Carrot, Walnut & L.S.A Muffins

Baking and creating tasty food is definitely a big part of me! When it's cold and windy outside, there is something special about the warmth from my heart and soul that shines when the oven goes on.  Even if it's an experiment gone wrong?  And they do happen sometimes :) .

One of my first well used cook books was 'Classic Country Collection' by Lady Flo Bjelke-Petersen.   It's quite interesting to flick through the book to see those pages a little more used, or the ones with the butter stains and splashes of vanilla here and there and I think, well this one must have been a good one.  The carrot cake is one of those for sure. I have changed how I cook quite a bit today, and have tweaked the carrot cake to suit.  You could make it as a cake in a 20cm round tin, which I have also done.  This quantity of mixture makes about 10 large muffins.

Ingredients:
2 lge free range eggs
½ cup honey
¼ tsp. vanilla extract concentrate
½ cup olive oil
1 cup gluten free plain flour
¼ cup L.S.A mix*
1 tsp. bi-carbonate of soda
½ tsp. mixed spice
¼ tsp. himalayan salt
1 ½ cups finely grated carrots
½ cup chopped walnuts*

Method:

Pre-heat the oven to 180º c.  Grease or line your muffin tins and set them aside.

Place the eggs, honey, vanilla extract and oil in a medium sized mixing bowl and beat well with a wooden spoon.  Add the flour, L.S.A mix, bi-carb soda, mixed spice and salt, folding gently until just combined.  Lastly fold through the finely grated carrots and chopped walnuts.  Spoon the mixture into the muffin tins and cook for approx. 30-35 minutes, or until they spring up when pressed gently in the centre.

*L.S.A mix can be found in most supermarkets and health food stores.  It's a mix of ground linseeds, sesame and almonds.  Adding this to these muffins, combined with the use of walnuts, and the eggs, make these muffins perfect for calming your mind and helping your nervous system. 

Enjoy ❤ Shaz

Lemon Polenta Cake with Cocount, Vanilla Bean Cream

If you don't mind a strong citrus flavour, then this is a cake for you.  I have made the cake using lemons, but I'm certain oranges could easily be used in place of the lemons.  As I said, the flavours are quite strong, so it's worth the extra effort required in making the vanilla bean coconut cream to go with it, or you could have a dollop of plain natural yogurt to break it down a little. Kayla, this is the one I made for your birthday!

Ingredients

2 lemons

140g organic butter

3 free-range eggs

200g raw castor sugar

200g almond meal

175g polenta

1 tsp. gluten free baking powder 

Drizzle: 80g raw castor sugar, juice of one lemon

 

Method

Grease and line a 23cm cake tin * and set aside. Pre-heat the oven to 180ºc.  This can vary depending on your oven.

Place the lemons in a saucepan of cold water and bring to the boil.  Drain and pour over more cold water and bring back up to simmer for about an hour or until they’re really soft.  Keep an eye on them and add more water if needed.  Drain the water once the lemons are soft and allow them to cool a little before halving them, removing the pips and blitz to a puree in a food processor.

Add the remaining cake ingredients and continue to process until a loose batter forms.  Scrape into your prepared tin & bake for approx. 40-50 minutes or until golden and the cake is just shrinking away from the sides.

While it’s cooking, you can mix together the sugar and the lemon juice to make the drizzle.  When the cake is cooked, allow it to cool a little before spooning over the drizzle and leaving to completely cool.

Serve with a little natural yogurt or a vanilla bean cream (chilled coconut cream, scraping of vanilla bean and 1 tbsp. pure maple syrup whipped together).

*(I have used mini rectangular cake tins here, purely because I found the cake tin and thought they were a pretty cute and easy way to share).

Enjoy ♡ Shaz

Peanut Butter Banana Pancakes - Dairy and Gluten-free

When I was presented with a jar of peanut butter through the week (thank you Michelle), I thought I'd play with something a little different, and came up with these for breakfast this morning.  Probably a bit more like breakfast than the snickers slice from last week, but equally as tasty.

Keeping them totally dairy free, I used a little coconut oil in my non-stick pan when cooking, but you could easily use a little butter here for flavour if dairy's not an issue for you.  You will also see there is no sugar in the mixture at all.  The ripe bananas are the sweetener with these, and having maple syrup on top, you really don't need any sugar in the batter.

