Cauliflower, Sweet Potato & Turmeric

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Cauliflower, sweet pot, potato, stock, turmeric

Are you wondering why I picture all my baby food recipes in plastic bowls? I’m a mum! I don’t have time to style them in nice china dishes then spoon them all back into the plastic bowls that are safe for him to eat from! This category is all about being real; real mums in real kitchens with only 24 hours in one day, and most real mums I know feed their babies from plastic bowls!

All the plastic I use for Braxton is BPA free and this is very important. BPA is the resin in some plastics used to package food or drinks and it can seep into food, causing us to ingest these chemicals. In the long-term this can cause behaviour problems, brain development issues and can even feed through to unborn babies if the mother has too much exposure. Look for BPA free products where you can with bowls, plates, cutlery, bottles and cups for your bubbas.

Moving on to the food… Braxton LOVED this one! It’s so creamy that it almost tastes cheesy (and I don’t give him dairy so this is a bonus!) and it’s really filling, and super easy to make. The turmeric is a great anti-inflammatory (great for eczema) and this is a great way to get these sorts of spices into your babies from early on. Firstly so they get used to the taste and accept it, but also to add the nutrients from so early on.

Ingredients (makes 1 batch of about 10 small meals)

1 cauliflower head, cut into florets
1 large sweet potato, peeled and chopped
1 normal potato, peeled and chopped
1 onion, peeled and chopped
1 tsp turmeric
1 cube homemade bone broth or vegetable stock or a Kallo low salt veg stock cube

Method

Steam all the vegetables together in a steamer (this retains more of the nutrients than boiling the veg) until soft.

If your stock cube is homemade and frozen, melt it in a saucepan over a low heat. If you are using a store-bought stock cube, mix it in a quarter cup boiling water.

Put the steamed food in the blender or food processor and add the turmeric and stock and blend until smooth or leave some lumps if you like, then spoon into individual containers or ice cube trays – I like the Nuk ones by Annabel Karmel

I hope your baby loves it as much as mine does!

Love,
Lauren & Braxton

 

Welcome to Organic Spoon!

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Welcome-Hanging-Banner

Welcome to Organic Spoon! Some of you may be wondering why the name has changed from Two Kitchens One Lifestyle to Organic Spoon. Well, the lovely Raine who I used to run Two Kitchens with is fulfilling her dream of opening a yoga and pilates studio so just doesn’t have the time to devote to recipes anymore so it’s just me – Lauren – on my own! I want to take this opportunity to wish Raine the best of luck with her very exciting venture. I know we’ll remain lifelong friends regardless and hopefully still do our ‘virtual’ baking every so often!

I had wanted to change the layout of the website for a while as it wasn’t the most user-friendly, and the name TWO kitchens isn’t really accurate anymore so it seemed like a great time to rebrand.

So what will change? I will still be posting the same sort of recipes using only chemical free, ‘happy’ ingredients that everybody’s bodies love, but I will also now be posting baby food recipes – just a little something to give other mums ideas and inspiration for your little ones, things that are easy and accessible but totally healthy – along with other motherhood-related posts; tips and suggestions when it comes to yours and your baby’s health, as well as possibly sometimes a good old moan! I will also be moving my general blogging over from www.laurenvaknine.com to here. This website is about sustaining a healthy lifestyle through food and all my blogging is health-related so I figured it best to combine the two so that you can all be a part of what I do daily – whether it be motherhood, cooking, the articles I write, my books or my charity work and speaking engagements. It’s all about one thing: NATURAL HEALTH and I’d love my Organic Spoon followers so join me on my journey of remission maintenance and continued health.

So I hope you enjoy the new layout of the site but it’s still under construction so please bear with me!

If you have any suggestions, comments or would just like to get in touch, please do, I’d love to hear from you.

Love and health,
Lauren

Gluten Free Seed & Superfood Bread

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Other

Firstly, please excuse the very blurry picture. It turns out trying to bake AND photograph the results with a 6 month old was a bit over-ambitious! So I’m surrendering to the chaos once more and just going with it, so please go with it with me!

