Tag: pregnancy cravings

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

Vegan White Chocolate Cookies

1 Comment

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