We love supporting other healthy food blogs and one of our favourites is My Relationship With Food. I needed a dessert for Friday night so I used Lisa’s recipe and it went down a treat! It’s gluten, dairy and refined-sugar free but all my guests couldn’t believe it as it was so decadent. Click here to go to the website…
My new favourite thing to do with lemons is to roast them. The natural sugar in the lemons caramelises, giving it a beautiful flavour somewhat similar to preserved lemons. This egg-based (but dairy-free) ice cream is packed full of an intense lemon flavour, the slight bitterness of which is off set by the honey. It pairs beautifully with my Raw Chocolate Tart, or just some shavings of raw chocolate.
Ingredients
380g whole lemons (about 3)
125ml raw honey
125ml organic virgin coconut oil
250ml almond or coconut milk
1/2 tsp organic stevia leaf powder
1/2 tsp organic vanilla powder or 1 tsp vanilla extract
pinch of himalayan salt
4 egg yolks
2 whole eggs
Method
Preheat the oven to 180 C.
Cut the knobbly end off the lemons and slice into quarters lengthways. Cut off the pithy white membrane which runs through the middle of the lemon and remove all pips.
Place the lemons in an ovenproof dish and roast for about 1 hour, until the lemons are soft and slightly caramelised. Double check that there are no pips as adding these to the blender could ruin the flavour.
Place all the ingredients in the blender, adding the eggs last so that they don’t start to cook when they come into contact with the hot lemons. Blend until completely smooth. Ice cream is traditionally made with raw eggs, but if you’re put off by the thought of raw egg, continue blending until the mixture heats up to 65 C. You can measure this with a thermometer if you’re really worried, but basically if there is steam coming off the mixture the egg is cooked. You can also taste the difference when the egg is cooked.
Place the mixture in the fridge until cooled, and then put it into an ice cream machine to churn until frozen. If you don’t have an ice cream machine you can simply put it in the freezer and mix with a whisk every 30 minutes to break up crystals, until almost frozen, at which point you can leave it to freeze till set.
Health & happiness!
Love,
Raine
I saw a recipe for white chocolate blondies that looked divine but we don’t like to use nasties in our recipes, as you know, so I thought I’d make my own healthy ones 🙂 These are moist, gooey, sweet and scrumptious! If you are keeping Passover, they are also kosher for Passover and really not difficult to make.
Ingredients
1 tbsp coconut oil
50g cacao butter
3 tbsp organic natural peanut butter
3 eggs
Pinch Himalayan salt
70g coconut palm sugar
2 tbsp pure maple
1 tsp vanilla extract
200g ground almonds
Desiccated coconut to sprinkle
Method
Preheat the oven to 180.
Melt the coconut oil and cacao butter in a heat-proof bowl over a saucepan with boiling water. Once it’s melted, add the peanut butter and stir until it all melts in together.
Remove from heat and set aside.
Beat the eggs in a large bowl and once beaten, add the coco palm sugar and whisk with a fork until totally combined. Then add the salt, vanilla and maple and mix.
Add the peanut butter mixture and mix well, then add the ground almonds and mix until combined.
Line a square baking tray with baking paper, grease with some coconut oil and pour the mixture in and flatten it out.
Sprinkle some desiccated coconut on top and put in the oven for 20-25 minutes. In my oven it only needed 20. You want it to be moist but cooked through but don’t over cook otherwise it will go dry.
Enjoy!
Love,
Lauren
Overnight oats is this easiest thing to make and it makes such a nice change from the usual breakfast. You can also do all sorts of flavours and toppings so it never gets boring. Get a good batch of organic, gluten free oats, some almond milk, and some fruit and nuts and you’re ready to go! The chia seeds give extra goodness and protein.
Ingredients
1 cup organic, gluten free oats
1.5 cups almond milk
2 tbsp pure organic maple syrup
1 tsp cinnamon (optional)
1 tbsp chia seeds
A big handful of organic strawberries
Method
Mix your oats, milk, maple, chia seeds and cinnamon in a bowl, cover with cling-film and leave in the fridge overnight.
