Homemade Nutella

Hi everyone! 

I don’t know about you guys but i’ve always found Nutella to be one of the best things man ever made. The chocolate hazelnut spread that gave me so many delicious ways to eat it: on toast, on pancakes, on anything, and of course, straight out of the spoon. Yum yum. 

I haven’t actually had Nutella since I started this quest on healthy eating – or rather haven’t bought the tub home but it’s sneakily made its way back to me via ferrero rochers and ice cream flavours  

My cousin is also another fan of Nutella but since she is on a paleo diet and cannot have any, I decided to make her a paleo, vegan version for her birthday. The result was better than expected. Roasted hazelnuts are the bomb ! It’s also pretty easy with the most time consuming process being blanching the hazelnuts….ready? 

Adapted from Paleo Spirit

Ingredients

1 cup hazelnuts

1/2 cup coconut milk

2 tablespoons coconut oil

1/2 cup maple syrup

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1/4 teaspoon vanilla essence

Pinch of sea salt

If the hazelnuts are not already blanched - 

1. Preheat the oven to 175 degrees C. 

2. Roast the hazelnuts for 10 minutes.

Roasted hazelnuts

3. With a damp cloth rub the hazelnuts to remove the skin easily and place in a bowl.

4. Try your best not to eat all the roasted hazelnuts.

5. Place blanched hazelnuts into the food processor and process until creamy.

6. Add coconut milk, coconut oil, maple syrup, cocoa powder, vanilla essence and pinch of salt into the food processor and continue to process until smooth.

7. Store in the refrigerator.

Homemade nutella

Have it with a spoon….

I saved a bit for myself and the rest for my cousin, but my part didn’t last for long ! 

This recipe turned out to be better than I expected – so much so that I must make some more for myself today!

Have you ever made homemade Nutella? 

Currently

Hi guys,

This post is an idea that I got from Jenna as an alternative to “favourites”! I’m always looking to try different things so here we go…..

I am currently……

Watching…..”The Mindy Project” – Mindy Kaling is hilarious! I am obsessed with this show nowadays. It’s about a doctor who is trying to get her life back in order, her good looking coworkers and how she goes about everyday life. She is awesome, you must check this show out! 

 Listening….to the new Alicia Keys album “Girl on Fire”. I can’t help it, I have loved Alicia Keys since “fallin’” and this album does not disappoint. My favourite songs are: “Not even the King”, “Limitedless” and of course “Girl on Fire”. 

 Eating…..pesto. I only just tried making pesto at home a few days ago. Why did I wait so long?! It is delicious! I will have to keep trying to perfect it though – cut out the oil content and try to form a better texture. Once I do, I will share the recipe on the blog! 

Organising…..a book club! I’m so excited about this – I love reading so a club where we can chit chat about the same book and have snacks makes me happy. 

Reading……”A Fine Balance” by Rohinton Mistry. I’ve reached 40% on my kindle and it is such a well written, beautiful read. I’d definitely recommend it if you’re looking for a new book. 

Inspired by……this video. Isn’t life amazing?

Your turn! What are you currently doing?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bootcamp

Hii  everyone,

This week has been quite a milestone for me. I joined a bootcamp with the trainer who usually trains me at the gym in a spur of the moment decision with two of my cousins. Bootcamp is held at the beach carpark for the month of March, three times a week (Monday, Wednesday and Friday) at 6:30am (SIX THIRTY AM). The things I do to get out of my “comfort zone”! I’m not naturally an early riser so this week has been a bit difficult and so different from my usual routine. For the first session, it was dark, drizzling and foggy…..nevertheless here is what I love about working out in the morning:

1. My mum always told me that early in the morning is a sacred time – I usually would rather sleep and I never quite realised until now how true that might be. There is something SO peaceful about 6am, when the rest of the country is asleep. Gaining a couple of hours more than everyone really makes me feel like I’m making the absolute most of my day (even if its dark and foggy)…..#winning!

