3BM cooks : Pecan & Coconut Granola

For clean eating bunnies out there granola is a big no no as the majority on the market are bound together with lashings of honey and oil – ick! The following Detox Kitchen recipe I’m about to talk you through however uses coconut oil and a smidgen of Manuka honey as an alternative which makes it a delectable yet healthy breakfast bite – yay! 

See a step-by-step guide below on how to re-create for yourself – remember to couple the granola with a dollop of coyo or plain soya yogurt with a sprinkle of fresh berries!

Ingredients:

Ample for x10 servings / approx. 200 calories per serving

1 tbsp coconut oil
400g porridge oats
150ml rice milk
1 tbsp Manuka honey
40g pecans
A pinch of ground cinnamon
20g of coconut curls 

1. Get that oven warmed up to 200C and prep a baking tray with greaseproof paper and pop to one side

2. Melt the coco oil and combine with the oats, rice milk and honey in a big mixing bowl. Get stuck in and create chunks of oaty goodness with your hands 

3. Spread the oat mixture evenly on the tray you've prepared and slide it into the oven for 20 minutes 

4. Lay the pecans out on foil and put into the oven to toast up for the last 10 minutes alongside the oat mixture 

5. Take everything out of the oven and leave to cool off

6. Once cold add the pecans to the core granola, sprinkle on the cinnamon and delicate coco curls 

7. Voila! It will keep for 2 weeks if you keep it in an airtight jar and remember to jazz up with some yog and berries. Enjoy! 

Picture Perfect Pancakes...

Right who's ready to whisk, ladle, flip and gobble...we sure as hell are and there're just 24 hours to get yourself ready!! 

Shrove Tuesday is officially the best...who doesn't love a celebration of indulgence, an opportunity to throw your food in the air and an excuse to skip dinner and instead fill yourself with stacks of fluffy pancakes smothered in deliciousness! 

The big decision...go all out and celebrate both savoury and sweet style or screw the sensible element and just go for syrup, sugar, lemon, caramel, chocolate, ricotta, coconut, cream...you get my drift! 

As you've all heard we're trying to eat cleaner however this will not stop us from enjoying good old pancake day! Believe it or not there's ways of making a more saintly stack and here's how...!

The clean and lean version...

Our hero of the moment James Duigan helps us out yet again with a rolled oats and ricotta based recipe. With a 10/10 track record for his recipes so far, I'm pretty confident these will be delicious and easy to whip up! 

Makes approx 16 pancakes:

• 100g organic rolled oats
• 200g ricotta (or cottage cheese)
• 4 medium eggs
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 100g blueberries
• Natural yogurt to serve

1. Blend the oats, cheese, eggs and cinnamon in a food processor until you have a smooth batter

2. Heat a nonstick frying pan, pour in small ladlefuls of batter and gently spread out to form pancakes about 10cm across 

3. Cook for 2-3 minutes on each side. Serve warm with blueberries and a dollop of yogurt.

The grain free version...

Rosie Londoner comes to the rescue again with a handy bloat free version! Tick off one of your 5-a-day and finish with a 'flat as a pancake' stomach...what's not to like?! Obviously extras can be added if you're feeling a little devilish, plus a stream of syrup always makes for a better Instagram snap...!

Makes 4-5 pancakes:

• 2 large bananas
• 1 large egg
• Pinch of cinnamon
• Pinch of baking powder
• Sprinkle of blueberries  

1. Mash your bananas, add your egg and keep smoothing it out with a fork. You want no lumps but make sure you don’t use a blender or they’ll turn out flat. Mix in your cinnamon and baking powder.

2. Heat a pan with a little butter, ladle out pancake dollops and drop a few blueberries in.

3. Cook on a medium heat until the tops start to bubble, flip and cook for another minute on the other side.

4. Devour guilt free!!

And finally...

The mightily moreish version...

I'm not sure of the exact nutritional facts behind these puddles of heaven, however they seem to check the majority of our clean boxes! Besides, even if they didn't, we'd still break every rule to have them as they are SERIOUSLY special! 

Middle Mouse knocked up a stack of these last Summer at our French chateau of dreams and we haven't been able to forget them since! 

