Luxury Autumn Breakfast

I woke up yesterday morning in the mood for a warming bowl of porridge for breakfast, and with a slight craving for something more..something to give me a little boost but that was also still warming..the answer to my urge?...chocolate! 

Yep, chocolate for breakfast.

I then decided to treat myself and go for a lovingly full out luxury of a breakfast..and here's what I made...

Ingredients

30g porridge oats

1 cup of almond milk

1 ripe banana

3-4 dates, chopped

1 tbsp dessicated coconut

1 tbsp peanut putter (from home made batch..found here... http://www.wutherswebofcakes.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/homemade-peanut-butter.html )

1-2 squares of dark chocolate with ginger

sprinkle of sunflower seeds

and a nice drizzle of agave

(I also popped my bowl to warm in the oven for a while so the porridge stays nice and warm while you're enjoying it.)

Pop the porridge oats in a small pan, pour over the almond milk and bring to the boil, simmer gently then add the coconut, dates, peanut butter and banana, mixing well and slowly until all combined and warmed through. Transfer to a bowl and sprinkle with sunflowers seeds, then add one square of the dark chocolate so it melts lovingly into your warm porridge..it looks and smells amazing!..Then drizzle on some sweet agave and grate the other square of dark chocolate for topping.

This is an ultimately sensual breakfast that will tickle and excite your senses and get you awakened for a relaxed yet steady and productive day. I savoured every mouthful and couldn't stop smiling while I was eating this..health and luxury in a bowl.

Treat yourself..you deserve it..you are beautiful! x

Millie the mouse enjoyed it too..xx

Homemade Peanut butter

I have a (somewhat) healthy addiction to this amazing creation, and I go through tubs of it at home, so I thought I'd save myself some pennies and have a go at making my own..and I threw in a few tasty surprises too..

Ingredients

200g peanuts, skins on

1 cup raisins

1 tbsp honey/agave

1 tsp cinnamon

Pop the ingredients into a food processor and wizz em all up..it's as simple as that!

Making sure to wipe down the sides every couple of minutes to ensure all the mix is combined...and, because they're not roasted, all the nutrients are still intact..so you get all the goodness from these joyous little peanuts!..

You can use other types of nuts too, almond nut butter is another favourite and also hazelnut butter..quite excited to try these ones out next time :)

Angel Cakes

I really love experimenting with raw food cake recipes, and here is another one of them..fruity and nutty Angel Cakes - tiny little treats filled with sparkly nutrients to sustain your body and your mouth with cuddly and juicy love, and although they may be tiny..don't let that deceive you, these loving little ladies will stay with you and keep your mind and body fuzzing with calm and bubbly energy the whole day through, even after just one..or maybe two!

Ingredients

Crust

1 cup walnuts

2/3 cup pitted dates

Pop both ingredients in a blender and blend until all combined. Then spoon the mix into the bottom of your preferred pan, I used mini silicone muffins - great for making raw or baked treats..and they're really cute!

Filling

2 cups dried and ready to eat prunes

1 cup cashews

1/2 cup maple syrup

2 tbsp lemon juice

3 tbsp melted coconut oil

3-4 drops of edible lavender essence

Combine all the ingredients (except the coconut oil) in a blender, and blend until all combined.

Then add the melted coconut oil and blend again.

The mix will be quite sticky..

Spoon the mixture on top of the walnut and date crust, and top with sesame seeds...or whatever decoration you fancy.

And they taste just as gorgeous as they look! A delicious and guilt-free treat to enjoy any time of the day :)

Angel love

x

Three Bears Bread and Goldilocks' Biscuits

I was inspired to make these little fellows for our New Roots 25th Birthday party, and thought that bread and biscuits would be a nice balance to bring..something savoury and something sweet, and it turned out that the savoury - the bread - had a little bit of sweet in it, and the sweet - the biscuits - had a little bit of savoury in them..yin a yang..good balance, ja?

So, here's the bread recipe, unfortunately I forgot to get a picture of the fresh out of the oven loaf, as I was in a bit of a mad rush to get there on time, but it came out rather quite well, and ended up being a lovely compliment to the soup that was made at the party..(which was a warm and hearty lentil and veg creation) and people liked it too..yay!

