Bounty Bars

Yesterday was my last day of my anti-inflammatory month on The Myers Way! I was very doubtful at the beginning due to feeling quite low and moody due to the lack of food/sugar. I missed eggs and peanut butter a lot, and I spent a lot of time just wanting to give up. I also had a horrible cold last week, which I was confused as I was meant to be being healthy and protecting my immune system. But its like something has turned around this week. I feel incredibly lively and healthy in myself, and the pain I had in my middle finger has completely reduced, almost disappeared. I would normally wake up in the morning with stiff hands and aching pains until about 12 o'clock but I haven't suffered with that at all for the last week. I have been able to do things on my course with knitting that I struggled with before, which has been a huge relief! This month has also done a lot of favours for my body in the way it looks which is always an added plus!

 So these 30 days has been a success for me creating a huge change with my pain, health and body. I even got told recently how much brighter my eyes looked. Every moody, hungry, peanut-butter missing moment has been totally worth it! I now will slowly introduce back in eggs in my first week, then maybe nuts in my second. But I will be keeping out gluten, dairy, nightshades, legumes 100% of the time now, and following a lot of the elements of the Myers Way due to how good I feel!

Anyway, I made these Bounty Bars last weekend, so I knew when I got home this weekend from Uni, I could stuff them all in!

These are gluten, dairy, egg, allergen free with unrefined sugar, they are also raw and vegan....this list goes on. So whatever diet/intolerance/issues you may have, you most probably can eat them!

What you will need -

For the Coconut Filling:

One Cup of Coconut Milk
Four Tablespoons of Maple Syrup or Rice Malt Syrup
Three Tablespoons of Coconut Oil
Two Cups Desiccated Coconut
Pinch of Salt

For the Chocolate Coating:

One Cup of Coconut Oil
1/2 Cup of Cacao Powder
Two Tablespoons of Maple Syrup/Rice Malt Syrup


(This makes about 10/12 bars - you can always half the ingredients to make less)


In a saucepan on a low heat, add all the ingredients for the coconut filling and make sure that it is all combined. The sugars from the syrups should start to bubble up and this is what makes the filling hold together.
Then pour into a cling film lined tray. Make sure the mixture is evenly spread out and compact down so that the bars really hold together. Pop in the freezer for a couple of hours.

After the coconut filling has been freezing for a little while - start to make the chocolate coating. Mix all the ingredients together on a low heat then move to one side. Let the chocolate cool for a little bit so that it becomes thicker. This will give the bars a nicer coating.

Bring the coconut filling out of the freezer and chop into bar/square shapes.
The colder the better with the bars as this will make them easier to coat with the chocolate.
Dip the bars into the chocolate coating them completely and put them onto some grease proof paper to dry. They should harden pretty quickly once the warm chocolate hits the cold coconut. Pop into the fridge or freezer so that they completely set - then they are ready to serve and eat whenever you want.
I keep mine in the freezer so they are kind of like coconut-choc-ices! Yum!

Enjoy!

MB

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My Chocolate Chunk Cookies

My (crazy) saturday night was experimenting with altering the cookie recipe that I used at my gluten-free course at the River Cottage HQ. Not many of my gluten/dairy free treats taste like the real deal but, I can assure you that these definitely do. They are sugary, soft, chewy and chocolately just like real chocolate chip cookies should be! I was doubtful with the recipe that I had created - so I was pleasantly surprised at the outcome! I rewarded myself by eating half the batch...oops! 

There are a few different unusual flours that I am using in this recipe to get the gluten-like texture that makes these cookies so good! I found most of the flours in my local health food shop, so I am sure you could too. Or just buy them online!

I have added chocolate chunks to mine, but of course you can be creative and add fruit or nuts instead!

The great thing about this cookie dough is that you freeze it before you bake it. (It tastes just as good frozen!) This means you can take as much or as you little as you need - then pop it back in! 

I also have found an alternative to egg for this recipe - its made using flaxseed.

I'm excited to share this recipe with you - so here is my gluten free, dairy free, egg free, unrefined sugar chocolate chunk cookies!

