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The Great British Baking Show Happy Days

The Great British Baking Show season means baking time, so that’s what this light-hearted foodie is sharing about today to lean into the happy! 😋

…And as a show fan, I get giddy like a school girl. I’ve even got my hair put up in a high up side ponytail like a teen to match my feelings. 🤸🏻

Oh, but don’t worry… this will probably be my only giddy post on the show if you’re not a fan (yet). I’ll be back on the healthy earth channel 🌱 next week… so stay tuned. 📺

…And tuning this week into The GBBS also known as the Great British Bake Off show 🇬🇧 is the alarm for me (and us home bakers) that it’s time to fall B-E-ake!

But before we bake, can you guess what this is?

It’s NOT butter. And it’s not fondant even though it makes a good food illusion 💭… but neither are good to eat on its own so that rules those out.

Well, hang on to your hat (for that finished thought), and keep reading as it will make more sense when I spill the butt-ah

Btw… in the States, we like our good sense, scents, and cents, as we’re multi-faceted and have many preferences to show.

We’re similar to our neighbors across the pond where we have adopted some nifty baking ways. Isn’t that right, Rahul? 😊… and we love that! 🇺🇸

I also love that we get to idea mingle with our UK friends that unite the kingdoms through our grams (Instagram and convertable baking gram measurements). 🇬🇧

…and isn’t it about worldly T-I-M-E!? 

Cheers! 🎉 (as in thank you in Brit-English and cheers 🥂).

Oh, and did I mention we’re getting mini-Brit speaking lessons from the show’s entertainment side? 🐿️

One lesson note-to-self: I’ll now know to bring more pants than trousers and trackies to the U.K. next time. 😉

But all-in-all, we have a lot and even more in common… both countries speaking some English-variety. We’re also closest in time zones when you consider the other Old World countries.

…And GBBO o‘clock 🕰️ helps us bridge the ocean divide. 🥧

But I will add… it’s a little weird seeing the show baked creations before the episode airs on Netflix.

Ah, but a few seasons in… like most watchers from the States, I’ve gotten used to the spilled (butt-ah 🧈) beans. 🫘

Plus I grew up in the simpler dialup era so no complaints (not my style).

Which btw, I think I saw one of those ☎️ this week and a green sewing machine that brought me back to my youth where we had one of those in the house.

Plus I learned a new mini checkerboard technique a.k.a Battenbergs that I heard about from the show. 🏁

And that’s what I was baking up this week in my no-pressure tent? 🎪 Well.. sorta, but not exactly!

…I get excited about sugar talk that goes straight to my head 💭…  I forget for a brief moment that I’m a low-sugar baker in the comforts of my kitchen.

So swept back to reality, a MINI Battenberg marzipan dessert is fitting. Because a mini one has very little sugar.

…And this one is reaallly small! …Good for maybe a big Barbie food table.

But too small to bake a cake in unless you’re Barbie baking for Ken and then it’s never too small. 💖

But for the rest o us, an all easy marzipan sweet bite can be made in minutes. It’s like playing with Play-dough.

Inspiration to The Great British Baking Show mini marzipan Battenberg but with no cake

…So that’s what I turned my butter illusion into. And making a fancy pattern marzipan is still less time than baking.

But I couldn’t leave my oven cold.

Because butter talk inspires baking.

…So I made a healthy delicious bake, but instead of butter (or butt-ah) I used an ingredient you may or may not have heard of… MCT oil.

It sounds like a pharmacy prescribed oil, but it’s OTC… and healthy! Now we’re back on track. 🌱

The healthy fat food supports weight loss, helping the body make ketones for energy that then gives us more energy.

It’s a form of coconut oil that most or all of us know. 🥥

And so I thought only fitting to make a healthy chocolate donut.🍩

That was made coconut tasty with organic unsweetened coconut chips that also make delicious snacks on their own!

Healthy coconut flour was used to lean into the tastes of chococonut (say that 10 times). The gluten-free flour makes a denser no-rise bake that’s great for pancakes or ONE donut here…

…that’s btw how us baking peeps fit into our fave jeans so we can better thrive in our mind-bodies 😊  where we’re all slightly different tuned that’s good to celebrate in our turning world.

