Terry’s who? Grandpa’s four ingredient chocolate orange balls

chocolate orange energy balls

When I was a little girl, my Grandpa used to have a magical orange tree. All year long it would stand in his lounge producing little tiny oranges which were never bigger than a golf ball. But amazingly once they fell off the tree (so the story goes) they would turn into Terry’s chocolate oranges, packaging and all. Of course we never ACTUALLY saw this happen and my brother, cousins and I always took Grandpa’s word for it.
Even after the truth came out, the tree still continued to produce its ‘fruit’ on birthdays and other special occasions. At the end of last year Mr H and I bought a house together and shortly after moving in a little orange tree turned up on our doorstep, a housewarming present from who else but my darling Grandpa.

But my chocolate orange tree is a little different you see. Mine is like chocolate orange tree 2.0; it produces four ingredient chocolate orange energy balls. Ok so it doesn’t, but I do use the zest of its little fruit to make them. Here’s how;

Makes around 10 small balls

Ingredients

  • 1 cup dates
  • 1 cup cashews
  • 4 tbsp cacao powder
  • zest of 1/2 an orange

In a food processor, first blend the cashews until they are all chopped up super small. Then add the dates, cacao and orange zest and blend until all the ingredients are mixed together nicely. Then shape the mixture into small balls and store in an airtight container in the fridge or freezer. Magic!

Love, Mrs H xx

Coconuts – why we love them

coconuts If we had to take one food to a desert island, it would be coconuts. Although hopefully the desert island in question would already have coconuts growing on luscious palm trees swaying in the wind by a white sandy beach (ahhhh) so we’d get to pick another food, in which case we’d probably choose avocados.

Coconuts are just incredible. Not only can they be worn as brassieres (which, when paired with a fail-safe grass skirt provides the ultimate in Hawaii chic) , but the health benefits are totally other worldly. Coconuts contain lots of good fats, which lower cholesterol and reduce the risk of heart disease. It has also been suggested that they can curb your appetite and increase fat burning, so could also aid in weight loss. But there’s more. So much more. Coconuts come in many shapes and forms – we’ve listed our faves below as well as our top tips for using them. Continue reading

I quinoa believe it! Four ingredient chocolate peanut butter truffles 


 Most people we know LOVE chocolate. And peanut butter. But quinoa? We’re not even sure half our friends know how to pronounce it, let alone how to use it in their cooking. So we whipped up these incredible little truffles and served them as petit fours at a dinner party this week, but we kept shtum about our secret ingredient until after the fact. The verdict? They received rave reviews – they aren’t at all heavy or sickly like other truffles can be, and the quinoa gives them a lovely little crunch. They are packed with protein (so a much healthier kind of truffle) plus they are so easy (and inexpensive) to make. Our friends are totally converted. We hope you will be too!

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup quinoa, uncooked
  • 2 tbsp maple syrup
  • 2 tbsp cacao powder (plus a little extra for dusting)
  • 4 tbsp peanut butter

Cook the quinoa by boiling it in water for around 12 minutes. Drain off the excess water and pop it in the fridge to cool for an hour. Once the quinoa has cooled, in a bowl combine it with the maple syrup, cacao and peanut butter. Shape the mixture into balls and dust with cacao. Store in the fridge.

Love, Mrs H xx



   

Slow cooker Mexican three bean chilli

 

 

OHMAGAWD. I have no kitchen.  PANIC. That’s me when I was told that in order to have a lovely sparkly new kitchen fitted, it would mean living sans kitchen for a month.  Originally I hadn’t given it much thought; ‘June will be warm, we can just eat salads’, I told myself (and a very unhappy looking Mr H). Well it turns out that you just can’t make those sort of assumptions in the UK, as I sit here now huddled in my dressing gown, listening to the wind and rain outside. Continue reading

Throw away the ‘smack’ bars – my hunger-busting apple pie granola bars


The scene is set – it’s 11am in a busy office, you’re trying to press on with your to do list, but your concentration is waning and your colleagues are not enjoying the awkward soundtrack provided by your rumbling tummy.
You just need a quick fix. Anything will do. One of said colleagues offers you a Nutrigrain or a Special K bar. That’s healthy right? You readily accept and scuttle back to your desk.

Continue reading

Four ingredient peanut butter balls

On a recent trip to LA, Mr H and I were blown away by how much our lovely friends across the pond seem to adore peanut butter. Talk about a ‘special relationship’, pretty much every candy bar in existence over there counts our beloved PB among it’s ingredients. Now of course most of these are also filled with all sorts of unpronounceable nasties, so we steered clear of them, but we wholeheartedly indulged in the healthy alternatives we found. Continue reading

A Tuesday treat – Mint choc chip milkshake

 
Mint choc chip milkshake
Here at Mrs Hollingsworth’s, we like all the days of the week, but if we had to choose a least favourite day, it would have to be Tuesday. And it turns out we aren’t alone – I mean people don’t say ‘see you next Tuesday’ for nothing now do they? 

Continue reading

Staying healthy at weddings – survival tips

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Before we start let us throw a caveat into the mix – D&H LOVE weddings. We can’t think of anywhere we’d rather be than surrounded by people who are bursting with elation and enjoying that moment so much, it’s just magical. Like Disneyland for adults. On crack. Which is good, because Mr H and I have a lot of recently betrothed friends, and at the moment hardly a month goes by without a delicate pearly-white invitation fluttering in through the letterbox. Continue reading

THE BEST marinated kale salad

 

 I said a BOOM BOOM BOOM, can you hear me say kale…KALE! We’re SO excited to share the yummiest, scrummiest, tastiest marinated kale salad. We literally want to eat it every single day.

Kale is well touted as a superfood, but it’s not always the easiest thing to eat. It can have a bit of a bitter taste on its own, but with the help of a sprinkling of ingredients it tastes divine and it is oh so good for you. Continue reading

Hey pesto! My magical four ingredient sauce


We’re sure you know us by now – we love a simple recipe. If it’s healthy, cheap and quick then it’s a winner in our books. We also love pesto. So these two loves led us to create a super easy, inexpensive (and vegan) pesto recipe that we just can’t get enough of. Continue reading