American Style Pancakes

Well im doing this little post for a friend who keeps getting floury omlettes rather than nice plump pancakes (hes not all there bless him)

• 135g/4¾oz plain flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp salt
• 2 tbsp caster sugar
• 130ml/4½fl oz milk
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 2 tbsp melted butter (allowed to cool slightly) or olive oil, plus extra for cooking
  
  

   

   

  Preparation method

  1. Sift the flour, baking powder, salt and caster sugar into a large bowl. In a separate bowl or jug, lightly whisk together the milk and egg, then whisk in the melted butter.
     
  2. Pour the milk mixture into the flour mixture and, using a fork, beat until you have a smooth batter. Any lumps will soon disappear with a little mixing. Let the batter stand for a few minutes.
     
  3. Heat a non-stick frying pan over a medium heat and add a knob of butter. When it's melted, add a ladle of batter (or two if your frying pan is big enough to cook two pancakes at the same time). It will seem very thick but this is how it should be. Wait until the top of the pancake begins to bubble, then turn it over and cook until both sides are golden brown and the pancake has risen to about 1cm (½in) thick.
     
  4. Repeat until all the batter is used up. You can keep the pancakes warm in a low oven, but they taste best fresh out the pan.
     
  5. Serve with lashings of real maple syrup and extra butter if you like.
     
     

     so here you go scott, enjoy mate x

  
  

Cooking Rice PROPERLY

We all know how to put rice in a pan and cook it according to the packet instructions...

So how about we learn how to cook it in a way that adds a whole new dimension to the taste and texture?

To start out you want to run your rice under cold water before you cook it, as this helps to wash away all the starch (essentially stops your rice clumping together during cooking)

Get your pan on the heat add add your water and season the water as you normally would with salt and pepper, then add your rice.
You always start cooking rice with cold water, DO NOT boil your water and then add the rice.

Once your pan has started to boil, lower the heat and simmer for 5 minutes.

Then get your colinder and tip your rice out into the colinder catching some of the water back into your pan, and we will use this water to steam your rice.

There should be around 2-3cm of water in your pan and you want to place your colinder on top of your pan and cover the colinder with tin foil and leave it on a low heat for 7-9 minutes.

This is going to steam your rice and make it unbelievably light and fluffy, unlike any rice you will of had before you tried this method!!
Serve your rice immediatly if you're ready, or leave the tin foil over your colinder and it should stay warm for up to 15 minutes.

Its as simple as that, a little extra work than just leaving it to simmer away, but trust me, the results are totally worth it!

Thanks for reading guys, feel free to leave comments or any requests.

Cauliflower Rice (save on calories)

For me its one of the showstoppers

I have always loved cauliflower, for me its just one of the best and most versitile vegetables available.
wether you are having it with your Roast Dinner, as a spicy popcorn snack, cauliflower rice, pizza crust, rosti's... the list goes on!

Today im going to show you such a simple recipe, Cauliflower Rice!
Its unbelievably healthy compared to conventional carb filled rice, and thats the main reason i have it as a staple in my diet for curries or serving as a side with meatballs.

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Nutrition Facts
Serving Size 1 cup
Amount Per Serving
Calories from Fat 1 Calories 25
% Daily Values*
Total Fat 0.1g		0%
	Saturated Fat 0.032g	0%
	Polyunsaturated Fat 0.099g
	Monounsaturated Fat 0.014g
Cholesterol 0mg		0%
Sodium 30mg		1%
Potassium 303mg
Total Carbohydrate 5.3g		2%
	Dietary Fiber 2.5g	10%
	Sugars 2.4g
Protein 1.98g
Cauliflower rice = 25 Calories*
Standard Rice = 204 Calories*

 *Per Cup
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1 whole cauliflower should make 4 servings of rice

1. Simply Put the cauliflower through the food processor (5-8 one second pulses, until it is the consistency of rice)
2. Put a prying pan on a high heat to warm up and add a drizzle of olive/coconut oil
3. Add your rice, lower the heat and keep moving the rice in the pan to avoid burning
4. after 5-7 minutes your rice is done.

