NEW Workbook Launch.... and Sweet Potato Choc Orange Muffins!

Yesterday I finally completed something I have actually been working on for some years now!

As you will gather from the title of this website, and this little story I shared a few weeks ago... quitting refined sugar BUT still eating treats is a huge factor in optimising my own life! It's something of a mission for me to share with the world :-)

In my opinion it is in one of the BEST things you can do for your body and mind equally, regardless of what kind of diet you follow. Vegan, vegetarian, paleo, gluten free etc ....everyone can benefit hugely from cutting out refined sugar from their diets!

A couple of years ago, after immersing myself in countless books, data, articles etc all about sugar, and even having this article published in the first ever edition of Vegan Life Magazine (huge proud moment!) I wrote the copy for an 8-week course I planned to run through a dedicated Facebook group in the lead up to summer. I created all the graphics and promo too.

It was literally all set to go.... but then 'life' for in the way and I didn't run it at all. All the wonderful content lay dormant on my laptop, even though I knew it had the potential to change so many peoples lives.  I feel a little embarrassed now admitting this to you all.

But I never forgot about it.

A few week ago I saw Star Kechara's passive income challenge to create a interactive workbook. It suddenly clicked.... all that wonderful copy I had written could be remodelled (and added to of course with all my new knowledge) into a workbook that people could fill in and work through at their own pace. A resource for life. It felt such a good fit!

So here it is! Now complete in all it's glory!  PLUS as an added bonus I have written a (pretty incredible) extended version of my 'sugar-free recipe book' as the perfect companion to the 4-week workbook challenge.

AND...I am offering this HUGE bundle (pictured above) for the price of the workbook alone until January 31st 2017!

You can find all the info with a sneak peak of what you'll get in the details here!

Or if you want to check out just the recipe book alone... details are here!

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In the mean time I want to share a new recipe a from the recipe book with you... a little gift! This is a direct page grab from the book so you can see exactly how the recipes are laid out. 

These mini muffins are perfect for Christmas but any time of year really.... and it just so happens to be my favourite flavour combo (remember my little story!) True to nature they also pack some veggies in. I used sweet potato but this is a spin on my classic 'crazy courgette cake' so courgette or even carrot would work well here too!

I hope you make them, and enjoy them.... please tag me if you do! It always makes me smile. :-)

Chocolate banana brownie bread

I called this 'brownie bread'... as it's shaped like a loaf, but with a beautiful dense and chewy sponge, best described as a cross between banana bread and a chocolate brownie!

The easiest, healthiest, allergy friendly but totally indulgent cake you'll probably ever find!

Well this recipe was totally unplanned! Making recipes on holiday in Lanzarote in my hosts kitchen! I have been eating all my meals with them, it's so lovely to be cooked for, especially since they eat a plant based diet also... i'll admit I haven't even needed to leave their house! 

Since I happened to mention I write a food blog, I was offered the opportunity to come up with a healthy cake or dessert using 'anything I could find' in the kitchen. Wow, what an opportunity... though I was also pretty nervous and apprehensive in case it didn't work out! It's one thing wasting your own ingredients but anything things when it's someone else's food! Plus, I didn't have all my up ingredients and kitchen tools to hand.

Of course I wanted it to be as low in sugar as possible, and ideally contain chocolate, since I hadn't had any all week and it was calling to me! I needed a foolproof recipe that I knew would stand the least chance of failure.... that's when my crazy chocolate courgette cake came to mind. That cake is loved by so many, uses simple ingredients and I knew it would be a winner. To change it up a little I swapped the courgette for banana. This was in large part so that I could get away from using refined sugars- in the courgette version I use dates and pure stevia, but since I had no stevia to hand, I used bananas (and a teensy bit of brown sugar just to be sure) to hit the sweet spot.

Flour was also another factor to work around. I usually use fine ground oats in the chocolate courgette cake recipe, but all I had to hand here were emmer grains (an ancient grain similar to spelt and einkorn). This is what my hosts mill to make their own bread, so we milled some for this recipe. It worked perfectly.... phew! I imagine any of the ancient grain flours (or even regular wholewheat) would make a good substitute, or use fine oatmeal as per my original recipe (I haven't tried with purely gluten free flours but buckwheat or a GF flour blend could be a good bet if you do experiment).

