Here is a quick and easy ice cream recipe (see the raspberry version here)  which uses fruit as a base instead of cream, sugar and eggs. I hope you like it!

Recipe: Berry and Banana Soft Serve

Recipe info/allergen info: This is gluten-free and can be made dairy-free if using dairy-free milk.

Serves: Makes one serve.

Ingredients:

• 1/4-1/2 C. milk (any kind you like: full fat dairy, coconut milk etc)
• 1 tsp. chia seeds
• a handful or so of frozen mixed berries
• a few slices of fresh banana

How to:

1.  Blend milk and chia seeds.
2. Add the berries and banana slices and blend until it becomes a soft serve texture/consistency. If you find it isn’t the texture you desire you can add more berries or banana; alternatively you can place the it in the freezer for about 10 minutes to harden a bit.
3. Enjoy!

Recipe: Bacon, Bean and Spinach Soup

Recipe info/allergen info: This recipe is gluten-free. If you need to be really stringent about making this recipe gluten free: make sure the northern beans have been packed/processed away from gluten-containing grains. Also check that the bacon you use doesn’t contain any gluten-containing ingredients and check the same for the tomato paste, the molasses and mustard.

Ingredients:

• 1 C. dried great northern beans *These need to be soaked and cooked before hand- see below*
• 1 tbsp. butter or coconut oil
• 1 celery stalk, chopped (and leaves discarded)
• 1 onion, peeled and chopped
• 2 slices of bacon (I like this brand), chopped into small pieces
• 2 potatoes, washed and cubed
• 1 carrot, washed, cubed and end chopped off
• 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 tbsp. tomato paste
• 2 tsp. molasses
• 4 C. filtered water
• 2 C. tomatoes, cut into small pieces/halves (for the cherry tomatoes) (I used a mix of fresh yellow & red cherry tomatoes and a regular whole fresh tomato)
• 1 tsp. mustard
• salt
• a handful of spinach (for each person), washed and dried.

How to:

*Preparing the great northern beans*:

Soak these beans in about 1.5 x the amount of water overnight (you can add a piece of kombu in the soaking water, if you like).

*Cooking the great northern beans*

Then, when ready to cook the beans: Discard the water. In a pot add 3 x the amount of water to the cup of beans and then boil the beans until very very soft (Don’t add any salt when it;’s cooking). Discard the cooking water.

1. Prepare the veggies: chop the celery & onion, potatoes, carrot and tomatoes. Crush the garlic. On a separate board, chop the bacon into small pieces.
2. In another large pot, melt the butter. Cook the onion, bacon and garlic. Now add the celery, potatoes, carrot and tomatoes. Add the bay leaf, tomato paste, molasses, mustard, water, cooked northern beans and salt.
3. Cook the soup until all the veggies and soft. (It took me about 45 minutes until everything became soft at about medium heat).
4. When ready to eat, add a handful of the spinach (washed and dried) per person in the pot. Leave it to wilt for a minute or two and then serve.
5. Enjoy!

Here is a delicious new recipe for you! In this pancake recipe I have used Oats (Avena sativa) instead of a refined flour wheat flour, which is commonly used in pancake recipes.  According to traditional herbal medicine, Oats are described as having the actions of a nervine tonic, tonic and thymoleptic which are properties that tone and nourish the nervous system.  Nutritionally, oats are rich in soluble fibre as well as nutrients such as calcium, potassium, phosphorous, iron, manganese, zinc; Vitamins A, B-complex, C, E and amino acids.

Above: Oats in the wild. 

In this oat pancake recipe I’ve used whole rolled oats but you might like to try using whole oat grains instead. If you do the later, please note the tips I’ve added in the recipe on how to do so.  Alternatively you can use quinoa flakes instead of rolled oats. This recipe also uses the fermentation of a sourdough starter to help break down anti-nutrients in the oats such as phytate as well as making the oats more nutritious and easy to digest. For more on fermentation have a read of the post by Helen Padarin.

Above: I served my pancakes with fresh sliced banana and a bit of honey. 

Recipe: Sourdough Oat Pancakes

Recipe info/allergen info: This recipe may not be suitable for those with Celiac Disease or for those who are on gluten-free diets. This is suitable for those who follow a lacto-ovo vegetarian diet.

