Skinny Sweets and Treats

March 28, 2016

Lemon and Coconut Gluten Free Healthy Cake Pops

Easter is a time to relax with your friends and family and typically eat a lot of chocolate. Usually you eat so much chocolate you can't contemplate eating any until the next Easter. To avoid this usual chocolate overload this time of year, I wanted to make a sweet treat that wasn't chocolate based but was still Easter themed. I chose to make lemon and coconut cake pops iced in a pastel blue with polka dots to decorate. You may have heard cake pops can be tricky to make, let alone attempting the challenge of making a healthy version of the sweet, but if you have the right tools and some patience you will handle this baking task with ease.

I would recommend buying a silicone cake pop tray, a cake pop drying set (or try some of these ideas to hold your cake pops) and the cake pop sticks. I found these all at a local kitchenwares store and all the equipment was on sale; I think the cake pop craze has died down and no one knows what to do with the stuff anymore! Hopefully you can pick some trays on sale too. If not, all the things you need will be online.

This recipe worked out so well I know I will be making cake pops again! If you don't want to make a lollipop out of the cake, you can always make cute cake balls as a sweet treat. Cake pops are perfect for parties and are a nice portioned treat.

Lemon and Coconut Healthy Cake Pops

Ingredients:

Cake:

1/2 cup coconut flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
4 eggs
1/2 cup honey
2 tbsp milk (I prefer soy milk)
the zest of one lemon
1/3 cup of melted coconut oil

Icing:

1 packet of white candy melts or 1 packet of white chocolate melts
blue food colouring
coconut oil

Method:

In a large bowl mix together all the dry ingredients - coconut flour, baking powder and salt.
Mix the wet ingredients together in a separate bowl and combine with the dry.
Lay your cake pop tray onto a baking tray and fill the side without the holes with the cake mixture. Overfill each hole slightly with the cake mix. Press the other side of the tray on top on the filled tray and press the sides to seal together.
Bake in a moderate oven for 25 minutes.
Let the cakes cool in the pan for a couple of minutes before turning out and putting into a bowl. Cover and put in the freezer to cool down. Store in the fridge if you are not icing immediately.
Melt the candy melts or white chocolate on a low heat in the microwave. Put in for 30 seconds at a time to make sure you do not overcook the chocolate. When the mixture is melted, add 4 - 5 drops of blue food colouring or until you reach your desired colour.
To make the chocolate or candy melts thin enough to ice your cake pops, add some coconut oil. My candy melts were very thick and I added about 1/2 a cup of coconut oil to the mix. The white chocolate may not need as much oil added. Add a little at a time and stir thoroughly until you reach a nice even consistency.
When you are happy with your icing, take out your cakes. Set up your drying stand and put out your polka dot sprinkles. Carefully insert a cake pop stick half way into one side of the cake. Dunk the cake into the bowl of icing and let the excess run off. Decorate with sprinkles as desired.
Place carefully into the cake pop stand to let dry.
Once all the cake pops are completed, leave to dry for a few hours to set the icing. Store in a container until time to serve. Check out this link for serving ideas.

February 28, 2016

Carrot Cake Cookies

Whether it is a happy or sad occasion, someone is visiting me or I am going to see them, or I just need some baking therapy, I will find myself wanting to get in the kitchen. When I made these cookies over the weekend, I made them for the combination of all the reasons above. Baking is so therapeutic for me, particularly when I can get creative with ingredients and make something delicious and nourishing.

I was inspired by a recent cookbook purchase of the Lola Berry The Happy Life cookbook. Lola's book is a really sweet representation of how she keeps a positive mind and a healthy body. She touches on mindful versus emotional eating, how to keep your thoughts grounded, ways to connect to your soul, strengthening intimacy and even how to create your own cookbook.

Amongst Lola's life advice, she has healthy recipes to browse. I found her carrot cake cookies and decided to try it for myself. What I like about these cookies is that they are so filling and nourishing, you can easily have them for breakfast and they make such a healthy snack.

Ingredients:

1 cup of almond meal (I used hazelnut meal and flaxseed mix as I had that on hand)

1/4 cup of coconut flour

1 teaspoon of baking powder

1 teaspoon of cinnamon

1 teaspoon of ginger

a pinch of nutmeg

1 cup of coconut sugar (I used date sugar as I also had that on hand) *coconut sugar can be expensive, if you rather just substitute for brown sugar but use 3/4 of a cup

1/2 cup of almond butter

1/4 cup of coconut oil

2 eggs, heated

2 carrots (1 large or 2 small), grates

1/4 cup of sultanas

Method:

Preheat oven to 180 degresss and line a baking tray with greased-proof paper.

Place all dry ingredients into a bowl and combine.

Add all the wet ingredients and mix well to form a dough.

I then placed the mixture into the fridge for 30 minutes.

Using a tablespoon, form mixture into balls and flatter on the prepared tray.

Bake for 10 minutes until cookies are golden and set.

Makes 12

February 07, 2016

Paleo Bread - for sandwiches and snacks

This is a lovely substantial bread to replace traditional wheat flour breads if you are following a paleo or gluten-free diet. This bread is nice enough to have on its own or toasted. Unlike some other alternative breads, this loaf is super easy to slice in either small or sandwich size pieces.

Paleo Bread

Ingredients:

1/2 cup of almond butter
3 eggs
1/4 cup of coconut oil
1/4 cup of almond milk
2 tablespoons of date sugar or honey
1 teaspoon of apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup of ground flaxseed meal
3 tablespoons of coconut flour
1 teaspoon of baking powder
pinch of salt

Method:

Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl and mix until everything comes together.
Pour mixture into a well greased bread/loaf tin or silicone baking tray.
Bake for 35 minutes in a moderate oven until risen and browned. Leave in the tray for 10 minutes to cool before transferring to wire rack to cool completely.
Slice and store in either fridge or freezer.

