Tag: protein

Simple Chia Pudding with Berry Compote

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Chia pudding

I keep trying to spread a message about breakfast… it really isn’t very hard to make nutritious, delicious, simple breakfasts for the whole family in order to be able to bin the horrible processed cereals. It can be very daunting when embarking upon this lifestyle, we think it’s going to be really hard but making this chia pudding was no harder than making a bowl of cereal or porridge. If you just change one thing at a time, make breakfast your first change, the kids will love these ideas – just check out all our other breakfast options!

It isn’t baby led weaning-friendly but if you’re happy with spoon feeding your baby / toddler, this really makes such a nutritious breakfast.

“Chia” is the ancient Mayan word for “strength” and these little seeds were prized for their ability to provide long-lasting energy. They provide high nutrition for low calories (almost all of their carbohydrates are in the form of fibre) so this is a great food if you’re trying to lose weight. They are high in protein, fibre, Omega 3 fatty acids, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus and antioxidants.

You can sprinkle chia seeds over your breakfast or add them to smoothies, but this is just another great way to eat them. When you soak these little nutritional powerhouses in liquid, they swell and absorb the liquid. The result is a creamy and delicious pudding. Great for breakfast or dessert… and who doesn’t love dessert for breakfast?!

Ingredients (one portion)

2-3 tbsp chia seeds
1 small cup almond milk
1 tsp organic natural maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla essence

For the compote (completely optional as you can top the pudding with whatever you like):
4 strawberries
4 raspberries
6 blueberries

Method

The night before you want to eat this, simply mix the chia seeds in a bowl or glass or jar with the almond milk, maple and vanilla (both the latter are optional also, but nice for a bit of sweetness and flavour), cover and leave in the fridge overnight. When you first mix it, it will look like it isn’t absorbing but in the morning you’ll see how the seeds have swelled to look almost like passion fruit seeds (don’t worry, they’re much softer than passion fruit seeds).

Add the fruit to the blender and blend until smooth. Top the pudding with this and add any nuts, seeds or fruit you fancy!

You can also try Raine’s Chai Chia Pudding (a mouthful yes but the pudding works so well with the chai spice flavours)

Health and Happiness,
Love,
Lauren

Dark Green Juice for Dark London Days

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Dark Green Juice

It’s a gloomy old day in London Town today, so I woke up and made a strong green juice to boost my immune system. I added Organic Burst Spirulina because it supports the immune system and is a rich, bio-available protein containing 18 amino acids.

Ingredients

Half a cucumber
4 sticks of celery
1 small bag of spinach
1 fennel bulb
1 tsp spirulina powder
Juice of 1 lime

Method

Juice all ingredients except spirulina and lime. Once juiced, add lime juice and mix in the spirulina. Add an ice cube to make it more refreshing!

Enjoy!
Love,
Lauren

Strawberry Banana Acai Smoothie Bowl

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Strawberry Acai Bowl2

You’ve probably seen my Acai Berry Smoothie Bowl and this one is not dissimilar, I just used slightly different ingredients.

I try to open a few acai capsules into my breakfast every few days because the acai berries have been tested to hold more polyphenols and antioxidants than pretty much any other food. You get polyphenols from other berries, especially blueberries, but acai berries have them in an abundance never seen before. They are indigenous to the Amazon in Brazil and have only recently become public knowledge – great for us! Polyphenols make us happy and also help us prevent and beat degenerative diseases such as cancer and autoimmune diseases. Polyphenols also make your skin look and feel incredible so including them in your diet as well as using them as a beauty product will help not only your inner health, but your outer health too! Acai berries are also rich in fatty acids omegas 3, 6 & 9 which is all you need for that anti-inflammatory boost.

This really is so easy to make guys, so ditch the cardboard-like, sugar-filled, store-bought cereals and have this yummy creation for brekkie!

Ingredients

1 cup strawberries
1 heaped tbsp almond butter
2 dates
2 tbsp Coyo coconut yoghurt (optional but makes it extra creamy)
3 acai berry capsules, opened and sprinkled in
1 probiotic capsule, opened and sprinkled in (optional but great for gut health)
3 tbsp almond milk
2 bananas, one pre-frozen and one fresh

Optional toppings:
Granola
Nuts
Seeds
Fruit
Goji berries

Method

Simply put all the ingredients into your food processor or blender, except for the fresh banana, in the exact order as they appear, and start blender on a low speed and increase gradually. Once creamy pour into a bowl and top with anything you like such as nuts, seeds, goji berries, fruit, granola – the world is your acai bowl!

Happy breakfast!
Love,
Lauren

No-Fry Vegan Falafel

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The chickpea, ladies and gentlemen, making yet another appearance. They’re just so bloody versatile! Yesterday I made cookies with them, last week hummus, today falafel.

