Vegan Lemon Crunch Bars

Ermmmm. Let’s just take a moment to bask in the glory of these lemon coconut crunch bars. 😍 heaven. And raw too 👊

These are right up my street. I make all sorts for Mr. Tonic and the boys but I rarely eat any because even without any sugar, I just find things like that too sweet these days.

But these…oohhh THESE 😋

Lemony, crunchy, a little sweet but salty too. I made them into bars and saved some to have as raw granola. You could also use this as raw crumble topping over some fresh raspberries.

150g soft dates (I use Whitworths. Most supermarkets stock them in the baking aisle already bagged)
1 handful walnuts
1 cup desiccated coconut
2 or 3 tsp lemon essence
Pinch sea salt

Blend everything together. Next add:

1 handful organic no added sugar banana chips
2 handfuls trail mix
Half cup coconut oil (or more if needed)

Pulse everything roughly together. Press very firmly into a lined tin and refrigerate for an hour. Turn out and slice up. You could roll them into bliss balls – they may hold together better in balls rather than slices if your mix is quite chunky. Alternatively keep in a jar or tupperware if you want to use it as granola.

You’re welcome! 😘

Raspberry Bakewell Choc Chunk Muffins

 

Were raspberry bakewell choc chunk muffins a good idea? Sshhyeah? Obviously! I used a doughnut tin for these as i couldn’t find my muffin cups but really this mix will go in anything.
2 cups gluten free flour
2 cups spelt flour (yes you can use all gluten free if you want)
2 tsp almond essence
3 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp coconut sugar (or use agave or similar)
150g pure dark chocolate chunks
1 cup raspberries
2 tsp baking powder
2 cups liquid (i used almond milk and water. Add more if needed)

Mix everything together. Spoon into your cups or trays. Bake at 200 degrees C for 20 minutes.

How about these for lazy Sunday munchies? If you make ’em remember I want to see the pics

Here, have some treats. With love from me to you x

So I’ve been away visiting family in Teesside and beavering away writing e-courses so I haven’t had time to make any treats for a while. So, I thought I’d share a few of my favourites from the archive so you have some healthiness to try over the weekend . Don’t forget to share if you like it! 

1. Healthy Snickers!
Nougat: 1 cup raw flour. (I used ground almonds but next time I’ll add a little oat flour too). 1/2 cup soaked cashews, 1 tbsp agave, 1 tsp vanilla essence.

Caramel: 10 medjool dates, 1 tbsp peanut butter, 1/4 tsp salt. A little warm water. Stir in 1 tbsp chopped nuts after blending.

Chocolate: make your own raw chocolate or melted pure dark chocolate will be fine.

Method:
Blend nougat ingredients, mould into shapes then freeze for 30 mins

Blend caramel adding water a little at a time. It should be really thick so it doesn’t slide off when you spread it on the nougat.

Spread on nougat then freeze for another 20 mins or until pretty hard.

Cover in melted chocolate and refrigerate for 10 mins. Keep in the freezer. They’ll only take 20 mins to defrost when you want one wink emoticon

2. The Fatty. An awesome creamy green smoothie:

3 bananas
1 handful kale
1 handful spinach
1 tbsp ground flax
2 kiwis
Water
Top with 2 tbsp coconut cream

3. Peanut Butter Crunch Ice Cream:

Peanut butter chocolate crunch ice cream over maple overnight oats.
I made this for my hubby to refuel after his morning bike race.

Oats soaked in almond milk and maple syrup overnight
Nana-icecream – 2 ripe frozen bananas blended with 2 tbsp crunchy organic peanut butter and a little almond milk.
Scoop over the oats and put back in the freezer for 10 minutes while you’re melting the chocolate. I used pure dark organic. (I could have made it with coconut oil and raw cacao but I ran out)
Drizzle over your cold ice cream and top with peanuts.
The chocolate will cool and crisp up nicely.

Vegan Chocolate Chunk Cookies. Effing gorgeous.

