Date "Peanut Butter Cups"

So I have come across so many recipes where people use dates to sweeten things the healthy way! They are often used as a base for brain balls, bars and sometimes in baking. I do not take credit of this recipe, as it is not my own but was inspired from another recipe using almond butter.

I love dates so much because they are just like a burst of sweetness in your mouth. When I first started off eating clean, my first thing that I took out of my already quite healthy diet was lollies. Before going on runs I used to just have one sweet to get my blood sugar level really high, which now I think about it was quite stupid but anyway I decided to have a couple of dates instead. It worked perfectly!

So for this simple recipe all you will need is some dates, Peanut Butter and Chocolate/ cacao nibs.

If you don't like using cacao nibs because of their bitterness, the dates are so sweet already I don't think you would have a problem with that. However, I have not tried them with cacao nibs. 

Even my dad said these are as good as our all-time favorite Reese's Peanut Butter Cups! 

Well for the part you all have been waiting for!

Ingredients:

• 4  pitted dates 
• Approximately 1 TBS of Peanut Butter, depending on how full you want to stuff them and your chocolate to Peanut Butter Ratio.
• Approximately 1 TBS of Chocolate Chips (opt for a sugar free dark chocolate, this is much better for you).  

Method:

Use the split in your dates to just open it up like a hot dog bun, and pinch the date at each end to keep the gap open. 

With a knife put the peanut butter in this cavity and fill it as much as you would like.

Depending on how much room you have left in the date, either sprinkle or fill the remaining space with your chocolate chips/ cacao nibs.

Repeat for each date and enjoy!!!

Please let me know if you tried this, and let me know what you thought!

Clean Oat Crepe/ Pancakes.

Hello to all!

Recently I have loving all the clean pancake recipes out there and would like to share with you one. Its my go to recipe when I can't decide what I want to make my self in the weekends, when I'm home.
The banana pancake recipe that can be found on my blog is very common, so this is something a bit different.
I found this probably a yer ago, and I have made it ever since, it is so easy that you can top it with whatever you want! Here are some of my favorite!

 chocolate chips in the batter and pure maple syrup in between layers

 pure maple syrup and Greek yogurt

 Home-made muesli, and plain berries heated and a tiny bit of pure maple syrup for some sweetness

 banana slices, Greek yogurt and pure maple syrup

 Filled with fruit and drizzled with pure maple syrup

 Topped with Greek yogurt chocolate chips and a drizzle of pure maple syrup

 Topped with banana slices and pure maple syrup

2 topped with peanut butter, 2 topped with Greek yogurt and pure maple syrup and 2 topped with 1/2 strawberry each and drizzle of maple syrup.

Here is the recipe, how ever you can make the batter thinner for a crepe recipe, keeping in mind it in very hard to flip, of a thicker batter for more of a bite size. I wouldn't recommend making these into actual size pancakes as they are even harder to flip than the crepes!

Ingredients:
1 egg
1/2 cup of oats blended into flour
1/2 cup of almond milk if you are wanting crepes
OR
1/4 cup of almond milk for a thicker batter. 

Method:

1. Blend/ mix together the oat flour, egg and milk until there are no lumps.
2. Heat a pan on medium heat. This is very important that you pan is hot otherwise it will be a disaster when you go to flip! Spray or oil your pan if necessary.
3. Place a TBS of batter for little pancakes or pour mixture into your pan and swirl around for a crepe (the crepes will be a bit thicker than normal ones.)
4.  Flip when the edges seem cooked and cook for a further minute or so. 
5. Top with your favorite toppings or try some of the above! (my favorite; peanut butter with Greek yogurt, pure maple syrup and a sprinkle of home-made muesli.)

Clean Banana Pancakes (2 Ingredients!!!!!)

Hi everyone! Second post in two days but I'm just really excited about this whole blogging thin! And I am away for a while and won't be able to post any more, until I come back :( .

Pancakes are an all time favorite for me, up until a year ago I would wake up on Saturday and Sunday and help dad make his delicious pancakes (or just eat them!) But since wanting to become more healthy I thought well that means no pancakes or yummy breakfast treats.... But was I wrong!

These pancakes only are made of two ingredients and it works very well for me.
For serving suggestions I suggest to dollop some Greek yogurt and with maybe some more banana chopped up. I just love mine with some pure maple syrup drizzled on top though :)

You will need;

• A pan 
• A mixing bowl
• A fork
• Spatula 
• Spoon (for scooping mixture)

Ingredients;

• 1x egg
• 1x banana

Method;

• Get your bowl and banana and mash with a fork. It is very important to get it to a consistency with NO LUMPS. Then add the egg and mix together until they are well combined
• or
• Put egg and the banana into a blender and blend until smooth.
• Heat your pan on Medium to medium-high heat. Leave this to heat up and spray/ oil your pan if necessary (I use a non-stick so I don't have to add any oil or anything). Once the pan is heated spoon mixture onto the pan and cook like normal pancakes.

This is how mine looked, I topped mine with a touch of pure maple syrup, cinnamon, coconut shavings and then in the middle of the plate some heated frozen berries and some kiwi fruit. It was a good day ;)

**NOTE: This recipe works better with bite sized little pancakes because otherwise it can become too hard to flip, but who doesn't like cute little pancakes, and you get to eat more anyway ;)**

I have seen recipes for this with two eggs but I find that mine taste lovely and bananaey (not sure if that's a word)with just one. If you are making a double batch I suggest using three eggs instead of two and even then the egg flavor is not dominant.

This nutritional information is for the pancakes with out toppings.

Hope you enjoy! And let me know how yours turned out :)

Perfect Parfait

This is my absolute favorite breakfast! It doesn't take too long to put together but still tastes amazing and allows you to get all sorts of different yummy textures and tastes. This takes me less that 5 minutes to make once I have got all the ingredients in front of me.

The equipment you will need is;

• 3 x spoons (doesn't matter what size but I like to use desert spoons)
• A glass that you can layer your parfait into

Ingredients;

• Muesli (I use homemade, so I know there is no added sugar, and with whole oats)
• Lite Greek yogurt (Plain or flavored)
• Apple sauce or any other soft fruit (make sure your fruit has no added sugar)

Directions;

• Grab your glass, spoon and your muesli, spoon in enough muesli to cover the bottom of the glass and so it is high enough to create a nice layer (I like to have each ingredient layer 1/6th of my glass).
• On top of the muesli spoon on the yogurt until the layer of yogurt is as thick as the muesli's.
• Repeat with the Apple sauce or whatever fruit you have chosen.
• Now you should have three reasonable similar sized layers that fill up half the cup, repeat the steps above to form a full glass parfait.

Here is my final result;

The great thing about this is that you can have as much yogurt to muesli and apple as you want! The yogurt provides protein as well as calcium, but such a small amount is used that the protein doesn't really add up to that much. The apple is very easy to digest and sweetens up the meal so that the Greek yogurt doesn't make it too bitter. The oats in the muesli are a complex carb, allowing your body to have a steady out put of energy and won't spike your blood sugar like other refined cereals, loaded with sugar and white flours. 

The amount of sugar in this parfait is purely natural sugars! 

None of the sugars are refined and this makes a perfect treat without having to feel guilty! Sorry for some reason the calories on this isn't right. It should be 239 calories.