100% guilt-free chocolate cake which tastes like REAL chocolate cake but is only a fraction of the carbs and calories PLUS is high in protein and is sugarfree! Amazing!! Click through to the recipe by clicking the picture :)
You guys HAVE to try this - I don’t think I’ve ever been more proud of one of my recipes in my whole life!!
(Source: nellafromhealthysnax)
WHY (and how) KIDS SHOULD EAT CHOCOLATE! SPREAD THE WORD!
And before you get excited or disappointed, this article is probably not what you think it’s about. I highly encourage the consumption of chocolate by children - as long as it’s the RIGHT sort of chocolate. If you have a son, daughter or little brother or little sister, it may be worthwhile switching their sweet ‘treats’ like store-bought chocolates, candies and desserts to wholesome, nutritious, sugar-free chocolate.
☃ Meet my friend “Raw Cacao”
Organic raw cacao powder isn’t something that many people know a lot about. When people hear ‘cacao’, some may ask ‘don’t you mean cocoa?’ Nope. See how the ‘a’ comes before the ‘o’? That’s the way it should be - right? That’s the way it is in the alphabet! And that’s the way it should be when it comes to cocoa/cacao.
✏ Difference between cacao and cocoa.
I won’t keep you for long, so, long story short, cacao is ‘cocoa’ before it’s processed and rid of all its nutrients and antioxidants. It is the superfood! And what is chocolate? It’s cacao that has been roasted and mingled with sugar and fats and other unnecessary things! Don’t get me wrong - have some Cadbury or Lindt every now and then, but can you really afford to treat your body to this every day? I don’t think so. But with cacao, you can!
✓ We all like benefits…
- Healthy blood vessels - lower blood pressure and improve circulation!
- Digestion - can stimulate digestive enzymes!
- Contains - Antioxidants, lkaloids, proteins, beta-carotene, leucine, linoleic acid, lipase, lysine, theobromine —> SEROTONIN - the HAPPY HORMONE! ツ
- Energy - can help give you energy to conquer your day and/or workout!
- Wake up - don’t have a bucket of it daily, or you may not be able to sleep at night, but a sensible amount is definitely great to kill the unwanted ZzZzZs!
- Brain power - forget the ‘I need a choc bar to give me brain power which will stop me from craving sugary treats and make me focus on my work’ - get some cacao!
- For girls - during THAT dreaded time of the month when we all crave chocolate - cacao contains magnesium which may stop the cravings!
- Versatile - there are so many ways to include it in your diet …
웃 Back to the kids!
I’d certainly be best friends with raw cacao if I could! So try to introduce it to children from a young age in place of the sugar stuff like Nutella, milkshakes and chocolate bars (Once again, not saying you should deprive them of that stuff, but introduce them to cacao before you introduce them to the stuff on the market that their friends at school will be raving about). Here are some ideas on what chocolatey treats you can give them:
- Chocolate spread - instead of Nutella on white bread, spread raw cacao on wholegrain/rye bread or organic crackers (Mix some raw cacao, stevia and almond/hazelnut/peanut butter! Yummy)
- Milkshake - instead of the sugar-filled popular drinks, make a milkshake using raw cacao powder, stevia, milk (raw milk if you can, or coconut milk with some water). Sprinkle with some shredded coconut or chia seeds! Yum!
- Chocolate blocks - get some silicon moulds or icecube trays and fill them with a mixture of raw cacao powder, coconut oil, organic nut butter, stevia, chopped almonds (for a ‘milk chocolate’, you can add a splash of coconut milk!
- Chocolate fondue - chop up some fruit and dip it in a mixture of cacao, stevia, coconut oil and/or nut butter!
- Chocolate icecream - if you have an icecream maker, this will work amazingly! Mix a bit of raw cacao powder into some natural yoghurt and add some stevia to sweeten!
- Chocolate oats - instead of sugary breakfast cereals, if you want to get some grains into your kids, make some oats and mix through some cacao and stevia or honey! Leave in the fridge overnight for a ‘cold’ breakfast idea (which they can take to school in small containers!)
- Chocolate muffins - Instead of sugary muffins or muesli bars, bake choc muffins using grated zucchini, almond-meal, stevia and organic eggs!
