Vegan Pancake Tuesday… Spelt & in Sweden!

28 Tuesday Feb 2017

Posted by Aissa in Savoury, Sweets, Traditional, Vegan

Tags

Pancakes, recipe, Savoury, Sweden, Sweets, Traditional, Vegan

Hey guys! Long time no post! 😦 Here I am with another Vegan Pancake Recipe… but it is Pancake Tuesday back in Ireland and my sister is up in Nordic country for a visit … so here we are!

Vegan Pancakes- Spelt!

1 generous cup of whole spelt flour (called Dinkel here!)
2 teaspoons of baking powder (as aluminium free as possible)
A quarter teaspoon of sea salt
Half a teaspoon of vanilla powder
OR a teaspoon of extract in the wet stuff
2 dessertspoons of org raw coconut oil melted
1 and a half dessertspoons muscovado sugar
A cup and a few dessertspoons of vegan friendly milk (warm)

I used the Swedish “Oatly”, they have a version here for coffee that is richer … foams so all the cafes here use it.

Method

Sooo melt the said coconut oil on a medium heat. In a bowl… I used a cool green Swedish dish i found in the kitchen…you can use your own, no found Swedish dishes necessary. Where was I?

In a bowl mash your muscovado it is a soft packed sugar and tends to have clumps. Rapadura/sucucant would be fine too. Now pour in your coconut oil and mash and smush them together.

Put your Vegan friendly milk in the saucepan you melted your oil (so no waste!) and warm it up to finger temperature. Do do this, doing this is important as cold milk will make the coconut oil go hard again.

Whilst this warms… measure out the dry stuff. Flour, salt, baking powder and vanilla powder and mix together. If using vanilla extract add it to your warming milk.

Add the warm milk to the oil and sugar- mix mix mix mash mash mash- NO LUMPS PEOPLE! Grab a whisk like implement- being in a foreign country without my kitchen supplies I used one whisk from an electric mixer. Add in your dry ingredients and whisk everything together so no bits.

Pancake stuff Sweden style!

Leave to sit for sit least a half an hour, so it thickens up a bit.

Put a frying pan on a quite high heat and put a teaspoon of coconut oil in to melt. You will most likely have to sacrifice the first pancake to the pancake gods, but a good test is to put a tiny drop of the batter in the pan and if it sizzles and changes colour really fast it is hot enough.

This is a small non stick frying pan! 😉

I had a small pan so I used only two thirds of a soup ladle per pancake. I like them thin too. Leave one side cook for over thirty seconds, until it turns golden brown at the edges, it should then be ready to flip. Then leave that side sit for a least thirty second before you try and move it. I had my sister supervising me so I did not give into my terrible impatience and interference with the natural cooking order of pancakes… much more of a mix stick in oven or fridge or jar to ferment person! 🙂

La Vegan Pancake, in a bowl.

TA-DA! Et Volia! Vegan pancakes. I had mine with Oat cream, organic lemon and real Maple Syrup. Because I like the classics!

I have been baking since I got to Sweden, but nothing I felt good enough about to share, my last place the oven didn’t close correctly … weird bakes ensued! The odd batch of biscuits/cookies were okay but by ‘gum were the cakes a mess!! New season, new semester in college and new place- last biscuits I baked took… wait for it FORTY FIVE minutes 🙂 But I currently have a Beetroot and Red Cabbage Sauerkraut brewing do will share that next!

Vegan Cashew Chocolate Chip Cookies

15 Monday Aug 2016

Posted by Aissa in Biscuits, Chocolate, Cookies, Traditional, Vegan

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Biscuits, Chocolate, Cookies, recipe, Traditional, Vegan

Hi!

It has been a while 😦 sorry ! The last month and a bit life has been crazy but also exciting. I have left Dublin and I am briefly in County Cork with my big sis before I move to Sweden! I am going back to college to do a Masters in Photography… might mean improved pictures for the blog! How you guys stuck with me in the early posts I do not know! Everything looked so orange!!!!

I did make a final bake in our Dublin flat – “On the Move Coconut Macaroons” it was my second time making them, but they were a tad crumbly.. . so when I make them again and have the recipe perfected for nostalgia’s sake I will post a few pics from Dublin too.

I am still trying to pack and I leave County Cork tomorrow! But there is always time for a homemade classic chocolate chip cookies. I have no precariously balance baked goods on a windowsill… this time I put them in the garden and managed to keep them out of reach of my sister’s cute cat 🙂

So Celebrating my move north Vegan Cashew Chocolate Chip Cookies!

