Tag: egg free

Chocolate & Peanut Butter Drizzled Banana Bread

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This is basically exactly the same as my usual banana bread (gluten free, dairy free, refined sugar free and vegan), I just added a bit of peanut butter and chocolate drizzles to the top because, why not!

It sank a bit in the middle which is really annoying when you make something so pretty, but I think it was still worth a picture 🙂

Ingredients

3 large very ripe bananas, mashed (if they are small, use 4)
1 whole banana for the middle (optional)
1/3 cup maple syrup
1 heaped tbsp. coconut oil, melted
1 tbsp flax seeds
4 tbsp filtered water
1 cup buckwheat flour
1.5 tsp baking powder
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
¼ tsp ground cinnamon

Chocolate sauce to coat the banana in (optional):
2 tbsp cacao powder
2 tbsp coconut oil
1 tbsp maple syrup
1 tbsp tsp cashew butter

Drizzle topping:
1 heaped tbsp smooth peanut butter
Leftover chocolate sauce from the banana coating

Method

(Quick note: if you want this to  be quick and simple, just leave out the optional chocolate-covered banana in the middle, the cake will be just as nice!)

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

Make the chocolate sauce by melting all the sauce ingredients on a gentle heat in a saucepan. Coat the whole banana in the chocolate sauce and leave in the fridge to set. Save whatever is leftover of the chocolate in the saucepan for later.

Mix the flax seeds in a small bowl with the water and set aside so it can set. (this is a flax ‘egg’ and used instead of eggs.)

Mash the other 3 bananas in a large bowl and add the coconut oil and maple, then add the flax mix and mix well.

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

Move just under half the batter into the loaf tin then put the chocolate-covered banana on top. Now add the rest of the mix on top of the banana.

Put it in the oven for around 25–30 minutes, or until a fork comes out clean. My oven tends to cook things much quicker than most so it’s been a bit of a learning curve, your oven may need more time.

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

Once cool, put the peanut butter on a plate and even out so it’s quite thin on the plate, then put it in the microwave for about 2 minutes, or until it starts cracking, then, once cool enough for you to handle with your fingers, sprinkle it over the top of the cake.

Finish by drizzling the remaining chocolate sauce in the saucepan over the top.

Delicious served with peanut or almond butter!

Enjoy!

Love and health,
Lauren

Pancake Day Pancakes

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Well, if I do say so myself, Braxton is a lucky little boy – he got to eat pancakes for dinner tonight! I wanted to update my recipe and get a good picture up there in time for you all to prepare for pancake day tomorrow!

These are so easy to make and totally guilt free: gluten free, refined-sugar free, dairy free, egg free and DELICIOUS! Takes 5 minutes to wizz all the ingredients together and you can use any toppings you like from chocolate sauce to maple to lemon and sugar… give it a whirl!

Ingredients

2 flax eggs (2 tbsp ground flax seed mixed with 2 tbsp water)
1 cup buckwheat flour
1 heaped tsp baking powder
1.5 ripe bananas
2 tbsp pure maple syrup
1 cup almond milk (or any other non-dairy milk)
Coconut oil for cooking

Method

Make the flax eggs by mixing the flax seed with water in a small bowl and leaving it to the side.

Add all the ingredients to a food processor and wizz until smooth.

Heat some coconut oil in a pan and when hot, add a small ladle full of the mixture in a pancake shape. It will only need about a minute, then flip it and do another minute, or until you think it’s cooked through.

Continue until the mixture is finished.

Top with almond butter, homemade chocolate sauce or maple syrup or coconut yogurt and blueberries like we’ve done here.

Love & health,
Lauren

Flapjacks For Breastfeeding Mamas (& everyone else!)

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Sticky Oaty Flapjacks

My friend just had a baby and was really determined to make breastfeeding work. I always found that the best gift anyone could bring me after having the baby was food. And healthy food. You don’t have time to cook so you just have to take whatever anyone gives you or whatever is convenient which usually means you eat really badly for the first few months. Not only is this not good for our bodies but of course whatever you eat goes through to your milk so it affects the baby too. One of my biggest struggles after having Braxton was trying to maintain my healthy diet when I was just too exhausted to cook and of course when he slept, I didn’t want to be in the kitchen, I wanted to sleep!

I also really struggled with breastfeeding – it didn’t come easily to me at all – but I got there eventually. I was told to eat lots of oats to increase my supply so I eventually got into the kitchen to make some flapjacks as the store-bought ones are just so full of sugar. They were so yummy and such an easy snack to have next to me during those early days of being absolutely ravenous every time he even approached my boobs! So I made these for my friend also and thought I’d share the recipe.

These are also fab for baby led weaning, I’d suggest just omitting the sunflower seeds.

Ingredients

250g organic rolled oats
15 dates (if they’re big, 20 if they’re smaller)
Quarter cup ground flaxseeds
3 tbsp sunflower seeds
5 tbsp coconut oil
3 tbsp peanut butter
5 tbsp maple syrup
2 tbsp chia seeds mixed with 8 tbsp water

Method

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

Soak your dates for about half an hour in purified water so they soften and once they’re soaking, mix the chia seeds with the water and leave aside to set.

