These muffins are quick to whip together and they are so nice and warming as the cool weather settles in. Spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice, its like the best part of a pumpkin pie is in muffin form making it totally acceptable to eat for breakfast. 
Prep: 10 minutes
Bake: 25 minutes
As you know, I am a big advocate of people pushing their limits and getting out of their comfort-zone. For those who know me well, you know that I never feel more out of my comfort-zone than when I am the center of attention. So filming a 20 minute cooking show was massively pushing my limits! But when The Performance Kitchen asked if I’d be interested in doing a Live Loosley takeover episode, there was no way I could pass up the opportunity. Even though I hate being the center of attention and can be known for blushing when someone just looks at me too long, I always get a sense of satisfaction after spending some time out of my comfort-zone.
The Performance Kitchen is a YouTube channel that focuses on professional athletes, their sport/training and how their cooking impacts their performance. What better way to learn about fueling your body than from some of the best athletes in the world – straight from the source.
My episode was filmed right after World Champion Swimmer, Katy Sexton and right before Professional Basketball Player, Tayo Ogedengbe. The call sheet for filming that day also included: Sophie Papps, Chris Gregory and Vanessa Raw. All amazing athletes in their own right.
Morning everyone! I hope you all had a lovely weekend.
I’m waking up to a delicious bowl of Bircher Muesli to soothe the Monday Blues.
It’s not hard to fall in love with this overnight oats recipe – so easy to prepare and totally delicious.
I was introduced to Bircher Muesli in Mallorca on the RAAMIN4Charity training camp last month. Thanks to Suzanne, I now have a new favourite breakfast!
With the weather warming up too it is the perfect time to really appreciate this refreshing and filling breakfast.
Here’s how…
So, over the past month or so I’ve been counting my calories. I wanted to try it out because I have met a few people recently who LIVE by their calorie count and use it as a measurement to consider themselves having had a healthy day or not.
I set out to debunk this way of thinking as I don’t consider ‘hitting your calorie count’ an aspect of healthy living. I still believe this to be true but to my surprise, I discovered how apps like MyFitnessPal and MyPlate provide a really great insight to your eating habits and activity levels.
For me, it was a really good reminder of how active I have to be in order to eat what I want to eat! Which sounds little ridiculous maybe… but I’m serious. It poses the question: How lazy do you want to be?
This biscotti recipe has gotten me a lot of praise. It is gluten free, sugar free and most importantly: simply delicious.
Prep: 10 minutes
Bake: 40 minutes
Every year around this time I start to feel the aftermath of all the heavy Christmas meals I ate in December. So far, I’ve had a pretty healthy January, yet I feel like I’ve gained a little weight since the new year… which is frustrating. It happens every year though… I know that for me it is normal and to ignore the scales in January; to just stick to my routine and things will balance back out in time.
I do however end up with cravings for the hearty meals to continue… so porridge is my go to breakfast dish. It satisfies a craving and keeps me full until (I’d like to say lunch but..) 11.
Traditional porridge – just milk and oats – can get tiresome for me. So here is an alternative porridge recipe I’ve been enjoying lately.
Originally, I wanted to test out quinoa flakes (rather than oats). I intended to hop on the bandwagon and share a quinoa inspired recipe… but here’s what I learned in the process…
One notable nutritional difference quinoa has over oats is it’s protein content and quality; there’s more protein in quinoa.
Each cup of cooked quinoa provides 8.1 grams of protein, compared to 5.6 grams in an equivalent portion of cooked oatmeal.
Well first of all, they are £6-8 for only 400g. Oats are around £1-2 for 1kg! It’s a no brainer financially.
But quinoa does offer 118 milligrams of magnesium per serving, compared to oatmeal’s 61 milligrams — Oatmeal however offers more than five times the amount of iron found in quinoa.
Quinoa flakes and oats are both great breakfast foods and a healthy source of carbohydrates, protein, fibre and micronutrients.
In my opinion it’s not worth breaking the bank for quinoa flakes… I’ll stick with oats for my porridge. I did experiment though and it turns out that regular quinoa (usually £2.50 per 500g) is quite tasty in this porridge recipe as well… but the texture is a bit funny.
In this recipe you can use oats or quinoa flakes.
Prep: 1 minute
Cook: 5 minutes
During Week 1, I put effort into preparing healthy sugar free snacks, lunches and dinners. Our whole household went sugar free so we worked together to set ourselves up for a successful week.
This week we were much less prepared… lunches were mapped out for the first half of the week but because of some conflicting evening plans we did dinners separately. My snacks in Week 2 were limited to fruit and assorted nuts. My dinners were sporadic as I was often out in the evenings, so I ate very random bits and bobs by the time I got home… like goat cheese or almond butter on rice crackers.
By Thursday/ Friday my diet was limited to lattes, oranges and chips (fries). NOT HEALTHY… but sugar free…
I’ve gone into the grocery store and opted out of buying a pre-made salad or soup for lunch because I saw sugar was on the ingredients list. So being this strict for the purpose of being sugar free, might not be the healthiest option for me.
This is my ‘go-to’ dinner after an evening workout.
You’ve just finished your workout and it’s now 8:30PM. You’re home by nine and you’re seriously starving. You’re tired so basically right after you eat, you’re planning to sleep. You’ll be craving a high cal meal but you don’t want to eat something too heavy right before bed… WHAT DO YOU DO?!
Bean stir fry to the rescue.
This recipe is high in protein and fibre. It is filling but doesn’t make you feel bloated or sluggish the next day. Oh, and did I mention how delicious it is?
Prep: 10 minutes
Simmer: 15 minutes
Result: 4 servings, bean stir fry
I have become obsessed with baking banana bread… I’ve been baking at least two loaves a week for the past month and a half. It’s just too easy!!
I haven’t been measuring my ingredients and as a result I’ve had a few loaves turnout better than others… but really, you can’t go wrong!
I’ve baked paleo banana bread (substituting ground almonds and/or flaxseed for flour), banana bread with avocado and traditional banana bread with white flour.
I’ve learnt a lot in the process – so here are my tips for baking delicious varieties of banana bread…
Yesterday I had a proper play in the kitchen and for the first time baked something without following a recipe. I couldn’t be happier with the result!
Inspired by banana pancakes, here is the recipe to my healthy banana muffins – no salt, no processed sugars, no oils, limited fat and natural sweeteners.
Prep: 10 minutes
Bake: 20 minutes
Result: 12 deliciously healthy muffins
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