Tag: Recipe

Tiger Nut Chia Breakfast Bowl with Apricots & Raspberries

Ani of The Tiger Nut Company set me a challenge with her announcement on Instagram that I would be publishing new recipes on my Tiger Nut Page every day this week, which was a little daunting to say the least. In fact I had intended posting a couple of new recipes and reposting old ones! So I had to work fast, this and the following  posts are the results of my efforts…

In my first post, I did a review of their new Naked Organic Peeled Tiger Nuts and made Horchata with them (see here). The next morning, I decided to use some of the resulting tiger nut milk in my breakfast bowl and came up with this summer fruit combo that is not only rich in protein, fibre, essential fatty acids, B vitamins, Vitamins A and C, and minerals, but will satisfy your taste bids and your tummy too!

I promise there are no hidden veggies in this one!

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Tiger Nut Milk made from Naked Organic Peeled Tiger Nuts and stored in my funky Grip and Go glass bottle.

It’s a good idea while the summer fruits are in season to pop some in the freezer for later on when they are no longer available. I have used frozen apricot slices for this (I did let them defrost before I ate it!)

For a change, I used buckwheat flakes instead of oats. Despite their name, they are gluten-free and have a nice texture too. They are high in protein, dietary fibre, antioxidants and have cholesterol-lowering properties too. They aren’t from grain but a seed that is related to rhubarb.

This can be prepared the night before or put them to soak while you have your shower in the morning.

All ingredients were organic, vegan and gluten-free.

Ingredients

1 Cup Buckwheat Flakes

1 Tbsp Chia Seeds*

1 Tbsp Golden Linseeds

Soak all these in

1 1/2 Cups chilled Tiger Nut Milk (recipe here)

for at least an hour or overnight in the fridge

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When they have absorbed the milk, add a litle more if needed.

Decorate with fresh Apricot slices and Raspberries

Top with plain CoYo Coconut Yogurt and a Blueberry (or two)

*

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This is such a healthy and satisfying breakfast, it will keep you going all morning and if you prepare it the night before it will take no time to finish it off next morning.

*http://www.therawchocolatecompany.com/

Copyright: Chris McGowan

Review: Taste-Testing The New Naked Organic Tiger Nuts from The Tiger Nut Company

I love Tiger Nut Milk or Horchata. It is sweet and creamy and full of nutrients: Tiger Nuts (tubers really, not nuts) contain protein, fibre, potassium, magnesium, calcium, iron, multiple vitamins and oleic acid, they’re also a prebiotic which makes for a healthy gut environment in which probiotics can grow (see here for recipe).

We usually make Horchata with unpeeled Organic Tiger Nuts from The Tiger Nut Company* and use the resulting pulp residue to make raw cookies or energy balls, but the pulp can be a bit coarse from the skins. So I was delighted when Ani recently announced their new product: Naked (ie peeled) Organic Tiger Nuts!

I couldn’t wait to try them and to see if they would make as good quality milk as the original Organic Unpeeled and also it would be interesting to see if the pulp was any finer or more versatile.

I used the same recipe for both milks, omitting the vanilla extract I usually add, because I wanted to taste them raw.

Here is the result:

On the left is the original unpeeled milk, on the right the new Naked milk. (Stored in my glass Grip and Go bottles).

Firstly, I noticed that the Naked made roughly 100mls less milk than the unpeeled – about 600mls compared with about 700mls – hardly anything (although it looks in the photos as if it’s the other way round, there was some left over that I put into small jars).

Second, the pulp from the Naked was lighter and slightly finer.

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On the left is the unpeeled, on the right the Naked and for comparison the Chufa de Valencia Tiger Nut Flour.

The milk from the Naked was infinitesimally thinner, but only a regular drinker could notice the difference, and only by tasting one after the other and really thinking about it! My husband couldn’t tell. It was still sweet and creamy.

The pulp from the Naked was much better for baking, easy to use with a much finer texture. We made some Dipped Tiger Nut, Mango & Orange Fruit Treats, which I’ll post later in the week, they were smooth and not at all gritty.

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My son asked if there would be a loss of nutrients, which is a fair point, but the Naked still retain a little of their skin and if it it makes the difference between discarding the pulp because it is too coarse or using the finer Naked pulp, I’d say it balances out pretty well.

All in all, I am delighted with this new product and highly recommend it!  

Ps There are other Tiger Nut Recipes here

Home-2016

Copyright: Chris McGowan

Summer Lovin’ Fruit Smoothie!