Sunday baking. Egg free, gluten free and dairy free “little bit of everything” chocolate chunk cookies.

These are super low sugar, probably only 3g per decent cookie. A regular store bought cookie will be at least 10g.

Really easy, chuck it in and blitz it. I never measure anything but I’ve given you approximate amounts.

4 tbsp trail mix
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp almond essence
2 tbsp coconut
2 tbsp chopped brazils
150g dark chocolate (real 80% stuff so it’s got barely any sugar)
2 ripe bananas
3 cups oats
1 cup gf flour
2 tbsp maple syrup
Splash soy milk
1 tsp baking powder

Whizz roughly together. Spoon into biscuit shapes and bake at 200 degrees C for 20 mins approx or until golden. Dee-lish-ious

Government RDAs? LALALALA not listening!!

Banana, tangerine, blueberry and spinach. Hydration and a tonne of important vitamins and minerals to start the day.

According to government guidelines, this smoothie smashes my RDA of vitamin C and A.

But IGNORE that. You want to be getting your vitamin levels way above 500% if you can. Sure, you’ll “get by” – just – by listening to the “official” recommendations on vitamin intake. But if you want healing and a high level of health you’ll take what those guys say with a pinch of pink rock salt and up those plant based foods 4 or 5 fold. 

Cram in more veggies with your lunch and more with your dinner and you’ll be on track for super immunity, strong bones, cancer protection, higher energy, better weight management, mental clarity, better bone density, lower inflammation and just general coolness 

Gluten Free Doughnuts….shimmy!

#‎vegan‬ ‪#‎glutenfree‬ doughnuts. Great for those on a dairy free diet – either because of intolerance, health reasons or lifestyle choice. Ooooh. Yyeesss. It’s the weekend! Usually the time when our good healthful intentions go out of the window. I’m not saying don’t indulge, by all means enjoy a little naughtiness now and again. But just because it’s the weekend doesn’t mean you have to. Why not try a healthy alternative instead. Nope, i haven’t come up with a healthy sprinkles recipe, found these at the back of the cupboard – the kids thought it was Christmas haha xx

Recipe:

3 cups gluten free flour
2 tsp baking powder
Pinch salt
1 good tsp cinnamon
2 tbsp dairyfree spread
2 good tsp mixed spice
2 tsp vanilla paste
2 tbsp coconut palm sugar
2 cups almond milk (or any plant based milk)
Water

Mix all the dry ingredients together well. Add the wet ingredients, adding more water until you have a thick batter.

Spoon into a doughnut tray and bake at 200 for 17 minutes or until risen and golden.

Chocolate glaze:

5 tbsp coconut oil (solid)
2 tbsp raw cacao
2 tbsp agave or maple syrup or similar
Melt everything together in a pan. Transfer to a cold bowl and allow to cool and thicken.

hold your doughnut over the bowl and spoon over the mixture.

Transfer to the fridge. If your glaze was too thin when you coated your doughnuts you can always double glaze. I sprinkled over some extra coconut sugar too.

If you don’t have a doughnut tin you could make them into whole ones and just bake on a tray – you could even put some smooshed up berries inside for jam.

Oh and thank you Angela Milne for inspiring me to get a doughnut tin. Good call!

Split Pea Soup & Gluten Free Nut Loaf

This was a lovely green split pea and lentil soup served with a loaf of gluten free walnut and seed bread (not all for me, made a batch for the whole family).

Gorgeous winter warmer (I live in Aberdeen so yes, it’s still like winter here!)

The soup was really easy – you can buy your legumes so you don’t need to soak them these day. Great if you’re lazy like me!

2 cups green split peas, 2 cups red lentils, 2 veggie stock cubes, 2 tsp garlic powder, 1 tbsp coconut oil, 1 tsp good quality mixed curry spices. I love Mumbai Spice Harry’s blend. Divine!

