The Mug cake

For the last two nights I have been staying round 'the boys' house, and learning a lot about their little random treats...... one of them being 'The mug cake'. A great little food-invention that takes all of about 5 minutes to make, has limited washing up, and is healthy, hearty and satisfying! I wouldn't say it was the average 'boy snack', but their new found love for Paleo food has inspired them to knock up some absolute crackers.

Why is it so good for you?

Ground Almonds- For those of you who a little more familiar with the Paleo Diet, you will know the wonders of ground almonds. The texture, taste and health benefits are all positive. In just one quarter cup of ground almonds, you will be getting 6g of protein, 3g fibre, 20% of your daily magnesium needs, and around 35% of your daily vitamin E intake. Magnesium is essential for muscle function, bone health and energy needs; vitamin E improves the health of your red blood cells and infamously helps improve the quality of your skin, nails and hair. Although relatively high in fat, it is all 'healthy fat' and will keep you fuller for longer, giving you sustained energy for the rest of the day.

Bananas- High in potassium, bananas are great for lower blood pressure, ensures calcium absorption, which consequently helps to keep your bones in tip-top shape! Bananas are great for settling the stomach and maintaining the stomach's health. They trigger the production of mucus in the stomach, lining it and creating a protective barrier against stomach acids. Bananas contain an enzyme that helps to break down any 'bad bacteria' in the tummy. It is said that if you eat 4-6 bananas a week, your chances of developing cancer in the kidney decreases by an astonishing 50%!! Gobble up guys.....

Eggs- A high source of protein, eggs too will keep you fuller for longer, contain all of the 9 essential amino acids (essentially the building blocks in your body), and equip you with vitamin D (essential for the absorption of calcium and the health fo your bones, hair, skin and nails), as well as many of the B vitamins, again keeping your energy levels high and your metabolism pumping!

Ingredients:

Ripe banana

1 large egg

1 tbs linseeds

1 tbs Cacao nibs/ or chocolate chips

1/4 cup ground almonds

squeezy honey

The photos I have taken were just off of my phone so not the best quality but hopefully they are ok!!

Directions

In a mug, mash your banana up with your folk with as few lumps as possible. It goes without saying that the riper the banana the easier it will be to mash!

Crack your egg in and tip in your cacao nibs and linseeds. (sesame seeds will work just as well and by all means go for both if you have them lying around in your cupboard!) Whisk well.

Tip in your almond flour and whisk again. If you have a sweet tooth, you can put in some honey at this stage, but equally the sugar from the banana gives it a subtle sweetness!

This is roughly what your mixture should look like....

Put your mug cake in the microwave, and set it for about 2 minutes. Take it out and let it stand for around 1 minute, and then give it a final 1 minute blast. Let it stand again, the mixture will still be cooking as soon as you take it out! We microwaved it for a total of about 3 minutes but I recommend that you just keep checking it.  We used a 800W microwave so the cooking times may be a bit different also...... Ultimately you want it to look a little something like this.....

It rises a little!!

Tip it out onto a plate.....

........and squeeze over some honey. ENJOY!

Cafe Infanta- What a meal !!

I thought I would share with you a great meal I had the other night at 'Cafe Infanta'- I couldn't recommend this place more! 

For those of you who ever get the chance to go to Valencia, you should consider this little hide-out as a great place for dinner, as well as a casual drink before a night out! Authentic spanish ambiance, great food at a fabulous price and just an awesome location! Set in the old town 'Carmen', this little restaurant gives you delicious modern spanish food, with a simple menu of about 15 dishes to choose from. Each and everyone of them is made to perfection, and simply melt in your mouth.

The decor, in an antique style, is almost like a museum of curious objects, many of which relate to the world of classic spanish cinema during the 40's and 50's. This, along with the moody lighting and great spanish music playing lightly in the background, creates the inviting atmosphere in where you will wine and/or dine. In the more summery spanish evenings the outside terrace is open, which over looks plaza Tossal; one of the famous typical spanish plazas within old town Valencia. 

To get directions, here's a little picture from the trusty google maps.....

Plaza Tossal, 3 Valencia, 46001, Carmen

Whilst there, we enjoyed a variety of dishes; here's what we had:

Beef carpaccio, garnished with a garden salad, shitake mushrooms and truffle oil.