2. I feel like i’m in some kind of secret society. Most of the people who attend bootcamp have done it before and these people are so enthusiastic about working out. At first I found it so amusing that crazy people would wake up in the middle of the night to flip tyres and swing kettlebells – but alas I have now become one of them.

3. The workouts are unlike anything i’ve ever done. If you’ve ever seen the television show “The Biggest Loser”, you would know what I mean. Included in the circuits are kettlebells, burpees, rope undulation, prowler pushing (which is pushing a big trolley like thing from one end to the other with a sandbag and no wheels), swinging a hammer on to a big tyre, bicep curls, lunges, carrying these heavy pieces of equipment around, flipping heavy tyres, and it goes on.

Don’t mess with a girl who has a hammer

4. I don’t have to worry about working out for the rest of the day!

5. It is so fun working out with others rather than by myself, there is constant motivation and healthy competition.

The only downfall on bootcamp is how tired you can feel on Friday night! Naps are recommended.

Have you ever been to a bootcamp? 

God is playing tricks on me

Hiii hunnies! 

There has been quite a gap since my last post – in between I went to America (Los Angeles, Arizona and Las Vegas) for my cousin’s wedding . It was a fabulous holiday! However, this year is turning out to be quite a surprising one for me and I wanted to share with you a couple of events in which the randomest things have happened:

Firstly my suitcase never made it to the US, it actually ended up taking a detour…..and then came back to Gibraltar two days after I did. If you have ever attended an indian wedding or travelled across the world for holiday you would know how much packing and planning went into that suitcase. Everything from jewellery to shoes to the bare essentials like contact lenses did not come on vacation with me Thank the lord that my sister-in-law has a similar eye prescription number to me and she had plenty of extra lenses to share. Also, I packed the wedding dresses in my dad’s suitcase – phew! So, overall I spent the two weeks shopping A LOT and getting through the day to day needs with some help from the familia. 

What are the chances that your suitcase does not arrive to your destination but takes a holiday of its own? It arrived two days after I reached Gibraltar completely intact. 

She came back!

Part 2.

On Monday is my dad’s 60th birthday. My family has been carefully planning a surprise for him for this weekend. My brother was flying in today with his wife and the cutest twins from London and for the first time ever, we managed to keep it a secret from the boss. My mother has been cooking non-stop since last weekend, the cake has been ordered, a photo shoot arranged, hair appointments, a nanny etc. I changed my meetings at work so that I could pick them up at the airport and bring them home ready for the “SURPRISE!”. Last night my brother called and said that one of the twins has been throwing up non-stop and has a fever. 

Needless to say, everything was cancelled except the cake and we are left with a few lasagnes, homemade pizzas, indian sweets, granola, baby whole milk, animal crackers, etc. 

Last year’s shoot.

Have you ever heard the saying..”If you want God to laugh, tell him your plans” by Woody Allen? This is definitely where it applies. But what are you going to do when your plan A completely fails? Go to plan B! I.e. a lot of new clothes in the wardrobe and party at our place with plenty of food on Saturday night Everyone’s invited. Enjoy the surprises in life, it’s what makes it exciting (albeit some better than others) but with both enjoy the good things and try to challenge yourself on the problems that come your way – most of all….keep POSITIVE.  

Promise the next post will be back to healthy eating and exercise

Have you ever felt that life was conspiring against you? 

Hi, i’m Sonal and i’m a chocoholic..

Hiiii guys,

If there is one thing you might have guessed about me it is that i love a food challenge. This time last year is when I started on a quest for healthy eating and most of the year involved avoiding dairy as much as possible. Late last year I tried being gluten free and now, it is only normal for me to move on to something that is just as well known……a life without sugar.

I love sugar more than anything. Desserts are my favourite course and amongst those: banoffee pie, chocolate cake, ice cream and anything else involving chocolate are my top choices! I LOVE SUGAR. Christmas and new year meant that my house was filled with gifted chocolate boxes and biscuits…and I dug in quite happily towards the end.

