The Yummiest Breakfast Pancake

There are plenty of Paleo pancake recipes around at the moment. I have tried a few because I was intrigued. Some are awful, some are ok, some are better than ok, but then my friend and fellow Brazilian Jiu Jitsu blue belt competitor Hayley Carter sent me a really simple recipe for the Yummiest pancakes. They are even better than regular pancakes that have flour in!
So I thought I'd share the simple and delicious recipe with you. I'm sure you will agree when you try for yourself.

Ingredients:

1 Egg
1 Small Banana
1 Tablespoon of Desicated coconut
1 Tablespoon of honey
Coconut oil

Method:

Heat a small frying pan and melt the coconut oil.
Turn down to a low heat. I have an electric hob that has numbers up to 9 and I cook the pancake at number 4.
Mash the banana really well so there are no lumps or bumps. Add the egg and mix well together. Add the Coconut and then the honey. Mix really well so the honey hasn't stuck in one lump.
Put the mixture in the pan and cook for about 5 minutes or until brown on the bottom.

The pancake is really difficult to flip, so to cook it on the top, you can place it under the grill until golden.

Serve with fruit or scrambled eggs (or both!) and a nice cup of green tea.

Enjoy!

Thank you to Hayley for this lovely recipe. It's deliciously sweet and not heavy on the stomach like other pancakes made with coconut flour can be. You star! x

Acai

If you've never had Acai before, you will probably pronounce it 'Ak-kai' but if you have had it before, there is no doubt you pronounce it 'Ass-sai-ee'.
In the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu community, Acai goes part and parcel with the sport and lifestyle. Once you get your first taste for it, you will love it from then on and go out of your way to find the best places to buy it. Most competitions have a stall selling it, and around London you can buy it from a few Brazilian cafes.
A friend of mine is in Rio at the moment and checked in at Bibi Sucos, the best place in Rio for Acai. It just made me slightly jealous, and even more keen to make my own as that was the first place I tried Acai. I was so happy to find out that Carlson Gracie in London and Essex now sells it so we can make our own, and thats exactly what I did!

Now that I have my new blender, smoothies will be a regular feature in my blog. I can't believe it has taken me so long to buy one as I just put my food processor to good use most of the time! The attachment on my food processor isn't good enough to make Acai!
This was my first attempt at making Acai and I know that over the next few weeks I will be experimenting more and making the best recipe possible.
I'll be interested to know your recipe for Acai if you have one.

Ingredients:

1 Acai pouch
6 cubes of ice
1/4 can of coconut milk
Small dash amount of water
Tablespoon of Honey
Handful of Raspberries
4 Large Strawberries
This makes 2 glasses of Acai or one large one!

Method:

Crush the ice in your blender
Add the Acai (slightly thawed) to the blender, then add the fruit, honey coconut milk and dash of water.
Simple!

If you want to make more of a smoothie, add a banana to the mix. I had half with the ingredients above, then whizzed it up some more with a banana to make a smoothie.

Now I'm sure there are a few Non BJJ heads reading this blog and wondering how to get hold of Acai. You can buy it online from www.sublimefood.co.uk but you have to buy it in bulk, so make sure you like it first! I really don't know why you wouldn't though....

Those who train at Carlson Gracie in London and Essex, you can of course buy it there. In London Lee will make you a smoothie to take away after training and Sarah, of course, will assist. You don't have to train in these places to buy Acai, you can just pop in.

www.BJJLondon.com
www.Carlsongracieessex.co.uk

Enjoy!

Jolie x

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

Today there has been snow again (not where I live thankfully, but it is pretty chilly) and Spring doesn't seem to be in sight just yet, so we need something lovely to warm our cockles. Heehee
I weighed myself this morning and I had put on 1kg and it kind of freaked me out a bit. I have been doing a lot of conditioning this week and I know that it's muscle that I have put on. It's still a little scary to see the extra weight on the scales though.
Since the Europeans I have stuck to a healthy 58kg. I have a cheat day once a week and allow myself to eat carbs at the weekend. Four weeks before my next competition, I will get focused and stop the cheat days and cut the carbs completely. I only have to drop 1.5 - 2kg to feather and I can do that in 10 days, but I like to feel good on the lead up to the tournament.