Warm autumn salad of grilled artichoke, mixed leaves, shitake mushrooms and bacon lardons (see picture)

Hoisin duck samosas (see picture)

Moussaka aubergine stack (see picture)

Black pudding with pear (see picture)

Crispy coated prawns with spicy dipping sauce

Patatas bravas (crispy potatoes garnished with bacon lardons, rocket, and a perfectly sunny-side up egg)

A bottle of house Rioja (Red wine)

Warm Autumn Salad

 Moussaka aubergine stack

Hoisin Duck Samosas

Black pudding with pear

Each plate is priced around 5 euros on average and although each of the portions are small, they are quite rich and leave you with what I call 'a happy belly'; feeling nicely full and satisfied. Our bill came to 15 euros per head, and for the quality of the food we were served, I would have paid a lot more! 

I think my favourite was either the warm autumn salad. Being an absolute veggie lover, I really enjoyed the combination of the artichokes and the shitake mushrooms- two ingredients I would never have thought of putting together! It was dressed in a what I can only describe as an 'expensive' olive oil, which only bought out the delicate flavours of the assorted mixed leaves.

In second place I think the beef carpaccio took the prize. The meaty flavour of the shitake mushrooms was enhanced by the mushroom flavoured truffle oil, both of which complimented the red-raw thinly sliced beef on our plate. The presentation was brilliant and every mouthful was just delicious.

My third favourite was the hoisin duck samosas. The balance of flavours between the pastry and the filling was great. The pastry was so light and crispy and didn't over power the accompanied the rich meaty flavour of the sweet duck filling. 

All of the plates were bursting with flavour in unique ways, but also complimented each other nicely.

So there you have it, 'Cafe Infanta'. Yum yum pigs bum.....

Bulgar Wheat with broccoli, sweetcorn, toasted hazelnuts and a citrus dressing

I realised I should have posted this recipe AGES and AGES ago after having mentioned it in my recipe for chilli, coriander turkey burgers as a side dish! I was thankfully reminded by Cait, a fellow veggie lover, to post the recipe on here. I dont think I need to mention how healthy it is!! You could probably gather that from the look of the ingredients on my chopping board!! So, here you go Cait; this one is for you..... 

Ingredients: (should serve about 4)

1 head of broccoli

4/5 spring onions

1 can sweetcorn, drained

1 cup of bulgar wheat

vegetable stock cube

1/2 cup hazelnuts

1 lemon

olive oil

salt and pepper

Baby spinach leaves to serve

Directions:

Prepare your bulgar wheat as directed. Like cous cous, you can either pour boiling stock over the top and leave it to soak up the water. Or equally you can put it in a small saucepan and simmer it very gently in the stock until almost all the water has been absorbed. Which ever you prefer, however the latter is a bit quicker! Once cooked, drain if necessary and set aside.

Meanwhile, chop your broccoli into small bite-sized florets.  Bring a small pan of water to the boil and drop your broccoli in it, 'blanching' it to give it that 'al-dente' texture. This should only take about 2 minutes, if that! Very speedy indeed! Drain and set aside.

Prepare your spring onions by chopping off the root, and the green sprouts at the end, and take off the outer layer  of the onion. Chop into small thin rounds.

Grab your hazelnuts and roughly chop them into uneven chunks. Add these to a small frying pan to lightly toast on a low heat. Again, this will only take a few minutes so keep your eye on them, they turn brown very quickly!

In a big bowl, add your blanched broccoli, sweetcorn, your spring onions and your cooked bulgar wheat. Season well. Grabbing your lemon, quarter it, and squeeze as much juice over your salad. Drizzle with olive oil, add half of the toasted hazelnuts, and toss ingredients again.

In your bowl, add a handful of baby spinach leaves as a 'base'- this is completely optional, however it does compliment it very well! Place a large serving of the 'salad' in the middle, sprinkle with some of the remaining hazelnuts. SERVE!

Roasted Mediterranean Veg 

with a sprinkling of lentils

This is a recipe I learnt from one of my gorgeous housemates, Olivia Merrick..... it's super easy, and tastes just delicious! We would make this probably every other week in huge batches, so we would almost always have a tupperware in the fridge ready to scoff.
Its really easy to incorporate into meals too: I'll list a few suggestions below. The quantities of the recipe for each of the veg doesn't matter too much- if you particularly like aubergine add another one in there, if you havnt got any courgettes just add more pepper... you get the idea!

