Ginger and Lime Rice Super Salad

Some things just go together. Like peanut butter and banana. Avocado and toast. And apparently now ginger and lime. Because at the moment I'm throwing the combo into everything I can... curries, salads, rice...

This salad is so wholesome. It's warm and absolutely full of plant goodness. The lime and ginger just add an extra level to all the yummy veggies. It's so perfect for these cold days.

Ingredients: {serves 2-3}
1 small butternut squash or pumpkin peeled, deseeded and cut into cubes (approximately 2 heaped cups)
2 tbsp coconut oil
1 red pepper (capisium)
1 cup frozen peas
1 courgette
1 red onion
1 packet brown rice
1 lime
1 tbsp grated fresh ginger
2 large handfuls of spinach

Method:
Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees.
After peeling, deseeding and slicing the butternut squash place onto a baking tray, drizzle with oil, season and pop into the oven.
Meanwhile cut the onion, pepper and courgette into small slices.
Approximately 40 minutes into cooking the butternut squash (it should be soft and slightly browning), place a tbsp of coconut oil in a large frying pan on a medium heat.
Add the red onion and ginger to the oil and fry lightly for 5 minutes.
Next add the courgette, peas and pepper, and fry for a further 5 minutes until soft.
Add the rice, juice of the lime, 1/4 cup of water and cook until the rice is soft (approximately a further 5 minutes).
Finally turn off the heat, and add the spinach. Stir into mix gently for about a minute to wilt.

Serve up as a main or along side some salad! Enjoy!

Raw PB & Chocolate Smothered Cookies

I’m currently going through an obsession with peanut butter. I mean I’ve always loved it, but recently I’ve been having it with everything. Nut butter on toast? Yes. With porridge? Of course. In creamy soups and smoothies. With coyo. With veggie sticks… you get the picture. So I decided to combine my newest fad with the other obsession in my life: raw desserts. Because… well… duh.

This recipe came about after seeing a photo of some peanut butter smothered cookie-looking-things on Instagram and immediately wanting (boarding on needing) them in my life. I’m still not really sure what they actually were so I created what I imagined them to be.

These cookies are super simple and quick to make. The ‘dough’ has a sweet caramel flavour and the toppings are to die for. You can shake these up as much as you want; add some dark chocolate chips or cacao nibs and top with cashew butter or almond butter if you’re not the biggest fan of PB.

Ingredients: {makes 8-10}

Cookies:

1 cup oats

1 cup desiccated coconut

4 medjool dates (stones removed)

1 tbsp maple syrup

2 tbsp cashew butter

3 tbsp water

Toppings:

2 tbsp peanut butter

2 tsp coconut oil

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2 tbsp cacao butter (grated)

1 tbsp cacao pwder

1 tsp vanilla

2 tbsp maple syrup

1 tbsp coconut milk

Method:

Begin by making the cookie dough. Blend the oats and coconut until fine flour forms.

Place remaining cookie ingredients into a blender and blend until combined. This may take a few minutes but keep blending!

Once they mixture has formed a sticky dough remove from the blender and form into cookies. Set to the side.

To create the toppings place the PB and coconut oil in a small pan and melt slowly. Once smooth and more liquid-y consistency dollop into each cookie.

Next place cacaco butter into a clean small pan on a low heat. Melt slowly. The add the maple syrup, coconut milk, cacao and vanilla. Whisk to combine.

Drizzle a tablespoon of the chocolate on top of each cookie.

Top with any other desired topping, then pop into the freezer to set.

Revolution

I spend a lot of time online. I wish I didn’t – but honestly, it’s one of my biggest flaws. My phone is always in my hand, or at least within eyesight. It’s the first thing I check in the morning and more often than not the last thing I look at before I go to sleep at night. I’d like to say that that’s because I’m constantly on my phone talking to my many, many friends – but as amazing as my favourite people are – that would be a lie. Those hours (yes, probably hours) I spend on my phone each day are actually spent scrolling, usually through Instagram, and comparing, one of two things: food or other girls’ bodies. It’s a time when I tear myself apart; why don’t I look like her? Why am I not her? It’s a time I use to hurt myself. Because maybe if I beat myself up enough I’ll put my ass into gear and start eating less and working harder. Maybe.

But then. I’m still not her. A week, a month, 10 years later, I’m still not her. All this time restricting my diet, doing that extra exercise in my room, and I’m still here – hating this body. But I cannot find or give myself the grace to stop; because I’m not worth loving. Because wouldn’t it be weak? Wouldn’t it be the easy thing to give in? We are so constantly bombarded with articles, blogs, books… ‘this is how to lose fat’, ‘a new diet for a better you’, lose weight, lose fat, lose you. Because you, yes you, surely aren’t enough yet.

But there has to be more. I don’t want to accept feeling like this anymore. I want to feel me again.

Because how can you love a body that is a product of hate? Carved, hacked, picked apart. Maybe it scares you to love. Because surely to love means to accept. The realisation that you are not valued on the definition of your abs or the number of ribs you can count. That doesn’t work. You know it will never work.

How about instead we, you, start focusing on being happy: insanely happy; on setting alight and glowing from your very soul. I think maybe it’s time to stop acting so small. Your body, it’s all yours and that in itself is pretty amazing, is enough. I refuse to care anymore about what others may or may not think about it. I love it because it’s mine. I love it because it allows me to live out the dreams I’m creating. I’ve got this. And so have you.