Monthly Archives: April 2014

Nana’s Brown Soda Bread- Vegan Style

29 Tuesday Apr 2014

Posted by in Bread, Traditional, Vegan

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I’m from Ireland and like many Irish people my Nana made the best Soda Bread 🙂 When I got back into baking it was one of the first things I tried to make. I now blame my terrible oven at the time- but it was truly awful, I called it my first bread brick in my bread brick house! But I moved- had a better oven and discovered it was really easy- once your oven door closed properally! So here it is

My Nana’s Irish Brown Soda Bread- vegan style

You will need -> a measuring jug, cup measures or the mug you usually use for measuring (like me),spoons, a loaf tin, a sieve and a clean tea towel.

If using a metal loaf tin line the base with a little parchment paper and rub it with a little oil, if you prefer to use silicone you will need to put it on a baking tray so it is flat in the oven*

Preheat your oven to 220C / 425F

Ingredients

  • Three Quarters of a pint / 450ml of Soya or Almond Milk (you can include a little vegan yogurt here if you like, makes a nice moist loaf)
  • Two dessertspoons of apple cider vinegar- which you put into the soya/ almond milk
  • One cup of brown spelt flour
  • One cup of whole wheat bread flour (or you can do two cups of the whole wheat brown if you like)
  • Half a cup of strong white flour
  • A quarter cup linseeds i.e. flaxseed
  • A quarter cup of other seeds. This time I added sesame seeds, one dessertspoon of ground linseed and two dessertspoons poppy seeds.
  • One and a half teaspoons of bread soda i.e. baking soda
  • One and a half teaspoons of baking powder
  • A good pinch of salt- an Irish granny would throw a pinch over her left shoulder too
  • A dessertspoon of seeds for sprinkling on top

This is really easy to make.

Measure your non-diary milk, add the apple cider vinegar and give it a stir.

Get a bowl and put your flours into it.

Sieve in your bread soda (baking soda) , your baking powder and your salt. Mix these into the flours.

Add your seeds and stir them through the flours , just so its evenly mixed.

Make a well in the centre and pour your soured non-diary milk in- all in one go.

Gently fold the mix together, just until there are no giant lumps . You need to act fast, the alkaline soda immediately starts to react with the acidic soured milk to create the bubbles. If you are too slow, too rough or over mix you will loose the air bubbles and therefor miss out on having a nice rise to your bread.

Pour the batter into your prepared loaf tin, it will be very wet so will naturally even out. Put three slashes across the bread (sideways). This helps the rise, through traditionally it is to leave the fairies out… Sprinkle your seeds on top. They add a nice crunch and prevent the top burning.

Put in the centre of your oven.

After five minutes turn the temperature down to 200C /400F. In my Uber fan oven it takes a total forty five minutes, but when I had a regular oven it took fifty five minutes (including resting time in oven). You will know it is done when it is coming away from the sides and is good brown colour. If you are worried take it out and using a tea towel tilt the loaf out and give the bottom of the bread a gentle tap of your finger, it should sound hollow. If you are confidant your bread is done turn your oven off and leave it in for another five mins.

Leave the bread to cool in the tin for another five minutes. Get a clean tea towel and gently take your loaf out of the tin. Loosely wrap your loaf in the tea towel, this stops the crust from being too hard. Let it cool completely before cutting, if you cut it too early the texture will turn gummy.

Loosely wrapped bread left to rest and cool

Loosely wrapped bread left to rest and cool

Yummy!

Yummy!

Great with organic coconut oil and peanut butter!!! X Aissa

* A note on silicone : some cheaper produced ones can contain fibreglass, from what I have read you can tell by twisting the silicone if there are white flecks or stretch marks then it has fibreglass in it.

 

Barleygrass Balls!!!

26 Saturday Apr 2014

Posted by in Natural Health, No bake/ Raw, Superfoods, Sweets, Vegan

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These are one of my favourite things to make. They are super easy, fast, tasty and filling! I’ve played around with the ingredients a bit and I will give you alternative options at the end.

Sooo green - should have posted these on Paddy's Day!!

Sooo green – should have posted these on Paddy’s Day!!

You will need two small bowls, measuring cups or just a regular mug , a dessertspoon and a teaspoon.

