Tag: Vegetarian

Zoats: Mark 2 (I like this one better!)

imageWell, only one person had any enthusiasm for the original savoury porridge or Zoats (zucchini or courgette oats), so here is my second try and I liked this much better. I left out the cacao and made it with tiger nut milk which is sweet and creamy (recipe here), but you can use nut milk or soy or rice milk – though the latter will give you a thinner porridge and doesn’t have the same nutritional value. I also used raisins instead of dates to sweeten it, which is what I would normally put in straightforward, everyday porridge.

Courgettes contain heart-healthy potassium, folate (necessary for cell-division), anti-oxidants, B vitamins, iron and zinc.

Have a go, it won’t do you any harm and it might very well do you some good!

Vegan and Gluten-Free if you use gluten-free oats.

Ingredients

1/2 Cup Oats

1/2 Cup Tiger Nut Milk or Horchata

1/4 Cup Water

1/2 Courgette/Zucchini, grated

1/4 Cup Raisins

1 Dsp Shelled Hemp Seeds*

1 Dsp Lucuma Powder* (mild, malted flavour)

1 Tsp Wheatgrass Powder (for extra nutrients – optional)

Goji Berries* and Raw Chocolate Mulberry Chips* to serve.

….

Method

As before, add oats, milk, water and courgette to pan and warm imagethrough until it starts to cook, stirring well. Cook for about 5 minutes.

Add raisins and cook for another couple of minutes.

Add hemp seeds, lucuma powder and wheatgrass powder, of used. Mix well.

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Transfer to a bowl and add goji berries and raw chocolate mulberry chips, and a little more milk of desired.

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I loved this version! Of course, this is only a template, add whatever flavouring and fruit you like and happen to have.

This is such a satisfying breakfast and starts you off with 1 of your minimum 5 a Day veg and fruit.

We buy our tiger nuts from http://www.thetigernutcompany.co.uk/

* http://www.therawchocolatecompany.com/

Copyright: Chris McGowan

Eat Your Greens! Light Summer Lunch

imageI usually have a juice or smoothie for lunch, but the shopping order had just been delivered and all this fresh salad was calling to me from the confines of the fridge: ‘Let me out, let me out!’ Well, it was a fine day for once even though the sun was still being a bit lazy, and I decided to let them out to play. It’s simple, light and tasty and may look like rabbit food, but it’s full of nutrients, including protein (even in the romaine lettuce!). I’ll be having this today having finished my 7 day juice challenge.

Ingredients

(All organic except the Tamari which is wheatfree)

1 large Romaine Leaf

on which lay

A Large Handful or 2 of Babyleaf & Rocket Salad Leaves

Sliced Ridge Cucumber

1 Thin Stalk of Celery + Leaves (chopped)

3 or 4 Sugar Snap Peas, sliced lengthways

4 Green Olives, pitted & sliced

Lightly Toasted Sunflower, Pumpkin & Sesame seeds splashed with Tamari

Clive’s Organic Humous with lemon*

Black Pepper

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Arrange to suit your artistic bent – digestion begins with the eyes – and eat at leisure, sitting down at the table. The more relaxed you are, the longer you sit, the more you chew, the more you will digest and absorb. Oh, and switch off the tablet and phone! (Yes, mum!)

*http://www.clivespies.com/

Copyright: Chris McGowan

Quick Vegan Open Toasted Sandwich

imageThis is a quick light lunch or afternoon vegan snack that came about when we wanted to use up some slices of home-made chickpea, tiger nut and cornflour bread from the freezer.

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All ingredients are organic.

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Lightly toast 2 slices home-made gluten-free bread, spread with tahini, top with romaine, cucumber, spring onion, organic green olives, black pepper and a drizzle of tahini/lemon dressing (which I forgot for the photo).

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Tahini is made from sesame seeds, a good source of calcium and healthy oils. Chickpeas, too, are rich in calcium, iron and fibre. Spring onions and tiger nuts* are prebiotics, good for the gut. Romaine has protein and cucumber is hydrating, while olives have heart-healthy oil.

Overall, a very healthy snack and satisfying, too!

*http://www.thetigernutcompany.co.uk/

Organic Chickpea Flour & Cornflour from

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

Copyright: Chris McGowan

Lemon Tahini Pasta with Pine Kernels

imageA quick vegan and gluten-free pasta meal that’s ready in half an hour. You can use any easy-cook veg, we just used bits of veg that needed to be used up, and whichever is your favourite pasta.

Ingredients & Method

We used sliced spring onions, thinly sliced broccoli, sliced green beans, peas, mushrooms chopped into chunks, shaved carrot, courgette sticks.

These were all stir-fried in a little coconut oil while the pasta was cooking. We prefer Dove’s Farm Maize and Rice Gluten-Free fusilli, it cooks very quickly.