When made as directed, you will get 10 pancakes.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups gluten free plain flour
2 tbsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp himalayan salt
1 lge very ripe banana
1/3 cup good quality/organic peanut butter (100% peanuts)
1 lge. free-range egg
1 tbsp. coconut oil
1 1/4 cups of almond milk
1/4 tsp vanilla extract concentrate

Method:

Place the flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl and mix together.

  

In a separate bowl, mash the banana with a fork and add to it the peanut butter, egg and  coconut oil.  Mix these together well.  Then add the almond milk and vanilla extract and whisk. Add these wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and whisk until well combined.  You should have a fairly smooth batter at this stage.

  

Heat a little extra coconut oil/butter in a non-stick pan and cook about 1/4 cup of mixture for each pancake. Flip to cook the second side after small bubbles appear in the pancake.  About 2 minutes each side.

Serve with a few extra slices of banana, fresh berries and a little pure maple syrup drizzled over the top.

♥ Shaz ♥

Raw Snickers Slice you could have for breakfast!

 

This slice or tart is really something that could be eaten at any time. I have once or twice even eaten it at breakfast time too.  No joke!  When you look at the ingredients, if you make it with the crushed nuts as pictured above, there are plenty of reasons to treat yourself to this goodness at any time of the day.  In moderation of course and listen to your body.  Perhaps not just before heading off to bed though, as it will actually provide you with a little boost of energy with the dates and honey/maple syrup.

The version pictured to the right I have made with a drizzle of a good quality dark chocolate over the top to finish it.  I perhaps wouldn't have this one for breaky, but you get the idea.  Full of goodness and very moreish. Again, the raw cacao and dark chocolate have benefits, which is why I tend to use them often in my cooking.   http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2014/03/31/dark-chocolate-health-benefits.aspx

Ingredients:
Base:
1 cup almond meal
6 medjool dates (fresh from fruit section)
1 tbsp. coconut oil
1/4 tsp. vanilla extract concentrate
2 tbsp. raw cacao powder

Caramel Filling:
8 medjool dates
2 tbsp. boiling water
1 cup organic peanuts
pinch Himalayan salt

Chocolate Mousse:
2 cups cashews*(soaked for 5 hours or more, then rinsed and drained ready for use)
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup coconut oil
3 tbsp. raw cacao powder
1 tbsp. honey or pure maple syrup
1/4 tsp. vanilla extract concentrate
*Make sure you have already soaked your cashews

First the Base: Blend all the base ingredients in a food processor until crumbly, then firmly press them into a lined pan or cake tin. Place in the fridge while you make the filling.

Caramel Filling: Soak the pitted dates in hot water for a few minutes, then blitz in the processor to make a paste.  Stir in the peanuts by hand before evenly spreading over the base.  Sprinkle a pinch of salt on top of the caramel filling and place this back in the fridge while you work on the mousse.

Chocolate Mousse:  Place the cashews, water and coconut oil in the blender and blend until they're smooth.  Add the remaining mousse ingredients and mix through until well combined.  Gently pour/spoon on top of the caramel layer and pop it the freezer to set.  This may take an hour or so.  Once firm, you can sprinkle with a few extra crushed cashews, or you can drizzle a little melted dark chocolate on top.

Once sliced, you can store this one in the fridge or freezer until you're ready to share.  Just remember to get it out of the freezer about half an hour before serving so it's not too hard to eat.

I have a little twist on this version I shall share with you around Christmas time.  

Festive Snickers Slice ♡  Give the original a try first ;) . 

 ♥ Shaz ♥

 

 

Raw Cacao Mousse

I love making these up into their own little shot cups when setting them.  Super easy to share this way.  They can be quite rich, so it's good to have them already in a single serve size.  You can also pop the mixture up into a medium sized bowl before setting it in the fridge.  They're just a little more fun to eat the other way.♥

Ingredients
2 medium ripe avocados
6-8 medjool dates (pitted)
2/3 cup coconut cream
2 tbsp. raw cacao powder
1/4 tsp. vanilla extract concentrate
pinch Himalayan salt

Method

Blend the dates in a food processor until a soft paste forms.  Then simply add the flesh from the avocados, the coconut cream, the cacao powder and a pinch of salt and blend until nice and smooth.

Using a spatula, scrape out all the goodness into a medium bowl, or as I mentioned above, into little serving cups/shot cups.  Set in the fridge overnight, garnishing the top with a slice of strawberry and a few blueberries before serving.

Quick and easy to make this one ahead of time.

Enjoy 😍 Shaz