cake – ShakeUpFit

Mix Brownies

I made this recipe for the first time last night and they went down a storm. The look on people's faces when I said there were choco brownies that contained no chocolate was hilarious. Have to say, much easier recipe than expected and not too long to make either! Hilariously I can't even taste the mix due to my complete dislike of anything chocolatey! This one was inspired by the amazing Ella Woodward who's recipe book I always refer back to when looking for inspiration.

Ingredients
2 tablespoons of chia seeds
400g of black beans (canned is fine)
200g ground almonds
200ml coconut milk
2 tablespoons of coconut milk
13 tablespoons of maple syrup
7 tablespoons of cacao powder
20 red apples
1 tablespoon of cinnamon

First, you need to make the apple puree. This is needed to help keep the mix sticky and stay together. Peel and core the apples cutting them into bite-sized pieces. Put in a saucepan with only about 2cm of water and boil for about 45 minutes or until soft. Once they have gone soft, blend it altogether or mash it as best as possible mixing in 3 tablespoons of maple syrup and the cinnamon. This can then be stored for about a week in the fridge or I usually freeze it and take it out when needed. For this recipe, you only need about 200g of this mix so freeze the rest once you've made a batch!

Next, put the chia seeds in a bowl with 140ml of water and let it sit for 30 minutes.

Turn your oven on to 180 degrees, 160 degrees for fan ovens.

Put everything into a blender and mix together with the chia seeds once they have soaked for 30 mins.

Line a baking dish with banking paper and pour the mix in, spreading it out so it is as even as possible.

Bake for about 45 minutes or until you can put a knife in the centre and it comes out without any mix on it. Then let it sit in the tin for 45 minutes. I know you want to eat it hot but honestly, this is when it starts to set properly so DON'T TOUCH it!

Cut into small brownie shapes and store in the fridge for about a week.

Enjoy and let me know how you get on!

Ciao for now x

Published by mbennardo in Food Tips, Recipe

Tags: bean, brownie, cake, chocolate, dessert, eat, gooey, indulgent, sweet, vegetable, vegetarian, yum

This post is more relevant today as I've decided to head off to Paris for the weekend and one of the hardest things about travelling is eating right!

When you're away it's easy to fall into the habits of bread, excessive carbs, ice cream, cake, sweets etc and that's fine now and again but be careful you don't reverse all the hard work you do day in and day out by pigging out.

I have had experiences in the past where I go crazy, enjoy all the things that I haven't been eating back at home and then I feel lethargic, reluctant to go out and explore or even crazily take a nap while I'm in a beautiful new place.

Here are a few top tips from me for staying healthy while on the go:

Travel time - try to plan and pack something for the journey. I find that is the hardest time to eat well because most of the time flights, trains, buses or even drives are starting really early in the morning and you just want something to eat and don't have much time to make something. Make it the night before and try to be as good as you can. I had a Eurostar this morning at 8.10 am which meant I had to be up for 5.30am (to be functioning even slightly!). Last night I boiled two eggs, made a home baked baguette and inside put a mashed avocado and some fresh home baked ham (I roast a whole joint then slice it and freeze the slices in small packets to use at a later date). Not only that but when I made my morning smoothie yesterday morning I made double the quantity and simply drank that today. All that was done at 6am this morning, very blurry eyed was to eat the baguette and drink the smoothie in front of the TV while I mentally woke up and packed my stomach full of good things to start the day.
Learn some basic language - let's be clear here I'm not suggesting you learn the entire language but if there are specifically things you don't like or really love then learn that word. My favourites are the word for vegetable, avocado and fresh juice. That way you might still want to be a bit naughty but you can't go wrong if you've asked for some grilled vegetables on the side. Equally if there is something you specifically don't like then learn it! No point complaining there are mushrooms in your meal if you didn't learn the word for mushrooms which was staring at you from the menu description!!
Research some cool restaurants - have a look online and see what restaurants are around. Not all of them have to be super healthy but you can normally check out menus online and see what foods people offer so why not plan a little bit about where you could go for an evening.
Have fun and treat yourself - don't get too caught up in trying to be good the entire time you are away. Yes you shouldn't go crazy and eat 5 cakes in a day either but give yourself a treat, you are on holiday. Try not to stress too much about it but equally do not be counting calories.

That's all for now but if you know you are going away then you have a checklist of things to do for your trip anyway....plan your food as part of that checklist!

Ciao for now x

Published by mbennardo in Food Tips, General

Tags: aware, cake, care, change, dare, food, fun, health, health aware, healthy, holiday, life, long, plan, restaurant, self, to, treat

Choco brownies – Sweet treats

Day 30 – Travelling and eating well

Choco brownies – Sweet treats

Day 30 – Travelling and eating well

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