January 30, 2016

My Top Tips for Losing Weight and Keeping It Off!

I changed my body shape with changing up my diet and exercise routine about four years ago and I have managed to maintain my new shape since. Here are my tips in how to lose weight and what habits I have kept to keep my weight in check.

PORTION CONTROL

I began my diet my cutting down my portion sizes and since then I have continued to keep my portions smaller. I used to eat a large bowl of rice or bread with dinner, sandwiches for lunch, large servings of cereal for breakfast and raisin toast or crumpets for a snack. While none of these foods are BAD by any means, they tend to be high in carbohydrates and low in protein and fats. Now I like to balance every meal I have as high in protein with some fats and enough carbohydrates for energy.

For example, now I have an egg on a piece of rye toast for breakfast with wilted spinach and tomatoes. Snacks are almonds, fruit or protein bars. Lunch might be an open sandwich with one piece of bread, tuna, avocado and salad. Dinner is often half a cup of rice, grilled chicken or fish and roasted vegetables. After dinner I usually have tea, maybe some dark chocolate and I often have a glass of wine in the evenings too.

Note I rarely feel overally full after eating a meal. I eat to feel satisfied but not stuffed.

DITCH THE SUGAR

When I started to look at calories and what I was putting into my body, I started to see how sugar could quickly escalate your energy content without enriching your body. A bag of lollies quickly adds up to hundreds of calories without satisfying your hunger. I also noticed that when I did eat something high in sugar without balancing the meal with protein or fat, I would crave junk food afterwards and likely eat a much larger portion than I normally would. Since overhauling my diet, I honestly stay away from sugar most of the time and this is not difficult for me. Once you cut sugar out, you really don't enjoy it all that much and quickly feel sick if you eat a cupcake, lollies or chocolate. Cutting sugar from your diet is honestly the BEST thing you can do to lose weight and keep it off.

To cut out sugar, firstly try my tip of balancing each meal with protein, fat and carbohydrates. Make each meal count nutritionally including snacks. Even if you have fruit, add a small amount of cheese or nut butter onto the fruit or have with yoghurt (that has no added sugar!). Look at the sugar content of packaged foods and avoid anything with over 10 grams per serving. A few months in to limiting sugar, avoiding it will get easier and easier. Of course there will always be times where you eat cake at a birthday party or dessert at a restaurant but once you overhaul your diet, your sugar cravings will be much easier to manage.

DO WEIGHTS NOT JUST CARDIO

Before I changed up my diet and exercise routine I was a big cardio lover. I spent so much time of the cross trainer preoccupied with burning off as many calories as possible because that was how I could lose weight and burn off any junk food I had eaten. Cardio exercise does burn calories but doing weight training will increase your muscle mass which will help your body to burn calories even when you aren't at the gym. Don't forget to do cardio but don't confine this just to the gym. 25 minutes of moving your body each day, especially enough to break a sweat, will be beneficial in helping you lose weight.

Weight training will change your body shape and it has helped me to keep my arms slimmer and more toned, my stomach tighter and stronger, my legs shapely and my butt nice and perky! To get started, look up workouts on You Tube, hire a personal trainer or get a friend to help you formulate a weight training program. Start with light weights and work up to heavier weight training to maximise your results and avoid injury.

GET MORE ACTIVE

Like I said above, moving your body for at least 25 minutes every day is the easiest way to incorporate cardio into your weekly routine. Instead of confining yourself to long workouts on the treadmill or cross trainer, try to get more cardio in to your every day. For example, park further away for shopping centres to walk further, use the stairs at your apartment complex, walk to work or do squats while you watch your favourite tv show. If you try to add more exercise into your day and combine this with gym workouts, you will speed up your results.

EAT ENOUGH!

While I have reduced portion control do not mistake this for restricting my energy intake. Even if you aren't exercising, you need to eat a satisfactory breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks. If you don't eat enough you will overeat at some point. It is just a recipe for disaster and often leads you to binge on foods that have the highest energy content like desserts and fast foods because your body is starving and needs energy fast. Keep your meals regular and balanced.

For me personally, I eat even when I am not hungry and make sure I finish my portion even if I don't feel like it. I know some diet gurus will tell you this is a mistake but for me, it helps me so much in not overeating later in the day and not binge eating. If you eat a good breakfast and lunch, you are so much better prepared to not overeat at dinner and not crave dessert.

DON'T THINK IN ALL OR NOTHING TERMS

The most important thing you can do if you have eaten something that has blown your calories for the day is to forget about it! Eating a healthy balanced diet is about that middle word, BALANCE. Sometimes we overeat, we eat food high in sugar, we drink too many cocktails and we skip gym sessions. I do all these things and my weight hasn't gotten out of control. When I first lost weight I was really strict and was a few kilos lighter than I am now. The diet I followed then was too restrictive and the exercise regime I followed was not sustainable.

Eating healthy is to nourish your body and keep you feeling good physically and mentally.

Don't make up for meals or skipped gym days. Just get back to your normal routine right away. Move on and put whatever happened in the past. Doing this will be a sustainable way to keep your weight in check for the long term.

MY FAVOURITE FOODS

Here is an example of some of the foods I used to eat all the time versus what I eat all the time now. This may give you an idea of what you can change and what you can replace your choices with now.

Old Favourites