Two dessertspoons of natural smooth cashew nut butter
One rounded dessertspoon of organic raw coconut oil
Half a teaspoon of vanilla extract
A third of a cup of room temperature almond milk – don’t add it all yet
A quarter cup of coconut blossom sugar
A quarter cup of rapadura/ turbindo/ sucucant sugar *
One cup of unbleached white flour or half & half with fine wholemeal **
A quarter teaspoon of himalayan pink salt or fine sea salt
Half a teaspoon of low aluminium baking powder
Half a teaspoon of vanilla powder/ more extract/ half a pod***
Approx. 30g or just over 1 ounce of chopped medium dark chopped chocolate. Mine was an organic 70% cocoa.

O I do love my footnotes !

* I could not get rapadura in my local health shop so I used organic raw cane sugar this time.

** I brought a bag of organic unbleached flour with me but could not get a fine wholemeal as normally I would do half and half. If you would like to do Gluten free I recommend half ground almonds and half a white gluten free flour mix.

*** you can NEVER have too much vanilla 🙂 Though they are also lovely with some orange zest!

Method

Preheat your oven to 170C/ 325F could go up a few degrees if not fan assisted. Make sure your oven shelf is in the middle, the top shelf = burnt biscuits. Have your lined baking tray at the ready.

Grab a medium to large bowl. Put in your cashew nut butter, raw coconut oil and vanilla extract and mash together. Mash mash mash until a smooth mix, a la picture.

I forgot to take my almond milk out of the fridge so I added a drop of hot water to it and added in half. Important not to add cold non-dairy milk as it will make the coconut oil go solid again and you will get knobs of it in your mix :-{ ugh.

In another bowl bung in all your dry stuff. Sieve the baking powder if lumpy. Mix until all one colour. I used my sister’s lovely wooden bowl 🙂

Chop your chocolate, fine-ish and no need to be precise in the size of the bits- the unevenness gives them character and also varies the chocolate experience!

Now, add your dry ingredients to your wet ingredients. You can use your spoon at first, but it will remain bitty and flakey unless you get your hands in there. I find it is better if your hands aren’t too warm so run them under the cold tap for a sec before you start. Press and fold the dough together once or twice and then sprinkle in your chocolate. If the dough is a bit dry add a little more of the left over almond milk and mix and press the dough again. You just want there to be no flour-y bits and for the chocolate to be pretty evenly distributed. It makes for quite a wet batter.

By the rounded teaspoon place them on your baking tray. Give them a little squish down so they aren’t too high as with the baking powder they will rise a bit anyway.

This made fourteen cookies. My sister’s oven is hotter at the back, so I had to turn them after ten minutes. The oven is not a crazy uber volcano hot oven like my one in Dublin was and I opened it a million times so they took FIFTEEN minutes. I am going to say ten to fifteen minutes because of my impatience and the unfamiiar oven-ness. When they are browning at the edges they are done. Leave them sit on the tray for a five mins before attempting to eat, they need time to firm up.

Ta-da! Viola! Vegan Cashew Chocolate Chip Cookies in the garden 🙂

Look how safe those biscuits are, all on the ground not three stories up and half off a sloping windowsill. When I find somewhere to live in Sweden (O dear lord God I have nowhere to live!!) I will post as soon as possible, maybe with baked goods on a Swedish windowsill! 🙂

Xs Aissa

Horseradish Preserve! Vegan & Gluten free

24 Sunday Jan 2016

Posted by Aissa in Fermentation, Gluten Free, Natural Health, Savoury, Superfoods, Traditional, Vegan

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Tags

Fermentation, Gluten free, Natural Health, Raw, recipe, Savoury, Superfoods, Traditional, Vegan

I’m on a spice kick! Wasabi-ing my popcorn and now horesradish-ing my everything! ( I can make my own verbs up and no-one can tell me otherwise!!) Horseradish is a some what overlooked root. Its super heat and flavour add that extra kick to.. well as I said everything, but it also as medicinal properties- anyone who has had the fresh stuff will tell you it clears your sinuses but it is also anti-bacterial (like garlic)- though traditional recommended for helping with respiratory conditions I have heard of it being used for fluid retention, urinary tract infections and inflammation. * So a great thing to have in your kitchen.

In order to keep the heat in your horseradish you need to make this all in one go. So no chopping the horseradish wondering off to look something up on line and spending three hours looking at cat videos 🙂 If left out to the air – esp. ones blended it starts to loose its heat.