❤ OH MY GOD THAT’S AMAZING WHERE DO I GET THIS STUFF!?
Raw cacao can be expensive (but why would you not invest in the health of your loved ones?!) and it’s better purchased in bulk. I usually buy this one here - http://www.lovingearth.net/products/12/raw-organic-cacao-powder
☆☆☆☆☆ so now that you’re educated on the benefits of raw cacao, go and buy some and try these recipes for your little ones - and try not to eat them yourself since they’re so yummy - but hey, you probably will ;)
(Source: healthysnax)
✿ Cinnamon Pumpkin Creme Crustless Tart ✿
What a dilemma - I only had ONE egg in the fridge today! And I had half a pumpkin which I didn’t know any interesting uses for aside from just cooking it the boring way…until I thought I’d make a crustless (because I didn’t have any paleo flour) pumpkin spiced tart! Easy peasy!
❤ Ingredients:
- 2 cups cooked pumpkin (then mashed/pureed)
- 1 beaten egg
- 30 drops liquid stevia extract
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- lemon juice to serve
❤ What to do:
- Mix together all of the ingredients aside from the lemon juice and pour into a small nonstick tart tin or mini saucepan. (It is a very soft and fragile and has a sort of mousse consistency, so if you’d like it a bit more cake-like, add 1 cup of almond or coconut flour to it).
- Bake in the oven on medium-high heat for about 30 minutes until it looks a bit browner than before.
- Let it cool in the fridge and then transfer onto a plate and serve with some chia seeds, fruit or lemon juice! YUM!
✿ Sugar-free Chocolate Thickshake ✿
The other day, I saw my mum eating a bowl of extra chocolatey chocolate icecream - all my senses screamed at me to ditch my sugar and dairy-free health kick and just have a bowl too - YOLO, right? WRONG! If YOLO, then wouldn’t you want to have the healthiest body you can? So I mimicked her chocolate icecream by creating a creamy and thick smoothie which was almost like the icecream! SO delicious…
❤ Ingredients:
- 2 heaped teaspoons raw cacao powder
- 20 drops liquid stevia extract
- 1 teaspoon organic peanut butter
- 1 ripe banana
- 6 icecubes
❤ What to do:
- Blend the ingredients together until smooth and creamy! If you’re using a blender rather than a food processor, you may have to add a splash of water to move the ingredients along (like I did!)
Super Healthy Deconstructed Chocolate Bar!
Here’s another one of my crazy, healthy and delicious ideas! I just saw my grandma picking off the chocolate off the cookies she was eating, and I was SO tempted to go ‘What are you doing? That’s the best part! I’ll eat it for you…’ and then I remembered ‘Oops, I’m on my health kick, and one taste of chocolate will make me crazy for more. So instead, I made a thick mousse/fondue out of the following:
- 10 drops stevia extract
- 2 teaspoons organic raw cacao powder
- 1/2 teaspoon coconut oil
- 1 teaspoon organic 100% peanut butter
- 1/2 teaspoon chia seeds (for some crunch!)
- Cut up carrot for dipping! But you can use fruit if you want! =)
It was SO delicious! It actually had the consistency of Nutella, except without the hazelnutty taste. If I had hazelnuts though…mmmm it would be like a Not-ella!
HEALTHY BLUEBERRY PANCAKE!
If you feel like a sinfully delectable dessert but still want it to have some nutritional content, then whip up this baby!
- 1/4 cup thawed blueberries (or fresh ones)
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1/2 teaspoon lemon rind (the lemon aspect gives it a tangy zingy flavour!)
- 25 drops liquid stevia extract
- 1/2 cup buckwheat flour
- handful of oats *optional
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 beaten egg
- coconut oil
- low fat/low sugar icecream to serve* optional
- Grease a small pan with coconut oil and start to heat up the pan.
- In a small bowl, mix the remaining ingredients until you have a slightly runny batter (you may have to add splashes of water while mixing)
- Pour into the pan and once the edges start to bubble, flip!
- Transfer onto a plate, top with icecream and enjoy!
Greek yoghurt, berries, walnuts and strawberries - DELICIEUX!
Whipped peanut butter and raisin toast on a crime scene of blueberry! Yum! Mini late night healthy-ish treat!! :)
Just eating my plate of antioxidants…They look so pretty and frosted, like they’re covered in snow…
But no, seriously, go and buy some blueberries - Fresh ones CAN be expensive, so frozen ones ain’t a bad choice either!
