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weight loss

Friday Fare

Raw ice cream cake

April 6, 2014

Firstly, apologies for being terrible with posts the past few weeks .. I may not be as regular as I was until this semester is over because the work is just piling up. Plus I had my friend over from England so I have wanted to spend as much time with her as I can before I leave! I hope my raw ice cream cake recipe makes up for my disappearance.

Raw ice cream cake

I have been wanting to share with recipe with all of you for a while now. The inspiration came from my desire to make a raw cake (although my version has peanut butter which is not 100% raw since it is heated, but it is considered raw when not heated) and my love for my healthified ice-cream recipe. Although this is not exactly a ‘guilt-free’ dessert it is much healthier and miles more nutritious than any store bought ice-cream cake. My ice-cream cake is packed full of healthy fats, and some protein and carbohydrates. It is also refined sugar free and vegan friendly 🙂 It can also be made gluten-free by subbing rolled oats with gluten free rolled oats.

Raw Ice Cream Cake

Alice Williams
This raw ice-cream cake is packed full of nutrients and none of the guilt!
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Ingredients
  

  • For the crust
  • 3 cups rolled oats
  • 1/2 cup softened dates
  • 1/2 cups raw cashews
  • 1 cup coconut oil
  • 4 tbsp honey
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 2 tsp cinammon
  • 2-4 tbsp peanut butter the peanut butter taste is quite strong so adjust it to your liking
  • For the cake
  • 5-10 sliced and FROZEN bananas 10 bananas if you want to make an enormous cake
  • Optional
  • 2-5 tbsp natural creamy peanut butter makes the consistency smoother
  • 3-6 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder again, adjust it to your liking

Instructions
 

  • 1. Alright, so first we want to prepare the crust. Put the oats, dates and cashews into the blender first and blend until you get a sand-like consistency.
  • 2. Then put in the rest of the crust ingredients and blend until you get a dough like texture. Shape the dough into your cake pan, or another circular object and let it sit in the fridge for 2 hours.
  • 3. After you have completed the crust, you can now make the ice-cream to put onto it! Blend your bananas with the cocoa powder and then scoop out on top of the crust. This stage takes quite a while because most blenders and food processors do not have room for this many bananas lol.

Notes

Does not freeze well and is best when served immediately after being made.
Raw ice cream cake

Raw ice cream cake

And there you have it!! A much healthier and nutritious way to make an easy no bake cake crust and healthy ice-cream 🙂 Unfortunately this lovely dessert does not freeze well, as the ice-cream gets a little icy 🙁 I will be experimenting with a way to make a more freezeable healthy ice-cream to try and combat this.

Raw ice cream cake

 

Raw ice cream cake

Hope you enjoyed this (late) edition of Friday Fare. Are you going to try this recipe out? Let me know in the comments box below!

Honestly yours,
Alice

Sunday Summary, Uncategorized

Sunday Summary: Kayla Itsines Week 5

March 30, 2014
Kayla Itsines Week 5

Hey everyone!

What a whirlwind spring break week this has been! I had work from Tuesday-Thursday so it really was not much of a break lol. My lovely friend Shivvy who I have known since high school has come to visit me for just under two weeks, so we have been doing lots of fun and tourist-y things. This is her first visit to America so of course we have been sampling all the food. Surprisingly we actually ate quite well save for tonight when we ordered loads at a Japanese restaurant in Lodi, CA called Haru Sushi.

San Francisco (and California in general, but particularly the bay area) is such a fun place to visit! It is great having a friend visit because it forces me to do tourist-y things that I normally wouldn’t do. On Friday, we went to Haight-Ashbury and spent hours shopping and had some lunch at the Citrus Club. They specialize in Asian food and noodles, and attempt to us less oil  by substituting it with citrus. You MUST go to Haight-Ashbury if you want a good shopping experience – they have a lot of unique boutique shops and thrift shops. I found the black shirt I am wearing in a few photo’s below for only $8!!

We then went to explore Buena Vista park and took some photo’s.

Kayla Itsines Week 5

After that we ventured to Chinatown. I think Chinatown is awesome but OMG the traffic is horrendous, and I swear that the steepest hills in SF are on the way to Chinatown!!! I wish we had just walked from the BART (bay area rapid transit – train basically) but eh, it was worth it in the end. We got some really delicious boba (this is milk tea with tapioca pearls) from Cool Tea Bar. Naaaht healthy haha, but I asked for 50% less sugar so at least you can customize them a little.

