Tips & thoughts for the New Year
Thought for the month
We have hit 2017 with a bang and couldn't be more excited. Firstly, thank you for subscribing to our newsletter, we cant wait to let you in on our reviews, features, recipes, and our overall love for the soulfulness of great Irish food!
We are a couple of weeks into January 2017 and whether your resolution was a start or a stop, overall it was a goal. I don't like the term New Year Resolution, I think the term has too much negativity attached to it in general. Its acceptable for people to break new years resolutions, its almost expected, with many people waiting to see how long it takes you to fail instead of encouraging you to succeed. I believe that the term resolution by its very nature (a firm decision to do or not to do something) sets us up for defeat. I believe that we truly only fail when we stop trying, and the goals that we set for ourselves do not have to start on a specific date, we can strive to achieve these goals every day and can take small measurable steps towards our own success. The most important part of falling down is getting back up. Never stop striving for your goals and when you get there start moving towards your next goal. Remember small steps can make bug dreams a reality. Don't give up, you got this.
New Products
The Happy Pear
The Happy Pear has arrived!!!! We are delighted to announce the addition of The Happy Pear Cool Jim Granola and Breakfast Bar range to our product portfolio. Launched in 2004 by twin brothers Dave & Steve, The Happy Pear started as a veg shop with a big dream. And boy is that dream being lived, focused on plant based eating The Happy Pear has grown from strength to strength spreading the love for plant based eating with their truly delicious range.
Boost Bites
The Award-Winning range Boost Bites is handmade daily in Dublin, the brain child of Cliona Hegarty has arrived in style. We are completely obsessed with their Coco Bella Bites, when we say unbelievably delicious we are not joking! Spending time in Australia Cliona fell in love with a clean eating way of life and on her return to Dublin decided to share her passion with everyone through Boost Bites. A passion for clean unprocessed food has fueled Cliona's drive to produce her range of healthy, energy boosting snacks. Ideal for snacking throughout the day or pre/post workout.
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How to Eat Clean
1. Respect & love your body, don't eat junk, remember food for fuel, not food for full!
2. Increase the amount of fruit and vegetables in your daily diet.
3. Read the ingredients, if you don't recognize one of them then you can bet it's not natural.
4. Eat simple foods. Eat regularly throughout the day, aim to eat 4 - 5 times a day. Smaller meals more often help you avoid sugar crashes and cravings. Try our Bia Snack Star to help you curb your cravings.
5. Check the shelf life of your food, processed foods tend to have extended shelf lives. This can be caused by some of them having added chemical compounds to help improve dates. Simple foods have a much shorter shelf life.
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Recipe of the month: Inspired by Natural Born Feeder - Almond Snicker Slice
"My approach to cooking is simple: use whole foods to live a whole life" - Natural Born Feeder
This batch keeps for seven days in the fridge (Apparently! Our's is never around long enough to find out! lol). Store in an airtight container.
Ingredients
Biscuits
- 3 tbsp cashew butter (Sowans)
- 5 tbsp coconut flour (Dr Coys)
- 2 tbsp maple syrup
- 2 1/2 tbsp coconut oil (Dr Coys)
Caramel
- 6 medjool dates
- 5 tbsp almond butter (Sowans)
- 4 tbsp maple syrup
- 100ml almond milk
- pinch of sea salt
- 100g roasted or raw almonds
Chocolate
- 3 tbsp coconut oil (Dr Coys)
- 2 tbsp maple syrup
- 1 tbsp cacao powder
Method
- To make the base add all the ingredients into a medium sized mixing bowl, combine using hands or a spoon until a dough is created
- Press in a lined brownie tin
- In a food processor (we love 'The Boss') add all the ingredients for the caramel and bled until smooth with no trace of dates. the caramel should be thick
- Halve the almonds and stir into the caramel before pouring over the biscuits base and evening out
- Now for the chocolate - add the coconut oil to a small saucepan and melt over a low heat, once melted add in the maple syrup and cacao powder, stir to combine
- Pour over the top of the caramel and spread evenly
- Place in fridge for 3 hours to set
- Slice up and enjoy! xxx
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Product of the month - *drum roll please* Squeeze Wheatgrass Apple & Pear!
With a mild frost waking us up on 1/1/17 it definitely felt like a new beginning! A beautifully crisp and clean energy filled the air as we reached for our product of the month, Squeeze Wheatgrass Apple & Pear! Feeling the hangover of Christmas 2016 there is no better way to chase off the cobwebs and give the metabolism a gear change!
Squeeze wheatgrass Apple & Pear is not only delicious to taste but has fantastic anti-inflammatory and detoxifying properties to help us heal into the new year. With the added bonus of many vitamins, minerals, enzymes, amino acids, a simple shot of wheatgrass can balance out the hunger pangs for the rest of the day! By adding a shot of lemon juice, squeeze wheatgrass has given us a 6 week shelf life. One pouch has 30ml wheatgrass, 15ml apple juice, 10ml pear juice and 5ml lemon juice. This product is 100% natural with no added sugars, additives or preservatives. Dairy free, gluten free and 100% Irish, handgrown in Warrenpoint Co. Down, Northern Ireland.
Wheatgrass has an intense detoxing action compared to other fruit and veg drinks. If you are new to wheatgrass, squeeze's shots are the perfect amount to drink daily. It's best to drink wheatgrass on an empty stomach, 30mins before eating. Wheatgrass is a superfood and can be completely assimilated by the body in just 20 minutes.