Where I come from, falafel are fried in oil (where I come from just about everything is fried in oil!) but here at Two Kitchens we’re about healthy, nutritious food and Raine and I often take traditional recipes and try to make them healthier so these are baked instead of fried and have no grains or animal produce in them, they are fully plant-based. Here’s how:

Ingredients

2x 400g tins chickpeas
2 small carrots
1 onion
A handful of coriander, chopped finely
A handful of parsley, chopped finely
1 tbsp cumin
1 tsp Himalayan salt
Some pepper
1 tsp olive oil

Method

Preheat your oven to 200 and line a baking tray with baking paper.

Drain the chickpeas in a colander and rinse with cold water. Then pat dry with a paper towel to remove excess liquid and leave there to drain for a minute.

Peel the carrots and onion and put them in the food processor with the chopping blade or on a chopping setting to get them chopped up nice and small, very quickly. It shouldn’t take more than 10 seconds. Scoop it all out into a bowl and leave to the side for a moment.

Put the chickpeas in your food processor (you don’t need to clean it of the carrot and onion) and blend until smooth but not for too long as you don’t want to make hummus.

Once blended add the grated carrot and onion back in, along with the rest of the ingredients and pulse to combine. Alternatively you can remove all of it from the food processor and mix in a bowl.10

Once combined, wet your hands slightly and shape into balls or flatten them for falafel that fit nicely into pitta bread. I’ve done both in the picture below so you can see.11

Once all balls are on the baking tray, put them in the oven for 20-30 minutes until they are nicely golden but not burning. You can turn them over half way.

Serve straight away, either in pitta with salad and hummus or on a plate along with other plant-based goodies. I served it for dinner with roasted butternut squash, chopped avocado and homemade tahini.14

I’m feeling very happy and positive today, so I’m sending that out to all of you who need the same!
Love,
Lauren

Book Club Bakes

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Most book clubs are known for their wine drinking more than talking about books. At my book club it’s more about eating! And when I’m hosting, my fellow book-clubbers expect some tasty treats and today I hope not to disappoint!

I’ve posted the recipes separately and you can find them here – Raw Cacao Chia Cookies & Chunky Monkey Peanut Butter Cookies – but I just wanted to put up this post to show that if you are hosting, whether it be a book club or simply having the girls round (or guys), you can offer your guests some of these quick, easy, healthy and nutritious treats.

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Happy reading!

Love,
Lauren

Chunky Monkey Peanut Butter Cookies

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I’m obsessed with peanut butter. As far as I’m concerned, every meal could have peanut butter in it and I’d be happy! So when I decide to make cookies I usually have peanut butter in there somewhere.

I made these especially for my book club tonight and everyone has different dietary requirements so I wanted these to be vegan, gluten & wheat free, dairy free and sugar free. So guess what I used instead of flour? You’ll never guess… OK I’ll tell you… Chickpeas! Those versatile, brilliant little bean-like things. I also gave them an energy boost with some Maca powder so you’ve got the protein from the chickpeas and the peanut butter and extra energy from the maca. They taste like heaven…

Ingredients

1 normal sized can of chickpeas
Half cup organic natural peanut butter (either make your own by blending peanuts in a Vitamix or buy it. I like Meridian)
1 tbsp maca powder
1/4 cup agave nectar
2 tbsp organic natural maple syrup
1 heaped tsp baking powder
Pinch salt
Vegan chocolate chips – optional

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Method

Preheat your oven to 180.

First drain and rinse the chickpeas, then pat them dry with a paper towel.

In a food processor,  combine all ingredients (except the chocolate chips). Really make sure all the ingredients are combined and blended fully.

Put in the chocolate chips and pulse for a few seconds just so they get round the whole mixture.

Line a baking tray with baking paper then grab a chunk from the mixture and spoon them down but leave them quite thick as they’re meant to be chunky. You may need to wet your hands so the mixture doesn’t get stuck.

Once they’re all on the baking tray, put them in the oven and bake for 10-12 minutes. You want them to be moist and soft, not hard at all. No, I’m not kidding you, it really is that simple!

Serve warm or leave on a wire rack to cool then store in an airtight container.

Happy cookie eating!
Love,
Lauren

Peanut Butter Nana Smoothie

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Peanut Butter Banana Smoothie

Yes yes, here I am again talking about breakfast, but I can’t help it! I just love breakfast! I also think it’s hugely important to get a good amount of protein intake in the morning, but if you’re vegetarian (and you don’t like eating chicken for breakfast!) you have to find other ways, and smoothies are amazing for that. This one is a great pre or post workout smoothie or simply good to start you off with heaps of energy. It also means you can whip it up quickly and drink it on your way out if you’re in a rush.

You can use homemade peanut butter by simply putting peanuts in a Vitamix and blending until they make a butter, or you can use store bought but it MUST be a natural, organic butter with no added ingredients, just peanuts. I like Meridian.