Heat the coconut oil in a pan and add the peanut butter and maple. Once combined add the dates and mix, then put it all in a food processor.

Blend until smooth, then add the oats and chia mix and blitz a little bit but you still want the oats to be in solid pieces.

Tip into a bowl and add the sunflower seeds an mix around until they are evenly spread throughout the mixture.

Now spoon the mixture into the prepared baking tin and bake for 12-15 minutes. Check it at 12 minutes and see if the top is starting to go golden, if it is, take them out. They need to be moist and not overcooked.

Leave on a cooling rack until completely cool – if you cut them while they are hot they won’t stick together.

Once cool cut into squares and store in an airtight container.

Love & health,
Lauren

 

Mint Chocolate Energy Balls & Some Info On Essential Oils

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Mint Chocolate Energy Snack Balls

I’m loving my essential oils at the moment – I’ve really been getting into EOs since finding that Frankincense helped my postpartum arthritis flare as it’s such a great anti-inflammatory. I made a Frankincense oil rub for my joints by mixing it with coconut oil (this is called using a carrier oil to dilute the EO a little) which I rub on twice a day. I add it to my diffuser so that it lets out the steam into the room and I take it internally. You can’t ingest all EOs, only high-grade ones. The Frankincense I use is from a company called Free Your Senses but another great company where you can buy a box of 10 EOs of your choice is doTERRA. You can really do so much with them: you can use them as perfume instead of putting the highly toxic perfumes on your body, you can use them in cooking, make creams, lotions, bath wash, deodorant and oils, you can diffuse them, and I even use the doTERRA lavender oil with coconut oil on Braxton’s feet each night before bed to calm him, especially if he is teething.

In this recipe I used doTERRA peppermint oil.

This is a great post-workout snack as it’s so high in plant-based protein. It’s also a great snack generally for the whole family as a ‘treat’ with no nasties.

Ingredients

1 cup almonds
1 cup dates
2 drops doTERRA peppermint oil
2 tbsp raw cacao powder
2 tbsp maple syrup
Pinch of Himalayan salt
Quarter cup pistachios (to roll in)

Method

First, as always, soak your almonds overnight. This is very important. Also, soak the dates for about 2-3 hours to soften them. All soaked in purified water.

Drain the almonds and pat them dry with a bit of kitchen roll and put them in the blender. At this time, drain the dates and leave them draining in the sink while you blend the almonds.

Turn the blender up and blend until the dates form a meal, and start becoming a bit buttery. Spoon it away from the edges and the blade, then add the dates and blend until totally incorporated.

Now add the peppermint oil, cacao, maple and salt and blend again. Tip into a large bowl, mix with your hands if you need to to get the last bits incorporated.

Get a plate ready and now start rolling them into small balls and place them on the plate. Once you have finished the mixture and all the balls are rolled, ground your pistachios in a pestle and mortar. They shouldn’t be ground too finely as you still want decent size chunks.

Roll each ball into the pistachio mix so it is completely covered and return to the plate.

Once they are all covered with the pistachios, put the plate in the fridge for a couple of hours before serving. You can keep them in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 weeks and you can also keep them in the freezer and defrost in the fridge an hour before you want to eat them.

Love & health,
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

Raw Chocolate & Coconut Mousse

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Chocolate Coconut Mousse

Pregnancy has got me craving something sweet after a meal (or all the time?!) and although I am totally happy with my 80%/20% lifestyle in which, during the 20% I allow myself to eat out, have the odd pizza or have a processed chocolate bar, I have to remember that my continued remission is not something to take for granted; it is a product of continuous maintenance on my part and that maintenance comes in the form of diet and homeopathy. If I get slack on either one I could see the arthritis coming back at any point and now, more than ever, with a baby on the way, I need to make sure that I stay strong and healthy, especially because carrying extra weight could also impact my joints if they are not kept healthy and supple enough. It is constant work, this keeping healthy business, but I can’t think of anything more worth it.

Sometimes people say to me, ‘we can’t afford to eat organic’ or ‘I don’t have time to make those meals’. In some cases this is very true, but a lot of people who say these things to me would happily go out on a Saturday night and spend £150 on a meal, or buy a new pair of shoes, or spend the evening in front of the TV. There is nothing more precious than our health and prevention is better than cure so ditch the dinner out and save yourself some money and put it towards buying organic, and spend an extra hour in the kitchen once or twice a week preparing fresh lunches and snacks like this one here. I have to sacrifice many things to be able to afford organic food, superfoods and my supplements, and it shouldn’t just be a case of ‘well that’s ok because you had a disease but I don’t’. Because if you ever get diagnosed with something, from arthritis to cancer or the millions of others that people suffer from, you will wish you did all you could to prevent it, for you and your children. There are ways around EVERY SINGLE HEALTH ISSUE, you just need to be willing to work hard enough and remember that a lifetime consuming the chemicals that are found in every single thing you eat or drink that isn’t organic, WILL lead to disease. Don’t do it to your bodies, not in this day and age when there are so many options. Enjoy an organic, superfood lifestyle! And if you need any help getting started, feel free to drop us a line so we can help.