When you’re ready to eat it the next morning, make the compote by putting the strawberries in the food processor.
Layer both mixtures up in small cups or bowls, top with nuts or seeds of choice. Yummy and so great for the kids!
Enjoy!
Love,
Lauren
When I first started cutting out dairy, yoghurt was the hardest thing to give up… in fact I didn’t think I’d ever be able to do it! I’ve spent a lot of time working on my coconut yoghurt recipe and have finally come up with the perfect one. I normally make my own coconut milk from fresh coconut but you can also use an organic tinned coconut milk or cream. No dairy, sugar, artificial colours or flavours, but still thick, creamy and delicious 🙂 Need I say more?
Ingredients
160g fresh mature coconut flesh
350ml hot water (or replace the coconut and water with 420ml organic coconut milk or cream)
1/3 tsp agar agar powder (flakes require different measurements so make sure you are using powder)
1/4 tsp himalayan salt
1/4 tsp organic stevia leaf powder or 1 tbsp organic maple or raw honey
20ml baobab powder
1 tbsp of a high quality liquid probiotic, or the contents of 2 probiotic capsules
A glass jar, a piece of netting or breathable cloth, and an elastic
A note on making yoghurt
Two things are very important when making yoghurt: Firstly, the quality of the probiotic you use and secondly, hygiene. If you do not have a good quality probiotic it will not culture into yoghurt and you will merely have a nice tasting coconut cream. On the other hand, if you don’t sterilise the glass jar and wash your hands properly, you may end up culturing other bacteria. This won’t taste good and may even make you sick!
I’ve tried a few different probiotics and have found the best result with a liquid probiotic. I use Sambiotica or Nature’s Choice Ultimate Probiotic, available at Dischem.  Alternatively you can use Biogen Pre- & Probiotic capsules also available at Dischem. If you’re not in South Africa, you may need to experiment a bit to find the one that works best.
Method
Firstly make sure you have a sterilised glass jar for fermenting the yoghurt. The easiest is to put it in a dishwasher, otherwise you can boil it for 2 minutes. Turn it upside down on a rack to dry. Also make sure that your hands are thoroughly clean!
Blend the coconut and hot water for 30 to 60 seconds in a high speed blender and then strain through a nut milk bag or muslin. Place the resulting cream in a saucepan. Sprinkle the agar over the cream and use a whisk to thoroughly combine. Bring up to a gentle simmer, and simmer for 3 minutes exactly. Agar needs to be heated to activate it, but over heating will destroy it and it will not thicken. Remove from the heat.
Once the coconut cream has cooled down to body temperature, whisk in the remaining ingredients. If you add the probiotic while it is too hot, you will kill the cultures. Remember that bacteria are living things so treat them as such… they like to be warm and fed 🙂 Cover the jar with a cloth that breathes and use an elastic to secure it.
Leave the jar in a warm place for about 24 hours. If it is particularly hot, 18 hours may be enough. If it’s very cold, gently warm your oven, turn it OFF and then place the jar inside. After a day the cream will have cultured into yoghurt and you can refrigerate it. In the fridge it may culture and thicken further. You should eat it within about a 10 days, if it lasts that long!
Health & happiness.
Love,
Raine
I love Deliciously Ella’s recipes and always meant to get round to making these so here they are! Funny, you’d think, using sweet potato as the main ingredient but it really works! I have a dinner party tomorrow night where I’ve been asked to make gluten, dairy and sugar free desserts so this is going to be one of them.
For the recipe and more amazing healthy recipes go to http://www.deliciouslyella.com
Love,
Lauren
OK I may have gone a little overboard with the sauce, it’s just so yummy! But you may want to tone yours down and add less sauce, or as much as you want to get it as creamy as you like.