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I LOVE summer fruits! They are here and gone all too soon. Normally I eat them as they are, all soft and ripe and oozing with juice,  or at most, chopped into a summer fruit salad with coconut yogurt and cinnamon. Today, however, I had an under-ripe nectarine, an over-ripe plum and a small galia melon that was on its way to becoming alcoholic!

Into the blender they went.

(This is a smoothie you can drink, no cutlery needed this time!)

*

Ingredients

(All organic, vegan and gluten-free)

Soak a heaped Tbsp of Buckwheat Flakes in the blender

with

1 Small Glass Chi Coconut Water – unsweetened –

while you get the other items ready.

1/2 Small Ripe Galia Melon, deseeded and flesh chopped

(Squeeze the juice from the skin into the blender – waste not, want not!)

1 Nectarine, pitted and chopped

1 Plum, pitted and chopped

Small handful of Cashew Nut Pieces

(Cashew nuts contain magnesium which helps you relax and lifts your mood)

Heaped Tbsp CoYo Plain Coconut Yogurt

Blend and serve.

You could try adding a pinch of Cinnamon or Ground Ginger, if liked.

Here’s some summer lovin’ with John Travolta & Olivia Neutron Bomb! (If you’re reading this via email, you need to click onto the blog to see the video).

Copyright: Chris McGowan

Vegan Gluten-Free Almond & Apricot Scones – oh yes!

imageI haven’t had home-baked scones – or any scones for that matter – for soooo long! Many moons ago, before I became vegan, gluten-free, juicer and raw foodie, they were my favourite comfort food. They were so quick and easy to make.

I haven’t had anything resembling baked goods in years. I haven’t missed them at all. I love my raw treats. But you know how sometimes, you’re sitting or lying, minding your own business and suddenly, wham! it hits you: you just have to have that little something (as Winnie the Pooh called it). That very specific something. Nothing else will do. For me, in the early hours of this morning when I couldn’t sleep, it was scones! So I spent the next hours musing over how I could devise a recipe that ticked all my boxes.

So here it is, my first baking recipe! Don’t get too comfy, I’m not morphing into Delia! It’s a one-off.*

This was our first attempt, and I have to say, given all the guesswork involved, I am really pleased with them. I tried to make them as healthy as possible, so they have protein, B vitamins, Vitamin A, Iron and so on. Enjoy as an occasional treat.

Ingredients

1 Tbsp Chia Seeds soaked in 3 Tbsps Water for 10-15 mins. Stir vigorously every so often (known as a chia egg).

80z Organic Cornflour (it’s yellow, you know!)

1 oz freshly ground Almonds

1 Tsp Gluten-free Baking Powder

2 oz Solid Raw Virgin Coconut Oil 

1 oz Coconut Palm Sugar

4 Sulphur-free Organic Dried Apricots (pre-soaked if very dry)

Pinch of Pink Himalayan Salt

1/2 Cup Almond Milk – preferably home-made, click this link for how to make your own

Method

imageSift the flour, baking powder, ground almonds and coconut palm sugar into a large bowl.

Add the salt and coconut oil.

Using fingertips, blend into flour mix until it resembles breadcrumbs.

Add chia egg and using a round bladed knife mix it into the flour mix.

Stir in dried apricots and add almond milk.

Using fingers, gather it together and knead. It should be quite soft and moist and combine into a ball.

imageGently roll it to out to just over an inch in depth. They won’t rise much so bear that in mind.

Using whatever shaped cutter you like, cut out about 7 or 8 scones. We used a medium size.

Place on baking parchment on a baking try – we didn’t have any and the scones got a little overdone on the underneath. Brush the tops with a little milk.

Place in the oven at 190C for a fan oven.

Cook for about 10 mins. but keep your eye on them. Ours were in a little too long, but they still tasted lovely.

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Cool on a rack.

Split and add whatever takes your fancy, mine had strawberry fruit spread and peanut butter (didn’t have any almond). I would have much preferred my Nannie’s home-made Almond and Apricot jam, which would have been perfect. She used to make huge batches of it, as well as damson and apple, and distribute it amongst her family, it would last us all year!

*Ok, I lied! Vegan, Gluten-Free Plum Crumble – Nice, But Not Too Naughty!

The Organic Chia Seeds and Organic Coconut Palm Sugar are from The Raw Chocolate Company

The Organic Cornflour and Organic Almonds are from  Buy Wholefoods Online UK

The Raw Virgin Coconut Oil is from Lucy Bee Coconut

Copyright: Chris McGowan

Vegan Gluten-Free Tiger Nut Bread Mark ll

imageAnyone who is gluten-free for whatever reason will know how difficult it is to find a commercial gluten-free loaf that doesn’t look and taste like cardboard and is, if you’re lucky, only ‘good’ for toasting. It lasts a day and then breaks up. It has no flavour other than of additives, and no texture – and if you look at the list of ingredients, you may as well be reading a chemistry experiment!

