Showing posts with label Diet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Diet. Show all posts

Wednesday, 6 April 2016

Apple pie cookies


Sorry for the less- than impressive photo, I'm doing baking today, I can't be crafty in more than one way at once!

I made these apple pie cookies half following a recipe which I will post below and they're awesome. They're really moist and actually taste like apple pie (Even if I do say so myself).

This will make 16 cookies which are around 88 calories per serving.

Ingredients:
2 cups oats
1 cup Sultanas
2 eating apples, diced and stewed
1 dsp cinnamon
pinch of sea salt
2 tsp flax seen with 4 tsp water to form an "egg" (Or you could use an egg..)
1/2 cup coconut milk (Or any liquid you like really)
1/4 cup maple syrup.

Method:
  • Stew the apples with some water- no added sugar- I mashed mine with a fork once they were soft but if you have a blender that would work much better!
  • Preheat the oven to 200 degrees
  • Whilst the apples are stewing, combine the flax seed and water to make the egg, leave to one side to thicken.
  • Combine all the dry ingredients thoroughly
  • Add the syrup, milk and flax egg and mix
  • Add the stewed (Mashed/pureed) apples to the mix
I found this to be a bit hopeless initially but chilled the  mix for about 20 minutes to allow the oats to absorb some of the liquid. once it looks a bit more like dough and a bit less like weird porridge it's ready to be cooked!

  • Spray the baking sheets with non stick spray or flour/ grease them- this is a sticky mixture I learned my lesson with the banana cookies, there cannot be too much non stickiness.
  • I squidged the mixture into a cookie cutter to make the cookie shapes on the tray and to help me make sure that I was using even amounts of mixture, it's too sticky to make into balls and flatten like the banana mix.
  • Bake for about 9 minutes at 200 degrees. 

Apple Pie Oatmeal Cookies
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
These soft cookies are very lightly sweetened. If you prefer them sweeter, try adding a little stevia with the dry ingredients.
Author: 
Serves: 18
Ingredients
  • 2 teaspoons chia seeds or ground flax seeds
  • 4 tablespoons warm water
  • 2 cup regular or quick oats (use certified gluten-free, if necessary)
  • 1/4 cup raisins
  • 1 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (see Notes)
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt (optional)
  • 1 large apple, cored and chopped
  • 2 ounces pitted and chopped dates (about 4 medjool dates or 1/4 cup packed chopped dates)
  • 1/8 cup water
  • 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 375.
  2. In a small bowl, combine the chia seeds (or ground flaxseed) with the warm water and set aside until thickened.
  3. In a dry blender or food processor, grind one cup of the oats. Pour it into a mixing bowl and add the unground oats, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda, and salt. Stir in the raisins.
  4. Place the apple, dates, 1/8 cup water, and apple cider vinegar in the blender. Blend until it’s about the consistency of apple sauce. Pour it into the oat mixture along with the chia “egg” and stir to combine.
  5. Drop by rounded tablespoons onto a baking sheet lined with a silicon mat or parchment paper. Flatten each cookie slightly with a fork. Bake for about 12 minutes. Cool on a wire rack before serving.
Notes
Pumpkin pie spice is a combination of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves or allspice, with cinnamon being the main ingredient. You can replace it with 3/4 teaspoon of cinnamon and 1/4 teaspoon each of ginger, nutmeg, and allspice (or a pinch of cloves instead of allspice.

If you omit the raisins, each cookie contains 52 calories. Without salt, each cookie contains 36.2mg sodium.
Nutrition Information
Serving size: 1/18 of recipe Calories: 59 Fat: less than 1g Carbohydrates: 12.3gSugar: 4.9g Sodium: 100.8mg Fiber: 1.7g Protein: 1.4g


Wednesday, 30 March 2016

Baking gluten free, lactose free, egg free, Vegan cakes with Jenny

Jenny has given me a baking lesson- in cakes I can actually eat! :D
I'm super excited about these and I'll be experimenting with making more- the texture is pretty dense... think malt loaf- but if you want all the cake action and none of the reaction then they're a pretty damn good start!
(Obviously, if they're for a real vegan, leave off the harribo sweets) Jen's top tip is to leave them in the oven until the oven has cooled as otherwise they're "gooey" in the middle which would probably be disconcerting.