It seems that everyone is jumping on the spiralizer bandwagon these days which is great! All these utensils give us more resources to be able to cook healthily more often, and in less time. It honestly takes about 60 seconds to put two courgettes through a spiralizer. I decided to go for a tagliatelle shape this time. I had some mushrooms and leeks in the fridge along with my courgettes so decided to mix all three together and the result was delicious. Added to it my creamy Vegan Pesto, you can’t go wrong! Either as an accompaniment to a meal or as a meal itself with some salad – just yum!
Ingredients
2 courgettes (zucchini)
About 6/7 chestnut mushrooms or any smallish mushroom
1 leek
1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
1 x vegan pesto recipe
Method
First spiralize your courgettes and set aside. If you don’t have a spiralizer you can use a potato peeler. (Spiralizers are quite cheap and really great to have around.)
Chop your mushrooms and leeks.
Heat some olive oil in a deep saucepan and when hot, add the mushrooms and leeks. Stir for a while, until the mushrooms start to release juices, then add a little salt and pepper. After about 7-10 minutes, once they smell delicious, gently pour away the excess liquid.
Put the saucepan back on the hob and add the courgette. Mix well, then add the pesto sauce and mix around until all is hot. Serve hot and sprinkle a few pine nuts on the top.
Enjoy!
Love,
Lauren
Everyone loves a bit of banana bread in the afternoon with a cup of tea, right? And everyone loves it more when it’s guilt free! I’ve tried this recipe with coconut flour, buckwheat flour and spelt flour and spelt seems to give it the most moist consistency. This is wheat free but not gluten-free as spelt does in fact contain gluten but the gluten in spelt has a different molecular make up which means that the body handles it differently. Gluten is a sticky substance with a consistency like glue (hence the name) which is difficult to digest (imagine chewing gum finding its way through your system) but which also gives dough its elasticity and allows bread to rise.
This morning I just needed pancakes, and energy. So I concocted this new recipe using ingredients that would give me energy, including maca powder. It’s basically the ‘original’ healthy caffeine. Just gives you that boost you need without the dip in energy later on that caffeine does to you. I also used almond butter for protein and banana, because who wants pancakes without lashings of nut butter and banana?! It’s also made with buckwheat flour so it’s totally gluten free, as well as dairy free and refined-sugar free. It’s a really quick, easy recipe and so yummy. Give it a go…
Ingredients
1 egg
1 egg white
1 banana, mashed
2 tbsp organic maple syrup
1/3 cup almond milk
1/3 cup buckwheat flour
1 tbsp maca powder
Coconut oil for cooking
Method
Mash the banana in a bowl, then add the egg, egg white, maple and almond milk and mix well.
Once combined, add the flour slowly, mixing the whole time, then add the maca. Mix really well.
Get a non-stick pan really hot with a little coconut oil and add 1 ladle full into the pan and flatten. These are more like crepes than American pancakes so they need to be larger and flatter. It shouldn’t take more than 40 seconds on each side with a good pan.
Serve with your choice of filling or topping from homemade chocolate sauce to almond butter or peanut butter, banana, nuts, seeds and fruit.
Enjoy!
Love,
Lauren
I finally treated myself to a waffle maker and boy oh boy was it worth it! I had some ideas for gluten, dairy and sugar free waffle recipes so I started experimenting and today’s one came out perfectly… enjoy this, guilt free 🙂
Ingredients – (serves 2. For more, double ingredients)
1 and quarter cup buckwheat flour
1 cup almond milk
1 very ripe large banana
6 tbsp pure organic maple syrup
Pinch Himalayan salt
Method
Heat up your waffle iron and let it get really hot while you do the rest.
Put all the ingredients into a blender and blend until really well combined.
Gently pour some of the mixture into the waffle mould and shut lid slowly. I found they turned out best when left for 7-10 minutes.
Top with maple syrup or fruit of banana ice cream…
Love,
Lauren
ORGANIC SPOON 