Tag: plantbased

Homemade Coconut Yoghurt

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Coconut Yoghurt

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.

Probiotic Probiotic2 Probiotic3

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.

Coconut Yoghurt 2

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

Lemon & Basil Truffles

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Lemon & Basil Truffles

I love to use savoury flavours in desserts, and in these truffles the basil compliments the lemon really well. They are perfect to finish off a dinner or to give as a gift. Put them in a pretty glass jar and tie a ribbon around the neck… people always appreciate something that you have made yourself!

Ingredients

200g creamed coconut (or coconut butter, not coconut oil)
zest of 3 lemons
30ml lemon juice
1 tbsp honey
1/2 tsp organic stevia leaf powder
pinch of organic vanilla powder or 2 drops vanilla extract
1 tbsp baobab powder
pinch of himalayan salt
2 tbsp chopped fresh basil
about 40g cacao butter
an empty egg carton and toothpicks

Method

Place all the ingredients except the basil and cacao butter into a food processor. Process until well combined. Then add the chopped basil and pulse to combine. If the mixture is very soft you can refrigerate it until it firms up. Take about a heaped teaspoon of mixture at a time and use your palms to roll it into a neat ball. Place on a plate as you go. You should get about 21 truffles. Place them in the freezer to harden.

In a small saucepan, gently melt the cacao butter (don’t be alarmed that it turns brown as it melts, this is normal.) You will need to melt more cacao butter than what you actually end up using – simply allow the remainder to set again and return to the packet. Spear a truffle onto a toothpick and then dip it into the melted cacao butter, swirling to remove any excess and ensure an even coating.

Lemon & Basil Truffles 2

Then stick the other end of the toothpick into an empty egg carton, allowing the cacao butter to set.

Lemon & Basil Truffles 3

Repeat with all the truffles. Once they have set you can give them a second coating if you like, and then keep them refrigerated. This is actually the first time I’ve made truffles in years and I really enjoyed the process, but if this seems like too much hard work for you, you can omit the last step of coating them in cacao butter!

Health & happiness 🙂

Love,
Raine

Mango Coconut Ice Cream

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mango coconut ice cream

The last few mornings in Joburg have been quite chilly and I’m not at all happy to admit that autumn is definitely on its way. Use the last of our beautiful tropical summer fruit to make this quick and easy ice cream – no dairy or sugar! I’ve frozen it in lolly molds to make it fun for my son, but you could also freeze it as regular ice cream to be scooped on its own or to accompany a dessert.

Ingredients:

650g fresh mango flesh (about 2 mangoes)
1 tin (400ml) organic coconut milk
60ml organic virgin coconut oil
30ml raw honey
1/4 tsp himalayan salt
1/4 tsp organic vanilla powder or 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp organic stevia leaf powder

Method:

Blend all the ingredients until smooth. Pour into lolly moulds and freeze, or process in an ice cream machine. If you don’t have an ice cream machine, freeze until almost set, then blend again to break up the crystals and return to the freezer.

mango coconut ice cream 2

Health & happiness!

Love,
Raine

Banoffee Pie

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Banoffee Pie

Having special dietary requirements or wanting to stay in shape doesn’t mean that you can’t serve an impressive dessert at your next dinner party or family gathering. This raw pie is really quick and easy to make, and being free of refined sugar, dairy and wheat or gluten means you can even have it for breakfast! Who says you can’t have your cake and eat it too?

Ingredients

For the crust:
1 cup raw cashews or macadamias
1/2 cup raw almonds
1/2 cup desiccated coconut or homemade coconut flour
1/2 tsp organic vanilla powder, or 1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp himalayan salt
2 tbsp organic virgin coconut oil
1 tbsp organic maple syrup

1 x Raw Caramel recipe

For the cream:
1/2 cup organic coconut cream
1/4 cup raw cashews
2 tbsp organic virgin coconut oil
pinch of himalayan salt
pinch of organic vanilla powder, or 2ml vanilla extract

3 – 4 ripe bananas
1/3 cup of banana chips (I use Nature’s Choice, available at Dischem)

Method

Place all the ingredients for the crust into a food processor and blend until you have a fine crumb which sticks together when pressed. If it’s not sticking you can add another drizzle of coconut oil or maple syrup. Press the crust into a 20cm pie dish, covering the bottom and sides evenly. Prick with a fork and refrigerate until needed.