Ingredients:

• 1 C. whole rolled oats (or whole oat grain) (or quinoa flakes)
• Enough water/milk to just cover the oats (some will be absorbed but that’s okay)
• 1 tbsp. sourdough starter (if kept in the fridge, leave it on the counter for a while to come to room temperature)
• 2 eggs
• milk (any kind you like)
• coconut oil or butter
• Fruit to serve

How to:

This recipe needs to be started at least a few hours before you want to make it (i.e. the night before) in order for the oats to have a good enough time to ferment.

1. Fermentation: Place the whole rolled oats (or whole oat grain) in a bowl and cover with enough milk or water to absorb and cover the oats. Stir in the sourdough starter into the oat-water/milk mixture until it is well mixed. Put a tea towel over the bowl, leave it on the counter and leave this to ferment overnight. Note: the whole oats may not absorb as much water as rolled oats so perhaps
2. Adding the rest of the ingredients: The next day the water/milk  should hopefully be all absorbed. Add this mixture into a blender along with 2 eggs and blend.
3. Now a few tablespoons at a time, add enough milk (You want enough milk to turn the pancake mixture into the consistency of pouring cream) into the blender & then blend.
4. Now it’s time to cook: Heat some butter in pain. When it’s melted, spoon about a few tablespoons or so of the pancake mixture onto the pan and cook until the pancake bubbles a bit (see below), flip over and cook on the other side until golden. Repeat this with the rest of the batter.
5. 
6. Serve with any fruit you desire and enjoy!

[Photo credit: Image: kibsri / FreeDigitalPhotos.net]

[Photo credit 2: HealthFoodLover]

Since I made the 2 ingredient raw chocolate mousse (below) I have been dreaming of making the mixture into a delicious chocolate and coconut mousse tart! So, that’s what I did!

I combined the chocolate mousse recipe with the  date caramel from the almond chocolate cake (aka. the Mocha Brownie Cake)  I made some time ago.

I wanted to make the base quite simple so I used coconut as the main ingredient (the base was inspired by the coconut pumpkin pie (below)).

This also makes the base (as well as the whole recipe) gluten-free. It is also dairy-free.

And refined-sugar free.

Above: the tartlets before they were put in the fridge to set.

Above + below: The Chocolate and Coconut Fudge Tartlets (with a date caramel layer) after they have set.

I dusted them with a bit of cocoa powder and they were ready to eat. Both my taste testers really liked them so I hope you will too!

So please try out my recipe for Chocolate Coconut Fudge Mousse and Date Caramel Tartlets and let me know how they go!

Recipe: Chocolate, Coconut Fudge Mousse and Date Caramel Tartlets

Recipe info/allergen info: This recipe is gluten-free, dairy-free and refined sugar free.

Makes: around 9 or so tartlets (depending on how big or small you make the tarlets) + left over chocolate coconut fudge mousse.

For the tartlet shells:

Ingredients:

• 50g dried unsweetened coconut
• 1 tbsp. coconut sugar
• 2 egg white
• 1 egg yolk

How to:

1. Grind coconut in a coffee grinder (or small food processor) or until it resembles a coarse meal.
2. Add the coconut sugar to the dried coconut.
3. Lightly whip the egg whites and mix the coconut sugar-coconut mix into the egg whites.
4. Lightly beat the egg yolk and mix it in.
5. Grease a tray with coconut oil and put about a teaspoon in each of tartlet holes in the tray. Mould the mixture in each compartment of the tartlet tray.
6. Then cook the tartlet shells for around 10 minutes at 170 degrees C or until lightly browned.
7. Using a spoon take out each tart shell in the tray and leave to cool.

Above: the tart shells after baking and cooling.

For the Date Caramel layer:

Ingredients:

• 1/2 C. dates, chopped into small pieces and soaked in a bit of water

How to:

1. Chop about 1/2 C. dates that have been soaking in a tablespoon or so of water to soften for about an hour.
2. Then in a food processor blend the dates and water until a smooth date caramel-like consistency forms.
3. Now put about 1/2 a tsp. of the date caramel in each cooled tart shell.