After making the Butternut Squash bake the other day, I still had half a squash in the fridge, so I thought that I'd make soup today. It's a favourite of mine, low in calories and so good for you!
You don't have to roast the squash, you can boil it, but personally, I think it has more flavour roasted.

Ingredients:

Coconut Oil
Onion
Garlic (optional) - I don't put this in because I don't think it's fair to my training partners, but it does taste nice with it added :)
Butternut Squash
Chopped Carrot - To add thickness
Veg stock

Method:

Roast the squash and carrots in the oven until tender at 200 Degrees.
Once cooked, peel off the skin of the squash and set aside.
Melt coconut oil in a pan and cook the onion until soft.
Add boiling water to the pan (be careful as the oil can splash up at you), then add the veg stock to the pan too.
Add the squash and carrot pieces and lower the heat to simmer. Add salt and pepper to taste, then with a hand blender, whizz all the ingredients together.
Serve in a bowl and drizzle some melted coconut oil over to make the presentation lovely and give it a little extra flavour.

Simple isn't it!?

Enjoy! x

I still had some Butternut squash bake left over so I added a couple of slices on the side for a bit of Protein. I actually dunked it in the soup too. I liked it a lot, but it's a personal thing! Haha

Butternut Squash Bake

Lunch is often quite hard to keep Paleo when you're out and about or at work. I'm one of these people who almost panics when there is nothing to eat, so I get myself organised and make my lunch the night before.
This Butternut squash is gorgeous and goes nice with a simple salad for lunch. It tastes good hot or cold. It's not difficult to make at all, quite the opposite. It's completely veggie, and very delicious!

Ingredients:

6 Eggs
1 Sweet Potato
Red Onion
Half a Butternut Squash
1 Tablespoon of Tarragon
1 Tablespoon of Thyme
1 Tablespoon of Parsley
Salt & Pepper
Coconut Oil

Method:

Pre heat your oven to 200 degrees
De-seed your butternut squash and roast in the oven for 45 minutes or until tender.
While the squash is cooking in the oven, whisk your eggs in a bowl.
Shred the sweet potato in a food processor and add the onion and shred that too.
Add coconut oil to a pan and add the shredded potato and onion. Add the Tarragon, Thyme and Parsley as well as salt and pepper and cook until tender.
Once the squash has cooked, let it cool a little, or if you are like me and can take the heat with your fingers, scrape out the squash and discard the skin.
Place the squash in a dish and roughly mash up keeping it a little lumpy.
Add all of the ingredients to the bowl with the whisked eggs and mix all together.
Grease a glass dish with coconut oil and add all the ingredients to the dish.
Bake for about 30-40 minutes. The bake will rise and turn a nice golden colour.
Once it is ready, leave to rest and then turn it out (upside down) on a plate and cut in to slices.

This makes enough for about 4 servings.

Enjoy!

Jolie x

Chilli Leaf Taco's

Mexican food is one of my favourite dishes but not very Paleo friendly when it comes to Tacos, Fajitas and Buritos. So here is a nice way to get a filling meal and no carbs, corn or wheat in sight!

Ingredients:

Quorn Mince
Fajita Seasoning
Chillis
Red Pepper
Yellow Pepper
Chopped tomatoes
Red onion
Lettuce leaves - I used baby gems
Grated cheese

Method:

Heat a pan with a teaspoon of coconut oil. Fry the onion then add the peppers, quorn mince, fajita seasoning and chilli's. Make sure all the ingredients are covered with the seasoning and chilli and then add the chopped tomatoes and simmer on a lower heat.
Once the filling is cooked, take off the heat.
Arrange the lettuce leaf on a plate and spoon in the filling. Add a little grated cheese on top.

A little tip when eating as they can get a little messy. Eat from the outside of the leaf to the centre.
Not a great meal if you are trying to impress a guy or girl, but they do taste amazing!

Enjoy!

Jolie x

Banana Bread French Toast

For the last week I have been experimenting and converting meat Paleo dishes to veggie ones. I haven't had much luck and one in particular needs a lot more work. I will get there though and hopefully post it by the end of the week.
As I haven't posted anything for over a week, I thought I would treat you to this gorgeous banana bread french toast recipe I found and modified. It's delicious!
I have noticed that ground almonds are used in a lot of Paleo baking, and this one is no exception, it's a great replacement for flour.

