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

STRAWBERRIES AND CREAM CAKE RECIPE

After seeing this recipe by Sally's Baking Addiction on Pinterest, I just knew I had to make it myself and film it so I could share the recipe with you! If I had white chocolate chunks I would of added them to make it a white chocolate and raspberry cake but instead I decided to call it a strawberries and cream cake- yum!

I have changed it slightly from Sally's original recipe as this was a spur of the moment bake and I didn't have all the right ingredients to make it her way!

You will need:

• 250g self-raising flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 large egg, at room temperature
• 200g granulated sugar
  
• 240ml milk
• 80ml) vegetable oil
• A couple of handfuls of fresh strawberries 

I think the photos and video are pretty self explanitory in what to do- basically add all the dry ingredients together and stir, and then gradually add all the wet ingredients to the mix. Don't forget to watch my YouTube recipe tutorial which goes along with this blog post and makes it easier to see what I'm doing!

 

I hope you found this interesting to read, don't forget to check out my video
and Sally's blog post! If you decide to make this, please send me a photo on
twitter- I would absolutely love to see them!

Apple cupcake easy cake decorating tutorial

When Carissa was round my house the other day we thought we would make some apple cupcakes and film it as a baking tutorial for you which you can watch below or on my YouTube channel

You will need:
Cupcakes
Mini doughnuts
Premade icing
Sugar
Red food colouring
Wine gums

Firstly we mixed the food colouring into the granulated sugar and icing and mixed so they were both red
Then spread a thin layer of icing onto the top of the cakes
Cut a mini doughnut in half and place it face down on top of the cake then cover it with icing
Put the red sugar on top of the icing by using a spoon and patting it on with the back of it
Cut a green and black wine gum in half and push them in the top to make the stalk and leaf
This step is optional but spoon a small section of the cake out and fill the hole with icing. Then cut two small pieces of black wine gum and put them onto the icing to make it look as if a bite has been taken out of the apple

Your easy apple cupcakes should now be finished! Please let us know if you try them and don't forget to watch the tutorial video!

easy and healthy peach and raspberry smoothie recipe

for a bit of a change I thought I would post a recipe on here.  It's perfect for warm days as it's nice and cool thanks to the frozen raspberries.
You will need:

a banana

a ripe peach

frozen raspberries

milk (I used lactose free but you can use whatever milk you normally use)

a blender

simply blend it all together and you've got yourself a delicios and healthy peach and raspberry smoothie. I did a quick (literally two minute) video below showing you how to do it which I'd love you to watch. Here is a link to my YouTube channel too!

 
           

easy healthy summer 'ice cream' recipe

This is one of my favourite recipes to make for summer! It's super healthy because it's just fruit and milk but it tastes as if it's proper ice cream!

You will need:

● Banana

● Fruit (strawberries/raspberries/mango etc.)

● Milk (50-100ml)

● Hand blender

● Freezer safe dish

● Knife

Step 1: Cut up banana onto a freezer safe plate/tray etc.

Step 2: Place into freezer overnight
Step 3: Cut up fruit
Step 4: Add the banana to the fruit
Step 5: Add milk (less milk will make it thicker)
Step 6: Liquidize it
Step 7: Put into a little bowl (the bowl and spoon I used are from Cath Kidston if you were wondering!) and enjoy in the sun!

This honestly tastes DELICIOUS, it seems as if you're having an unhealthy treat but it's healthy and you can make it completely to your taste!
There are lots of different things that you could add to it, here are some of the ones I've tried:
● raspberries
● strawberries
● mango
● milkshake powder (e.g. chocolate/strawberry)
● or you can just keep it plain and have it banana flavour!

I reckon you could try it with almond milk to make it even healthier if you wanted but I like it with the orange 1% fat milk as it is still creamy and not too watery!

Have you tried this before or do you like the sound of it? Let me know in a comment below or tweet me if you decide to make it! @islaay_x

♥