I have made this a number of times so here is the list of what you will need to make:

Horseradish Preserve

A good sharp knife
A good strong chopping board
A little upper body strength or a helper
A good strong blender or food processor
A jar
A Horseradish 🙂
Approx. a cup of apple cyder/ cider vinegar raw and with the mother culture in it.
Optional: Swimming goggles.

Method

Ideally the horseradish would be organic, but I couldn’t get any this time. So I made sure to peel it really well incase there were any residues left on it. Horseradish is very woody it even has a grain to it so it is a bit like trying to chop a soft-ish stick! If you find the grain it is easier to peel. The other tip is to cut length ways first , chop the top and bottom off and then chop to smaller bits. With my blender I need to chop to top of finger size bits, you might have to chop smaller.

Horseradish root looking rooty

Pop the chopped up bits in your blender/ processor and add about six tablespoons of apple cyder vinegar. Pulse off and on five or six times – and then blend for thirty seconds. My blender has a setting for nuts and I actually do it on that first as the horseradish is so hard. Once it is pulverised a bit you can blend like normal.

WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! Maybe get the goggles!

DO NOT TAKE THE TOP OFF THE BLENDER WITH YOUR HEAD OVER IT!!!! It is like putting your head in a bowl of twenty freshly chopped onions. You eyes will be scalded and streaming! Even scooping it into the jar I try and keep my face well back.

Fluffy horseradish ready to apple cyder vinegar-d

All that spicy goodness is heading off into the air so to catch it cover the horseradish with the apple cyder vinegar fast! A good apple cyder/ cider vinegar- that is naturally fermented and raw is full of good bacteria and malic acid (helps break down uric acid – which in turn is good for your joints). This good vinegar will preserve your horseradish- I have had a jar for months at a time in the fridge.

Looks like snow but it is HOT HOT HOT 🙂

It is a wonderful accompaniment to any meal – but is a especially good mixed with avocado, hummus or a pinch added to your homemade salad dressing. even when using the jar I don’t leave it open to the air for long- to keep all the great spices in!

Hope you guys try it out. It is pretty amazing stuff. It will be called a superfood yet! 🙂

xs Aissa

*footnote. I am not a health practitioner. but I have read if you are on low thyroid medication or pregnant you should not being eating truckloads of horseradish!

Wasabi Popcorn! Vegan & Gluten Free

31 Thursday Dec 2015

Posted by Aissa in Gluten Free, Savoury, Traditional

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Gluten free, Savoury, snack, Traditional, Vegan

Happy New Year! Here is my New Year’s Eve snack. This truly may be the easiest recipe I have put up yet. But it tasty so I wanted to share! 🙂

Wasabi Popcorn!!

Organic Popcorn- approx. a third of a cup
2 big dessertspoons of org cold pressed coconut oil
2 big teaspoons of wasabi powder
Roughly 8 dessertspoons of nutritional yeast
2 teaspoons of org cold pressed olive oil
6 twists of black pepper
A pinch of himalayan pink salt

Soo very easy..

Put your wide based saucepan on a medium to high heat.

Melt the coconut oil.

Add the popcorn. Shake the pan the odd time. Wait for a minute for it to start popping. Put the lid on and turn the heat down to medium.

Start making the wasabi mix. The odd time agitate the saucepan to stop the popcorn from burning.

Wasbai Nutrional Yeast mix Method:

Put your wasabi powder in a bowl. Add four dessertspoons of nutritional yeast and your black pepper and salt. Put in the olive oil and mash the ingredients a bit. It should be kinda bread crumb… crumbly.

Add in the rest of the nutritional yeast, mix again. Taste add more wasabi if you would like it hotter. Ta-da!

Once the popcorn is only popping a few times every 30 seconds, take it off the heat. Put some of the wasabi mix in a bowl and pour your popcorn in the bowl. Add more of the wasabi mix on top. Keep some to the side for adding more.

Hope you have a happy healthy New Year! Xs Aissa

It’s Silly Season it’s Vegan Stollen with a Rosy Marzipan Heart! Updated recipe – 2015 style!

24 Thursday Dec 2015

Posted by Aissa in Bread, Cake, Sweets, Traditional, Vegan

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Bread, Cake, recipe, Traditional, Vegan

Stollen Update 2015!

I thought I would do a re-jig of last year’s Its Silly Season its Stollen Time post. The wonderful Mihl from Seitan is My Motor agreed to let me put her recipe in this post (Thank you again! 🙂 ). I have made my little adaptions- to the wonderful original but do check out the link to her page as she has more pictures, describes the process very well and explains the tradition of Stollen! You can also discover all her other delicious delights.