There's no doubt that we'll be opting for these beauties tomorrow night and here's how you can too!

• 1 cup plain yogurt 
• 2 tbsp coconut oil 
• 1 tsp manuka honey 
• 2 eggs 
• 1/2 cup oat flour 
• 1/2 cup rye flour 
• 1/2 tsp baking soda 
• Pinch of salt 
• Pinch of ground cinnamon 
• 1 tsp coconut flakes 
• 1 tsp chia seeds 
• Strawberries 
• Oil for frying

1. Place all the ingredients, except for the strawberries, into a bowl and mix so it connects (not more). 

2. Cut the strawberries in halve length ways

3. Heat your pan with the oil and place a spoon of dough for each small pancake and place a strawberry in the middle. 

4. Fry on both sides until nicely golden.

Get yourselves to the shops today, stock up on all the ingredients for your fav recipe, and spend all day tomorrow in pancake Utopia!

This Week The Mice Have Mostly Been...

We've spent the majority of this week wishing we were snuggled up somewhere like this...

But oh no we've been out in the arctic temperatures battling through the week!! Well the good news is...we've only gone and made it to Friday and you can officially spend the next 48 hours wrapped in your duvet, cuddling a hot water bottle with huge mugs of tea...BLISS!!

When we haven't been trying to push the thought of Barbados sun as far from our minds as possible, the Mice have mostly been....

Frantically pulling apart our wardrobes each morning to assemble the perfect outfit to withstand the frio British temperatures! I'm fighting the urge everyday as I sleepily brave the world outside of my cosy duvet cocoon, not to reach for my cashmere tracksuit - I'm not sure that's quite office appropriate!

My sticking spot...coats! I have jeans sorted for the next decade and a good selection of boots that cover every situation, however I still haven't cracked the final most important layer!

I popped into Topshop last week and picked up a cute monochrome cocoon coat - main issue - bracelet sleeves and extremely lightweight! Perfect transition piece but it's only going to encourage sneezing and teeth chattering at the moment - not the look we want!

Instead we want to look chic, cosy and cool...after searching high and low I think I've hit the nail on the head! An oversized, sheepskin lined, fur hooded parka of course!

As soon as I laid eyes on this beauty I knew I had to have it, annoyingly it's from the US which is always a bit of a pain delivery wise, however I picked it up on a day when the site had $50 off and free delivery...win win!

No more miserable mornings for me...you can instead find me wandering along in my new toasty fur cocoon!!

Minusey Parka, $329

Fast approaching the end of a 14 day detox courtesy of James Duigan's Clean and Lean diet. At London towers we've become slightly obsessed with this genius' book and way of living. Rather than embarking upon a totally unrealistic diet cutting out entire food groups and only eating 'low fat' labelled foods, you instead change your whole approach to eating, with a diet of good fats and clean ingredients which is easy to follow and sustainable. Fad diets never work as they are full of low-fat, processed foods packing your body full of toxins which actually cling onto fat, however get clean and you will see a difference instantly!

You begin with a 14 day kick start which involves no alcohol and three clean meals a day with a morning and afternoon snack of fruit and nuts. It's important to keep your fruit intake to a handful of berries a day and caffeine to a minimum (one cup of tea or coffee a day) - the aim is to clean the body of toxins so when you finish the detox you can continue a clean diet with one cheat meal a week and when you do have alcohol / anything not strictly clean, your body can cope with removing these toxins quickly and effectively.

Rosie Huntington Whitely and Elle Macpherson swear by this diet, Elle has even written the foreword for his book. If you're dedicated and follow the diet with the exercise routine 3 times a week (also in the book) you will see results by the end of 14 days. Not only does it transform your shape but also how you feel - we're coming to the end of ours tomorrow and have so much more energy and even find morning gym visits a breeze!

However the most important element, the recipes are delicious! At times you even feel naughty - eating lots of Brazil nuts, pecans, almond milk, avocados, full fat Greek yogurt, toasted pine nuts and real butter - believe me it isn't a hard eating plan to follow!

A couple of gems from this week...

