Get ready for the launch...(plus recipe!)

It's all systems go...Wholeplus is live!

Wohoo...excitement...smiley face...scared face...anticipation!! 

My little project over the last few months has finally been brought to life and is now in the final process of being let loose in gyms and online (UK residents only- sorry!) It's still early days so there may well be teething problems and I am still finalising methods of purchase and product details so bare with me...but it's all happending at last.

You can check it all out here (or see the side bar badge) with a brand spanking new website and logo design. Please please feel free to give any feedback postive or negative as I still finalising a few details and want to get things right!

I also happy because I have managed to launch this project before my 30th birthday (which is tomorrow!!)  I had a mini ultimatum in my mind when I quit my job at the end of last year that I had until my birthday to 'prove' to myself that my dreams and aspirations with my blog, photography, nutrition and general creativity were actually going somewhere!  I finally feel I am well on the way......

I promise I won't continue to talk about it so much on here, it's just taken over my life a lot over the last few weeks and months and so it has been a little hard to shut up about it! I appreciate that many of my followers and readersa are not UK based so may be ok less interest. Though I will contunie to share new developments and ideas as they happen...as creativity is my thing and that can be shared with you all to inspire you own creativity in the kitchen, right?

I couldn't leave you without a super simple recipe, one for the chocoholics and the kids! 

Super sweet and chocolatey with a healthy kick to boot. It's a winner all round! You will need to whip up a batch of healthy chocolate sprinkles in advance...make a jarful and use for numerous breakfast bowls or desserts. This will store for a good few weeks.  The chocolate topping is particularly good as the chocolate melts into a hot bowl of oats whilst the dates sweetens the mix. Nuts, seeds and other goodies give you the extra boost!

Recipe: Choc sprinkle porridge

Serves 1

Ingredients:

½ cup oats

1 ½ cups milk (more or less as preferred)

Approx. 2 tbs choc sprinkle topping (make sure you add cocoa to the recipe linked)

Method:

Cook porridge either on the hob or in the microwave using your usual method. Once cooked add up to 2tbs chocolate sprinkle topping and stir through until the warmth of the porridge melts and infuses the cocoa.

Add extra fresh fruit to the top if preferred. Eat immediately.

For further guidance on making gluten free choices please see this post.

For tips and info on recipe measurement conversions, ingredients, substitutions and the methods behind how I do things.... check out my 'baking tips' tab at the top of the page.

Introducing 'Wholeplus' Fitness Bars

It’s been a crazy few weeks and a lot of cryptic clues (sorry about that- now you know why my Lent Challenge has suffered so badly!) …but now it is all finally taking shape and so I can reveal more about what I’ve been up to!

“Wholeplus is a new venture for me, one that takes my passion for 
whole foods and fitness and my love of creating recipes, textures and flavour 

combinations to a new level- one that I can share with the world”.

I’m starting small, who know whether this will work out and where it could lead, and I am still very much intent on keeping my blog exactly as it is- the main outlet for my creativity and the door to my website and other ventures that may pop up along the way, such as this.

I have always been active and so fitness is a hugely important part of my life, however it has only been in the last couple of years as I have grown into the whole foods plant based lifestyle that I realised just how important the relationship between diet and exercise really is, and most importantly the way in which dietary choices can optimise your overall health and fitness both physical and mentally.

The idea for this range of fitness bars, stemmed from my growing dissatisfaction in the refined, sugar laden, chemically enhanced commercial fitness bars that were all too prevalent in the fitness industry. I knew I already had the tools and knowledge to create my own, and after a number of ‘joking’ conversations in which I’d said things along the lines of ‘just look at those ingredients, I could do so much better than this’ I was challenged to do so.

My ideas and principles are not so dissimilar to other products already out there. This is nothing new. There are already a number of fruit and nut ‘raw’ bars, ‘flapjacks’, ‘protein bars’ the list goes on….

So, how is Wholeplus different?

I wanted to make my mark and combine what I felt to be the best of what these various bars currently offered. There were a number of criteria which were critical to my philosophy. The bars should all be:

• organic

• sugar free (dates being the only form of sweetener)

• plant based (vegan)

• gluten free

• soy free

• uncooked (preserving as many nutrients as possible)

• substantial in size (too many similar bars just don’t satisfy my needs)

• incorporate foods know to assist and complement fitness and recovery

• cover a range of different fitness requirements

So the Wholeplus range was born. The specific flavour combinations are still under development…my kitchen, my fridge and my freezer, have been full with bite sized samples of all the various tests for weeks and weeks now, but the core principles within each have remained.

Whole+ Protein: 

A fitness bar with added protein power in the form of Hemp and brown rice.

Whole+ Energy: 

A bar consisting of fruit and nuts/seeds for quick release energy when you need it most.

Whole+ Sustain: 

An endurance bar infused with oats and buckwheat to provide longer term sustenance.

These are some of the bite size samples..the full bars are as per the background sold in packs of two.

These bars will be sold through gyms and potentially health food shops and local outdoor establishments in the Hertfordshire area (south East England) It’s all early days and I will keep you posted on further developments over time.