Speaking of jeans👖…my baking genes wouldn’t fit in The Great British Baking Show fiery baking tent. 🎪

The show competitors got that competitive gene.🙌👏🏽

…And it looks like all of them this season were very blessed.

For the rest of us, we’re watching The Great British Baking Show and doing our stress-free baking.  And on that note, you can enjoy  with a best melted chocolate dessert.

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Healthy Chocolate Coconut Donut (Gluten-Free)

This recipe uses chocolate and coconut chips as the sweet, and healthy coconut oil fat that used in moderation is a good sub for a delicious, weight-conscious donut.
Course Breakfast
Cuisine American
Author Brandy @ Healthy Happy Life Secrets

Ingredients

  • 1 cup coconut flour
  • 2 tsp coconut oil for donut
  • 1 tsp coffee (optional)
  • 1 egg
  • milk (start with 1 tbsp)
  • unsweetened coconut chips (enough to cover top)
  • baking chocolate chip
  • coconut oil, a few drops for melting chocolate

Instructions

  • Gently mix the 4 donut cake ingredients by hand. Use enough milk to get the consistency closest to a cake batter (not too liquid and not too dense). Grease your pan with coconut oil and pour batter into the pan. Bake until top looks baked and a toothpick comes out clean.
  • Make the chocolate glaze: melt chocolate chips in a few drops of coconut oil using a bain marie (double boiler) setup. You don't need steaming hot water for melting chocolate. I used an inexpensive self-heating water kettle. I added a small ceramic cup and put inside a ceramic bowl. I poured the hot-warm water into the bowl about half way and the chocolate melts in a minute or two.
  • Zhugh with organic coconut chips that is recommended for a more pure coconut taste plus a crunch with kernel intact (compared to shredded coconut).
  • With coconut oil, this dessert will stay good at room temperature for 2 days (the day it's baked and the day after). For longer lasting, keep completely covered in the refrigerator so it doesn't dry out.

This site is all about happy and healthy living and eating ways and inspiration. If this is your first time here, I encourage you to find out more about me and this healthy lifestyle blog.

Grapefruit vs Orange Juice

Grapefruit vs orange juice is a GREAT juice. Grapefruit is a great immunity booster and has more Vitamin C than even orange juice that gets the better known rap. Neither have their own emoji so they’re on fair playing ground as far as I’m concerned 😊 🍇🟠

fresh grapefruit juice

Like grapes that grow in bunches, that’s where grapefruits got their name originally. 🍇 I’m thinking… mocktail wine idea. 💡

Grapefruit juice is punchy and sweet bitter compared to acidic OJ. The note endings are tart compared to bitter.

These climate changing days, you can find citrus before their winter citrus season and sometimes year-round.

Growing up, I drank grapefruit juice A BUNCH in the winter. So for me, it’s the preferred juice punch… and maybe for YOU TOO! 🤔

You can make your own homemade fresh juices today. They are pure and not concentrated. And the best part is when you make your own, artificial sugar isn’t added back in.

Fresh Grapefruit vs Orange Juice

And with fresh squeezed juices you don’t need that as the fruits themselves are sweet enough.

…I can say that being a hardcore sweet tooth (Vata 🙋🏻‍♀️) who has adapted to better tasting ways that are also more healthy (less sugar adds)! How is that possible?? Gratefully, it is.

And in grapefruit vs orange juice talk, if you choose the sweeter fruits like Cara Cara or navel oranges you will have a calming fresh orange juice that moves through your parasympathetic nerves.

There are over 400 orange types and over 20 grapefruit types.

With grapefruits, the more vibrant and gem color interiors are usually sweeter, where a pink grapefruit is a probably on the medium end.

Grapefruit juice is a perfect example. It has the tangy quality with some ending sweet notes.

For a kid, that’s a lot like pink lemonade that wins points. 💕

Plus, grapefruits are giant-size GREAT big fruits so you’re bound to quench your thirst that helps weight loss.