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We lightly toasted some pine kernels while the veg and pasta were cooking – actually, the first time they went from white to black in the time it took to check on the pasta, so keep an eye on them!

Make some lemon tahini dressing by mixing tahini with some lemon juice, water, black pepper and pink Himalayan salt. Tahini is subtle and you don’t want to overwhelm it with lemon juice, just a small squeeze is enough. If you want to enhance the lemon flavour, add some lemon thyme.

When the veg is cooked, mix in the tahini dressing and add to the pasta on a hot plate.

We snipped some chives over it because they came free with our organic veg box and needed using – plus it was too wet to go out and cut some lemon thyme!

Top with a sprinkling of pine kernels, serve with a green salad and more tahini dressing.

Done.

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Copyright: Chris McGowan

Too Hot To Cook? Simple & Spicy Summer Chickpea Salad

imageOn an overwhelmingly hot day, we had no will or desire for a cooked or complicated dinner. It was also midweek, so this what we cobbled together.

Chickpeas are good to have in the cupboard, so easy to use and a good source of protein, fibre, calcium and iron.

Cucumber is always cooling and hydrating and nicely offsets the hotter flavours of the spring onions, chilli flakes and black pepper.

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In a bowl, empty half a tin of Chickpeas, drained and rinsed.

Add about 4″ of ridge cucumber, chopped

2 Spears of Asparagus, chopped

Half a Stick of Celery, chopped

2 Spring Onions, sliced

 Some Chilli Flakes to taste or Fresh Chilli, chopped

Chopped Coriander

Black Pepper to taste

Mix together and add Tamari and Olive Oil Dressing

Serve on a bed of babyleaf salad on a large leaf of Romaine Lettuce.

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(Meg, Rufus, this one’s for you 😉)

Ps If you’re reading this via email, you’ll need to head to the blog to watch the video.

Copyright: Chris McGowan

Chilled Sweet Hemp Treats

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Do you ever feel that slump of energy after a stressful morning or feel a craving for something sweet that doesn’t involve ingesting unmentionables or make you feel guilty for whatever reason? Do you have a sweet tooth that just won’t be assuaged by a banana or a smoothie? You have to try these Chilled Sweet Treats!

They are fizzing with energy, can be as sweet as you need and you won’t go on to eat half the batch and spoil lunch or dinner. They are satisfyingly sweet without leaving you craving more, unlike refined processed snacks.

These Treats have the nutty flavour and texture of Raw Shelled Hemp Seeds, Sweet Apricot Kernels and rolled oats as well as the sweetness of dates, raisins or other dried fruit such as apricots. Even my mum loved these and she doesn’t like dates or dried apricots.

So, without further ado, on with the music – what else, but James Bay busking ‘Craving’ in front of Sydney Opera House!– and out with the measuring cups.

Ingredients:

1/3 Cup Sweet Apricot Kernels* – roughly ground

1/3 Cup Shelled Hemp Seeds* + a little for the topping

1 Cup Dried Fruit, I used a combination of Medjool Dates (chopped) and Raisins

1 Tbsp Maple Syrup (optional) or a little apple juice

1 Tsp Vanilla Extract

1 Tsp Cinnamon

1 Cup Gluten-Free Rolled Oats

Method

Pulse the Sweet Apricot Kernels, Shelled Hemp Seeds and Dried Fruit a few times until they begin to combine.

Add the Maple Syrup (if using) or apple juice, Vanilla Extract and Cinnamon and process until all combined, forming a ball.

Mix in the oats until well blended in.

Line a baking tray with parchment

Break off small amounts of the mixture, roll into balls and then flatten out into thin circles and place on the try.

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Sprinkle a few Raw Shelled Hemp Seeds on the middle of each circle and press in gently with the back of a teaspoon.

Place in the fridge until they firm up. They will also freeze. Open-freeze them first on a tray before placing them in a container.

Makes about 15, but I think 2 will be enough!

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*http://www.therawchocolatecompany.com/

Copyright: Chris McGowan

Mixed Leaf Avocado Salad with Walnut & Raisin Slaw & Lemon Tahini Dressing

image OK. So I reckon we’ve had enough smoothies and sweet treats for a while, time we had some more green stuff on our plates.

It was an unusually hot and sunny Bank Holiday weekend here in the UK – we’re used to it raining cats and dogs when you’ve got a family camping/bbq /diy weekend planned. My husband had been painting the garage all day and was all hot and bothered. At 6 pm he downed tools and announced he wanted takeaway pizza and salad for dinner! I forewent the pizza part, but here is this evening’s salad:

Mixed leaves – I had lollo rosso, rocket, lamb’s lettuce and cos – with cucumber and celery

Walnut and Raisin Slaw – Grated Cabbage and Carrot with chopped spring onions, walnuts and raisins in a Lemon Tahini Dressing, and black pepper

Sliced Avocado

Sweetcorn

Drizzled with more Lemon Tahini Dressing, Pink Himalayan Salt and Black Pepper.

