Energy Green God/Goddess Drink

“I’m not motivated.”

Dear Kamaria’s Kitchen,

I hate going to the gym and I hate dieting.  I’m not a very adventurous persona and I’m just not motivated by fitness magazines.  I think the main problem is that I work long hours and I am tired a lot of the time, well most of the time. I saw some of your drinks but they don’t necessarily have the benefits I am looking for.  Do you have a quick energy fix drink that isn’t sugar loaded?  Anything to help me get going I didn’t realise how difficult it was to get going into fitness until I started a few weeks ago.

Dear Sleeping Dragon,

Being tired as a working adult is common all over the world and your lack of motivation seems like it is most certainly linked to fatigue.  There are other factors that you should look into so please remember that the drink recipe I am giving you is not an antidote but a little help.  Since having trialed this recipe I have actually made it an official energy drink because it gave me such a boost.  I was literally bouncing on the walls for four extra hours,  I was just giddy and hyper.  It was a wonderful feeling,  I am not just saying this but I am so serious within 2 hours I felt like I had fully rejuvenated.  The next day my muscles were fatigued from the extra hours of dancing but the high was beautiful and definitely rewarding.  It looks scary to some people but trust me this recipe is wicked.  Using only the fruits and veg you are comfortable with I did my best.  Simple…but effective.  Let me know how you feel after drinking it.

Recipe & Method:

1. Throw all of this in the blender and be grateful no actual cooking is involved.
2. A tin of mango slices, 4 handfuls of spinach (washed), 1 tbsp flaxseed, 1 cup of water 10ml tropical fruit juice.
3. Taste, adjust, pour.

Disclaimer:  This recipe is not to be used as a meal substitute and anyone on a diets which restricts a nutritional group against scientific guidelines should first get advice from their doctor.

Saffy’s Sleepy Tips:

• Being tired can also come from dehydration so keep drinking water.
• Don’t feel pressured to work out all the time, rest is even more importaant so allow your body to take some time out.
• Open the window.  A stuffy atmosphere infront of a computer everyday is not doing you any favours.  A little fresh air is never going to harm you… Well unless it is ridiculously polluted.

Angry Bird Salad

Trust Issues

I find it very difficult to trust people especially as I have been let down so often.  And on this particular day when I did  finally decide to trust someone they prove my paranoia right and act like complete twats.  I made this salad the day I was let down by someone who I thought was my friend.  I was angry and I needed protein and heat fast.  Usually one would think to eat something calming like chocolate, but I think it’s fun to eat something which reflects your mood.  I added quite a bit of heat in my salad and livened it up even more by adding some sunflower seeds and fresh salad leaves.

Ingredients:

(Everything is to taste, if using 200g of chicken use 1 spoon of every other ingredient).  Pre Roasted Chicken Chopped, sunflower seeds, fiery ketchup, mayonnaise, grapes (halved), hot pepper sauce, salad leaves (including spinach).

Method:

1. Cut the chicken into bitesize pieces.
2. Mix up the chicken with sauces and the seeds.
3. Gently fold in the grapes and spinach mix.
4. Season to taste.

Saffy’s Top Tip:

Kick it up an extra notch and replace the sunflower seeds with fiery peppered seeds instead.

Chocolate Flavoured Oat Bites

Healthy Luxury

I was in the mood for some ‘Ferrero Rocher’ chocolates but I didn’t want to give into the temptation… So I made my own version. I used Weight Watcher’s hot chocolate powder and porridge oats, it is like flapjacks but rolled into balls after being cooked. I even added a hit of chilli.  They turned out great, a successful experiment.

(Makes roughly 10 small balls.)

Ingredients:

100g porridge oats, 2 tbsps Weight Watcher’s hot chocolate powder, 3 tbsps golden syrup, 50g butter, 40g muscavado sugar, 2 tsps paprika.

Method:

1. Put the porridge and powder into a mixing bowl.
2. Heat up the butter, golden syrup and sugar in a pan.
3. Well melted pour into the oats and mix together and add a little paprika.
4. Level the mixture into a small baking tin.
5. Put the tin in a pre heated oven at 120 degrees C.
6. Bake for 20 minutes.
7. Cool for a minute.
8. Use your hands to roll the bake into small balls. (Do this quickly before the mixture hardens.)
9. Sprinkle on  a little more paprika.

Warm Salmon and Potato Salad

Fresh Fish

During my trip to Edinburgh I had some of the best salmon I had ever tasted.  Salmon is one of my favourite types of fish, I can not imagine a dish that I have not enjoyed with salmon in it.  The Scottish salmon is simply wonderful, so I was very excited about making my own salmon dishes.  The Scots take great pride in preparing excellent fish meals and the quality of fresh fish is very noticeable.  Sometimes it is worth paying a little extra for good quality ingredients.  Fish is one of those foods where it is okay to not buy the cheaper brand.  I made a dish adopted by the brilliant people of the Good Housekeeping community.  The sweet dressing is delicious and compliments the fish nicely.  I added some lovely roasted sweet potatoes, a new herb combination and sweet red onion.

This recipe was adapted from ‘Good Housekeeping’ (Sept, 2012).

(serves 4)

Ingredients:

2 medium sweet potatoes, 1 tbsp paprika, 1 tbsp sunflower oil, 1 red onion (sliced), 1 beef tomato (chopped into small chunks), 2 large salmon fillets, 2 tbsps thyme, 1 tbsp oregano, salt and pepper, juice of 1 lemon, 1 tbsp whole grain mustard, 1 tbsp honey, 50 ml olive oil, kale and parsley leaves (to serve).

Method:

1. Simmer the potatoes for 15 minutes to soften.
2. Cut the potatoes into wedges or small pieces.
3. Mix the potatoes in paprika and oil.
4. Bake the potatoes and sliced onion for 35 minutes at 220 degrees C.
5. Remove the baking tray from the oven and add tomato chunks.
6. Season salmon fillets in herbs and salt and pepper, then place salmon into baking tray.
7. Put baking tray back into the oven and bake for 15 minutes, or until the salmon is opaque and cooked all the way through.
8. In a bowl whisk together the mustard, lemon juice, honey and olive oil. (Be sure to taste).
9. When the salmon and potatoes are cooked serve with salad.
10. Drizzle the dressing over the food.

Saffy’s Top Tips:

1. Make a fresh salad with the salmon and drizzle the remaining dressing over that.
2. Try using the dressing with a chicken salad and use whole grain mustard.