For the Chocolate Coconut Fudge Mousse layer:

Ingredients:

• coconut meat and water of 1 young coconut (here is ‘how-to’ video on how to open a young coconut)
• 1-2 tbsp. of cacao/cocoa powder (more or less depending on how chocolately you like it).
• 1 or 2 dates to sweeten (optional)

Note: this amount will make much more than the amount you will need for the tartlets.

How to:

1. Blend together the coconut meat and water of the young coconut and the dates to sweeten (if using).
2. Add the cacao/cocoa powder and blend until you have a thick mousse-like texture.
3. Now spoon this mixture into the tartlets. Put the tartlets back into the tray and leave the tartlets in the fridge to chill and set.
4. Enjoy!

 

Panisse are a type of delicious french chick pea chip (or fry for our US friends). Normally these are made with chickpea flour (besan/garbanzo flour) but me being the lover of whole, real food and the nutrition-maximizing gal I am, I made them using the whole chickpea and sprouted them myself. (Here is a little guide on sprouting legumes, beans, nuts and seeds). So I hope you enjoy this slightly healthier take on Panisse and please let me know what you think!

Recipe: Sprouted (or Soaked) Chickpea Panisse

Ingredients:

• 1 c. dried chickpeas
• water (to soak or sprout the chickpeas)
• water extra
• a small amount of olive oil
• coconut oil/ghee/butter to cook the panisse
• salt, freshy cracked pepper and freshly ground coriander seed, to serve

How to:

1. Soak the dried chickpeas in water for a day or two. When they’re soft, you can drain the water away and use them (see step 2) or you can continue and sprout them by rinsing the chickpeas in water a few times a day for a few days until they sprout.
2. Now if you’re ready to cook: drain any remaining water away from the chickpeas and give them another rinse and drain the water away again. Add these chickpeas to a blender or food processor and add enough water form a watery mixture. Blend until smooth. Don’t worry if you add too much water- it will cook away (see next step).
3. Now add this mixture to a saucepan and on low heat and whisk it until it forms a thick porridge-like mixture.
4. Get a large-enough plate and spread a bit of olive oil on it. Now spread the chickpea mixture onto the plate and cover it with another similarly-sized plate or cling wrap and place this in the fridge to set until firm. Then cut this mixture into chip/fries sized pieces.
5. When it is firm, it’s time to cook! Heat a small amount of your fat of choice in a cast-iron pan and cook the chips on both sides until golden.
6. When they are all cooked, sprinkle them with a bit of salt, freshly cracked pepper and freshly ground coriander seed.
7. Enjoy!

Here is a delicious dessert recipe which uses a fresh pear slices instead of filo pastry for a healthier twist on the traditional Baklava recipe.

Recipe: Fresh Pear Baklava

Alleregen info/recipe info: This recipe contains nuts.

This recipe can vegan/vegetarian if using coconut oil instead of butter.

Ingredients:

• 1 pear
• ~1/4 C. nuts* (a mix of macadamias, almonds, pistachios and walnuts is nice).
• 1 tsp. coconut oil or butter/ghee
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 tbsp. lemon juice
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• a drizzle of raw local honey
• cinnamon extra, to sift on top
• optional: yoghurt or home-made vanilla ice cream (to serve)

A few tips on finding healthier nuts and seeds & preparing them:  Nuts and seeds can be made easier to digest to by having them sprouted or soaking and then drying them in a dehydrator. Here is how to sprout nuts and seeds. I’ve always found the freshest nuts are at farmers markets, but wherever nuts are solds often (meaning the batch of nuts is not sitting around for months and weeks) can be a good indicator as to how fresh it is. Also if you taste a nut such as a walnut it shouldn’t taste ‘bitter’ this is an indication the fats in the nuts are randcid (they have oxidized).

How to:

Make the pear ‘pastry’ slices:

Using a mandolin carefully slice a whole pear length ways to produce a lot of thin pear slices. They will act as the ‘pastry’. Line up the pear ‘pastry’ together and cut the pastry in half so you have two mounds of pastry (i.e. for two serves). Set these aside.

Now make the filling:

Chop the nuts into very small pieces. In a pan heat the coconut oil/butter/ghee add the nuts, cinnamon, lemon juice and vanilla and cook for a 1 minute or so. Take this off the heat.

