Tag: eating for pregnancy

Carrot & Coriander Soup

Leave a comment

cc1

Autumn is now upon us in London, and I’m feeling the drop in temperature instantly. I tend to make heaps of soups during the winter months. They are great for lunch as they fill you up but are super nutritious also, if you use the right ingredients. Carrots are a great source of fibre and are also high in vitamins C & K, and once again, here I am trying to increase my vitamin K levels in the lead up to my birth. They are also a good natural source of iron and folate, important not just during pregnancy.

Ingredients

Drizzle of coconut oil
About 8 large carrots
2 potatoes
1 onion
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tbsp organic vegetable stock in 1.5 Litres boiling water
Salt & Pepper
Large handful fresh coriander

Method

Peel and chop all the veg then heat the oil in a large saucepan. Once hot, add the onion and cook for a minute, then add the potato, cook for a further minute, stirring a lot. Finally add the carrots, followed by the ground coriander, then add your stock and mix well.

Add a little pepper, wait until it just starts to boil then turn down, put the lid on and leave it to simmer for about half an hour.

Once all the veg is soft, either use a handheld blender if you have one, or put it all in a food processor, along with the fresh coriander, and blend. Taste to see if it needs any salt and as add required.

Enjoy!

Love,
Lauren

Raw Chocolate Orange Brownies

Leave a comment

Raw Chocolate Orange Brownies

Being pregnant I am hungry quite a lot of the time but I try to nourish my body with as many pure ingredients as possible to give my baby the best start in life. If I’m hungry, I eat, and by making snacks like these and keeping a batch in the fridge, there is always something healthy to snack on when I fancy something sweet.

Everyone loves a chocolate brownie, but we all love it better when it’s guilt free. I had a load of Jaffa oranges left from my juicing so thought about doing a sweet variation on my usual raw brownies.

The raw cacao, as we know, is full of organic, pure nutrients and, like the almonds, is a great source of protein. Look no further for a snack for the kids that isn’t full of rubbish, is made with pure ingredients, and will take you no more than 15 minutes to make. This really is the easiest recipe with so few ingredients, anyone can make these!

Ingredients – (do double up if you want to make enough to last a while. This recipe makes about 8 small brownies)

1 heaped mug almonds (make sure to soak in purified water for at least 6 hours)
15 organic medjool dates
3 heaped tbsp raw cacao powder
1 tsp organic pure maple syrup
Juice of one orange
Zest of the orange

Method

Once the almonds have been soaked, rinse and pat dry with a paper towel, then put in the blender and blend until it almost turns into an almond butter.

Scrape away the sides then add the dates, cacao, maple, orange juice and a quarter of the orange zest. Blend until well incorporated.

Grease a silicone loaf tin or square tin with a little coconut oil, spoon the mixture in, smooth the top over with a spatula and put in the freezer for an hour and a half.

Remove from the freezer, sprinkle the remainder of the zest on top, cut into brownie slices and store in the fridge.

Enjoy!

Love,
Lauren

Broccoli & Pea Buckwheat Pasta

Leave a comment

Pasta

Easy dinners, easy dinners. It’s all about easy dinners that you can just throw together quickly. Usually the meals that are considered ‘easy’ or ‘convenient’ are not particularly healthy so I’m always trying to invent new ones to add to the website so I can go back to them when I am short of time.

I’m trying to keep my folate and calcium levels up during my pregnancy so broccoli is a must-have in my diet right now. Buckwheat also helps control blood sugars which is essential during pregnancy to prevent gestational diabetes, and avocados, well, you all know how I feel about this wonder-food!

Ingredients

Enough buckwheat pasta for two people – double up all ingredients if you need more. (you can also use brown rice pasta or quinoa pasta. Try and stay away from processed pastas, even if they’re gluten free.)
A head of organic broccoli
1 cup frozen peas
1 ripe avocado
5 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
5 tbsp lemon juice
5 Brazil nuts
Handful pine nuts
1 clove of garlic
Handful fresh mint
Pinch Himalayan salt

Method

Cut your broccoli into florettes and add to a pan of boiling water. Once it’s been in for five minutes, add the peas and leave for around three minutes until all the vegetables are ready but not too soft. Drain, and set to the side until you are ready to use them. Rinse the saucepan and add the pasta and boiling water and begin to cook as per packet instructions.

While this is cooking, make your vegan pesto sauce. Add the avocado, olive oil, lemon juice, Brazil nuts, pine nuts, garlic, mint and salt to the food processor and process until totally smooth. If it is too thick, add a little more oil and lemon juice. Taste to see if it needs more salt or lemon.

Drain the pasta once it is ready and return it to the pan, then add in the vegetables and pesto sauce and turn heat on low just to heat the vegetables and stir to heat it all through.

Serve once hot.

Enjoy!

Love,
Lauren

Multi-Seed Gluten-Free Crackers

2 Comments

Crackers 1

I have to thank Lisa Roukin from My Relationship with Food for this recipe. I saw it on her website and just had to make them! I’ve adapted it from hers slightly.

I’m eating six small meals a day now instead of three larger ones so healthy crackers are the best choice for at least one of those meals! I ate this along with some homemade hummus and Moroccan matbucha but you can have with anything you like. They are so much easier to make than they look and are just super yummy and nutritious.