Ingredients:

6 cloves garlic
2 aubergines
1 large courgette or 2 small
4 onions, red or white
1 red pepper
Red lentils, about 1/2 cup
1 lemon
olive oil, or oil of choice
seasoning

Directions:

Set the oven to 180 degrees

Chop and dice all of your veg. It doesn't matter hugely how big or small they are, this will simply change the cooking time: the larger your veggie chunks, the longer it will take!

Scatter all of your veg into a large baking dish. Sprinkle over your red lentils, drizzle over your olive oil and season well. Here I used a few cumin seeds, chilli flakes, and cajun seasoning. For a more Mediterranean flavour simply add salt and pepper. 
With your lemon, quarter it, and then squeeze as much juice out of it over the top of your veg with each quarter. Place the lemon quarters amongst the other vegetables! It will give out more flavour! Toss around to make sure oil, lemon juice and seasoning is spread out evenly. 

Put in the oven to roast. Check how it is going after about 30 minutes, and if desired give them a little toss and turn around! Ultimately it should take around 40 minutes to an hour, but as I said before it depends on the size of your veg!

Suggestions:

Simply as a side
Mixed into a cous cous/ quinoa/ bulgar wheat
Added to any soup to make it chunky!
Added to a curry sauce
Whizzed up into a roasted veggie soup
Served with some tzatziki over the top and some marinated chicken

Avocado and Honey Face mask

It's currently 'Las Fallas' Festival in Spain and consequently I have been busy celebrating, trying to catch up on lost sleep; not to mention trying to help myself repair my body from the previous nights antics! Today has been a bit of a slow day, and I felt I needed a bit of 'TLC' (Tender Love and Care....) So I got off my hiney, and whipped up my favourite home-made face mask. It really is quite simple. Three ingredients; all of which you are likely to have sitting in your cupboard!

Avocado-  these guys are so jammed full of essential oils, vitamin E, and 'sterolins', all of which help to moisturize, nourish and help to heal any sun damage on your skin.... Avocados can also have a deep cleansing effect, which is great to remove impurities and dead skin cells. They get rid of any excess oil from those 'trouble areas', whilst at the same time give moisture to other areas, replenishing needy skin. One thing to say would be the riper the avocado the easier it is to make this mask! If it is under ripe, it may not be able to mash easily, making your face mask a bit of a lumpy fail.....

Honey- honey is a natural anti-septic, and helps to remove unwanted bacteria from the skin's surface. It also softens the skin!

Oats / oat bran- I added some oat bran to my mask, but equally oats are just as brilliant and have almost the same beneficial properties within a face mask than oat bran. Why you ask?! Oats contain 18 different amino acids which act as building blocks for your body consequently helping to rebuild tissue and repair damaged skin. It is hypoallergenic giving it skin smoothing properties. When used in conjunction with moisturizing ingredients it will help your skin to retain the moisture. What's more, when you wash it off, it helps to act as a gentle exfoliant. 

So treat yourself! Its great fun to do every now and then; and I think I have said how great and beneficial it is to your skin! Just try not to eat it all off your face.... you will probably work out it does taste quite delicious! Here are the quantities I used:

2 tbsp ripe avocado
1 tbsp squeezy honey
1 tbsp oat bran

Directions:

Tie your hair back in a big bun/ pony tail to get all the hair off of your face.
Clean your face with your regular cleanser removing any makeup off of your skin.

In a bowl, start by adding your avocado and honey.

Mash both of the ingredients together until it is a bit like guacamole: as few chunks as possible and as 'cream' like as you can get it!  

Add your Oat bran. 

Mash and mix again until you have your green pasty face mask!

Use a spoon or your fingers to spread the green goo onto your face. 

Keep it on for about half an hour- sit down watch tv, read a book, do whatever looking like a more beautiful grinch/hulk :-D

Wash off using hot/luke warm water and a flannel. Depending on your skin you may or may not want to moisturize afterwards.... If you feel in the spirit of adding food to your face, I cannot recommend a little dab of coconut oil on the face as a light cleansing moisturizer! This is one of the most easily absorbed oils for your skin, it has very slight sun protection and is a natural antiseptic helping to keep your skin clean and protecting it to the max! Do you feel revitalized?! I do! ..... Ready for another 'fallas' festival! Eeeeeek!

Garlicy Stuffed Aubergine with Chicken, Rosemary, Tomatoes and Feta

Aubergine is by far one of my favourite vegetables, and the combining it with a chicken-tomatoey-garlicy-rosemary sauce is just delicious! 