Make the raw caramel according to the recipe (click on the link above.) Spread about 2/3 of it onto the base of the pie.

Slice the bananas and place them on top of the caramel in concentric circles, until you have almost filled it to the top.

For the cream, place all the ingredients in a blender and blend until completely smooth. Pour the cream slowly over the banana, filling the pie to just below the edge of the crust.

Use a heavy-bottomed saucepan to crush the banana chips into crumbs, and sprinkle over the top of the pie. If you don’t have crispy banana chips (as opposed to chewy dried banana) you could use almonds or cashews to get the textural element. Drizzle some caramel over the top of the pie to finish. Refrigerate overnight or minimum 4 hours. This pie keeps well in the fridge for a few days.

Health & happiness!

Love,
Raine

Fig & Plum Smoothie

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Fig & Plum Smoothie

Figs are one of my favourite fruits, with their sweet, luscious flesh which is more desert-like than fruit-like! Figs and plums are both high in dietary fibre, antioxidants, as well as potassium, which helps to lower blood pressure. Plums also increase your body’s ability to absorb iron, due to its high vitamin C content.

The combination of fig, plum and vanilla makes for a delicious smoothie.

Ingredients

200ml almond or coconut milk
2 plums, cut up and frozen
3 figs, cut up and frozen
1/4 tsp organic vanilla powder or the seeds scraped from a vanilla pod
10ml organic virgin coconut oil
10ml raw pumpkin seeds
2 fresh medjool dates

Method

Blend all the ingredients until the desired texture is achieved. Serves 1

Health & happiness!

Love,
Raine

Butternut & Sage Pasta

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Butternut & Sage Pasta

This is a quick and easy family dinner – I literally only had 35 minutes to get food on the table, and that included writing the recipe and taking a photo!

I am in love with sage… it’s such a versatile herb and the tangy, lemony flavour really comes out with roasting. It pairs beautifully with butternut, which is high in beta-carotene and vitamin C.

Ingredients (serves 4)

850g butternut (weighed without the skin or seeds)
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil, plus some extra
1 tsp himalayan salt
15 cloves of garlic, cut into quarters
big handful of fresh sage
250g gluten-free organic pasta (I used amaranth, but you could use buckwheat or quinoa)
1/2 lemon
2 heaped tbsp raw pumpkin seeds

Method

Cut the butternut into cubes. On a roasting tray, toss together the butternut, olive oil, salt, garlic and sage. Roast at 200 C for about 30 minutes, until tender.

Cook the pasta according to packet instructions.

Toss the butternut and pumpkin seeds through the cooked pasta. Add some more olive oil if it looks too dry. Season to taste with lemon juice, himalayan salt and freshly ground black pepper. That’s it!

Health & happiness 🙂

Love,
Raine

Tarragon & Grape Salad

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tarragon salad

Growing up my mom used to make a chicken dish with a tarragon cream sauce, using dried tarragon. It was one of my favourites, so tarragon is a familiar flavour to me. But I’ll never forget the first time I tasted fresh tarragon – it was at Angela Hartnett’s London restaurant, Murano. It took me a good few minutes to identify the salad ingredient as fresh tarragon… I couldn’t believe the intensity of the flavour which, while obviously similar to dried tarragon, had a unique note all of its own. It was a feeling of dèja vu.

I don’t often find fresh tarragon in Joburg, but much to my joy, the Organic Emporium gets in a delivery of organic fresh tarragon every now and then. The slightly liquorice flavour pairs very well with sweet, white grapes, of which we have an abundance in South Africa right now.

I had this salad with a fillet of hot-smoked salmon. A perfect hot summer’s day lunch.

Ingredients (to serve 1)

a handful of fresh tarragon
a handful of wild rocket
a few leaves of fresh basil, torn
a handful of white grapes
a handful of cocktail tomatoes, sliced in half
2 spring onions, finely sliced
a handful of sugar snap peas, sliced
1 tbsp sunflower seeds
1 tbsp pumpkin seeds
extra virgin olive oil
pomegranate concentrate (or organic red wine vinegar, or fresh lemon juice)

Method

Combine all the ingredients. Dress with a drizzle of olive oil and pomegranate concentrate. Season to taste with himalayan salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Health & happiness!

