Peanut butter – guilt free cookies

I found this recipe in a magazine, and thought: “yeah right! This will never work.” I was very sceptical, but tried it.

It worked! I couldn’t believe it. It is hearty, filling and best of all guilt free! Well mostly guilt free… See one cookie, counts as 1 portion of fat. The best part is, it is so rich you can’t really manage to eat more than one cookie at a time.

Peanut butter is a good source of healthy fats and could lower your risk for diabetes type two. It is also a good source of protein. It will make you feel fuller for longer. As everything in life, enjoy in moderation. My gran used to say whenever there is a "too" in front of a a phrase it's not healthy (too much chocolate, too much running, too much make-up), keep it simple.

Peanut butter – guilt free cookies

1 cup of natural peanut butter

1 cup of Castor sugar or sugar replacement

1 egg

Mix it all together, it will form a dough. Roll little balls and press them flat on a prepared baking tray. Bake at 200 degrees Celsius for about 10 minutes. Leave to cool on the baking tray before removing it.

You get about 20 – 30 regular sized cookies out of the mix. I made small cookies and served it as dessert with some nice filter coffee. YUM! 

(1 cookie = 1 fat serving)

Asparagus and Pan fried Salmon

Since I started my healthy eating journey I’ve lost a total of 9kg! I can’t believe it, as you can see from my blog posts I still have loads of tasty dishes and desserts!

Things that are helping me on this journey:

•  My husband and family is very supportive, without their support I wouldn’t be able to keep following a healthy lifestyle.
•  Planning, planning, planning! I know which days will be hectic so I plan quick and easy meals for those days.
• When I dine-out I always choose the healthiest option on the menu. This usually includes: salads without dressing (rather use balsamic vinegar), Steak and baked potato, fruit salad and ice-cream (or steal a bite from your hubby! Lol), Smoothies instead of milkshakes.
•  I bake my own wedges at home; it’s tastier and much healthier.
•   I’ve become a calorie snob, no more cheap sweets or chocolates to curve a craving. If I want something I make sure I bake it, or that it is quality chocolate like 70% cocoa.
•  I don’t award myself with food anymore; I rather go for mani’s, pedi’s, etc.
•  I’ve relaxed about food, every day is a new day.
•  Most importantly, I’ve chosen life. Before I used to think: “oh I’m depriving myself of all the good stuff!”. Now I know food can still be just as tasty and healthy. Now I know that if I do not eat healthy and do not look after myself I deprive myself of my health. What is more important to you? A crappy chocolate bar or being able to live life with no restraints?

This weekend was hectic and not full of the best choices either, so instead of sulking about everything I did wrong I made a change with a healthy lunch. Asparagus and pan fried Salmon.

Asparagus and Pan fried Salmon

125g of Asparagus

1 piece of Salmon

First off lightly steam the asparagus for about 5 minutes. Now throw it in a pan with 5ml of butter, a squirt of lemon juice and salt and pepper. Just fry it on high heat for 2 minutes. Set it aside.

Next salt and pepper the Salmon, fry it flesh down in the left over juices of the asparagus. Make sure the Salmon is sealed, this will only take a view moments. Now turn the Salmon on its skin side and cover the pan with a lid. Turn down the heat; it will steam/fry until it is cooked. I like my salmon to be a bit pink in the centre, just keep your eye on it.

Lastly, enjoy!

Red Velvet Cake

Saturday we hosted a beautiful pink baby shower for my friend at a Bistro in Stellenbosch. Their little girl is due in November, we can’t wait to meet her. Thank you to everyone at Ella’s for making the day special!

Of course I had to spoil mommy with her favourites, Red velvet cake. I made Red Velvet cupcakes with a butter cream cheese topping.

Red Velvet Cake

Ingredients:

115g of Butter or Margarine

1 cup of Castor Sugar

2 Eggs

30ml of red food colouring (or a few knife tips of the concentrated red colouring powder)

2 Tablespoons of Cocoa

350ml of Buttermilk

1 Teaspoon Vanilla essence

2 ½ Cups of Cake flour

½ Teaspoon of Salt

7ml of Baking Soda

12ml Brown vinegar

• Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, add the eggs one by one while mixing.
• Next mix in the rest of the liquids (buttermilk, food colouring, vanilla essence and vinegar) together with the Cocoa.
• Sift together the flour, salt, Baking Soda and add the dry ingredients in the mixing bowl.
• Gently fold together the mixture and place in cupcake holders.

Bake at 180 degrees Celsius for about 22 min - 25 min. (If you bake a cake instead of the cupcakes it should take about 30 min)

Icing:

500g Butter

250g Icing sugar

250ml Cream Cheese

100ml Lemon Juice (add more if needed)

Cream together the butter, cream cheese and Lemon juice. Add the icing sugar until it reaches a nice piping consistency. This icing will harden slightly. (If you want shine add 1 tablespoon of syrup)

This recipe is not too sweet, but the icing is very rich you can definitely not eat more than 1. Let me know what you think!

Butternut and Chicken Quiche

It’s almost summer time again. The time of year where you never feel like cooked food, and you definitely don’t want to be stuck in the kitchen when you could be enjoying the sun. This is why I think quiche is the perfect summer dish. Its light and you can serve it hot or cold. You can keep it in the fridge and just add salad to complete the meal.

Quiche is versatile, you can add almost any combination and it will still taste divine! My favourite combo’s are spinach and feta, and butternut and chicken.

Today I want to share my Butternut and chicken recipe.

You’ll need to start with the crust. They say woman are better pastry chefs, because their hands are colder :). Cold is indeed the trick to a light and flaky pastry. Try to have all your ingredients as cold as possible.

Butternut and Chicken Quiche

 

Pastry - You will need:

220g Cake Flour

Pinch of salt

180g Room temperature Butter

1 egg yolk

Cold water

Sift flour and salt, and the butter. Gently rub the butter unto the flour using your fingertips, don’t overwork it.

Add the egg yolk and just enough cold water to make a stiff dough. Shape into a ball and wrap your pastry in cling wrap and leave in the fridge to chill for at least half an hour.

Again the key is not to over work the pastry, and to keep it chilled.

Now is the time you can start cooking the butternut and chicken for the filling.

Take the pastry out of the fridge and place it on a lightly floured surface.

Lightly flour the pastry and gently start to roll the pastry out.

It should be about 5mm thick, and big enough to fit a 24cm pie dish.

Place it in a dish, prick it with a fork and bake blind, (this means put some wax paper over your pastry and fill the dish with some beans or rice, it will help to keep the pastry’s shape) for 10 minutes in a 200 degrees Celsius oven.

Uncover the pastry and bake for another 7 minutes.

Your pastry is now ready to be filled with yummy ingredients.

Filling - You will need:

200g of cooked butternut,

2 Cooked chicken breasts flaked,

Some mushrooms thinly sliced,

1 fried onion,

Some chives, salt and pepper,

3 eggs + the left over egg white used in the pastry,

400ml of low fat Milk

Start by placing the fried onion all over the bottom of the pastry. Now layer the butternut, chives and chicken. Make sure that there’s an even spread of ingredients.

Now mix the eggs, milk, salt and pepper together. Pour this mixture over the filling ingredients.

Now bake the quiche in a 180 degrees Celsius oven for 30min or until golden brown.

The quiche will need to cool slightly; this will just help it set better.

There you have it, a basic quiche recipe. You can now make your own combination by replacing the butternut and chicken with your own ingredients, add more spices, try different things. You can even replace some of the milk with cream for a richer quiche.

Have fun!