Pork, Apple & Herb Patties

Working from home during the school holidays is no mean feat. Everything takes three times (at least) as long to do when you factor in all the calls of  'I'm hungry', 'Can you give me a lift Mum', 'can you play with me' and 'what are we doing today'. So by the time the call of 'what's for dinner' comes along I suddenly realise that I've not even thought about it.

These pork patties are a variation of a meatball - instead of being a ball, they're flat! They're so easy to make that the kids could make them (if someone would just tell my kids that please), and as long as you've got some mince in the fridge they could be on the table within 30 minutes.

I could've served these in a tomato sauce but then I may as well have just made meatballs, and I wanted mine with a salad, so I served them alongside some ready made barbecue sauce and potatoes from the allotment, making this a pretty healthy meal all in all, and minus the bbq sauce it's pretty clean too.

Pork, Apple & Herb Patties - makes approx 25

750g lean pork mince
handful of fresh mixed herbs, finely chopped
2 Braeburn apples, grated
Olive oil for frying

• Mix all the ingredients together until well combined
• Form into balls and then flatten
• Once all the patties have been formed, heat a little oil in a non stick frying pan
• Fry the patties for a few minutes on each side, until cooked through - you may need to do this in two or more batches
• Serve immediately

Chilli & Lemon Hummus

On the quest to find snacks and light lunches that are both portable and suitable for a [mostly] clean eating diet, I've been making hummus (or is it houmus?). If you've got a powerful blender (I have a Nutribullet) then it's easy, otherwise it could take a lot of mashing and elbow grease.

I buy dried chickpeas, soak them overnight & then boil them. They can either be used within a couple of days or I freeze them on a tray and bag up once frozen. This saves soaking and boiling a batch whenever I need them. You can always buy canned chickpeas, which are much more convenient, but dried are a lot more economical (plus there are no additives that may have been added at the canning stage).

I decided to make this batch of hummus with some chilli olive oil that Pomora kindly sent me as part of their adopt an olive tree scheme. It's by far the best chilli oil that I've come across, as not only is it a vibrant colour, but it also has one hell of a kick! If you can't get hold of this, then any good quality extra virgin olive oil will do, and you can then add chilli flakes to suit your taste.

Chilli & Lemon Hummus

275g cooked chickpeas

3 cloves of garlic, peeled

juice of 1 lemon

75ml Extra virgin olive oil

30ml chilli olive oil

+ cold water as required

• Add the chickpeas, garlic, lemon juice & olive oils to a blender and process until smooth, adding cold water as necessary, until it reaches your desired consistency

Avocado Pate and Salt & Pepper Scottish Oatcakes

Wherever I can I like to eat clean as much as possible. Yeah, yeah, I know my blog is full of cakes and sweet treats, but, y'know, a little of what you fancy and all that.  Sometimes life gets in the way a little though, and it's easy to reach for the beans on toast for lunch and pasta for dinner, but when I do take a little time to think and create, I'm usually pleased with the results I come up with, in not much more time than it would take to pop a jacket spud in the microwave.

This avocado pate is delicious, and so easy to make. It does contain cream cheese, which I'm sure is frowned upon by many in the clean eating world, but as long as you're not cutting out dairy then I think a small amount is fine - it's not as though you would eat the whole pot in one sitting or anything daft like that *ahem*.

I absolutely love Scottish oatcakes and really should make these more, as they're so simple, need very few ingredients, and you can flavour them how you want. Unlike many regular crackers, they are also gluten free, and go perfectly with the avocado pate.

Avocado Pate 

1 ripe avocado

juice of 1/2 a lime

100g full fat cream cheese

pinch of chilli flakes (optional)

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

• Add all the ingredients to a blender (or you can mash for a more textured pate) & blend until smooth
• Spoon into a ramekin, cover with clingfilm and place in the fridge until needed

Salt & Pepper Scottish Oatcakes

150g oats

freshly ground black pepper

sea salt

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

• Add the oats to a food processor and blitz until finer
• Add the salt & black pepper (to taste)
• Add the olive oil and pulse until the oats come together
• Roll out onto a sheet on clingfilm until the thickness of a £1 coin
• Cut discs and place onto a baking sheet
• Re-roll and cut the remaining mixture until used up
• Bake in a preheated 180C oven for approx 20 minutes, until crispy and slightly browned
• Allow to cool on a wire rack & store in an airtight container

Cashew, Date & Ginger Bars

When I first started Paleo eating I would often fancy a snack in the evening. These days I don't feel the need as much, but I do quite enjoy nibbling on a few nuts with a cuppa after dinner. A long while ago I tried a nakd bar and I loved it, but they can be expensive unless you buy in bulk, so I thought I would attempt to make some for myself.

The nuts are not as finely ground as nakd bars, but I quite like that. I added ginger to this batch but will try other flavours in the future. A added a dusting of cocoa powder to stop the bars from sticking together rather than adding flavour - I would've added ground almonds but didn't have any.

I didn't weigh the ingredients, just added the same volume of cashews as dates, and they can be made as thick or thin as you like.

Cashew, Date & Ginger Bars

1 cup cashews

1 cup dates

1 tsp ground ginger

a little water

dusting of cocoa powder

• Grind the cashews in a food processor
• Grind the dates in a food processor, adding a little water if they are quite dry
• Mix the ground cashews, dates and ginger together, until they are in a well combined, sticky ball
• Press into a tin lined with clingfilm and refrigerate for a few hours
• Slice into bars and dust with a little cocoa powder