Moving

Hey there,

I've moved my blog over to wordpress and as with any other relationship that s ever ended- its not you (or blogger in this case) it's me. My new home is shaziyaniamh.wordpress.com so come follow me over there- I've just written a post about cake in order to tantalize those tastebuds. I'm gonna leave my previous posts up here for the time being but all new posts will be up on the wordpress site.

Thank you for reading.

Happy Monday

Shaziya Niamh

Banana pancakes

Pancake day is one of those days that usually passes me by without much reference unless one of my housemates decides to suddenly make pancakes or I find myself earnest to try a vaguely healthy recipe I've spotted.

Alas pancakes aren't just for pancake day, they can be inflicted on your tummy all year round and can form part of a delicious breakfast, lunch or sumptuous dessert.

Last pancake day instagram,  twitter etc were filled with a gluten free pancake that just sounded way too good to be true and that was the banana pancake, so unbelievably simple that I can't believe no one had thought of it before (they obviously did but kept it to themselves).

The banana pancake combines two wonderful things a banana (filled with vitamin B6 amongst other things) and an egg (a great source of protein and vitamin D).

To make it all you need to do is mash up one banana add the egg and mix, melt a bit of coconut oil in a pan, pour the mixture into the pan and keep on a medium heat, after awhile you'll have a delicious banana pancake to tuck into!

Depending on how ripe the banana is you'll either have a perfect pancake or what resembles friend mash potato, the first time I tried it was a disaster as I was really hungover but my skills have improved since then!

I usually have it with a bit of almond butter and some greek yoghurt, since going dairy free I've been having it with Coyo  (coconut yoghurt) and its just as delicious, blueberry and apple sauce also works well with it.

To make the blueberry sauce

• Melt a teaspoon of coconut oil in a pan 
• Add blueberries and half a chopped apple 
• As the mixture starts cooking add the juice of half a lemon. 
• When the mixture starts becoming jam like pour it on top of pancakes. 

Till next time,

Shaziya xo

Going dairy free (and rebelling against it)

Last Monday I went to see an ear, nose and throat specialist. I was sort of dreading it as the letter said expect a good two of hours of waiting around, tests and inevitable small talk with the person next you (if you have conversational leanings). In reality it took about half an hour and doctor was rather pleasant and laughed at some (not all) of my jokes as I explained my symtoms. He then put a tiny camera up both my nostrils to see what exactly is (and was) wrong. I told him my symtoms seem to get worse whenever I eat cheese or yoghurt, so he has said that I need to give up dairy to completely to see if this really is case. Which means means none of the yummy stuff I'm used to. 

As luck would have it I am lucky in the sense that I don't like milk and nowadays I only really have yoghurt, cheese and chocolate (I'm gonna miss chocolate the most) so it could be alot worse. However this is still a massive lifestyle change and one I've spent the last week rebelling against whilst simultaneously making myself worse (give me ALL THE PIZZA!)

One of my best and oldest friends had to do the same thing two years ago so has been giving me tips on how to cope, you see our bodies aren't designed to digest dairy hence so many of us are intolerant to it.

Yesterday my friend Claire and I did a sponsored walk for dogs unite, (more on that later) afterwards feeling starving we stopped at a cafe and everything they had contained dairy so I couldn't have anything (apart from fruit). We eventually went to a pizza place because I was all this is my last hurrah (dairy wise) and since the news cheese and chocolate have become my new best friends. 

Alas I know what I've got to do so from tomorrow I shall start properly going dairy free. If you've got suggestions for alternatives please let me know. In the mean time I still have a load of recipes (two) from my pre dairy free existence to share. 

Have you ever had to deal with a food intolerance?  How did you cope and what did you miss most? 

Happy Sunday. 

Shaziya xo

A tip for low mood

Recently I've had more sad days then I've had happy and if you've read the news recently its all full of UKIP and other awful things.

Saying that it can be very easy to let all the bad stuff get you down but amongst it every day there are great things happening you just have allow yourself to see them.

One trick I've found that works is doing a 100 jumping jacks, obviously you don't have to do a 100 but even ten will turn that frown upside down as exercise = endorphins and they immediately make you feel better.

Also this song which (up until five seconds ago) I didn't know was an REM cover, still one of my fave songs ever though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oL6Gsm1AOmY

xoxo

Healthy comfort food

The other day I had a real craving for broccoli and when I say craving I mean the vegetable had begun appearing in my dreams and haunting my thoughts.

