Cocoa Fudgy Protein Bars

This is a combination of half a dozen different recipes I found on the web, just mixing together the quantity of ingredients that felt right, and that gave the right kind of nutritional value.  It kind of took me back to my childhood, making mud pies in the garden :)

You really would not know that the recipe contains beans.  The finished result is quite soft and fudgy.  I used cannellini beans, but any bean would be ok.




Nutrition Info per bar (makes 10)
Calories: 169
Protein: 6g
Carbohydrate: 26g
Fat: 5g
Dietary Fibre: 6g


Ingredients
1 x 400g tin cannellini beans, drained
50g oats
20g hemp powder
20g cocoa powder
50g unsweetened desiccated coconut
200g light soya milk
200g dried soft figs
1 heaped teaspoon molasses (20g)
30g granulated xylitol


Method

• Preheat the oven to 180C.
• Put the beans in a large bowl and crush thoroughly with the back of a fork.  
• Stir in the oats, hemp powder. cocoa powder, coconut and xylitol.
• Put the figs and milk in a blender and blend until finely chopped.
• Stir into the dried mixture, along with the molasses.
• Pour into a greased 20cm non-stick square metal baking tin, and smooth.
• Bake for 25 mins.
• Remove from the oven and cut into 10 bars, leaving in the tin.  It will be firm on top, but of a squidgy consistency.  Cool in the tray on a wire rack, and then refrigerate for a couple of hours.
• Wrap individually in foil and store in the refrigerator.

Mini Chocolate 'Christmas Puddings'

Made from a chocolate biscuit cake recipe, these little cakes are decorated to look like Christmas puddings.  Certainly not healthy, but easy to make and look very effective at this time of year!  There are many versions of this across the internet, I used to roll white icing on top, but prefer the white chocolate I did this year.  Chocolate biscuit cake mix is not an exact science.  Start off with smaller quantities and add more butter if too dry, and more biscuits if too oily.  While these are easy to make, you need to be very methodical so that it doesn't take too long.  In a moment of madness, I was making 3 batches of these in total to take to my two offices!

Ingredients (makes about 30)
80-100g butter
100g plain dark chocolate, broken into pieces
1 large tablespoon golden syrup
250-300g digestive (plain sweetmeal) biscuits
50g dried fruit
80g white chocolate
paper truffle cases
red and green writing icing

Method

• Melt the butter, dark chocolate and syrup over a medium heat until smooth.  Remove from heat.
• Meanwhile, put the biscuits into a plastic bag and crush.
• Stir in the crushed biscuits and dried fruit and mix well.
• Form into balls and chill in the fridge on two plates for about 30 minutes.
• Break up the white chocolate into pieces and put in a cup.  Melt in the microwave until smooth for about one minute, checking and stirring every 20-30 seconds.
• Take one plate of chocolate balls out of the fridge.  Put each one in a paper case and spoon a little white chocolate over each to look like custard.  Put in the fridge to set, and repeat with the other plate.
• When the white chocolate on the first plate has set, remove from the fridge and pipe two lines of green icing on each ball to look like a sprig of holly leaves.  Put back in the fridge to set, and repeat with the second plate.
• Remove the first plate from the fridge again and pipe 3 dots of red icing under the holly to look like berries.  Put back in the fridge and repeat with the second plate.
• These can be eaten immediately, or stored in an airtight container for 1-2 weeks.

Note
You won't use all the white chocolate, but making more saves worry at the end!

Honey, Lime and Balsamic Dressed Breakfast Fruit Bowl

This is my favourite time of the year for fruit in Britain, when all the berry fruits come into season and are cheapest.  Of course, they are delicious just as they are, but the marinade releases some of the strawberry juice and gives a sweet balance to the tartness of the redcurrants.
  


Ingredients
1 nectarine
a handful of strawberries
a handful of blueberries
a sprig of redcurrants
juice and zest of 1 lime
1 tsp honey
1 tsp balsamic vinegar

Method

• Make the fruit salad the night before.  Wash and dry the fruit. Chop the nectarine and strawberries into bite-sized pieces.  Put the strawberries, nectarine and blueberries in a large bowl.
• In a cup, make the dressing.  Melt the honey briefly in the microwave for a few seconds if it's the set kind.  Add the juice of 1 lime and 1 tsp balsamic vinegar.  Mix together and toss together with the fruit, so that all the fruit has been covered.
• Garnish with the sprig of redcurrants and the lime zest, cover with cling film and leave overnight.  If it's hot weather, leave it in the fridge...  If in England at the moment, you can leave it on the kitchen bench!  
• Bring to room temperature before serving.

