The Nutrigasm Group

Good afternoon all, I hope your Bank Holiday Monday is treating you well. Mine has led to me sitting on my iPad in the sunshine, blogging about yummy smoothies - so all's well from my end.

After a fair few weeks of hasty throwing-in-of-kale and overly keen amounts of spooky things like wheatgrass, aloe vera juice and matcha tea powder; I think I've finally cracked it. AKA, my smoothies are finally edible, healthy and making a real difference to the way I feel.

To save you all some time buying the Nutribullet, scrambling around for fresh ingredients that ultimately don't work together and holding your nose while you drink said smoothie, I thought I would provide you with four of my showstopping recipes. These four recipes have earnt themselves a place in the rather selective Nutrigasm Group, a group that only allows in smoothies that truly bring pleasure to the lives of their drinkers. As part of this group, the smoothie is entitled to add 'gasm' to the end of their titles, and forever shall be known as such.

Some of the following recipes offer comfort, some offer a strict purpose and some are for those of us looking for a little something different. Pick out the things you like, change what you don't and guzzle down whatever combination leaves you with. 

Let me know all your thoughts and, if any of you have any contenders for the Nutrigasm Group, please comment them below and I will happily blitz away and do various taste tests (it's a hard life, but someone's got to do it…)

The Super Greengasm

 Ingredients:

One whole red apple, peeled and chopped
One whole pear, peeled and chopped
10 slices of cucumber
1 hunk of ginger (you may also refer to this as your ginger hunk)
A handful of kale
A shot of aloe vera juice (optional, depending on whether or not you think you're hard enough)
Coconut water to the max line

The Ultimate Peanut Buttergasm

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp raw cacao powder

2 whole bananas, peeled and sliced

2 Tsp of Meridians organic peanut butter

Almond milk to the max line

Black Forest Gateaugasm

Ingredients:

Half a cup of frozen, sliced strawberries
Quarter cup of frozen raspberries
Quarter cup of sliced banana
1 Tbsp raw cacao powder
Almond milk to the max line

The Berry Rose Watergasm

Ingredients:

Half cup of raspberries
Quarter cup of blueberries
Quarter cup of bananas
2 Tsp of rose water
Water to the max line

These little cups of joy are sure to spice up your mornings - I always look forward to mine at around 10:00, just after the first manic working hour of my day has gone by - and please do let me know how you enjoy yours and how these concoctions go down in your world.

Until then, blast on and peace out Nutribulleters.

Banana Bread with Naughty Chocolate Chunks

 Normally I'm an advocate of cupcakes, however last weekend I decided to try my hand at a loaf cake, a cake form which I've always found to be notoriously dry and therefore, a cake form I was determined to make moist (gah, I hate that word, but there's none better) and one which didn't need to be accompanied by a litre of water, just to make it manageable.

Upon the commencement of this bake up, I poured myself a glass of wine - relatively straight forward protocol for a Friday evening baking session - which led to me deciding to use up a 300g bar of Dairy Milk in my loaf, you know…just to make things more interesting.

I substituted out a few ingredients I found in online recipes, because I was pretty convinced things like light brown sugar would work far better than caster sugar and I was far more generous with the bananas than most recipes tell you to be.

I enjoyed mine with a steaming hot, sugary cup of Graze's Afternoon Infusion, which is ultimately a strong cup of earl grey, which was just perfect. Let me know how you enjoy yours!

Recipe

Ingredients:

• 270g soft light brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 4 large bananas
• 280g plain flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 140g unsalted butter, melted
• 300g Dairy Milk (or a chocolate of your choosing.)

Method (as we know, I like to keep it simple.)

• You will need a 23x13cm loaf tin which you will need to grease, there's no need to line it with greaseproof paper and then you will need to heat your oven (based on a fan assisted one) to 170 degrees.
• Then mix together all the ingredients listed above, aside from the peeled bananas and optional (well, optionalish, I can't force you but I can apply light pressure and that light pressure tells you it's a good idea to do so) Dairy Milk/other such milk chocolate. These ingredients will seem quite thick, but the addition of the banana adds just the right amount of fluidity. 
• Once you have beaten all these ingredients together, simply pop chunks of your banana into the mixture and beat in, until relatively smooth - if you have the occasional bit left in there, don't worry, these add to the fun once cooked!
• Finally, drop in those wondrous chocolatey cubes and mix well, before pouring into your pre-prepared tin and popping in the oven for approximately 45 minutes, or until firm. Just ensure that the mixture is cooked all the way through using a skewer or knife. If it comes out entirely clean then you're good to take the loaf out and allow to cool.

Once completely cool, brew yourself the perfect cup of your favourite tea, put on those dodgy slippers you own but never show to anyone, find your favourite spot and just sit and take time to enjoy. 

Banoffee Cupcakes

After being with my boyfriend for nearly a year, my love of baking all things pretty and cupcakey, has become the world's worst kept secret amongst his friends. So please, just for a moment, imagine my surprise when his muscly, tattoo-covered best friend let slip that he also has a love for all things pretty and cupcakey.
Following this bombshell, some entirely unsubtle hints were dropped about banoffee being his flavour of choice. This fact came conveniently to my attention the week before his birthday, and here we are...twelve baked banoffee cupcakes later...

These cupcakes are super sweet, with a subtle banana infusion. The sponge is much like banana bread, for which I used fresh, mashed bananas. The gluttonous buttercream is a heavenly mixture of butter and dulce de leche. 
All these gorgeous aspects make this a little banoffee cake, that captures a whole lot of perfect.

Makes twelve cakes

Method

For the sponge:

80g butter
280g caster sugar
240g plain flour
1 tbsp baking powder
240ml semi skimmed milk
2 tbsp vanilla essence
2 large eggs
2 ripe bananas, mashed

• Preheat your oven to 190ºC (Gas Mark 5) and prepare a 12-hole deep muffin tray with cases of your choice. 
• Place your butter, caster sugar, plain flour, baking powder, milk, vanilla essence and eggs into a mixing bowl and beat together until your mixture is smooth. 
• Then mash three ripe bananas, until they have the texture of a paste. 
• Mix your bananas into your preprepared cake mix.
• When well combined, spoon the mixture evenly between your cases. (TIP: only half fill your cake cases to ensure an even rise and no overspill.)
• Bake for 20 minutes. 
• Remove and leave to cool completely. 

For the buttercream:

500g icing sugar

160g butter

50ml semi skimmed milk

100g dulce de leche (or a toffee syrup of some sort, e.g. a toffee ice-cream sauce.)

• Beat all of your ingredients together until fluffy. 
• Frost your cupcakes however you wish.

For my decoration, I opted for various different cases and topped each one with a swirl of squirty cream, a slice of fresh banana and a sprinkle of grated milk chocolate. 

Using a variety of cases always makes me think of parties you attended when you were a young child, and when was a day spent in a soft-play area, followed by ice-cream/jelly and pretty cakes ever not fun? Never, precisely. 

So, enjoy these banoffee miniatures, they're more than a little bit wonderful.

Enjoy, K x