I can’t take credit for this recipe, my friend Lana in New Zealand sent me the recipe by My New Roots and the original recipe is theirs although I have adapted it quite a bit. This bread is gluten free, dairy free, refined-sugar free and full of nutritious superfoods and it contains all the fibre, essential fats and bran without the flour and yeast and other unhealthy ingredients. I was a bit dubious at first but it turned out simply amazing, especially as I’m starting baby led weaning with my baby and I need healthy alternatives to bread to give him.

It requires one ingredient that wasn’t in my kitchen: psyllium husk. This is what My New Roots wrote about psyllium husks:

‘Psyllium seed husks are one of nature’s most absorbent fibers, able to suck up over ten times their weight in water. For this reason, you’ll often find psyllium in over-the-counter laxatives, stool-bulking agents and colon cleansing kits; basically anything having to do with poo. I just came back from running a detox course in Lisbon where I got all the participants in-the-know about this amazing little supplement that also helps to reduce cholesterol levels, aid digestion and weight loss, and alleviate diarrhea and constipation.

Psyllium seed husks contain both soluble and insoluble fiber. The soluble fiber dissolves in water and soothes the digestive tract with its mucilaginous properties, while the insoluble fiber acts like a broom to sweep the colon free of toxins. Taken during a detox, juice cleanse, or fast, psyllium can greatly improve the body’s ability to eliminate impurities. But the good news is, you can take it anytime – many people find that a daily dose of a teaspoon or two in a glass of water really helps them get their bowels moving, (or slow them down if necessary).*

But what does this have to do with bread? Well, the idea here is to use psyllium to bind all these lovely ingredients together without resorting to flour. There have been some low-carb bread recipes floating around the ‘net as of late that take advantage of psyllium and I think it’s a great idea. Eat delicious bread, have good poops. I’m in!

Psyllium is available at health food stores and most pharmacies. It comes in two forms, the raw husks themselves, and powdered, which are just the husks that have been pulverized. It is easier to take the powdered form as it dissolves easier in water, but that is not important in the case of this bread – either type work just fine.’

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So there we have it, bread lovers, a healthy alternative!

Ingredients

1 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds
½ cup flax seeds
1/4 cup / 40g poppy seeds
1 ½ cups / 145g rolled oats
2 Tbsp. chia seeds
4 Tbsp. psyllium seed husks (3 Tbsp. if using psyllium husk powder)
1 tsp. Himalayan pink salt
3 Tbsp. maple syrup (for sugar-free diets, use a pinch of stevia)
4 large Tbsp. melted coconut oil or ghee
1 cup water
1/2 cup almond milk

Method

In a large bowl, combine all dry ingredients, stirring well.

Whisk maple syrup, oil, almond milk and water together in a measuring cup. Add this to the dry ingredients and mix very well until everything is completely soaked and dough becomes very thick (if the dough is too thick to stir, add one or two teaspoons of water until the dough is manageable). Spoon mixture into a silicone loaf tine and smooth out the top with the back of a spoon or your hand.

Let sit out on the counter for overnight. To ensure the dough is ready, it should retain its shape even when you pull the sides of the loaf pan away from it.

Preheat oven to 350°F / 175°C.

Place loaf pan in the oven on the middle rack, and bake for 20 minutes. Remove bread from loaf pan, place it upside down directly on the rack and bake for another 30-40 minutes. Bread is done when it sounds hollow when tapped. Let cool completely before slicing (difficult, but important).

Store bread in a tightly sealed container for up to five days. Freezes well too – slice before freezing for quick and easy toast!

Thanks to My New Roots for the inspiration for this recipe!

Love,
Lauren

Double Decker Banana Cake

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double-decker-banana-bread-2

It has taken a while, but I have definitely perfected my banana cake recipe (it’s slightly different to my banana bread) although I seriously underestimate my amazing new oven and every recipe seems to need 5 minutes less than in my old oven so the sides are very slightly overdone. I wanted to make this one a bit more exciting than plain banana cake as we were entertaining so I halved the mixture and added cacao to one half to create a double-decker effect. I hope you love it as much as we all did – it got eaten pretty quickly!