I am making two batches of Stollen this year- Six mini Stollen- I have three in the oven right now! Starting to smell nice in here!! 🙂

I have been making Stollen for Christmas for a few years. Clearly alcohol laden fruitcake is the Irish tradition, but I never liked it much. I was the person who ate the marzipan off the outside! I came across a wonderful recipe for vegan stollen here on “Seitan is my motor”. For emphasis her instructions are very clear! Which is what won me over. I was previously a bit intimidated by enriched dough. Knowing if you have kneaded enough, throwing the yeast in on top of the salt and immediately killing it ( 😦 ) etc. Kneading is all about getting your back into it and not being tempted to add more flour 🙂 Once you make this you will realise it can be done, to delicious results.

I have adapted the recipe a little and I make my own marzipan for it (Marzipan recipe inc here!). My changes are few, you have to respect yeast no messing with the recipe too much or the magic chemistry will be off. I use coconut oil instead of margarine, I use a third of a cup. I rub it with coconut oil too. As you would expect because I am a vanilla fiend I use a generous dessertspoon of vanilla powder overall. Finally I do not like raisins- I can stand a sultana in a scone …but raisins eep! and shiver! so I use chopped organic un-sulphered apricots in my stollen.

It takes a little planning. You make the plain dough the night before and leave it to proof in the fridge. You bring all to together, shape, leave to rise and bake the next evening.

So with no further a due the recipe!

Silly Season Stollen Aissa’s adaption of Seitan is my Motor’s wonderful recipe

Stollen with a rosy marzipan heart!

The dough part un (1):

500g/ 5 cups of unbleached plain white flour
7g/ 1 tsp dry yeast or 40g fresh yeast- I’ve never used the fresh in this!
Third of a cup of rapadura/ sucucant sugar & one tablespoon of icing sugar
Generous half a cup of non-dairy milk and a bit more as needed- I use un-sweetened almond milk
A third of a cup of org raw coconut oil

The dough part deux (2):

A pinch of himalayan pink salt/ sea salt
One and a third cup of ground almonds
A tablespoon of non-dairy milk
Half a teaspoon of lemon extract or a few drops of food grade lemon oil
A quarter teaspoon of almond extract
A large teaspoon of vanilla powder/ extract

The dough part trois (3):

Half a cup of chopped un-sulphered organic apricots
A third of a cup of quite finely chopped whole almonds

For finishing:

A quarter cup of coconut oil
Third of a cup of icing / confectionary sugar

METHOD: don’t be scared!!

Seriously- don’t be scared! It will be soooo gooooood!

So dough part un! I put my oven on to 100C/ 220F and put the third of a cup of coconut oil and the generous half cup of almond milk in a heat proof bowl and pop it in the oven to melt.

Next! Mix your flour and sugar- press out any lumps. I don’t bother to sieve anything.

Take the melted oil and milk out of the oven and leave it to cool. You do not want the mix or the bowl to be too hot or it will kill the yeast. It should be body temperature. You could put it in another bowl- I like to save on wash-up though!

Add the yeast, give a gentle stir to dissolve and add in your flour sugar mix. Combine it too a rough ball- add an extra splash of almond milk if very crumbly. Don’t cover it. Leave to sit for about 15 mins.

Dough part deux: Put the dry ingredients (ground almonds mixed with the pinch of salt- if you are using vanilla powder put it in now) in on top of the dough and mix a bit- you need to use your hands. Mix the wet ingredients – I do it in a teacup- and pour this over your mix. And knead a bit to kinda combine.

Transfer to a very lightly floured surface and knead for about 5 minutes. I do not partake in tons of kneading every day so I tend to take a minute or so to get the hang again, I knead for maybe 7 minutes. My technique is to push away from myself and then pull each side back towards me to form a ball again and then repeat. Try to keep doing it in the same direction Do not add more flour – the gluten will develop and it will stick to itself not the surface- you will even see it getting kinda stringy looking bits- which are the gluten strands!

Now cover it and put it in the fridge for the night so it can rest, and you can too!

The next day. The Dough part trois!

It is usually the afternoon by the time I get around to making the stollen. So take it out of the fridge and uncover it, I usually leave it out for a couple of hours, but if you have a particularly warm kitchen you may not have to wait as long. The yeast will wake up and when the dough warms up it is easier to work with.

Meanwhile chop your apricots and almonds .

Part trois!

