Eat Well : Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies (& Cherry Chocolate Chip!)

I had a craving, and only ever having tried baking cakes before, I wanted to give gluten-free cookies a go, and so put the recipe to the test last night!

Ingredients:

• 75g butter
• 75g caster sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
• 150g gluten-free flour
• 150g chocolate, either chips or bar broken into chunks

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C/350 degrees F/Gas Mark 4.
2. Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
3. Add the egg, vanilla essence and baking power.
4. Stir the flour into the mixture.
5. Add the chocolate chips/chunks to the batter and stir until evenly distributed.
6. Spoon the mixture into small balls and place on a baking tray – allowing space for the cookies to spread a little – and place in the oven for 10-15 minutes, until golden.

Nutrition per Cookie (makes 10-12):

• kCalories : 217
• Sugar : 15.7g
• Fat : 10.7g
• Saturated Fat : 6.7g
• Salt : 92.0mg

And for a variation on the recipe …

I tested out a fruity version of the recipe, by simply adding chopped cherries to the mix.

I took a handful of frozen cherries, chopped them all in half and stirred these into the batter, and was nicely surprised to find that the cookies stayed together and didn’t crumble too much.

By adding cherries to the mix, it makes them a little more chewy, and dark cherries work really well with the chocolate.

A yummy treat with the afternoon cup of tea – naughty, but nice, and gluten-free!

Be Happy : Friday’s Health & Fitness Fact

Treat yourself to that Friday night takeaway!

But stick to the tomato-based dishes …

Miracle foods do NOT exist, however some foods can help to increase your metabolism, and get your body burning more calories, even while you’re resting.

Spices such as cinnamon, mustard, ginger and cayenne have thermogenic properties, helping elevate your metabolism by 20% for two hours after eating.

A mere half-teaspoon, or a dash of Tabasco sauce added to your meal is enough to give you the full thermogenic effect!

And for a further calorie-burning boost …

Wash the spicy serving down with an ice-cold glass of water, and you’ll burn even more calories, as your body uses energy to warm the water up!

Eat Well : Gluten-Free Lemon Drizzle Cupcakes

I decided it was about time to treat you to some more gluten-free goodies!

Ingredients:

• 170g butter
• 170g caster sugar
• 2 eggs
• 170g gluten-free self-raising flour
• 1-2 lemons
• 1 tbsp poppy seeds (optional)

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C/350 degrees F/Gas Mark 4.
2. Beat the butter and sugar for 3-5 minutes until light and fluffy.
3. Grate the rind of the lemons.
4. Add the eggs, one-at-a-time to the mixture with a tablespoon of flour, then fold the rest of the flour in.
5. Add the lemon rind and juice of a lemon to the mix, along with the poppy seeds.
6. Spoon the mixture into cupcake cases, and place in the oven for 10-14 minutes, until golden.
7. Remove from the oven to cool, before pouring the remaining lemon juice over the tops of the cupcakes.

Nutrition per Cupcake (makes 8-10):

• kCalories : 280
• Sugar : 20g
• Fat : 16g
• Saturated Fat : 9.5g
• Salt : 0.5g

Be Happy : My immune system has gone on strike

So I’ve been ill again this week with a virus.

Overtraining and not enough sleep, coupled with the lack of good healthy meals for the last few weeks and my immune system decided to take a holiday!

I’ve been at home 3 days, eating as much fruit and veg as I possibly can, drunk every cough medicine I could find in South-West London, and kept myself fully doped up on paracetamol and antibiotics to beat off the fever I’ve had!

I’ve just refurbed a long email from our coach Jon, insisting that I should only race this weekend if I’m 100%. I explained how I was feeling and he’s asked me to come to the club tonight, to test myself out on the RowPerfect, before going out in the boat.

The pressure is on, and I’m really desperate to be out there in that boat Saturday afternoon, racing for TRC!

Eat Well : Gluten-free Banana Pizza …

… recipe to follow shortly!