  • One dessertspoonful of Barleygrass powder or juice powder
  • A bravely large pinch of sea salt prob a quarter teaspoon
  • Three quarters of a cup of organic ground almonds
  • Two dessertspoons of organic virgin coconut oil or one and one of cashew nut butter
  • Two dessertspoons of raw dark agave or do one spoon and one of maple or yacon syrup
  • There are a couple of options in regards to flavouring you can..
  • A: Use a at least a third of a teaspoon of a good quality peppermint extract
  • B: If you have access to a food grade organic peppermint oil use five drops

Get one of the bowls, put in your coconut oil and mash it a bit so it softens.

Add your extract- mash again.

Add your agave syrup and mix until it is all combined well.

Now put your ground almonds in the other bowl and poke it a bit so there are no lumps.

Add the salt and barleygrass to this and give it a stir

Add your dry to the wet and mix it well. Really get in there press the mix together so the fats are taken up well into the dry. It should all hold together to form a ball like a biscuit/ cookie dough would.

Ready your teaspoon, run your hands under cold water (so when making the balls they don’t go all melty). By the teaspoonful roll the mix between your two palms to form little balls and drop them into the bowl you had used for the dry stuff. When done stick them in  the fridge for 15 minutes to firm up. Taa- daah! Fabulously a source of antioxidants, chlorophyll, protein (all 9 amino acids in barleygrass), MCTs and magnesium amongst other things, also really yummy!

Troubleshooting!
If you have been over generous with your ground almonds and it is a bit dry you could add a splash more extract, add a bit of warm water or non diary milk that has not been in the fridge (if it is cold the coconut oil will re solidify and form bits). If too wet just add more ground almonds.

Recipe options
A thing I change up a lot is the coconut oil. I often do one spoon coconut oil and add in one big dessertspoon of a nut butter. The ones that work best are cashew or blanched almond.
In regards to the peppermint flavour it really is up to you how strong you like it, I prefer them really minty! I have also used spearmint – a smidge bit toothpastey but nice for a change, also did just plain vanilla using a half teaspoon of vanilla powder or teaspoon of vanilla bean paste.
The reason for using agave is it is relatively neutral in flavour

Really hope you like these! X Aissa

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It’s ALIVEEEEEEEEE!

17 Thursday Apr 2014

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It's ALIVEEEEEEEEE!

Water Kefir is alive and growing! Doubled since my last post. Just giving it a large dessertspoon of raw whole cane sugar- rapadura/ turbinado, a dessertspoonful of organic golden caster sugar and a couple of slices of organic ginger. Takes about two and a half days to ferment. Billions of live bacteria!

Posted by | Filed under Fermentation, Natural Health, Superfoods, Vegan

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Water Kefir

15 Tuesday Apr 2014

Posted by in Fermentation, Natural Health, Superfoods, Vegan

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This post is for Denise, I have been without my beloved water kefir since last September, there was an accident. Denise so kindly gave me beautiful living grains and I was able to give her a baby kombucha scoby! But today Denise came into the health shop where I work with spare dried water kefir grains and a lovely jar/ bottle for me to store them in. I will put up a “how to look after water kefir” post soon, maybe even followed by a kombucha and sauerkraut one!water kefir

Buckwheat Granola Superfied!

09 Wednesday Apr 2014

Posted by in Cookies, Gluten Free, Natural Health, Superfoods, Vegan

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Buckwheat Granola – I almost feel it has to be done. There are a lot of lovely recipes out there- the one over on Ohsheglows.com, some lovely raw ones like the one on choosingraw.com. But I thought I would share my version of this yummy classic. It is fab as a granola, I have it in my “Not so smooth Energy Smoothie” sometimes also just eat it like a biscuit/cookie.

I have super boosted by granola, but if you don’t have a stock of protein and superfood powders in your press you can just increase the ground almonds by three dessertspoons.

Preheat your oven to 150C / 300F. Line a baking tray.

Dry ingredients

  • One and a half cups of raw buckwheat
  • A third of a cup of ground almonds
  • A third of a cup of red quinoa grain- more nutty flavour than normal quinoa and a good source of zeathanthin.
  • A scant half cup of whole linseed i.e. flaxseed
  • One dessertspoonful of poppy seeds
  • A good pinch of sea salt
  • A quarter cup of coconut sugar
  • A teaspoon of vanilla powder (or put extract in with the liquid stuff )

Optional Uber Superfing bits

As I said just use a little more ground almonds if you don’t have all theses things.