We have several family members who are gluten-free and have made many variations of gluten-free loaves over the years. We find the ones made in the breadmaker are best, but it’s a bit hit and miss. One day it will come out perfect, the next the paddle will refuse to come out and you have a big hole in the middle or the bottom inch of the loaf isn’t cooked properly.

So, I am ever on the hunt for new recipes to try. This is our latest attempt based on a recipe I found by Dan Lepard on BBC Food. The first one we made, we used all tiger nut flour* as we didn’t have cornflour and it gave a lovely brown colour and lots of texture, but I think there was too much liquid: it spread too much and was very crusty.

 

So this is our second attempt and we kept a little closer to the original, although we didn’t have enough cornflour or enough tiger nut flour for the whole loaf, so we included some organic chickpea flour and a smaller amount of tiger nut flour this time. (You might also want to check out Version III and  Mk IV – the best yet!). 

Chickpea flour – also known as garbanzo bean flour and besan flour – is high in protein and has lots of vitamins and minerals including calcium – as does Tiger Nut flour, which is naturally sweet and high in dietary fibre.

 We were very pleased with it. You can’t really make traditional large sandwiches – it doesn’t rise a lot – but I had open sandwiches with tahini, lettuce, spring onion and olives and they were very moreish!

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 We used plain coconut yogurt in place of dairy to make it vegan, and we also reduced the amount of liquid a little.

All measurements are approximate, you may need a couple of attempts to find the right combinations for you.

 Ingredients

25g – 50g (10z – 1 3/4 oz) Organic Golden Linseeds

450 mls (16 fl oz) Warm Water

2 1/2 Tsps Quick-acting Yeast

80 mls (3 fl oz) Plain Coconut Yogurt (or soya yogurt)

11 oz  (312g) Organic Cornflour/ Fine Maize Flour

4 oz (114 g) Organic Chickpea Flour

1 oz (30g) Tiger Nut Flour

1 Tsp Pink Himalayan Salt

1 1/2 Tsps Organic Coconut Palm Sugar

50g (1 3/4oz) Organic Psyllium Husk Powder

50 mls (1 3/4 Fl oz) Organic Raw Virgin Olive Oil

A little extra olive oil and flour

 Method

 Heat the oven to 180C/350F/gas 4

Warm the linseeds on a tray for about 10-12 minutes, until they darken slightly (the toasted seeds will release a sticky gluten-like substance when mixed with the wet ingredients, and they give the loaf a wheatgerm-like flavour).

Switch off the oven.

Mix together the water and yeast, then stir in the yogurt and seeds. Set aside.

Sift and mix together the flour, salt, sugar and psyllium husk powder  in a large bowl.

Pour in the yeast mixture and olive oil and mix well. Don’t worry if it looks like there’s too much liquid. It will turn into a sticky dough within a few minutes as the linseed, flour and psyllium husk powder become gel-like.

Once the mixture is firm enough, knead it for 10 seconds on the worktop to mix everything again, then place the dough back in the bowl, cover and leave in a warm but not hot place for 30 minutes.

Line a tray with non-stick baking paper.

Shape the dough into a ‘bloomer’ shape, ie long and thick, then brush with the extra olive oil, cover and leave it to rise for about 30 minutes.

Heat the oven to 240C/465F/Gas 9 (we have a fan oven and adjusted to 200C).

Make some diagonal cuts across the dough with a sharp knife, sprinkle with a little cornflour and bake for about 40 minutes, or until rich golden-brown in colour.

Cool on a wire rack before slicing.

*

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Serving suggestions: Peanut butter and banana

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Sliced avocado sprinkled with lemon juice and black pepper on bread with rocket, watercress and cucumber salad.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/gluten-free_olive_oil_42050

*The Tiger Nut Company

Copyright: Chris McGowan

Easy-Peasy Vegan Cheesy Cashew Sauce or Dip

imageThere are times as an ex-cheese addict when you just have to have something vaguely resembling a cheese sauce or dip, with pasta or crudités or sweet potato chips for instance. Here is a simple basic recipe that you can adapt with your own flavours, making it more spicy if you like eg with chilli flakes, cayenne, garlic and so on. You can make it as thick or as thin as you want, depending whether you prefer a pouring sauce or a thicker dip.

Cashew nuts are an excellent source of magnesium – a mineral in which most people are deficient, see my post Magnesium: Are You Getting Enough? – protein and B vitamins. Nutritional Yeast is a good vegan source of protein with B vitamins and can be used to give a cheesy flavour to sauces, soups, pasta and so on. Some brands have B12 added, it’s a useful vegan source of this important vitamin (see B12: What Is It & Do We Need To Supplement It?). I use Marigold Foods’ Engevita with added B12.

