10 minute Energy Balls

Posted in Fit Food, Lunch, Sweet Treats by Niav Halpin

It is no coincidence that this week’s recipe is quick, easy, with ingredients to give you an energy boost! My weekly post is later than usual this week due to work pressures however worth the wait I hope! These energy balls are delicious, made in minutes and quite addictive. They are full of good things and contain only natural sugars. I have been trying to cut down on sugar over the past year and I get my ‘sweet fix’ now from dark chocolate (74% cocoa solids), these energy balls and these sugar-free chocolate chip cookies from a previous post. (I am sure any goodness is negated however once you eat more than 4 of them in one go!).

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12Feb2016

Divine chocolate mousse cake

Posted in Sweet Treats by Niav Halpin

A slightly later than usual blog post this week which almost didn’t happen as I have just gone back to work after a wonderful year off. This has upset my routine (just a little!) and trying to get this dish made and photographed after a day’s work has given me a few headaches. (Think it’s a bit too soon to ask for time off during the day to take my food pics!) However, I just had to share this absolutely divine chocolate recipe with you – just the delicious chocolatey smells coming out of your oven when it is cooking will have you and anyone else in your house drooling and waiting impatiently to dig in when it comes out. Dark, moist, delicate, pure chocolate heaven. It is unbelievably light as there is no flour in it so gluten-free as well. I normally wouldn’t recommend sharing this under any circumstances but given the weekend that is in it share it with someone very special if you must but only if you absolutely have to! So go on and indulge yourself – a glass of something bubbly with it and life won’t get much better.

The recipe is really really simple – equal quantities i.e. 150g of dark chocolate, butter and sugar and 3 eggs. That’s it!

Serves 6 (or one big serving!)

Ingredients

150g dark chocolate (60/70% cocoa solids)
150g softened unsalted butter (plus extra for greasing)
150g caster sugar
3 eggs separated
Icing sugar for dusting

Pre-heat the oven to 160° C / 325°F or Gas 3.

Grease a 20cm / 8in springform cake tin (an ordinary cake tin will work as well once it is well greased) and line the base with greaseproof paper.
Melt the chocolate in a bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water, making sure the bowl isn’t touching the water. Leave to cool.
Beat the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy. Beat in the egg yolks, one at a time, then fold in the melted chocolate.
In another bowl whisk the egg whites until they stand in soft peaks.
Stir 2 large spoonfuls into the chocolate mixture to loosen it slightly and then gently fold in the remainder.
Put the mixture into the tin and bake for 1 hour or until a crust has formed on top and there is no ‘wobble’ in the middle.
The cake will rise up dramatically during the cooking but will sink once you take it out of the oven. It will also crack and this is perfectly normal.
Leave to cool on a wife rack, and remove from the tin.
Serve the cake dusted lightly with icing sugar and cream, ice-cream, raspberries and / or chocolate sauce.

5Feb2016

Pancakes

Posted in Sweet Treats by Niav Halpin

I absolutely love pancakes and this recipe is one that I have been using for many years now and produces lovely thin pancakes more like crêpes. (See previous post on mini pancakes for smaller thicker ones). There is no sugar added to this batter so they can be used for sweet or savoury fillings. If there is anything ever to ‘dislike’ about Pancake Tuesday it is having to stand over the hob making a load of them! This can be a bit of an endurance test (even more so after a day’s work!) as in my house this means making at least 20 pancakes, allowing 5 for each person. Having learnt the hard way I now make the batter the night before and if I have time I make some of the pancakes then as well to prevent things getting ugly because pancakes are being eaten quicker than I can make them! It also means that I can get to enjoy some myself (not totally unreasonable I don’t think!). Serve them with the traditional sugar/honey or golden syrup with lemon wedges, chocolate spread, jam, strawberries and chocolate sauce. The possibilities are endless. Yum! Continue reading →

29Jan2016

Mushroom Soup

Posted in Lunch by Niav Halpin

This soup came about by accident when Mr ‘HForT’ came home with two punnets of mushrooms that were being sold for €1 – he does love a bargain! So mushroom soup had to be made. It is one of the easiest, tastiest and quickest soups you will ever make with just a few ingredients – a really simple recipe for anyone to try who hasn’t made soup before, or for children to make.