You Will Need:

75g of Coconut Nectar Sugar

50g of Coconut Oil

One Teaspoon of Vanilla Essence

One Flaxseed Egg or Free Range Egg

40g of Ground Almonds

5g of Flaxseed

One Teaspoon of GF Baking Powder

20g of Tapioca Starch/Flour

50g of Brown Rice Flour

Pinch of Sea Salt

One bar of 85%/90% Dark Chocolate 

(Optional - Two Tablespoons of Cacao Powder for Double Chocolate Chunk Cookies)

For the Flaxseed Egg -

1 Tablespoon of Flaxseed Meal

2.5 Tablespoon of Water

In a saucepan over a low heat mix the ingredients together until completely combined and put to one side.

In a mixing bowl cream the sugar and coconut oil together - I find the best way is to use a back of a wooden spoon - the mixture should become lighter in colour and fluffy. Then add your flaxseed egg (or normal egg) and vanilla essence then mix everything together.

In another bowl add all your flours and salt then combine together - then add the wet and dry mixture together and combine. Break your chocolate into small chunks then stir through the mixture! The mixture should look like cookie dough but still be slightly moist!

Lay out a sheet of cling film and put the mixture onto the top part of a cling film - then wrap into a ballotine and tighten at both ends. Pop into the freezer for around 2/3 hours!

How to make a cookie ballotine:

Put into a ball on a sheet of cling film

Pull the top sheet over the ball of dough

Squeeze out the mixture in the cling film so that it looks
like a sausage and keep rolling!

Tighten the ends by twisting the cling film.

Once the ballotine has frozen you can bring it out of the freezer ready to cut into your cookie shapes!

This makes it much easier to cut into cookie shapes! and means
you can store it for however long you want!

Lay them out on a baking parchment lined tray and space them as they do spread a little! Pop into the oven at around 160 Degrees (fan oven) for around 12-15 minutes, or until they go golden brown at the edges! 

The important part is to leave them to cool so that the sugar can harden and they don't fall apart!

Your cookies are then ready to eat!

Enjoy!

MB

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Frozen Chocolate Mousse Pots

Own Photo 

These little pots are perfect for an after meal pudding or a pick me up in the sunshine when you are craving something sweet! They taste like chocolate ice cream to me but you aren't consuming lots of naughty sugar and preservatives. They are really quick and easy to make, and you can store them in your freezer to eat whenever you fancy!

Own Photo

What you will need:

One Avocado
One Banana
One Teaspoon of Vanilla Essence
Four Tablespoons of Cacao Powder
Two Tablespoons of Coconut Milk
One Tablespoon of Maple Syrup/Honey (Optional)

In a food processor or mash yourself - the avocado, banana and vanilla essence until a smooth mixture forms. Then add in the cacao powder, coconut milk and the optional sweetener. Mix until everything is combine evenly and the texture is silky.

Pour into small ramekin dishes and top with fresh berries, nuts, seeds or coconut. Pop into the freezer for a couple of hours to set. You can them keep them in the fridge to eat whenever you want or, keep them in the freezer - just leave them to soften a little before you eat!

Own Photo 

Enjoy!

mbhealthy

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River Cottage HQ - My Gluten-Free Baking Course

For my 21st Birthday - my mother booked me on a gluten-free baking course at the River Cottage HQ in Lyme Regis, Dorset, which I went on this week! Lyme Regis is a quirky little seaside town in Dorset - the River Cottage HQ is on a farm just outside of it. 

Own Photo - Sea Front, Lyme Regis

We arrived at our hotel to see that the beach was submerged in a sea mist. We walked along what is know as The Cobb and stopped in for lunch at a little cafe called Aroma. This is a gluten and dairy-free cafe - I told them about the autoimmune diet that I was doing and the took time to cater for me, which was incredibly thoughtful!

The Cobb

We made quite a trip of coming to Lyme Regis and stayed in a lovely hotel.