Love,
Raine

Simple Homemade Tomato Sauce

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tomato sauce

Every freezer should be stocked with this simple and healthy tomato sauce – it can be used in a myriad of different dishes, and makes life easier for busy moms! Just got home from work and need to make dinner in under half an hour? Defrost this sauce and serve it with some buckwheat or quinoa pasta for a quick but still nutritious family meal.

Tomatoes are high in vitamin C and antioxidants, particularly lycopene. Researchers recently found a connection between tomatoes and bone health, concluding that tomatoes can help to prevent osteoporosis. They are also important for heart health, and have long been hailed as the anti-prostate cancer food of choice.

I like to make up a batch of this sauce and then freeze some of it in ice trays, so that I have small portions handy for my son’s meals (I use 2 – 3 cubes for him) and freeze the rest in one portion for a family meal.

IMG_0301

Ingredients

2 large onions, chopped
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
6 large cloves of garlic
1/2 cup of red wine (optional)
1.3kg fresh tomatoes, roughly chopped, including seeds
small handful of fresh thyme
2 bay leaves
1/4 cup dried dates
3/4 tsp himalayan salt
a few leaves of fresh basil

Method

Fry the onions in the olive oil until caramelised. Add the garlic and fry for 2 minutes. Add the wine. There should immediately be a cloud of steam, and a strong smell of alcohol. This is the alcohol in the wine cooking off – so don’t worry, there won’t be any alcohol left over in the sauce. You can omit the wine, but it adds depth of flavour.

Add the tomatoes, thyme, bay leaves and dates. Turn the heat down, cover with a lid and simmer for a minimum of 30 minutes. An hour or longer is better – the longer it simmers the more the flavours develop.

Remove the hard stalks of the thyme and then put the sauce in a blender or food processor. For pasta sauces I like a chunkier texture so will use a food processor. For a smoother sauce (for example, for pizza) use a blender. Add the salt and basil and blend until you have the desired consistency. Taste for seasoning and adjust accordingly. Traditionally tomato sauce would have quite a bit of sugar added (you’d be mortified to learn how much sugar there is in store-bought tomato sauce or ketchup!) I avoid this by adding the dates. If you feel that it needs more sweetness, add more dates or raw honey or organic maple syrup. If you feel that it needs more acidity, use fresh lemon or organic apple cider vinegar. This all depends on the natural flavour of the tomatoes you’ve used, so just taste and see!

Use immediately or freeze for future use.

Below are examples of how I would use this sauce:

tomato sauce 2

Here I roasted some aubergine with olive oil, salt and black pepper. I added it to the sauce along with some fresh chilli and basil. Served with buckwheat pasta.

IMG_0299

I fried onion, garlic, carrot, red pepper, broccoli and chilli in olive oil. I added the sauce, cooked brown basmati rice, shredded poached chicken and fresh coriander.

Health & happiness!

Love,
Raine

Raw Chocolate Hearts with Maca Caramel Centre

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Maca Caramel Chocolates

With Valentine’s Day just a week away I’m sure chocolate is on everyone’s mind. So I thought I’d show you that it doesn’t have to be unhealthy or “fattening.” Chocoholics round the world rejoiced when the experts started saying “chocolate is good for you.” But some of you may have been confused by this statement… after all, chocolate is full of sugar, right? So how do you get all those amazing benefits of raw cacao without the toxins of refined sugar, dairy and other additives such as emulsifiers and thickeners? Raw chocolate!

This was one of my favourite discoveries when I started this lifestyle… and it really is simple to make. By omitting all the bad stuff, and keeping the raw cacao at low temperatures so that you don’t destroy the nutrients, you’re giving your body one of nature’s most nutrient dense foods. Raw cacao is rich in anti-oxidants, is good for cardiovascular health and fights cancer. It also contains phenylethylamine, which is a mood enhancer. That explains the “feel good” effect of chocolate! 🙂

What is the difference between cacao and cocoa? Cocoa is what you probably grew up with… it is made from cacao beans but has gone through processing which means a loss of nutrients. To get the full benefits of the cacao bean, and a high-quality chocolate, make sure you only buy organic raw cacao products.

My chocolate recipe uses raw cacao paste as well as cacao butter. If these are not available to you, or you first want to see what this is all about before spending money on those products, you can make raw chocolate using coconut oil and raw cacao powder.

