Good intentions

Okay, let’s get the excuses for my hiatus out of the way first. It’s the two ‘W’ words: wedding and work! Since returning from a holiday in Tenerife in August I literally didn’t stop until Christmas due to a busy schedule at work, a house move which fell through and a wedding to plan – all of which left me too shattered to come home and think about a blog. But that’s a rubbish excuse and my New Year’s resolution is to make more effort and stop blaming what is really just laziness on being too busy!!

So staying on the New Year’s theme, January is generally a month of good intentions when we vow to lay off the booze, hit the gym and eat healthier. Of course this never fully materialises (last night I went out drinking cocktails and tonight I will be stuffing my face with Christmas chocolate on the basis that if I eat it all now then it’s gone and I can’t eat anymore – come on, we all do that?!)

But, my saving grace is that most of the time I do eat healthy and I’ll certainly keep that up. If you’re looking for a serious January detox the HonestlyHealthly book is your bible. My mother-in-law-to-be lent it to me a couple of months ago and I’ve had a bash at a couple of the recipes – the one I’m sharing with you here is a nutty granola which is fabulous with yoghurt for breakfast and it’s super healthy.

While the book has some great ideas (in particular the good-for-you cakes and chocolates which provide a guilt-free fix when you’re craving something sweet), it would be extremely difficult to keep up the lifestyle element for any length of time.

I do recommend this granola though – make a big batch and store in an airtight container and it’ll last for weeks.

I'm now going to go and make a salad for tea and pack my gym bag for tomorrow!

Nutty granola

Ingredients

50g dried dates

100g jumbo rolled oats

2 tbsp honey

85g mixed raw cashew and pecan nuts

15g raw pumpkin seeds

3 tbsp olive oil

It’s not in the recipe but I also add 50g of dried cranberries

Method

Preheat oven to 160 degrees. Simmer the dates in 1cm of water until soft then blend until smooth with a hand blender.

Put in a large bowl, stir in the rest of the ingredients and mix well.

Spread the mixture onto a baking sheet and bake in the oven for 15 minutes until golden. 

Reduce the oven temperature to 110 degrees and cook for a further 30 minutes until the mixture is dry and crisp.

Leave to cool completely, then enjoy!