And the name, Three Bears Bread, represents the three different flours (and it fits nicely well with the name of the last recipe! ;)  )

Ingredients

1 cup chesnut flour

1 cup brown rice flour

1 cup gluten free flour mix

2tsp dried yeast

1 tsp salt

1 tsp fruit sugar

1 tbsp cumin seeds

2 tsp ground coriander

50g chopped dates

2 tbsp olive oil

200ml hand-hot water

2tbsp linseeds covered in warm water in a small bowl and left to set for 20mins (this makes an egg like texture and is a great binding buddy for breads and cakes)

In a large bowl, mix together the flours, yeast, salt, sugar, spices and dates.

Add the oil and water and mix to a stiff paste.

Turn into a greased loaf pan, cover loosely with cling film, or a tea towel and leave in a warm place for 45 minutes. Then remove cling film and bake in oven for 20-25 minutes at 200oC until firm.

The loaf may not rise much, as gluten-free breads are quite tricky to rise, at least mine are anyway! But it still comes out rather tasty.

The sweetness of the dates together with the cumin and coriander spices was just loverly!

And it was quite a light bread too, not too heavy on ye tum..but just right..and seemed to leave me feeling rather nice and floaty and comfortably contented..ahhhh.

And here's the biscuit recipe..I was inspired by this chewy molasses cookies recipe, found here...http://www.thesweetlifeonline.com/2012/10/08/chewy-molasses-cookies/ a great vegan recipe blog..I just tweaked the recipe a little...

Ingredients

1 cup brown rice flour

1 cup coconut flour

1/2 cup tapioca flour

1 tsp xantham gum

3/4 tsp baking powder

1 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp cinammon

6 tbsp margarine

1/2 cup fruit sugar

2 tbsp malt syrup

handful of walnuts, for topping

and a little jam of your choice, also for topping, I use pear and apple

In a small pan, slowy heat the malt syrup until melted. In a large bowl, mix together flours, baking powder and spices. In a separate bowl, beat together the margarine and fruit sugar until light and fluffy. Add molasses and mix to combine, and in several batched add the dry ingredients until a dough begins to form, adding a little soya milk if mix is too dry, and being careful not to over mix.

Pinch of about 1 tbsp of dough and roll into balls and place two inches apart on a baking sheet. Bake for 10-13 minutes, then remove from oven and leave to cool for 5 minutes. Then top with jam and nuts..or you can use whatever your creative mood is fancying! :)

These came out nice and chewy and tasty, a little bit like a scone and had that nice sweet/savoury vibe, more sweet than savoury, not overly sweet..but just right..I think Goldilocks would like em..I shall name these biscuits..Goldilocks biscuits..because they're just right :)

xx

Spicy Parkin

Yes, spicy parkin.

I love making parkin at this time of year, but I'm still trying to master making a famously sticky parkin, I'm not quite there yet, but this one I made was a delicious delight. Nice and spicy..it'll warm the cockles of ye heart! 

Ingredients

3 cups oatmeal

1 cup spelt flour

chunk of fresh ginger - peeled and cubed

150g chilli chocolate - chopped into small squares, (or chunky chunks if you prefer)

1 cup muscavado sugar 

6 tbsp margarine 

3 tbsp agave syrup

1 tbsp ground flax seed

1 cup of a brewed tea of your choice (I used a homemade blend of my own, which can be found here..http://www.wutherswebofcakes.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/tea-time.html )

In a large bowl mix together oatmeal, flour, and flax seed, add the chopped fresh ginger and set aside.

In a small pan, melt the margarine and muscavado on a low heat, then stir in the tea to warm and bring out the flavours. Add this to the flour mix and stir until all combined.

Then stir in the chilli chocolate.

Transfer the mix into a baking tray and pop in the oven for 25-30 minutes at 180oC

Whilst this spicy concoction was chilli-ing away, I admired the little fairy creation I'd made just a few days ago..we named her..the vodka fairy..

...she stands as a reminder for me to never ever drink vodka again, as when I do, I don't feel well the next morning and her creation is a reflection of my inner self when feeling vodka ill..bedraggled and untidy and not myself. No more vodka for me.

Flowers made me feel better though..

...and also acorns..and chocolate..:)

And I felt even more revived after trying the parkin.

I left it to cool over night before trying it as the flavours did their magic and came alive whilst I slept!

And yum yum yum, did they taste magic..:)

The chunks of fresh ginger together with the little chunks of delight of the chilli chocolate was just magical..and gave a magical buzz in the late afty with a cosy brew.