Now knead the apricots and almonds into the dough. You need to get your back into it! As the dough will be a bit stiff to start and you want to get them evenly distributed. It can take me maybe 10 minutes. Form it into a rough ball and divide into three. I draw an kind of an upside-down Y into the top of it to give me three even pieces.

stollen dough divided

Next bit is the marzipan making! Or if you can buy some and add a little rose flavouring and roll it into logs for your stollen. But lets go back to my 2014 post by the wonderful power of time travel……” do do do do…do do do do do…”

Since I make my own marzipan I put my rose flavour into that instead of the mix. You just cannot get good quality marzipan here. Since I buy my ground almonds in bulk … because I bake so much… it makes sense to make my own.

Marzipan is a wonderful human invention! So versatile! The almond-y heart of your stollen perhaps little marzipan balls that you can dip in melted dark chocolate and leave to set in the freezer. Tasty treats for over the holidays.

Marzipan

200g/ two cups of ground almonds
100g/ one cup org vegan icing sugar
A teaspoon of vanilla powder/ a pod/ paste
One tablespoon of fresh lemon juice
Two tablespoons of maple syrup
A quarter teaspoon of sea salt/ himalayan pink salt
Half a teaspoon of almond extract
Optional: Eight ground apricot kernels or increase the almond extract to one teaspoon
Seven drops of food grade rose oil* or a generous dessertspoon of rose water
One dessertspoon of cold water

*mine is in an almond oil base as pure rose oil is like twenty five euros a bottle!

Put your dry ingredients in a bowl. Make a well in the centre and add the wet, not the water though! Press it all together. If it still a little crumbly you can add your water and press it together again. It should form a ball like biscuit/ cookie dough. Cover in tinfoil/ baking paper and leave in the fridge for at least a half an hour.

If using in your stollen you will be rolling into three little logs. If you plan to make marzipan chocolate balls you will have billions of them!!! So maybe half the recipe, you could also leave out the rose and use orange zest and a little orange oil or orange flower water instead!?

I digressed in 2014! Back to Stollen!

Roll out one of your stollen. See Mihl’s site here: Stollen recipe and picture instructions!

it should be about 12cm wide and you place your little marzipan log in the middle with a couple of cms to spare on the top and bottom. Fold the right side in and press it on top of your marzipan. Roll it all to the other side so the marzipan so completely covered. Now press the meeting points of the dough together, at the ends fold it over and under and gently pinch so the dough so there are no holes underneath.

Cover with a damp towel, I leave mine for about 15- 20 minutes. My oven takes a while to pre-heat so I turn that on now to 200C / 400F.

Put in the oven and bake for 10 mins. Then cover them up with some tin foil, so they don’t go too brown. Turn the temperature down to 180C / 350F. Bake for another 30 mins … or if you are typing a blog forget about them and bake for longer thereby leaving one a little bit charred. I would go for the former not the latter myself…

Et Voila! That’s it.

Here is mine naked out of the oven !

Triple mini stollen

Ready to wrapped and hibernated for a bit.

snowy stollen

Hope you guys try it. It really lasts, unless you end up eating it really fast, which has been known to happen. If you are clever and hide one, you can toast slices of it too, sooo good!!!

Will try and post again soon, but just incase Happy Christmas, Solstice, Hanukkah, New Years, or a bit of time off work! 🙂 Xs Aissa

Homemade Almond Milk -Vegan & Gluten Free

27 Sunday Sep 2015

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

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Almond Milk, Gluten free, Natural Health, Raw, Traditional, Vegan

I am on a almond kick at the moment. Almonds in my smoothies, ground almonds in sauces, plans for a version of almond butter and I will have a Almond Cake recipe for you guys after this.

Once you have a metal sieve and a strong blender or food processor you are all set for making Almond Milk. I was in Sicily for my holidays recently, we stopped in a small town near Mt.Etna and when getting our necessary espressos the gentleman in the bar gave us a taste of his almond milk. It was made from locally grown almonds, was crazily sweet and had a just a hint of lemon in it. Delicious! So I was inspired to add a little lemon juice! The organic unwaxed lemon I got is Italian – so I have decided it was a Sicilian one!

Warning extremely addictive!

Almond Milk

A generous cup of whole organic almonds- soaked overnight
Two big dessertspoons of desiccated/ shredded coconut
Less than an eighth of a teaspoon of himalayan pink salt
Half a teaspoon of vanilla powder/ insides of a pod
Two teaspoons of fresh lemon juice
Optional: two medjool dates/ two teaspoons of maple syrup
A pint and a quarter or approx. 600ml of water (maybe more)

Method:

Soak your almonds overnight- make sure they are well covered by water as they will swell.

