Author Archives: Aissa

Buckwheat Granola Superfied!

09 Wednesday Apr 2014

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

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, ,

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

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

,

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

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , ,

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

Have a flexible day!

30 Sunday Mar 2014

Posted by in Natural Health, yoga

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

,

I find sometimes I get stuck in yoga routines I like, I guess I see myself making progress in certain positions and it is tempting to stick to this as I can quantify my improvement. But every now and then in effort to shake it up and work on areas maybe I have neglected I search out new inspiration. It was after doing this routine for the first time that I managed to do a proper Mermaid pose, so I went back to it this morning and found it just as great. Hope you like it too! 🙂

X Aissa

Not so smooth Energy Smoothie

29 Saturday Mar 2014

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

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

, , ,

It’s the weekend I thought I would break out and have a banana in my breakfast smoothie- I know I know wild behaviour!! I normally have a dessertspoon or two of berries in this which I soak overnight in Kombucha- but is good to vary one’s diet and though I feel bananas are a it too sweet to be having all the time, it really rocks in this! Peanut butter and banana the perfect combination!

  • 1 banana thinly sliced (or some berries)
  • A dash of real Kombucha (i have my own, but you just want a live one with no added ingredients)
  • Half a cup of non-diary milk- I use coconut
  • 1 teaspoon of Barleygrass powder/ juice powder
  • Half a teaspoon of Maca powder
  • 1 teaspoon of Hemp protein powder
  • 1 teaspoon of Rice protein- or just have a little more Hemp protein ( I am the lucky recipient of a pack of Sunwarrior Warrior Blend so I am trying it in everything at the moment)
  • A third of a teaspoon of Ashwagandha powder ( it tastes very strong )
  • A teaspoon of Chia seeds
  • A teaspoon of ground Linseed i.e. Flaxseeds
  • A scattering of Goji berries approx. a teaspoon
  • A teaspoon of Cacao nibs
  • A teaspoon of Lecithin granules
  • A HUGE teaspoon of Peanut Butter (one only made from peanuts!)

I put everything in- in the order of the recipe. They all live in the same cupboard so I just get one down at a time rather than covering my tiny kitchen in superfoods. When I have got as far as the Ashwagandha I give it a good stir and then add as far as your Lecithin and stir again! Then add your peanut butter- tasting some first – just to make sure it is good of course!!

This is packed full of antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, protein, healthy carbs, healthy fats and a good dash of chlorophyll ( i.e. the green stuff!) for energy. It really sustains me due to the slow release of energy. And it is a yummy start to the day.

Tasty goodness

Tasty goodness

Nana’s Coffee Cake turned Vegan

21 Friday Mar 2014

Posted by in Cake, Cupcakes, Gluten Free, Traditional, Vegan

≈ 9 Comments

Tags

, , , ,

So there’s a style of coffee cake that seems to be particular to Ireland ( though I’m open to correction on this ) anyhooow my Grandmother made a rockin’ coffee cake and I really wanted to veganize it. I also made it moderately healthier. The Irel Coffee essence mentioned here has been around in Ireland for donkey’s years and is a mixture of coffee, chicory and sugar you can use a good strong coffee extract instead. So here is what you will need…
A mug or cup measures. I tend to just use the one mug for everything, like I’ve said before as long as you use the same mug it will all be in proportion.
A 20cm/ 7.5 inch cake tin and some baking paper to line it.

Dry ingredients

  • A third of a cup of sunflower / rapeseed oil (canola)
  • Half a cup of apple and apricot puree – I buy an organic one by a brand called Clearspring, if you are amazing you can make your own. You could also use plain apple and use apricot yoghurt and just switch the measurement about.
  • A quarter cup of coconut/ soya yoghurt – you could use apricot flavour to intensify the fruitiness or I must insist on apricot flavour if you are using half a cup of this and a quarter cup of puree.
  • A third of a cup made up of 3 dsp of raw rapadura sugar (i.e. turninado ) and the rest Xylitol
  • 4 tsp of Irel Coffee essence or 4 tsp of good quality coffee extract use (use 3 if your coffee extract is strong)
  • One round teaspoon of cornstarch

Wet ingredients

  • A half a tsp of vanilla powder or a tsp of vanilla extract but if using extract put this in with the wet.
  • One cup of fine maize meal
  • One generous cup of ground almonds
  • Two round teaspoons of baking powder
  • A quarter teaspoon of baking soda
  •  A pinch of sea salt ( if full Irish granny mode throw a pinch of your left shoulder too )

Making it

Preheat your oven to 180C/ 350F. Prepare your 20cm / 7.5inch cake pan, this size pan makes a low cake. this is perfect if you want to make a two layered cake without the hassle of cutting through cake slices. If you prefer a higher rise just use a cake tin a size smaller.
First a get a bowl and put in your oil, fruit puree, yoghurt and coffee extract. Grab a sieve and sieve the cornstarch, now put your sugar and xylitol into it, I always sieve my rapadura sugar but is hard work sieving xylitol so even if you just sieve out the lumps in the sugar it should be sufficient. If using vanilla extract add it now. Give it all a good whisk.