Emmer grains- pre milling

Emmer flour being milled!

I also had to improvise with other ingredients too. Usually I use a combination of baking soda and baking power. But there was only soda to hand... a quick google gave me my solution. Baking soda needs an acid to react to, so I simply added lemon juice to the mix and it worked perfectly on its own.  

The banana pieces on top were beautifully caramelised and chewy... feel free to add more or even mix some chunks into the mix to vary the texture and make more of a dessert bread, which would be amazing served warm with vegan cream or ice-cream.... or a slathering of drippy peanut butter! Oh yeah...

This basic recipe has been tried so many times now with little tweaks, it is virtually foolproof I promise! The verdict... they all loved it! Even two year old Shakti!

P.s You'll find plenty more of my 'loaf' style recipes HERE!

Recipe: Chocolate banana brownie bread

Makes 1 long shallow loaf (or equivalent of a large deep brownie pan)

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup chopped dates (packed quite tightly)

• 1/2 cup boiling water (may need to add a few tablespoons extra at the end)

• 1/4 cup coconut oil (or other mild oil of choice)

• 2 tbs chia seeds (or flax seed)

• 1 tbs fresh lemon juice

• 4 medium bananas (3 to be pureed and 1 chopped for the top)

• 2-3 tbs brown sugar (you could omit this or sub with syrup or a few drops of pure stevia)

• 2/3 cup cocoa

• 1 1/2 cup emmer flour (or ground porridge oats or other flours as noted above)

• 1 heaped tsp baking soda

Method:

Soak the dates in the 1/2 cup boiling water for a few minutes to soften ( I did this as I only had a small stick hand blender to use, soaking it optional for more robust blenders so you could just add water separately). Add the coconut oil to melt it. Add three rough chopped bananas, the chia/flax and the lemon juice to the date/oil mix and blend until very smooth. All the wet ingredients should now be mixed.

In a separate medium bowl, mix together the flour, cocoa and baking soda. Add the pureed mixture and stir through until fully combined. Taste and add the brown sugar (or sweetener of choice) to taste. I only needed to add two tablespoons.

The mixture should be a soft spoonable batter. Add a few extra tablespoons of water only if needed (I added a couple). Spoon the mix into a greased and lined cake tin/loaf tin of choice (or muffin cups). Smooth the top as much as possonle then press the chopped banana pieces on top to decorate.

Bake for approx. 35-40 minutes at 180C (this will depend on the depth on the cake pan and need less time for muffins). I loosely covered the top with foil after 20 minutes once the bananas were browned to prevent potential burning. Check the middle of a cake with a fork or skewer to see that it comes away clean.

Serve warm or cold as a healthy indulgent snack or dessert!  One easy cake- two ways!

 (P.s this cake freezes beautifully too!)

This cake made it into PETA UK’s Great Vegan Bake Off final! If you like what you see, you can cast your vote for it here (and also know that you've made me a very happy girl!)

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Carrot cake Easter cupcakes...gluten free!

It's April...Easter time is creeping ever closer!  It also means that I want to start creating Easter treat recipes which is pretty tricky due to the candida diet :-(

But I can still drool over pretty Easter pictures on Foodgawker and Pinterest, right?

Often when I create recipes, I like to browse through the 'regular' recipe sections and baking websites to inspire me to create my own 'healthanized' spin-offs. Last weekend I was having exactly one of those days and was browsing through Baking Mad, Easter must have been on my mind as I ended up finding inspiration for some carrot cake themed cupcakes from their Easter recipe section. A few tweaks were needed to make the recipe my own and also to create a gluten free option. Im really pleased with how the recipe turned out, especially since I couldn't taste test as I went along. I enjoyed making them.... my mum enjoyed eating them!

This is one of the simplest gluten free recipes I have yet to create, the ground almonds work superbly to maintain a lovely moist crumb and the pre-blended flour just speeds up the process (I often grind my own).  The toppings are inspired by this magical cream topping (also noted below) and the 'eggs' are a few left over Squares I remoulded plus some chilled nut butter since I have so much of that on hand at the moment.

