Vegan, Chocolate Flapjacks

No sugar, no dairy, high protein and packed with vitamins…

Preparation time: 10 – 15 minutes

Cooking time: 20-15 minutes

Makes about 20 flapjacks

Ingredients

• 360g oats
• 30g raw cocao powder
• 2 bananas
• 6 tbsp maple syrup
• 6 tbsp cashew, almond or smooth peanut butter (use organic)
• 4 tbsp coconut oil. plus extra for greasing

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C (fan 180°C).
2. In a saucepan, mash the bananas with a fork then add the maple syrup (or honey), nut butter and coconut oil. Allow to simmer until a smooth paste forms.
3. Add the oats and stir well so that they’re fully covered.
4. Grease a baking tray with coconut oil and transfer the flapjack mix into the baking tray, pressing it down firmly with a spatula so that it’s very compact.
5. Bake for 15-20 mins until the top starts to brown.
6. Once it’s cooked, remove the tray from the oven and leave it to fully cool before slicing the flapjacks.
7. Serve with a nice cup of chai tea!

Black bean ‘meat’balls in red pepper soup

For the soup:

• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1/4 medium onion, sliced
• 1/2 cloves garlic
• 2 roasted or slow cooker red peppers
• 1 cup of vegetable broth
• 2 sprigs of thyme (or about a tablespoon dried)
• pinch salt
• pinch pepper
• dash of your favourite hot sauce

“meat”ball

• 1 cup slow cooked black beans
• fresh basil, chopped
• some bread crumbs
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp paprika
• pinch salt
• pepper to taste

Instructions

1. In a wide-bottom pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the sliced onions when it is nice and hot. Cook until they are starting to get soft, about 5 minutes.
2. Crush the garlic with the side of a knife. Add them whole to the onions and continue to cook until the onions and garlic are starting to brown, about another 5 minutes.
3. Add the roasted red peppers. Don’t worry about chopping them.
4. Add stock and thyme, and bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and let cook for about 20 minutes.
5. Remove the soup from the heat and discard the thyme stems. Use an immersion blender to puree the soup very well.
6. Season with salt and pepper. Add a dash of hot sauce if you want (taste it first).
7. Meanwhile, in a large bowl combine the drained black beans, basil, bread crumbs, egg, paprika, salt, and pepper. Use a potato masher to combine the mixture and smoosh the beans.
8. Form the bean mixture into “meatballs.” In a large saucepan, heat 2 tablespoons of oil. Add the “meatballs” when it is hot, cooking in batches if necessary. Cook for a minute or two, until browned, then gently turn them with a spatula. Continue cooking and turning until all sides are browned. Repeat with the remaining “meatballs.”
9. Ladle the soup into 4 bowls and top with meatballs. Garnish with fresh basil, thyme, sour cream, or Greek yogurt.

Yum Yumm

Vegan burger with peanut sauce

Here is one of my fav recipes – vegan burgers, and the best part of all the peanut sauce!

No I am not usually allowed to buy peanut butter as it is like a drug and I will just eat the whole pot. Any excuse to buy it really, so burgers are that excuse!!

Ingredients

Burger

• 3/4 cup millet
• 1/2 cup lentils
• 1/2 cup peas
• 1/2 carrots
• seaonings

Peanut sauce

• peanut butter
• soy sauce
• lemon juice

Method

1. Boil 3/4 cup of millet with 2 cups of water.
2. Add the rest of the ingredients and leave to boil on a low heat for roughtly 30 minutes.
3. Wait until sticky – and then make into burger shapes.
4. Fry the burgers until crispy on all sides
5. Whilst frying mix the sauce ingredients together
6. put the sauce on top of the burger / on bread if you’re having it too
7. dress the burger with whatever you want (Onions, tomatos, avocado!)
8. and eat!!!

– Would be great with some sweet potato chips!

Tofu Coconut Tandoori Masala

Right, I am officially forcing myself to get back into food. But I know tomorrow I will be heading to the supermarket and getting more cereal, as the only reason I made curry is that I finished the cereal. Dammit.

Ingredients (Serves 1)

• 5 chunks of firm Tofu
• 2 trees of broccoli (you know what I mean)
• 1/2 spring onion
• 1/2 red pepper
• 3 tbs Coconut milk
• 2 tbs Soy Milk
• 1 tsp Soy sauce
• 1 tsp  Tandoori Masala Powder (or just curry powder of some sorts)

Method

1. Heat coconut oil in a pan and add the chunks of tofu – fry until crispy
2. Add the spring onion, pepper and broccolli – cook till ready to eat
3. Push the mixture to the corner and fry the curry powder for about 30 seconds then mix into the rest
4. Add the Coconut milk, soy milk and soy sauce
5. Cook till thickening
6. Serve on own, or with rice / veg/ naan. What you want!

Vegan Chocolate, Strawberry and Coconut Brownie

Sunday night is date night.

Evie and I decided to have dinner together tonight, pooling together our ingredients we managed to make some pretty tasty stuff. We decided to make a healthy brownie and watch our guilty pleasure (Extreme make over – weight loss edition). Oh Evie is my friend, not a dog or bear I am weirdly attached to – that would be the seal, and her name is Sophie cause I am really adventurous.