Now to arrange the Fresh Pear Baklava:

Take each slice of pear add a bit of the nut mixture, then another slice of pear on top of that and so on. Do this for both lot of pear slices.

Serve with a bit of left over nut mixture (if there is any) and a drizzle of honey & serve with yoghurt or home-made vanilla ice cream.

Here is another delicious recipe that uses flavourful spices and gluten-free, flavonoid-rich buckwheat for a delicious Cajun-style chicken. Even though buckwheat is called buck-wheat it isn’t actually a grain, it is a pseudo-seed and is completely gluten-free.

Buckwheat Crusted Cajun-Style Chicken with Chilli & Almonds

Cajun-Mix Ingredients:

Makes enough to coat 4 pieces of chicken thighs or breast pieces.

• 1/4 C. ground buckwheat (a.k.a buckwheat flour)
• 2 Tbs. sweet paprika powder
• 1 tsp. turmeric powder
• 1 tsp. coriander powder
• 1 tsp. cumin powder
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon powder
• salt and pepper to taste

How to: Mix the above Cajun-Mix ingredients together and keep in an air tight container away from moisture and heat.

Buckwheat Crusted Cajun-Style Chicken with Chilli and Almonds Ingredients

• 1 batch of Cajun-Mix
• 4 pieces of chicken thigh or breast pieces (Best: meat from pastured chickens)
• ghee, butter or coconut
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 red chilli, finely chopped (Seeds kept or discared- if kept it will make the dish hotter)
• 1 small handful of almonds, soaked, dried and chopped

How to:

1. Coat eat piece of chicken in the Cajun Mix.
2. Heat a pan with your fat of choice and cook on medium-low heat until cooked through on both sides of each piece of chicken. When they’re cooked, serve with the chopped almonds and fresh chilli and season with salt and pepper to taste. Enjoy!

 Have you ever used buckwheat before? If not here are some other buckwheat recipes to get you started:

Caramel Buckwheat Pancakes  (Gluten-free, dairy-free)

Fermented Buckwheat Pancakes with Currants and Cultured Butter (Gluten-Free)

When we want to eat food to make us feel energetic and happy (which is what food should do), we need to stick to whole, real foods. This because our body needs more than just carbohydrates to produce energy. There are many micro-nutrients we need for optimal mitochondrial function (mitochondria are the “energy factories” of our cells). This is why whole foods need to make up the base of the diet (and refined and processed foods are ideally avoided).

Article: How to get more whole and nourishing foods in your diet

In this Green Energy Soup I cooked the kale for a very short time (until soft but still bright green) and served it with a bit of cream cheese. 

Many of the nutrients in the foods in this recipe are supportive to your mitochondria . These nutrients include magnesium (from the Kale), antioxidants (such as vitamin A from the butter/ghee & beef; vitamin C from kale), vitamin B1, B2, B3, B5, (these B vitamins from the kale, seaweed and beef)  iron (non-heme from kale & heme iron from beef, respectively), cysteine (an amino acid from beef), and manganese (from kale & garlic). Seaweed is also a source of iodine (important for thyroid function), kale contains chlorophyll and ginger has anti-inflammatory properties.

If you haven’t seen it watch the video by Terry Wahls and how she overcame her MS by feeding her body well! Inspiring stuff!

Article: How to be time savvy for your health

Recipe: Green Energy Soup (A Mitochondria Supporting Recipe)

Allergen info/recipe info: This recipe is gluten-free and dairy-free.

Serves: 2

Ingredients:

• coconut oil or butter or ghee
• 2 onion, peeled and chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 2 tsp. fresh ginger
• 3 potatoes, washed and skin kept on or 3 parsnips or 1/4 – 1/2 cauliflower
• a few cups of bone broth (Here is How to make Bone Broth)
• 2 whole small bunches of kale (stems kept on & bottom end of the bunch cut off), washed and chopped roughly
• 2 nori sheets (optional)
• meat from the bone broth (enough for two people)
• a dash of sesame oil
• salt and pepper to taste

How to:

1. In a pot add the oil of choice, the onion garlic and ginger. Cook until the onion is soft and then add the potatoes (or the other veggies listed) and the bone broth and cook with a lid on and the heat set at low until it the potatoes very soft.
2. Now add the kale and cook for a few minutes or until the kale is very soft but still bright green (I cooked mine a bit longer than I should have which is why in the first picture the colour is a bit more dull than the second picture above).
3. Add the seaweed sheets and cook for one more minute.
4. Now in batches add this soup to a blender and blend until smooth.
5. Serve with a dash of sesame oil, the meat from the bone broth and season to taste with salt and pepper.
6. Enjoy!

