Butternut squash noddles with hazlenuts and sprouts (spiralizer recipe)

Hey! So recently I  bought a spiralizer which if you haven't heard of it, basically turns vegetables and some fruit into noodles/ pasta! I am a massive pasta lover but it's not always the healthiest of things and using this I can make pasta and squeeze in another portion of fruit and veg. I made this thinking it would be a main dish but it's actually more of a light dinner/ lunch or a starter. If you want to make it bigger I would use another butternut squash. This dish has sprouts in which is rather seasonal, and because it only uses the leaves, this is good to try sprouts without getting a full mouth of the taste if you are not a fan of them. Mixed in with everything else you can barely taste it! Making this dish was the first time I had made butternut squash noodles too and it's a bit harder than a courgette!

For 4 people you will need:
1 Butternut squash
3/4 of a cup of hazelnuts
a cup of Brussel sprouts
1/4 tsp of garlic powder
salt and pepper
a red onion
a garlic clove
1/4 teaspoon of chili flakes

First of all preheat the oven to 205 degrees celsius. Make the butternut squash noodles by cutting off the seeded end of the squash and then putting it into the spiralizer. shake over the garlic powder salt and pepper and put it in a lined dish in the oven for 8 minutes. Put the hazelnuts into the oven additionally but only in for five minutes.

In the meantime, thinly slice the onion and cut the bottoms off the sprouts and take the leaves off them.

chop the garlic clove and heat a wok or pan with oil. When it is heated on a high heat put in the garlic chili flakes and onion and stir on a medium heat. When the onion is wilted, add in the sprout leaves and cook for another three minutes,

Now you can add it all together!
Hope you enjoy!
Eleanor x

Best Christmas drink- Costa v Starbucks

Hey! So I am a massive Christmas drink fan and both Costa and Starbucks have some amazing Christmasy seasonal drinks and I have tried almost all of them (I know I'm very sad.) Here are my mini reviews on the ones I have tried!

Starbucks

Honey and Almond Hot chocolate= Probably my favourite Christmas drink from Starbucks. I got a large which was perhaps too big but it was absolutely delicious.

Toffee Nut Latte= Didn't enjoy this as much as I thought I would actually, this time it wasn't as sweet as I expected somehow?

Costa 

White hot chocolate= bit too sweet for me! I knew it would be and ordered a medium and even that I found myself feeling a bit sickly after, unless you have a massive sweet tooth I would probably recommend a small!

Black Forrest hot chocolate= by far my favourite Christmas drink from both Costa and Starbucks! I love it, I don't find this too sweet or bitter, just perfect!

Caramel fudge hot chocolate= I don't know if its just me but I could not tell the difference between this one and a normal hot chocolate? It was nice but i felt like it wasn't different enough!

What is your favourite Christmas drink?
Lots of love
Eleanor x

Deliciously Ella's apple and blackberry crumble

Hey guys! Today's recipe comes from Deliciously Ella's cookbook that I have ever so slightly adapted! This tastes amazing and is so good when you have lots of people around, plus it's healthy, vegan, gluten free and full of good things.

For this recipe you will need:

For the topping:
200g of almonds
180g of oats
3 tablespoons of coconut oil
100 ml of maple syrup
2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon

for the fruit:
6 red apples (I used five large cooking green apples from an apple tree)
4 tablespoons of honey (If using green sour apples like me)
a tablespoon of maple syrup (if using red apples)
400g of blackberries

Put almonds in a food processor until a flour forms and add it to a mixing bowl with the oats. Melt the coconut oil in a pan with the syrup and cinnamon or pour everything on top if already in liquid form. Make sure the liquid completely covers the dry ingredients by stirring.

Now, peal and core the apples and cut the remainder into small pieces.

put this into a pan with the blackberries, syrup or honey and a little bit of hot water. Simmer for ten minuets with a lid on and pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius.

when fruit is soft, transfer into a baking dish and put topping on top.

Now bake for 25 minuets!


This is done! This is one of my fave puddings for a dinner party as it's not very time consuming and fairly easy!

Hope you enjoy!
Lots of love
Eleanor x

My healthy(er) chocolate brownies

Hey guys! I think it's always important to know a good brownie recipe, even better to know one which you can make vegan and gluten free and actually not all that bad for you. Scroll to the bottom of this recipe to find out why these ingredients are better than usual brownie recipes! This recipe is quick and easy and not packed with sugar!