Get another bowl and put all the dry ingredients into it. Make a well in the centre and pour your wet mixture into this. Gently fold the mixtures together, be nice to it, you just want to get rid of any floury lumpy bits. If you are too rough or over mix you will knock the air out and end up with a dense cake.

Pour (or push cos it’s thick) the batter into your cake tin making sure it is evenly spread. Place in the centre of the oven

After 5 mins turn down your oven to 170C/ 340F. It takes 23 minutes in my Uber fan oven it could take 25 or even 30 depending on your oven. You will know it is done when it is coming away from the sides maybe little cracks are starting to appear ontop, also when you stick with a skewer it should come out dry. You will get to know your oven, like I have to put everything on the right hand side cos the left is too hot.

So you could leave it like this, slice it into fingers and have it with tea or coffee. But to really finish it off it needs to be iced (frosting). Just make sure it has cooled down first!

Icing

This is like a soft royal icing or a butter-cream.

  • Two dsp of organic raw coconut oil
  • 1 tsp of Irel coffee essence or good quality coffee extract
  • Half a cup of icing sugar ( confectioner’s sugar )
  • Two dsp of hot water
  • Eight walnuts for decoration

Get a bowl and add your coconut oil and mash it until soft. Add your coffee essence/ extract and mash again. Now add your icing sugar, really get in there to make sure really mixed together, use the back of your spoon to press out any lumps. Now add your hot water, it is important that it is warm, cold water will make the coconut oil re-solidify. Mix to a nice smooth spreadable texture.

Put on your cake and arrange the walnuts to decorate.

Pre- icing, a certain someone had some while I was waiting for it to cool

Pre- icing, someone had some while I was waiting for it to cool

Here is the finished thing!

So much nicer iced

So much nicer iced

No cream Cream and Spinach Sauce

19 Wednesday Mar 2014

Posted by in Savoury, Vegan

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

,

I used to make the odd béchamel in my pre-vegan days. I found the average cream sauce a bit boring- garlic and rich cream I always wanted it to be a bit more interesting. So here is my No cream Cream Sauce with lots of other things in it! I usually try to keep my processed food to a minimum but this does have the odd ready to go ingredient for a speedy dinner! Should take about 30 minutes.

I use a wok to cook this, mainly due to the fact that it easier to toss the spinach in.

I am listing the ingredients in the order they go in to the wok / pot.

Ingredients

  • 1 big dessertspoon of organic raw coconut oil
  • 1 teaspoon of organic yellow mustard seed
  • 1 teaspoon organic cumin seed
  • A couple of twists of black pepper
  • 1 organic leek- evenly chopped doesn’t have to be very fine.
  • 5 cloves of organic garlic- this does- so very finely chopped
  • 8 organic chestnut mushrooms
  • 200g/ 8oz of organic baby spinach- well washed ( I sometimes find critters in mine )
  • 1 big teaspoon of organic dried oregano
  • 1 tin organic pinto beans- no sugar no salt or a generous cup of ones you have cooked from dry
  • 250ml carton of Oat cream – you can substitute another unsweetened non diary cream*
  • 1 dessertspoon of basil paste or about 10/12 fresh leaves
  • More black pepper- to taste
  • 3 dessertspoons of organic ground almonds

You can serve this with pasta or noodles, something the sauce will get all over!

Instructions

Wash your mushroom and baby spinach and set aside.

Put your coconut oil in the wok on a medium high heat to leave melt.

Peel and chop your leek- don’t use the green bits that are really tough. Chop your five cloves of garlic remove the greeny yellow bits in the centre, they are hard to digest and don’t taste great.

Put your yellow mustard seed and cumin seed in the pan. Add the black pepper. Leave to sizzle a bit.

Now add the leek, sauté until soft ( a few minutes ) and add your finely chopped garlic.

Keep and eye on your wok/ pot whilst chopping and throwing your mushrooms into the wok. I do the first half in biggish chunks  ( chopped in 4 or 6) and the second half I finely chop so it gives lots of flavour to the sauce. Leave these cook for a bit- so they have started to shrink and they have given off some of their juices. You can turn the heat down to medium.

If you are having pasta or noodles you could put them on to cook.

Now add your spinach- do half first, tossing it everything else. When it has wilted a little add the rest and toss again.

Add your oregano. Mixing it through your ingredients.

Add your pinto beans, mix thoroughly and let everything cook for a minute or two so the beans are heated and some more of the water has evaporated off.

Now add your carton of oat cream and your basil paste or leaves.

*a note on the cream- the reason I use oat so I don’t like to use too much soya unless it is fermented .As long as it is an unsweetened pouring cream it should work though.

Add more black pepper. You could add a little sea salt at this stage but the basil paste I get has so sea salt in it so I don’t.