Have you made any Easter creations yet or are you planning to? I'd love to know what your favourite easter recipes are! 

Recipe: Carrot cake cupcake- gluten free!

Makes approx 8-10 small cupcakes

Ingredients:

• ½ cup ground almonds
• ½ cup GF flour blend of choice (I used Doves pre-mixed plain flour blend)
• ½ cup orange juice
• ½ tsp baking powder
• ¼ cup grated carrot
• 3 tbs agave (or other syrup of choice)
• ¼ tsp cinnamon 

Method:

Mix the flour, ground almonds and baking powder. Add the remaining ingredients and stir through to mix evenly.

 Spoon the mixture into mini muffin cups or small cupcake trays. Bake for 15 mins at 180C or until golden and a toothpick poked in comes out clean

For the topping I used this frosting method. Basically I blended vegan yoghurt with fine coconut flour at a 3:1 ratio until thick and 'spreadable'.

The eggs a mixture of chilled vanilla almond butter (home made) and my Wholeplus squares moulded into egg shapes.  You could use any topping you like.

Flourless Ferrero Rocher cookies!

I have one more Christmassy recipe planned for next week... it's a super simple 'gifting' recipe.

BUT these are cookies you wont want to give away!  The easiest ever flour-less cookies in my opinion and they are based on the concept I came up with when creating these cranberry almond cookies for the Real Food Source (also available in their free Christmas e-book).

The 'original' almond-cranberry cookies

The chocolate hazelnut version is just as good- or better is you are a chocoholic like me! I had come across some hazlenut butter i'd forgotten I had so the idea for a variation on the cookies presented itself just like that. I added some cranberries but you could omit these for a purer 'ferrero' flavour- or add some kind of rice crisp or wafer element for a more genuine Ferrero Rocher style creation!

Make sure you keep the nuts nice and chunky (whole hazelnuts) for a thick and chewy texture and also mix them through the batter rather than pressing on top- the texture is just so much better for some reason! These rare not crispy cookies but soft and chewy cookies. They do have a high 'fat' content form all the nuts... but it's basically the same thing as eating a small handful or dried fruit and nut mix and that's healthy (in moderation) right? 

One again this cookie format throw the door wide for your own interpretation- use the nut butter plus mix-ins of your choice, or why not try the original almond version.  Go go go... create... eat... and be merry! 

Recipe: Flourless Ferrero Rocher cookies!

Makes approx 8 cookies

Ingredients:

• 100g hazelnut butter

• 20g coconut sugar dissolved in 30g boiling water

• 40g cranberries/cherries

• 60g hazelnuts

• 2 tbs cocoa powder

• 1/2 tsp baking powder

Method:

Just mix it all together well adding the nuts and fruit last.

Dollop the mixture onto a lined baking sheet, it will spread a little whilst cooking.

Bake for 10-15 minutes at 180C Make sure you catch them as they gone nicely golden but before the nuts brown too much.

These cookies store pretty well, they get chewier each day so it just depends on your preference how quickly you eat them! I haven't tried freezing them.

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Pumpkin apple baked oatmeal pudding

Hello...back again with recipes, sorry i've been slow to post recently. I have soooo many recipes i want to share but struggling for time to actually get them out on to the blog and into the world. For those you don't already follow me on Instagram... please come and find me as I usually post my recipes and experiments on my feed straight after creation so you wont have to wait so long to be inspired!! 

On to todays post. I warn you now, you may well have a load of pumpkin recipes fly you way in the next few weeks since they were selling off the Halloween pumpkins off for 10p in my local supermarket… I literally couldn't resist and bought three! I now have a freezer full of pumpkin purée so I'd better get experimenting!  

I figured the carving pumpkins probably aren't as refined in flavour as the squashes and pumpkins specifically grown the culinary purposes however its still pumpkin after all, and when puréed and added into sweet and savoury dishes it does the job just perfectly.

So first up and little single (or double serving) spiced apple and pumpkin oatbake. Super yummy. I made a small version as i wasn't sure how it would turn out but i needn't have worried and i can't wait to make this bressert again!