You will know by now that I am a great fan of soups – so handy to have in the fridge when people come in starving from school, college or work. My teenage daughter polished this off on several days this week when she came in from school. The trick is to leave the mushrooms for a few days before using them, they will be darker in colour and will have much more flavour. If you want to make the soup even tastier use some mixed exotic mushrooms sold in packs in most supermarkets. Also you can make the soup gluten free by substituting the plain flour with rice flour.
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22Jan2016

Delicious Chickpea Burgers

Posted in Dinner, Fit Food, Lunch by Niav Halpin

These burgers are a revelation – delicious, healthy, good for you, low in fat, quick and easy to make. They also keep you feeling fuller for longer because chickpeas are full of protein and fibre and as if that wasn’t enough they also contain exceptional levels of iron, vitamin B-6 and magnesium. The burgers take only minutes to make so they are the ultimate healthy ‘fast food’. Continue reading →

15Jan2016

Avocado Chocolate Mousse

Posted in Fit Food, Sweet Treats by Niav Halpin

Avocado and chocolate in the same sentence??? Kind of hard to get your head around isn’t it? Can you think of any nicer way to eat something healthy and good for you than in a chocolate mousse??? Bring it on, I hear you say! Any time I mention the words avocado and chocolate in the same sentence, people turn their noses up BUT they are people who have never tried it. It is also possibly the quickest, simplest and healthiest chocolate mousse there is. Continue reading →

8Jan2016

Chicken & Vegetable Soup

Posted in Dinner, Fit Food, Lunch by Niav Halpin

I am not one for making New Year resolutions as I find it hard enough to get through the dark and dreary month of January without making it even tougher. Anyway most resolutions tend to be based on things we feel guilty about like eating and drinking too much over Christmas. (Why do we do this to ourselves?!) I would encourage anyone who is considering going on a diet now to scrap the guilt and instead consider being kind to yourself by cooking and eating real food and cutting back on sugar and processed foods. However, making wholesale changes to eating habits can be overwhelming and difficult to do all at once so another approach is to start gradually by focussing on one meal in the day for a start e.g. for the first week / month resolve to eat a good, healthy breakfast or lunch each day. Continue reading →

23Dec2015

Christmas Mocktail

Posted in Recipes by Niav Halpin

This simple, beautiful non-alcoholic cocktail is one of our family favourites, we have it every Christmas – it is light, refreshing and delicious, perfect for Christmas Day (or any day). I am sure that Santa would love this drink left out for him to quench his thirst on a busy Christmas Eve, it doesn’t contain any alcohol so there is no issue with drinking and driving! There are no fancy ingredients or measurements needed and kids love making it. They can easily follow the instructions below.

Make some freshly squeezed orange juice
Pour it into a blender
Whack in some fresh strawberries
Whizz until completely blended and until you are happy with the colour
Taste it and add a little sugar if it needs it
Chill in the fridge and give it a stir before pouring into glasses (it tends to separate if left for a while)

If you want to ‘frost’ the top of the glasses to create that gorgeous Christmassy look just whisk an egg white lightly and dip the glass in caster sugar.

Happy Christmas to you all and thank you for all your support, ‘likes’ and comments. I really appreciate them all.

18Dec2015

Mini Chocolate Christmas Pudding

Posted in Sweet Treats by Niav Halpin

This is a recipe from Darina Allen’s Easy Entertaining cookbook, a cook I admire and trust and whose books will always be in my cookbook library. They are a cinch to make and a delicious, easy alternative to Christmas pudding for dessert as they are light, perfectly sized, take just 6 minutes in the oven and can be prepared in advance. What’s not to love about that! Continue reading →

11Dec2015

Gingerbread Men

Posted in Sweet Treats by Niav Halpin

These cookies are worth baking for the smell alone that will fill your house while they are in the oven. There is nothing like the scent of cinnamon and ginger to put you right in the Christmas mood. They are easy and fun to make and have a lovely crisp texture and gingery taste. I tested these out successfully on my Spanish classmates, on some of my swimming friends (yes they ate them at breakfast!) and also at a Book Club gathering and I promised everyone I would share the recipe. Everyone adores Gingerbread Men so they would make a great homemade Christmas gift. The mixture is made in a food processor so the only real work is in the rolling and cutting out and of course the decoration (which is the real fun bit!). They are great for children to make too as very little can go wrong with them. You can have lots of fun decorating them with icing sugar, silver or gold balls, raisins or edible gold or silver dust.

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