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

Vegan Peanut Butter Breakfast Cookies

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Crunchy, yet slightly gooey peanut butter cookies. What could be better?

Braxton has decided he’s on hunger strike at the moment so I’m trying to find just anything that he’ll eat and I made these in the hope that he’d like them and he did, he was very happy. Now just to get him to eat broccoli…

We are also going away soon and I wanted to test out new things that I can take as snacks on the plane. Muffins always go down well but I thought that some harder cookies would also make a nice (and less messy) snack. Trying to figure out 24 hours worth of food and snacks for a 14 month old is no easy feat!

Anyway I kind of just threw the ingredients for these together but they turned out so delicious, I’m really happy with them.

Of course, as usual, gluten free, grain free, dairy free, refined-sugar free and vegan.

Ingredients

125g buckwheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
Pinch Himalayan salt
45g coconut palm sugar
60ml maple syrup
5 tbsp almond milk
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
4 tbsp coconut oil and extra for greasing
5 tbsp peanut butter

Method

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees and line 2 baking trays with baking paper and grease with coconut oil.

In a bowl, mix together the buckwheat flour, baking powder, bicarb and salt.

In a saucepan over a gentle heat, add the rest of the ingredients except the peanut butter, and heat gently until melted.

Once melted, add the peanut butter and stir until it’s softer.

Once that mixture is smooth, add it to the dry mixture. You might have to get in there with your hands as it could get a little crumbly. If it is too crumbly and won’t stick, add more coconut oil, maple and almond milk, but not too much.

Take a small amount in your hand and roll into a ball shape, then flatten it on the prepared baking tray. Repeat until you finish the mixture.

Bake for 7 minutes. They should look golden around the edge but still white-ish in the middle as they will continue to harden when they come out the oven.

Leave to cool before removing from the trays and keep in an airtight container in a cool place.

Love & health,
Lauren

Creamy Vegan Mash

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Mashed potatoes have to be creamy. No use having dry, lumpy mashed potatoes – it’s just not worth it! I was just using almond milk and dairy-free spread but I’ve now found a way to make it even creamier – by adding stock!

Braxton has been a little bit unwell and didn’t want to eat anything that he had to chew so I added my homemade stock to this and it really made him happy. See what you think…

Ingredients

About 7 white potatoes
125ml low sodium or homemade vegetable stock
Half a cup almond milk
2 tbsp dairy free non-hydrogenated spread / ‘margarine’
1 tsp dried parsley
Himalayan salt & black pepper

Method

Peel and chop the potatoes and put them in a pan of boiling water and bring to the boil.

Once soft, drain in a colander, holding a tiny smidgen of water back, then transfer all back to the pan.

Use a potato masher to mash the potatoes and once they are as smooth as you can get them, add the stock, almond milk and margarine and mix well.

Now add the parsley and salt and pepper to taste.

Add more stock if it is not creamy enough and just keep adding to your desired creaminess!

Love & health,
Lauren

 

Summer Berry Smoothie

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This is basically the same as the summer berry smoothie bowl but this is more of a smoothie than an ice cream. It is our go-to breakfast most mornings, for me and Braxton, I just spoon-feed it to him. When there are no berries we just use banana and the other ingredients and it’s a great way of getting daily superfoods into us.

The Autumn is about to start so trying to get as many berries in while I can!

Ingredients

250ml almond milk (or oat, rice or coconut milk)
1 banana
Handful strawberries
Handful blueberries
1 banana
Handful redcurrants or any other summer berries you have
2 dates
1 tbsp almond butter
1 tsp acai berry powder
1 tsp maca powder
1 tsp chia seeds
1 tsp flax seeds
1 tsp hemp powder
2 ice cubes

Method

Blend all ingredients in the blender and pour into a cup – literally easier than making toast!

Love & health,
Lauren

Mint Chocolate Energy Balls & Some Info On Essential Oils

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