I like to post a range of recipes for different diet styles, because no one diet fits us all. We’re all individuals which means we don’t all eat the same way. Today I have a vegan recipe which happens to be raw. Though this recipe could also really be eaten by those who follow a paleolithic style diet, gluten-free diet, dairy-free diet as well as a WAPF style diet and an egg-free diet too.

I know many of you liked the recipe I posted two weeks ago for the Raw Vegan Chocolate Mousse (below). So I know you will like today’s recipe!

It is a similar kind of recipe. This time I’m sharing a recipe for a Raw Vegan Mango Custard. Like the Raw Vegan Chocolate Mousse, this recipe only has two ingredients: mango and coconut. It is dairy-free, gluten-free, paleo/vegan/vegetarian and of course delicious. Though this recipe is a bit different from a traditional custard recipe as it is free of dairy and eggs. I love how yellow it is, it’s as if it did contain the bright yolks from pastured eggs (but it doesn’t).

Recipe: Raw Vegan Mango Custard

Allergen info/recipe info: This recipe is dairy-free, gluten-free, egg-free, nut-free and paleo, vegan and vegetarian-friendly.

Serves: 2

Ingredients:

• 1/2 quantity of coconut cream from a young coconut (not sure how to open a young coconut? read the tutorial or watch the video here or on YouTube)
• 1/2 flesh from a fresh mango

How to:

Add the coconut cream and mango to a blender or food processor and blend until very smooth. Pour in a small dish, cover and leave in the fridge to set. Add dried shredded coconut if you desire. Enjoy!

Are you a fan of custard? I’d love to know what you think of this recipe, please share your thoughts below in the comment section. 

This Raw Chocolate Mousse is lusicous, creamy and a ‘guilt-free’ treat (though I don’t think any treats should induce guilt!). It doesn’t contain any sugar (other than those naturally present in the coconut ‘meat’) but is still really delicious!

Recipe: 2 Ingredient Raw Chocolate Mousse

Allergen info/recipe info: This recipe is dairy-free, gluten-free, egg-free and sugar-free.

I found the mousse was sweet enough for my taste without any sugar added in it, as coconut cream I find naturally as a sweet taste. However if you find that is isn’t sweet enough for you, try adding

Makes: 1 serve

Ingredients:

•  1/2 – 1 C. coconut cream from a young coconut (Click here to learn how to make it)
• 1/2 – 1 Tbsp. cacao powder (or carob powder), sifted (I found about 1/2 Tbsp was good for me, but you may like a much stronger chocolately taste so feel free to increase it to your linking) or for those who are sensitive to caffeine try using carob powder
• optional extras: dried shredded coconut, cacao nibs, walnuts, pitted cherries, sliced strawberries etc.

How to:

1. Make the coconut cream (or use store bought coconut cream).
2. Mix in the cacao powder into the coconut cream until smooth and creamy (you can can blend it in a blender or food processor for a really creamy consistency).
3. Pour into a container and chill in the fridge until firm.
4. Add any optional extras on top of the mousse.
5. Enjoy!

Variations:

Raw Cherry Chocolate Mousse: At step 2 add in a few pitted cherries along with the cacao powder and coconut cream and blend in until smooth and creamy.

Raw Peppermint Chocolate Mousse: At step 2 add 2 or 3 fresh mint leaves along with the cacao powder and coconut cream and blend in until smooth and creamy. You might like to use Chocolate Mint leaves instead of regular mint varieties.

Raw Dark Chocolate Mousse: At step 2 add an extra tablespoon of cacao powder and follow the rest of the instructions above.

Raw Carob Mousse: Follow the directions as above and use carob powder instead of cacao powder.

Michelle

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