Spinach smoothie

For a while now I have been wanting to make a smoothie, a green one, only because I have never tasted one. Yesterday morning I had no choice but to make one. There were no eggs, tomatoes or mushrooms to make  an omelette for breakfast, but I did have some ingredients for a smoothie. One of the reasons I wanted to try a smoothie for breakfast was to see how long it would be until I felt the need to eat again. I never really imagined that it would keep me going for long. I made my smoothie at 6:30am and by 9am I felt that I should eat something, only because I was going for a crossfit session and I wanted to make sure that I had enough energy.
Eating every 3 hours is perfect, as it keeps our metabolism motivated and on the move, it's when we starve ourself that the body goes in to panic mode and holds on to fats because it doesn't know when it's going to be fed again.
Food is fuel, and just like a car we need to keep fueling it to keep it moving and running well.
Anyway, back to the smoothie.
Here is how I made it.....

Ingredients:

Handful of spinach
1 lime, juiced
1.5cm sq of Ginger, grated
1/2 a Mango
Tablespoon of Almond butter
Splash of water
8 cubes of ice

Method:

In your blender, crush the ice, then add the spinach, lime juice, ginger, Mango and almond butter. Push everything to the bottom of the blender and add a splash of water. Blend until everything is smooth and has not lumps or bumps in it.
And thats it!

I was pretty amazed at how luminous it looked and pretty scared that it was going to taste awful, even though individually I love all the ingredients.
It tasted lovely and was a pleasure to have something different for breakfast. The great thing about smoothies, are that the possibilities are endless.

Enjoy!
Jolie x

Chocolate Orange Cake

A while ago my friend from training, Hugh, asked me if I could make a Paleo cake. I searched around for recipes and stupidly I printed one off and forgot where I got it from, so I can't give thanks to such an amazing recipe and beautiful cake.
This weekend I am having a cocktail party at my house with friends to celebrate the summer and just have a get together. The cake will be the centre piece, surrounded by mostly Paleo cocktail food. The evening will be mainly Paleo, with the exception of a high dosage of alcohol.

Here is how I made this delicous Chocolate Orange Paleo cake

Ingredients:

2 oranges
6 Eggs
3/4 Cup of honey
4 Cups of ground almonds
3/4 Cup of Cocoa
Teaspoon of Cinamon
Pinch of seat salt

Method:

Steam 2 oranges in a pan for 60 minutes by adding boiling water from the kettle and keeping the heat on a medium heat. I put the timer on and we did some other things around the house while they were getting soft.
Once 60 minutes has past, discard the water in the pan and let the oranges cool for another 20 minutes.
Pre heat the oven to 175 degrees C.
Cut the oranges in to chunks and add to a food processor. Whizz up, then add the eggs and whizz some more. Add the honey and whizz for a final time.
Put the ground almonds in to a mixing bowl and add the wet ingredients. Fold everything in and then add the cocoa powder, cinamon and salt. Mix everything well, then add the ingredients to a lined cake tin and bake for 50 minutes or until cooked right through, testing with a knife pierced through and coming out clean.
The cake tastes nice warm or cool. It's versatile like that!

If you want to add a little bit of naughtiness, you can make a Gnash to cover the cake. Gnash is not Paleo as it's made from Cream and Chocolate. It's only meant for cheat days!
Melt 100g of Maya Gold Green and Blacks Chocolate (it has an orange taste to it)
Add double cream and whisk until the chocolate and cream becomes thick like icing. Use as spatular to cover the cake, then place in the fridge so that the gnash hardens slightly.
If you wanted to add more chocolate and cream, you could cut the cake through the middle and cover the outside to make it extra yummy.

Enjoy!
Jolie

Summer Salmon Fish Cakes & Cashew Salad

Last weekend was an awesome one for my team mates and instructors at Carlson Gracie. It was the IBJJF Rome Open and the European No Gi Championships. The team smashed it on the Saturday in the Rome Open and with almost everyone taking Gold and the team coming 3rd place in the competition. On the Sunday we had Taylor become European No Gi champion for a 2nd year and my team mate Alistair Tweed became Senior 3 Blue belt Champion for the first time. Alistair works so hard in Jiu Jitsu and balances work and family life like most, so when I heard that he became champion, I was over the moon for him.
Our Carlson Gracie Essex coach Sam Gibson won the Adult brown belt featherweight division. It was great news for Sam as he has trains 3 times a day and just recently Sam has been winning everything. This weekend made me feel very proud to be part of Carlson Gracie Team.

After my weekend in the UK, I was having a bit of a detox. The sun was out and so was the Pimms!
My friend Lauren came over for dinner and a catch up and a very healthy dinner. Lauren finds it really difficult to digest wheat and dairy. The Paleo diet is perfect if this is a problem for anyone.
I have made regular fish cakes in the past that include potato and bread crumbs, so the change to a Paleo version couldn't be that hard..... It wasn't!
Here is how I made them....

Ingredients:

2 Pieces of Salmon Fillet
1/2 a Butternut Squash
1/2 Large Sweet Potato
1/2 Red onion
1/2 Cup of Ground Almonds
Mixed Herbs
Pepper
1 Egg
Coconut Oil

Method:

Peel the sweet potato and butternut squash and cut in to cubes. Place in a pan and bring to the boil. Once the squash and potato are cooked and nice and soft, drain the water from the pan completely.
Dice the red onion.
De skin the Salmon Fillets and cut in to pieces.
Mash the Sweet potato and Butternut squash until there are no lumps. Add the mixed herbs and black pepper to taste. Add the onion and salmon and make sure everything has been mixed well.
Crack the egg in a bowl and whisk.
Place the ground almonds on a plate.
Take a handful of the fishcake mixture and make in to a ball. cover with some of the egg, then roll in to the almonds. Do this until all of the mixture has been used up. I got 5 fishcakes from my mixture.
Heat a pan with melted coconut oil and place the fishcakes in the pan and cook until lightly brown to seal them together.
Once they have been pan fried, place them on to a baking tray and cook for 10 minutes in the oven at 200 degrees C.

I served the fishcakes on a bed of salad with fried (in coconut oil) cashew nuts, and stilton cheese.

Enjoy!
Jolie x