Natural "caramel" chocolate bites

It is no secret that I am a sugar fiend. I have such a sweet tooth and whilst I know that sugar is the devil in disguise, I still love the stuff!!! However, over the past 12 months I have tried to reduce my intake and have embarked on making my own sweet treats that use natural ingredients for a source of sweetness.

This recipe is from blogger Angela Liddon's "The Oh She Glows Cookbook" that my lovely aunties got me for my birthday.

tasty little bites

These tasty little bites are in the cookbook as "homemade yolos" but seeing as YOLO stands for "you only live once" I weren't quite why they are called this? Is it an American dessert?

"caramel" on the inside, dark chocolate on the outside 

Anyway, these little chocoaltey bites are delicious! The filling tastes like caramel and the hint of chocolate around the balls offers just enough to satisfy my craving without over loading my body with sugar. And you only need a few ingredients! Plus they are gluten free and contain natural sugars and not added white stuff.

Ingredients:

For the filling:
200g of pitted medjool dates
1 tablespoon of smooth peanut butter
tiny pinch of sea salt

For the chocolate coating:
1/2 bar of dark 90% cocoa chocolate (I used Lindt)
1/2 teaspoon of coconut oil

dates - the secret ingredient for making "caramel" 

Sweet potato rosti pancakes - gluten free friendly brunch

I love a decent brunch and the weekend is the perfect excuse for a lazy one. A few weekends ago I whipped a delicious batch of potato rostis but with the twist of added sweet potato.

this has to be one of my favourite brunches! 

Why a rosti pancake? Well, by accident really. It was meant to be a standard rosti, a regular, circular shape about the size of my palm. However, I quickly discovered that it was easier to make one large pancake style rosti, plus it is easier to stack your goodies on top!

4 simple ingredients

feel free to make smaller rostis 

A sweet potato rosti pancake, topped with sautéd spinach and two poached eggs. Delicious AND healthy, full of great stuff. Spinach is an excellent source of vitamin A, C, K, B2 and iron and the fibre rich sweet potato will help with cell and muscle recovery! Not bad for a brunch. I got to admit though, I also topped it off with a few slices of chorizo and a dollop of hollandaise sauce laying around still from Christmas! Naughty but an amazing flavour combination. 

This needs just a few simple every day ingredients: 

370g of sweet potatoes

370g of pototoes 

1/2 large onion 

3 cloves of garlic, crushed 

2 eggs, beaten 

3 -4 tbsps of gluten free flour 

Seasoning
Oil for cooking (coconut if you can) 

Quick and easy no-bake flapjack protein bars

It is the new year and I am on a health kick! One thing that is important when you are doing your best to be good, is ensure that you have lots of healthy snacks laying around so you won't be tempted by the sugar devil. 

I know that snacks can be the clean eating down fall, as they are often eaten on the go and need to be quick and fuss free. Carrots and hummus is all well and good, but there isn't always the time and place for that. 

delicious and healthy 

Customised shoes - red strappy heels with a touch of fluff

Last week me and a few friends had a "crafternoon"... an afternoon of making and creating, cutting and  sticking and generally making a mess with glitter all in the name of getting arty. 

Fuelled with a shit load of tea, we set to work. 

ta-dah

I had been meaning to customise my battered red strappy heels now for some time. I don't know if you have noted but fluff is all the rage at the moment, even on shoes - it is like we've stepped back in to the 90s (Cher from 'Clueless' would be proud) and I LOVE IT! 

However, with shoes from the likes of River Island and ASOS clocking in at £40, I decided to be tight and make my own! 

dirty and not in a good way 

I bought these red strappy shoes from Primark ages ago but they are worn to death and the straps are looking pretty mucky now. They were heading in to the bin until I realised that these would be the perfect shoes to customise with some fluff!!! 

totally OTT and adorable 

You'll need less than half a meter of fluff, which usually sells for around 30p, so much better than s pair of new pre-made shoes from the shops!!!

All you need is a pair of shoes, a glue gun and some fluff...

