheat the oven to gas mark 4.
5. Melt the chocolate with the coconut oil/ghee/butter & set aside.
6. Crack the eggs into the food processor & blend until slightly frothy.
7. Add the sweet potato & beetroot & blend until fairly smooth & combined (small lumps are fine).
8. Add the coconut flour, whey & cocoa to the mixture & blend.
9. Chop up the soaked dates & add them to the mixture, as well as the melted chocolate, blend until all is combined.
10. Add the baking powder, blend & spoon out on to baking tray.
11. Bake in the oven for 18-21 minutes (you want them to be firm on the outside but still soft 7 gooy on the inside).
12. Set aside to cool.

Enjoy munkeys! :)

(Sorry for the lack of pictures: I totally forgot - just another excuse to make some more! Hehee)





Banana, peanut butter & coconut milk protein smoothie

Morning munkeys! This is one of my faaaavourite smoothies, it's very rich & super filling, so this serving is for two. When my bananas start to brown, I usually bake with them or if I've already done a crap load of baking, I'll peel, chop & put them in a plastic sandwich bag to throw in the freezer - frozen bananas make awesome smoothies! Yum. 

Although banana & peanut butter compliment each other well - you could also use any other nut butter & it would be just as good! Also, if full fat coconut milk is too rich for you, feel free to replace it with any other milk alternative too. So, here you go munkeys:


INGREDIENTS (Serves 2)

2 frozen bananas
1/2 can full fat coconut milk
2 tbsp peanut butter
1&1/2 or 2 scoops whey protein powder (any flavour, but vanilla is my favourite with this smoothie)
Sprinkle of cinnamon 

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Take bananas out of freezer & bag, & place in food processor along with the coconut milk, & blend until fairly smooth (mattering on the quality of your processor, you may have to keep separating the chunks of frozen banana now and again).
2. Add the peanut butter & blend.
3. Add the whey & cinnamon & blend until combined.
4. Serve & enjoy!

Enjoy munkeys! :)










Wednesday 11 September 2013

Plantain protein brownies

Hello munkeys! It's been a while & I'm sorry *sad face* I've actually been cooking & baking lots but not posting. Sorry again. I really enjoy posting lots of pictures with my posts but quickly realised how time consuming that was, (& that I was running out of storage on my phone because of all the different angles I was shooting from. Ha!). But any content is better than no content, right? - & I have soooo much to share with you guys - hope you've all been well!

So. To start, plantaaaaaaain. I LOVE plantain - it's delicious in cakes, or on its own fried in ghee or coconut oil, sprinkled with cinnamon. Amazing. Can't wait to share my plantain adventures with you all, welcome back :)


INGREDIENTS

2 medium sized eggs
1 medium plantain or banana 
2 tbsp coconut flour
1 tbsp of ghee or coconut oil
1 scoop of chocolate whey (or can omit but will cook slower)
1 heaped tbsp cocoa powder 
6 small dates soaked
1 tsp baking powder
50g 70%+ dark chocolate chips

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat oven to gas mark 4.
2. Boil the kettle, place the dates in a bowl & pour the boiled water over them to cover.
3. Crack eggs into food processor & blend until slightly frothy.
4. Chop up plantain & add to the eggs & blend.
5. Add the coconut flour, chocolate whey & cocoa powder to the mixture & blend until combined.
6. Chop up the soaked dates & add them to the mixture, along with the ghee or coconut oil.
7. Blend until combined (not smooth).
8. Spoon the baking powder into the mixture & blend.
9. Stir the chocolate chips into the mixture with a spoon.
10. Spoon out mixture onto a baking paper lined tray or silicone tray & place in oven for 6-9 mins (you don't want to overcook these, you want them to be firm around the edges but still gooey in the middle - then they'll cool, set & be deliciously gooooey).
11. Remove brownies from oven & allow to cool.
12. Devooooouur!