This aubergine wasn't the average aubergine; this was a different variety: white with a few purple stripes in it which I had found at one of the local vegetable shops near my flat. I don't think it particularly makes any difference in the cooking of this dish (I have made this previously at home with the standard aubergine), only that the skin isn't a dark purple/black colour! These little guys look really impressive for a dinner party, and if desired/necessary, it can be made vegetarian very easily by simply leaving out the chicken or substituting it for quorn or tofu. It may look a lot more complicated than it actually is; it is in fact a very easy recipe, and is definitely worth that little bit of culinary effort!

Ingredients: (serves 1 as a main meal, 2 as a starter: double/triple/quadruple for more.....)

1 aubergine

Olive oil

2 cloves garlic

Rosemary leaves, about 1 tbsp

3 small tomatoes, chopped (see picture for reference of quantity)

2 chicken tenderloins, chopped into small pieces

1 tsp chilli flakes (optional)

30g Feta

Salad:

Mixed leaves (I used baby spinach and lettuce)

2 Tbsp bulgar wheat (pre-cooked)

Olive oil and lemon dressing (2:1 ratio respectively)

Directions:

Turn oven on to 180 degrees.

Get your aubergine and slice it down the middle. Use your knife to cut out the flesh of the aubergine of both halves. You can use your hands pulling out some of the flesh too. Set the fleshy middle to one side.

Place your aubergine 'shells' on a baking sheet. Very roughly slice your garlic cloves and scatter over the aubergine, drizzle with some olive oil, a sprinkle of salt and half of your rosemary leaves.

Put in the oven to cook. 

Meanwhile, take the flesh of the aubergine and chop into small pieces. In a small frying pan, add a bit of olive oil with your chicken and begin to fry off on a medium heat. The chicken pieces should be chopped quite small, so they shouldn't take too long to cook through and brown-maybe about 5-7 minutes; once cooked, add in your chopped aubergine flesh. Stir fry again for another 2 minutes.

Add your chopped tomatoes, the rest of your rosemary and chilli flakes. Turn the heat down to a medium heat, and stir until the aubergine is cooked through, and your tomatoes are soft. It should turn a little bit saucy as your tomatoes soften.

By now, your aubergine 'shells' should have cooked through and crisped up. 

Take them out of the oven, put any garlic that wasn't in the shells, inside. Begin to spoon in your tomatoey-chicken filling. 

Crumble over your feta, and put back in the oven to crisp up. This should take another 5-10 minutes...

Serve both halves immediately. 

I had mine with a mixed leaf salad, which I tossed in a little bit of lemon juice and olive oil, and 2 tbsp of bulgar wheat which I had pre-cooked in the fridge. This is only a suggestion! If a bit more hungry, you could serve this with some wholewheat pasta and some truffel oil (the flavours go very well!)- this is my dad's favourite!! Enjoy guys!

Viva Espana

As I mentioned previously in my yummy recipe for Peanut butter, this year I am on my ERASMUS year abroad living in Valencia, Spain.  
In Spain, each city has a 'Mercado'; here local producers of fish, vegetables and fruit, meat, bread etc sell their produce here daily; and you won't find fresher stuff than right here! 'Mercado Central' in Valencia is one of the biggest fresh food markets in Spain; constructed in the early 20th century, and with a distinct Valencian style of mosaics, colours and ceramics.  More than just a place to grab your food shopping, it really is a beautiful place. I wanted to share some of this with you through some photos I took... and if you ever do get the chance to visit, I really do recommend it!

What it looks like from the outside.. unfortunately it was a cloudy day but normally there would be blue skies behind this picture!! Inside, is extremely spacious where you can see the mosaic tiles and open architecture....

Fruits and Veg galore!! Along with the hundreds of choice in fresh fruit and veg, some of these stalls sell pre-roasted squash, fresh fruit juices (you can see these in the pictures below) and fresh fruit salads ready and waiting for you to pick up and eat on the go! All of the colours and variety is what makes this place so vibrant and pretty!

Canned/bottled/packaged items, olive oils, cheeses, salts, vinegars, olives..... (I think this woman was a bit shy when I asked to take her photo!)

Dried fruits and nuts....

Thousands and thousands of spices.....

Breads, pastries and cakes

Meats- fresh, cured, dried, marinated......

Fish, Shellfish, prawns, eels, lobster.....

They were still alive!! Eeeeeeeee!!!

Razor clams, and prawns