Egg White Tamagoyaki!

Last week was my birthday, and last week was also my 1 year blogaversary!

So to celebrate, I made myself an egg white tamagoyaki for breakfast!

(with fried cherry tomatoes and cottage cheese)

I made it with egg whites as whole eggs were one of my ‘trigger’ foods for my gallbladder. This means if I eat whole eggs now I don’t have a gallbladder, they are uncomfortable to digest. With egg whites however, it’s no problem at all! Yay!

I used 3 egg whites, a little splash of water and soy sauce and a few mixed herbs for the tamagoyaki mix, and cooked it in a small round frying pan. I didn’t used chopsticks to roll it, but a spoon did the trick! I have been practicing!

See? Nice and tamagoyaki-like!

I’m pretty sure this means I can now cross this off my Food Bucket list!!

Have you been trying or practicing making anything new recently?

I’ve been trying new recipes left right and center. I think it’s the summer weather!

Homemade Cereal Bars

Just a quick post today, as I’m on a fast day and food pictures make me huuuuungry 😛 haha, I joke, I’m good, no starving going on here.

So, the other day I made cereal bars. They contained the least ingredients possible and were very natural tasting compared to the manufactured stuff you get. I did get the recipe from one of the blogs I follow, but I saw it a while ago so I’ve forgotten. If you come across the blog and recipe, please let me know!

Box of shortbread and homemade cereal bars 🙂

Heart shaped cereal bars 😀 so cute!

Ingredients:

– x2 pack instant oats (I used blueberry flavour)

– x1 banana

– half a handful of mixed nuts and raisins

Method:

– Mash the banana to almost liquid consistency

– Mix in the 2 packs of instant oats and mixed nuts and raisins

– Put mix in a baking tray and bake until firm ( I advise using a very small baking tray or individual silicon cups)

I think next  time I will make them thicker, or bake them less as they were a bit hard (not crunchy), but  they were yummy 🙂 Real flavour (aside from the blueberry oatmeal) and no added sugar. I also think I would use plain instant oats next time too.

Give it a try 🙂

What simple recipes do you love?

Protein Balls

The other day, I posted a Bento that contained one of my newest creations!! Protein balls 🙂

I have seen quite a few recipes around the interweb, most of which sound yummy, but I fancied just making it up as I go along, it’s much more fun that way.

So for people who enjoy reading other peoples experiments and would want to make similar yummy protein ball thingies, here are the ingredients I used:

– Dates

– Raisins

– Unsalted Peanuts

– Peanut Butter

– Milled Flax Seed

– Oats (any type)

All I did was put the dates in a blender (with the chopper attachment) and ‘blended’ them until they were diced finely. Then I added all the dry ingredients to the same blender (excluding the peanut butter), blended again. Then a slowly added peanut butter and continued blending until I got the correct consistency for making into balls.

Not very precise measurements (sorry again!) but they were so good!

After making them into fairly small balls, I kept them in a sealed container in the fridge and they’ve lasted over a week. I try to ration them out because they are so yummy and would be eaten so quickly if I didn’t!

I might add protein powder to them next time as it’s usually the Bf who eats them before or after the gym 🙂

What creations have you made lately?

Happy Pancake Day – 2 Ingredient Pancakes!

 

 

I love pancakes! But my love of true pancakes only gets fulfilled at this time of year. I can’t really justify eating those buttery floury circles of sugariness every weekend (I would I would!), so usually, I wallow in self pity for most of the year (jokes!)

 

I did find something fantastic the other week though. It was a recipe that could forever make my pancake taste buds ecstatically happy (and all year round too). Behold, the two ingredient pancake:

 

Looks yummy doesn’t it? This is the only photo I have so far of these beauties as they get eaten too quickly! My whole family loves them and they are  so healthy and quick compared to usual pancake recipes!

I know the idea of the 2 ingredient pancake isn’t new, but it is revolutionary and must be tried by everyone, so spread the word!

Recipe:

– x1 Banana

– x2 eggs

Method:

Peel and mash the banana to almost liquid consistency. And the two eggs and beat/whisk/mix.

Scoop a couple of spoonfuls into hot frying pan and fry each side until golden brown.

A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!

You can also add a range of other things to add more flavour and texture, but these are perfect as they are! I sometimes add oats and flax seed for extra fibre so that I don’t eat loads and loads (the fibre fills you right up!). I don’t add extra sugar as the banana adds all the sweetness you need.

Feel free to experiment, add whatever you like!

NOTE: These pancakes are not the same texture as ‘normal’ pancakes but are so yummy anyway! They can be paired with all the usual toppings for pancakes though 🙂

Hows Pancake Day for everyone?

Firecracker Rice Yo Sushi Recipe

As promised, here is the recipe for Firecracker Rice from the Yo Sushi Cookbook. It is so good!

Firecracker Rice

Serves 4

Ingredients

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 onion, finely chopped

1 carrot, peeled and finely diced

1 red pepper, deseeded and diced

1 yellow pepper, deseeded and diced

2 garlic cloves, crushed

4 tablespoons frozen edamame (details at end of article), cooked for 5 minutes and shelled (you can substitute 4 tablespoons cooked green peas)

1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil

600g cold, cooked rice

4 tablespoons light soy sauce

½ teaspoon freshly ground white pepper

½ teaspoon shichimi togarashi (Japanese seven-spice

chilli powder available in oriental stores)

4 teaspoons spring onions, finely chopped, to garnish

Method

Heat a large wok or non-stick frying pan over a medium heat and add 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil.

