Showing posts with label flax seeds. Show all posts
Showing posts with label flax seeds. Show all posts

Saturday, January 18, 2014

Sugar-free Strawberry Jam

Let me tell you something about me; I adore strawberries. And ever since I've started my lifestyle change, I've been using it as an excuse to eat even more of those sexy hot-red beauties.
I recently came across a jam recipe on Instagram which uses no added sugar and chia seeds. I wasn't lucky enough in my pursuit of chia here in Alexandria, so a good friend of mine suggested flax seeds instead. Bottom line, this is NOT my own recipe, but one I had to try. So here's the simple recipe to a healthy strawberry jam. You can use any kind of berries too, and ,of course, you can replace flax with chia seeds.
Jam away!

Recipe yields about 1/2 cup of jam, so feel free to double ingredients for more quantity. I used 1 tsp of honey because I like my jam tangy, but you can add 1 more if you prefer it sweeter.

Ingredients:
• 1 cup strawberries
• 1 tsp honey/agave/natural maple syrup
• 1 1/2 tsp flax seeds

Directions:
1. Using a food processor, break down the strawberries for 5 seconds on medium speed, just to help them cook faster, but not so mych to reach purée consistency.
2. Into a skillet over medium heat, transfer strawberries and bring to a simmer.
3. Add honey and stir, and bring the
heat down to low.
4. Add flax seeds, stir and leave ro cook for 5 minutes. It should reach the jam consistency with the help of the seeds.
5. Remove it off the heat, leave to cool, and store in a clean air-tight jar for as long as a week in the fridge.
6. Enjoy! :)

Saturday, January 11, 2014

Whole-wheat Cocoa, Bran and Flax Seed Cookies

If you're anything like me and you love your chocolate and chocolaty stuff but on an eat-clean mission for weightloss, fitness or health reasons, then you have definitely been going crazy trying to find good recipes or, even harder, products that fill the above criteria. Well, I hear you, guys, and I'm there. So I've been working on a recipe that would look, taste and be good enough, and I finally reached it. This one is high in fiber, so it's very good for your bowls too. (And here I am talking and worrying about others' bowl movements, again! I have a toddler, so this is always on my mind)
I used bran and flax seeds, but you can also use oatmeal instead of flax. You can also spice it up with semi-sweet chocolate chips or nuts/raisins for an added oomf. I chose to do the basic recipe here, but any further tweaking is up to your preferences.

You'll need:

1/2 cup whole-wheat flour
1 tbs bran
1 tbs any kind of white flour
1/4 cup raw cocoa powder
1 tbs flax seeds
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/3 cup brown/Stevia sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract ( or 1 sachet) 1/4 cup canola/vegetable oil

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 180º c. (350º f.) 2. Combine flours, baking powder, bran, baking soda and cocoa powder in a bowl.
3. In a seperate bowl, whisk sugar, egg, vanilla and oil till well-combined.
4. Gradually add dry mixture to wet mixture and whisk it (either by hand or food processor) until everything is well incorporated in the dough. Add flax seeds last.
5. Line a baking sheet/tray with parchment paper (or spray with cooking spray/lightly brush with oil) and divide dough into spoonfuls onto it. Yields about 24 small cookies.
6. Cook in preheated oven for 10 minutes. Leave to cool completely before serving.