recipe

Quick Energy Balls.

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FullSizeRender-5We’re always on a quest to try and lead a healthy but balanced lifestyle. We try our best to interpret this during our retreats. We believe that everything in balance is ok, which is why we always greet our guests with a healthy cake or treat when they arrive on one of our weekends. Its a nice way to let people know that they are in for a healthy but relaxed weekend.

There’s a lot of variations on these energy balls at the moment. They’re a great boost mid morning or afternoon, packed with protein and other good stuff but taste delicious. So if you’re vulnerable to the mid morning/afternoon slump then get making a batch of these to sit at your desk for when hunger strikes.

We’re a little obsessed with the new Jamie Oliver ‘Superfoods’ book at the moment, tons of healthy stuff in there and these energy balls don’t disappoint. We especially love the turmeric kick in there (turmeric being great for us as its anti inflammatory and packed with anti-oxidents). Try them out and make substitutions for anything you like/don’t like or simple just have lying around your cupboards. (See ours)

ENERGY BALLS RECIPE :

  • 70g of pumpkin seeds
  • 20g puffed rice or puffed quinoa
  • 50g whole almonds (we used any nuts we had lying around)
  • 80g Medjool dates (we used dried figs)
  • 1cm piece of fresh turmeric or 1/2 teaspoon of ground turmeric
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 heaped teaspoon of quality cocoa powder (we used raw cacao)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 teaspoon manuka honey
  • 1 orange

METHOD :

Blitz the nuts, seeds, puffed rice or quinoa in a food processor until finely chopped. Add the dates, spices and cocoa and blitz again.

Add the honey, orange and vanilla, scraping the sides until the mixture starts to form a ball in the food processor.

With wet hands roll into little balls and the roll the balls in either blitz seeds or raw cacao.

They’ll keep for up to 2 weeks in an airtight container.

ENJOY! x

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Homemade honey and lemon face mask.

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Morning! A gorgeous and CHILLY morning here in London. I so almost made it out for a run this morning but when the weather is nippy like this every bone in my body is saying, get warm, have tea, eat stew. So this morning I LISTENED. The weather can have such a big impact on our mood after all we are part of nature and as humans this is the time of year to hunker down, retreat and store our energy, so if you’re feeling a little affected by the weather and the general time of year then know that this is NORMAL! Hence why we love retreating in January so much.

On today’s post – with just 3 DAYS TO GO until our retreat this weekend we are well and truly getting organised! We’re off to the lovely Brooklands Barn in Arundel, West Sussex. This venue is the perfect antidote to this cold weather its filled with cosy snugs lit by open fires, a heated swimming pool, and a newly installed log cabin sauna which you can indulge in between massages, walking, Pilates, knitting and relaxation.

If you’ve joined us on a weekend retreat before then you’ll know well of our signature goodie bags. Which I have to say we pride ourselves on. We put a lot of effort into  making sure our guest feel loved and have everything they need to truly TUNEOUT. Without giving too much a way, this year amongst lots of other things we’ve made some homemade face masks. There’s tons of different recipes out there but we loved this one for its truly indulgent feel and smell! Good enough to eat quite literally. And you can feel smug in the knowledge that there’s absolutely no nasties in there and if you’re working towards living a life of less stress then that counts for what you put on and in your body, right down to your beauty products and household cleaners.

So here’s the recipe and some of the amazing benefits to your skin (always try a patch test first)

honeyandlemonmask

Honey and Lemon face mask

(Makes 1 portion)

  • 1 tablespoon of organic honey – moisturising, calming, antibacterial, full of anti-oxidants
  • 1 teaspoon of sugar – used for ex-foliating and the removal of dead skin
  • 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon – can plump the skin and make you look younger
  • Juice of 1/2 lemon – acts a natural skin peel, brightens the skin
  • 1 tablespoon of organic almond oil- helps remove dark circles and extra moisturising

Mix and indulge (hopefully in a steaming hit bath!)

Not so bad mince pies…

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mincepiesFor us, it can sometimes be tricky to find healthy sweet treats that live up to their unhealthy counterparts! But these mince pies from Deliciously Ella don’t disappoint. The pastry is soft, sweet and super easy to roll, cut and shape. For the inside, we substituted the  sultanas with figs which was gave it a lovely decadent flavour, plus any left over dough you can roll out and make some cookies, which are a healthy little cup of tea time snack and we do love a spot of frugality.

