I was a bit unsure whether to post this recipe, as it’s not exactly healthy. To make it more in keeping with the Natural Born Fitness ethos, I’ve modified the traditional Northern English recipe quite a bit, omitting the muscavado sugar completely, and substituting the butter and cow’s milk for olive oil and rice milk respectively. Best to use it as a delicious seasonal treat or as comforting hill food.
Ingredients:
- Olive oil – 100g
- Treacle (or molasses) – 100g
- Golden Syrup – 100g
- Self raising flour – 200g
- Ground ginger – 3 tsp
- Ground cinnamon – 1 tsp
- Bicarbonate of soda – 1 tsp
- Pinhead oatmeal – 100g
- 1 beaten egg
- Oat milk – 120ml
- Stem ginger – 1 tablespoon – chopped
- Optional: apple puree – 1 tablespoon
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 150 °C
- Line a square cake tin with baking paper
- Place the oil, treacle and syrup in a small saucepan and heat gently until completely mixed together
- Remove and allow to cool
- Add the flour, ground ginger, cinnamon, bicarbonate of soda, oatmeal and stem ginger to a large bowl and mix together
- Gradually stir in the cooled treacle/syrup/oil mixture
- Next stir in the beaten egg, oat milk (and apple puree if using) until you get a smooth mixture
- Pour the batter you’ve created into the cake tin
- Place in the oven and bake for approximately 30 mins
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool
- Ideally you should store the Parkin for a few days before eating (good luck with that)
Masala chai is a milky, spiced Indian tea. It’s delicious on a cold, rainy autumn or winter’s day, and also as a warming drink for your flask when out in the hills.
A variety of spices can be used and the ratios are really down to personal preference, but the mainstays are usually cinnamon, cloves, ginger, cardamom and fennel or star anise.
Ingredients:
Makes 4 cups
- Almond/ rice/ soy milk – 2 cups
- Water – 2 cups
- 10 cardamom pods
- 4 black peppercorns
- 1 star anise
- 1-2 cinnamon sticks
- 2 cloves
- 4 large slivers of fresh ginger
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 pinch of rose petals
- 2 teabags
- 1 teaspoon honey per serving – optional
Instructions:
- Add the milk, water and spices to a large saucepan
- Bring to a gentle simmer over a low heat
- Add the teabags and allow to infuse for a few minutes
- Strain the tea into mugs
- Add a small amount (teaspoon or less) of honey to sweeten
- If you use non-dairy milks such as almond or rice (which are naturally sweet) you don’t really need to add much, if any, sweetener
These flatbreads or tortillas are super easy to make and can be used to create wraps. I find wraps tend to work well as portable training snacks as they are soft and fairly robust, and can be used with a variety of different fillings depending on your requirements.
Preparation time:
5 mins prep (+/- 30 mins resting) + 10 mins cooking time
Ingredients:
( Makes 8 medium sized flatbreads)
- 1 cup plain white flour
- 1 cup Rye or Spelt flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2/3 cup water
Instructions:
- Combine the ingredients in a bowl and mix together
- Knead the mixture on a lightly floured surface for a few minutes until you get a smooth dough
- Ideally allow the dough to rest for about 30 minutes (this step is preferable but not crucial)
- Divide the dough into 8 pieces and shape into rounds
- Roll each round into a thin flatbread
- Heat up a frying pan (no oil required) and add a flatbread to the pan once hot
- Cook one side for 30 – 60 seconds until it starts to develop brown spots
- Flip over and cook the other side for a similar amount of time
- Repeat for the rest of the batch
- Wrap the freshly cooked flatbreads in a clean tea towel to prevent them from drying out and becoming crispy – you want them soft and moist in order to use them as wraps
Instructions
Combine the ingredients in a bowl and mix together
Knead the mixture on a lightly floured surface for a few minutes until you get a smooth dough
Ideally allow the dough to rest for about 30 minutes
Divide the dough into 8 pieces and shape into rounds
Roll each round into a thin flatbread
Heat up a frying pan (no oil required) and add a flatbread to the pan once hot
Cook one side for 30 - 60 seconds until it starts to develop brown spots
Flip over and cook the other side for a similar amount of time
Repeat for the rest of the batch
Wrap the freshly cooked flatbreads in a clean tea towel to prevent them from drying out and becoming crispy - you want them soft and moist in order to use them as wraps
An awesome pre or post workout snack. As always, various substitutions are possible with the ingredients. For example, you could use hazelnuts instead of almonds, currants instead of dates, and obviously cocoa powder is fine, rather than cacao.
This recipe makes approximately 16 balls.