Anti-Inflammatory Grapefruits

Grapefruits are healthy illusions. Don’t let the translucent light pink to bursting pink colors fool you into thinking they’re light in vitamins.

Because actually grapefruits carry a few rainbow qualities… 🌈

They have  beta-carotene polyphenols like carrots and sweet potatoes, and also lycopene like tomatoes. 

…Grapefruits are also  good for the skin and counteracting skin inflammations that we all give a thumbs up to. 👍

So that makes a well-rounded grapefruit, anti-inflammatory drink experience all around.

AND Grapefruits are loaded with fiber, so they make for a great breakfast accompaniment.

And that reminds me… 💭

I remember the fancy modern buffets I went to on some brunch weekends with my DC metro gang that included a lightly caramelized half grapefruit where you could spoon out each individual juicy wedge.

Special food occasions like that call for special spoons with jagged edges that kinda look like shovels to do the heavy lifting. No juice was lost and no conversation was missed..

In brunch food talk, that was as juicy as a cherry-on-top that always gets noticed like a Ruby Red grapefruit color. 🍒

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Grapefruit Juice Mocktail

Course Breakfast
Cuisine American

Ingredients

  • 1-2 grapefruit with pulp
  • 1 oz pineapple juice
  • mint leaf or ginger

Instructions

  • Squeeze juices leaving in pulp and stir. Garnish with a mint leaf or crystallized ginger.

Mango Lassi Smoothie Spiced Drink

Mango lassi was a drink I discovered working for a Lebanese restaurant chain planning parties where they sold lassi drinks in a market.

…And this inspired drink is a cross between a yogurt drink and a smoothie great for breakfast starters that you can make! 🥤

mango lassi smoothie.
Mango lassi smoothie with Ayurvedic spices. 🥭

While lassi was a new drink for me at the time, it’s known as “the original smoothie.” It has been around for centuries in the Eastern hemisphere.

Whether it’s new to your senses or not, it’s an Ayurvedic beverage that can balance your senses.

What makes mango lassi different than other fruit smoothies is the Ayurvedic balancing spices… like the 3 C’s.

Traditionally, cumin, cayenne, and cinnamon are balancing for Pitta, Kapha, and Vata.

…But not all combined together as fire, wind, and earth is one big storm!

You can make your own special blend that’s good for your body and the season you’re in.

This lassi recipe is geared toward balancing Vata, so it’s a sweeter smoothie and the spice choices reflect that. 🧡

You can save the cayenne and cumin for cooler and warmer days, and for Pitta and Kapha drinks.

Or adjust the subtle spice blend to your today’s balancing tastes.

One taste that stays the same in any mango lassi is the tangy flavor coming from the yogurt ingredient.

Plus, to lean into the tart taste, a unique new ingredient added here is tamarind that’s one sour fruit… like think 5x lemons. 🍋

Wheww… and it’s good that sour is another balancing Vata taste where sweet and sour balance each other.

You can purchase tamarind in a paste form and it will last longer. With the sticky paste form, you can cut and smooth out the paste with a knife, or pull out small sticky pieces that’ll give you sticky fingers.

It’s a deep maroon crimson color in case you’re looking for the ingredient and don’t know what to look for.

…Or you can use the tamarind spice or powder versions that won’t be as potent-concentrated, but will still change your drink experience to a new one you may not have had before.

You can even douse on your sweet mango.

With any extra mango, you can opt to make mango juice which is one of my faves. Single mangoes can be easy to find in grocery stores and inexpensive compared to other fruits like oranges that usually come in a bigger bag.

And if you’re comparing healthy fruit juices, mangoes in mango juice vs. orange juice is higher in beta-carotene and still high in Vitamin C. So it’s a good and healthy alternative. 🥭

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Mango Lassi Smoothie

A balancing morning yogurt drink with tangy, fruity, and sweet spice flavors.. a new old twist on a smoothie.
Course Breakfast, brunch
Cuisine Indian, middle eastern
Author Brandy @ Healthy Happy Life Secrets

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup Greek yogurt,
  • 1/3 cup mango, cut
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp cardamom
  • water
  • 3 tbsp tamarind, paste into small pieces

Instructions

  • Pour the liquid part of the yogurt container into your blender tool. The liquid will sink to the lowest yogurt level. Add semi-solid yogurt and water to consistency. Blend with mango chunks, tamarind, and spices.