So I made this recipe a long time ago when I was none vegan. Which basically had an egg instead of strawberries, and you know what, tastes just as good! Desert comes first cause if you died after your first course, you would have died not actually having what you wanted in the first place:

Vegan Brownie

Ingredients (makes 6)

• 180g (3/4 cup) Thick Coconut milk
• 60ml (1/4 cup) Almond/soy/rice milk
• 64g (1/2 cup) Cocoa powder
• 43g (1/2 cup) Wholegrain rolled oats
• 30g (1/4 cup) chopped strawberries
• 30g (1/4 cup) chopped strawberries (2)
• 1 tsp Baking powder
• 150g Roughly chopped pecans (or nuts of your choice)

Method

1. Add all ingredients but nuts and one of the 1/4 cups of strawberries into a blender and blend until smooth
2. Mix in the the nuts and strawberries with a spoon
3. Spoon into a square container (I used a small 15×15 cm)
4. Bake for approx 20 mins
5. Leave to cook, cut and serve

 

 

Raw-Vegan Chocolate Pudding – HAPPY EASTER!

Now its Easter…. a holiday previously seen with me stuffing my face with copious amounts of chocolate that my parents had hidden from me, this time for my own pleasure, but sillyly enough left me clues as to where to find it. But say goodbye to the ‘unhealthy’ chocolate / pudding myth! Easter CAN and WILL be healthy, and not without chocolate!

I crave chocolate, like most people, but there is absolutely no need to blow the calorie bank whilst doing it! Being vegan, on a massive budget, restricts me from buying all these vegan chocolates and such, and buying stuff…. where’s the fun in that!

You can even get in two of your five a day with this recipe, or even more if you are really pushing the boat out! You could add blueberries (they don’t blend too well through so could be a bit grainy!) Raspberries would be divine in this recipe. When I try it out I’ll add it to the recipe if needs be!

Nuts can also be added to this recipe bumping up the cals and fat, but they’re good cals and fat, nothing better than a new nuts!

 

 

Ingredients

• 1 banana
• 3 strawberries
• 2 tbs raw cocoa powder
• (some kind of sweetener if you want, but it really doesn’t need it!)

Method

1. Blend the strawberries and banana till a thick paste
2. Add the cocoa powder and blend in well
3. Serve!

 

You’ll never go back!

Baked Bananas

Still on my vegan hype, I am loving baked fruit topped with Alpro Soya Vanilla Yoghurt. I love the stuff, can’t get enough. I may have to do an entire post on it some time soon!

But anyway, here are some baked bananas, probably the easiest pudding, other than raw fruit, that there is!

 

• Put the bananas in the oven, either in their skins or pealed and halved (either is yummy, skin on prevents juices leaving though)
• Bake for 15 minutes on 180’c
• Remove from oven (peal off skin, if it is on, it should be blackened by now)
• Serve with dairy free yoghurt, ice cream or what ever you want really!

Fruit Crème Brûlée

The first time that I was introduced to fruit crème brûlée I must have been age 13. My brother had just started food tech at school and this was one of his assignment, he came home, told my mum that he liked them (to her astonishment, as sometimes it seems like he doesn’t like anything) and it became a family favourite!

The earliest known reference to crème brûlée as it is known today appears in Francois Massialot’s 1691 cookbook, and the French name was used in the English translation of this book, but the 1731 edition of Massialot’s Cuisinier roial et bourgeois changed the name of the same recipe from “crème brûlée” to “crème anglaise“. In the early eighteenth century, the dessert was called “burnt cream” in English.

This take on the crème brûlée adds summer fruits and uses 0% fat Greek yogurt and is probably one of the tastiest health desserts out there!

Ingredients

• Summer Fruits
• 0% Fat Greek Yogurt
• Brown Sugar

Method

1. In ramekins, place half of it full of summer fruits and the other half of the yogurt
2. Cook in a pre-heated oven (180 ‘c)  for 10 minutes
3. Sprinkle brown sugar on the top of the yogurt (the pro’s use a cooking blow torch but I just use a grill and it works just as well) ad put under the grill until the sugar has melted.
4. Remove from the oven and cool until the sugar has formed a hard surface and serve!

Frozen Grapes!

I first came across frozen grapes when watching a Jamie Oliver program when I was about 13 and it has stuck with me ever since! Jamie paired his with some dark chocolate and a glass of red wine, however, I like eat mine as a snack as is tastes exactly like a sorbet! I know, once again, more of a summer recipe but a girl can dream right?!

There is not so much of a recipe to this, other than it is your decision to decide between red and white grapes! Other than grapes you can freeze any other kind of fruit, I do this mainly to prolong the lovely (and many) raspberries, black berries and strawberries that my allotment produces over the spring, summer and autumn. Furthermore, making a smoothie out of frozen fruit can cut out the ice added in order to make it cold and delicious! To check out some smoothie recipes see more of my blog or just click on the links below!

https://livingthegreendream.wordpress.com/2013/12/31/bananas-for-bananas/

https://livingthegreendream.wordpress.com/2014/01/02/banana-and-raspberry-smoothie/