Vanilla Balsamic Berries

Breakfast this morning!　Yesterday I found some real vanilla paste in the supermarket which is a slightly sweetened paste of vanilla extract with seeds, and cheaper than buying vanilla pods.

Ingredients
Any berries you like (I used blueberries, raspberries and blackberries)
1tsp vanilla paste (or the seeds of one pod and a little sugar)
2tsp balsamic vinegar

Method

• Mix the vanilla paste with the balsamic vinegar and melt in the microwave for one minute.
• Pour over a bowl of mixed berries and stir to coat.

Chocolate Healthy Truffles

This was an experiment rather than anything else to see what kind of high protein/high mineral/high fibre snack I could make.  Really pleased with the result!  Despite the wacky ingredients, they're delicious (think chocolate cheesecake/brownie mix), not too sickly, and incredibly filling! I accidentally(!) ate 5 and may never need to eat again... They look high in fat because of the cheese and the almonds, but that also pushes up the protein and mineral content so I think is worth it, as part of a balanced diet. 

Note
On testing these ones out on friends, it seems that people prefer a sweeter truffle, so maybe add more powder sweetener to taste.  Or even smoked chilli?  The kinako flavour overpowers the cocoa a bit, so next time I think I'll try rolling in cocoa or ground almonds...  Will update...

Nutrition Data (for 2 truffles)
Calories: 120
Protein: 5.8g
Carbohydrate: 9g
Fat: 6.8g
Fibre: 2.2g
Calcium: 118mg
Magnesium: 36.4mg
Zinc: 0.8mg
Iron: 1.6mg

Ingredients
100g red kidney beans
28g ground almonds
2 fresh figs (70g total)
28g grated cheddar
2 pieces iron-enriched processed cheese (30g total)
15g cocoa
1 tsp zero calorie liquid or powder sweetener
7g kinako (roasted soy bean flour), for dusting

Method

• Preheat the oven to 180C.
• Put all the ingredients into a blender and blend as far as possible, then mash in a bowl using a fork.
• Put a sheet of greaseproof paper onto a baking tray and spoon on 10 heaped teaspoons of mixture, flattening into rounds.
• Bake for 15 minutes, then cool on the paper on a wire rack. All you will have done is dry out the mixture a bit.
• Roll each round into a ball and into kinako (roasted soy bean flour).

Miracle 6 Calorie Chocolate Jelly

This is a bit of a miracle chocolate dessert, ideal for chocolate cravings when you're on a diet!  If you follow Slimming World, then this dessert is free on all plans (even if you end up eating all 5 portions!).

Agar-agar is a seaweed, that can be used like gelatine, the difference being that it is vegan, high in fibre and some essential minerals and expands in the stomach making you feel fuller.  It's a great snack.  I've already given a few agar agar recipes on this blog, but this is my first chocolate one!  It also doesn't need a fridge to set even during the summer (setting temperature is 50C).  Currently it's about 35C in my kitchen (trust me, not pleasant!) and it set in about 30 minutes on the bench.  The setting time for this agar-agar recipe is a bit longer than most because it contains chocolate which is high in oxalic acid.  This setting property of agar-agar also means that it's ideal for picnics because it doesn't melt in summer temperatures.

Agar-agar is very versatile.  This is a pure chocolate recipe, but you could cut back on some of the water and add juice or anything you like really (adjusting the syns of course!), once you've melted the agar in the water. Definitely recommended!  Agar-agar jelly is usually quite a bit firmer than regular jelly but with the addition of cocoa powder, this jelly is much softer.  A fantastic way to quell those chocolate cravings!


I made 4 tubs and 1 rabbit mould jelly with 600ml water.

Nutrition Data  (total for 5 portions)
Calories: 28
Carbohydrate: 6g
Protein: 1.5g
Fat: 1g
Dietary Fibre: 3g

Ingredients
4g pack agar-agar
7g cocoa powder
1tbsp zero calorie sweetener, to taste

Method

• Boil 400ml water.
• Put cocoa powder in a jug and slowly mix in the water and sweetener.  Sprinkle in the agar powder, stirring continuously.  If using agar granules/flakes, then boil for a few minutes in a saucepan stirring continuously.  Quickly stir in 200ml cold water.
• Immediately pour into 5 moulds or small containers and put on a bench to set.  Once cool, chill in the fridge.

Banana 'Ice-Cream'

A quick healthy dessert!

You can freeze whole peeled bananas wrapped in greaseproof paper and packed into airtight ziplock bags for a few months, without them going brown.