Allow the oil to heat up before adding the chopped onion. Stir-fry for two to three minutes, then add the carrot, red and yellow peppers, garlic and edamame (or peas if you have substituted them). Cook for three minutes, then remove the vegetables with a slotted spoon and set aside.

Add the remaining vegetable oil, if required, together with the sesame oil. Add the rice, separating the grains with a wooden spatula so that there are no large lumps, and stir-fry for two to three minutes.

Return the vegetables to the pan, tossing and stirring to mix them thoroughly with the rice. Pour the soy sauce along the edge of the wok or pan, season with the white pepper and shichimi togarashi and stir to mix well.

Remove from the heat, divide the rice into four equal portions, garnish with the chopped spring onion and serve.

YO! Sushi tip

It’s best to use light soy sauce so as not to discolour the vegetables and rice. If you only have the dark variety, you may need to add a pinch of salt.

Edamame are actually green soya beans and are available from Birdseye. They can be found in most leading supermarkets.

Cake!

I made cakes at the weekend! 😀 yay!

Yummy cakes, for my friends christmas presents, a family gathering I wasn’t able to attend, the office, and general home munching 🙂

I made quite a few flavours, but the ones I’ve got pictures of on the computer today are the vanilla sprinkles cupcakes (top), chocolate peppermint cupcakes (above) and chocolate oatie cranberry cakes (the pink ones in the picture below).

This picture is the plate that my parents took the family gathering I couldn’t attend. Apparently they didn’t last long!!

I wasn’t feeling the icing, so no swirling, but everyone said they were tasty 🙂 yay!

Recipe:

– Basic sponge mix (family recipe – no can tell!) – any sponge mix will work

– Add chocolate peppermint hot chocolate and broken up candy canes for the choco peppermint ones, and ice them with peppermint butter icing and a piece of chocolate or candy.

– Add sprinkles and a little bit of yellow food colouring to the sprinkles cupcakes, and ice with plain icing and sprinkles!!

– Add oats and chocolate powder to the chocolate oatie cookies and ice them with icing sugar mixed with heated cranberry sauce!

I’ll post a recipe on here soon that I can tell you, I promise!!

What christmassy flavours would go into cupcakes do you reckon? I want to make some more!!

Scones

I made scones the other day! why did no-one tell me how easy it was to make scones!!

Cheesy scones, with a little bit of tomato paste mixed in…

The best of the best!! Salsa topped scones!! Add the salsa to the top of the scones just before baking and OMG! They are so good!!!

As you can see, they weren’t around for long!!

No-Bake Cookie Dough

Another one to cross off my Food Bucket List!!

I made No-Bake Cookie Dough the other day and it is DEVINE!

I’m not sure whether I will ever eat baked cookies again.

The recipe is basically a shortbread or sugar cookie recipe:

Which I’m not going to share with you 🙂 (family secret ;))

Add anything you want, like sprinkles, chocolate chips, raw cacao nibs or just eat on its own. It is amazing mixed with yoghurt!!

Sorry it’s a rubbish picture, It was so yummy!!

I baked some too:

Cookie cups!! Yummy!

The un-bkaed cookie dough was still superior 😀

Have you made raw edible cookie dough? And did you love it!!???

Smoothie ideas

If you are new to smoothie making, here are a few ‘recipes’ to get you started:

Fill-Me-Up Breakfast Smoothie (serves 2)

– 1 banana

– 400ml soya milk (or almond milk – higher in calcium)

– 2 tsps almond butter

– 1 tsp chia seeds

– half an avocado (peeled and cored)

– 2 tbsps honey

– 1 tbsps raw cacoa nibs

– 1 tbsps flax seed (or flax seed mix)

Add all ingredients together and blend until smooth. The cacoa nibs, flax seed and chia seeds will blend totally, but cacoa nibs are so yummy!!

Fruity Lunchtime Treat (serves 2)

– 300ml Apple Juice

– 100ml cranberry juice

– 1 banana

– half and avocado (peeled and cored)

– half a tin of sliced peaches (or a whole fresh peach)

Add all ingredients together and blend until smooth. If having this smoothie with lunch, halve your lunch portion to accommodate the amount that the smoothie will fill you up 🙂

Detox Smoothie (serves 2)

– 1 banana

– 400ml orange juice

– 20 ml lemon juice (adjust to taste)

– 2 tbsps honey

Add all ingredients together and blend until smooth. This smoothie is so good after a long night out! Makes you feel so much better!!

Bored of the same old sauce?

Stuck with using the same canned or tinned sauces on pasta and other dishes?

Bored of tomato, cheese or nothing at all?

Open up new ways of thinking:

– Use tinned soups (mushroom, vegetable, oxtail)

– Puree Vegetables (butternut squash, pumpkin, even kale!)

– Egg! Make a giant pasta frittata by adding eggs to your dish and baking!!

I love using new and different things for meals. I get bored so easily!!

Let me know if any of you guys have tried anything new if you were bored of the same old thing!