Ingredients:
- 2 bananas (medium size)
- 1/2 cup raw almonds
- 1/2 cup dates
- 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
- 2 tablespoons cacao powder
- 1 ½ cups desiccated coconut
Instructions:
- Place almonds, bananas, dates, balsamic, cacao powder in a food processor and blend until it becomes a relatively smooth paste
- Scrape the mixture into a bowl and keep adding the dessicated coconut until the consistency becomes firm enough to shape into balls. This usually requires between 1 – 1½ cups, but sometimes a bit more
- Shape the mixture into balls and roll in a bit more desiccated coconut
- Place in the fridge to chill and firm up before eating (ideally 2-3 hrs)
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Raw power balls - banana, date, almond
An awesome pre or post workout snack. As always, various substitutions are possible with the ingredients. For example you could use hazelnuts instead of almonds, currants instead of dates, and obviously cocoa powder is fine, rather than cacao.
Instructions
Place almonds, bananas, dates, balsamic, cacao powder in a food processor and blend until it becomes a relatively smooth paste
Scrape the mixture into a bowl and keep adding the dessicated coconut until the consistency becomes firm enough to shape into balls. This usually requires between 1 - 1½ cups, but sometimes a bit more
Shape the mixture into balls and roll in a bit more desiccated coconut
Place in the fridge to chill and firm up before eating (ideally 2-3 hrs)
This is great snack to carry on the hill – rich and stodgy with some healthy additional ingredients – chia seeds, hemp protein, nuts and berries. There’s even some vegetables thrown in. It’s practically a superfood!
Essential ingredients:
- Cooked mashed veg 400-450g / 14-15ounces / 2 full cups
DRY:
- Cocoa powder 1 cup (100-120g)
- Plain flour 2 cups (250g)
- Baking powder 1 teaspoon
- Salt 1 teaspoon
WET:
- Sugar 1/3 cup (70g)
- Oil 3/4 cup
- Milk (as required)
Optional ingredients:
- Vanilla paste/extract 2 teaspoons
- Chocolate chips 1 cup (100-150g)
- Frozen Berries 1 cup heaped/ rounded
- Pistachios/ nuts 1/3 cup
- Chia seeds 2 tablespoons
- Hemp protein powder
Equipment:
- 20cm x 20cm / 8” x 8” cake tin
- Food processor (but can also do by hand – mash/grate cooked veg as required)
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 160 deg C / 320 deg F fan forced or 180C/ 350F non fan forced
- Blend cooked veg in food processor
- Add wet ingredients, mix well (occasionally scrape down sides of processor to ensure even mixing)
- Add dry ingredients (ideally previously sifted), mix well.
- If mixture is dry, which is likely, add milk as required. It can be as much as 1/2 cup (or more) depending on consistency of mash and type of flour used. It should be fairly thick – you will need to scoop it out rather than pour it out
- Scrape mix into a bowl and add optional ingredients (except pistachios) if using.
- Mix well
- Scoop into a lined cake tin, push into corners and even out the surface
- Sprinkle nuts on top and push them in slightly
- Bake for about 45- 50min until cracks appear in the surface, or until a skewer (or sharp knife) comes out clean
- Remove from oven and cake tin and allow to cool (still in baking lining) on a wire rack
- Best left to cool completely before cutting
Substitutions:
Plain flour: white, spelt, rye, GF, oat, wholemeal, etc. Requires more milk if using GF flours.
Sugar: light brown muscovado, brown, raw
Oil: olive, sunflower, rapeseed, avocado, walnut oil
Milk: any variety will do – dairy, almond, rice, hemp etc
Mashed veg: beetroot, pumpkin, parsnip, potato, sweet potato – any left over cooked veg can be used
Chocolate chips: can use a chopped block of chocolate. Dark, milk and white chocolate all work well
Frozen berries: any variety – raspberry works really well. Frozen berries hold their shape better while mixing, fresh fruit often disintegrates.
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Chocolate Beetroot Brownies
This is great snack to carry on the hills - rich and stodgy with some healthy additional ingredients - chia seeds, hemp protein, nuts and berries. There's even some vegetables thrown in. It's practically a superfood!
Instructions
Preheat oven to 160 deg C / 320 deg F fan forced or 180C/ 350F non fan forced
Blend cooked veg in food processor
Add wet ingredients (sugar, oil and milk) and mix well (occasionally scrape down sides of processor to ensure even mixing)
Add dry ingredients (cocoa powder, flour, baking powder and salt) and mix well - ideally sift the dry ingredients first
If mixture is dry, which is likely, add milk as required. It can be as much as 1/2 cup (or more) depending on consistency of mash and type of flour used. It should be fairly thick - you will need to scoop it out rather than pour it out
Scrape mix into a bowl and add the remaining ingredients (except pistachios) if using
-
Scoop into a lined cake tin, push mixture into the corners and even out the top surface
Sprinkle nuts on top and push them in slightly
Bake for about 45- 50min, or until a skewer (or sharp knife) comes out clean
Remove from oven and cake tin and allow to cool (still in baking lining) on a wire rack before slicing