Throw the water out that they have been soaked in and give them a brief rinse. Put them into your blender/ food processor. Add your coconut, date/maple syrup, water, salt and vanilla. I blend mine on the setting for nut butters/ dips. Basically a few short burst and then continuously for 45 seconds. Add half your lemon juice. Blitz again for another 30 seconds. Taste it and see if it needs more lemon juice or not!

Straining your milk. You can use a nut bag or muslin cheese cloth. I just use my metal sieve. I pour some in to the sieve over a wide topped measuring jug. Press the ground almonds to get all the milky-ness out of them! It should deliver just over a pint.

Taste again! If very creamy you may want to add more water- you can either stir it through or give a quick blitz again to throughly mix. Put in the fridge it is best served chilled! I keep the almond pulp for making cookies/ raw little sweets or adding to a dinner.

I will have a glass tonight to toast the Lunar Eclipse! Hope you try making it!Xs Aissa

Moon looking beautiful already!

Red Pepper Hummus & Wacky Wasabi Poppy Seed Dressing Vegan & Gluten Free

17 Friday Jul 2015

Posted by Aissa in Gluten Free, Savoury, Traditional, Vegan

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Gluten free, Red Pepper Hummus, Savoury, sweet red pepper, Traditional, Vegan

I seem to be going through a dip, sauce and spread phase. The one in my last post kicked it off I think. The “Sweet Red Pepper Hummus” I just enjoyed with my salad-y dinner. I accidentally lashed an overpowering amount of black pepper powder in it at the end…I ate some of the hummus that I had to fish out because of the pepper and my eyes are still watering! Got my circulation going at least 🙂 So I would just stick to using your sense both taste and common and not looking away as you pour said peppery pepper.

The “Wasabi Poppy Seed Dressing” is made extra yummy by some cooked shiitake. It almost tastes mustard like with the hot wasabi and brown rice vinegar. It was lovely with the aduki chicory salad that night. But first…..

Sweet Red Pepper Hummus

One large pointed sweet red pepper
A cup or 240g of cooked or sprouted chickpeas
Two dessertspoons of whole dark tahini
One clove of garlic – two if using a less powerful hand blender
A squeeze of lemon juice
Three or four dessertspoons of water
Three dessertspoons of extra virgin olive oil
A third of a spoon of powdered black pepper
A third of a teaspoon of smoked paprika
A bare half of a teaspoon of ground cumin
A teaspoon of sweet raw miso paste*
A pinch of sea salt or a tsp of nutritional yeast flakes

*no miso? use a half teaspoon of tamari for an unami flavour

Roughly chop your pepper and garlic. Throw everything into your blender/ food processor and blend. Or use a hand blender in a bowl- you may need a little more water. If using a can of organic chickpeas with no added ingredients in it you can use some of the water from the can- as it has a chickpea flavour.

That is it super simple sweet and spicy red pepper hummus. Adding naturally colourful foods where you can = bonus nutrients and antioxidants! Serve in a pretty bowl with a sprig of parsley!

The red pepper hummus seems to have brought the sun out... or maybe it is a coincidence

The red pepper hummus seems to have brought the sun out…perhaps just a coincidence!

And now… next!

“Wacky Wasabi Poppy Seed Dressing”

Cooked bit:

Approx. five or six or so organic shiitake mushroom
A dessertspoon of coconut oil
A teaspoon of nigella seeds
About ten twists of black pepper
Three cloves of garlic- finely chopped

Throw in the blender bit:

Quarter cup of a vinegar mix
I used brown rice and apple cyder vinegar*
A quarter a small onion chopped – approx. two dessertspoons
Four dessertspoons of poppy seeds
Third of a teaspoon of wasabi powder**
Eighth of a teaspoon of sea salt- but check if it needs more
A teaspoon of maple syrup
Three/ Four dessertspoons of extra virgin olive oil

*real vinegars traditionally fermented

**if wasabi is unavailable you could grate a teaspoon of horseradish

Method

So wash your shiitake and slice. Put a pan/ wok on a medium high heat. Melt the coconut oil and leave for a minute. Put in your nigella seeds and let them sizzle. Add in your pepper and chopped garlic. After leaving the garlic cook and soften add in your shiitake. Reduce the heat to medium. Keep an eye, give them the odd stir. The mushies will be done when they have shrunk and are nice and shiny. Take off the heat and let the mix cool.

Uncooked Mushrooms. Looking mushroom-y.