Totally healthy, lightly sweet, with warming spices... perfect served piping hot for those cold chilly mornings. I enjoyed this after a green smoothie first thing and then had this as a treat late morning! I was so excited it was as yummy as it looked when i came out of the oven. This is a dense and gooey pudding-style baked oatmeal, almost undercooked in the centre just the way I like it! It was perfectly sweet enough for me but you can easily adapt to taste. You could also double up the recipe to serve more if you wish.

Recipe: Pumpkin apple baked oatmeal

Serves 1-2

Ingredients: 

• 1/3 cup pumpkin puree
• ¼ cup finely chopped dates or date paste*
• approx ¼ cup apple juice
• ¼ tsp pure stevia (or to taste)
• ½ cup oats
• 1 tsp mixed spice
• ½ tsp cinnamon
• ½ tsp baking powder
• pinch salt
• 1 apple- half grated and half chopped (add last)

Method:  

Mix wet ingredients together and then add the dry and mix well. Chop/grate the apple and add the grated portion to the mix. Add a little extra apple juice if the mixture seems to thick (it wants to loo quite thick and chunky).

Spoon into a small (approx 12cm) pie dish and press the chopped apple chunks into the top. Sprinkle with extra cinnamon (or sweetener) if desired.

Bake at 180C for approx 20 mins until golden, the centre will still be quite soft and pudding like. Serve into a bowl (or two) or allow to cool slightly and eat straight from the dish (recommended). Since there is no oil in the mixture may have a tendency to stick to the dish. ( I ate from the dish anyway)

*you could use 3tbs of unrefined sugar such as coconut sugar or rapadura instead of the dates.

Exciting recipe for the Virtual Vegan Potluck Party to come your way on Saturday....keep a look out, I promise you wont be disappointed with my offering!

Banana bread breakfast 'cupcake​'

This is a very last minute post.... by that I mean, the idea for this banana bread breakfast cupcake came to me whilst I was walking back from my gym class and within 10 minutes of getting home I had made this little gem and was happily sitting down to a yummy post gym brunch munch. 

Within the hour the photos had been edited, text written (erm...as I speak) and here we go. Why the rush?  Well apparently it's National Cupcake Week, and whilst usually these foodie 'events' totally pass me by I actually became aware of this a couple of days ago and the idea popped into my cake for a twist on the 'cupcake' format itself, I love banana bread and it's always a crowd pleaser, so why not make a single serve banana bread cupcake!  I've managed to sneak this in before the week was out- winner!! It's still a cup cake of sorts ok...maybe just not in quite the usual sense.

This is a perfect two-minute breakfast treat and I used a collection of very healthy breakfasty ingredients.... oats, seeds, banana, berries, fruit juice.... everything you might have for breakfast, just smooshed up in a mug (cup)!

It's sugar free if you use stevia as I haven't even used any of my beloved dates in this creation! Plus if you use gluten free oat flour it's gluten feee (other GF flours may also work here). You could add extra spices or different fruits to add your own twist. I also dolloped a blob of soy yogurt and a tiny blob of sugar free jam on top to make it more like dessert. Cheeky! 

So there you have it... a moist, dense and cakey banana bread breakfast cupcake with toppings! 

For all my other single serve recipes...you'll find them here! 

This is also a classic 'Bressert' recipe... Bressert? A cross between breakfast and dessert. It's my favourite combo and I have a whole heap of bressert recipes here too!

Enjoy :-)   P.s tag me if you make it- i'd love to see!

Recipe: Banana Bread Breakfast Cupcake

Ingredients: 

• 1 small banana- mashed

• 3 tbs oat flour

• 3 tbs LSA (ground linseed, sunflower seed, almond) you could just sub ground almonds here.

• 1/2 tsp baking powder

• 1/4 tsp baking soda

• 3 tbs fruit juice of choice

• 4 drops pure stevia liquid (or 1-2 tsp syrup of choice to taste)

• handful of berries- for topping

• optional: spices, yoghurt, drizzle, toppings...

Method: 

Mash the banana in a small bowl and add all remaining ingredients to it. Mix well to form a smooth thick batter and spoon into a microwaveable cup or mug. Lightly press the berries into the top last.