Now, I feel like any other over dosed person, ready to quit.

It has been four days since my last chocolate and I am just trying to take things one day at a time.

Why am I doing this? Mostly because i’m going for my cousin’s wedding at the end of the month and I want to feel confident in my dresses. I have also heard that giving up sugar is key to losing any excess weight – and this is likely to be the one thing holding me back despite gymming, swimming and yoga. Additionally keeping a stable sugar level will help will help to control cravings and sugar crashes!

So true.

What’s included? Anything that includes sugar – sauces, drinks, chocolates, sweets, white bread, white rice etc.

I am happy to say that it is day 6 with exactly 2 more weeks to go !

Every time I feel like I would die for a biscuit I:

1. Drink a large glass of water

2. Drink some herbal tea

3. Have a small piece of 70% or more dark chocolate. (which is really helping).

Ahhhhh! Lord give me strength!

Have any of you ever tried to give up sugar?  

Homemade Raw Almond Butter

Hello everyone ,

How is your first week of the year going? Are those resolutions sticking well? Whatever they are let’s try to keep up the optimism for as long as we can! It’s only the 3rd after all…….;) 

Living in Gibraltar means that we don’t have as many healthy food choices as other countries that have supermarkets like Whole Foods or Sprouts! Usually when I go to the States I stock up on all the necessities to keep me going until my next trip. However, my love for green monsters means that the “Earth Balance” Almond butter I bought in the summer is now finished!  What is a girl to do? 

Homemade raw almond butter to the rescue.  This was so easy, I highly recommend everyone to try it at least once! The key is patience, patience, patience.

Ingredients: 

1 cup raw almonds

Put the cup of almonds into the food processor and mix, mix and scrape down the sides. Repeat.  

Just keep scraping the sides….

Again and again – until eventually you will see clumps! It might take about 15 minutes so do not give up hope! 

Now we’re getting somewhere…

And you’re left with some creamy homemade almond butter

Yey!

…..And enjoy! 

Have you ever tried making homemade almond butter? 

Two Thousand And Thirteen

Happy new year everyone!

Wishing you all a very happy, prosperous year ahead! 

Last dessert of 2012, cupcakes with smushed coconut frosting…delicious!

I know some people find new year’s eve overrated, but there is always this excitement that overwhelms me when the year is ending: a fresh start waiting ahead, an end of an era. And for that, I find it’s the one night where I let go of inhibitions and get dolled up and celebrate life. I’m not gonna lie, It’s usually my favourite night of the year !

How would I sum up 2012? Well in no particular order: I moved back to Gib, started this blog, travelled by aeroplane and ship, got my first job, helped to open a shop, embraced healthy eating and became gym active. Those were all the positives but alongside these, there were hard times of self doubt, insecurity and unnecessary worry. 

Learning points? Do not let anyone disturb your inner peace and have more faith in yourself. And, you can’t keep depending on your environment to make you happy – find happiness within yourself. I actually think that one is the most crucial! Isn’t it so easy to want other people or circumstances to always make you happy? 

There is only one resolution that I have for 2013 and that is to take more risks, step out of my comfort zone (which in Gibraltar is so easy to sink into) and to feel scared more often – i.e. do something more often that scares or makes me nervous. I already took the first step out of the box last night and I was hand-shakingly scared – but at the same time I’m proud of myself. I’d like to look into the mirror this year and see someone who is taking life head on and not missing out on opportunities, you know? 

And along with taking chances, i’m going to keep gulping the green monsters (by the way, I did not get a cold at all this year and I have a strong feeling it’s because of them!), keep cooking up some healthy recipes, keep lifting those weights and keep in touch with my loved ones because that definitely needs improvement….and of course by that I also mean you!

Thank you for being such a great outlet for me in 2012, this next year will only have much more wonderful things in store, so let’s make the most of it! No regrets!

Do you have any new years resolutions?