Ingredients

4 very ripe bananas, mashed
1/3 cup maple syrup
1 heaped tbsp. coconut oil, melted
1 tbsp chia or flax seeds
4 tbsp filtered water
1 cup buckwheat flour
1.5 tsp baking powder
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
¼ tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla bean syrup or vanilla extract
¼ cup almond milk
3 tbsp cacao powder
1/3 cup vegan chocolate chips (optional)

Method

Preheat the oven to 180° and line a loaf tin with baking paper and grease with coconut oil.

Mix the chia or flax seeds in a small bowl with the water and set aside so it can set.

Mash the bananas in a large bowl and add the coconut oil and maple, then add the chia / flax mix and mix well.

Now add the flour, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon.

Move just under half the batter into another bowl and add the almond milk, cacao powder and vanilla, and, if using, mix in the chocolate chips.

Pour the plain batter into the loaf tin then add the chocolate batter on top. I made it a double-decker but if you want a marbled effect you can cut through the batter with a knife so that the top layer sinks down to the bottom layer in places.

Slice a banana length ways and add to the top of the cake and put it in the oven for 35 minutes, or until a fork comes out clean.

Leave on a wire rack to cool then turn out of the loaf tin onto a plate.

Delicious served with peanut or almond butter!

Enjoy!

Love and health,
Lauren

 

 

WEANING! Mini Fish Pies For Your Mini People

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  • Mini fish pies

The most stressful and time consuming aspect of parenthood for most new mums seems to be food! I mean these tiny people need to eat 3 meals a day, EVERY DAY! Oh, and snacks! And we have to organise and prepare these meals, make sure they’re healthy, have all the right ingredients and none of the wrong ones, and make sure there is something available at all times. It’s bloody hard work!

Please don’t think that just because I run this site that it is any less stressful for me. I find that the only way to make it even slightly less stressful is to be very very organised. I sit down with my laptop on a Saturday morning and plan my meals for the week, then order the online shop from Abel & Cole. I then sit and work out at which times of which days I will cook these things. After all, it’s not always possible to be in the kitchen when you have a baby. Once I’ve written all this down, it feels a lot less overwhelming and I can get on with my weekend!

So following on from that, I thought I’d help you all out a little bit and start adding baby meals to the website. It will have its own category in the drop-down list also, to make it easier to find things.

Here are some mini fish pies – dairy free of course – with just great ingredients and no nasties.

Ingredients

A pack of fish pie mix (I use Abel & Cole, otherwise a mix of salmon, cod and haddock or your own choice of fish)
About 8-10 white potatoes
1/2 tsp coconut oil
Almond milk (the quantity will depend on the size of your saucepan)
1 bay leaf
1 cube pre-prepared homemade vegetable or chicken stock, or 1 Kallo low salt organic vegetable stock cube
Half a cup of frozen peas
Vegan margarine spread
Freshly ground pepper and Himalayan salt

Method

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.

Peel and chop the potatoes and put them in a saucepan, cover with water and boil.

At the same time, rub the fish with the coconut oil then put it in a saucepan and cover with almond milk. Bring to the boil then turn down to a simmer and add the stock cube, bay leaf, some pepper. You can add some pink Himalayan salt if you do want to add salt. The fish should all look cooked after about 10 minutes. Drain in a colander, holding back a very small amount of the liquid, just enough to keep it moist then put it back in the saucepan and set aside for a minute.

Put the peas in a saucepan, add water, bring to the boil and drain.

Go back to the fish, Remove the bay leaf and gently mash the bits of fish, breaking them up so they are not whole chunks but also not broken up too small. Add the peas then add this mix to the individual ramekin dishes or disposable mini silver dishes.

Once the potatoes are ready, drain the water and mash well. Add about a fifth of a cup of almond milk and a tbsp vegan margarine and mix until smooth. Add a small pinch of Himalayan salt and mix again.

Add this layer to the top of the fish layer, rub a little vegan margarine over the top of each one and put in the oven for 20 minutes.

Once cool you can freeze them and defrost as and when you need them.

I hope your babies enjoy this as much as my baby did!

