Shrove Tuesday AKA Pancake Day

Since tomorrow is it's almost Shrove Tuesday AKA Pancake day here in London, I am going to share 2 recipes with you...

1 - The healthy banana pancake recipe I plan on trying for breakfast tomorrow morning (follow me on Instagram if you want to see how it turns out).

So since I started Kayla Itsines again today after a few months of being WAAAY to inactive, I decided to try healthy pancakes for Pancake day tomorrow!

I found the recipe for 4 ingredient choc chip pancakes here, but I'll be adapting it a little...

Ingredients:
2 large eggs
1/2 cup of ripe mashed banana
A pinch of baking powder

Method:

Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl.

Heat your pan and coat it with spray and cook.

Pour about 1/4 cup batter into the pan and spread it into a circle.

Let it cook until it's light brown, flip it over when the edges are dry and the bottom is pretty golden.  Cook it for about a minute on the other side.

Put the pancake in a plate to one side.

Continue making pancakes until all the batter is used up.

I'll be having my pancakes topped with peanut butter and apple, don't judge...just try it!!

2 - The recipe for the French crepes I made for Valentine's Breakfast this weekend.

Ingredients:
1.5 cups of flour - sifted
250ml water
300ml milk
2 large eggs
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
Butter/spray and cook to coat the pan

Method:

In a large bowl mix all the ingredients together, except the butter.

Make sure there are no lumps and the batter is well combined.

Set the batter aside for about an hour is better, or overnight in the fridge if possible.

Heat the pan over medium-high heat, melt a little bit of butter, just enough to lightly coat the pan, or coat it with spray and cook.

Pour the batter into center of pan, jug, cup or ladle. 

Spread with the ladle/swirl the batter until you've made a circle.

Cook for 2 minutes or until the edges start browning and bubbles form in the batter.

Flip (with the mad skills that I know you possess) and cook for another 1 to 2 minutes.

Place the crepe in a plate to one side, continue making crepes until all the batter has been used up.

Re-grease the pan every few crepes.

Once all the batter has been used up, you can add all kinds of awesomeness to the crepes.

We melted nutella in and folded them over French style, and then served them with fresh dark red cherries and blueberries.

Note - I added a little extra milk to make batter and crepes thinner. You can play around according to your preference.

I was going to share Aunty Annies awesome pancake recipe with you but I need to find the additional notes to it, so keep an eye out for our recipe for awesome pancakes.

For a yummy savoury filling in your pancake/crepe try filling it with some cheese, a sprinkle of aromat and a few drops of tabasco, then pop it in the microwave until the cheese melts...AMAZEBALLS!!

What will you be making for pancake day? Traditional pancakes or something a little different?

The Londoners Guilt Free Dairy Free "Ice Cream"

Although it's a little late, as promised yesterday..here it is!
A healthy, guilt-free, dairy-free "Ice Cream" that will not de-rail your diet but is oh-so delicious!

I first found this recipe over on The Londoner's blog (her pics are waaaay better than mine...but I'm working on it, so for now - please excuse me), Rose has tons of awesome recipes, I still have a few I want to try! I followed her instructions, it's easy peasy and only takes a few minutes - but I hate chopping hard things in the blender, it gives me the heebie jeebies!!
So the next time I made this "Ice Cream" I used the same concept but did it a little differently.

What you'll need:

4-5 Bananas - not too ripe
Flavouring of your choice

How you'll do it:
Peel your bananas and cut them into chunks. (Rose tells you to freeze your bananas after this step)

Toss them into your blender/food processor/smoothie maker or any other pulverising device.

Pulse the blender until your bananas are a nice smooth consistent mush.

Add your flavouring and blend well - I made chocolate and split it into 2 portions (one plain chocolate and the other with a teaspoon of peanut butter!) You can really use any flavouring you like. I plan on adding some fresh strawberries to my next batch! Oooh and maybe I'll make a coffee batch as well...just thought of that and it sounds good, I can imagine it would taste like a freezo, YUM!!

Decant the contents of your blender into a freezer bowl, and pop it into the freezer. Leave it in the freezer depending on how you like your ice cream, I freeze mine for a couple of hours because I like my ice cream to be firm. If you like it a little mushy and melted then an hour should be just fine.

I like eating mine straight out of the freezer bowl but you could always scoop and serve if you feel like sharing! You can top it with fresh berries, chopped nuts or anything else that tickles your fancy!

What I like about this recipe is the fact that its good for pretty much everyone, lactose intolerant, vegan, vegetarian, you name it! Also, the banana flavour doesn't really come through unless your bananas are over-ripe. I also think it's really  important to use a good quality flavouring because, well that's what ice cream is all about!

I like making a big batch of this ice cream (chocolate of course) and freezing it, that way whenever my sweet tooth is calling, I have a healthy but satisfying snack at my fingertips!

