Raspberry chocolate brownie combines tart raspberries and chunks of dark chocolate to create a delicious slice.

I actually created these brownies by accident. My idea was to create a cashew cookie recipe but when that didn’t go to plan I decided to turn it into something else.   And that turned out to be yummy  raspberry chocolate brownies!

I’ve always loved to bake and experimenting in the kitchen is something I find quite relaxing.  I had a big bag of cashews that I had forgotten about and needed to use, so I decided to get creative. Usually when things don’t go to plan it’s a waste of ingredients, but luckily this time it could be repurposed!

Using ground cashews create a delicious, nourishing base while coconut flour helps keep the brownie moist.  Cashews are a source of magnesium, potassium, iron and other vitamins and minerals.  If you don’t have cashews, feel free to swap them for ground almonds.   This can also be gluten free by switching the wholemeal flour for gluten free flour and making sure the rest of the brand ingredients are gluten free.

The brownie keeps quite well in the fridge and makes a yummy addition to the lunch box when you’re feeling like something sweet.  Keeping some in the freezer is also handy.  Just keep in an air tight container.

PS If you like this recipe, you might also like these peanut butter cookies 

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Raspberry Chocolate Brownie

Prep Time 15 minutes Cook Time 15 minutes Total Time 30 minutes

Ingredients

• 50 gramsbutter, softened
• 1/2cupmacadamia nut oilor melted coconut oil
• 1/3cupsugar
• 3/4cupcashew nuts, blended until very fine
• 4tablespoonscoconut flour
• 1tablespoon wholemeal flour
• 4largeeggs
• 1/4cupcocoa
• 2tspvanilla
• 2tspbaking powder
• 1/2cupraspberries
• 1/3cupchocolate chunks

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius 

   Bake for approximately 15 minutes, or until cooked in the middle. 

2. Cream the butter, sugar and oil together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and beat until well combined. Next, stir through the baking powder, flours, ground cashew nuts and cocoa and mix until combined.

3. Line a slice dish with baking paper and spread over the mixture. Top with the frozen raspberries and chocolate chunks

4. Bake for approximately 15 minutes, or until cooked in the middle. 

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Creating delicious homemade muesli

Homemade muesli is a winner when it comes to taste and nutrition plus it’s very easy to make! This homemade muesli recipe contains chunky mixed nuts, coconut chips, lightly toasted oats and a little sweet, tangy dried fruit.  The result?  It tastes amazing and provides a sustaining, nourishing breakfast.

The importance of variety

I’ve been in such a breakfast funk lately so this was a recipe to help get me out of it!  In between feeding a toddler, packing lunches and scraping bits of the child’s breakfast off the floor, sometimes cooking a bowl of porridge seems like too much effort!  So  I tend to grab the same thing over and over again since it’s easy and I love it.  I’m talking about you, crunchy peanut butter on toast.    However,  variety is one of the factors that’s important for a balanced diet.  By mixing up your meals and food you get a  range of nutrients, different types of dietary fibre and antioxidants to help keep you healthy.

To remedy my breakfast rut  I’ve been creating new muesli and granola recipes to keep breakfast interesting and give me some different options.   If you don’t want to toast the oats with the honey mix, you can simply make an untoasted version which makes it even easier.  But I think the toasted one tastes better!

To create this homemade muesli (also known as granola), the oats are toasted with a small amount of honey and oil.  This adds flavour and crunch. Then I add lots of nuts, seeds, coconut and dried fruit finish it off.  The result is a breakfast that provides a source of fibre plus a range of vitamins and minerals. The mixture of plant based ingredients, including wholegrains, nuts and seeds also provide a variety of types of fibre which are beneficial for our gut bacteria

Homemade muesli Recipe:

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Homemade muesli

Homemade muesli is simple to make and you can mix and match different nuts, fruit and seeds if you prefer others.  