Ingredients:

1 Cup = 8fl oz

3 medium bananas, spotty ones are best
1 Cup of Cashews
1 Cup of Ground Almonds
2 Tablespoons of walnut or Almond oil
2 Eggs, whisked
1 Tablespoon of Honey
1 Tspn Baking Soda
1 Tspn Baking Powder
1 Tspn Vanilla extract
1/2 Tspn Cinnamon
Pinch of salt

For the French Toast
1 egg
4 Tablespoons of coconut milk
1 Tspn Vanilla extract
1/4 Tspn Cinnamon
1 Tspn Coconut oil

Method:

Pre heat your oven to 200 Degrees
Grease a loaf tin with coconut oil and line it with baking paper
In a food processor, whizz up the cashews, then add the nut oil and once it has formed a paste, add the bananas one by one and whizz until it is a slightly runny paste.
In a mixing bow whisk the eggs and add the cashew and banana mixture with the ground almonds, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and vanilla extract. Mix together until you have a batter.
Pour the batter in to the tin and place in the oven for 30 minutes or until the bread is cooked through.

Let the bread cool.

Whisk together the French toast ingredients except the coconut oil, in a shallow bowl.
Heat a pan and add the coconut oil.
Slice the banana bread and dip in to the mixture and make sure both sides are coated.
Cook in the pan until both sides are brown.
Serve with honey and fruit.

The banana bread is really tasty on it's own and doesn't need to be made in to french toast if thats not your thing. It's nice and simple and goes well with a cup of green tea.

Enjoy!
Jolie x

Anzac Biscuits

Just the other day I found out what Anzac stood for. Australia, New Zealand, Army, Corps.
I love these biscuits and the regular ones I have made in the past have been too sweet and sugary and by no means as healthy and Paleo friendly and these babies!
The only problem I had was finding Macadamia oil in England. I could have ordered it online, but whats the point in making something that has an ingredient that is hard to come by? Plus I wanted to make them now and not in a few days when the oil arrived! So I swapped the Australian Macadamia for half coconut oil and butter.
They turned out to be delicious!

Ingredients:

1/2 Cup = 4floz oz

Makes around 10 biscuits

1/2 Cup of Ground Almonds
1/2 Cup of Desiccated Coconut
1/2 Cup of flaked Almonds (leave a few to garnish)
1/8 Cup of Honey
1/8 Cup of half butter and half Coconut oil
1/2 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
1 Tblspn hot water

Method:

Mix the ground almonds, coconut and flaked almonds together in a mixing bowl.
Gently heat the butter, oil and honey together on the stove.
Mix the Bicarbonate of Soda with hot water then add to the honey mixture. Take off the heat and this will froth up quickly, then add straight away to the dry ingredient mixture.
Mix well, then roll in to balls and place on a baking tray.
Garnish the top of the biscuits with the left over flaked almonds.
Bake at 120 degrees for 20 minutes.

Warning! These biscuits are super delicious, so be careful not to eat too many!!!

Enjoy!
Jolie x

Quick & Easy warm Salmon Salad

Just because it's still winter, Salad's should never be ruled out and kept as a summer dish. This warm Salmon Salad was perfect on a winters evening. I have to make a confession though, I didn't make it, my boyfriend Jason did! As much as I would like to take the credit, it was all his idea.

Ingredients:

Salmon Filet - cut in to chunks
Boiled Egg
Cashew nuts
Tomatoes
Red Pepper
Green Pepper
Mushrooms
Red Onion
Leaf Salad
Balsamic Vinegar

Method:

Prepare the salad as you wish. I drizzled balsamic vinegar over the salad so it wasn't so bland.
Boil the egg and de-shell.
Cook the Salmon in a pan with coconut oil. Once the Salmon is almost cooked, add the cashew nuts to the pan and a little balsamic vinegar.
Serve the Salmon and Cashews over the Salad and eat whilst hot.
There was so much left over, I had it for lunch the next day cold and it tasted just as good.

Thanks Jason for the lovely Paleo dinner.

Enjoy everyone!