Serve imediatly and enjoy

My Mean Green Smoothie

So I've been on juice plus for about 6 weeks now, but i wouldn't say I've stuck to it very well if I'm being honest.

So i have tried to mix things up abit and i came up with this smoothie.
Now normally I'm not the kind of person who would have a load of greens in a meal, but i think i need this to mix it up from the basic juice plus recipe.

What you will need:

2 Apples
1 Cucumber
1 stick of celery
2 bananas
2 big handfuls of Kale
juice of 1 big Lemon
2 cups of water
and if you like an ice crunch, put in a few ice cubes.

simply chop all your ingredients, put them in a blender and whizz your way to greeny goodness.
This recipe should yield 4 pint glasses of Mean Green, so if you want to yield 1 glass, just quarter the recipe.

My Easy Shortbread

EVERYBODY loves a bit of shortbread with a nice cup of tea.
so why not try this easy and very cheap recipe?

you only need is butter, sugar and plain flour!

Butter 8oz
Sugar 4oz
Flour 10oz
and a bit of icing sugar for dusting.
(should make 12-20 shortbread, depending on your type of shortbread)

Method:

1. Heat the oven to 190C/375F/Gas 5 
2. Cream the butter and the sugar together until smooth.
3.  Stir in the flour to get a smooth paste.
4.  Once all the ingredients are combined roll out to 1cm/½in thick.
5. Then cut your shortbread either into fingers, or use a ring cutter for a bigger biscuit.
6. Place the cut shortbread into the fridge for 15 minutes to cool.
7. Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes, or until pale golden-brown. Set aside to cool on a wire rack.
8. ENJOY

 A Simple Twist

while adding your flour to the mix, why not try adding vanilla extract or crushed coconut.
and have shortbread with a twist!

This fine looking creation is Divine!! home made ice cream on top of a shortbread base, with a caramelised sugar crisp.

just use a circle cutter to cut your shortbread, leave the ring around your shortbread and pack tightly with the ice cream of your choice, and then simply caramelise sugar in a pan and drizzle it in fancy patterns on some grease proof paper and put in the fridge for an hour or until set. and there you have it.
My sugar Snapz desert.

Enjoy

A new swing on the humble chip

Fed up of the same old boring chips all of the time?

Why not try these Sweet potato wedges. Easy to make and in no time at all!

Ingredients;

sweet potato's
coriander seeds
paprika
dried oregano
cayenne pepper
salt
splash of oil

Directions;

• Cut your sweet potato's into wedges
• In a dry pan, toast the coriander seeds for about 30 seconds to a minute and transfer to a pestle and mortar
• Add salt, paprika, dried oregano and the cayenne pepper and give a mix
• Toss your wedges in a tray with some olive oil and cover with the spice mix
• Place in the oven for 30 minutes (turning half way through) on gas mark 7

 Simple as that, for a perfect side dish.

Juice Plus 2nd weigh in

sorry this post is 2 days late, been very busy in work.

but i have to say i had abit of a cheat weekend, we had a take away on Friday and Saturday and i went out Saturday night (couldn't resist the hen party)

But leading up to the weekend i was doing very well at sticking to the juice plus plan, although not doing as much exercise as i would like as I'm watching every game of the world cup and also fitting in Andy Murray around that.

Most days i would have a shake for breakfast and tea, and for lunch in work i would have my homemade tomato soup (ill post a recipe soon) which is just so yummy! and a wholemeal pitta bread.
And that seems to do the business and curb my hunger.

My tomato and garlic soup

So onto the main event, weight.

at the start of week 2 i weighed 13st 13lbs
at the end of week 2 i weighed  13st 11lbs

So Ive still lost 2lbs and overall gone from 203lbs to 193lbs in 2 weeks.

happy days.