The next day was my course and it was such an enjoyable day. It was organised so well and the setting of the place was beautiful - especially in this sunshine! I am so incredibly jealous of the people who get to work there every day. (I want a job there!!!)

Own Photo 

We all arrived at the car park at about half 9ish where a tractor and trailer picked us up to take us down to the farm. It was a bumpy journey down the hill - but most of us got talking about why we were taking the course and finding out about each others gluten 'issues.'

The cookery school has amazing views as it was set in vast amounts of fields. We were welcomed by our teacher, Naomi, as well as lots of refreshments and gluten-free treats! I shared a table with three others - but we each had our own space, fridge and a cooker/stove between two of us.

Own Photo 

Naomi spoke about gluten throughout the day - not only how to bake without it but also the affects gluten has on the body. We were first shown how to make the basis to our GF sourdough bread, and how long it should ferment for. This was done for us already as it takes around 3/4 days to become the 'sponge' state to make the bread.

Own Photo - Cookie Dough 

Next up we were making GF chocolate chip cookies - my favourite session (and probably most peoples) of the day! They are extremely good with intolerance's and allergies, so when I emailed previously about being dairy-free, they had organised replacement ingredients for my bakes. I was able to make my cookies with coconut oil rather than butter. They were so easy to make, and they tasted amazing too. I could barely wait to for them to cool down and managed to stuff in three before lunch time. 

(Quite a lot of the recipes had sugar in - which I tend to not use due to trying to be as healthy as possible. I am going to try alter a few of the recipes, (this one first) so that they are unrefined sugar and don't feel so naughty!)

Own Photo - Chocolate Chip Cookies GF/DF

Next up we made our pastry - for our Mini Bakewell Tarts.

Gluten-free pastry, if you have ever shop bought or tried to make yourself, it either comes out extremely dry or just crumbles. Naomi assured us this wouldn't happen and that we just had keep the dough as moist as we could - and of course the pastry came out perfectly. 

We popped our outside tart layer in the oven to bake blind just before lunch.

Lunch was one of the highlights of my day. The had set up two tables on the decking for us, which looked out onto the views. As you can see from the pictures they really looked after us here! 

Own Photo 

Lunch was two courses, and we all agreed on how nice it was to not have to worry about whether or not they catered to our gluten-free needs. We all got to know each other a bit better at lunch - everyone was from different places and age ranges, but we all had the gluten intolerance in common. It was relaxing to talk to other people who suffer with the effects of gluten and know how you feel. I spoke quite openly about my autoimmune disease and how I believed diet is what has helped me overcome it most. 

Lunch was a roasted chicken watercress and purple sprouting broccoli salad, dressed with a pea and mint sauce, carrot, cumin and turmeric 'smear'- topped off with a mushroom puree. All the ingredients were fresh from the gardens around us - it tasted delicious! 

Own Photo - River Cottage Lunch 

They also treated us to pudding- which was a deconstructed rhubarb trifle. Mine was slightly altered being dairy free - but none the less, still amazing. I had fresh rhubarb from the garden, with a rhubarb sorbet, crumbled meringue and a light homemade gluten free sponge. 

Own Photo - River Cottage Pudding 

You could tell that the Chef's here really take pride in what they were make, this especially showed in the way in which they present it! Not only did it look and taste amazing - it was so enjoyable to eat food that you could trust to be gluten and dairy free. 

Once we were all full and content, we headed back in to start making our Sourdough Bread. Naturally dairy-free anyway, we made the bread in pairs. We poured the mixture into a tin which we lined with seeds and then left it to rise. The kitchen was very warm so they rose very quickly.

Meanwhile we prepared the frangipane mixture for our Mini Bakewell Tarts - I spent a lot of time eating the mixture of the bowl. Bakewell Tarts are one of my favourite things and I couldn't wait to get this into the oven. We filled our pastry cases with the frangipani and jam, sprinkled with almonds and popped them into the oven.