Spelt, butternut squash and goats cheese....

Ginger, chili steamed salmon parcels...

But our favourite has to be breakfast...you will find yourself leaping out of bed, downing your morning lemon and pink Himalayan salt water just so you can gobble up a bowl of this magical brekkie!

Here's how you create it at home...

Almond Milk Quinoa & Berries

To serve 2 you need:

250ml Almond Milk
50g Quinoa
50g Blackberries
50g Blueberries
1 tablespoon of chopped pecans
Greek Yogurt to serve

How to...

1. Bring the almond milk to the boil in a saucepan, stir in the quinoa and reduced the heat to a simmer for 10 minutes.

2. Once all liquid has been absorbed remove from the heat, stir in the blackberries, blueberries and pecans. 

3. Spoon into 2 bowls and serve with a tablespoon of Greek yogurt. 

Right on that note have a fabulous weekend, we know we will...

This Week The Mice Have Mostly Been...

I think we all deserve a bit of...

We made it through work week number two of 2015 and we're still standing... just!

This end we're still being ridiculously healthy with gym sessions in serious swing leaving us yelping with every move we make! At least it's taking our mind off the fact there are only two Mice in London now...come back HK Mouse we miss you!!!

When we haven't been avoiding bread, pumping iron (trying to!) or weeping every time we stand up or walk down stairs, this week the Mice have mostly been...

Going zoodle crazy with our new spiralizer obsession! I mentioned last week it was all part of our new beach goddess fitness drive and some inspiralization would be winging its way to you asap...well here's recipe number one!

If you checked out Middle Mouses' post this week you'll already be up to date on our weekend shenanigans, however if not,  a couple of my best girls come over for a night out 2008-style! As we were the first to get a place up in London, back in the good old days, every Saturday the girls would pile up to the flat early on Saturday evening where a feast would be laid on and copious cocktails would flow as we all got ready together for a big night out. After too many shots and dancing until our heels were kicked off, we'd weave home for drunken scrambled eggs and a sleep over all topped off the morning after by a hungover brunch! We decided it had been far too long since our last one, so we thought we'd kick off 2015 how we mean to go on...fun, fun and more fun!

However beach goddesses do not eat slice after slice of pizza so some habits had to be kicked! Carb-laden pre-boozng feast kicked, and instead I spiralized some zoodles of course (zucinni noodles!). Once you try this gem of a recipe you'll seriously think you've died and gone to heaven...a lip smacker of a dish which in my eyes kills the need for carbs any day!

You Need (serves 2)...

For the sauce:

1 lime squeezed
Salt and pepper
1 avocado
1/4 cup 0% plain Greek yogurt
12 basil leaves
1 medium clove of garlic, minced

For the rest:
3 courgettes
Salt and pepper to taste
1 pack of king prawns
1 whole lime
1 corn on the cob
Coconut oil

Here's how...

1. If you managed to get corn on the cob then whack these on a baking tray and preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Season with salt and paper and bake for 10 mins. Once done remove, scrape off the kernels and set aside. Our local store didn't have fresh corn so we made do with the green giant kind instead, however this still worked and was just as delicious! 

2. Set up your spiralizer and carve those courgettes into spirals of joy! 

3. Meanwhile chop your avo...

...pile all your sauce ingredients into a Blender... 

and whizz up into a thick sauce...

4. I'm not the biggest fan of raw garlic so instead of putting in the sauce I cooked the prawn up with it in a little coconut oil. 

5. The recipe say to serve to zoodles up raw however I chucked them into the garlic and prawn to soften and warm through!

6. Just before serving add the sauce to the zoodles and prawns, mix through and sprinkle with the baked corn...yum! 

Slathering ourselves every night before bed in prickly pear oil! Ok now that's a sentence I never imaged to come out of my mouth, unless I was going through a mid-life Jungle Book crisis! 

Sorry back to the facts, so during the winter months I often - like most - struggle with dry dull skin which doesn't look great even under my new amazing Charlotte Tilbury foundation! I have to be super careful with what I use as my skin is quite sensitive and I hate using heavy moisturisers. Not hard to please I know, but somehow there is a miracle answer...Prickly Pear Oil.