Kayla Itsines Week 5

Saturday was gross and rainy so let’s just skip that recap haha. This morning we went to the beach; we oohed and aahed at all the sweet dogs and puppies that were also at the beach, and just had fun walking around in general. Naturally I had to show off my yoga skills hehe. Ick, I really need a tan …

Kayla Itsines Week 5

Kayla Itsines Week 5

Kayla Itsines Week 5

Kayla Itsines Week 5

Kayla Itsines Week 5

I finished week 5 of Kayla Itsine’s bikini body guide, woo hoo! This week set of workouts are definitely more advanced in nature, particularly the arm workouts. I absolutely loved it, although I am not loving the amount of cardio. We have to quite a bit more cardio but oh well .. it is so worth it. I am seeing improvement in my legs and my abs look more toned 🙂 The only thing I wish it would focus more on is the back. I have some really gross fat on my back and although I KNOW YOU CAN’T SPOT REDUCE, it would be nice to have workouts that focused on the back.

I hope you have all had a great week everyone! Please let me know what type of posts you would like to see, or if you have any questions; I would love to hear what they are 🙂

Honestly yours,
Alice

Friday Fare, Health

Friday Fare – Sugar free and refined sugar free muffins

March 28, 2014

As promised, here is the recipe for the sugar free muffins I posted about on Sunday Summary two weeks ago!

Sugar free and refined sugar free muffins

sugar-free-muffins-recipe

I am going to share two versions of these muffins with you. The difference between them is that one is purely sugar-free (as it contains sugar-free honey made of xylitol) and the other is refined sugar free (and contains honey). Both are healthy and delicious, but I realize that sugar-free honey is not easy to come by which is why I am offering two versions.

This recipe was taught to me by my boyfriend’s aunt who is on a strict sugar-free diet to help battle her candida. These muffins are surprisingly fluffy and moist, and very very delicious. You can’t stop at just one, but the beauty of these muffins are that they contain a healthy mix of protein and fats with no sugar or no refined sugar! The sugar-free version is great for those with sugar issues, such as diabetics, and provide a sweet treat without blasting up your blood sugar levels. The refined sugar-free version contain sugar from honey (I use raw honey), and while this is still sugar, it does not undergo mass levels of refinement that most commercial sugars go through.

Although sugar is good for you (save a few who have medical issues with it) and IS necessary for the body to function, I try and limit the amount of ADDED sugar I ingest. And sweet treats tend to have a LOT of unnecessary added sugar which will cause you to gain weight in the long run and could lead to longer term health problems. This article is a great read if you want to know more about how excess sugar can negatively affect you.  Like excess ANYTHING though, too much of it will lead to weight gain and you putting on fat.

Therefore, I like to share yummy sweet things which have natural sugar-free alternatives or sugars that have not been refined. I would prefer you to stick to natural sugars if possible as we still do not know the long-term side effects of sweeteners, but liquid stevia is a good sugar-free choice.

Okay, informational talk and slight rant over!

Sugar-free & Refined Sugar-free Muffins

Alice Williams
Incredibly moist sugar-free and refined sugar-free muffins to satisfy your sweet tooth.
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Ingredients
  

Ingredients for the sugar free muffin are

  • 4 eggs
  • 1 and a half cups of almond flour
  • 1/3 cup ground flax seed you can make this by buying flax seed and throwing it in the food processor for a minute or longer
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 cup almond milk
  • 15 drops of liquid stevia
  • 1/4 cup sugar-free honey
  • 6 tablespoons cinnamon or pumpkin spice
  • OPTIONAL: 2 tablespoons olive oil I prefer it without to be honest

Ingredients for the refined sugar free muffin are

  • 4 eggs
  • 1 and a half cups of almond flour
  • 1/3 cup ground flax seed
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 cup almond milk
  • 1/4 cup honey
  • 6 tablespoons cinnamon or pumpkin spice
  • OPTIONAL: 2 tablespoons olive oil

Instructions
 

  • 1. Preheat your oven to 450 degrees farenheit and get a muffin tin or some muffin/cupcake holders ready.
  • 2. Whisk the eggs in a bowl and then add and mix in the rest of your ingredients
  • 3. Pour the mixture into your tin or holders and then put into the oven for 13 minutes.
Sugar free and refined sugar free muffins

Voila! Easy, fluffy and delicious sugar-free or refined sugar-free muffins!! Enjoy with some sugar-free jam on top, honey, some berry compote, with coconut whipped cream or any way you choose. If you make them, tag me in your photo and hashtag it #fridayfare so I can find you 🙂

Hope you enjoyed this post and I look forward to seeing your recreations!

Honestly yours,
Alice