Boil up the green split peas, when they’re half way cooked add in your red lentils, the garlic and the stock cubes. Drain any excess water and blend half in a food processor until smooth. Add back to the pan and stir in your curry spices and oil.

Bread:

300g gluten free flour
150g oat flour (whizzed up oats)
100g nut flour (or keep them chunky)
3 tbsp ground seed mix – I use Linwoods
1 sachet yeast
2 tsp salt
3 tbsp oil
1 tbsp xanthan gum (optional, gluten free aisle of any supermarket)
300ml warm water (you may need more)

Mix dry ingredients then add the wet. Bring together with your hands and form a dough. Transfer to a lined tin and bake at 210 for 40 minutes

Jammy Goodness – the healthy way

These are ‪#‎dairyfree‬ ‪#‎glutenfree‬ ‪#‎vegan‬ jammy muffins. Big hit with the kids…and the hubby 

3 cups gluten free flour.
1 cup ground seed mix (mine is Linwoods flax, sunflower, pumpkin and goji)
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp vanilla paste
3 tbsp maple syrup
1 cup organic soy yogurt
2 tsp xanthan gum powder (optonal)
1/2 cup defrosted berries, blended
2 cups almond milk
1 cup desiccated coconut 

Mix everything except the berries together. You may need to add more water or milk so you have a muffin batter.

Spoon into muffin cups. Make a hole in each muffin, spoon in the blended berries and cover over so you have a jammy surprise inside.

Bake at 200 degrees C for 35 minutes.

Cool on a rack before eating.

Polenta Fingers – Crunchy Goodness

Crunchy curried polenta fingers. Crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside. With a gorgeous tomato powder and chilli tofu mayo.

800ml water – bring to the boil
150g polenta
3 tbsp good quality curry powder (I used my awesome Proper Curreh from Mumbai Spice Harry​
Pinch salt
1 tsp garlic powder

Add the polenta to the water and keep whisking to keep out clumps. Add in the other ingredients. Keep whisking for a few minutes. Once well combined and you have a thick mixture, turn out onto a marble slab or large cold plate. Spread out to about 2cm thick. Allow to cool completely.
Once cool, cut into fingers and fry in coconut oil on all sides until golden and crispy. Cool then serve.

Polenta, or maize/cornmeal, dates back to the 1700s. It was considered to be peasant food as it was so cheap and plentiful – real grub!

Corn today is usually genetically modified so it’s best to try and get a brand of polenta that is organic. I use Biona and I buy it off Amazon.

Corn is great for supporting the growth of friendly bacteria in the large intestine. Transforming into short chain fatty acids which supply intestinal cells with energy. This process is important for lowering the risk of colon cancer.

Polenta is a low carbohydrate option. It’s high in vitamin C and vitamin A. It’s also a good source of caroteinoids.

The body can turn some caretenoids into vitamin A which are pretty powerful antioxidants. They can help prevent chronic disease and are great for enhancing immune response to infection.

You can get pre packed polenta instead of having to cook, cool and slice it yourself. Simply slice it and grill, bake or fry it. Obviously you can’t add in your own flavours but it’s tasty and works just as well.

Cashew Cream Cheese

You know what i love? Cream cheese. You know what i don’t love? Dairy, animal cruelty, factory farming, additions like pain medications, antibiotics, anti-fungals and hormones. I also don’t like disease and inflammation.

But, that’s just me. I deal with a lot of clients who can’t tolerate dairy because of food intolerance or IBS. So, whatever your reasons, there’s always an alternative.

I make my cheese out of cashews. Why wouldn’t you opt for plantbased goodness?

This is herb and chilli cream cheese. Took about 10 minutes to make using soaked cashews. Easy and healthy.

300g cashews soaked for 2 hours in water
1 tbsp dried mixed herbs
Pinch of rock salt
1 tsp garlic powder
1 finger chilli (or to taste)
3 tbsp hemp oil

Put everything in a food processor and blend. Blend blend blend. Scrape down the sides and get blending some more until its super smooth and creamy. That’s it!