When you want to make this creamy ice-cream, just put a banana in a blender and pulse until completely mashed!  Serve with a teaspoon of chocolate sauce, or blend with a flavouring.  Idea from here http://www.slice-of-slim.com/2013/04/something-for-nothing-frozen-banana.html.

Making Mince Pies in Japan

This year I decided to make some mince pies for Christmas, because I find the shop-bought ones way too sweet!  As I didn't have much time, I did cheat with the mincemeat but if you want to make your own I recommend Delia's mincemeat recipe that I used to use in England.  Unless you have a 12 hole yorkshire pudding tin not something you'll find in Japan!), you will also need to find some shallow rigid paper or foil cases and a baking tray.    Tins for baking muffins are too deep.  I got my cases from my local DIY centre and Tokyu Hands.  Baking in cases does actually make it  a lot easier to freeze the baked pies.  You will also need a rolling pin and two cutters, for the base and the top.  I used a 7.5cm diameter round one (which was the largest I could find, but actually a little too small), and a star for the top.

To make these allow yourself about 3 hours.


Ingredients
For the pastry
200g plain flour (ie in Japan, not bread flour)
pinch of salt
100g butter
extra flour for rolling
a little milk to brush the tops
a little brown sugar to sprinkle

For the mincemeat (cheating)
411g jar of Robertson's Classic Mincemeat from Kaldi Coffee Farm
1/2 apple, peeled
30-40g dried cranberries
1 tbsp brandy

Method

• Wrap the measured butter in foil and put in the freezer for 30 minutes.
• Meanwhile, sift the flour and salt into a large mixing bowl.
• Grate the butter into the flour, holding it in flour and dipping it into the flour to make it easier to grate.  Stir the butter through the flour making sure it is well covered.  Add cold water a little at the time and bring the pastry together with your hands.  It should hold well together, but not be too sticky.  Add a little extra flour if you find you've accidentally added too much water.
• Wrap the ball of pastry in cling film or a plastic bag, and leave in the fridge to rest. 
• Prepare the mincemeat.  Scoop out the jar into a large mixing bowl, grate in the apple, add the dried cranberries and brandy and mix well.
• Preheat an oven to 190C.
• Spread flour on a work surface.  Divide the pastry into four smaller pieces to make it easier to work with.  I'm lucky to have a pretty big kitchen in Japan, even by British standards, but even so my largest work surface area is only a square with side 35cm (yes, I just measured!)
• Roll the pastry as thin as possible without it breaking.  Cut equal quantities of circles and stars.
• Put a circle of pastry in each case, and fill with a teaspoon of mincemeat.  Cover with a star and brush with milk.  Repeat until all the pastry is used up.  I made 32 pies, using up the mincemeat exactly and with a tiny remaining bit of pastry.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes and cool on a wire rack.  I had to bake two batches of 16.
• These freeze well when cooled.
• Reheat from frozen at 220C, covered with foil, for about 5 minutes.

Oat, Fig and Nut Cookie Bites

Today I did two variations of these.  The first is the one that holds together better, and is easier to make.  These are a little like a cookie form of my trail mix, but use more nuts.






Ingredients (makes 12-14 tiny cookies)
25g coarse porridge oats
25g almonds
25g macadamia nuts
40g sticky figs from a packet
about 1/2 tsp nutmeg

Method

•  Preheat an oven to 200C.
• Put  everything in a blender, and blend until finely chopped and sticky.
• Form teaspoons of the mixture into balls and press into rounds.
• Put onto baking paper on a baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes.
• Cool on a wire rack, and store in an airtight container.

Variation Ingredients
25g porridge oats
25g almonds
25g pumpkin seeds
40g dried apricots
1 tsp honey
about 1/2 tsp nutmeg

Note
Apricots aren't really sticky enough, and the pumpkin seeds don't bind so well.  Prunes would also work well as the fruit, I think, and other more binding seeds instead of the pumpkin seeds.  But the variation is also delicious.

Trail Mix

This is a really delicious and healthy snack. No measurements are given, because it's such a matter of taste!







Ingredients
Coarse oats
Almonds, chopped into thirds
Pumpkin seeds
Raisins
Dried blueberries
Dried figs, chopped into quarters
Dried coconut
Anything else you might like!

Method

• Preheat the oven to 170C.
  
• Spread the oats in a fairly thin layer on a baking tray, and toast for 20 minutes until crisp and golden brown.
• Pour into a large bowl, and mix in the other ingredients.
• Store in small containers for snacking!

