Apple and Almond Cake

We invited some dear friends to supper last night for an impromptu birthday celebration. Although I’m not the world’s most prolific or skilled baker I decided to make a cake. My inspiration was a delicious apple and almond cake I tasted at the delightful Southern Cross cafe in Edinburgh – it made such an impression on me that I vowed to recreate it. It’s supposed to have some flaked almonds on top to make it look pretty but the cupboard was bare yesterday so that didn’t happen. The resulting cake is both light and dense, moist and crumbly – easy to make and well worth the effort.

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Carrot, nut and yoghurt brunch bowl

I must confess, I find ‘during the day’ food a bit of a pain. I really love my evening cooking ritual but I’m too often tempted to cut myself a quick chunk of cheese at midday and carry on working. To cure myself of my bad habits I’ve been trying different brunch bowls. This one works well – and it was especially easy because I made my favourite rainbow room salad last night and simply processed a few extra carrots for later. Continue reading

Guilt-free, gluten-free, almost sugar-free chocolate brownies.

When I first tasted these brownies I had a moment of pure bliss. As Van Morrison would say, ‘I’ve been searching a long time, for some[thing] exactly like you’. For while these brownies are free from naughtiness they are most certainly not free from tastiness. There is a tiny amount of sugar in there furnished by the chocolate, but the higher the rating of the chocolate you buy, the less there will be. (About 2g per brownie if you use 85% chocolate Continue reading

The Well Cell Smoothie

I love my NutriBullet, and wouldn’t be without it but it’s important to remember that not everything you can pulverise in a cup is good for you: the key benefit of smoothie makers is their ability to reduce foods to micro-particles that bypass our lazy chewing and boost stressed digestion, improving bioavailability of nutrients; the key danger is how easy it is to overwhelm your blood sugar because of the fast absorption.

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