laurasaur

This is a fab meal, pretty paleo (if you do dairy) or easily adaptable to be so. Add whatever meat or veges you have, toddlers pretty much all love it so it’s a great way of cramming concealed veges in and so flavourful for adults too. Super high protein. If you don’t do dairy swap the cream for coconut cream or milk, and the butter for coconut oil.

This meal may or may not have come from Reuben dropping an entire carton of eggs on the floor and every single one of them cracking

I want to say thanks to Waitrose for making these awesome lamb sausages, I have a mega hard time finding decent sausages in this country (no offence but I hate pork sausages) and found these at the deli counter, only 1.50 for 5! Score. Cheap meal. Well… 7 free range eggs aren’t the worlds cheapest but still.

7 lightly beaten/mixed eggs
1/2C cream (or milk, coconut cream, whatever)
5 lamb sausages – thanks waitrose
Onion
Garlic
Carrot
Thyme
Capsicum or Red Pepper sliced finely
Butter

If you have an oven proof skillet/frypan now is the time to use it. Other wise you will have to bake your fritatta in a cake pan like me which makes more evil dishes!

Fry off chopped onion, garlic, carrot and sausages in a knob of butter. Add remaining ingredients and mix together. Put into your oven safe dish and bake at 200C for about 20 minutes until the edges are puffed and golden.

ENJOY .. with some healthy spinach leaves x

This

Cake

Is

AMAZING.

I try and eat paleo all the time (that’s another post in itself), and it makes me so sad because I love cake. So much. Until now everything I’ve tried to bake that loosely conforms to the “rules” of paleo has tasted either like a bit of a brick or a combination of wallpaper and baking soda. So pretty much I used to just give up and make evil refined sugar cake.

This cake is AMAZING. So satisfying thanks to the dense almond flour, the coconut gives it a real good crumb, the perfect amount of sweetness (once you eat low carb for a while then you will start to find regular baked goods way too sweet) and best of all made with completely natural ingredients with no refined carbohydrates or nasty vegetable fats. And so easy! One bowl – well two really because you have to melt the butter in something but just whack everything in and mix. You don’t even have to worry about over or under mixing. I actually prefer this to my all time favourite, white sugar and white flour packed banana cake recipe. CRA-ZY.

I’ve adapted this recipe from Paleo Gourmet

3 cups almond flour
1/2 cup desicatted coconut
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup butter, melted and cooled
2 tsp raw honey *this amount is up to you. 2 tsp won’t  be enough for some but I recommend starting with it and seeing how you go.
3 large eggs
1 tablespoon real vanilla extract
80g very dark chocolate chopped or chips (we use lindt 85% or 90%)
4 very ripe bananas, mashed
1/4c raisins or sultanas (optional)

 
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees/180 celcius.  Line a 8″ square tin with baking paper.

In a large bowl, mash the bananas. Mix in the eggs, melted butter, honey, chocolate bits, raisins and vanilla. Add the almond flour, coconut, salt, and baking soda. Mix everything really well.

Bake for 20 to 35 minutes, until the cake is golden brown and springs back to the touch.

I’ve calculated the nutritional info as one cake makes 12 servings which are really very generous servings.

Each piece has 9g of protein, 25g of fat and only 7.5g of sugars. If you’re into calorie counting (you shouldn’t be) – 322 calories per serve. And those sugars are coming from fruit and a touch of natural honey, nothing else.

*Disclaimer – I know a lot of people will consider bananas to be not paleo and yes they are high on sugar/starch, and I certainly wouldn’t recommend eating a ton of them but they are a far better alternative than sugar or any sweetener ever in my books.

A lot has changed since I last posted my banana cake recipe, oh my gosh, that was almost FOUR years ago… I had a full time job as a programmer, I was going to the gym heaps, living in an apartment in Auckland with my husband of one year. I baked those banana cupcakes late at night and took them to work the next morning, I can remember that time so well… but it feels like an absolute lifetime ago.

This time I made this cake with the help of my son, standing on his little step beside me he is the best kitchen assistant anyone could ask for. Sure I have to double check what’s in the bowl every time I look away for rouge cars or spoons but he measures ingredients for me, cracks eggs, mixes and is a great taste tester.

I’ve made this many times over the years (oh god this makes me sound really old) and each time we change it up a bit, chocolate chips, spices, wholemeal flour… it’s a fab recipe.

Banana Cake

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees (350 farenheit) and prepare your cake tin or muffin pan.

125g butter
1 cup sugar <- we use brown but you can use whatever is in the cupboard
2 large free range eggs
3 medium bananas <- use some nice ripe ones from the fruit bowl
2 cups flour <- try replacing up to half of this with wholemeal
1/2 cup chocolate chips <- totally optional
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon of mixed spice
1 teaspoon of vanilla

Beat the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time beating well after each one.
Throw the bananas into your mixer and beat well. Or mash them and mix them in.
Add the rest of the dry ingredients and mix until all the flour is just incorporated.

Pour into tin or pans and bake until the middle springs back when pressed, about 12 minutes for muffins and 25 for a cake.

Get cake all over your face and enjoy!

I always have so many amazing ideas about making all these incredible presents for everyone and wowing everyone with my DIY skills, unfortunately every year my DIY efforts are more like DIYfails…

This year I’m as un-organised as ever (if not more so) and frantically knitting away some Christmas stockings, baking like a crazy woman and trying to cross things off my list.

That’s my token (yet unfinished – how timely for this post) gingerbread house for this year, next year – use a template! Cut more carefully! I’ve finished a ginger and cherry panforte and need to complete the white chocolate fig version as part of my handmade Christmas efforts. Then, some jarred mincemeat and mince pies…… oh yeah, need to buy presents too!

Dude I’m SO proud of myself. I can’t remember the last day where I ate this healthily (not for lack of trying). I’m feeling great, no withdrawls yet, sure a few times I’ve opened the fridge and been like ohh grapes… or something but I have resisted everything. EVERYTHING people!! *Pats myself on the back*.

Day one went a little something like this:

Fished my first baby-placed object out of the toilet…..

*2 eggs, refried beans, spinach
*tuna, beans
*pb
*salmon & veges

a ton of water, and one coffee. its 5 to 11 and I’m going to bed. See you tomorrow in diet heaven xxx