Own Photo - Bakewell Tarts Pre-Oven

We then also put our bread in - because I have never made bread before I was sceptical to how it was going to come out. Through Naomi's explanation of how the flours and starch's work together and compliment each other - it made me understand the principle of how gluten-free works in baking. I have never been much of a baker - because it is incredibly hard to get that lovely soft sponge, crisp pastry or bread-like texture without the gluten. Even though I love cooking, creating and experimenting, I have never been much of cake baker or bread maker! The course made me have a completely different outlook on gluten-free baking and how it really isn't as difficult as I thought it was!

While we were waiting for our tarts and breads - we were shown what else we could use the yeast starter for, other than the bread. This time we were shown to roll out the dough incredibly thin to make gluten-free crackers. 

Own Photo - My GF Bread 

I was surprised at how well both my bread and tarts came out, and it also tasted delicious too.It was so nice to eat warm bread again that actually tasted like well...bread. Rather than the shop bought gluten free bread that always is full of sugars and preservatives, my bread was just delicious and wholesome..

My Seeded Sourdough Loaf

While most had their bread with butter, I dipped mine in Olive Oil - which I haven't done for about 10 years!

And of course, the Mini Bakewell Tarts were just as good. 

Own Photo - Bakewell Tarts

I think you get the picture that everything tasted amazing and REAL. All the bakes tasted like how it used too when I ate wheat and gluten, which I think is what everyone enjoyed most. You not only left with bags full of gluten-free goodies, but also gluten-free baking skills that you could use time and time again.

This day was one of the best days I have had - it made me realise how much I love and enjoy cooking, as well as knowing there is so much more to learn in this industry. River Cottage HQ is an amazing place, they have set up something really special there! 

I recommend anyone who is thinking about doing some kind of gluten-free or any cooking course - to take a look at going here, you would definitely not regret it!

Thank you River Cottage HQ for making the day so great - and Naomi for being such a great teacher!

She has got a book coming out soon all about gluten-free baking, I urge you to buy one, I will be too!

Own Photo - Naomi Demonstrating

Tomorrow night I will be altering and experimenting with these recipes to see if I can make them my own and more autoimmune friendly!

Hope you all have had a lovely week in the sun!

Enjoy your weekend!

MB

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Orange Summer Slaw + Mango and Pineapple Salsa

If there is anytime where we should be getting creative in our kitchens - the time is now. 

The warm weather means the summer season is drawing closer, this is the moment to start getting creative and healthy with our food!

The week of sunshine has inspired me to make some colourful and delicious side dishes! Who knew that fruit and vegetables could look so beautiful?

These two dishes go perfectly alongside any spring or summer BBQ - fresh and fruity tasting as well as super good for you!

All the food I have created here is gluten free and dairy free. And if you are following a similar, Allergen Free/Autoimmune Paleo diet to me - these cater for that too!

Own Photo - www.instagram.com/mollybuszard

Orange Summer Slaw -

What You Will Need:

One Red Cabbage

One White Cabbage

Four Organic Carrots

For the Orange Dressing :

Two tablespoons of Apple Cider Vinegar

Two tablespoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Juice of One Orange

Peel from One Orange

Salt + Pepper

Using either a grater, finely chopping or like I do, in a food processor with the grate/slice tool - put all the vegetables in until they resemble fine slaw-like pieces! Mix the dressing in a bowl and pour over the vegetables. With your hands mix together, squeezing the veg so that everything absorbs that orangey flavour.

Serve in your favourite bowl - sprinkle with some remaining orange peel!

You can also top with raisins, currants, pomegranates seeds or nuts.

Either serve immediately or keep in a Tupperware to have whenever you fancy - perfect for on the go lunches and leftovers!

(I had mine last night with steak, sweet potato/parsnip chips and half an Avo!)

Own Photo - www.instagram.com/mollybuszard 

Pineapple and Mango Salsa 

What you will need:

1/4 of a Pineapple 

One Mango

Two Tablespoons of Olive Oil

One Lime

Handful of Mint

Sprinkling of Ginger

Salt + Pepper

Own Photo - www.instgram.com/mollybuszard

Cut about a 1/4 of the pineapple off - then chop off the rough skin and cut into small bite size pieces. (I cut the rest of the pineapple up and save in a Tupperware to have as a snack - or freeze some of the pieces to pop into smoothies!)