Microwave on high for 1 minute, the top should be firm to touch but it should be soft, moist and cakey at the bottom. Add extra toppings if desired and serve directly in the cup. 

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Want to check out more refined sugar free healthy recipes all in one place!  Have a look at my 'Sugar Free Satisfaction' Recipe Ebook. The perfect companion to a lifestyle free of refined sugar with 30 incredible recipes and top tips for sugar-free living day to day.

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Valentines hot chocolate cream cups

I love this recipe!

It worked perfectly, maybe even more perfectly than I had hoped when I dreamed it up in my mind... the gooey banana and thick creamy chocolate sauce make for the perfect Valentines breakfast decadence....or simply any breakfast decadence or dessert. Yes indeed this is another 'breakfast does dessert’ recipe.

Oh, and did I mention that it only take 5 minutes?

I originally tried this recipe without warming the sauce, more in keeping with this original recipe that inspired this creation and has proved immensely popular on the blog. It was ok this way, kind of like a chocolatey custard but a little bit thin and not indulgent enough for my liking (although you could always increase the nut butter/reduce water if necessary). So then in the second testing I fully assembled the cups and then warmed them! Amazing, the banana at the bottom of the cup cooks and goes all gooey and the nut butter and banana in the sauce thicken like a rich creamy mousse. It’s hard to explain....so instead I won’t keep trying to. Instead you should just go and make it!  

You could use a mild nut butter like almond or cashew for a subtle creaminess or go all out with peanut butter for a choco-peanutty-banana hit! Alternatively if you aren't a fan of banana, you could maybe use avocado or increase the nut butter content to achieve the same thickness- note I have not tried it this way!

P.S I loved the pretty white flowers in the photos. I ran round my house trying to find something pink or red that was feminine and Valentines-y, but nothing came to hand...then I remembered i'd bought some flowers last weekend.... not pink, but elegantly romantic- the perfect prop :-)  Now if i just had my very own romantic to present me with the flowers.....hmmmm?

Recipe: Hot chocolate cream cups

Makes 2 cupcake sized cups

Ingredients- cups

• 1/3 cup oats

• 1 heaped tbs cocoa powder

• 2 tsp ground flax

• Vanilla extract to taste (approx. ½ tsp each)

• 1 tbs agave

• 2-3 tbs vegan yoghurt

Ingredients - Filling:

• 1 medium banana mashed (slice and reserve ¼ of the banana)

• 1 tbs nut butter (I used almond)

• 1 tbs cocoa

• 2 tbs water

• A few mini dark chocolate drops

Method

Mix and mash all the 'cup' ingredients together well to form a thick sticky ball of dough. Divide into two equal pieces and press firmly into two cupcake ‘cups’ (I used silicone cups).

Cook on full powder in the microwave for 1 min or bake at 180C in the oven for approx. 10 minutes until just cooked and not sticky to touch

Meanwhile blend the filing ingredients together in a small blender, reserving a few slices of banana. If you are struggling with blending a small quantity, double the mixture and save some in the fridge for later. This makes a little more than needed for the cups anyway.

To fill the cups, place a couple of slices of banana at the bottom of each cup, fill with sauce and decorate with remaining banana and chocolate chips as desired. Microwave both cups at the same time on 70% power for 30 seconds. IMPORTANT: do not allow the mixture to bubble- watch closely and as you see it begin to want to bubble stop the microwave- you are done! For me, this happened at 30 seconds. (otherwise the mixture will boil over the edge of the cup and the texture will be impaired).

These are the cups served cold (not a huge visual difference but definitely better served hot!)

Gooey...melty....gooey....melty...double chocolate....banana....

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Battenberg Cake…with a difference

So this month’s Daring Bakers challenge is….Battenberg cake.

Mandy of What The Fruitcake?! came to our rescue last minute to present us with the Battenberg Cake challenge! She highlighted Mary Berry’s techniques and recipes to allow us to create this unique little cake with ease.

Battenburg- the classic chequered sponge cake, sandwiched together with jam and all wrapped up in a marzipan jacket!