So here they are and hope you’re December is shaping up well…

Makes 12 mince pies

For the crust

  • 400g of ground almonds
  • 6 tablespoons of coconut oil
  • 4 tablespoons of water
  • 20 medjool dates (400g)

For the mince

  • 2 apples (200g)
  • 1 vanilla pod
  • 100g raisins
  • 100g sultanas
  • 100g dried cranberries
  • the juice of 2 oranges
  • 1 tablespoon of coconut oil
  • 1 teaspoon of cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon of ginger

Chop the apples into small pieces and place them into a saucepan with all the remaining ingredients and stir it together. Let the mince simmer for about 30 minutes, until the apples are nice and soft

While the mince cooks make the crust. Place all the crust ingredients together in a food processor and blend for a minute or so until everything has mixed together and the dates are totally broken down. Then sprinkle flour over a surface and roll the mix out so that it’s about half a cm thick.

Heat the oven to 180C. Grease muffin tins with coconut oil and then mould the mix into the individual tins, once you’ve done this cut the remaining mixture into stars, these will go on top of the pies. Then place the tray of crusts in the oven for 8 minutes, until they start to turn golden brown – at which point take them out and allow them to cool while the mince mix finishes cooking.

Once the mince has cooked start assembling the pies. Simply add two heaped teaspoons of mince into each pie before placing a star over the middle of the mince. Bake the pies again for 8 minutes

Once they’ve baked leave for twenty minutes to cool and finish setting before enjoying!

Pumpkin and Cinnamon Cookies

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finishedcookiesFor most of us the celebration of Halloween is about scary fancy dress, trick or treating and ducking for apples…but the origins of Halloween have been traced back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain. It was known to signify the end of the summer and a change in daily life, the end of the last harvest meant people took to their warmer homes working on crafts and spending more time together. It was thought as a magical time with strong connection to the world of the dead (hence the scary costumes we see nowadays!)

So with a little nod to the celebrations we made these Pumpkin and Cinnamon Cookies with some leftover pumpkin. They’re a bit on the healthy side but with some optional orange icing to sweeten them up if you fancy?! And really rather nice with a warm cup of tea…

Happy Halloween!

mhairipumpkin

CINNAMON AND PUMPKIN COOKIES

Ingredients :

  • 75g wholemeal flour
  • 50g porridge oats
  • 50g pumpkin puree
  • 75g butter
  • A handful of raisins
  • ½ tsp ground cinnamon
  • ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
  • pinch of sea salt
  • Icing sugar and orange food colouring (for decorating)

1.Blitz your leftover pumpkin (the insides once seeds are removed) to a puree in the food processor.

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2.Combine all the dry ingredients in one bowl and wet ingredients in the other.

3. Mix everything together and add the raisins.

mixture

4. Make small balls (around the size of a squash ball and then flatten down onto a lined baking tray.

5. Bake for 15 minutes at 180 or until golden brown on top.

You can either leave them as they are and enjoy or decorate with some orange icing…

Enjoy x

Autumn smoothie

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We’re a little obsessed with the Autumn colours at the moment which was the inspiration for this smoothie! Its a powerful one with tons of goodness in it. We’ve used the juicer AND the blender so a little washing up to do, but you could just take out the sweet potatoes and whizz up the rest in a powerful blender.

Juice the following :

  • 2 apples
  • 3 beetroots
  • 1 sweet potato
  • a handful of red grapes
  • a handful of cherry tomatoes

Put the juice into the blender and add the following :

  • a large handful of your favourite berries
  • 1 banana
  • a glass of almond milk
  • a sprinkling of bee pollen

Enjoy! x

Super power beetroot juice..

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Beetroot juiceOk so the title might be a slight exaggeration BUT this juice DOES pack a punch and will make you feel super duper. Try ditching your morning or afternoon coffee and have this instead? We make big batches of this to drink through the week. Feel free to play around with the quantities to suit your taste. We do enjoy a juice or a smoothie here at Tune Out and we like to treat all our retreaters to some of our concoctions!! Hope you like this one…

  • Raw beetroot, carrot and apple (we used around 5 of each)
  • Ginger (a thumbs worth)
  • Red grapes (a handful)
  • Lemon juice (we used 1)
  • Apple cider vinegar (a splash)

Put all the ingredients, except the lemon juice and cider vinegar, through the juicer, then add the rest. Stir and enjoy!

 

Balance & Biscuits.