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All ingredients are organic, measurements approximate.

Ingredients

1 1/2 Cups Cashew Pieces, soaked for a couple of hours more or less, then strained

3 Tbsps Nutritional Yeast

1/4 to 1/2 Cup of Water

A Squeeze of Lemon Juice, more or less according to taste

Slice of Raw Onion, chopped or a couple of Spring Onions, sliced

1/4 Tsp English Mustard

Pink Himalayan Salt and Ground Black Pepper to taste

Paprika or Cayenne Pepper

Method

Blend cashews, nutritional yeast, mustard, water, lemon juice until smooth

Add onion, salt and pepper, blend again either until smooth or with a bit of texture if you prefer

Sprinkle with Paprika, Chilli Powder or Cayenne Pepper

Good with Sweet Potato chips (fries), veggie burger and salad in place of mayo!

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Copyright: Chris McGowan

Warm Apricot & Ginger Rice Salad with Tamari-Splashed Garlic Mushrooms

imageThis was born on a very chilly, wet and windy July day a few days after I had finished a 7 day juice challenge. I had been having salads since, and this was my first fully cooked meal. I wanted something light but warming – it didn’t feel at all like summer – but we had a lot of summer vegetables and fruit so we decided to combine a little of both with some filling and nourishing basmati rice and served with large chestnut mushrooms lightly stir-fried with crushed garlic and tamari.

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Once the rice has been soaked for an hour, the preparation and cooking only takes about half an hour from start to finish.

All ingredients are organic and measurements are as always approximate.

Have a warm dish and a warm plate ready to serve.

Ingredients

1 Cup Basmati Rice, soaked for an hour, rinsed and drained. Cook as normal.

While rice is cooking, prepare:

1-2 or 3 thin slices of Ginger – depending how spicy you want it -chopped finely

1-3 Spring Onions, depending how big or small they are, sliced

5-6 Sugar Snap Peas or Mangetout, sliced

2″ of Courgette/Zucchini, chopped

Floret of Broccoli, thinly sliced

3″ of Carrot, shaved

1/2 Cup Sweetcorn

A few Small Broad Beans

3 Large Chestnut Mushrooms with Stalks separated per person, whole

1 Large Garlic Clove

2 Tsps Coconut Oil

Tamari

Black Pepper

Lightly toasted Pine Nuts

1 Fresh Apricot, sliced

A few Sprouted Mung Beans (optional)

Method

Just before rice is cooked:

Heat 1 Tsp oil each in 2 frying pans

In one, lightly stir-fry all the ingredients on the list up to the mushrooms.

In the other, stir-fry the whole mushrooms and stalks with a crushed clove of garlic and a couple of splashes of Tamari.

Keep everything slightly undercooked with a bite to it.

Place cooked ice in a hot dish and fluff it up with a fork to release the steam. Add some black pepper.

Lightly mix in the stir-fried vegetables, top with, mung bean sprouts, sliced apricot and toasted pine nuts. Place the garlic mushrooms on a hot plate

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The mushrooms have a salty, meaty texture giving you something satisfying to chew.

Copyright: Chris McGowan

Cauliflower Oats (Don’t Laugh, It’s a Thing!)

imageNo really.

I know, you thought courgette (zucchini) oats and beetroot oats were pushing it, but Rachel at Healthy and Psyched raised the bar considerably: she challenged me to try cauliflower oats and I am pleased to say I not only rose to that challenge, I reached the bar and leapt over it!

I know it’s weird, but if you change your perspective a little and see oats in the same way as, say, rice which you have either savoury (risotto) or sweet (rice pudding), or even a mixture of both – we put raisins or dried apricots in some rice meals – then it’s not quite so odd.

Not convinced?

Look at the photo, it’s sweet and fruity and has peanut butter too – I love cauliflower with peanut butter (we put it in a casserole with cauliflower and cashews) – and peanut butter goes well with banana too.

You can use whatever berries you want, Rachel used blueberries, I thought raspberries would go well but there was half a pomegranate to use up, so in it went. You could add cacao, if liked.

Cauliflower is a good source of B Vitamins, Magnesium, Vitamin K, Vitamin C; peanut butter and oats also have B Vitamins and protein and more magnesium in the oats – necessary for healthy muscles, preventing cramps, keeping you calm – and the nut milks are equally nutritious as well as sweet and creamy. Pomegranate is a nutritional superfood, with plenty of phytochemicals that help reduce blood pressure. The whole bowl is filled with dietary fibre.