All part of a little experimentation in the kitchen in a vain attempt to kill this virus, so that I’m fighting fit for our BIG race on Saturday! 🙂

Eat Well : Gluten-Free Fudge Bars

Best eaten straight from the freezer! 🙂

 

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of pecans
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cacao powder
• 10 medjool dates – pitted and chopped
• 3/4 cup almond butter
• 1/4 cup orange/apple/coconut water or water
• 2 tbsp honey
• 1/2 teaspoon gluten-free vanilla extract
• 1/2 to 3/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

 

Method:

1. Using a food processor, blend the pecans until finely ground. Add the cacao powder and mix well.
2. Add the dates, almond butter, juice, honey and vanilla – pulse again until the mixture becomes dough-like.
3. Line a baking tray with parchment paper, and roll the dough into golf-ball-size balls, placing them on the tray. Put the tray in the fridge and chill.
4. Store the balls in a plastic container in the freezer.

 

Nutritional Info per Power Ball:

• kCalories : 180
• Fat : 13g
• Carbohydrates : 18g
• Protein : 3g
• Fiber : 4g

Handy Hint:
If you can’t get hold of almond butter, hazelnut butter works nicely, and failing that, peanut butter works just fine too 🙂

Eat Well : Gluten-Free American-Style Pancakes

So it’s pancake day!

And given that I’ve just had my first cardio-training session after 4 weeks of rest and recovery, I think these pancakes are well-deserved!

I’m also here to prove that not all gluten-free food has to taste like potatoes!

Gluten-Free American-Style Pancakes

Ingredients:

• 200g gluten-free self-raising flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 egg
• 300ml soya/almond milk
• a knob of butter

• and a topping of your choice 🙂 – I’m going for Nutella!

Method:

1. Measure out all ingredients and mix together in one bowl with an electric whisk to make a thick smooth batter.
2. Heat a teaspoon of oil or butter in a large non-stick frying pan.  Drop a large tablespoon of batter into the pan, and cook for about 3 minutes on a medium heat, or until the pancake moves freely in the pan and bubbles start to appear. Using a fish-slice turn the pancake and cook on the other side for a further 3 minutes.
3. Now top with your favourite topping 🙂

Nutrition per pancake:

• 108 kcalories
• Protein : 4g
• Carbohydrate : 18g
• Fat : 3g
• Saturated Fat : 1g
• Fibre : 1g
• Salt : 0.41g

Eat Well : Low-Fat Chocolate Cake

You can have your low-fat cake and eat it!

Ok, so this ones not gluten-free – I’ve been having an off week, but as a treat for my lovely housemate for her birthday, I decided to try out a low-fat recipe for a birthday cake.

Low-Fat Chocolate Cake

Ingredients:

• For the cake:
  • 3 large eggs
  • 85g caster sugar
  • 70g plain flour
  • 1 tbsp cornflour
  • 2 tbsp cocoa
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder

• For the filling:
  • 25g dark chocolate (don’t use 75% chocolate, as this makes the icing too bitter)
  • 100g light soft cheese – Philadelphia
  • 100g 0% Greek Yoghurt – Fage
  • 2 tbsp icing sugar

Method:

1. Heat the oven to 180 degrees/160 degrees for a fan oven/gas mark 4. Lightly butter and line 2 x 18cm sandwich tins with baking tins.
2. Whisk the eggs and sugar until light and fluffy – this should be about 5 minutes if using a tabletop mixer, or 10 minutes using an electric hand whisk. The mixture should increase in volume, and be thick enough to leave a trail on the surface when the whisk blades are lifted.
3. Sift the flour, cornflour, cocoa and baking powder over the eggs and fold in using a large metal spoon. Be careful not to loose the volume of the mixture – keeping the air bubbles in the mixture will keep the cake light and moist.
4. Pour the mixture into the tins and bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes until the cakes have well risen, and the mixture has begun to shrink away from the edges of the tins, and springs back when pressed. Allow to cool in the tins for 5 minutes, then turn out on to a rack.
5. For the topping/filling, microwave the chocolate until it has melted, then beat in the soft cheese, yoghurt and icing sugar until smooth. Spoon onto the cakes and serve 🙂

Serves 8.

 

Nutrition per serving:

• 180 kcalories
• Protein : 5g
• Carbohydrate : 27g
• Fat : 7g
• Saturated Fat : 3g
• Fibre : 1g
• Sugar : 18g
• Salt : 0.33g

Be Happy : Instagram – 7th January 2013

Be Happy : Instagram – 2nd January 2013