My lovely friend, Andrea, the creator of NYK1 initially brought it to my attention and kindly sent me some to try. It's transformed my end of day skin routine, either apply it concentrated or mix a few drops into your normal moisturiser before bed (I prefer to do the last option) It's super nourishing, sorts out any dry patches and I definitely feel it has brightened my complexion.

Officially this oil's benefits are endless: moisturises, softens, tightens pores to improve the skin's texture, prevents premature ageing and wrinkle formation, brightens dark spots and under-eye shadows, restores elasticity and brightens complexion. See I told you....a MIRACLE worker! 

You can pick yourself up a bottle here, and i'd do it quick smart if I were you as it's currently priced at £44.95 instead of the normal £75!

Right now I've got your weekend meal plan and beauty regime sorted, I'm off to drink, dance and make the most of the next 48 hours of FREEDOM! 

Enjoy!!!

The Mice x

Flavour Full Stop: Great Grub in a Box

Sick and tired of boring stir fry and chicken salads? Running out of inspiration for tonight's dinner? Have a dinner party coming up and no idea what to make? Well we have the perfect solution for all your dilemmas (well, for UK peeps at least)....Flavour Full Stop Boxes of course!! 

Flavour Full Stop is a new brand with the aim to create new and exciting food experiences into everyone's home each month...and that they really do! A huge part of the concept that we loved was the fact each box is a surprise to the subscriber, it is only when you receive your package that you will find out the contents! Each box contains 6 full sized artisan products (both food and drink) all sourced from around the UK. 

Firstly when your box arrives it's all neatly packaged up and opening it is like a little treasure trove. Middle Mouse and I ripped open the lid to be faced with a box stuffed full of crinkled packaging with a whole heap of little gems hidden within it! A little booklet is also enclosed explaining the theme of the box, telling the story behind each product, the location within the UK it was sourced and helpful ideas/recipes of how to make the most of each one of them! I told you it would solve all your problems...

- Ingredients : TICK
- A dinner party theme : TICK
- Interesting stories to impress your guests with : TICK
- Delicious and easy recipes: TICK

The lovely people behind the brand contacted us after reading the blog and sensing our love for food, kindly sent us a September box to trial, which was themed Indian Summer. Last weekend I was feeling under the weather so we decided to stay in and cook up a storm at London Towers and put our box to good use! 

Our box comprised of...

The Tiny Takeaway - a small paper takeaway bag with four paper parcels inside filled with the perfect mix of spices and seasoning to make four authentic Indian dishes with additional ingredients required and an easy to follow recipe printed on the outside of each. This included:

Spicy Tatties
Spicy Rice
Madras Curry
Rogan Josh Curry 

Love Pickle - a chilli tomato pickle perfect with poppadoms and nan bread

Easy Naan Bread Kit - a pre weighed and mixed bag of ingredients to make the perfect naan bread! 

Mango Hot Chilli Sauce - a spicy mango sauce bursting full of flavour 

Cardamom Bitters - the perfect addition to make a mean martini!

Cardamom and Vanilla Chocolate - obviously every banquet needs a pudding...! 

The Indian Summer box was right up our street - firstly we've all been eating curry since we were teeny tiny and were brought up understanding that it was a special treat (to this day we still get super excited about the prospect) so, points were immediately awarded for the fab theme! Secondly, the whole concept is so much fun as you've no idea what's in the box, so get the excitement of a present-like package plus the challenge to take on new things we'd probably never have attempted otherwise (hello making naan breads!). Best of all, Flavour Full Stop make everything so easy that even a complete novice could cope! 

The result - AMAZING...the flavours were crazily good, it felt like we should have slaved over a stove for hours to create such delicious dishes! We really felt that we'd stretched ourselves and learnt new things and it totally opens your eyes to how easy cooking outside of the box can be...we'll definitely think twice before ordering a greasy, sub-standard takeaway curry again! 

You've still got time to sign-up for the October box here and if you're not convinced just yet why not try for yourself? The subscription allows you to pick from a 1 month, 3 month or 6 month option...go on, DO IT!!!