Category: food

clean eating, food, healthy, recipes

Make this tonight: lettuce gratin

ramblingmads

This is a great way to get more veggies into your diet, and can be vegan or vegetarian as well. It’s adapted from a far more complicated Hugh Fearnley-Whittingsall recipe previously published in the Guardian newspaper.

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Photo from The Guardian

Ingredients

Cos type lettuces (I use two baby gems)
Olive oil
Sea salt
Black pepper
Celery
Peas
Spring onions
Pancetta cubes
Parmesan cheese
Bread crumbs (I used Japanese panko)

Wash and chop the lettuce, drain thoroughly. Toss with oil, salt and pepper. Put it in a casserole dish. Roast at 200°c for 25 minutes – keep an eye on it, do not let it burn.

While the lettuce roasts, wash and chop your celery and spring onions. Fry them in a pan with the pancetta, add the peas (I use them from frozen), season with pepper (if not using pancetta you could add a little salt).

Remove the lettuce from the oven, scatter the veg and pancetta over the lettuce. Reserve any liquid in the pan.

Sprinkle grated Parmesan over the gratin. Fry the breadcrumbs lightly in the preserved oil and fat. Scatter over the gratin. Return to oven for 5-10 minutes to melt the cheese and brown the breadcrumbs.

Serve on its own or with some crusty bread.

To make it vegetarian/vegan omit the pancetta, and switch the Parmesan for a dairy free hard cheese. You can add any other veggies that appeal too.

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food, lifestyle boxes, recipes, reviews

Flavourly – the foodie box

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Something a little different.

Flavourly curate a box of snacks and cooking essentials, post them to you and off you go.

My first box arrived and is packed full of fab products.

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Chilli oil, pitta chips, posh popcorn, coconut nibbles, umami paste, berry mix and much, much more.

There’s also a booklet introducing the producers as most of the items come from independent brands.

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If you rate the items on the Flavourly site they improve the selection you receive. Tailored to you, what more could you want?

How about £10 off your first box?

Just head to the Flavourly website, enter this code MADELEVXS and Bob’s your uncle, it’s on its way.

Enjoy your gourmet snacks and goodies.

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baking, clean eating, food, recipes

Super easy flour-less cookies

ramblingmads

Small jar of nut butter (peanut, hazelnut, almond or cashew all work)
1 cup of coconut sugar (or brown sugar)
1 egg
1 tsp baking powder
Chocolate chips, m&M’s, cocoa powder (optional)

Mix all the ingredients together thoroughly, roll into small balls and place on a lined baking tray. Bake for 10 minutes at 200°c. Remove from oven and leave to set as they will be slightly soft.

Eat them all!

No pictures survive of the previous batch due to them disappearing mysteriously!

ramblingmads

food, healthy, lifestyle boxes, reviews, snackly

Snackly box – gluten free goodies

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Snackly is a monthly gluten free snack box, £7.95 a month.

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I’ve had Graze boxes on and off for the last few years, but my friend Rehana was telling me that selecting a gluten & wheat free box from them left you mostly with raisins.

Snackly works a little differently from Graze. They curate a range of Free-From snacks from different producers across the UK. Whereas Graze manufacturer all their own treats.

I actually think this is really useful, it lets people know where they can order more suitable treats from.

This month’s box contains a mixture of mostly sweet things, previous boxes have contained more savoury snacks.

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– Honeybun’s Minis Snowy Hills cake – ginger & polenta shortbread with lemon sponge topping.

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– Ceeba Coconut Brittle – no syrup, no butter, gluten free, dairy free.

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– Peace of Cake London Gingerbread bites

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– Darling Spuds Handcooked Potato Chips – Crushed Natural Sea Salt

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– Fudge Kitchen White Chocolate & Raspberry Gourmet Butter Fudge

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– Plamil Organics Orange Chocolate with Cranberries – 60% cocoa

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Do you get any snack boxes? What do you think a good snack box should contain? Let me know in the comments.

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beauty boxes, clean eating, food, healthy, lifestyle, recipes, skincare

The Vegan Kind Mystery Box

ramblingmads

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So a little box of treats winged its wayt to me from Glasgow.

I am trying to eat better and stay away from chemical heavy cosmetics and beauty products so I thought The Vegan Kind’s boxes would be worth a look.

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This is apparently a mystery box, presumably they are themed. This one contained several edible things and a body wash.

There was a pouch of pear puree which went into my herbalife shake along with a banana.

The red banana powder is something I already use and like, so this was a bonus as it’s not particularly cheap.

The gingerbread topper mix – designed for I think granola or muesli will either end up in a shake or on a fruit salad.

Quinoa crisps which I will try during the week with some quark dip.

Teabags – I like a herbal tea every now and then – so these will be drunk at some point.

Recipe card – what a lovely idea, including a recipe card so you can make something tasty – this one’s for a super green smoothie.

Finally the Organic Surge shower gel – started using this yesterday – smells amazing and really cleansing. And it’s a generous full-size bottle not a dinky sample.

I’ve also ordered their vegan beauty box to test out, will review once it’s delivered.

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ramblingmads

clean eating, food, healthy, lifestyle, recipes

Eating for health

ramblingmads

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Recently I have been trying to improve my nutrition and eat better. In the last couple of years I’ve fallen into bad habits and need to sort my food choices out.

I enjoy cooking (and baking) but have been lazy when I know better and eaten junk food, takeaways and other rubbish.

The Greek salad above is one of the simplest ways to eat better. Feta cheese, tomatoes (I like different coloured cherry toms), red onion, cucumber, olives (if you like them), drizzled with olive oil and a scatter of ground black pepper. Done. Takes a few minutes, tastes great and all that veg is great for you.

And for dessert? How about this:

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Fat free yoghurt, fresh raspberries and sprinkled desiccated coconut. Tastes delicious, good for you too.

Now, neither of these things require much effort or actual cooking, so they’re perfect for a lazy person.

More recipes soon. (Problem is I never photograph my food, too busy eating it!)

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