If you like healthy snacks, you might want to take a look at the Sunday Snacks Event - Healthy Snacks.

And also some of my previous posts:
Cheesy Potato Marmalade Balls
New Potato Asparagus and Bacon Hot Salad
Melted Camembert with Toasted Walnuts
Balsamic Figs Ham and Blue Cheese
Mackerel on Rye Bread
Low Fat Lemon Pepper Houmous

Honey Castella

Ingredients
1 whole egg
1 egg yolk
50g soft light brown sugar
40g white flour
half teaspoon baking powder
10ml milk or 10g mascarpone
5g soft unsalted butter
10g/ml honey

Method

• Line the bottom of the steam case with baking paper. Preheat the oven to 180C.
  
• Beat the egg with the sugar and butter.
• Beat in the flour and baking powder until smooth and mix in the milk and honey.
• Spoon into the LeKue steam case.
• Bake with the case open for 15 minutes and then close the case and continue baking for a further 5 minutes.
• Turn out immediately onto a wire rack and cover with a clean kitchen towel until cool.
• Serve in thin slices.
  

Baked Sugared Crusts

No picture, but this is a very cheap and sweet snack. When I made the Flower Snacking Plate, I was of course left with a whole lot of crusts. Crusts are also sold in big bags in Japanese bakeries from free to about 100yen.

Put them on a baking tray, sprinkle with a very little brown sugar and bake at 180C for about 20 minutes. Cool on a wire rack so that they crisp up. Store in an airtight container.

Red Grapefruit Water Ice

This idea came about by chance, as I left a grapefruit too close to the back of the fridge, and it partially froze. If you freeze a whole grapefruit, run it under hot water and cut the peel away, it can be sliced and eaten like sorbet - very refreshing. I've also just tried freezing segments of satsuma on a tray and then putting them into bags - works the same way, but much easier to eat! They would also be nice instead of ice cubes in a drink.

Brandied raisins

As the weather starts to get cooler, and as a memory of making the Christmas cake in England, here is a very simple recipe for brandied raisins.

It has been a family tradition to make the Christmas cake in about September or October, in order that it is well-matured by Christmas. A good dark fruit Christmas cake will actually last about a year undecorated, believe it or not - and be absolutely delicious for it! Even decorated with marzipan and royal icing, I have memories of still eating absolutely delicious Christmas cake in March..!

The secret is in the brandy. It is preserved with brandy. From the three weeks prior to making the cake (when you are soaking the raisins in brandy) to the months after baking the cake (and before decorating it), when you are carefully unwrapping the cake and sprinkling it with a tablespoon of brandy on a weekly basis - it is steeped in brandy - this cake is good stuff!

A few years ago, my mother did some of these raisins over ice cream, and believe me, they're wonderful! It's very simple - just put some raisins in a container, pour over a generous amount of brandy (you don't have to cover the raisins, but enough to swill them around in), shake well and keep in the fridge. Every few days when you think of it, open the container and toss the raisins a bit more. After at least a week, you can start eating them!  However, they do last almost indefinitely if they remain covered with brandy...

As I say, they're delicious hot or cold on ice cream or on Melted Camembert with Toasted Walnuts and Brandied Raisins.

Fruit and Nut Oat Bars

Like most people living in small apartments in Japan, I don't have an oven, making do with a 2 ring gas stove, a microwave, a rice cooker and a blender. Wanting to make a healthy-ish snack today, this is what I came up with...




Nutrition Data (per portion)
Calories: 199
Protein: 5g
Fat: 9g
Carbohydrate:28g
Dietary Fibre: 3g

Ingredients (makes 3 bars)
25g almonds
25g dried apricots
25g raisins
25g fresh pineapple
2 tsp pineapple juice
10g butter
50g rolled oats

Method

• In a blender, finely chop the almonds, dried apricots, raisins and pineapple.
• In a saucepan, melt the butter and stir in the oats and pineapple juice. Mix in the fruit and nut mixture and form into a ball.
• Put some clingfilm in a square container and press in the mixture.
• Chill in the fridge for 10 minutes and cut into bars.
  

Fruit Nata de Coco

If ever you get the chance to try Nata de Coco, I well recommend it. I ate it for the first time a couple of weeks ago at a Denny's restaurant. It's made from fermented coconut milk, is sweet and has a juicy chewy texture. It's zero fat, high in fibre, and extremely low in calories (64 calories per 100g).

