Frozen Christmas Decorations

November 30, 2016December 1, 20168 Comments

My brother and his wife were discussing whether they would have a traditional green and red Christmas or would they go for a frozen Christmas and that got me thinking. Although the movie Frozen has created quite a following frozen doesn’t have to mean recreating the movie on your dining table… or does it?

White Christmas

Nothing is more beautiful than a white Christmas. Cold sparkly white weather outside, warm socializing inside, hot chocolate, what more can you ask for. If you decide to go all white, remember to add some sparkle to your decorations.

Blue and White Christmas

I thought the white and blue China was such a cute idea for a blue and white Christmas

Here’s a tutorial on how to make your own blue and white China ornaments using white baubles and a blue marker.

Frozen Christmas ( Light Blue)

This theme would call for light blue, white and silver. There are lots of amazing food ideas on the net if you’re interested in bringing Frozen to the dinner plate

All these pictures are from Pinterest.

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Basic Soda Bread

November 29, 2016December 1, 20164 Comments

Soda bread is a bread that you can make within minutes. You don’t have to wait for the yeast to activate and the dough to rise, because you’re not using yeast. Instead of yeast you will use baking soda. Soda bread tastes a little different than normal bread, its kind of like a big scone but its great with jams and soups.

Recipe – Paul Hallywood

INGREDIENTS

500g plain white flour, plus extra for dusting
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp salt
400ml buttermilk

Substitutes.

Buttermilk = 1 tablespoon lemon juice and 400ml Milk mixed together adn left for 5 minutes before adding to ingredients.

Directions

First you have to preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Mix all the dry ingredients and then add the buttermilk. Turn the dough over on a floured baking tray and form a ball. Then cut the dough into 4 quarters, but not all the way to the bottom. Dust with some flour and bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown. Place on a wire rack to cool.

Recipe from How To Bake by Paul Hollywood. but you can also find this amazing recipe on his blog

20 Days of Christmas

November 28, 2016November 28, 20162 Comments

Its almost Christmas. It’s most definitely my favourite time of the year. Its a time for spending time with your family and remembering how much you love and need each other.

I’ve decided to give my students a little something for Christmas. Since buying gifts for all of them(150 students) will cost me a fortune, I’ve decided to make some cookies. After my first batch of cookies I realised that baking the same thing for everyone will take a lot of time and I’m going to get bored making the same recipe everyday, so…. I’m going to make different cookies until I reach 450 cookies. Since I love blogging so much, I will share a recipe a day up until the 23rd of December. I’ll still share other aspects of my life with you too. I hope you ‘ll share this cooking baking journey with me. Feel free to post some of your own favourite recipes or link me in a cookie post 😀

Nikon Coolpix P900 VS Canon EOS 750D

November 25, 2016December 8, 2016Leave a comment

Ever since I’ve started blogging I’ve been wanting a new camera, since the only camera I had was my cellphone. Bare in mind that my phone isn’t new or fancy, so the picture quality wasn’t great. In addition I didn’t know anything about photography and since my pictures looked BAD I rarely ever posted them. Since it is my birthday this month my husband bought me a new camera, the Canon EOS 750D. In addition his mother is an avid bird watcher and also wanted a new camera, so she got herself the Nikon Coolpix P900.

I’m not going to go into the specifications of the two camera’s since you can find that anywhere on the internet. What you can’t find however are pictures quality of the two camera’s. Since I had access to both I’ll now share the different pictures.

First off the Coolpix has some amazing zoom. In the first picture you can’t even see the tower on the mountain we are trying to capture.

The Tower on the mountain is currently between the two big buildings

Zooming much further you can actually see the tower on the mountain.

The weather was really misty but the camera still zooms to the extend that you’ll be able to see people on the tower if there were any.

That same night we photographed the moon since it was a supermoon.

Picture 1 is the view from our bedroom window without any zoom with the Nikon Coolpix

Picture 2 Zoomed

Picture 3. Zoomed but not fully zoomed since my husband said you can’t see it’s the moon if you zoom much further than that.

Coolpix VS Canon Pictures.

The picture on the left is the Coolpix and on the right the Canon

I’ve tried to keep the angles the same, but it’s not easy, I didn’t zoom in with the Coolpix since I wanted to see what the quality was like.

The quality is very similar, personally I’m very happy with my Canon and won’t exchange it for the Coolpix even if I got it free but it depends what you’re using the camera for. In my opinion if you’re going to take travel or landscape pictures then rather go for the Coolpix but if you’re more into capturing details without having to zoom, then go for the Canon. In the end its up to you and your purpose for using the camera.

