Simple homemade guacamole recipe

I love avocado. So it makes sense that I also love guacamole. But be it known, I am actually a guacamole snob and don't rate the shop bought crap. For me, it has to be homemade. If you are thinking, 'I don't have time for that', it actually takes less than ten minutes to make. Probably 5 if you're speedy.

homemade is so much better than the shop bought stuff! 

Guacamole is also actually a power house of vitamins and nutrients and has a heap of health benefits...

• avocados - eat this green gem for great skin and also for protecting your heart
• tomatoes - a great antioxidant, and choc full of vitamin A, C and E
• red onion - quercetin in red onions helps scavenge those free radicals messing in your body 
• lemon - the citric acid can help reduce acne 

Ingredients...

Super tasty super-green smoothie

Regular blog readers will know that I love a smoothie, but I hadn't been having them very often - now I am back to being addicted to them!!! My latest creation is my super-green smoothie, bursting full of goodness!!! 

 This one has wheat grass and moringa in it, as well as Popeye's favourite - spinach!!!! Don't turn your nose up to it just yet - veggies in a smoothie is a sneaky way to add in one of your five a day and it bulks it out to a thicker consistency! 

moringa my new fav superfood 

So what else is in this super-green smoothie?...

half a frozen banana
250ml light almond milk
1 scoop of protein powder
1 teaspoon of wheatgrass
1 teaspoon of moringa
1 tablespoon of peanut butter
1 tablespoon of cacao nibs
handful of spinach 

tasty and creamy 

Spinach is one of my favourite veggies. This nutrient dense food is a great source of vitamins such as vitamin K and A, as well as folate and antioxidants*. 

Wheatgrass has long been on the scene as a health food and when you look at the health benefits, you can see why. Wheatgrass contains chlorophyll which helps neutralize toxins in the blood, can help with digestion and can help reduce high blood pressure**. 

The Den, countryside café in Hereford

A couple of weekends ago, I was in Hereford visiting friends. When friends are around for the weekends surely one of the best things to do is to go for a lazy Sunday brunch. That is exactly what we did on that sunny Sunday, and went into the town centre to The Den.

Coming highly recommended from Kate, this place did not disappoint. A cute country-esque café in the heart of the town, so easy to get to, the place was relaxed, airy and the service was friendly.

my awesome brunch 

The menu is pretty extensive offering the usual breakfasts (think hearty full English’s to American style pancakes), traditional hot foods such as fish and chips, and sandwiches with tasty fillings. 

Taking ages to decide what I wanted, I finally opted for the chicken, chorizo, mozzarella and sundried tomato ciabatta, with a side of sweet potato fries and token side salad to less my guilt. 

chicken, chorizo and cheese - one the of best flavour combos! 

The ciabatta was huge though – the sweet potato fries were totally unnecessary but worth it. Amazing. It was a close toss up though between this and the duck wrap or home made fish finger sarnie (a personal favourite!) Oh and the meaty burgers stacked up high looked pretty bloody good too!

The others succumbed to the fish and chips, with a batter I had never seen before – it was more pancake like than the usual chip shop batter. This was served with the chunkiest potato-y chips. Totally tasty.

Oat and raisin cookies - chewy and mahoosive!

Hands up... who likes cookies! 

I lurve cookies but in particular the massive chewy ones.

It took me years and a few disasters but I think it is safe to say that I have now cracked it! I can make delicious chewy cookies and these oat and raisin ones did not disappoint. 

fresh stack!

Oat and raisin is a classic flavour, so whip up a batch and dig in. These will not disappoint! 
As you know, I do my best to stay on the "clean eating" but life is about balance so a cookie every now and again isn't going to kill you! 

huge and ready to eat

Ingredients...

125 grams of butter, softened
100 grams of light brown soft sugar
125 grams of caster sugar*
225 grams of self raising flour
½ teaspoon of salt
1 beaten egg
1 teaspoon of vanilla essence/extract
2 heaped tablespoons of rolled oats 
a handful of raisins

Homemade diary free vegan friendly "ice cream"

I love ice cream so as we are venturing in to warmer months (I say that but looking out my window right now it's pretty grey!) this is the time of year I like to much my way through the cold creamy stuff.

Ice cream is tasty. Fact.
But is is also bloody unhealthy, with a high fat and sugar content! 

But fear not ice cream lovers,  I have a homemade alternative! 

This recipe only contains real ingredients and has no nasty additive, colourings, added sugars, bulking agents or any of the other crap in shop bought ice cream. #eatclean. It is also perfect for our vegan and lactose intolerant friends. 

All you need is...

4 large frozen bananas
1 large heaped tbsp of peanut butter
1 tbsp of coconut oil - no need to melt prior
few tsp of coconut flour (optional) 
sprinkling of cocoa nibs
few teaspoons of vanilla essence 

I also added a few scoops of vanilla whey protein powder for added ooomph for the muscles! 

got2b Oil-licious dry oil mist (psst it gives you shiny hair!)

Some of you may have realised from some of my blog posts that shiny, healthy hair is always on my wish list. The key to great hair is no secret. It's a blend of a good diet, not over doing the straightners and getting regular trims. Or getting extensions I guess like the celebs. 

But scrap that hard work, I have cracked it and the answer comes in a bottle...

It is got2b "oil-licious dry oil mist"
A light, dry oil spray - it is shiny hair in a can.

Le Petite Cafe and Bistro

Thanks to a work meeting I found myself staying in Guernsey overnight a few Thursdays ago. After my meeting, my colleague took me to the cutest French café in St. Peter’s Port for a delicious glass of rose (I am told that the 11 year old bottle of Malbec was delicious but I can’t do red wine) and a charcuterie platter* of the most delicious cold meats, cheeses and bread. 

heart warming soup

the history of Le Petite cafe and bistro

Le Petite Café is on the corner of Lower Pollet and Le Truchot and has now made it into one of the best eateries I have been to in recent years!!!! I really wish this place was in London! 

Having a few hours to kill before my flight back on the Friday (turns out it was even longer than I wanted thanks to fog grounding all flights for 5 hours), I decided to go back for lunch.

melted cheese. I am in love 

#foodporn! 

I got there bang on 12 and the place was already packed – thank god it was a table for one! It’s fullness a testament to its popularity and excellence.

No bake raw, gluten free & vegan rice crispy protein bars

You may have seen from the blog already that I love a snack and I love a sweet treat (check out my "snacks" and "sweet treats" pages) yet I don't do too well on sugar (thanks IBS) so am making a conscious effort to reduce my intake of the white stuff. 

I made these tasty little treats at the weekend, thinking that this big batch would last me a while. However, the Boy decided to pack them up and take them with him back to base, and left me one. 

These rice crispy protein bars are not only tasty, satisfy a sweet tooth and are a handy snack but also gluten free. They main ingredient is the humble rice crispy and they couldn't be easier to make! 



 Ingredients you need include:

1 cups of rolled oats*
2 cup of protein powder
2 cup of rice crisp cereal 
pinch of sea salt
1/2 cup of peanut butter 
1/2 cup of agave nectar 
1 tsp vanilla extract 
100 ml of dairy free milk 
100g of 90% dark chocolate (I used Lindt)
1/2 tbsp of coconut oil