I'm sorry for my unplanned hiatus

I am sorry! No, really, I am!!
I know I've been a bad little blogger for the past few days, 9 days without posting...it's getting on my nerves, but I just haven't had a break! It's been crazy! What with work and family commitments. Since it was so busy I have quite a bit to say so this post might end up being a bit of a long one...I'll try my best to keep it short and sweet!

Last week was hectically busy!

On Sunday we spent the whole day on set shooting a car advertisment, we were supposed to be background people but Riaan ended up being put front and centre which is pretty cool! It's all pretty top secret because the car hasn't been released yet, so we couldn't take pictures, but it was so interesting! I was fascinated and in awe, by the time we left I was convinced that I could totes have an on-screen day job!!

On Tuesday we had team building, we went for breakfast in Hyde Park and then we went to Acrobranch in Melrose! Acrobranch is an outdoor sort of obstacle course up in the trees, it starts off about a meter above the ground, and gradually gets higher and higher. About half way through you find yourself at least four meters off the ground standing on a ledge, hooking your zip line mechanism to a cable spanning about 10 metres across the grass to another tree, silently convincing yourself to jump of the ledge and zip over the grass to the other side, there is after all no other way down!! With walk ways, chain bridges, cargo rope nets and zip lines to name a few, linking you from tree to tree, it takes about an hour and a half to complete the entire course. At one point I found myself feeling like Jane of the Jungle, I had to take hold of a really think rope and swing from one ledge to a rope net spanned between two trees *insert Tarzan-like yowling sound here*, after grabbing hold of the net I had to climb it to get to the next ledge about 1.5m above. They also have a 200m zip line across a field of grass, it's super fun and quite fast!! This course was a great upper body workout, and we had great fun but if you're afraid of heights and not able to do physical activity for at least two hours then I don't recommend this. If you're an adrenaline junkie and up for a challenge, DO IT!!

Wednesday was National Heritage Day over here in Sunny SA, and the traditional thing to do on NHD is BRAAI of course!! Haha, this year we did not follow tradition, the original plan was to head down to Hartebeesport Dam, ride the cable cars up the mountain and enjoy a late brunch, unfortunately the cable cars were down for maintenance. Oh well, next time right! So we ended up going shopping and after that we met with Riaan's Mom and her sisters, for a catch-up session complete with tea and scones. It was unplanned but a great way to spend a day off!

During the week I also managed to whip up some delicious diet friendly "Ice Cream" which I will post the recipe for tomorrow, I found it on The Londoner's blog, its really delicious but I have altered the recipe a teensy little bit, just to make it easier.

On Friday morning I was up bright and early to catch a flight to the Mother City, although I was going for work, I was excited because I love Cape Town! It's easily my most favourite place in SA!! On arrival we were met with grey skies and a drizzle, but by the afternoon it cleared up and we went for dinner at Shimmy Beach. It's an awesome hot-spot with the locals and the food is divine, not to mention the vast selection of local wines, which is right up my alley!!

On Saturday morning we woke up the most pathetic drizzle, it was fine but the wind was blowing and everything was wet, resulting in our plans to hike Table Mountain being foiled! Luckily in Cape Town we are spoiled for choice when it comes to activities, so off we went to The Old Biscuit Mill, for a morning of Gourmet food, Craft beers, lots of people watching and browsing the dozens of stalls of unique hand made goodies.

Craft Beers

Fresh Oysters

Shrooooms!!

Colourful and very busy dining area

Fresh fruit juices

Delicious Fritata with Smoked Salmon, Poached Egg and Hollandaise Sauce!!

American Style Crepes with Banana and lots of Nutella - These were so so good!!

More Craft Beers

Seafood Paella

Vintage style swimwear

Wooden Jewelry

Pretty Necklaces

Wooden Sunnies and Watches - Pretty Funky!!

Afterwards we went to watch the rugby, SA vs Aus, Rugby isn't really my thing but there is nothing quite as special for me, as a nation that can come together to support their sportsmen the way South Africa does. It literally gave me chills!

On Sunday morning I was off again, back to Jo'burg, Riaan and I had a delicious breakfast at Nice, it's a rustic cafe in Parkhurst 4th Avenue. Their food is fresh, bursting with flavour and well presented.
As you can see we had a hard time making up our minds on what to order!!

We couldn't decide, so we shared!

Open croissant with scrambled egg, avocado and smoked salmon

Left: Toast basket with a poached egg, crispy bacon and tomato relish
Right: Crumpets with crispy bacon, mascarpone cheese and strawberries drizzled with syrup

I promise not to be so quite this week, I am thinking of starting a weekly blog topic, I have a few ideas but if you have any ideas or anything you'd like me to write about, please let me know in the comments!!