I had a lovely time at Jen's eating turkish delight and giving her half my house (I've finally accepted that I'm moving house and realised that I have too much clutter- So, This week I will be getting rid of the unused, unuseful and ill-fitting items from my home. I'll still have more junk than anyone else I know but it might all fit in one van. That's the end objective anyway!)

More baking lessons please!
I will pay you in dresses and craft books!
:D

I had an awesome day and a good catch up which I needed! It's always nice to be able to spend proper time with my friends and family.


Friday, 11 March 2016

New Dietician. New Diet. Mixed feelings

Meal
foods
Breakfast
Lacto free yogurt sprinkled with flax seeds
(Berries & maple syrup optional)
Snack
2X corn cakes
1tsp almond butter/ cashew butter
Lunch
Soup with either beans, lentils or peas (low sugar, low sat. fat)
1X apple
Snack
Vegetable sticks/ celery (Hummus optional)
Dinner
Corn tortilla
2X vegi bacon/ 200kcal protein
popcorn



Things that are out:
Milk (Lacto free only)
Refined sugar
Carb heavy meals

Things that are in:
Green tea
Corn instead of wheat
Lacto free dairy products
Fibrous vegetables
gut flora boosting supplements
probiotics
multivitamins

The plan:
Inflammation is caused by immune reactions to “leaky gut” wheat and lactose molecules leak more easily as they are small (Goat and sheep dairy products have bigger molecules so can’t leak) cutting these out for a bit should reduce overall reactions, inflammation and immune response and hopefully then give me a chance when my stomach isn’t crazy to figure out what is good and what is not.
Improve my gut flora, overall guy health and fibre intake and cut my sugar intake so that my insulin levels aren’t all spikes and troughs.

eat better & eat cleaner = Feel better

I really like the idea of this, I’m just going to struggle with reducing my sugar intake.
And no more cake!





Saturday, 30 May 2015

How to cook vegetables

OK Kirstie, you can stop laughing any time... I'm an awful cook. I can manage toast. or bacon sandwiches.
Actually, thats selling myself short, if someone who was really special to me came for dinner, and we had all the ingredients I could make them a lasagne (With proper béchamel sauce), Turkish Pancakes, Enchiladas,Chicken Satay Skewers, couscous salad, risotto or roasted vegetables, but it would really take me all day- If I've ever cooked you dinner or attempted to I must really love you!
I also do a mean roasted ham, but you'll have to give me 2 days notice!
That said, my pineapple upside down cake is a legend for all the right reason, as are my fruit pies (Karl's mum requests them now! and my parents love my vodkas).
If you want anything more complicated you'll have to take over and do it yourself (in the "complicated" category falls anything I don't eat- Rice, eggs, spaghetti, sausages, oven chips, pancakes- unless they're gluten free- which for some reason always come out lovely, cupcakes, cookies- mine are always the size of the fucking tray- etc etc).

I always wish I was a good cook, but I lack the time and inclination to practice (Traff worked out that usually I work a 60 hr week, and he does nights 3/4 days a week every other week, so we're usually cooking for one!) Add to that my current stomach chaos and his crazy vegetarianism and it's just easier to warm up a can of soup!
All my friends are wonderful cooks (Even you Jay with your magic oven and breaded dinosaurs) which means I should really up my game. I can't be almost 30 and have to be rescued from a kitchen full of smoke by my long suffering other half every time I try and heat a pizza! especially not now we have a smoke alarm as it means all the flats in the block get evacuated....

So, my aim for the summer will be to do more cooking- I'm already on a lasagne promise with lentils rather than mince- I could probably fit in a more challenging meal!
It would be nice to be able to have guests and not have them tell me "not to bother" about cooking for them because I'm too hopeless!

Suggestions please!