I generally like it either one of three ways, roasted, raw or in the midst of some creamy sauce (the kind so heavy it makes all the other sauces blush), this time how ever I fancied having it a different way.

You see I'd also been craving tomato soup, but when it comes to soup I'd rather make it myself than buy it from a shop (see chemicals and calories I don't need).

I wanted something healthy and hearty so I googled tomato and broccoli soup and found this http://gb.pinterest.com/source/divaliciousrecipesinthecity.com/ .

To be honest the recipes so simple it doesn't take a genius to figure it out, all you need is an onion, tin of tomatoes and a head of broccoli, chop up the broccoli finely and add it to the already chopped onion with abit of coconut oil, tin of tomatoes and leave it to simmer for about 10 minutes so that the broccoli softens. Once its done blend and there you have it, simple soup that healthy and vaguely filling (I also added a veg stock cube and chilli).

The next day I made it again but used frozen spinach instead and it was just as delieious. I have a tendency to want to use every vegetable in my cupboard but with a soup such as this using two or three things is way more effective.

Sweets for my sweet (tooth) - sugar all for me.

If you had asked me a year ago what my favourite type of comfort is and was I would have most definitely said pizza followed by a homemade brownie (just out the oven) with ice cream and a green tea just to balance it out. 

However the Shaziya of 2014s version is comfort food rather different; don't get me wrong- pizza with always have a pizza (get it) my heart but I am more likely to do something like cauliflour rice risotto followed by a homemade brownie with yoghurt instead. Just because I've never really been a huge ice cream fan (yoghurts way better but more on that later as in another post) 

As you may have gathered sweet potato was in the eons of my mind for awhile before I actually tried it and when I did it was like all my summers had come at once. You see it is seen as a health food and for someone who's Irish I'm not a huge fan of potatoes (I went through a dark period of eating a lot of mash with what resembled a diabetics worst nightmare) 

In my eyes sweet potato really is the best kind of comfort food as its just so good for you and hits those sweet tooth and comfort food needs all at once making it not just a super food but a super awesome food. 

For mine I tend to melt coconut oil with a little butter and cut the sweet potato into strips or circles depending on my shape bias (on Friday it was all about circles). I then line a tray with grease proof paper and heat the oven at about 200c, dip the sweet potato into the coco/butter mixture and once placed on the tray sprinkle about a teaspoon of brown sugar, a little sea salt and a bit of black pepper (sometimes I'll add cayenne pepper) over the top. I tend to cook them until they look crispy (roughly 10-15 minutes longer depending on how thick they are). 

Once cooked eat with friends, by yourself or with that significant other (your flatmates ;o)) alongside some form of drink (for me its a nice glass of red wine, beer or green tea pending on mood). 

Happy Sunday xo 

Kale pesto- its the best...doh.

 

For me- recipes tend to linger in my mind for awhile before I try them. I'll be thinking about it in the shower or reading and then suddenly everything will fuse to the point where I'll have to don my concentrating face (where all my muscles go to my nose) and give it a go. 

Kale and I have a love /hate relationship- I went through a phase about a year ago where I used it in all my cooking and until about a month ago I had hardly used it. You see I went back to my first love- spinach. Spinach makes me think of Popeye and Popeye's awesome. 

According to the all knowing all seeing eye that is Wikipedia. Pesto originated from northern Italy and usually consists of basil, pine nuts olive oil. I generally find pesto rather rich so its not something I'd order if I was in a restaurant. 

However for this recipe I used coconut oil (the backbone of ALL my cooking), mushrooms, kale and feta cheese. I used to hate feta but since I started living with a Greek couple my senses have been awakened by its awesomeness. 

I began by stalks off the kale so I just had the leaves left (this can be time consuming if you buy a bag from a supermarket), once that had been done I chopped my onion, mushroom and revisited the kale for a fine chopping!

In the pan I melted a teaspoon of coconut oil and added the onion. Once browned I added a little water and the chopped mushroom. The kale was added soon after alongside an inch of feta crumbled into the now wilted kale mixture. I also added a pinch of cayenne chilli pepper, black pepper and a pinch of sea salt before I let it simmer and the flavours bond. After about five- eight minutes I got out my trusty blender and blended to get a vague thick soup like consistency. 

Now you may be wondering what gluttonise carb did I have it with? Well I'm sorry to disappoint you but this time I had it with courgette (zucchini) spaghetti which took all of two seconds to make (you just use a veggie peeler for tagliatelle like strings) I also added some tuna as I felt like it may not be that filling. However next time I would have it without! 

Until next time xo