Prep Time 10 minutes Cook Time 10 minutes Total Time 20 minutes Servings 12

Ingredients

• 3.5cupsrolled oats
• 3 tablespoonsoilGrape seed, macadamia, melted coconut can be used
• 3 teaspoonshoney
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1.5cupsmixed nuts
• 1/2cupsunflower seeds
• 1/4cupdried cranberries
• 1/4cup chopped dried apricots
• 1cupcoconut chips

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 160 degrees Celcius 

2. Melt together the coconut oil and honey then stir through the vanilla. 

3. Place the oats on a large baking tray and pour over the honey mixture. With clean hands, rub this through the oats.

4. Place in the oven for 10 minutes.  

5. Stir the oat mixture and add the nuts and seeds.  Put the mixture back in the oven for another 5 minutes.  

6. Remove from the oven and add the coconut chips and leave to cool.

7. Once cooled, stir through the dried fruit and store in an air tight container. 

Another yummy recipe is this  plum, cashew and coconut granola . It uses freeze dried fruit which have an intense flavour and make it a little bit special.

What are your favourite muesli or granola combinations?  I’m always keen for new ideas so do let me know in the comments below.

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It’s that time again – a round up of ‘What I ate Wednesday’ featuring the most delicious falafels and my fave salted caramel snack balls.  Here it is!!

Breakfast:

I’m a real sucker for the reduced to clear bins at the supermarket and I found some organic sourdough bread in there that was close to it’s best before date for $1.50.  So I put it in the freezer to use for toast.  I found it hard to get moving this morning so it was a super simple breakfast of crunchy peanut butter on the sourdough toast accompanied with a coffee.   As you can see I like my peanut butter thick!

Snack:

For morning tea I had a banana, an instant coffee plus I had some chocolate in my bag and I had a row of that. I think when it comes to dark chocolate, this is one of my favourites.

Lunch:

I made falafels on Sunday night (which you would have seen on instastories if you follow me on Instagram) and even though I REALLY couldn’t be bothered I’ve been super grateful this week as they’ve been delicious for lunch!  They’ve got kumara in them which gives them a delicious texture and stops them from going dry.

I also cooked and froze some brown rice which is a good to the falafels.  Lunch looks like it took a lot of time but it was actually super simple because I had the falafels and rice ready already and the salad was left over from dinner the night before.  I just added an extra tomato and a big blob of pesto, some mayo and chutney which make it taste delicious.

To finish off lunch I had a decaf coffee and some Tom and Lukes Salted Caramel Snack Balls.  I am in love with that flavour.

Snack:

Even though I really like fruit I’ve found I’m not always eating two pieces a day.  So I’ve been trying to make an effort to include more variety.  I love mixed berries and yoghurt so I bought this to work.  I add some chia seeds with the frozen berries as they soak up the liquid as the berries defrost and stop the yoghurt from getting too runny.  This yoghurt was a mix of plain unsweetened probiotic yoghurt and the boysenberry Collective yoghurt. I find it a wee bit sweet by itself but love the flavour so I often mix it.  I only had blueberries in the freezer and they weren’t that nice defrosted so this snack was kind of disappointing and not very satisfying.

Someone in the office had quinoa chips, which are really just the same as any other chip but made out of quinoa flour.  I had a few of these which were tasty.  I think if my berry snack had been satisfying I wouldn’t have had them but it wasn’t and I felt like something else.

Dinner:

Wednesdays are always a bit of a rush at dinner time as I work half an hour later. I quite often do something in the crock pot and today it was a casserole. I had it with veggies (which I overcooked – doesn’t that suck!)  and potato/kumara mash.  It’s definitely not the most attractive meal in the world (especially with this photo taken in the evening), but it’s always a satisfying meal!

And that’s a wrap!  See you next week for another episode 🙂

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What I ate Wednesday used to be a regular feature here on Eat Well NZ until mum life hit and it’s been a long time since it featured.   But after a few requests, I’ve decided to start it up again.

