Make Them Now: Jam Muffins

Serious Eats

 I'm a pretty novice baker, but muffins I can do. They're simple, quick and don't even require a beater. This weekend I took a stab at these jam muffins, and they went down like a treat. Recipe courtesy of Serious Eats... Make them, then freeze them so you're not tempted to scoff down the whole lot.

You'll need...

• 3/4 cup plain flour
• 3/4 cup whole-wheat flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 tbsp vanilla
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/2 cup jam

1. Preheat the oven to 190 degrees and spray 12 standard-sized muffin tins with baking spray, or line them with paper liners. Combine the flours, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Whisk to combine.
2. In a separate bowl, combine the milk, vegetable oil, vanilla, egg, and honey. Whisk to combine, making sure the honey is fully dissolved.
3. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir just enough to combine. It will be lumpy. Add the jam, and fold the mixture a few times to distribute it, but leave the mixture streaky. Portion the mixture evenly into the muffin tins.
4. Bake at 190 degrees until the muffins are browned on top and a toothpick inserted in the center of the muffins comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Remove the muffins from the pan and cool completely on a rack.

Love The Show, Get The Cookbook.

This one of those "why-didn't-I-think-of-that" kind of ideas. They've been around since the '40s, but it seems TV-themed cookbooks are only getting more popular. While The Sopranos Family Cookbook is flying off shelves, the Desperate Housewives Cookbook is also a sales success, and now you can even eat Don Draper-style with The Unofficial Mad Men Cookbook.

I had no clue these kind of books even existed, but the day they make a Friday Night Lights cookbook, full of Tami Taylor's Texan delights, y'all know I'm going to be first in line. What show would you most like to pinch the recipes from?

App To Buy. Now, Not Later.

Food Switch

A very food-savvy friend alterted me to this one to me and, in a word, it's genius. It's called Food Switch and it works like so: You're standing in the cold food section, debating the difficult issue of which vanilla custard to buy. You turn on Food Switch. You scan the barcode. It recommends healthier options. Simple as that. And you're out of there before your eyebrows freeze over.

Simple Swaps.

This week, I stumbled across this fabulous link to 89 Simple Swaps That Could Change Your Life at The Greatist. So basic, so easy to implement. Check out the full list, but here are a few of my faves...

• Incline for flat treadmill. In a perfect, outdoor world, flat roads rarely exist. (Sorry, Midwestern readers!) Add some hills to that treadmill run by cranking up the incline and feel the muscle-building burn! 

• Foam rolling for static stretching. Need to get the knots out? Try using a foam roller instead of sitting and stretching to the toes. It’s almost like a personal massage. 

• Homemade post-workout snack for a protein bar. Bring a PB&J or another post-workout snack to the gym rather than buying a protein bar. We need some after-exercise fuel, but don’t get it in the form of excess sugar! 

• Greek yoghurt for sour cream. Sour cream can taste pretty good in a burrito. To get that same creamy coolness, add a dollop of plain Greek yogurt to amp up the protein and slash the fat. 

• Frozen grapes for popsicles. It may sound a little weird, but hear us out. Stick a bunch of grapes in the freezer and snack on them a few hours later— it’s like eating bite-sized Popsicles with no added sugar! 

• Keeping the same bedtime for winging it. Setting a bedtime schedule may help us fall asleep faster, so pick a good time and try to stick to it!

Individually Portioned Snacks: Smarter Than Sitting Next To An Open Box

Check out these nifty lunchbox tips from the Wholesome Cook.

What I learned this week at work (well, apart from how to avoid the office feeder, which I really only did with a mediocre success rate) – bring your snacks to work only in the portions you intend to eat them. AND LEAVE THE REST AT HOME.

Because sitting for eight hours next to a giant box of dry Nutri-Grain will see your hand dip into the box for more than one serve. It's inevitable. So exercise your portion control at home and you wont have to worry about your self-control in the office.