Put all the “throw in the blender bits” in the blender and add in the “cooked” bits. Blend! I have a setting on my jug blender for dip type things. It basically blitzes for a few seconds on and off at the start and then blends at a high speed for 30 second. It should start to thicken and emulsify. I gave a couple of five seconds blitz-iseses at the end.

Wacky wasabi poppy seed dressing..on my windowsill

It was lovely with the aduki wilted wild chicory yoke I made. Also great on the spiralized side salad. Really mustard like! Got your dose of fermented food, and antioxidants with fabulous poppy seeds too!

Incase you would like to see..here’s the salad.

cucumber, carrot and onion and lemon juice…on my windowsill.

i would like to point out that I do not keep all my food on my windowsill. I do actually bring it inside and eat off a plate at the table. Hope you like my foray into dips sauces and spreads. Think I will be back to my usual healthy sweet stuff next time. Xs Aissa

Get you going 30min Yoga!

21 Sunday Jun 2015

Posted by Aissa in Natural Health, Traditional, yoga

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Natural Health, Traditional, world yoga day, Yoga, yoga practice

So I was browsing through Yoga videos, thinking I may share what I end up following since it is world yoga day! ( a bit controversial in India – so I have read ). I had a bit of a blah week health and energy wise – summer bugs trying to take me down! So my yoga practice was a bit intermittent and more restorative in nature. I wanted to follow a more energising routine to-day. So “Power Yoga” it was. It really felt a bit like a gym work out at points during the first half and to be honest I don’t think my energy levels were quite up to the level I thought they were. That said I feel stretched, warm and relaxed having done it!

If you want to get your circulation going and work on your strength as well as flexibility this would be a good one to follow.

Enjoy X Aissa

cute downward dog sketch!

Homemade Oat & Cashew Milk! Vegan ( gluten free if you use the right oats! )

07 Sunday Jun 2015

Posted by Aissa in Gluten Free, Sweets, Traditional, Vegan

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energy smoothie, Gluten free, Homemade, medjool date, oats, Sweets, Traditional, Vegan

I was out and about yesterday and bought lots of organic salad leaves and yummy stuff at the farmers’s market. Walked home on a warm but extremely windy June day. All sorted for a my big salad for dinner. All my food shopping sorted, until I realised I forgot to get dairy free milk! Which would be okay but I really wanted it for my forever evolving Not so smooth energy smoothie for breakfast! Necessity is the mother of invention, or prevention of procrastination, as I have intended to make my own for ages.

Vegan milk on my windowsill!

You will you need to leave to stuff soak over night if you want it for your break-ie !

Homemade Oat & Cashew Milk – makes over : 600ml / a pint / 2.5cups

Half a cup of organic fine rolled oats (Gluten free if you like!)
Three dessertspoons of cashews / cashew pieces
Less than an eight of a teaspoon of pink himalayan salt or sea salt
Generous Two and a half cups of boiled water- leave to cool for a minute
Half a medjool date
Half a teaspoon of vanilla powder
Some extra water to so you can have it thinner if you like
Optional: I think a pinch of cinnamon could be lovely too!

So put your oats in a sieve and give them a rinse. I put them a big jug but you could soak them in a bowl. Add in your cashews and salt and stir them together. Add in the hot water. Leave to sit over night.

Next day.

You will notice everything will have swelled up. Now you want to pour it all through a sieve. Over a bowl or straight into your blending contraption. I blended mine in a jug blender, would work in a food processor and as long as you don’t leave lots of cashews in a hand blender would work too.

Use a spatula to press the mixture in the sieve. You will see thick creamy liquid coming through. Keep pressing until you are bored or it looks like you have gotten as much out as you can. I picked out the cashews as I went and threw them into the liquid to make the milk extra fabulous. If you are having porridge for breakfast you can cook the soaked oats up with the rest! Soaking your oats pre cooking is a good idea anyway as it helps break the phytates down and makes the oats more digestable.

Onwards!

Add in your halve medjool date and half a teaspoon of vanilla powder. Blend as if you are making a smoothie. I tasted it and found it lovely and creamy but a little rich for me ,so I added in another third of a cup of water. I gave it another blitz just to mix it up. Et Volia! Ta-Da! Homemade oat and cashew milk!

Ready to be smoothie-d! 🙂 Breakfast is saved!!!