Since eating it, I was hooked, and started to try and buy it. It is made in the Philippines, and it appears from the web that there was a major craze for it in Japan back in 1993, and at that time could be bought just about everywhere. I had more trouble tracking it down, at least in its natural non-additive form, but eventually found it in a Seijo Ishii store in this tin.

This is the dessert that I made with it, using 100g nata de coco, 1 ruby grapefruit, and 100g black grapes.






Nutrition Data
Calories: 235
Protein: 3g
Fat: 0g
Carbohydrate: 59g
Dietary Fibre: 9g

I bought this nata de coco jelly dessert from Jusco this evening: whilst there was a lot less nata de coco in it, it is a 0 calorie dessert (as you can see!) and yet has 3.2% dietary fibre, pretty good eh?!

Coconut milk agar jellies

These are the coconut milk kanten jellies that I made. After making the basic jelly mix below, I then made 4 variations. The one at the bottom right looks a bit lumpy, because the mixture was already setting.





The 4 variations, clockwise from top left: with chopped strawberries (add gradually, topping up with jelly mix as you go so that the strawberries do not sink to the bottom), added dessicated coconut, added dessicated coconut with chopped strawberries, basic mix. I wouldn't add the dessicated coconut again - I think it's better smooth.

Ingredients
4g pack of agar (kanten)
250ml of water
250ml of coconut milk
4 teaspoons honey

Method

• Prepare any fruit that you want to add to the jellies.
  
• Heat the water to simmering point and sprinkle the contents of the sachet in, stiring continuously. Continue stirring for 1 -2 minutes until the agar is fully dissolved and there are no lumps.
• Remove from the heat and stir in the coconut milk and honey. Mix well.
• Working quickly, pour the mix into individual containers, adding other ingredients.
  

Easy Agar Jelly (or Kantan Kanten, sorry!)

As a child, I never liked jelly, possibly something to do with the way it wobbled...?! As a student I discovered the delights of vodka jelly, and little by little I grew to like it!

Some friends gave me a homemade fruity jelly yesterday, and it was delicious. But the interesting thing is it was made from agar (kanten in Japanese, written in hiragana). Agar (sometimes agar agar) is a type of seaweed which is used for gelling liquids. It is virtually tasteless, calorie-free (until you add the extras!), but contains iodine, calcium and iron and dietary fibre. Unlike gelatine which doesn't set properly if you add kiwifruit or highly acidic fruits, agar has no problems with setting. You don't have to leave it to set in the fridge, it sets in under 30 minutes even in temperatures as hot as 27C, and it doesn't melt. I've become a fan!

The above jellies I made using orange juice, strawberries and a hibiscus flower in syrup (thanks to a present from my brother!) In the fuure, I'm going to try using coconut milk and dessicated coconut, and a layered fruit jelly, and maybe one using other edible flowers setting the flowers at the bottom. I never thought I would get so into jelly!

In the UK, you can probably buy agar powder at health food shops, and it is on the Waitrose website, but certainly also on EBay, www.mountfuji.co.uk (search for kanten, I've used this website before, they are reliable), or in stick form at the Japan Centre in Picadilly www.japancentre.com (again, I've used this website before and they are reliable).

Ingredients
4g sachet of agar (kanten)
400ml water
200ml orange juice
fruit or flowers

Method

• Boil the water and turn down to simmering point.
• Slowly add the agar powder, stirring continuously. Continue stirring and heating for 1-2 minutes, or according the instructions on the packet, until it is completely dissolved and there are no lumps.
• Remove from the heat and stir in the fruit juice.
• Pour into 5 individual moulds, and add fruit. Leave for about 30 minutes to set.
• Alternatively add the fruit, pour in a thin layer of liquid, let it partially set (1-2 minutes) and repeat to build up the layers.
• Delicious chilled!
  

Creamed Kabocha with Strawberries

Kabocha is otherwise known as Japanese pumpkin, but it's actually a kind of squash. From a quick search of the web, it seems that it is now finding its way into some British supermarkets for example Waitrose. If you can find it, I highly recommend it. It has an exceptionally sweet flavour, which means it is excellent as a dessert as well as in savoury dishes.

This recipe is a dessert.





Serves 2

Ingredients
1/3 of a kabocha pumpkin, washed thoroughly.
1 tablespoon of sour cream
1 tablespoon of maple syrup or runny honey
Strawberries and flaked almonds to serve.

Method
Deseed the kabocha and microwave for 8-10 minutes until soft. The skin is edible, so you don't have to remove it. Mash with the sour cream and maple syrup/honey in a saucepan using a fork.
Spoon into a dish and garnish with strawberries and flaked almonds.