 

Apple Galette with Lemon (Low Sugar)

Apple galette is a gala event with Gala Apples like these… or any organic red apples you can get your hands on apple picking!
apple galette table with Gala apples.

Below is an easy apple galette pastry recipe that need no proofing. And the proof is when you make them (…and in photos below 😊).

They are made even more tasty sweet tart good with baked lemon.

If you’ve never had a baked lemon, you’re ready to be taken to a whole new lemon experience from the juicy bright citrusy one to a cooler weather vibe… but still prepare to pucker up! 🍋

So this occasion is a zesty candied lemon and apple event all-in-one. 🎉 And once-upon-a-time I spent my entire week dreaming up event tables with clients… and now I’m doing the same for you.

You can lean into the stuffed candy apples that are fun, easy, and healthy snacks to make that take less effort than apple bobbing… that’s an old apple water in a barrel game like juggling🤹

For this snack apple making craft, be sure to source organic apples for these desserts with the skin-on… where the skin stays on and you get all the fiber and anti-inflammatory vitamin benefits.

…Plus, there’s no waste to handle that’s good for our world that isn’t daily compostable just yet (Debby-Downer wah-wah-wah). 

…But hopeful it’s in the works… I believe. 🙏  And we have workarounds today like eating all the edible parts that’s not hard to do.

Which btw, you can do this sustainability move with fresh homemade juice too.

And for these apples, add some cinnamon to your apple-lemon (sweet and sour) for an irresistible zingy pairing. Add a douse of cinnamon that’s good for anxious energies. And cardamom if you want energy-energy. ⚡️

And when it comes out of the oven baked and spiced, you get to be transported a happy nostalgic mood through your senses. 💭

…Do you remember your first apple pie? I remember the apple pie 🥧 store where I grew up. It was out a ways that’s now a bustling town and part of the area I grew up in.

baked apple galette with lemon.

And in those happy memory vibes, you can make your own apple galette dessert in the shape you like 🥧, comfort of your kitchen and do no traveling… and have a cozy home and enjoyable experience no matter what the weather is outside.

As the Danes say, Hygge! 🎉

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Easy Apple Galette (No Proofing)

If you want to lean into apple vibes with sweet and tart, then this is a good easy bake.
Author Brandy @ Healthy Happy Life Secrets

Ingredients

  • organic medium apples (red)
  • cinnamon
  • 1 cup flour of choice
  • 1-1/2 cup dry oats
  • lemon, cut in wedges
  • lemon curd
  • honey or maple syrup to shine
  • 2 tbsp cold butter
  • cold water

Instructions

  • This will make a galette for 3 rows of medium sized apples.
  • Prepare lemon curd on the stove. I low heat warm two eggs, lemon juice and zest, 1 tbsp butter and 1 tbsp flour stirring constantly for a few minutes until flour is fully blended in. I purposefully leave out sugar, but you can add some if you choose. Honey can be added at the end as shine. Let curd cool and refrigerate to help thicken while you prepare the rest of the steps. Save 2 thinly sliced lemons cut in half moons for decoration and taste.
  • Prepare oat flour: pulse or grind oat into fine flour.
  • Make the pastry shell: hand blend flours, cold butter, and add enough cold water to create a dough disc. Roll out onto your baking pan and create the pastry shape you like.
  • Cut two sides of the apple up to the core so you get the arch sides. Cut into thin strips and keep each side intact. Add to the pastry shell along ith lemon slices.
  • Add cinnamon on top and brush lemon curd throughout your galette.
  • Bake at 325°F/165°C for about 75 minutes or 350°F/180°C for about an hour until deep golden brown. I usually turn the oven off around the hour mark and leave in oven another 15 minutes.
  • About 15 minutes before turning off the oven heat, brush honey or syrup on pastry top and sides for additional shine and sweetness.