Here goes for the  first attempt: All ingredients are organic (except pomegranate), vegan and gluten-free.

Ingredients

1/2 Cup Oats

3/4 Cup Boiling Water

1/4 Small Cauliflower, grated

1/2 large Banana

1 Medjool Date, chopped

1/2 Cup Tiger Nut Milk or Almond Milk (click links to make your own)

1/4 Pomegranate or Berries

1 Tbsp Peanut Butter

A few Slices of Banana to Serve

Method

Soak the oats in the boiling water in a saucepan for a few minutes while you prepare the cauli and get everything else ready.

Add the grated cauli, the banana, the chopped date and the milk

This bit is important:

Cook for about 15 minutes, stirring frequently, to ensure the cauli is cooked.

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(If you’d like it extra smooth, you could blend it with a stick blender)

Pour into a bowl either on top of frozen berries of your choice, or just add fresh berries, peanut butter and slices of banana for the topping in whatever fashion your creative juices dictate.

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It really works! Go on, who’s going to be first to give it a go? If it makes it easier, adding the cauliflower gives you 1 of your 5 a day veg and it is soooo filling – this bowl filled me up until mid-afternoon. It’s far more than I would normally eat that early in the day.

I said to my husband that there was enough for two, but he didn’t take me up on it, he suddenly remembered he had a bike to fix!

Copyright: Chris McGowan

Leslie Kenton’s Sandstone Loaf

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I first had this in the summer of 1986 when my friend and I discovered ‘Raw Energy’, the book and the philosophy. It was a beautifully sunny summer (remember them?) and we spent many days eating our raw creations in her garden – with the occasional glass of white! I think this may well have been the first thing I made with my faithful Braun Multipractic Food Processor, bought that summer and still going strong.

*

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I altered the amounts and some of the ingredients each time I had it, but this one is relatively faithful to the recipe, although I prefer more seeds to give it a bit more of a bite and we used coriander instead of parsley. Leslie often used to use vegetable bouillon powder in her raw savoury recipes, we didn’t have any so we improvised and used some dried King Soba instant organic miso soup! You could also use nutritional yeast.

You can make it as smooth or as coarse as you like, depending whether you would prefer it as a pâté or spread, or more like nut roast to have with salad.

(You could use almond butter instead of tahini for a slightly different flavour, but it would need to be fairly runny).

As always, the measurements are very approximate, you can never stipulate the size of a carrot for instance! So, go with what looks right and taste as you go along.

All ingredients are organic.

The recipe is Raw, Vegan and Gluten-Free.

Makes enough for 4 or 5 for a light lunch. Will keep about 3 days in the fridge and can be kept in the freezer too.

Ingredients

2 Chunky Medium Carrots, roughly chopped

1 + a half Celery Stalks (with leaves if they have any), roughly chopped

1/4 Cup Almonds + a few extra for serving*

1/4 Cup Pumpkin Seeds*

1/4 Cup Sunflower seeds*

1/4 Cup Mixed Sunflower + Sesame seeds*

Large Tbsp Tahini

1 Small Onion, finely chopped or a few Spring Onions

Handful of fresh Parsley or Coriander or herb of your choice

1 level Tbsp Organic Miso Soup powder or Nutritional Yeast or 2 Tsp Vegetable Bouillon Powder or 1 Tsp Chilli Flakes

2 Tbsps Grated Beetroot

Method

Process the carrots and celery until well homogenised. Set aside in a mixing bowl.

Finely grind the almonds, pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds. Add to carrot mixture.

Coarsely grind the mixed sesame and sunflower seeds and add to mix with tahini, onion, fresh herbs, powder and beetroot.

Stir well, add seasoning to taste.

Spread in a square dish, press and smooth it down if you want a pâté or loosely roughen the mix if you want some texture.

Garnish with fresh herbs and almonds or toasted seeds.

Refrigerate until you’re ready to use.

I had it on a bed of mixed rocket salad with thinly-sliced cucumber and tahini/lemon juice/water dressing.

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*https://www.buywholefoodsonline.co.uk/

Copyright: Chris McGowan

vegan pancakes [2] — boingghealth™

Pancakes are big in our family – the teenagers and toddlers alike love them – and here’s a great recipe from BoinggHealth:

“A few weeks ago we posted a vegan pancake recipe. I’ve been playing around a bit and created this recipe below, which went down very well with the whole family: 1 cup flour (I use spelt or buckwheat) 1 tsp baking powder 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda 1 tbsp chia 3 tbsp water 1 cup […]

via vegan pancakes [2] — boingghealth™