5 Delicious Paleo desserts

November 24, 2016November 24, 20168 Comments

Most of these are really easy and relatively low cal. During family holidays its always hard to stay healthy during all the festivities and with all the food laying around. Don’t get me wrong, I love normal old fashioned cake, but with so many unhealthy dishes it might be a good idea to make one or 5 of them that are healthier. Some of the recipe’s aren’t strictly Paleo as Paleo doesn’t call for the use of sugars. In addition if you’re not on a Paleo diet but want to try some of the recipe’s as a healthier option you can most definitely try it.

Pumpkin pie

Its really easy to make and sometimes I even mix equal amounts of pumpkin and sweet potato (yams) to get a pie higher in carbs for the days I do high intensity training and need some more carbs. This recipe is both Paleo and vegan friendly.

INGREDIENTS

Crust: 1 1/4 Cups Walnuts or Pecans
1 Cup of Chestnut or Almond Flour
1 Egg White
Sprinkle of salt. (I like to add in a pinch of nutmeg and cinnamon here)

Filling:

1 1/2 Cups Pumpkin Puree (Roast your leftover pumpkin and blend it) or use 1 full can.
2/3 Cup of Walnuts1/3 Cup Cashews
3 Eggs and 1 Egg White
1/4 Cup Honey + 1/4 Cup Maple Syrup (Or for indulgence, go for 1/2 cup Maple and reduce the water to 3/4 cup)
1 Cup Water
Spice Mix: 1 tsp Ginger, 1 tsp Allspice, 1 tsp Nutmeg, 1/2 tsp Cloves, 1/2 tsp Cardamon, 1/4 tsp salt
Vegans Omit the eggs and water, Add 1/2 cup Soy/almond milk and 2 TB cornstarch and 1 tsp Arrowroot.

Full instructions at wholefoods.heartspacedundee.co.uk

Raw Apple Pie with Paleo Whipped Cream

Who doesn’t like apple pie. With this Paleo inspired recipe you can keep the calories down, for those on a calorie restrictive diet(not necessarily just for Paleo followers), while getting your daily dose of apples. An apple a day keeps the doctor away…

INGREDIENTS.

For the Crust

½ cup raw almonds
½ cup raw cashews
½ cup raw macadamias
3/4 cup pitted dates
1 teaspoon each cinnamon, ground cloves and ground ginger
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 tablespoon orange juice

Filling

6 apples, peeled (cut 1 of the apples into ½ inch chunks, thinly slice the other 5). I used Pippin apples but Granny Smith or other baking apple would work just fine.
1 cup of pitted dates that have been soaked in apple juice for 30 minutes, then drain the juice into a small measuring cup
2 teaspoons cinnamon
¼ teaspoon allspice
½ teaspoon nutmeg, ground
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 medium orange, seeded, peeled and pulled apart into segments

Full instructions at nutritionyoucantrust

Strawberry Cheesecake (non-dairy and Paleo)

Who doesn’t love a diet where you can still have cheesecake, even if it is dairy free.

INGREDIENTS

The crust

150g (2 cups) finely shredded unsweetened coconut
100g (1 cup) raw hazelnuts, finely ground
35g (1/4 cup) coconut flour
¼ cup coconut oil, melted
2 tbsp raw honey, melted
1 tbsp blackstrap molasses
1 tsp Himalayan salt
½ tsp ground ginger
½ tsp ground Ceylon cinnamon

The filling

300g (2 cups) raw cashew pieces, soaked overnight
1 cup full fat coconut milk
500g (1.1lb) raw cauliflower, grated
1 cup raw honey, melted
¾ cup coconut oil
1 tsp Himalayan salt
½ tsp ground Ceylon cinnamon
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
6 large eggs
the juice and zest of 1 lemon
¼ cup tapioca flour

Garnish

4 + 1 cups fresh strawberries, stems removed
1 tablespoon grassfed gelatin
½ cup cold water
½ cup water
2 tablespoons pure maple syrup or raw honey
pinch Himalayan salt
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Full instructions at the healthy foodie

Paleo Brownies

INGREDIENTS

57 grams (1/2 cup) finely ground almond flour
50 grams (1/2 cup) Dutch-process cocoa powder* (see note above)
85 grams (1/2 cup) coconut sugar or evaporated cane juice
1/2 teaspoon baking powder, homemade or grain-free store-bought
1/4 teaspoon salt
113 grams (about 2/3 cup) chopped dairy-free dark chocolate or chips, melted
57 grams (1/4 cup) coconut oil or unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
85 grams (1/4 cup) honey
3 large eggs (about 150 grams out of the shell)

Full instructions on glutenfreebaking.com

Snickers Pie

(Raw, Vegan, Gluten + Grain Free, Refined Sugar Free)

INGREDIENTS

Crust

5 tbsp cocoa powder
12 Medjool dates, pitted
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 c nut of choice (I like cashews and almonds best, with walnuts shortly behind – you can even MIX nuts if you’re CRAZY)
1 c unsweetened dried coconut
1 tsp vanilla extract

Caramel Layer