Sugar-free pina colada muffins

Ingredients 350g spelt flour, 2 eggs, 2 tsp baking powder, 30g desiccated coconut 75g diced pineapple and dried cranberries, 150ml pineapple juice, 100g coconut palm sugar, 1 tbsp coconut oil, 1 tsp honey.

Serves: 6 Preparation: 45 minutes (plus an hour soaking)

When it comes to food critiquing, my husband is a man of few words, and many facial expressions so his reaction to these muffins of "oh my god! mmmmmm!!!" before grabbing a second one, posting a picture on Facebook and then begging me to bake some more for him to take to work with him says it all. These are absolutely luscious and will fill your house with the most incredible tropical scent. Plus they're sugar free and made from "good fat" and healthy flour! Hurrah!

1) Soak the dried pineapple and cranberries in the pineapple juice along with the honey for ideally an hour, then pre-heat the oven to gas mark 4.

2) Sift together the flour, baking powder, dessicated coconut and set aside.

3) If the coconut oil has solidified, melt it gently, then whisk in the eggs and palm sugar before adding the pineapple and juice.

4) Roughly fold the wet ingredients into the dry - don't overmix it. Muffin batter should never be completely smooth. Spoon into muffin cases and bake in the oven for 35-40 minutes. I like to sprinkle a little extra coconut on the top before baking - the toasted coconut smells and tastes WONDERFUL.

5) Leave to cool, if you have the willpower, then devour. These are good for up to 3 days afterwards if sealed in a tupperware container but benefit from being gently warmed in the oven for a few minutes before serving after that!

Super-protein chicken salad

Ingredients Roast chicken, 1 pint chicken stock, 1/2 cup spelt, 1/2 cup quinoa, 1/2 cup wild rice.

Serves: 2 Preparation: 1 hour

My beloved yet insane husband is doing Tough Mudder this week (please sponsor him!), and it is up to me to pump him full of protein, lest his muscles fail him and he die.
No pressure then! This salad, using leftover roast chicken and some of the stock made from the carcass has had him salivating at lunch time and is perfect picnic fodder too!

1) Spelt takes the longest to cook at 50 minutes. Soak it in cold water for 5 minutes, drain, then add it to the pan of chicken stock, stir through and leave to simmer.

2) Wild rice takes 30 minutes, so after 20 minutes add to the spelt and stir through.

3) Quinoa takes just 15 minutes, so add to the pan 15 minutes after the wild rice, stir through and leave to cook.

4) If you'd like to serve this hot, drain away any excess stock (though after the best part of an hour it should all have been absorbed or evaporated!), stir through the leftover chicken, season and serve. Otherwise allow the grains to cool before adding the chicken.

Champagne spelt risotto crusted chicken

Ingredients 1 pint vegetable stock, 1/2 white onion, butter, champagne, 1 cup spelt, chicken

Serves: 2 preparation: 1 hour


I have been cooking chicken a lot for The Husband recently (how strange to not be calling him The Boy any more. *terrified grown up moment*) and challenging myself to create ever more moist, tender chicken. The beer-can chicken was probably at the top of the succulent scale, but this gives it stiff competition. All risottos (no matter what the ingredients) can be made in 3 simple stages. The first is called tostatura - coating the rice in fat, the second involves cooking off some alcohol and the third involves releasing the starch from the rice one ladle of stock at a time. It's this process of releasing starch into a sauce which makes a risotto a risotto and I was delighted to learn that spelt (a kind of wheat) can also be used.
1) Soak the spelt in cold water for 5 minutes

2) Dice the onion roughly and sautee in a little butter until soft. Drain the water from the spelt and stir into the onions. 
3) Add a glug of champagne, once the alcohol cooks off, add the first ladle of stock and stir through.

4) Continue adding the stock to the risotto, one ladle at a time until the spelt has fluffed up and softened. Leave to cool for 10 minutes.


5) Form the risotto around the chicken in a protective shell and roast in the oven for 25-30 minutes before serving.

Spelt-otto: Orange & saffron

Ingredients   1 pint vegetable stock, 1/2 white onion, butter, 1 orange, pinch saffron, salt, paprika, chilli powder, Pimms, 1 cup spelt

Serves: 2 preparation: 25 minutes

All risottos (no matter what the ingredients) can be made in 3 simple stages. The first is called tostatura - coating the rice in fat, the second involves cooking off some alcohol and the third involves releasing the starch from the rice one ladle of stock at a time. It's this process of releasing starch into a sauce which makes a risotto a risotto and I was delighted to learn that spelt (a kind of wheat) can also be used. It has a fabulous texture and flavour and really brings out the sweet hay-like scent of saffron. I read recently that monks used saffron as a treatment for melancholy and this struck me as good inspiration for the exotic Eastern combination of orange and chilli.


1) Soak the spelt in cold water for 5 minutes

2) Finely dice the onion and sautee in a little butter until soft. Drain the water from the spelt and stir into the onions. 

3) Add a glug of Pimms and the juice and zest of one orange. Once the alcohol cooks off, add the first ladle of stock along with a pinch of saffron and stir through.

4) Continue adding the stock to the risotto, one ladle at a time until the spelt has fluffed up and softened. Add paprika and chilli powder to taste and serve.