Hope you try it! It was super easy! Xs Aissa

Seasonal Greens & Nettle Soup! Vegan & Gluten Free

24 Sunday May 2015

Posted by Aissa in Gluten Free, Natural Health, Savoury, Superfoods, Traditional, Vegan

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Dinner, Gluten free, Natural Health, Nettles, Savoury, Traditional, Vegan

This is the brightest greenest soup I have ever made, I just feel healthier in the glow of it! It only took 45 minutes from start to finish including taking photos! Nettles come in to season in spring and that season lasts until the end of May. They become to old tough and stingy after that! That said they still sting a bit- so handle with care! Traditionally they would be picked in the countryside or out of your own garden. It is the shocking reality of city life that I bought mine, but I am grateful that the McNally organic farm stall realised that urban dwellers would also like nettles! My Dad grew up having this iron and silica rich food in his diet, but my first attempt at cooking them went terribly wrong. I simply over cooked them and the soup became incredibly sour. If cooked for only a minute or so they lend the soup a lovely lemon fruity and green flavour.

Spinach, chard, nettles, chives & wet garlic

Mostly nettle soup would be made with a base of potato, I am not a fan of the starchy spud and I already have enough tomatoes in my diet to cover my nightshade consumption quota! I used a base of organic cauliflower and carrots, my extra seasonal goodies I have young spinach, rainbow chard, chives and wet garlic! If you cannot get your hands on nettles try some rocket, Persian cress or mustard greens!

Lovely spinach

Seasonal Greens & Nettle Soup

Three cloves of Wet garlic
A dessertspoon of raw coconut oil
A teaspoon of Yellow mustard seeds
A teaspoon of Nigella seeds
Half a teaspoon of turmeric powder*
Two bay leaves
Lots of Black pepper
A dash of Mirin – for sweetness
Two medium carrots chopped
Half a large head of Cauliflower- chopped
Two cups of vegan stock- homemade or bought**
Approx. 400g of young Spinach
I used half a bunch of the Rainbow Chard in the picture
Approx. 300g of Nettles ( I used two thirds of the nettles in the pic below)
A couple of dessertspoons of chopped chives
Half a cup or so of hot water for thinning soup a bit after blending
Optional: 100ml/ half a cup of vegan cream
Optional: A few dessertspoons of cashews or a ripe avocado instead of the vegan cream!
As an after thought I think it would be good with one diced onion
Extra chopped chives serving

*Not very Irish but very good for you

**I used half an organic onion stock cube to two cups of boiling water, cubes are of course hydrolysed veg protein free!

Fantastically spiky nettles!

Method

Start by melting your coconut oil in a deep saucepan on a medium heat. Add your mustard and nigella seeds and let sizzle for a minute. Add in your (onion if using) wet garlic and some black pepper. Let cook for another minute or two, don’t leave the garlic burn or it will be bitter.

Add in your chopped carrots and cauliflower. Pour in your stock. Add your bay leaves and turmeric. Let these simmer and cook for about seven minute, just until the cauliflower is cooked. Meanwhile while you wash your spinach – very well. Throw in your chives and washed spinach. Give it a few stirs, leaving the spinach wilt.

Steamy Soup base

Next is the hide and seek game with the bay leaves! Try and find them and take them out before you get to blending. Take the mixture off the heat and then get to blending! A hand blender should be fine. I used a jug one, be careful ladling the mixture into your blender, it will be piping hot!

Pre first blend

Now magically green!

If using a jug blender pour the soup back into the saucepan and back onto a medium heat. Add your half a cup of hot water to thin out the soup a little. Add your mirin. Taste to check for seasoning. I added more black pepper, but it didn’t need any salt.

Wash your nettles, take your time, wash them well to avoid gritty bits later! Usually people chop off the tough ends of the stalks, if you are using a hand immersion blender you may want to do this. You would probably be best advised to use gloves, or be careful not to tip of the stinging leaf edges. I didn’t bother removing the stalk ends, I just threw them into the colander and rinsed them in the sink.

Pop them into the saucepan, stir them through so that the are covered by the soup. The leaves will begin to wilt quite quickly. Remember you are only cooking them for a minute or so. You are going to blend it all anyway so any tough stalks don’t matter.

Again with the blending! If using a jug blender and you decide to go for cashews or avocado blend them first with a ladle of the soup. If using an immersion blender use the avocado and just chop it and throw into the soup before blending. Alternatively whiz up your soup just until the nettles are blended and then add in your 100ml of vegan puoring cream of choice and blitz again just to mix it through.

Nettle Soup

Serve with a sprinkle of chives and a swirl of vegan cream or milk! TADA! Seasonal Nettle Soup! Hope you try this quite traditional green extravisganza! (ignoring the turmeric! 😉 ) Xs Aissa

P.S more stuff on nettles: Nettles Nutrition, Nettles in Herbalism

VeganEtcetera

~ Eating healthily easily

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