What I ate Wednesday is not about what you should eat.  Because diet culture (sometimes sneakily disguised as ‘wellness’) has taken us so far away from what ‘normal’ eating can look like, some people have told me it’s helpful to see what ‘normal’ eating can look like and that food isn’t just about fuel but about enjoyment, pleasure and nourishment.   And I know I’m nosey and like looking at other people’s meals and snacks for inspiration so I thought you guys might like to do the same too!   Everyone has different dietary preferences and need different amounts of food (which varies day to day too) – so keep that in mind when reading.  

So here we go.  Here’s my latest ‘What I ate Wednesday’ post – and yes it is Friday haha! I never got time to post it until today.

Breakfast:

I mentioned over on Instagram that I’ve been in a bit of a food ‘funk’ lately.  I haven’t been organised and I haven’t been planning which has often meant I haven’t had foods at home that appeal to me and since I’ve been tired thinking about preparing food in the morning has been an effort!   So I got organised in the weekend and made some things to have on hand, including this chocolate peanut butter granola.  It has a base of oats toasted with a peanut butter/cocoa and honey mix with added almonds, sunflower seeds, cranberries and freeze dried raspberries.  I had this with some probiotic yoghurt and milk which was a tasty combination!

I wasn’t that hungry this morning so I just had a small bowl, then I made a latte and had this while catching up on a few emails at home.   I definitely think the coffee machine is my favourite appliance at home.

Morning Snack

Tasti sent me these yummy nut mixes so they’ve been on the menu lately for morning tea.  I also went out and bought a second coffee…..  I’ve been super tired lately because I’ve been busy and I’ve had too many late nights. So I went for a walk to the cafe down the road and got coffee.   I have a Keep Cup but I have lost it – so yes it’s a takeaway cup but at least the Mojo ones are plant based and compostable!  And the lid can go in the recycling.

I think wanting a second one is sometimes psychological – simply wanting something nice for a pick me up.  I definitely can’t have more than two or I start feeling agitated.  I started to watch this webinar but then our internet connection went slow so I gave up (for now).  Gut health is such a fascinating topic!

Lunch

I’ve got a thing for coleslaw at the moment.  I like the crunch and flavour of it when it’s combined with something creamy in texture like mayo and hummus.  So for lunch I had it with brown rice, hummus, avocado and a couple of eggs I boiled in the morning when I was getting ready.  When I’m more organised I cook my own rice and freeze it to use for lunches but sometimes I just buy the instant rice packets.  This was a satisfying, yummy lunch and I finished it off with a couple of these Tasti Peanut Butter and Caramel Balls because I felt like something a little sweet.

Afternoon Snack

Bananas are an easy snack for me – prepackaged, portable and ready to go!!

Dinner

I work later on a Wednesday so dinners are always something that’s quick and easy since I have a hungry child that needs to eat early-ish.  I made spaghetti Bolognese with pulse pasta.  I have nothing against normal pasta but I love the fact that this is a great source of fibre and made from legumes which are nutrient dense.  Plus I like the taste (which is of course important!).  I made the bolognaise with mince, lots of mushrooms, onions and leeks (because I’ve still got quite a few leeks in the garden that need using).  I cheated and used a jar of garlic, onion and tomato pasta sauce to go with it.  I served it with some broccoli and cheese on top.    Mince and pasta dishes are always a hot fave with Elise so we usually have something with mince once a week.

I was sent a box of Remedy Kombucha the other week so I had one with dinner – this flavour is my favourite one I’ve tried so far from the Remedy range.

After Dinner

It was such a nice warm evening my husband suggested we go for a walk down the road to the shop and get an ice cream.  I was still quite full for dinner so I got one to have later.

I’ve seen the new Whittaker’s & Tip Top ice creams advertised and since I love Whittaker’s chocolate I got one.  Having the Whittaker’s chocolate coating was delicious but the maple caramel swirl in the ice cream was a wee bit sweet for me. The dog enjoyed everyone’s left over ice-cream!

PS I did drink water through the day too – I just didn’t photograph it 🙂