All the colours of the rainbow. Simple as.

Copyright: Chris McGowan

A Sweet Distraction: Almond Apricot Chia Treats

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Mug from The Raw Chocolate Company website.*

These were created the day our beloved piano was going to a new home and we needed a distraction and something sweet! (Ok, I needed the distraction and something sweet – see Ode To Our Piano, a Faithful and Long-Suffering Friend). I apologise that this is a short post, I’m too emotional to write anything sensible!

All ingredients are organic except the maple syrup. Vegan and Gluten-free.

Ingredients

1 Cup Almond Milk Pulp (residue of approx 1L of nut milk)

1/3 Cup Dried Apricots

1/3 Cup Almonds

3  Medjool Dates, pitted

1 Tbsp Chia Seeds*

1 Tbsp Golden Linseeds, partially ground

1 Tbsp solid raw Coconut Oil

1/2 Tbsp Maple Syrup

1/4 Cup Raw Chocolate Mulberry Chips*

Raw Cacao Powder for Dusting (that’s dusting the treats, not the piano)

Method

Place first 5 ingredients in food processor and process for about 30 seconds until it comes together and almonds are chopped into small pieces but not ground.

Add partially ground Golden Linseeds, solid Coconut oil and Maple Syrup and process for a few seconds to mix in and further break up the almonds but still leaving bits for bite.

Add in Mulberry Chips and whizz for a few seconds to mix them in but not pulverize them!

Take small pieces and roll into balls in the palms of your hands, then dust with Raw Cacao Powder.

Place in the fridge for a few minutes to firm up.

Keep in an airtight container in the fridge or freeze for later.

 *http://www.therawchocolatecompany.com/

Coco Banana Smoothie

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This is a lovely, light smoothie – not like my usual everything-but-the-kitchen-sink experiments at all! I managed to exercise restraint with this one and it turned out a success.

Coconut water from young, green coconuts is wonderfully hydrating: it contains electrolytes, calcium, potassium, phosphorus, magnesium and about half the sodium of so-called energy drinks. It is naturally sweet so doesn’t need the added sugar found in so many energy drinks, nor does it contain all the nasty colouring and additives.

All ingredients are organic except the coconut water, none was available, but this is unsweetened and no added flavours or citric acid.

Ingredients

1 Ripe Banana

1 Ripe Pear

2 Tbsp Gluten-Free Oats

1 Tbsp Chia Seeds*

1 glass chilled unsweetened Coconut Water – size depending on how thick or thin you like it, I used a small one

1 Tbsp CoYo Natural Yogurt

Blend well. Add ice if liked.

And our music for today? Only one choice really…

Coco Banana – get it? 😂

Ps If you’re reading this via email you’ll need to click onto the blog to see the video!

Copyright: Chris McGowan

Camilla’s Homemade Crispbread

I saw this recipe for Scandinavian crispbreads on FoodbyCamilla recently and loved the idea of making our own crispbreads – I’m gluten-free and spend a fortune on oatcakes, rice cakes etc. These are chockablock with healthy seeds and oils and gluten-free oats.  The only ingredient we didn’t have was psyllium husks and they arrived today in my Buy Wholefoods Online order, so I was keen that we have a go!

Things went according to plan, until we started talking as the water was being measured and I was convinced there was more than there should be, it looked like soup! But as we dithered and debated what to do, the whole mix started to swell and come together and before it could erupt and explode all over the kitchen (kidding), it was spooned and pressed very thinly onto 3 greaseproof-covered trays and popped into the oven.

Timing is a bit tricky, you have to keep checking and swapping around, but they looked great when they came out:

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But then things went a little awry: the greaseproof paper wouldn’t come away!

My daughter and Camilla have since advised using non-stick baking parchment – I thought they were the same thing!

Nevertheless, these crackers look and taste really good: crisp, toasted, sesame-flavoured. I’m sure you could vary the flavour by adding a little Tamari or some herbs or spices of you wanted.

Oh, and I wasn’t sure about the salt, 1 Tbsp sounded a lot and I wondered if it was a typo, so we erred on the side of caution and only used a teaspoon.

Have a look at Camilla’s blog, she has some wonderful vegan recipes! You can also find her on Twitter @foodbycamilla

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Over to you, Camilla:

The recipe I want to share today is homemade crispbread. Crispbread, the Scandinavian takes on crackers, has been made for centuries. Growing up, we always had crispbread at home at all time. Nowad…

Source: Homemade crispbread