BRAIN FOOD PORRIDGE - COOKING WITH ISLAY

Banana, Honey, Almond and Cinnamon Porridge

Since starting university and getting into the swing of uni life, I have already quickly found myself fitting the lazy stereotype and often find myself skipping breakfast to have an extra ten minutes in bed (especially important for that 9am I have on my timetable on a Monday morning...) I have a couple of exams coming up in the next two weeks before we break up for Christmas and I know that before those I will definitely need a good breakfast and a big mug of coffee so that I'm not sat there falling asleep!

The ingredients for this are all reasonably affordable, and they're mostly the type of thing that once you have them, you can keep them in your cupboard and use them time and time again. As well as that, it tastes delicious! I've been having it for brunch quite a lot recently and it's really kept me full for the rest of the day.

You will need:

- A banana

- Oats 

- Your choice of milk (I use lactose free but you can use normal/soya/almond or whatever you prefer)

- Almonds

- Honey

- Cinnamon

- If you happen to have any other fresh fruit,seeds or nuts hanging around they will pretty much all taste great on it! I sometimes add flaxseeds/ chia seeds/ pumpkin seeds / sunflower seeds/ blueberries to mine

Simply make the porridge as you would normally; I cook it in the microwave for three minutes with a break half way through to stir it but you can do it in a pan or by using one of the individual serving packets if you find that easier

While the porridge is in the microwave, chop up your almonds and banana (plus anything else you've chosen to use) 

After the three minutes are up just assemble it all together with a drizzle of honey and a sprinkling of cinnamon!

This literally takes five minutes to make and there is only a small amount of washing up to do afterwards. This, as well as there being so many brain food ingredients in it makes it the perfect breakfast! From now on I am going to try my hardest to snooze my alarm one less time in the mornings so that I have time to get up and make this before lectures!

HEALTHY DATE POWER BALL RECIPE

I'm back with another recipe post (it's been stupidly long since my last one - sorry!) and this time I'm going to show you how to make these yummy date and nut truffle balls. They are pretty addictive to make - I've made three batches in the past four days, and they're perfect to curve any chocolate cravings without any chocolate in sight! They're still quite high in sugar and fat, but it's natural and slow releasing, so a lot better for you than eating actual truffles. I first saw this idea on Pinterest probably a year ago, and I wish I had started making them sooner! They're quite similar to the Bounce Balls which you can buy in supermarkets for £1.50-£2 each (absolute rip off) so I recommend making a batch of these and taking them with you to snack on throughout the day!

Firstly gather your ingredients. I used ground almonds, flaxseeds, cashew butter, chia seeds, cashew nuts, desiccated coconut, honey, dates and bircher but what you use it totally up to you. Cranberries, almonds, pistachios and hazelnuts are all really nice in these too!

I'd say there's five main ingredient groups you can use, and just mix and match with anything you like -

Dates these add the sweetness

Some sort of nut butter and honey these help to bind it all together and make them nice and sticky - cashew butter can be swapped for almond butter or peanut butter and honey can be swapped for agave 

Nuts and seeds of your choice 

Something to roll on the outside such as coconut or crushed nuts

Optional extras such as oats, cinnamon and cocoa powder

Firstly remove the stones from the dates (unless you're clever enough to buy the ones with the stones already removed!)

Combine your selection of nuts, oats and seeds (remember to leave out the coconut/crushed nuts which you will be rolling on the outside

Add the honey and the nut butter

 Now the fun part, use your blender to blitz everything up!

When it gets to this stage, keep going and it will eventually form a paste

When it gets to this stage it is done

Roll into your truffle shaped balls, as a rough rule it will make aprox. two times the amount of dates that you used, e.g. I used 8 dates and I made 15 truffles

Roll in the coconut/crushed nuts and then leave to cool in the fridge for half an hour (or in the freezer for five minutes, or if you're super impatient like me - just eat them how they are!)

I would love to see your creations - if you make them please send me a photo on Twitter/Instagram as I absolutely love it when you do!! (@islaay)

EASY PIÑA COLADA RECIPE

A Piña Colada is a sweet, fruity, summery cocktail which is surprisingly easy to make yourself at home and is perfect for a summers day!

To make easy homemade Piña Coladas you will need:

30ml Coconut cream (if you can't find it then you can use coconut milk, however coconut cream is better as it has a thicker consistency)

90ml Pineapple juice

30ml Malibu

[serves one]

Simply combine all of the ingredients together, shake, and then pour into your glass over ice to make the perfect Piña Colada. It looks perfect finished off with a fresh pineapple slice on the side of the glass and is the perfect summery tropical drink! As this recipe serves one, simply multiply the measurements by the number of people you're making it for to make the perfect amount. If you'd prefer to have it without the alcohol, simply skip adding the Malibu and you will have a virgin Piña Colada.

I was sent the Malibu alcohol, however this blog post

is not sponsored and all words and images are my own

SOUK CUISINE, MARRAKECH

Whilst in Marrakech, myself and Carissa went to an authentic cooking course at Souk Cuisine organised by Gemma who is a Dutch lady who moved to Morocco eight years ago to set up her own cooking class business in her Riad. The day was split up in to visiting the Souk markets to collect and buy the fresh ingredients (so fresh that the chicken was in fact killed in front of us...), learning how to cook the different dishes and then sitting down to eat it all. We did the course with four other people who were all lovely and helped to make it the highlight of our trip!

Whilst on the tour of the Souks, we met with different stall owners who taught us about the spices, vegetables and meats which are used in traditional Moroccan cooking. The dishes we made were a combination of salads, tagjines and biscuits along with fresh mint tea and Moroccan wine. I love how community focused the area is, you can pay the local bread bakery to use their stone oven and this is where we cooked our Sardines so that they were slow baked. Of all the dishes we made, the Zaahlouk which is I can only describe as an aubergine version of a guacamole was my favourite, and I can't wait to make it at home as I have the recipe!

We highly enjoyed out trip to the Souk Cuisine, and I would very much recommend it if you are in the area!