Category: RECIPES

Recipes for Pre-conception, Pregnancy, Post-Natal

Strawberry-licious Gluten free Muffins

strawberry

I baked these last night, in a bit of a hurry, for my little girls lunchbox treat today…I had no butter in the house, so looked up recipes using Olive Oil…I found a recipe for Olive Oil blueberry muffins on an American website…I used Strawberries instead, and they turned out FAB!

Here’s the recipe, adapted from ‘we olive.com’.

If you don’t want/need them to be Gluten Free you can just use regular Self-Raising flour.

p.s. the batter is quite thick! so I added a couple of extra tablespoons of milk and of Olive Oil…it was still quite thick, but more easy to drop into the muffin cases, so just add as much as you think appropriate

STRAWBERRY GLUTEN FREE MUFFINS

Makes 8 – 9 muffins, depending on how much batter you fill the cases with…i filled mine right to the top so they were huge!

1 1/2 cups self-raising flour (Doves Gluten free s/r flour mix or ORGRAN s/r flour mix, or other alternative mix you can find)
3/4 cup golden granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 egg
1/2 cup buttermilk or regular milk (extra 2 tablespoons if required)
1/3 cup olive oil (i used regular olive oil, rather than extra virgin – would recommend adding extra 2 tablespoons, for moistness)
8 – 9 strawberries cut in half

1. Preheat the oven to 175 degrees C (350F). Line muffin cups with paper liners.
2. Stir together the flour, sugar, and cinnamon in a large bowl. In a medium bowl, beat together the egg, milk, and olive oil. Stir the wet mixture into the dry mixture until a batter forms. Scoop the batter into the muffin cups. Push two halves of strawberries into the top of each muffin so that they are at least half-way in. Bake for 15 minutes, check, and if golden and puffy, they are ready, if not add 3 mins. (20-25 mins for regular flour) Let cool. EAT!

 

Pregnancy cravings!

Yes yes, we all know there are some ‘weird’ pregnancy cravings out there! For most of my first pregnancy I had a particular addiction to ‘Pink Lady’ apples….they tasted AMAZING!!! appleSomething must happen to your tastebuds when pregnant? food just seems to taste better! Of course there are some aversions….meat was something I had a bit of a funny tummy over for a while…but Chocolate! well, that went down VERY well. ALL. THE. TIME.

So here is a lovely, quick, easy recipe for those indulgent chocolate cravings. The best thing about this cake is that it’s made with Olive oil, not butter, and also Cocoa rather than chocolate that requires melting etc…so, with a few simple ingredients in your cupboard, you are only about 45 mins away to chocolate heaven. Plus it’s also GLUTEN FREE. Enjoy!

 

NIGELLA’s CHOCOLATE OLIVE OIL CAKE

Makes: 8-12 slices

oliveoilchoc

“Although I first came up with this recipe because I had someone coming for supper who – genuinely – couldn’t eat wheat or dairy, it is so meltingly good, I now make it all the time for those whose life and diet are not so unfairly constrained, myself included.

It is slightly heavier with the almonds – though not in a bad way – so if you want a lighter crumb, rather than a squidgy interior, and are not making the cake for the gluten-intolerant, then replace the 150g ground almonds / 1½ cups almond meal with 125g plain flour / ¾ cup plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour. This has the built-in bonus of making it perhaps more suitable for an everyday cake.

Made with the almonds, it has more of supper-party pudding feel about it and I love it still a bit warm, with some raspberries or some such on the side, as well as a dollop of mascarpone or ice cream.”

 

Ingredients

  • 150 ml regular olive oil (plus more for greasing)
  • 50 grams good-quality cocoa powder (sifted)
  • 125 ml boiling water
  • 2 teaspoons best vanilla extract
  • 150 grams ground almonds (or 125g plain flour / 3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour)
  • ½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
  • 1 pinch of salt
  • 200 grams caster sugar
  • 3 large eggs

Method

  1. Preheat your oven to 170°C/gas mark 3/325ºF. Grease a 22 or 23 cm/ 9inch springform tin with a little oil and line the base with baking parchment.
  2. Measure and sift the cocoa powder into a bowl or jug and whisk in the boiling water until you have a smooth, chocolatey, still runny (but only just) paste. Whisk in the vanilla extract, then set aside to cool a little.
  3. In another smallish bowl, combine the ground almonds (or flour) with the bicarbonate of soda and pinch of salt.
  4. Put the sugar, olive oil and eggs into the bowl of a freestanding mixer with the paddle attachment (or other bowl and whisk arrangement of your choice) and beat together vigorously for about 3 minutes until you have a pale-primrose, aerated and thickened cream.
  5. Turn the speed down a little and pour in the cocoa mixture, beating as you go, and when all is scraped in you can slowly tip in the ground almond (or flour) mixture.
  6. Scrape down, and stir a little with a spatula, then pour this dark, liquid batter into the prepared tin. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until the sides are set and the very centre, on top, still looks slightly damp. A cake tester should come up mainly clean but with a few sticky chocolate crumbs clinging to it.
  7. Let it cool for 10 minutes on a wire rack, still in its tin, and then ease the sides of the cake with a small metal spatula and spring it out of the tin. Leave to cool completely or eat while still warm with some ice cream, as a pudding.

Feeding the Bump

feedingthebump
During my first pregnancy I became very interested in nutrition, and wanted to eat healthy food that was good for me and good for my baby.
I love food, and have always enjoyed cooking and eating well.
So when I stumbled upon a book called: ‘Feeding the Bump’ by Lisa Neal, I was excited.
The fantastic thing about this book is that it takes you through all of the recipes in handy categories: 1st trimester right through to Post-Natal. There are recipes to help with everything from morning sickness, to bloating, to your energy levels. And there is detailed information about individual ingredients, and what these do for your body and baby.
I particularly love the fact that the recipes contain hardly any sugar, making use of natural sugars from fruit or honey.
So, here is my favourite recipe from the book. It can be used throughout pregnancy and beyond. When I craved the extra sugar, I would add other things to it, such as dates, figs, and maybe, just sometimes (ok, most of the time), a bit of brown sugar sprinkled on top! Enjoy!

Healthy Breakfast Loaf – from ‘Feeding the Bump’ by Lisa Neal

breakfast loaf
photo of loaf: toddlertastes

INGREDIENTS
3 ripe bananas
1 pear
1 cup plain, low fat yoghurt
2 eggs
½ cup brazil nuts, chopped
1 & ½ cups wholemeal self raising flour
1/2cup skim milk powder
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp nutmeg
3 tsp cinnamon
1 cup oats, or rolled barley
½ cup raisins
½ cup oat bran
METHOD
1. Preheat oven to fan forced setting 180 degrees. Line a 20cm loaf baking tin with paper.
2. Mash bananas into a medium sized mixing bowl. Grate the pear into the same bowl. Add the yoghurt, nuts and lightly beaten eggs. Gently fold the ingredients together.
3. Sift flour, skim milk powder and spices into a large mixing bowl. Add oats, raisins and oat bran. Make a well into the centre of the dry ingredients and use a large metal spoon to gently fold through the wet ingredients.
4. Pour mix into a prepared baking tin.
5. Bake for 45-50 mins, or until bread is cooked through. Allow the bread to cool for 10 mins before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
6. Slice and serve fresh or toasted.

p.s. it also freezes well, and toasts perfectly in the toaster – pop a slice in the toaster, spread with some butter, wrap in foil and eat on the way to work! delicious.