Gluten free Baking, baking and more baking.....4 new recipes!

Baking is literally such a guilty pleasure and I share the recipes more so for my memory and also the pleasure of hopefully 1/2 people who might actually have a go and try and attempt the same one day, I do hope that people have a pop at these things. I try to make them very simple, gluten free, easy to get hold of ingredients and not long to make. This makes it easy for the average Joe to have a go at them.

Almond flour and chia charge cake

Making this cake was a little difficult at first but I made two versions and the second one I did in a taking try and not a cake dish and is worked so much better. The cake doesnt rise that much but taste so good. The polenta in it is actually very original and makes for a very good texture.

Ingredients:

150g polenta

150g ground almonds

3 tbsp honey

50g pea protein

2 tsp chia seeds

1 whole chia bar

1 egg

1. Pre-heat the oven at 170

2. Combine all into a food processor and wiz till combined.

3. Make sure none of the batter is stuck to the sides and it all goes into the lined baking tray. 

4. Bake for 25-35mins and leave to cool.

5. Slice and enjoy (amazing with peanut butter) 

 

Brazil nut, date, @pulsin pea protein and honey cookies. 

Ingredients:

200g Brazil nuts

200g dates

2 tbsp honey 

50g pea protein

1. Pre-heat the oven at 180

2. Combine all into a food processor and wiz till combined.

3. When the cookies make a dough (it will be a little wet) roll into small balls and place on a baking try, and squish with a fork. 

4. Bake for 15mins and leave to cool.

Cashew nut butter, coconut oil and honey cookies. 

Ingredients:

200g Cashew nut butter

2 tbsp honey 

2 tbsp of melted coconut oil.

1. Pre-heat the oven at 180

2. Combine all into a food processor and wiz till combined.

3. When the cookies make a dough (it will be a little wet) roll into small balls and place on a baking try, and squish with a fork. 

4. Bake for 15mins and leave to cool.

Raw peanut butter, nutella, coconut oil brownies.

Ingredients:

200g peanut butter

2 tbsp honey 

2 tbsp of melted coconut oil

2 tsp chia seeds

3 tbsp of nutella

1 scoop of @pulsin pea protein

1. Pre-heat the oven at 180

2. Combine all into a food processor and wiz till combined.

3. Add to a loaf tin lined with cling film and place in the freezer.

4.Take out as and when and slice to eat.

Gluten free cycling fuel - rice cakes.

The book below has changed the way I have been baking and making gluten free cycling fuel, the first chapter is fantastic and really does have an amazing outlook on training and how adaptation, fueling and recovery play a huge roll in the life of a top quality athlete (not sure I'm quite there yet). The book has so many fantastic different portable fuel ideas, and has led me to try them but also adapt them to my own ideas. 

Ingredients:

200g rice crispies 

100g delicious alchemy gluten free rice flakes @4GlutenFreeFood

75g almond flour

2 tbsp coco

2 tbsp butter 

100g currants

100ml almond milk

Directions:
To make these it is very simple.

1.Add butter to a pan and melt.
2.Add the almond milk and heat gently.
3.Once the milk has heated slightly add the rice crispies, stir well and then add the almond flour.
4.After these have combined with the milk and become a little thick, add the coco and the currants.
5. Transfer to a shallow tin lined with baking paper and leave to cool. (I put it in the fridge after 10/15mins)
6. lye out and cut into squares. Wrap each square with foil and you are ready to go.

NEW BEGINNING....WATTAGE, MATT BOTTRILL and a new start......Euro 2016 qualification.

It has been a rather tough month and if you asked me how I felt 4 weeks ago I would have gave you an honest answer and it would have been rather confused. I  was on a taper week ready to race clumber classic after a rather crap race two week prior. I had no idea how I was going to race and was very worried that it would be another repeat performance of a substandard race....and low and behold it was another very poor race by my standards. I wanted more from racing and have worked my ass off during the winter (turns out making myself weaker and weaker, week on week). After these very disappointing results I found myself very lost and didnt know what to do where to turn or what step to make next, I also had Horst European Duathlon Championships on the horizon...so it was crunch time. I needed to now make some decisions, first of which was getting a coach, this was and I hope to be a fundamental and critical decision to contribute towards me making progress in the future. I almost want to achieve too much and have been burring myself week in and out and doing far to much with not enough of the right stuff. I can now see and say that I was chronically fatigued and am now starting to shake it and come out of it, but there is still more work to be done there.

The coach I have chosen for my new beginning is Matt Bottrill, his credentials talk for them self and he is one of the most talented time trialist's to ever grace the British shores with some fantastic records for numerous distances.



http://www.mattbottrillperformancecoaching.com/


Matt is going to look after my cycling and provide me with the correct training plans to improve my cycling. I know this isnt a quick fix...what it? So I am in it for the long run to suffer and strive to improve my cycling and get faster! The first thing Matt told me was, if you want me to make you faster you must train to wattage...so thats what ive done, and the chosen type of power meter is stages. This was recommended by a friend and has been great so far. Wattage has no variance and is what it is, you push what you push and things like caffeine will not alter it. So on wards and upwards!  Next stop....new bike?


The next decision was, what do I do about Horsts? obviously the race had now passed, but it was a very hard decision especially because it was something that I was working towards all winter....but I decided to pull. It was a hard decision, but certainly the correct one. I had such high aspirations to do well at Horst but it just didnt work out, the training and focus was lost due to many things and I just had to make the best decision for myself!



Although I had such a bad race at Clumber Park duathlon I did however manage to qualify for the European Duathlon Championships in 2016, which as a slight silver lining. This is something to aim for and a realistic goal to aim for to achieve something serious in the sport.

NEW TOY!


So where to go next, I have a program in place, a new coach, a few new toys and a summer of miles and improvements! The winter almost killed me and now I have a coach to make sure this does not happen again!


Also watch this new space for some new recipes..............