Whole Wheat Cinnamon Scones

Exam season is creeping up fast again and I'm slowly starting to feel the pressure. I have 3 exams in May to mark the end of my first year; Biochemistry, Human Anatomy and Physiology and Nutrition. As you can imagine, there's quite a lot to get through but when the stress comes creeping, take it out on the dough. Baking has always been rather therapeutic for me, I'm not just creating a delicious batch of comfort food, I'm calming myself down. One of the best things about baking is the smell of the finished product and of course sharing my creations. My little brother presents quite the challenge when it comes to increasing his dietary fibre intake; the boy doesn't like brown bread, he doesn't like oats, heck he rarely ever touches his vegetables. And so I've been forced to come up with a few creative ways to help my mom tackle this problem. Bake it, Spiralise it or Blend it, these are my three go to methods! That's exactly how these cute little numbers came about. Each scone provides 10.8g fibre, that's half of his recommended intake of fibre/day, success! At just 200 calories per scone, they are way more impressive as those choc chip muffins he loves so much. 

*Get Wonky 'Give wonky fruit a chance'

Within the food and drink industry, fruit has to meet strict aesthetic standards to make it to the supermarket shelves. Unfortunately, crooked/misshaped fruits do not make this cut resulting in huge amounts of perfectly good fruit and vegetables being wasted. So what's the meaning of, '1 beetroot and 2 apples were saved making this drink.' Well, it means exactly that thanks to Get Wonky, a new business that gives wonky fruit a chance. Most of us recycle right? So why turn a blind eye to food waste. Get Wonky consider these drinks as a medium to create change, spreading awareness of food waste a bottle at a time.

Founded by Maciek Kacprzyk and Karina Sudenyte here in Cardiff, Get Wonky are standing up to food waste by turning misshapen produce into delicious juices, using recyclable bottles instead of ones that have to be discarded and of course, they are supporting local growers by shifting the wonky produce rejected by supermarket chains. Get Wonky drinks are available in 4 flavours and taste incredible, my favourite being Strawberry and Apple. Now I'm not just saying that, they really do taste incredible and that's the beauty of 100% pure fruit juice. Aesthetics do not matter. A misshaped strawberry is still a strawberry, offering the same taste and nutritional benefits. Can we really afford to discard misshapen produce?

Berryful Breakfast Bowl

I do love a good Oats breakfast bowl. With university keeping me on my toes,fuel is the only thing on my mind first thing in the morning. My course is getting really interesting! In the Nutrition module we are currently covering Micronutrients, in Human Anatomy and Physiology we are covering The Renal System (kidneys) and in Public Health we are learning all about Obesity. Waking up everyday to attend lectures knowing that I'm going to end up in a career that I love makes it all worthwhile. Let me let you in on a little secret though. I always thought I was clear on what I would want to specialise in after I qualify as a Registered Dietitian but you know what, I'm not so sure anymore. There are just so many routes a Dietitian can take and this excites me. I've decided not to think about one particular specialism right now and just enjoy the different aspects of Dietetics. I'll decide a few years after I qualify, after all there's no rush. So breakfast; I'm getting in some fibre from Oats and a few different micronutrients like potassium, Vitamin A and C as well as antioxidants. The RNI for dietary fibre for adults is currently set at 30g/day and statistics show that the majority of the population are not meeting this guideline (SACN 2015). Oats are an easy and quick way to increase your daily fibre intake.

Meat Free Quorn Mince & Sweet Potato Stew

After witnessing some of my friends indulging in Quorn Mince, I decided to cook up a mini storm for my boyfriend who surprisingly had never tried it. Quorn mince is a great alternative to meat and helps with leading more of a plant based lifestyle. You don't have to abandon meat completely, the idea is to increase plant based proteins in the diet and well, Quorn is a good place to start. With university keeping me fairly busy and working out four times a week, Quorn helps with building and maintaining muscle, it helps with meeting daily protein intake and is so easy to incorporate into meals. Here is to high quality protein that not only tastes great but requires minimal effort to rustle up.