cooking – CLARE HOPKINS

My Irresistible Homemade Hummus

October 18, 2019May 1, 2020Posted in FOOD, HEALTHTagged chickpea, chickpea cookie dough, cooking, dessert, fitness, HEALTH, healthy eating, healthy recipe, homemade, Pamela Reif, savoury, weight loss, zest4 Comments

Lately, I’ve been on the Hummus wagon.

I fell off for a while whilst I was struggling with IBS. To manage it my doctor had me on a low FODMAP diet where legumes are not allowed.

Now that I’m able to eat them again I’ve been using beans and lentils wherever I can. If you love chickpeas too you have to try Pamela Reif’s inventive cookie dough recipe – chickpeas are involved…

If you’re not adventurous enough to try chickpea based desserts, try a making a savoury hummus at home.

I find homemade hummus much more flavourful than the store bought kind, and it’s a brilliant way to get plant-based protein, anti-inflammatory nutrients, and healthy fats in.

As I’m also (weirdly) addicted to green olives, I’ve added them to the recipe as well – feel free to exclude them if you’re not as keen.

Blend the following until smooth, and try it yourself:

400g canned chickpeas (washed & drained)
Healthy dose of lemon, herb and garlic seasoning (I find the Masterfood’s blend the perfect amount of zest and flavour, but you can always use an actual squeeze of lemon, mixed herbs, and a clove of garlic).
Lots of Paprika
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
3 tbsp water
10 green olives, pitted and stuffed with pimento

Have you made your own hummus before?

5 Go-to Healthy Snacks

May 21, 2017April 17, 2020Posted in ALL POSTS, FOOD, HEALTHTagged affordable, baking, clean eating, cookies, cooking, diet, FOOD, fruit/nuts, go-to snacks, healthy, healthy baking, healthy cookies, healthy eating, hummous, pantry, popcorn, Recipes, snacks, sugarless baking, sugarless cookies3 Comments

As mentioned in my previous posts, I am a huge snacker.

To stop me from standing in the pantry and eating everything in sight, I have five healthy snacks that I go for when hunger strikes.

These are:

Carrot sticks & Hummous – carrots are my favourite veggie because of their sweetness. I buy Pilpel Hummus to go with them, as it has so much flavour and is basically just chickpeas.
Dried fruit/nut mix – I go for a mix of pecans, pepitas, dried apricots, sultanas and walnuts. The fruits satisfy any sweet cravings and the nuts fill you up.
Carman’s Nut Bar – Carman’s does such a great range of healthy and filling muesli bars. If your local supermarket stocks them I would recommend checking them out. They are the perfect snack, and funnily enough, I got up at 2am the other night because my stomach was rumbling, and the Carmen’s nut bar was the perfect fix to send me back to sleep.
Popcorn – try to avoid popcorns that are doused in butter, just plain corn kernels will do the trick.
Sugarless banana & oatmeal cookies (see recipe below)

Sugarless Banana/Oatmeal Cookies Recipe

I have been making batches of these for longer than I can remember because they are the perfect moreish snack, especially when I’m on the go.

You will need:

1 cup rolled oats
3/4 cup self-raising flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
Sprinkle of salt
1/4 cup olive oil (be ready to add more in case your mixture is too dry)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup sultanas
2 soft bananas
1/3 cup pepitas
2 tbsp maple syrup
Handful of pecans (to decorate)
Feel free to add chocolate chunks if that’s your thing – I LOVE Pico Super Dark chocolate to bake with.

Preheat the oven to 180˚C. Mix the oats, flour, cinnamon, salt, sultanas, bananas and pepitas together in a large bowl. Then, add the olive oil, vanilla extract and maple syrup and stir to combine.

Add extra olive oil until the mixture is cookie dough consistency. Roll into small balls and whack in the oven for 15 – 20 minutes (or until golden brown).

I hope you enjoy these great snacks.

Fresh Acai Bowl’s for Breakfast!

May 16, 2016April 15, 2020Posted in ALL POSTS, FOODTagged acai, bowl, breakfast, breakfast recipes, cooking, fresh, fun, HEALTH, healthy, homemade, magenta, quick, recipe, recipes for weight loss, simple, vegan3 Comments

And I’m back after a huge dry patch of not posting – I’m sorry! I’ve been busy perfecting my Acai bowl recipe.

For those who don’t know what an acai bowl is, it’s a smoothie decorated with crunchy, fruity garnishes and dollops of nut butter. Except, you eat it out of a bowl – like soup!

Acai (pronounced ah sah ee) powder comes from the Acai berry, which comes from the Amazon region. The berries are packed with nutrients, providing a dense source of antioxidants that fight harmful free radicals in the body.

The recipe is very simple, but once you are done with all the different colourful toppings and it begins to look like quite a fancy breakfast dish.

You’ll need to use a blender to whizz all the ingredients together. I use my Nutribullet, which is by far the most powerful blender I’ve ever owned.

For the base:

One pitted Medjool date
1 tbsp Acai powder
1 tbsp chia seeds
1.5 cup mixed berries
1 cup of almond milk
1 tbsp of peanut butter (any nut/seed butter will do)
1 cup spinach

For the topping, you can use any combination of:

Chopped banana
Goji Berries
Shaved Coconut
Cacao Nibs
Crushed Walnuts
Almond Butter, Peanut Butter, Cashew Butter, ABC Butter
Muesli
Honey or Maple Syrup (if you are craving extra sweetness)

And voila! Enjoy. Have you tried Acai Bowls before?