Eat Tokyo! Japanese restaurant Soho, London

I have blogged about this before but the restaurant has moved so U feel I have a duty to my fellow Japanese food lovers to let them know! 

My favourite Japanese is called Eat Tokyo and their Trafalgar Sqaure branch has gone bigger and better (and less queue time) and moved to Soho. I am addicted to Japanese and have to get my fix every couple of weeks! 

Eat Tokyo serves up the tastiest, freshest dishes which are totally authentic and delicious. Call me biased but Japanese is my favourite cuisine (Lebanese follows in second). 

a salmon and chicken teriyaki bento 

tucking in to my bento! 

If like the Boy you're unsure what "takoyaki" "udon noodles" and "jyu" are, fear not. The whole menu has pictures so you know what you're ordering! 

I have been eating Japanese food for 20-something years and I am still learning! They do everything from set menus, sushi, sashimi, noodles, tempura, the list goes on. The feel inside is relaxed and friendly, unpretentious and cosy.

kobacha - pumpkin croquettes 

Rocket and potato green soup - vegan and dairy free

The other day I made a delicious rocket and potato soup, the perfect winter warmer. I would like to say I was being creative but in fact my bag of rocket that I had bought and opened only that morning, was already going off. Not being one for wanting to throw away a pound, I was determined to use up the rocket before it completely wilted (is it just me of is Sainsbury’s veg useless and doesn’t last long).  

delicious and creamy 

Anyway, this is such a simple recipe and hopefully you’ll have all the ingredients at home – it is basically onion, potato, rocket and garlic! There is no hidden fat, sugar or salt in this but tastes great! I basically looked in to fridge and scrambled together a few bits.

a healthy dose of green! 

Ingredients:

Olive oil

½ white onion, chopped

1 potato, diced

2-3 cloves of garlic

1 bay leaf

1 pint of vegetable stock

Bag of rocket

Seasoning

just a few simple ingredients 

Khiel's midnight recovery serum: review

For my birthday my lovely in laws gave me a bottle of Kiehl’s Midnight Recovery Serum, something that has been on my wish list for a while now, well a few years actually. Often reviewed in beauty sections, I wanted to see what the fuss was about for myself.

Kiehl's midnight recovery serum 

After using this serum on my face for about 6 weeks, I can see why people love it! Usually at this time of year my skin is parched, dehydrated and full of dry patches. Whilst it isn’t looking amazing (thanks Christmas boozing and over indulging) considering that I haven’t been doing the usual to look after skin (early nights, lots of veg and litres of water), it is looking fine!

skin saviour 

just needs a few drops 

homemade baked kale falafels (vegan and gluten free)

I love falafels but the shop bought ones are often full of unnecessary additives and fat thanks to the frying. However making your own is simple and a much healthier alternative, as well as cheaper and tastier!

tasty falafels 

If you make a batch of these you can keep them in the fridge for a few days or the freezer for a while. The only down side is that after thawing they become a little crumbly but still taste great.

nutritious and healthy 

Thanks to the chickpeas they are chocablock full of protein and iron content yet a low GI so your blood levels don’t spike and crash. The kale also adds in vitamins A, C and K as well as calcium!

add more garlic and cumin for a fuller flavour 

Here is how…

1 - 2 cups of kale (remove the stalks)

1 can chickpeas

3 large cloves of garlic, crushed

2 tbsp of tahini

A squeeze of lemon juice

½ teaspoon of ground cumin

1 -2 tablespoons of gluten free flour

Seasoning

pulse until fine 

Turbo-charge your plank - exercise for abs

It may be cold and dark outside but it is the new year, so I know many  of you are thinking about getting fit and healthy as a new year's resolution. 

Christmas is a time to indulge so now I am ready to get back to eating clean and exercising. 


One area that I really want to work on this year is my stomach.One of the best forms of ab exercise is certainly the plank but here are three easy ways to ramp up your plank…

Elbows in

In the normal plank position, try to force your elbows towards your feet. Just this simple move will squeeze the abs more, working them harder in the same amount of time. Hold for 30sec, building this time up.

like a normal plank...but more intense