Easy peasy.

Fresh Whole Fruit Won't Make You Fat.

Thingspeoplesay @ Etsy

 

Something alarmed me in the Sunday papers this weekend – an article that condemned fruit as a dietary evil. Now I know there's been a backlash against sugar recently, but fruit – seriously? My mum has a rockin' bod for her 52 years. And she eats fruit. A lot of fruit. She's living, breathing proof  that fruit alone won't make you fat. So I was so glad to read that nutritionist Dr Joanna McMillan was equally alarmed....

 

First up it’s nonsense to talk about sugar as being the root of all our health problems. We cannot talk about sugar as a singular compound in the same way that we can’t lump fat together, or carbs for that matter. Sugars are simply the single or double saccharides that are found in foods, mostly plant foods.

One sugar, glucose, is also what runs in our bloodstream as a key fuel for the body. The brain in particular uses about a quarter of the total body’s glucose use, despite being only two percent of the total body weight.

Glucose in the blood is vital… if it drops too low you would pass out and eventually die if glucose could not be ‘found’. It’s worth remembering that when we talk about sugar. We need it as a prime fuel in the body, along with fat. So what about sugar in foods?

Well there is no doubt that excess added sugars are contributing to obesity and many chronic health problems we face in this country. But added refined sugars are not the same as sugars naturally present in foods. In interpreting them as so we are making all the same mistakes we made when we entered the low fat era. We opted for low fat foods and forgot about healthy fats and whole foods.

With the proposition that fruits are bad because they contain sugar, we are doing the same thing. Sugars in fruit are bound up in cell walls along with fibre, nutrients and phytochemicals including antioxidants. Our bodies have to work fairly hard to break these cells down, release the nutrients and sugars and then absorb them. This is a very different scenario to eating a lolly or drinking a soft drink – a dose of sugar without any nutrients or fibre whatsoever. To put them in the same basket is quite frankly ludicrous.

Fruit juice is not the same as fruit – it's all the sugar with none of the fibre-y good stuff. Dried fruit is not the same as fruit – it's shrivelled up, sweet and easy to overconsume. But a full green apple? That's not responsible for this country's obesity epidemic. 

Here Comes Trouble... Avoiding The Office Feeder.

The Daily Clog

 

You know the story: You bring salad for lunch and fill your desk drawer with healthy snacks and it's all going swimmingly... until your Office Feeder comes over with cookies she baked last night, or half a Cherry Ripe she doesn't want to finish. You don't want to be rude, so the only thing to do is say thanks and take it off her hands, right? Wrong.

This week I've realised that this is where I come unstuck. I bring healthy food to work for myself, but rarely is there a day when someone in the office hasn't baked, or there's a birthday, or someone's selling chocolates for charity. And. I. Can't. Say. No.

It's hard, but I'm going to have to learn – because all this additional snacking is doing my health no favours. So for the next week, it's "no" to anything but the pre-arraged food I've given myself license on munch on. 

The Daily Mail has some handy hints, too...

• Keep healthy food in view: Professor Brian Wansink says you eat what you can see, so if the office feeder comes in with cakes and biscuits, make sure your celery sticks and carrots are within view on your desk.
• Don't throw away wrappers: Studies have shown that keeping empty chocolate wrappers or crisp bags on your desk can act as a deterrent to eating more  -  it gives a tangible reminder of what you have previously consumed.
• Put it away: If the office feeder hands out biscuits and insists you take one, get into the habit of removing it from reach immediately. Put it, unopened, in your bag, or lock it away in a drawer.

Health Advice, Courtesy Of Eva Mendes.

Daily Mail

Finally, a celeb that loves bread and pasta! But Eva admits, "I mostly stick to wholemeal, though. When in doubt, go dark with the food – so I stay away from white pasta, white rice and white bread and that keeps things simple for me." As for fitness, the actress (and face of Reebok EasyTone) says she sticks to a mixture of cardio, weights and yoga for flexibility... 