Makes 12 small brownies. You will need:

170g of buckweat flour
four table spoons of coconut oil (plus extra to greese)
two tablespoons of honey
250g of dairy free dark chocolate (or normal dark chocolate if not vegan)
1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder (gluten free baking powder is available too to keep it gluten free)
2 teaspoons of raw cacao powder (or three of coco powder)
230 ml of almond milk (or milk of choice)
2 teaspoons of vanilla essence

pre-heat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Heat 150 grams of the dark chocolate over a simmering pan of water.

While this is happening, sift flour, baking powder and cacao powder into a bowl. Then sir in honey, oil, milk and vanilla essence.
When your chocolate is completely melted,

Add it to the bowl and mix until combined.

Then break the 100g of chocolate left into squares and stir them in too.
Now grease the bottom of a baking dish and put grease proof paper on top. Pour mixture in. Put it in the oven for 20 minuets.

When it comes out leave to cool and then cut up into pieces! Enjoy!

A note about the ingredients and how they are good for you...

Buckweat flour is a gluten free flour, it has no wheat in despite it's name. It controls your blood sugar levels and is good for the heart. It's health promoting potential is equal to fruit and veg!

Raw Cacao powder is darker and stronger than coco powder, so less is needed. It has less sugar and is better for you.

Dark chocolate and honey are the best sources of antioxidants on the planet.

Coconut oil is made from good fats and can lower your risk of heart disease.

Lots of love
Eleanor x

student meals- No nonsense chili

Hey guys! Todays post is for a no nonsense chilli, so named because this chili is cheap and fairly plain but still delicious and easy to make for students who don't know how to cook. This chili contains no actual chilli just because of costs but you could easily put a chili in or hot spices. The recipe is enough for 4 people but i gave half of it to me and my boyfriend and put the other half in the freezer for later. If you are making it for four people, you will need more rice. I got nearly all my ingredients from Aldi.

For 2 people (plus two extra servings for freezing) You will need:

500g of beef mince
a can of chopped tomatoes
a can of kidney beans
Beef stock cube (I actually used bouillon just because I had it, it worked fine too)
3/4 of a mug of rice
one large onion (or two small ones)
a little bit of oil

Start by dicing the onion up into small pieces. Then put the oil into a pan and heat it up until hot and add the onion. Fry the onion for a few minuets.

Now add the mince in (keep it at a high temp) and stir for about five mins until completely brown.

Now add the stock cube to 300 ml of hot water and pour that in along with the chopped tomatoes.

Now put on a lower heat and simmer for 20 minuets. At this point I put my rice on since I was using brown rice it took about 25 minuets. Follow the instructions for your rice as it may not need to be on for as long!
After 20 minuets, add the kidney beans and take off heat. Let it cool down and stand for about 10 minuets and then it is finished!

Hope you enjoyed!
Lots of love
Eleanor x

Healthy coconut and lemon truffles

Hey guys! Today's recipe comes from one I found on Chocolate Covered Katie's instagram. I am not sure if the recipe is her own or not however this is where I got it from! I have converted the cups into grams and changed it a little bit! I hope you like!

Makes 13 truffles
For this recipe you will need:
Half a lemon (juice and zest)
100g of desiccated coconut plus extra for coating
50g of ground almonds (the original said almond meal but I used this instead and it worked perfectly)
2 tbsp of pure maple syrup
half a tablespoon of vanilla extract
2 tablespoons of coconut oil

The method could not be simpler! Simple put every ingredient into the food processor until you can form a batter with it in your hands. It should look like this:

Before:

 After:

Then form them into balls and roll them in the extra coconut in a bowl. Then place them onto some parchment paper and pop them in the fridge for half an hour!

 And voilà they are done!

Hope you enjoyed,
lots of love
Eleanor x

student meals- Chicken and mushroom couscous

Hey guys! Today's recipe is a meal I have come up with that is cheap and delicious and healthy! I have used half a packet of lemon and coriander couscous from asda that I just needed to put in hot water for five minuet's, but you can use any type of couscous you like so follow the instructions on the packet for your own couscous!

For one, for this recipe you will need.

some oil or oil spray
two mini chicken fillets
couscous
5 or 6 white mushrooms
a small onion or half a large one
teaspoon of harissa


First of all cut up the onion and mushrooms.

Then heat oil in a pan at a high heat and add the onions. When they begin to get soft, add the mushrooms.

In a frying pan, heat oil at a high heat. Cut the chicken up into bite size pieces and rub harissa into them. Then fry the chicken until it goes white. Make sure when you cut into it it is white!

Then I put boiling water into my cousus, but follow your instructions accordingly.

When everything is done, (I often find my mushrooms and onions are done first, make sure you don't burn them.) Then put everything into one large bowl or plate and mix it all together and enjoy!

Lots of love,
Eleanor x