 

Microgreens Are Growing Healthy

Microgreens have been around longer than our modern culture. 

It was a way of food survival during the winter months of the oldest civilizations on our planet… a lot like how modern squirrels have preserved the foraging acorn traditions. 

Baby arugula microgreens are tasty for a salad.
Baby arugula microgreens are tasty additions to a salad 🥗

Which btw… is outdoor entertaining to watch Rocky the flying squirrel in his purposeful scurrying meal prep moves. 🐿️

How they actually feel about their work we’ll never know, but it has kept their species around.

…And to keep ours going, modern food planning is something we do. 

In human life, that’s how it can look with us daily running around in our busy lives… and for me, that’s how it sometimes looked behind-the-scenes as a food service professional in organized chaos prepping and planning weekly catered event challenges in hotel ballrooms and for restaurant parties celebrating Mediterranean food styles.

And even with all the variety of food available to our planet we can be bored with our food sourcing options. 🥬

Daily, we open the fridge and pantry cupboards thinking: “what’s for dinner?” or “what can I have for a little snack?”…sometimes coming up short for a good answer. 🤔

Microgreens can be part of the answer as a healthy and tasty choice.

Here are 5 points that make microgreens a smart choice:

Point #1: Microgreens are food like-able and tasty good.

…Because if they weren’t, why bother?

Children seem to love them as some of the pickiest green eaters on earth.

Many microgreens are smaller, cute kid-size bits and bites like baby arugula, so it’s easier to get a handful of the finger foods than the adult version. 

The young greens also add interest, taste, and texture to any plate.

…And why they’re not more commonly known today is unknown. Maybe like their shape-forms, they still have a wild-like reputation… 🌿

Like, I remember alfalfa sprout microgreens from a school age where I once saw the jungle wild-looking tangly-fine weeds in a friend’s lunch box that made me curious…

And now as an adult, thinking it’s a good idea. 🎉

You grow into new perspectives and healthy ways and today is a great way to spruce up 😋 and vertically beef up a light protein mustardy salad sandwich or the like (…einkorn finger sandwich idea below 🧡). Or to garnish a bowl of beets… 

Point # 2: Microgreens are less bitter.

Microgreens have the reputation of being less bitter that is good news for some people’s tongues who avoid the taste.

That reminds me of green tea…

If you don’t love bitter green tea tastes that can grow stronger if brewed too hot or you picked the wrong flavor for you, then you probably don’t lean toward preferring many bitter tasting superfood veggies and plant greens.

And that’s why certain veggies 🥦🥬 don’t end up on the plate (like green tea in cups)… or in a diet despite their healthy goodness.

…Green teas 🍵 come from the same Camellia Sinensis plant as common black, white, and oolong teas but differ in process where they’re not oxidized like common black teas. 

And what makes the difference for microgreens (and similar to green teas) is the process from the same plant.

Microgreens are harvested early, coming from the same plants as the adult version we see mostly on shelf space in grocery stores. 🌱

So they’re fresh and have different tastes worth trying, often more mild tasting and welcoming to all.

Point #3: Young greens are replenishable, sustainable, and abundant.

…Just like other foods from the soil, nature provides and delivers over and over again..

When we think “fresh” we immediately think of the produce aisle in a supermarket, farmers market, or our backyard garden that produces fastly perishable foods that the soil can replenish. 

If you’re a green thumb growing your own mini-market, you can have microgreens planted, harvested, and eatable within foreseeable weeks (and not months or seasons that is the time most produce take). 🧑‍🌾

That makes microgreens more productive… and where you can have more than what you know what to do with! A good problem to have. ✔️

That would be too easy for getting a meal on the table. 

And that ideal IS microgreens.

When you choose the micro-world of microgreens, you too help our community and local farmers. 

…Those are baby plant little steps that you can take for your health and to support the world. 🪴

Point #4 – Microgreens are often organic without pesticides. 

So much of our plant-based foods are exterior sprayed with pesticides to deter mostly bugs, and that offsets the healthy goodness of the healthiest skin parts of the food. 

We throw away the skin that could have been healthy edible parts. 