Cut the mango in half around the stone and score the flesh in a criss-cross pattern! Turn the mango inside out so the flesh side pops out and get as much of the mango squares off the skin. - I find this the easiest way, but you can do it however you want.

Cut the fruit into small bite size pieces and mix in a bowl with the rest of the ingredients.

Serve in a dish and sprinkle some more mint on top for decoration!

I had this salsa with some cauliflower rice and chicken kebabs!

Enjoy!

MB 

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Raw Coconut Chocolate Fudge

The anti-inflammatory month or the Autoimmune Solution which I have decided to do is based around 'The Myers Way' - which I have spoken about in my previous posts. This is a 30 day way of eating where I eliminate all of inflammation foods and allergens to heal my gut which, in turn resets my immune system, hopefully resulting in curing my arthritis. The allergens include - gluten, dairy, wheat, nightshade vegetables, eggs, legumes, grains, nuts, seeds, caffeine and alcohol. It takes 30 days to reset your immune system and start the process of removing all the 'bad' from your body. The foods which I have been eating are nutrient-dense, full of the amino acids that I need to support my immune system as well as friendly bacteria which is crucial to a healthy immune system. I strongly believe that food is medicine. 

I have heard comments such as 'Oh you're so boring!' or 'Just one glass of wine won't hurt.' or 'Why are you doing this?' and trust me, I have thought about it too. But I also think about the fact I have an autoimmune disease, at the age of just 21. When I tell people I have rheumatoid arthritis the comment that I hear most is.. "Oh aren't you very young for that?" - Well, yes I am. Which also means that, I am young, healthy and strong enough to fight this disease - which I have to remind myself of sometimes. Especially when I fancy a nice big sugary jam donut or gravy covered chicken pie! 
And of course, I am human - I do struggle. I have been struggling the most I have the past week actually. Trying to find things I want to eat for breakfast, craving for something sweet which then, ends up with me having low blood sugars and being incredibly irritable and moody! (I miss eggs and peanut butter - help!)

But then I just have to remind myself that it is only 30 days - I am half way there now - and the benefits which I will get from this in the long term will be incredibly rewarding. 

This weekend was Easter and I'm sure most of you enjoyed several chocolate eggs, hot cross buns and large amounts of gravy covered roasts - I am not jealous in the slightest...

The amount of chocolate I saw and craved was quite unbearable - I even took to smelling some of the chocolate eggs to try and suppress my craving - ridiculous, I know. I took it upon myself to make some of my own raw chocolate to stop my craving - and it did the trick!

It is a slight bit trickier not having nuts to hold the chocolate together, or sweeteners like maple syrup/honey but, I still managed to create something pretty delicious! 

Own Photo - www.instagram.com/mollybuszard

They are gluten and dairy free as well as Autoimmune Paleo friendly! No allergens either!

Raw Coconut Chocolate Fudge

What you will need:

One cup of Dates

Half a cup of Desiccated Coconut

Two Tablespoons of Raw Cacao Powder

Four Tablespoons of Melted Coconut Oil

Sprinkling of Sea Salt 

Food Processor

Put the dates into a small bowl and cover with boiling water - letting them soften for 10-15 minutes. Then pour the dates and the rest of the ingredients into the food processor and mix using the 'S' tool. You may need to add some of the date water to make the mixture combine more easily. The mixture should resemble the consistency of baby food. Poor into a clingfilm lined tray, spreading with a knife if you need too, as the mixture is quite sticky! Sprinkle over some of the salt to cut through the sweetness. Put the chocolate mixture in the freezer overnight. 

Once the mixture has frozen you can now chop into small cubes or bars. Either keep in the freezer of fridge - I keep mine in the freezer so they kinda taste like chocolate ice-cream bites!

Own Photo - www.instagram.com/mollybuszard

Enjoy!

MB

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