The final ingredient is ground almonds- these give a lovely richness to the sauce and also help thicken it. Turn the heat off and get your pasta/ noodles ready – you can add the pasta to the sauce if you like. Because my partner has regular whole-wheat ones and I tend to be having gluten free ones we pour the have yummy sauce over them on the plate.

it’s tasty try it out!

Lung Tea

17 Monday Mar 2014

Posted by in Natural Health, Vegan

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

I am still vegan- this is not a tea made of lungs. Turns out my juice is not a cure for the cold. So next step in the epic immune system battle is to clear my lungs. Just what you all want to think about this morning- Aissa’s yucky lungs. But it is a drink I have found good in the past so I thought I would share. The herbs should be available from a good health shop.

  • 1 scant teaspoon of mullein herb
  • 1 teaspoon of marshmallow herb
  • A half teaspoon of chopped organic ginger*
  • A quarter teaspoon of chopped turmeric (or same of organic dry turmeric)
  • A TINY pinch of organic cayenne pepper
  • 1 clove of organic garlic- finely chopped
  • Optional extras : half teaspoon of dried organic thyme, a slice of lemon
  • 400-ml of boiled water ( roughly three quarters of a pint )

* a note on ginger- I know it can be hard to always eat organic- but I recommend making an effort with the ginger as non-organic stuff can have been irradiated.

If you have a teapot that can take loose herb that is perfect to use, you can just put everything into that (except the garlic). I use a little stainless steel tea ball for everything- bar the garlic. If using lemon put this in at the end.

Using a teapot – pour your boiled water straight in and put a lid on the pot and leave brew for 10-15 mins. In my giant mug- I put a saucer on top and let it brew for the same amount of time. It should then be cool enough to drink- it is then time to add the garlic.

Sip the drink and for extra benefits eat the garlic at the end!If you don’t finish the drink – do not be tempted to drink the intensely infused left overs later- the garlic and ginger and turmeric get very intense and too spicy- I speak from experience – make fresh if you want to have a second cup.

I am not a doctor but I can certainly say what these foods have been used for and have worked for me in the past. Since they work they may have counter-indications so if you are on medication do double check you are good to go with the ingredients.

The mullein should not be used if you are a smoker- it helps clear and open the lungs- not advisable to the put smoke into them after that!! But perfect if you have just given up as it will help clear them faster! You often find mullein in natural cough bottles.

The marshmallow will help soften and break up mucus ( Yep I said it MUCUS!)- demulcent- anti-inflammatory.

Ginger,Turmeric and cayenne are warming and good for circulation and naturally anti-inflammatory and wonderfully full of anti-oxidants

The garlic is amazing- good for circulation, it contains “allicin” and is anti-bacterial, anti- fungal and anti- viral but doesn’t kill your good bacteria. It is also the reason you put the garlic in at the end. Alot of the allicin would be lost by the heat of the boiling water. the ginger also contains allicin.

The thyme is a demulcent and anti-bacterial. It tastes strong so not everyone loves it.

The lemon has vitamin C and will also balance the flavour a bit. I find the whole concoction tastes a bit like sweet diluted broth- not bad is what I’m trying to convey!!!

If you look the herbs up they do tons of other things too!

Will add a pick of the brew later! Tis later-> Pic added!

Made in jar so you can see the pretty!

Made in jar so you can see the pretty!

X Aissa

Juice!

15 Saturday Mar 2014

Posted by in juice, Natural Health, Vegan, yoga

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

, ,

Hey guys, I am down with the flu…. I’m trying not to be too disappointed in my immune system since my partner had one in January that I managed not to get but he got one again and apparently twice in 8 weeks and my immune system was like “Are you kidding me? I can’t work under these conditions!”  I was searching you tube for “yoga while sick” but anything beyond a child pose was a bit of an effort!! 🙂 Yoga with a fever is maybe what I should of searched- there was one instructor saying doing gentle twist and stretches in bed can be good- maybe that is an idea.

Anyhooow the point being when one (i.e me) is not well sometimes we don’t have much of an appetite, but of course it is the time when we need to be eating as well as possible so our body has all the nutrients it needs to fight infection and heal. I believe juicing is a good addition to your diet esp. in these cases. With the fibre removed your body can take the nutrients up easily and quickly. I have a masticating juicer, which means the juice is pressed and no heat is used so more nutrients survive. I decided to make one I thought would be good for my flu/ cold/ cough evil disease from the black pit!

Organic Juice

  • Half a GIANT beetroot- or one small one
  • Half an unwaxed lemon
  • One small green apple
  • Two stalks of celery
  • A small chunk of ginger
  • A slice of turmeric
Look at that amazing beetroot colour!

Look at that amazing beetroot colour!

So a good hit of vitamin C, the celery for salts like potassium incase Im dehydrated, turmeric and ginger are both warming and anti- inflammatory. Beetroot might give me a bit of energy and dilate those compressed blood vessels around my sinuses with its ability to increase nitric oxide!

Getting a good dose of various vitamins and minerals which is a good thing even if I haven’t found the cure for the common cold!!!

XX Aissa