And today, reusable composting ways are not yet available for the common household. 

So then we end up creating more waste that adds more plastic bag waste that also attracts unwanted critter nuisances to our community. But what if composting machines were as common as house dishwashing machines? 💭

But that not being today’s standards, with organic microgreens we can eat those problems away as the end consumer. And our bodies are healthier for our choice.

Point #5 – Microgreens are low calories and high in nutrition.

There are few (if any) green plant-based foods 🌱 that aren’t low in calories compared to plant-based (as in factory) foods. 🏭

Fresh microgreens from nature come packed with vitamins and minerals, along with some eat-from-the-rainbow 🌈 polyphenols that make you excited to color your plate and palette with anti-inflammatory food ideas! 🎨

And, mighty microgreens can have 4x (and up to 40x!) more nutrients than their full-grown version.

🎯 Final Points:

Microgreens fit in our consumer micro cultures where we are becoming more customizable specific in food diet preferences that impact food growing ways, and where our farming culture impacts our world. 

Sustainable food and young microgreens are sprouting interest in our fast climate changing world searching for longevity answers where eating anti-inflammatory foods fit.

One way you can be part of the anti-inflammatory solution is by growing your own portable microgreen micro garden that can be indoors (good for those with outdoor allergies or without garden space).

Plus, so many viable options to bring in more microgreens from dream to  life… yasss!

…That’s something to be excited about today. If this resonates with you, could you PLEASE HELP share this message with others so they can join the MICROGREEN movement that’s healthy here to stay.🎉

Go micro GREEN 🌱

🎉🎉 Discover and support local microgreen farms for fresher produce and healthier living.

Oh, and heres’s an easy whole wheat or einkorn (ancient wheat) sandwich in a modern recipe you can use to make finger sandwiches that was an idea I grew up with in the catering party world… and you can use for lunch, brunch, or an afternoon party.

To gain smiles, simply add delicious microgreens like baby lettuce, cucumber, radishes, carrot, and tarragon.

And for dessert 🍥, some sweet herbs and spices are microgreens like anise that you can add to a creme anglaise for pancakes or sweet brunch waffles.

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Einkorn Sandwiches with Microgreens

I have fond memories of tea sandwiches from catering menus, and that are part of English afternoon tea events and traditions. Tea sandwiches are usually bite-size and made of spongey-soft bread where the crust is cut off. And flat crunchy bread like these add plate variety. They work well to celebrate the sandwich ingredients in the middle that can be light and/or all veggies.
Course Breakfast, brunch
Cuisine American, british
Author Brandy @ Healthy Happy Life Secrets

Ingredients

  • einkorn flour, salt, and water for the sandwich bread.
  • cottage cheese
  • cucumber
  • scallions
  • carrots
  • beets or radishes
  • lettuce
  • asparagus or favorite veggies
  • spices: dill, tarragon, black pepper

Instructions

  • Prepare the sandwich bread. You can make the bread in advance. Let dough proof: develop air pockets and double in size for for at least 2 hours. Then bake dough in oven in a small sheet pan about 1/4" thick until toasted. Tip: Einkorn wheat flour is not a high gluten (rise) flour, so it won't rise much and will lay more like a flat bread when baked. You need not knead long and can omit yeast. Let bread cool and slice the toast with a serated or bread knife.
    Alternatively if you use regular whole wheat flour, knead a few minutes longer and add about 1/4 tsp of instant yeast (easiest) for a bread that rises. You can cut horizontally into the vertical bread about 3-4 slices to get a similar flat bread effect. Optional: You can turn this into paninis by grilling or baking on a grill pan.
  • Prepare the raw veggies. Thinly slice into flat or close to flat pieces.
  • For the sandwich paste, mix cottage cheese, dill, tarragon, and black pepper. You can processor blend the cottage cheese if you would like a smoother paste.
  • Add paste to the bottom of the sandwich and then layer lettuce, cucumbers, carrots, and others veggies. Add the sandwich bread top. For catering-style zhugh, you can add a toothpicked cucumber slice, or radish and beet and then plate. These easy, new old-fashioned touches show you put in extra detailed care.