Why should you go and do this? WELL:
- These little gems contain antioxidants which fight free-radicals. Rad hey? Oh, and this in turn helps your bod build its immune system!
- They fight diseases such as…cancer, Alzheimer’s, diabetes, heart diseases!!
- They promote digestive help and weight loss!!!
- They lower your cholesterol!!!!
- They’re DELICIOUS!!!!!
So supplement these for your sugary dessert =D Low cal and delish!! (Oh, but don’t eat them before a photoshoot, party, formal, date or interview because they can make your lips a bit blue-da-ba-dee-da-ba-die)
Chai Latte yoghurt dessert!
———————————————-
HOW?
Just add some cinnamon to your low fat vanilla yoghurt! =) You can even add a pinch of nutmeg and ground ginger if you like, but I find adding 1/2 or 1 tspn cinnamon works very nicely!
Sugarfree Microwave Brownie
- 1 lightly beaten eggwhite
- 1 heaped tsp unsweetened cocoa powder
- 20-25 drops liquid Stevia extract
- 1 tbsp buckwheat flour
- 1 tbsp water
- pinch of salt
- 1/4 tsp baking powder
Quick dessert in 2 mins!
- Lightly mix all the ingredients into a runny ‘batter’ and pop into a microwavable cup.
- Microwave for 2-3 mins!
CHOCOLATE ANTIOXIDANTS BREAKFAST QUINOA!
We all know that chocolate is full of antioxidants, right? Well, here’s a little taste of the goodies contained in unsweetened cocoa powder:
- Vitamins A, B1, B2, B3, C and E, calcium, copper, iron, zinc, potassium, pantothenic acid, magnesium & manganese.
Sound good so far? Well what if I told you that today for breakfast I had something that tasted like I was eating a decadent dessert. In fact, I think it tasted like chocolate crackles (those puffed rice and cocoa cupcakes!)
How to!
- Cook up a cup of quinoa and mix it with 1 teaspoon of unsweetened cocoa powder AND some natural sweetener to taste. I also added a bit of Ovaltine Lite mix to mine for a little energy kick!
- Step 2….well there’s no step 2 really! It’s just THAT easy =D
(Source: healthysnax)
‘Had a cake craving…So I made a mini Banana/Blueberry Pudding! (look at how decadent and gooey it is!!)
I really felt like eating something sweet and caloric and comforting…you know those urges you sweet-teeth get? Yep. They’re deadly! Well, instead I made a little microwave muffin! And this time I added some ripe mashed banana to my buckwheat flour, so it turned out very gooey and moist like a hot mini pudding! It was the PERFECT thing for me and was very low in fat!
Serves 1
Calories - roughly 200-300 (it’s quite a decent size)
- 1 ripe mashed banana
- 1 heaped tablespoon buckwheat flour/wholemeal flour
- 1 eggwhite
- natural sweetener (I used 15 drops Stevia extract)
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla essence
- 1 heaped tablespoon frozen blueberries
- splash of water
- olive oil
WHAT TO DO!!!!
- Grease a wide microwaveable cup with a tiny bit of olive oil.
- In a separate cup, mix the remaining ingredients and pour into cup, leaving about 6cm from the rim of the cup (as in, you need room for the pudding to rise!)
- Microwave on high for 3-4 minutes until it’s finished bubbling on the surface and looks cooked.
- Carefully remove from microwave and tip onto a little plate (it will be very hot!)
Chocolatey Buckwheat Crepe with Bananas and Yoghurt
(Source: healthysnax)
Tropical Quenching Sorbet Smoothie!
This is such a delicious smoothie I just made, and it’s milk-free (for all you people who don’t like milk!). Here’s what you need to do!
Ingredients:
1/2 or 1 cup tinned pineapple pieces (frozen in the freezer for 30 mins)
1/2 or 1 cup watermelon pieces (as above)
1/2 banana
6 large icecubes
1/2 cup pineapple juice
1/4 cup frozen raspberries
Optional - few drops Stevia IF you want it extra sweet.
Method:
Well, you know what to do when you have a blender nearby…
Yum!
(Source: healthysnax)