Love,
Lauren (& Braxton!)

Orange, Cardamom & Fig Cake

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I have been making a gluten / dairy / refined sugar-free chocolate orange cake for years and it’s a favourite of my husband and his family. It’s the dessert they request from me most often. I’ve recently discovered my love for cardamom in cakes and I thought, what tastes go better together than orange and cardamom? So I amended my chocolate orange cake slightly to add cardamom and figs.

This cake is gluten free, dairy free and refined sugar-free but it is not vegan as it uses eggs.

It may seem like it would be a difficult cake to make but it’s actually really easy to throw together, the only bits that need a little bit more attention are the figs that will be on the top of the cake, and grinding the cardamom seeds but to honest, neither of these things are difficult, just a little more time consuming.

I made it this weekend for dessert for a BBQ we were hosting and it went down a treat.

Orange Cardamom Fig Cake 2

 

Ingredients

2 large oranges
6 free-range eggs
250g ground almonds
200g coconut palm sugar
1 tsp baking powder
Pinch of Himalayan salt
The seeds of 10 cardamom pods
5 or 6 fresh figs

To garnish:
A drizzle of honey or agave nectar
Flaked almonds

Method

Preheat oven to 180 degrees.

Put the oranges in a saucepan big enough to be able to cover them with water. Boil for about an hour or until very soft and you can see the skin opening.

Cut into quarters and leave to cool on the chopping board for about 10 minutes. Remove seeds.

Put them in the food processor / blender and blitz until they become a pulp. Add the eggs while the food processor is still working (on a low speed until you put the lid back on) as this will aerate the eggs. Blend well and leave it to the side for the moment.

In a large bowl mix the ground almonds, palm sugar, baking powder and salt. Then open up all the cardamom pods, put them in a pestle and mortar or coffee / spice grinder and grind until they are no longer whole. Once ground, add to the flour mix.

Now spoon the orange mixture into the dry mix and mix really well. Make sure to get all the flour from the bottom and sides of the bowl. Set aside for a moment.

Cut a sheet of baking paper to fit a 23cm springform cake tin and place it at the bottom of the tin then grease generously with coconut oil on the paper and the sides of the tin.

Cut the figs into fine slices and layer them over the bottom of the tin. Once totally covered, add the cake mixture and put it into the oven for 40-45 minutes. Your fork should come out clean but wet – this cake has to be moist.

Remove from the oven and leave to cool on a wire rack for at least an hour – this is important. Once cool, slowly release the buckle of the cake tin and remove, then put a large plate on top of the cake and slowly turn it upside down to release the cake onto the plate. Remove the baking paper.

Sprinkle a handful of flaked almonds on top and drizzle with honey or agave and serve.

Enjoy!

Love,
Lauren

Cauliflower ‘Couscous’ with Sesame, Sweet Potato & Asparagus

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Cauliflower Couscous

Who would have thought you could take a vegetable and turn it into a carb substitute? Sometimes we just fancy a bit of stodge for dinner, right?? Cauliflower is such a versatile vegetable and by blitzing it in the Vitamix, we can turn it into a couscous-like consistency. You can pretty much add anything you like to it and, as usual, I’ve added whatever I already had in my fridge. This entire meal is plant-based and super healthy.

Ingredients

1 large cauliflower
2 sweet potatoes
Tsp coconut oil
A bunch of asparagus
About 8 chestnut mushrooms, chopped (or any mushrooms will do)
5th of a cup of water
Handful coriander
1 tbsp sesame seeds
Some sesame oil
1/2 tsp paprika
Handful sundried tomatoes
Himalayan salt & ground black pepper

Optional:
1/4 cucumber, diced
1/4 red onion, diced
1/2 red pepper, diced
Gluten free tacos
Halloumi – if not vegan

Method

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Peel and dice the sweet potato then put them on a baking tray with a tsp coconut oil and some Himalayan salt. Once the oven heats up the coconut oil will be melted and you can pull out the tray and mix it around to make sure it covers all the pieces of the potato. Cook for around 20 minutes, or until soft.