Crackers 3Crackers 4

Ingredients

70g ground almonds
2 tbsp buckwheat flour
20g pumpkin seeds
20g sunflower seeds
20g flaked almonds
25g flaxseed, sunflower & pumpkin (linwoods)
15ml coconut oil,
60ml cold purified water
Pinch Himalayan or Oryx Desert salt

Topping
1 handful flaxseed, sunflower & pumpkin (linwoods)
1 handful pumpkin seeds
1 handful sesame seeds

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 300°F, gas mark 2, 150°C (130°C fan-assisted).

In a food processor add all the dry ingredients and salt and pulse a couple of times, then add the coconut oil and water, blend until slightly sticky texture (do not over process) leave a little texture for crunch.

Have two sheets of parchment paper, collect the dough from the food processor, shape into a square in the center of one sheet of the parchment paper, flatten slightly. Cover with the second sheet of parchment paper and roll to 1/4 inch (or less thick). Using a sharp chefs knife, trim off the edges and even into a square. Make the squares by cutting into equal strips (4 x 3).  Press the toppings into each square (I divided 1 handful of each topping on 4 squares).

Bake in the pre-heated oven for 25 minutes, remove from the oven leave to cool on the tray for 5 minutes then transfer to a cooling rack.

Crackers 2

Enjoy!

Love,
Lauren

Favourite Summer Salad

Leave a comment

Sweet pot salad 1

This is my ultimate go-to summer salad. It’s so easy and quick to make and works so well as a yummy, filling, nutritious meal to eat out in the garden on a warm evening. You can omit the halloumi if you are vegan, and you don’t have to stick to this recipe, you can add any vegetables you like.

Ingredients

3 sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped in bite sizes
1 block of organic High Weald halloumi, sliced
About 6 romaine lettuce leaves, chopped
10 cherry tomatoes, sliced in 4
1 red pepper, chopped
2 mini cucumbers, chopped
2 spring onions, chopped
Handful of olives of your choice
Small tin of artichoke hearts
Extra virgin olive oil
Himalayan or Oryx desert salt

Sweet pot salad 2

Method

Preheat oven to 180 degrees while you peel and chop the sweet potatoes. Put them on a baking tray covering with baking paper, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Mix them around the tray until they are all covered in the oil then place in the oven for around 30 minutes.

Prepare the rest of your veg and add to a bowl then drizzle with a little olive oil, salt and pepper (you can add lemon here if you like it) and mix well.

Place the halloumi under the grill or on the BBQ (we love it on the BBQ) and grill until nicely charred.

Remove the potatoes from the oven and place on top of the salad, then remove the halloumi from the grill or BBQ and place on top. Serve immediately.

Enjoy!

Love,
Lauren

Double Chocolate Cookies

1 Comment

Double Chocolate Cookies

It’s tough being pregnant and health-conscious! But what time could be more important than now to watch what I eat? The growth and health of my baby is solely dependent on me – that’s a lot of pressure! So I need to make sure I’m consuming only the healthiest, most nutritious organic produce but that’s not always easy; as we know, everything healthy takes preparation. I must admit, I have succumbed to the odd store-bought chocolate biscuit over the last few weeks as the serious chocolate cravings hit, but I try to make a batch of something sweet yet healthy once a week or once a fortnight so I have stuff on hand.

Today we looked after our 18 month old niece (good practice!) and while she had her afternoon nap I whipped up these bad boys, adapting from a recipe by Wholesome Patisserie. Not only did they 100% fully satisfy my craving (and I’m not lying, they really did – even more so than the store-bought processed stuff!) but my niece loved them too and we got to have them warm out the oven when she woke up. That’s what I call Sunday afternoon bliss! I hope you like them as much as we all did 🙂

Ingredients

Wet Ingredients:
1 heaped tbsp ground flax seeds
1/4 cup coconut oil
1/4 cup almond butter
1 and quarter cups coconut palm sugar
1 tsp vanilla bean paste

Dry Ingredients:
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/4 tsp Himalayan or Oryx salt
3 heaped tbsp raw cacao powder
1 1/2 cups buckwheat flour
2 tsp almond milk
Half cup dairy free (or your choice of) chocolate chips

Method

Preheat oven to 180 and line 2 baking trays with parchment paper.

In a large mixing bowl, mix together the ground flax and 3 tbsp filtered water and set aside for 2-3 minutes or until it has thickened up. Then whisk the flax egg one final time.

Now add the wet ingredients to the same bowl with the flax egg; solid coconut oil, almond butter, brown sugar, coconut sugar and vanilla. Beat the mixture until smooth and well combined.

Add in the baking soda, baking powder, salt and cacao, beat the mixture well. You may have to knead a bit with your hands to get it fully incorporated, then beat or knead in the buckwheat flour with the almond milk until smooth and well combined.

Now mix in the chocolate chips.

Take a small piece in your hands and roll into a ball then flatten into a cookie shape and place on prepared baking tray. Make sure to leave enough room between each cookie as they will rise.

Put them in the oven for 12-15 minutes then remove them and leave to cool on a cooling rack for 5 minutes. After that you can either eat them warm or wait until fully cooled before storing them in an airtight container.

Enjoy the decadence!

Love,
Lauren