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Hi there…How are you all on this fine sunny Tuesday in London?

So in our first blog post we gave you some ways to help you tuneout. Its feels only right that for our next post we share some cake with you (well fudge to be precise!)

You see for us its all about the balance. The Yin and the Yang. The Black and the White. 80:20 as they say… And we do love cake. Its true! Which is why its always so exciting to find new ways of indulging our sweet tooth but in a healthy way.

Healthy food blogs are everywhere right now. They’re taking over our Instagram feeds and its great to be able to access so many inspirational recipes to suit our dietary needs. We really like Deliciously Ella, Hemsley + Hemsley, NaturallyElla to name a few. But one that we’ve been using time and time again, from way back when we had Shoreditch Pilates studio in the East End of London and now on our weekend and day retreats, is the wonderful Cookie and Kate. She is by far our go to blog for something that’s not only deliciously tasty but healthy, quick and easy, plus she has a real cute dog, and this fudge doesn’t disappoint. Its a real crowd pleaser.

I have to admit, Katherine is the master baker between the 2 of us, and during our summer retreat in Aldbeburgh, she whipped these up for our lucky retreaters. Just think, post Pilates class, sun shining, little cuppa. Seriously, what could be better?

Try them out – they’re super easy (I even managed them!) plus you can have a play with the recipe too. I added some dried fruit to make them nice a chewy inside and some dark choc.

Perfect for the holidays, kids, friends, after dinners…

Thanks Kate (from @cookieandkate)  We salute you!

 

‘EASY SALTED OAT FUDGE’

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Ingredients
  • ¾ cup creamy unsalted almond butter or peanut butter
  • ¾ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • ⅓ cup maple syrup or honey
  • 4 tablespoons butter, sliced into small cubes, or ¼ cup melted coconut oil
  • ¾ teaspoon salt (scale back, to taste, if your nut butter is salted)
  • ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1¾ cups oats ground into flour, see step 1
  • 1 cup whole pecans or other nuts
  • Optional: Flaky sea salt, for sprinkling on top
Instructions
  1. Prep work: Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Cut two strips of parchment paper to fit across the interior of an 8 to 9-inch square baker. Criss-cross the papers at the bottom of the baker and fold the ends up the sides of the baker (see photos). If you need to make your own oat flour, blend 1 and ¾ cups oats in a blender or food processor until ground into a fine flour.
  2. Toast the nuts: Arrange the nuts in a single layer on a small, rimmed baking sheet (I used parchment paper for easy clean-up). Bake for 7 to 10 minutes, until fragrant (7 minutes for thinner/smaller/chopped nuts and about 10 for whole pecans). If you’re using large nuts like pecans, transfer them to a cutting board and chop them into small pieces with a chef’s knife.
  3. Make the fudge: In a medium-sized, heavy-bottomed pot, combine the nut butter, chocolate chips, sweetener, butter, salt and cinnamon. Warm the pot over medium heat, stirring often, until the mixture is melted throughout. Remove the pot from heat.
  4. Stir the vanilla extract into the pot, followed by the oat flour and finally, the chopped pecans. The mixture will have thickened up at this point, so you might have to put some muscle into it to mix in those pecans. You can do it!
  5. Carefully dump the fudge mixture into your lined square baker. Use the back of a sturdy mixing spoon to push the mixture across the baker so it’s roughly evenly distributed. Cover the bottom side of a thick, heavy-bottomed drinking glass or mason jar with parchment paper and press it down on the fudge repeatedly until the fudge is evenly packed. If you’re finishing the fudge with flaky sea salt, lightly sprinkle some on top now and gently press it into place with the bottom of your parchment-covered glass.
  6. Cover and freeze the fudge for 30 to 45 minutes, until it’s firm to the touch and no longer shiny in the middle. If you’re not in a hurry, you can refrigerate the fudge for a couple of hours or longer.
  7. Use a chef’s knife to slice the fudge into 1¼-inch wide columns and rows. Fudge will keep well for a couple of days at room temperature, or for a few weeks in the freezer, sealed in an air-tight freezer bag.
Notes :
Make it dairy free and vegan: Use dairy-free chocolate chips and coconut oil in place of the butter.
Make it gluten free: Use certified gluten-free oat flour or oats.
Change it up: If you want to include whole oats in the fudge for texture, use 1¼ cups old-fashioned oats and ¾ to 1 cup oat flour (add oat flour until you can hardly mix in any more).