Marzipan is a tricky one, the traditional version is full of powdered sugar and although it's generally vegan I still have difficulty in endorsing such a sugary treat here on my blog! I have been trying to suss out a sugar free marzipan for quite some time now, with some degree of success here in my Christmas Stollen and my the toppings for the super-cute Christmas puds.

But when it comes to a rollable marzipan I have not yet had a breakthrough!

However this challenge allowed us to push the boundaries beyond a traditional Battenberg as long as we held true to the chequered sponge concept with a sweet covering whether it be marzipan, fondant or chocolate. So, one idea came to my mind straight away….

….the ‘world’s healthiest chocolate fudge’!

I had tried rolling the fudge dough previously to make these hearts and it worked really well, so I figured it could also work really well as the Battenberg covering.  That then just left the sponge and the flavours to choose. I opted for a plain vanilla sponge alongside a raspberry sponge (although it has taken on more of a brown tinge in the photos), that allowed me to use sugar-free raspberry jam as the sole sweetener in the raspberry sponge.  I opted to try my ‘easiest ever gluten free sponge’ recipe as the basis for this cake as i really wanted to go gluten free for this recipe.

In hindsight I wish I’d gone for a different sponge recipe, as whilst that simple sponge works well as a small super-simple mug cake, it just didn’t really do it for me as larger oven baked sponge. There was nothing drastically wrong with it, I just felt it could have been a lot more delicate with a lighter crumb. I also wish now that I’d rolled the fudge wrap a little thinner before wrapping the sponge slices.

The overall concept was a great success and the chocolate fudge coating worked a treat (particularly if I’d rolled it more finely), however after eating a slice with the sponge, I got the feeling that the sponge was not doing the cake justice. So what did I decide to do?  Peel the fudge off and reform it into fudge balls of course. Mmmm…much better!

Try this frosting…go on give it a go! It is so easy to form and model that you can cut it into rounds, bars, roll it out as an icing layer or even turn it into a soft piped healthy frosting as I did here with thes cupcakes.

I will give the Battenberg another go with an alternative sponge recipe at some point soon. This fudge frosting is so versatile that I want to give it a proper chance to do my Battenberg proud!

This link takes you to the original Daring Bakers Challenge notes with  plenty of alternate recipes for battenberg to try.

Recipe: Healthy Battenberg Cake

Makes 1 approx. 7” long cake

Ingredients: chocolate fudge frosting

• ½  can black beans- rinsed and drained
• 1 mashed banana
• ½ cup cocoa powder (or raw cacoa powder)
• 1/3 cup dates
• ¼ cup cranberries
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• ½  tsp cinnamon
• ½ tsp stevia
• ½ cup ground oats
• 2 tbs ground flax
• 2 tbs chia seeds

Method

Combine all ingredients in a food processor and blend until a smooth pliable dough is formed. The dough should be fairly tacky but not sticky and should easy to handle.

Roll out the dough on a sheet of parchment or similar for easily handling. Roll to achieve desired thickness and then, using thr parchment to assist, carefully drape across the jam coated sponge to create the finish Battenberg.

Ingredients: simple vanilla sponge

• ½ cup buckwheat flour (or other GF grain)
• 3 tbs ground almonds
• ½ tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ½ cup plain soy yoghurt (or regular)
• 2 tbs agave (for vanilla version)
• 2 tbs sugar free raspberry jam (for raspberry version)

Method

Mix dry ingredients in a medium bowl and then add wet ingredients (other than agave and jam) and mix together well.  

Divide the mixture between two bowls and then add the agave and jam to a bowl each.  Note: to achieve a deeper red/pink colour you may need to add a few drops of food colouring.

You will now have two different coloured/flavoured mixtures. Spoon each into a 7” square  baking tin divided down the centre with parchment paper and foil to prevent the batters mixing (foil helps make a more ridged central partition).

Bake in  pre-heated oven  at 180C for approx. 15 mins until very lightly golden.

Assembling the Battenberg: 

Cut the slices of sponge into neat squares and arrange in a larger square with each flavour on the diagonal. Paint each edge with slightly runny sugar-free raspberry jam and then firmly wrap the chocolate fudge frosting around the entire cake, ensuring an overlap to seal.