Vegan White Chocolate Cookies

White choc cookies 1

Pregnancy cravings have struck! I am craving cookies and biscuits like never before, especially in the afternoon. I’ve given in and had a few ‘naughty’ Belgian chocolate covered biscuits because I don’t agree with depriving yourself to the point of being miserable. I’d say that my healthy lifestyle makes up for 80% of the time, and the other 20% is when I eat out or at other people’s houses or fancy a treat. I don’t want to be the person who goes out for dinner and can’t have anything on the menu. Since cleansing myself and getting into remission, I no longer have any intolerances so my body accepts everything, I just don’t agree with eating all that unhealthy stuff all the time. But every now and then, if I fancy a biscuit, I have it! That being said, the cravings have got a bit mad so I had to make some healthy ones to keep at home and these really do satisfy the craving 🙂

Ingredients

1 can chickpeas, rinsed then patted dry
2 tbsp organic natural peanut butter (I use Meridian)
3 tbsp almond milk
1 tbsp coconut oil
3 tbsp maple
1 tbsp sized chunk of cacao butter
3 tbsp buckwheat flour
1 tbsp coconut palm sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda (not essential, but I find it gives the outer layer of the cookie a crunchier texture)
Pinch of Himalayan or Oryx salt (I used Oryx desert salt)
Generous handful of vegan white chocolate chips (or any chocolate chips of your choice)

Method

Preheat oven to 180 (gas mark 6) and line a baking tray with baking paper and grease it slightly with coconut oil.

Put the chickpeas, peanut butter, almond milk and coconut oil in a food processor and blend until smooth.

Then add the maple, cacao butter, buckwheat flour, coco sugar, baking powder, bicarb and salt and process again until smooth and sticky.

Transfer the mixture to a bowl and add the chocolate chips and mix in.

Take cookie sized balls of the mixture in your hand, roll then press down to a cookie shape on the prepared baking tray. Dampen your hands slightly if it is too sticky. Repeat until mixture is finished.

Put in the oven for 12-15 minutes or until you see they are very slightly golden but do not over bake. They will continue to harden once they come out the oven. Transfer baking sheet that they are on, onto a cooling tray or wire rack until fully cooled.

Served best with a cold glass of almond milk!

Enjoy!

Love,
Lauren

Banana Crunch Smoothie Bowl

Banana Smoothie Bowl

Breakfasts don’t need to be just cereal or toast! I love making up new smoothie ideas for a yummy, filling and nutritious breakfast. Check out our other smoothie bowls on our breakfast page.

Ingredients

1 and a half frozen bananas (slice and freeze the day before)
1 tbsp almond butter
2 medjool dates
Splash of almond milk
Tsp chia seeds
Homemade granola or organic store bought
Some puffed brown rice

Method

Put all the ingredients except the granola and puffed rice into the blender and blend until smooth.

Pour into a bowl and top with the granola and and puffed rice (or puffed quinoa) and enjoy!

Love,
Lauren

Israeli Salad

Israeli Salad

Simple, but oh so effective! The good old trusted Israeli salad. Full of yummy fresh veggies, colourful and delicious…

Ingredients 

2 tomatoes
Half a large cucumber
1 yellow pepper
2 spring onions
Extra virgin olive oil
White vinegar
Himalayan salt & black pepper

Method

Chop all your veggies up into really small pieces and put them all in a bowl. Drizzle a little olive oil, a little vinegar and season with salt and pepper. Mix, and serve! Voila!

Enjoy

Love,
Lauren

Peanut Butter Oats, Acai Chia Pudding & Puffed Rice Breakfast Parfait

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I love a breakfast parfait, as you probably already know. This was a pre-workout breakfast and really kept me going until lunch, it is just packed with energy.

Ingredients

Acai Chia Pudding:
Quarter cup chia seeds
1 and quarter cup almond milk
2 tbsp pure organic maple syrup
2 acai berry capsules opened and sprinkled in

Peanut Butter Maca Overnight Oats:
1 cup organic gluten free oats
2 cups almond milk (add more if needed)
1 tsp maca powder
1 tbsp peanut butter
1 tbsp maple syrup

Handful puffed brown rice
1 banana

Method

The night before you want to eat this for breakfast, make both the chia pudding and overnight oats (separately), cover with cling-film and put them in the fridge. Do gauge whether either of them need more almond milk and add if they do.

The next morning simply layer them up and finish it off with sliced banana and the breakfast rice puffs.

Enjoy!

Love,
Lauren

Chocolate Acai Cups

acai cups

Chocolate, and pink! What more could a girl want?! The contrast in the textures of the chocolate and the frozen acai smoothie is a bit strange, but the tastes go so well together. The raw cacao gives you heaps of plant-based protein and the acai, of course, is full of beautiful pink energy-boosting, anti-oxidant wonderfulness.