"I hit the gym three to four times a week to do light weights – not too many repetitions – which target my whole body, and some serious cardio – normally sprinting and interval running... The minimum I do cardio for is 35 minutes, but you can get a lot done in that time if you use it wisely. And then I spend about an hour on the weight training. I also do yoga twice a week. It’s mostly astanga, but my yoga instructor creates a programme for me based around what I need – so if my muscles are tight from running, we’ll do poses to open everything up."

Man Vs Food.

The Daily Telegraph

I once had a friend tell me that there was a place in Sydney that would give you a prize if you ate a 1kg schnitzel and downed 1L of beer in under an hour. I thought it was an urban myth.

Now, thanks to this article, I know that such an eating challenge does exist, and in fact, it's not the only one. At the Killar Burger Grill, if you eat a 30cm wide burger, large chips, a soft serve and a litre of soft drink, you get your meal free, a T-shirt... and possibly a heart attack.

Apparently none of the Grill's staff have attempted it. I'm not surprised.

Healthy Candy. Bet You Never Thought You'd See Those Two Words Together.

Veggie Wedgie

 

This recipe had me at "healthy" and "Bounty". 

 

Mmm... Thanks, Veggie Wedgie.

 

 Chocolate Coconut Candy

  Filling...

• 1 cup dates
• 1/2 cup water
• 3 cups coconut flakes
• 1/4 cup coconut oil
• 2 tbsp ground flaxseed

Coating...

• 150gr raw cacao butter
• 4 tbsp raw cacao powder
• 2 tbsp agave nectar

What to do...

1. Soak dates in water for 20 minutes to soften. In a food processor,add the dates and water and blend to make a smooth paste. Transfer in a bowl and mix with the rest of the filling ingredients. Knead with your hands until the dough sticks together. Add more coconut if necessary. With a tablespoon,take 1 tbsp of dough at a time and shape however you desire. Refrigerate the candy pieces while you melt the cacao butter in the dehydrator or using bain-marie method. Add the cacao powder and the agave and stir with the melted cacao butter until everything is incorporated.

2. Using a fork,dip one by one the coconut candy to coat with chocolate. Set aside on a waxed paper to set the chocolate. To do this faster you can refrigerate the candy bars.

 

Can A Nutritionist Help You?

snottub

Here's the thing about personal trainers – they are awesome at creating exercise plans, but dishing out diets? Not so much. That's where it's better to consult to a trained dietician or nutritionist (there's a good rundown on the difference here). Food is their forte. And we all know that when it comes to weight-loss, what you eat constitutes about 80% and exercise does the rest.

I went to see a nutritionist when I first started going to the gym. I was working out, but not losing any weight. I needed someone with fresh eyes to look at my diet, so I booked in a session with Kathleen Alleaume from The Right Balance. Before my first appointment, I savoured a last Cadbury Freddo, sure that she was going to put me on some no-carb, starvation diet. But alas, she looked over my food diary, took my measurements, talked to me about my goals, discussed my food likes and dislikes and came up with a new eating plan that was healthy, balanced and (most importantly) full of things I actually want to eat.



That's the thing about dieticians, they're not into fad diets or cutting out entire food groups – they work with you to educate you and help you change the way you think about eating. And that's the strategy that works if you want long-lasting results that not only get you a little lighter but enrich your body with all the nutrition it needs. So if you've hit a road block on the way to weight-loss, it might be worth considering investing in a dietician who can help get you on the right route.

Yes, I'm Obsessed With Carrie Underwood.

Women's Health

I've got her new album Play On literally playing on repeat at the moment. But even if you're not a fan of her catchy country tunes, you might get something from this interview with Women's Health I dug up from the archives... 

