Pesto & panforte

My Dad is a master at growing herbs, he always has plenty to share with the family and even supplies a local restaurant! Lately he has had an abundance of basil, my favourite herb. My sister and I collected a huge bag of basil leaves and took them back to my place to create this delicious pesto.

We made so much that I lost track of the quantities of each ingredient so unfortunately I have no recipe. The ingredients I used are: washed and dried basil leaves, lightly toasted pinenuts, grated pecorino cheese, crushed garlic, olive oil and a little salt. We just kept tasting it and adjusting as we went along until we were happy with the balance of flavours.

Later that day I had a hankering for something sweet and decided to make this raw apricot and almond panforte that I had seen in the New Vegetarian Kitchen recipe book by Nicola Graimes. Instead of putting the mix into a slice tin and cutting it into pieces, I thought it would be fun to make little rounds in my silicone mini muffin tray. After chilling for an hour they came out easily with no greasing required.

I did tweak the recipe a bit so here is my adapted version:

1/4 cup blanched almonds

1/4 cup toasted hazelnuts

1/2 cup wholegrain raw oats

2 Tbslp pumpkin seeds

2 Tblsp sunflower seeds

1 cup dried apricots

3/4 cup raisins

5 Tblsp orange juice

2 Tblsp cacao powder

2 Tblsp dark choc chips or cacao nibs

2 tsp cinnamon 

1 small pinch cayenne pepper

Process the nuts, oats and seeds in the food processor briefly until the larger nuts are in small chunks. Put into a bowl and add the cacao powder and choc chips/nibs. Process the remaining ingredients to a paste. Mix all together in the bowl until well combined then press into either a lined slice tray or a silicone mini muffin tray. Chill for 1 hour before serving. They should be firm but a bit sticky and hopefully delicious!

Chocolate craving

I made this flourless chocolate cake today, It is really moist and dense like a brownie which is definitely a good thing!

I served it slightly warm with some vanilla Greek yoghurt, raspberries and a drizzle of honey. 

This is another recipe from the The Metabolic Clock book. I did make a couple of changes so here is my version:

4 eggs
150g dark chocolate
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/3 cup warm water
1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste (optional)
125g fat (I used 100g unsalted butter and 25g coconut oil)
1 cup caster sugar
2 cups almond meal

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celcius. Grease and line a round springform tin. Beat the eggs and sugar until pale and creamy. Melt the fat and chocolate in 20 second bursts in the microwave until melted, stirring between bursts. Mix the cocoa powder, vanilla and water into a paste and beat it into the egg mixture. Gently stir in the ground almonds and the melted chocolate. Pour into the pan and bake for 55 mins to an hour or until a skewer comes out with crumbs rather than raw mixture.
Having a mixer makes the process a lot quicker and more fun, especially when it is a pretty pink one :)

Timing is everything

I came across this book by Julie Rennie recently and it inspired me to make some changes to the way my days are structured to see if I could gain some energy and lose some weight.

Following the principles of the book I decided to wake up with the sun at 6am, get into work early and finish in the early afternoon, head straight to the gym from work and then have the evening free to wind down before heading to bed around 9.30pm. It seems to be working really well, I have more energy and it's easier to fall asleep. The book also has some good healthy recipes, one of which I made today.

It kind of looks like a petri dish science experiment but actually it is a 

flourless orange and raspberry cake!

I enjoyed a slice. Ok, 3 slices, but it's healthy!! There is no added fat, just almonds, orange, eggs and sugar. I had some raspberries in the freezer so I sprinkled them on top to add some extra colour.

Sarge supervised, it must have been exhausting work :)