Roasted Butternut Squash, Feta and Spinach

Ingredients

1 large butternut squash about 1.2kg

2 tbsp good olive oil plus extra for drizzling

1 tsp chilli flakes

1 tsp cumin seeds

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

200g purple sprouting broccoli/Spinach

4 tbsp pumpkin seeds toasted

200g-400g feta cheese to taste for crumbling

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200C/180C fan.

2. Peel and cut the squash into wedges or large chunks, then toss in the olive oil, chilli flakes, cumin seeds and salt and pepper.

3. Transfer to a roasting tin and put in the preheated oven for 35-45 minutes, turning after 20 minutes, until lightly golden and cooked.

4. Meanwhile, trim and cut up the broccoli and blanch in a pan of salted boiling water for about 4 minutes, or until al dente.  If you are using Spinach there is no need to pre cook or heat it. Once cooked, toss with the squash and pumpkin seeds.

5. Serve with a drizzle of olive oil and the feta crumbled over the top. This goes beautifully with any grilled meat or fish. I served it with sausages and some sliced avocado.

(Taken from James Duigan’s Clean and Lean Cookbook)

Chocolate Avocado Mousse

Ingredients

¼ cup honey (or your choice of the following: 4 fresh pitted dates – brown rice syrup – organic maple syrup or stevia)


2 ripe avocadoes


1 ripe banana (fresh or frozen chopped)


1 tsp vanilla extract or ½ tsp vanilla bean paste or pods from 1 fresh vanilla bean


1/3 cup raw cacao powder or cocoa powder


Pinch of sea salt and cinnamon to enhance flavour

Method

1. Combine all the ingredients in a blender.

2. Blend for about 30 seconds until smooth and creamy.


3, Add a splash of water or coconut water to make a lighter mousse or add 2 tbsp melted cacao butter or cold pressed coconut oil to firm up the mousse.
 Add 1 tbsp protein powder to add protein if you want too.

4. Spoon into a bowl and allow to set in the fridge. Serve by itself or with fresh fruit

Fancy Protein Cubes

Ingredients

Filling

50g vanilla protein powder

50g oats

2 tbsp peanut butter

2 tbsp coffee

2 tbsp hemp seeds

1 tbsp maple syrup

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tbsp ground/finely chopped goji beries

Chocolate layer

2 tbsp coconut oil (melted)

4 tsp cacao/cocoa powder

Toppings

85% dark chocolate

Desiccated coconut

Chopped nuts

Method

1. Put all the filling items in a bowl and mix together thoroughly.  You can swap the oats for flax seeds and the coffee for extra peanut butter if you want.

2. Mould into around 1 inch cubes.  I use the rice cube as its easy, quick and makes perfect cubes (http://www.firebox.com/product/6147/Rice-Cube?aff=1108&gclid=CMOToNGt4rwCFQKWtAodYHMAvQ)

3. Place in freezer to harden.

4. In a small bowl melt your coconut oil and then mix in the cacao powder.

5. Prepare your selection of toppings (use honey or maple syrup to help them stick on the top when you come to add them)

6. Remove cubes from the freezer, place cube on the end of a cocktail stick and place in the topping making sure all sides are covered apart from the bottom. If you just keep twisting it and hold it in the air for a minute or so you will see it re harden pretty quickly as the coconut oil sets.  Once set carefully remove from the cocktail stick and place the non-chocolate side face down.  Repeat with all cubes.

7. Top with your selection of toppings and then store in fridge.

Peanut Butter Chickpea Cookies

Ingredients

1 x 400g cup of canned chickpeas, well-rinsed and patted dry with a paper towel

2 tsp vanilla extract/paste

1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons (165g) natural peanut butter (no oil if poss)

1/4 cup (80g) manuka honey

1 tsp baking powder

A pinch of salt if your peanut butter doesn’t have salt in it

1/2 cup (90 grams) dark chocolate chips

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 350°F / 175°C.

2. Combine all the ingredients, except for the chocolate chips, in a food processor and process until very smooth. Make sure to scrape the sides and the top to get the little chunks of chickpeas and process again until they’re combined.

3. Put in the chocolate chips and stir it if you can, or pulse it once or twice. The mixture will be very thick and sticky.

4. With wet hands, form into 1 inch balls. Place onto a piece of parchment paper. Press down slightly on the balls to make them more cookie shape, they won’t change shape much in the oven.  Bake for about 10 minutes. If you have used a shop bought peanut butter with oil in the cookies will be a bit more doughy and soft and less crunchy which is fine just not so much of a cookie crunch!

Yummy Guilt Free Chocolate Brownies

Ingredients

2 large cups grated sweet potato
(peel off skin before grating)

2 whole eggs


2 tsp vanilla extract


½ cup of finely chopped dates

2 tbsp raw/manuka honey

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil


¼ cup coconut oil (use ½ of extra virgin instead if you don’t have this)

1 tbsp baking powder


1/2 tbsp bicarbonate (baking) soda


1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder


2 tbsp vanilla protein powder (use any type of flour if you don’t want to put protein powder in)

1/2 cup walnuts, roughly chopped

Method

1. Preheat oven to 185˚C (365˚F).  Line a slice tin with non-stick baking paper.

2. Place everything in a big bowl and mix thoroughly! The amount of honey you put in depends how sweet you want them so vary accordingly but this amount worked for me and they were perfectly sweet!

3. Walnuts are optional, you can use other nuts or none but they add a nice bit of crunch!

4. Pour into prepared slice tin and bake for 25 – 30 minutes, or until skewer comes out mostly clean.  It may still look a bit squidgy but don’t cook for more than 30 minutes as you want them to still be moist and soft and once you leave them to cool they will firm up a bit anyway.

5. Serve with crème fraiche/greek yoghurt once cooled.

(adapted from Chantelle Grady/paleo recipe)