When we catch up with Carrie a few weeks later, she's on the road again. Touring in more than 100 cities, she admits, can be tough. "I sleep with a light on in the bathroom so I can see where I'm at, because I wake up and have no clue!" Adhering to a disciplined lifestyle helps. "I'm very health conscious," she says, explaining that exercise and good nutrition aren't luxuries, but imperatives that pay dividends. "This whole tour, I haven't been sick once, and I think it's from taking care of myself."

Sticking to a fitness routine is actually easier while touring, thanks to the structured schedule. "Some weeks I'm super-duper busy, so I can only fit cardio in here and there," she says. On the road, however, "a lot of stuff happens in the afternoon, so I can get up and have a workout, which makes me feel awesome for the rest of my day." Plus, "there's just something sexy about feeling strong," she says. Carrie averages four to six morning sessions with her tour trainer, Eve Overland, each week. "And every night I'm onstage, I get another workout," she says.

Squeezing in sessions sometimes requires improvisation. "This morning I was told the equipment at the hotel gym was old and dangerous!" she says. "So we moved the furniture back and did squats, lunges, and crunches." During a stop in Florida, "we did a beach workout, running on sand, which is hard!"

When she's back in Nashville, Carrie hits her home gym, which has an elliptical machine, a bike, an abs ball, and free weights. She also uses kettlebells ("They don't take up much space and work a lot of different muscles"). Cardio workouts, like boxing and jumping rope, are her faves because "the endorphins make me feel good."
So does feeding her body healthy food. Though she grew up on a farm in Oklahoma "where everybody eats every kind of meat there is," Carrie became a vegetarian at 13. "Animals were my pets, and the thought of eating my pets freaked me out."

Carrie hits the local Whole Foods Market or farmers' market when she's on tour, and keeps a diary of what she eats. "Once you get into a routine of eating healthy, it hurts twice as much when you fall off the wagon," she says. "But it's nice to have a few bites of something you like. I'm not a sweets person, but I love pasta and pizza—oh, buddy!"

We All Need A Reminder To Get Our 5 Serves Of Vege.

paperflavor

And this is way cuter than any post-it note.

It's Cold. Quick, Someone Make A Curry.

 Salads are all good during the summer, but on a chilly winter night, nothing beats a steaming curry or casserole. This week I tried this vegetable jalfrezi (recipe courtesy of Jamie Oliver) and it was quite delicious, if I may say so myself. And I don't normally like vegetarian dishes at all. A good one to cook for a group of friends, you can prepare and put it on before everyone arrives then just let it simmer as the guests get acquainted. 

Vegetable Jalfrezi

You'll need:

• 1 medium onion
• 1 fresh red chilli
• a thumb-sized piece of fresh root ginger
• 2 cloves of garlic
• a small bunch of fresh coriander
• 2 red peppers
• 1 cauliflower
• 3 ripe tomatoes
• 1 small butternut squash
• 1 x 400g tin of chickpeas
• groundnut or vegetable oil
• a knob of butter
• ½ a 283g jar of Patak’s jalfrezi curry paste
• 2 x 400g tins of chopped tomatoes
• 4 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

• 2 lemons
• 200g natural yoghurt

What to do... 

1. Peel, halve and roughly chop your onion. Finely slice the chilli. Peel and finely slice the ginger and garlic. Pick the coriander leaves and finely chop the stalks. Halve, deseed and roughly chop the peppers. Break the green leaves off the cauliflower and discard. Break the cauliflower into florets and roughly chop the stem. Quarter the tomatoes. Carefully halve the butternut squash, then scoop out the seeds with a spoon and discard. Slice the squash into inch-size wedges, leaving the peel on but removing any thick skin, then roughly chop into smaller pieces. Drain the chickpeas. 