  • One teaspoon of maca powder
  • One teaspoon of lucuma powder
  • One dessertspoonful of hemp protein powder
  • One dessertspoonful of rice protein, I used Sunwarrior Vanilla warrior blend

Wet ingredients

  • Four dessertspoons of apple strawberry puree – I use an organic brand called Clearspring. Just apple puree would be fine.
  • An eighth of a cup of dark agave
  • An eighth of a cup of pure maple syrup
  • One dessertspoonful blanched almond butter
  • One dessertspoonful cashew nut butter
  • One dessertspoonful of natural crunchy peanut butter.
  • One teaspoon vanilla extract if you have not used powder

On the nut butter front I change these about a bit, a regular almond butter is lovely, but experiment we all have our favourite nut butters!

Get a big bowl and throw all the dry stuff into it. Give them a stir and a toss so they are evenly mixed.

Get another bowl and put all the wet things in. Mix them very well – no streaks of different ingredients!

Add the wet to the dry and spread evenly on your lined baking tray. About half a centimeter thick. That’s .20 of an inch.

Pop in the middle of the oven and bake for about 22mins before pulling out and flipping it over. I use a spatula and work from one side to the other so I don’t miss bits- cos I’m oddly methodical in all cases where flipping is required… 🙂 Put back in the oven, turn your oven down to 120C/ 250F. Let it bake for another 5/6 mins if you have a fan oven maybe another 10mins if you don’t.

Take it out, set it on a flat surface and kinda poke at it a bit so that it is broken up into rough shapes. It will still be a little soft out of the oven but will firm up as it cools. Happy crunching!

Buckwheat Granola in my Not so smooth Energy Smoothie!. On my windowsil!

Buckwheat Granola in my Not so smooth Energy Smoothie!. On my windowsil!

 

 

 

 

Cauliflower Miso Hummus

04 Friday Apr 2014

Posted by in Gluten Free, Savoury, Vegan

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How many moves away from original hummus do you have to be before something stops being hummus and becomes something else? I think because this retains tahini and chickpeas I can still safely call this hummus without controversy. So I made this last night, I had some of cauliflower in my dinner because you don’t need a lot for this recipe only six or seven small florets.
Equipment wise you will need a blender of sorts- a hand-held one will be fine.

  • Six or seven steamed florets of cauliflower
  • A cup of cooked chickpeas
  • Three cloves of garlic very finely chopped
  • A dessertspoonful of a light miso- I used a rice soya one which is on the sweet side
  • Two dessert spoons of a runny light tahini
  • Two dessert spoons of extra virgin olive oil – and a little more for drizzling on top
  • A quarter teaspoon of ground paprika
  • Black pepper to taste.
  • A lime or if you prefer a lemon
  • You do not need salt as your miso is salty

First steam your cauliflower, should be done in under ten minutes. Run it under cold water to cool and leave to the side.

Get a large bowl if you are going to be using a hand-held blender or just plonk stuff into your blending jug as you go!

Chop your garlic and put in your bowl, if you find garlic hard to digest you could cook it first. Add you olive oil, tahini, miso, paprika and black pepper. Give it a stir and mash, mixing things well together, or give it a quick blitz in your blender.

Now add your cauliflower and chickpeas and stir again. Chop a third off your lime and squeeze the juice in, mix once more ( if you think you would prefer the traditional lemon then use that instead). Now blend! Have a taste, see  if you need more black pepper, lime/lemon or even paprika!! I like it at the level I have suggested.

Transfer the hummus to a bowl and drizzle a little olive oil on top to stop it going dry. I like to cover it and keep it OUT of the fridge over night, reason being the miso will be alive and fermenty if kept at room temperature. It also tastes better the next day!

Hummus the thing that photographs like weird paste!

Hummus the thing that photographs like weird paste!

 

Juice-tastic

03 Thursday Apr 2014

Posted by in juice, Natural Health, Vegan

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So here is another concoction – I had a salt craving day so decided to add celery to my juice for the potassium

Colourful goodness!

Colourful goodness!

  • A small bundle of organic wheatgrass if you put your forefinger on the knuckle of your thumb, that much!
  • An organic carrot
  • Half an unwaxed organic lemon
  • Half an organic pear – I used a red one!
  • A small organic beetroot
  • A few sprigs of organic parsley
  • Two sticks of organic celeryThis is really refreshing- and quite celery-ery you can always do one stick celery and a whole pear and lemon to make it a little sweeter.
yum yum

yum yum