Podium Pie (pear and pecan)

Another one from Hannah Grant @dailystews, podium pie is based on sweet potato like the race cakes, but this time it's added raw. Blitzed up with oats, pecans, eggs, dates and peanut butter, with diced pears folded in and a few sliced for the top. The spicy golden milk protein powder from Purition is a fab addition. The original recipe used coconut oil but with peanut butter as a suggested replacement, and happily I just had a delivery of Yumello salted date crunchy PB. Overall a great snack, not too sweet.

Would work well with figs and walnuts too, I think.

The whole mix made the 20cm cake shown (=8 wedges) plus a couple of well-filled muffin cases, call it 10 servings at 167 cals, 5.6g protein, 18.8g carbs, 8.1g fat.

Sweet potato race cakes

I found this recipe via Hannah Grant, @dailystews on Instagram - I love her training-friendly recipes! Made as described, the cakes were tasty but very soft and not really portable, and a bit too oily for my preference. I also froze them as the soft texture suggested they'd begin to go furry quite quickly at room temperature.

My variation was to omit the fat (to be honest I meant to add a small amount but forgot!), and have both oats and protein powder. I had some trial 40g sachets of Purition and chose to add one turmeric and one almond. I added a good spoonful of ground ginger, and with no suitable fresh fruit to hand I used jumbo raisins, pushing 4-5 into each cake and smoothing over the top. They turned out delicious and much more robust than the first batch. Slightly lower in calories and higher in protein, of course.

I like them as a quick snack, or for breakfast with Greek yogurt and fruit.

Per cake (made 12): 167 cals, 7g protein, 22g carbs, 6g fat.

Update: added a tbsp of cocoa powder, orange zest instead of lime, and a scattering of dark chocolate chips. Warmed before serving, OMG.

Nectarine tea loaf

Recipe from a Waitrose card, made dairy free.

https://www.waitrose.com/home/recipes/recipe_directory/n/nectarine-apricotandearlgreytealoaf.html

Make tea with 130ml water (original recipe: milk) and 3 earl grey tea bags. It should be strong but not over-mashed and bitter. Use this to soak 100g dried apricots, chopped small.

Cut the "cheeks" from 2 nectarines, and slice thinly for the top of the cake. Dice the remaining flesh the same size as the apricots.

Cream 90g dairy-free spread (original: butter) with 110g caster sugar, the zest of a lemon and grated nutmeg to taste. Mix in 2 large eggs and 225g self-raising flour, then add the fruit and tea. The mix will be quite soft and loose.

Pour into a lined 2lb loaf tin, and arrange the nectarine slices in fans on the top. Bake 1h at 170°C (fan) or until it passes the skewer test. Cool in the tin for 10 mins, then on a rack. Optionally, brush the top with melted apricot jam.

A delicious, light cake that was easy to make. Not sure it really qualifies as a tea bread but I will definitely be doing this one again nonetheless.

Vegan salty balls

Original recipe from Hannah Grant via her @dailystews Instagram account. Modified as to what I had to hand, with some thoughts for next time...

- 130g dark roast crunchy peanut butter (next time try smooth, either almond, cashew or coconut)
- 5.5tbsp maple syrup (used half honey as I ran out of syrup)
- 50g Vive chocolate protein powder
- 50g oats (basic porridge oats so not whizzed to flour, but would try next time)
- 25g desiccated coconut
- large pinch salt
- juice and zest of 1 lime (thought this would go better with the chocolate protein)
- 1 tsp cocoa powder (my addition)

I was able to press and roll these into balls rather than cutting into squares, I think squares would have been more difficult.

This made 24 x 15g balls. Each: 64 calories, 3.5g protein, 5g carbs, 3.5g fat. They taste pretty good and are a nice alternative to the date/cocoa based ones I've done before. More lime, more salt next time = margarita balls ;)

After-school cheesy muffins

Desperately searching for tempting after school snacks that aren't sugary... these were previously poo-poohed by the small recipient but this time they have gone down a storm and she's suggesting other things to put in "next time"...

Original recipe from Taming Twins

Oven to 200°C/180° fan
12-hole muffin tin, greased 

Dry ingredients (mix together in large bowl)

• 250g self raising flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 small can sweetcorn, drained (160g)
• 200g grated cheese (I used 150g which was plenty)
• Adding to the recipe, I also chopped and chucked in some pepperoni left over from pizza making, and small chose to add in smoked paprika too. 

Wet ingredients (mix together in a jug)

• 250ml milk (any)
• 100ml oil (maybe a bit much?)
• 2 medium eggs, beaten

Combine wet into dry until just mixed, then portion out into the muffin tin. Ours was nearly full but this recipe doesn't rise loads so it was all fine. After cooling for a few minutes in the tin, a quick knife around each one saw it pop out beautifully. They do feel a bit greasy to touch, though, so next time I would maybe reduce the oil a bit.

Most importantly, they got the "mmmm - delish!" seal of approval :)

Black bean soup

Not a precise recipe, but a good flavour combination.

Saute celery, carrot and onion with oil and plenty of cumin, smoked paprika, black pepper, plus chilli flakes to taste. Add 2 veg (or any) stock cubes made up with a litre of water, a generous dollop of tomato puree, and a splash of wine/cider vinegar. Add 2 tins of black beans, drained and rinsed. Simmer until carrots and beans are soft, then puree half of the soup.