Winnie the Pooh thought so too :)

xx

P.s - Would love some advice on how to make a sticky parkin too, if anyone has any good tips/advice I'd muchly appreciate it. 

Happy baking!

X

Magic Squash

Magic in the way that one whole squash created two beautiful meals, a warm nurturing soup and soft and crispy and satisfying roasted with some super swede. Along with a little help from myself, and also the handy hints from the squashes natural roots..check out the little mystical fellow here..reminds me of a wondrous witchy woman on her broom..or a cheeky little grasshopper..spreading their vibes of love and joy!..:)

So with the help of my magical friend, I got set to work with our first creation..roasted veggys.

I halved the squashed (sorry little dude, but thy time has come, you're now ripe and ready to be devoured!) and scooped out the seeds, then halved again (carnage) and sliced into small slices and places on a baking tray (bye bye! x) I then remembered two huge chunks of swede I was given earlier that day from my lovely friend at New Roots (a beautiful volunteer run whole foods shop where I work one day a week) so I decided to chop one of them up and roast in with the squash..

I was going to throw in a couple of carrots too, but decided to save them for the soup.

I roasted the veg with some garlic and topped with olive oil and smoked paprika and sprinkled with some cumin seeds..

yum!

Then, we got set to work on the soup. And I have to say I was soooo pleased with how this turned out, soups aren't usually my staple dish, but this was, as my Nan would say..bloody gorgeous!

Ingredients

half a squash

half a swede

2 carrots

2 cloves garlic

2-3 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp cumin seeds

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp ginger

1 tsp mango powder

sprinkle of dried coriander (I would have preferred fresh, but didn't have any to hand)

some fresh and ground turmeric

2 tbsp block coconut (the one you can get in a bar that looks like soap..I love snacking on this too!)

1 tsp smoked paprika

1 tbsp vegetable stock

2-3 pints of water

Fry the garlic and cumin seeds in the olive oil for a few minutes, pop in the veg and add the spices and fry for 5 to 10 minutes, this enhances all the lovely flavours. Then stir the vegetable stock with water and pour over the veg, stir, and bring to the boil, then let simmer for around twenty minutes until the veg has just started to tender (I like to keep my veg quite fresh and not over cook it).

With a hand blender, if you have one, blend up the soup for a few minutes, (I also like to keep some chunks of veg in the soup too..think it gives a nice texture with the smoothness, and I think it's a nice surprise when your eating it to find a chunky cube of swede or squash or carrot).

Then add the block coconut which will easily melt in with the soup and will give it a lovely creaminess.

Take off the heat and let the soup sit in the pan with the lid on for 10-15 minutes - to let the beautiful flavours mingle. Then serve and enjoy!

Autumn magic in a bowl :)

Flowers and Figs

I decided to satisfy my chocolate craving over the weekend by making a batch of raw chocolates (which came in handy for powering me up for some late night dancing, and I gave a handful to a lovely friend for her birthday too..the recipe can be found here.. http://www.wutherswebofcakes.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/raw-chocolates.html ) and having a go at a new recipe I found over the internet..Gluten free Chocolate Brownies.

I like the sound of gluten free and I like the sound of chocolate..so I gave it a go!

Below is the recipe I found, and I added some figs to the recipe to see what would happen..as they're in season...and they needed using too..

Ingredients

1 cup spelt/brown rice/gluten free/coconut flours (a mix of all three)

1 tsp salt

1/2 cup fruit sugar

3/4 cup cocoa powder

1 tsp vanilla essence (or 2 vanilla bean pods if you have any)

3/4 cup sunflower oil (or coconut oil, or soya marg - melted)

4tbsp ground flax seed

1/8 cup cold water

3 ripe figs, chopped

..dancing fig lady summons the three little figs in preparation for the chocolatey creation!

Method

Sift all dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl.

In a small pan, melt the marg (or coconut oil if using), and stir in the figs until softened, then mash to a pulp and mix well.

Add this mix to the dry ingredients and stir..making sure no lumps.

Pour into your preferred baking dish and bake for 30-35mins at 180oC.

..from pan..to oven, to tin...

..to figs in a cake and flowers!

Brings a beautiful smile to a beautiful weekend.

The rest of the afternoon I spent making a birthday card for my lovely pal, then spending some creative time in my studio.

Whilst also pondering what my next seasonal foody concoction will be..hmmmm...pumpkin pie...parkin...hot chocolate with roasted nutmeg?...

..it's all too exciting!

I love Autumn :)

X