Maca is a root grown in Peru, which comes from the radish family. It has been revered for over 2000 years for its ability to provide stamina, mental clarity and aid fertility. It is believed to be an excellent aphrodisiac, particularly when paired with raw cacao. It has a bit of an odd taste (I must admit at first I didn’t like it!) but adding it to my raw caramel is a good way to start… the result is heavenly!

Ingredients

1 x Raw Caramel recipe
2 tbsp maca powder

Chocolate recipe #1:

75g raw cacao paste
25g raw cacao butter
30ml runny raw honey or organic maple syrup
1/4 tsp organic stevia leaf powder (alternatively, use 60ml honey or maple)
pinch of himalayan salt

Chocolate recipe #2:

90ml coconut oil
90ml runny raw honey or organic maple syrup
125ml raw cacao powder

Method:

Add the maca powder to the caramel ingredients when blending. Set aside.

For chocolate recipe #1, place all the ingredients in a glass or stainless steel bowl which can fit over a saucepan. Bring some water to a simmer in the saucepan, and set the bowl over it. The trick with chocolate is to only ever use gentle heat, and to heat all the ingredients together. If you try to melt the cacao over direct heat, or add cold honey to it once it’s been melted, it will seize. Use a whisk to stir the chocolate until everything is melted, well combined and glossy.

For chocolate recipe #2, place the coconut oil and honey or maple in a glass or stainless steel bowl which can fit over a saucepan. Bring some water to a simmer in the saucepan, and set the bowl over it. Gently melt the oil and honey, using a whisk to combine. Remove from the heat and add the cacao powder, using the whisk to combine well.

Fill your heart mould with chocolate one third of the way. If you don’t have moulds, ice trays work just as well. Place in the freezer until set. Now use a small spoon to drop some caramel onto the set chocolate, trying to avoid the sides of the mould.

Maca Caramel Chocolates 2

Place in the freezer again for a few minutes to harden, so that pouring more chocolate over the caramel doesn’t melt it. If your chocolate is no longer pouring consistency, heat it gently again over the simmering water. Fill the moulds with chocolate so that it pours around the caramel, and covers it. Place in the freezer again until set. These chocolates do need to be kept in the fridge as they can melt at room temperature, especially if you’ve made the coconut oil version. I keep mine in a glass jar, and they can last up to a month (at least, that’s the longest mine have ever lasted before being eaten!)

I hope these will put you in the mood for Valentine’s Day!

Health & happiness.

Love,
Raine

Tri-colour Roasted Pepper Salad

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roast pepper salad

My mom used to make something similar to this when I was growing up and it was one of my favourite salads. Roasting the peppers and then removing the skin gives them a lovely silky texture. This makes a great accompaniment to a big family Sunday lunch, or is filling enough as a meal on its own.

Ingredients (enough for a table salad, or serves 2 as a meal)

2 red bell peppers
2 yellow bell peppers
1 green bell pepper
1 tin organic chickpeas, rinsed well
about 20 olives (I used Blue Sky Organics chilli-stuffed olives for an extra kick, available at Organic Emporium)
2 tbsp of the liquid from the olives
2 tbsp capers
4 large cloves of garlic, minced
a small handful of fresh basil, torn
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp himalayan salt
juice of 1/2 a lemon (about 2 tbsp)
freshly ground black pepper to taste

Method

Preheat the grill in your oven and then place the peppers about 10 – 15cm under the grill. Allow the skin to bubble and blacken (takes about 10 minutes) and then turn them to do the next side. Continue until the all the peppers have been blackened on all sides. If the skin has not at least bubbled and browned you will not be able to remove it. It needs to look like this:

IMG_0174

Place the cooked peppers in a glass bowl and cover tightly with clingfilm. Leave them to sweat (which separates the skin from the flesh) and cool down enough for you to work with them. Once cooled, peel all the skin off. You just want to remove the very thin outer layer, not any of the flesh.

IMG_0179

Remove the seeds and stem and cut the peppers into strips about 5 cm wide. Cut the olives in half. Combine all the ingredients and taste for seasoning. You can either eat immediately, or leave to marinate for a few hours. Best served at room temperature, not cold from the fridge, so I would suggest taking it out of the fridge at least 30 minutes prior to serving. I ate this as an easy dinner with some gluten-free flat bread. I’m still working on the recipe but will share it as soon as I’m happy with it 😉

Health & happiness!

Love,
Raine