2. Put a large casserole-type pan on a medium to high heat and add a couple of lugs of oil and the butter. Add the onions, chilli, ginger, garlic and coriander stalks and cook for 10 minutes, until softened and golden. Add the peppers, butternut squash, drained chickpeas and jalfrezi curry paste. Stir well to coat everything with the paste. Add the cauliflower, the fresh and tinned tomatoes and the vinegar. Fill 1 empty tin with water, pour into the pan and stir again. Bring to the boil, then turn the heat down and simmer for 45 minutes with the lid on. Check the curry after 30 minutes and, if it still looks too liquidy, leave the lid off for the rest of the cooking time. When the veg are tender, taste and add salt and pepper – please season carefully – and a squeeze of lemon juice. 

3. Delicious with poppadums or my fluffy rice recipe and with a few spoonfuls of natural yoghurt, a sprinkle of coriander leaves and a few lemon wedges for squeezing over.

My Most Hated Vegetable: Broccoli.

retrogiraffe

So it seems, my mum was on to something when she forced my sister and I to eat raw broccoli all those years when we were kids. "You can't even taste it if you have it with a bit of avocado," she would say. She was wrong. You can totally taste it. 

 

But I guess I should be grateful because a recent study has found that as well as a host of other benefits (like reducing blood cholesterol levels and helping to prevent certain cancers), those little green trees may actually help you live longer. 

 

And if you don't fancy the raw stuff (even with a scraping of mushed-up avocado), you can find my favourite broccoli recipe here.

I'm An Old Lady Now. And I Bake Cakes.

JanelBraggFineArt

It's happened. I've become one of those people that buy The Australian Women's Weekly. Every. Month. Sure, it happened about twenty years earlier than I thought it would, but no one else is doing a Wills & Kate wraparound cover, so I'm just going to embrace it (and ignore the knitting patterns).

Anyway, there is a silver lining – the recipes section. It's where I pulled this gem for a delicious apricot and sour cream cake, courtesy of Julie Goodwin (you know, mamma, Masterchef winner and all-round lovely lady). As always, it's a cinch to make – so If you want to get some brownie points from your Nan, impress the ladies at afternoon tea or win a bake-off, give it a whirl. Here's the how-to...

Apricot Sour Cream Cake

You'll need...

• 125g butter, softened
• 3/4 cup caster sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup sour cream
• 400g can apricot halves, drained and chopped
• 2 1/4 cups self-raising flour
• 1/2 tsp bi-carb soda

What to do...

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees (160 fan-forced). Grease a 25cm bundt or baba pan.

2. Beat the sugar and vanilla in a small bowl with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until combined after each addition.

3. Fold in sour cream and all the apricots, then the sifted flour and soda. The batter will be quite thick. Smooth mixture into the prepared pan; smooth the top. Bake for about 40 minutes, or until golden and springy to touch and coming away from the sides of the pan. Turn into a wire rack to cool completely.

Trust me, after you make this one, you'll be buying The Weekly, too. Cause you know there's plenty more deliciousness where that came from. Coconut Impossible Pie, anyone?

A Very Clever Sandwich Idea.

Panini Happy

 
When I say I need a recipe for everything, I mean everything. Even sandwiches.

Sure I can make a grilled cheese without instruction, but when it comes to putting together killer sandwich combos, I'm not very inventive. And that's why I love this website – it's got heaps of different ideas for delicious paninis, like this asparagus and prosciutto one...

Grilled Asparagus & Prosciutto Panini

You'll need...

• 1 lb. asparagus
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• Salt and pepper
• 1 focaccia, sliced into 4 pieces
• 4 slices prosciutto
• 8 oz. fresh mozzarella, sliced into 1/4″ slices

What to do...

1. Preheat the panini grill to medium-high heat.

2. Rinse the asparagus and break the ends off of each spear (if you hold onto each end and bend the spear it will naturally break in the right place). Discard the ends. In a large bowl, toss the asparagus in the olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Grill for about 3 minutes until cooked through and grill marks appear. Set aside.