Ingredients

1 x chocolate sauce recipe
1 x acai berry smoothie bowl recipe

Method

Firstly, I would suggest making these on a day when you’ve made the smoothie bowl to have for breakfast and just keep half a cup of the smoothie back for these cakes as a whole smoothie bowl is way too much.

Simply make the chocolate sauce, then add about a spoonful of it to the bottom of each muffin case (which should be placed in a cupcake baking tray) and freeze for 30 minutes.

Once frozen, add a spoonful of the smoothie as the next layer, and freeze for a further 30 minutes.

Once this layer is frozen, add one more layer of chocolate to the top and freeze again.

Once ready remove from the muffin cases and place in a container. I would advise keeping them in the freezer instead of the fridge as the smoothie layer will melt otherwise.

Enjoy the yummy flavours!

Love,
Lauren

Deliciously Ella’s Sweet Potato Brownies

Sweet Potato Brownies

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

Chocolate Chai Baobab Smoothie Bowl

Chocolate Chai Baobab Smoothie Bowl

You all know how much I love a smoothie bowl, but up until now I hadn’t posted a chocolate one and let’s face it, everyone loves chocolate for breakfast! This way you don’t even have to feel guilty. The raw cacao is a sensational way of getting plant-based protein. I wanted to add some chai flavouring as I just love the taste and thought it would go well with this and it really did… The best ingredient in here is the Baobab. I’m a big fan of superfoods and have a cupboard where I keep spirulina, acai berries, maca, lucuma, cacao and now baobab. Read up on Raine’s explanation of Baobab here

Ingredients

1 frozen banana
Quarter cup boiling water
1 chai tea bag
Quarter cup almond milk
1 tbsp almond butter
2 dates
1 tbsp raw cacao
1 tsp baobab

 

Method

Before starting, boil the kettle and pour a quarter cup boiling water into a mug and let the chai tea bag steep in it for ten minutes. Put it next to a window so it cools down.

In the meantime, put the rest of the ingredients into a blender. Once the tea is cool, add this to the mix and blend well.

Pour into a bowl and add toppings of choice.

Enjoy!

Love,
Lauren

Avocado Toast

avocado toast

Breakfast and lunch don’t have to be difficult, sometimes the best things are the most simple… I am obsessed with avocado, it is just the best fruit (yup, it’s a fruit!) as it is nutritious and filling at the same time, not like eating a bowl of lettuce! With avocado you really feel satisfied. Avocados are healthy fats. The majority of fat in avocado is oleic acid which is a monounsaturated fatty acid that has been linked to reduced inflammation and been shown to have beneficial effects on genes linked to cancer. It’s high in protein and the perfect plant-based post-workout lunch or breakfast! If you are eating well, you don’t need to stay away from healthy fats like avocados and nuts, your body will love them…

Ingredients

1 avocado
2 slices organic gluten free or granary toast
1 lime
Pinch of Himalayan salt and ground black pepper
Chilli flakes (optional)

Method

Toast your bread then mash the avocado on top of it and squeeze the lime on top. Finish off with the salt, pepper and chilli flakes if you want them. So delicious.

Happy lunching!
Love,
Lauren

Three Variations of Homemade Ice Cream

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I kid you not, homemade ice cream is the easiest thing to make! You need to have a good, high-speed blender like the Vitamix, and some fruit. That’s literally it!

Freeze bananas the day before, then add them to the blender. The super high speed turns the frozen bananas into cream without actually putting any cream in there, that is how simple it is!

Variation 1:
Just frozen bananas, topped with Chunky Monkey Cookie Dough Chunks

Variation 2:
Frozen bananas with two dates to make a banana caramel ice cream, topped with Raw Cacao Cookie bites

Variation 3:
Simple sorbet – frozen strawberries and raspberries topped with some raspberries.

You can top with date syrup, nuts, seeds, fruit, desiccated coconut – anything you like. My parents came over for dinner tonight and couldn’t believe it was completely and totally plant-based and guilt-free!

Happy ice cream eating!
Love,
Lauren ❤

 

On-The-Go-Lunch Wraps

Falafel wrap

We’re all busy running around and most of us don’t have the time to stand there cooking a fresh soup and home-baked gluten-free bread for lunch every day, but lunches should still be healthy, and they can be healthy and easy at the same time.

I used my vegan falafel and put them in a spelt flour wrap with leftover homemade tahini and lettuce. You can add whatever you want to it!

This is a great baby led weaning idea as you can just rip it all up and leave it on the tray in front of them!

Just a short post but hoping it inspires you to create healthy lunches for you and the kids!

Love,
Lauren