Ingredients

250ml almond milk
1 heaped tbsp peanut butter
2 dates
1 banana (sliced and pre-frozen)
1 tsp chia seeds
1 tsp flax seeds

Method

Blend and drink!

Happy, healthy thoughts 🙂
Love,
Lauren

Cacao Maca Overnight Oats

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Cacao Almond Butter Maca Overnight oats

Before getting used to this lifestyle of natural, real, non-processed, organic and plant-based food, it’s easy to wonder what one might have for breakfast every day. Westerners are the perfect consumers; we fall to the feet of advertising campaigns and as a result, we believe that breakfast means either toast (gluten), boxed, store-bought cereals (gluten, sugar, salt, dairy) or, if you’re from England, a full English (fried, fatty meats). So when I’m helping people with their diets, the first thing they ask is ‘what am I supposed to have for breakfast?’ Actually, breakfast is one of the easiest meals to be vegan, gluten free, dairy free and sugar free! You just need to get into the swing of it and, well, forget everything you’ve ever been taught! Of course, any change of lifestyle takes some getting used to and it may seem like a lot more work than pouring some cereal out of a box but seriously, give it a go! You’ll realise how easy and delicious our recipes are and how easy it is to start your day right and help your kids do the same. Just check out our breakfast page. If you make small changes, like starting with learning new breakfast recipes, you’ll slowly notice the chemicals in all the foods we buy, and you’ll see how easy it is to make a full change.

I’ve become a massive fan of superfood powders recently and Maca is just amazing. Maca is from Peru and legend has it that it was taken by Incan warriors before going into battle because of its amazing energy-enhancing qualities. It is known in the natural health world as the ‘natural caffeine’ and is an amazing substitute because it doesn’t give you any of the nasty side-effects associated with caffeine but it gives you a huge energy boost, with none of the comedown. It also increases stamina and boosts sex drive. All great reasons to add it to your diet! I get mine from Organic Burst. Just adding a spoonful into your oatmeal, porridge, cereal or smoothie will help your energy levels. I also added cacao and almond butter to this for extra protein. It was so yummy I made it again the next day!

Ingredients (makes one portion but double ingredients to make enough for 2)

Half cup organic rolled oats
1 cup almond milk
1 tsp maca powder
1 tsp raw cacao powder
1 tsp almond butter
1 tsp agave

Method

Simply mix all the ingredients in a bowl, making sure you mix really well so that the powders get fully absorbed. Put it in a jar with a lid or cover bowl with cling film and leave in the fridge overnight. Enjoy the next morning topped with fruit, nuts, seeds – anything you fancy!

Love, light and positive energy for the weekend.
Lauren

Mung Bean Sprout & Corn Salad, with Asian Dressing

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mung bean sprout & corn salad

On Wednesday evenings I do an ashtanga yoga class, so I need to have a lunch with enough protein and carbs to keep me going, but still light enough not to weigh me down. This delicious salad delivers exactly that!
Protein from the mung bean sprouts, seeds and nuts; healthy carbs from the corn and brown rice; and the dressing has a beautiful nutty flavour from the sesame oil.

Ingredients

2 cups organic baby salad leaves and/or herbs
2 handfuls mung bean sprouts
1 cob of corn, boiled in water and kernels cut off the cob
1/2 cup cooked brown basmati
small handful fresh coriander, chopped
2 Israeli or “mini” cucumbers, sliced
10 cherry tomatoes, cut in half
1 tbsp raw pumpkin seeds
1 tbsp raw sunflower seeds
1 tbsp raw sesame seeds
handful raw cashew nuts

Method

Toss all the ingredients together with my Asian Dressing

Love,
Raine

Protein Packed Breakfast Parfait

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breakfast parfait2

Tell me this doesn’t make you hungry just by looking at it! I’m in heaven right now eating my breakfast… mostly because I love that I can basically have dessert for breakfast!

So let’s start from the bottom: the bottom layer is my homemade maple and pecan granola, followed by raspberry coconut chia pudding, then some puffed quinoa pops, then my homemade healthy nutella, followed by Meridian Foods natural organic peanut butter, then some more granola sprinkled on the top. This is basically just one big jar of plant protein. I had a bit of this then went for a 45 minute power walk with the dogs. The cacao, quinoa and peanut butter are packed full of protein and the great thing about chia seeds is that although they contain carbohydrates, most of their carbohydrates are not digested by the body as carbohydrates but as fibre, so it speeds up the metabolism and gives you energy at the same time. They are also loaded with anti-oxidants and omega-3 fatty acids; gram for gram, chia seeds contain more omega-3 than salmon…

Ingredients

Homemade granola – click on link for recipe
Raspberry chia pudding – click on link for recipe
Quinoa pops – store bought
Homemade healthy nutella – click on link for recipe
Miridian Foods smooth peanut butter

Method

Simply layer away and enjoy!

Love,
Lauren