Ingredients

Chocolate mousse layer:
Half cup pecans
1 frozen banana
Half an avocado
Half a cup of almond milk
1 heaped tbsp raw cacao powder
1 tsp maple syrup
Half tsp vanilla extract

Coconut mousse layer:
2 frozen bananas
The cream from the top of a can of organic coconut milk (save the watery part for cooking)

Optional toppings:
Raw cacao covered goji berries
Desiccated coconut

Method

You will need a high speed blender to make the ‘ice cream’ from bananas. I use a Vitamix.

Put the pecans in the blender and blend well until they form a fine meal. Then add the banana and blend until smooth, followed by the rest of the ingredients and blend until smooth. Add this to fill just over half a small glass.

Wash the blender out then add the 2 bananas for the coconut layer until smooth but not melting, then add the coconut cream and blend quickly so combined but not melting.

Add this to the top of the chocolate layer then top with your choice of toppings. I used cacao covered goji berries and desiccated coconut.

I hope you all enjoy this as much as my husband and I will enjoy it after our dinner tonight!

Love,
Lauren

P.s. I had some leftover from the coconut layer so I used this as a milk / yoghurt replacement with my homemade granola this morning. Was lush!

Coconut mousse granola

Chocolate Maca Chia Pudding

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Chocolate Chia Maca Pudding

People are constantly looking for healthy and easy to make alternatives to artificial, cardboard-like breakfast ‘cereals’ and toast. We are the biggest lovers of breakfast here at Two Kitchens! We have more breakfast recipes on our site than any other recipes.

This one is amazing for the whole family. It is packed with chia so it is full of bioavailable plant-based, organic protein, has maca powder in it so gives instant but long-lasting natural energy, the raw cacao is another source of plant-based protein, the almonds in the almond milk add calcium and you can add whatever fruit you like to it for more fibre and fruit intake. I added bananas but you can add strawberries or other berries too. The kids will honestly love this, you can send them off to school knowing they have been given the best start to the day and if you make enough, you can save some as a snack or even dessert for after dinner – so versatile!

Ingredients

1 cup almond milk
3 tbsp chia seeds
1 tsp maca powder (I use Organic Burst)
1 heaped tbsp raw cacao powder
1 tsp organic maple syrup or other natural sweetener of choice
1 banana, sliced
Small handful organic vegan chocolate chips (optional)

Method

Put all the ingredients except the banana and chocolate chips into a saucepan and heat gently over a low heat. It will seem dry at the beginning but eventually it will all melt into itself, just keep stirring. You want it to heat but not boil as boiling chia seeds will take the goodness out of them but we still want them to soften and swell.

Once it’s ready, transfer to a bowl, wait for it to cool then leave in the fridge for half an hour. Alternatively you can make it the night before and leave in the fridge overnight. The chia will then swell even more and be softer.

Transfer to a glass or any bowl of choice and top with your favourite toppings.

Enjoy!

Love,
Lauren

Lime & Coconut Cream Pie (with a chocolate base!)

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Lime & Coconut Cream Pie

Well this one surely has to make it into the Two Kitchens hall of fame! It’s made from avocados so it is so great for increasing your essential fatty acid intake. Avocados just have such a huge range of health benefits so the more we can get them into our diet the better. I’ve also used cacao for more plant-based protein and all of the other ingredients are organic wholefoods free of gluten, wheat, dairy, grains, sugar and egg. This is a totally vegan and paleo recipe and so super creamy and indulgent!

Ingredients

Base:
125g pecans, soaked for at least 4 hours then drained
30 pitted medjool dates
1 heaped tbsp raw cacao powder
2 tbsp coconut oil, melted
1 tbsp organic maple syrup

Filling:
The flesh from 5 avocados, ripe but not brown in any places
Juice of 4 limes
3 tbsp coconut oil, melted
3/4 cup maple syrup
4 tbsp coconut cream

Toppings:
Zest from 2 of your limes
Desiccated Coconut

Method

Once you’ve soaked your pecans, simply put them in the blender until they are a meal, then add the rest of the base ingredients and blend until smooth.

Cut a piece of baking paper the same size as the bottom of a round springform cake tin and place the baking paper at the bottom then grease all over with coconut oil. Put your base mixture into it and smooth it down with a spatula until it is compact. Place it in the freezer for 20-30 mins.

Next, add all the filling ingredients to the clean blender and blend until it looks like a smooth mousse.

Once the base is ready to come out of the freezer, smooth the filling on top and put in the freezer for an hour and a half. It needs to be firm but not frozen. Take it out and sprinkle desiccated coconut and lime zest on the top then keep it in the fridge straight away (after serving or before).

Enjoy!

Love,
Lauren