Cut the cauliflower into florets and put them in the blender and blitz until a couscous-like consistency is formed. Leave to the side.

Heat some sesame oil in a pan and add the asparagus and mushrooms. Mix around then add about a 5th of a cup of water and add this so the steam will cook the vegetables. Season with salt and pepper and once cooked, remove from pan and set aside.

In the same pan, add a tiny bit more sesame oil then once hot, add the cauliflower couscous to the pan and turn the heat to medium. Mix around for 1-2 minutes then add the sesame seeds and let it all heat through. Add the coriander, paprika some salt and pepper and mix for another minute, then re add the asparagus and mushrooms and mix.

Once heated through, put it on a plate or bowl, remove the sweet potato from the oven and add it to the top.

At this point you can add all the optional extras to the top or put it all inside a gluten free taco or wrap and devour!

Enjoy!

Love,
Lauren

Summer Lunch Salad

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Winter Lunch Salad

I’m going to give my mum the credit for this one as she came round and made it for me! So yummy and so full wonderful nutritious organic fruits and vegetables and it really filled me up.

Ingredients

Handful fresh spinach
5 radishes
Some asparagus (we only had tinned but best to use fresh, steam first)
Half an avocado
Half a pear
2 boiled eggs
Handful pomegranate
Tsp organic natural maple syrup
Tsp balsamic vinegar

Method

Chop all the veg and put it on a plate then pour the dressings over and add a bit of Himalayan salt if you like. That simple!

Enjoy!

Love,
Lauren

 

 

 

Mushroom & Spinach Frittata

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Mushroom spinach frittata

Another easy dinner choice, a variation on my last frittata. You can pretty much add anything you want to it – whatever is in the fridge and needs to be used. It’s one of those ‘Thursday night meals’!

Ingredients

6 organic free-range eggs
1 tsp English mustard
2 potatoes, peeled and sliced thinly
Half a bag of spinach
A generous helping of button mushrooms
About 8 cherry tomatoes
Handful of parsley
Splash of almond milk
Salt & pepper (I used Oryx desert salt)
Coconut oil or spread of choice for the pan

Method

Boil your potatoes (already sliced) for no more than 5 minutes. Drain and set aside. Cut up the tomatoes into quarters, chop the mushrooms, roughly chop the parsley and wash and drain the spinach.

Beat the eggs in a bowl, then add the almond milk, mustard, salt and pepper.

Melt the oil or vegan butter in a large frying pan. Once hot, add the egg mix, then add the potatoes, pushing them down so they are semi-covered by the eggs. Then add the rest of the veg and do the same thing.

Turn the heat to medium-high and let it cook for around 5 minutes. While it’s doing this, turn on your grill.

Once the frittata has cooked on the bottom, put the pan under the grill for a further few minutes, until you can see it has cooked through.

Serve with a crisp, fresh salad.

Enjoy!

Love,
Lauren

Best Ever Chocolate Chip Oat Cookies

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Chocolate Chip Oat Cookies

These need very little introduction! They are by far the best cookies I’ve ever made and I honestly just threw the ingredients together as I was in such a rush so it was hard for me to remember the exact measurements! They are egg, soya, gluten, dairy and sugar free (depending on what chocolate chips you use) and are just too yummy!

Ingredients

1 cup ground almonds
1 ½ cups organic rolled oats
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
Pinch Himalayan salt
5 tbsp coconut oil
1/3 cup maple syrup
4 tbsp almond butter
¼ cup almond milk
Handful vegan chocolate chips

Method

Preheat the oven to 180c and line 2 baking trays with baking paper and grease with coconut oil.

Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl.

Add all the wet ingredients to the blender and blend until combined.

Pour the wet mixture into the dry ingredients and mix well. Add chocolate chips and mix.

 

Form into balls with your hands and press down on them on the prepared baking trays and bake for 10 minutes.

Put the baking sheets with the cookies on them on a wire rack or on top of some tea towels on the work surface (the surface they cool on shouldn’t be cold) to cool away from the heat of the baking trays so they don’t crisp up too much. Once cool put in an airtight container.

Enjoy!

Love,
Lauren