3. Turn off the grill and carefully clean the grates. Reheat the grill to medium-high heat.

4. For each sandwich: Slice the focaccia in half lengthwise. Place a slice of prosciutto inside the bottom half. Top with 1/4 of the cheese and as many asparagus spears as will fit securely. Close the sandwich with the other focaccia half. Grill 4-5 minutes until the cheese is melted. Slice the sandwich in half, serve immediately and enjoy!

Dessert Lovers Rejoyce!

Fit Sugar

 

Dessert is my favourite part of any meal. The main course? I can take it or leave it, as long as there's something sweet coming after. And in winter, I don't think there's anything better than stewed fruit – because as well as being piping hot and just completely delicious, it's also not that bad for you health-wise. So when I found this delicious recipe for baked pears with maple yoghurt, I thought it would be a huge disservice if I didn't pass it along...

Baked Pears with Maple Greek Yogurt and Granola

You'll need...

• 2 firm pears (Bartlett or Anjou)
• 1/2 cup apple juice
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 16 ounce container plain Greek yogurt
• 4 tablespoons maple syrup
• 1/2 cup granola
• 2 tablespoons chopped walnuts

What to do...

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F.
2. Cut the pears in half lengthwise, and remove cores with a spoon. Place in an 8x8-inch baking pan, cut-sides down.
3. Pour apple juice and water over pears, and drizzle with honey. Cover pan loosely with foil and bake about 35 minutes or until tender.
4. When pears are done, pour the leftover baking liquid into a small saucepan and reduce over medium heat until about 1/4 cup of syrup remains; set aside to cool.
5. Open the container of Greek yogurt and stir in the maple syrup. Divide yogurt into four bowls. Place a half of the warm pear in each bowl, cut side up. Top with granola and walnuts, and drizzle with syrup you set aside.

Confession: Before I saw this recipe, I had no idea there was more than one type of pear. I mean Bartlett or Anjou, who knew?

On The Soapbox: Celebrity Diets.

Flat Tummy Fast! by James Duigan

I was recently reading a 14-day eating plan designed by celebrity trainer James Duigan (it's amazing how the words "Flat Tummy Fast" never fail to get me clicking) and I caught myself in a frown. Not because what he was suggesting didn't sound delicious – it absolutely did – but it was all just a bit, well, hard.

What normal, working woman has time to prepare "baked bass fillet" in their lunch break or "a grilled haddock fillet with roasted peppers and courgettes" before work for breakfast – I mean, what the hell is haddock, anyway?! Just googling the ingredients would take up more than the time allotted for breakfast preparation.

James says they are "simple" recipes, but I still think my oats and sultanas are simpler. Oh, how I long for a celebrity trainer to do a basic eating plan that includes, oh I don't know... things that people actual eat. Not haddock and turkey for every second meal.

A (Really Very Easy) Risotto.

Masterchef

It doesn't matter how many episodes of Masterchef I watch or how much I fantasise about being on Ready Steady Cook with Manu, the truth is, I cannot do tricky in the kitchen. I can do recipes that feature the words "simple" and "quick" and "easy". So this Easy Chicken Risotto really hits the mark. And it even got me a compliment I'm not used to hearing in the kitchen: "Sensational".

Easy Chicken Risotto

You'll need...

• 500-600g chicken, chopped
• 1-2 tbsp oil
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 onion, finely diced
• 1 carrot, finely diced
• 4 mushrooms, sliced
• 1 cup frozen peas, cooked
• 1 cup arborio rice
• 1L chicken stock
• 1-2 tbsp chopped parsley
• 1/3 cup grated parmesan
• Pepper to taste

What to do...

1. Fry chicken in a little oil until golden and set aside.

2. Heat oil, add onion and garlic, and saute.

3. Add carrots, mushrooms, peas, chicken and rice, and stir for one minute, ensuring rice is coated in oil.

4. Add chicken stock and pepper, bring to the boil.

5. Cover and bake at 200C for 20-25 minutes.

6. Stand for 2-3 minutes with the lid on, then add parsley and parmesan and stir through.

7. Serve with parmesan on top.