Coconut Beans and Butternut Squash Bake

“Never do anything ‘just for the money, Do it to make a difference. Do it because your soul says so. Do it because you love it so much that you’d do it for free if you could.”

MARIE FORLEO

Easy to make and super tasty. Even my three year old enjoyed this one!

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

• 2oz of mixed bean
• 2oz lentils
• half a butternut squash
• 3 medium carrots
• 2 tablespoons of cocnut oil
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 medium red onion
• handful of mushrooms
• 200ml of coconut milk
• 2oz of cheddar cheese
• optional half a chilli

Directions:

1. Preheat the oen to 170C / 340F
2. Cook beans and lentils according to packet (I usually cook a batch and freeze beans, then just cook them from frozen whenever i need them)
3. Chop butternut squash and carrots and place on baking tray with a drizzle of oil for about 20mins, until tender
4. In the meantime, heat remaining oil and sauté garlic, onion and mushrooms until softened
5. Stir in beans, lentils, squash and carrots and coconut milk and simmer for 5mins.
6. Pour mixture into an oven proof dish or individual ramekins.
7. Sprinkle over cheese and return to oven to melt
8. Serve with Spinach and chillis if you dare!
9. Deelish!!

Guilt-free (ish) popcorn

“The longer you wait the more weight you will have. No more weighting; lets gooooo!.”

MASTIN KIPP

I grew up thinking that coconuts are high in saturated fat and therefore aren’t good for you we now know how wrong that is and as it turns out, the type of saturated fat contained in a coconut is actually good for you and, surprisingly beneficial to our arteries and heart. After a little bit of research, I quickly learned that coconut oil IS a wonder food. It lowers your blood sugar, makes you loose weight (this is the weirdest statistic since it is pure fat), lowers cholesterol, is good for the immune system, keeps you from getting heart disease, is a natural antibiotic, is good for the skin and hair, helps you absorb minerals such as calcium and magnesium….I could keep on going but you probably just came here to get the details of how to make this gorgeous popcorn!

Serves: 2

Ingredients:

• quarter or a cup of popcorn
• 1 tablespoon of coconut oil
• Pink Himalayan sea salt to taste

Directions:

1. Heat oil in a pan
2. When entirely melted, turn on the lowest heat, add popcorn and cover
3. Shake a bit once it starts popping
4. When popcorn stops popping take off the heat and transfer to serving dish
5. Deelish!!

Artichoke Hearts & Feta

“Eat like you love yourself. Move like you love yourself. Speak like you love yourself. Act like you love yourself.”

TARA STILES

Simple and stunning starter or side dish. Artichokes are so great for you too; they’re a diuretic, digestive, contain insulin (so they stimulate good bacteria in your gut), support the liver, and promote bile. Not only is this dish good for you it tastes amazing!

Serves: 2

Ingredients:

• 1 can artichoke hearts (or use jerusalem artichokes for an alternative flavour)
• tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 2 and half oz of feta
• 2 tablespoons of pumpkin seeds & sunflower seeds

Serve with:

• a sprinkle of sumac
• 2 tablespoons of chopped dill (I used freezed dried version)

Directions:

1. Mix Artichoke hearts with olive oil and lemon juice in a bowl.
2. Gently fold in feta and seeds
3. Serve with Dill and Sumac
4. Deelish!!

Sumac Salmon and Coconut Quinoa

“If someone thinks that love and peace is a cliché that must have been left behind in the Sixties, that’s his problem. Love and peace are eternal.”

JOHN LENNON

Truly this is a stunning meal. I have only just discovered Sumac and its amazing; a really gorgeous citrusy flavour. I know I seem to always put quinoa recipes but actually you can change it to anything; rice, cous cous, pearl barley it really doesnt matter; do whatever you fancy. That also goes for the salmon, if you eat meat try it with some meat am sure it would be lovely, I made it with tofu the other night, for me deffo prefer the salmon; salmon sumac is awesome!

Serves: 2

Ingredients:

• 1 cup quinoa
• tablespoon of creamed coconut
• 2 carrots, sliced
• 2 handfuls of mushrooms
• Broccoli

Tofu Marinade:

• 2 Tbsp sumac
• 3 Tbsp soy sauce
• 3 Tsp ginger (i used powder but would probably be nicer with fresh or ginger paste)
• 1/2 tsp fine black pepper
• 2 tsp chili powder
• 2 Tbsp maple syrup

Directions:

1. Blend marinade ingredients together and marinade salmon for at least 30 mins
2. Put quinoa & carrots, coconut and a little salt  in separate pan and simmer for 20mins
3. Put Salmon and mushrooms on a baking tray and drizzle rest of marinade on mushrooms, and grill for 10 mins on a medium/high heat.
4. Cook broccoli to your taste; steam, boil, whatever you prefer
5. Serve
6. Deelish!!

Warm Quinoa & Buckwheat Salad with Kale Chips

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

MAYA ANGELOU

Just made this for dinner but could definitely pass for a cosy lunch; vibrant colours, healthy and delicious!!

Serves: 2

Ingredients:

• half cup quinoa
• half cup buckwheat
• 2 carrots, grated
• 1 red onion, chopped
• 1 Pepper (any colour – I chose Red & Orange)
• 3 handfuls spinach
• 2 tbsp peanut butter
• 2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
• Juice from 1/2 small lemon
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 cloves minced garlic
• Sea salt and pepper
• Kale chips (Bake kale in oven with olive oil & salt at 350 degrees until crispy; YUM!!!)

Directions:

1. Put quinoa & buckwheat in separate pan and simmer for 20mins
2. Heat oil over medium-high heat, add onion, garlic, stirring frequently for 4-5 minutes.
3. Add in carrot, about 3 minutes. Add peanut butter, vinegar and lemon juice.
4. Add in spinach 1 handful at a time until wilted. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
5. When quinoa & buckwheat is prepared, fluff with fork and add in vegetable mixture.
6. Place in serving bowls and top with those gorgeous kale chips.
7. Deelish!!

Quick and Easy Veggie Diet Dinner

This is a great dinner:

it takes 15 minutes at the most to make

It uses up what I usually have in the house

It’s low in fat and calories

Most importantly it tastes badass

Quick and Easy Veggie Diet Dinner

Ingredients

2 veggie burgers

Frozen broccoli

Frozen runner beans

Frozen sliced carrots

Gnocchi

Chilli sauce

Olive oil

Pinch of sea salt

Serves 1

Directions

Put all frozen veg into the steamer

Put veggie burgers under the grill

After 10 minutes add gnocchi to the steamer and steam for a further 3 minutes

Drizzle the olive oil & chilli sauce onto the vegetables and gnocchi and add desired amount of salt

Voila, a gorgeous dinner! Who said eating on your own has to be boring! X

Vegan Festive Flapjacks

Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses 
your understanding. Even as the stone of the fruit must break, that its 
heart may stand in the sun, so must you know pain. Khalil Gibran

For some reason mincemeat has a bit of a stigma; maybe its because it has the words meat in it and it’s sweet, which is a pretty weird combination! So I won a jar of mincemeat at a tombola with my friend and just wanted to make something that everyone would eat. See what you think.

Vegan Festive Flapjacks

Ingredients 

• 250g porridge oats
• Zest of one orange, finely grated
• 1/4 cinnamon
• ½ tsp ground ginger
• Pinch of sea salt
• 125g (dairy free) margarine ot unsalted butter
• 75g brown sugar
• 4 tbsp marmalade
• Mincemeat, I used a whole jar
• 50g dark chocolate

Directions

• Measure out the porridge oats then stir in the orange zest, salt, cinnamon and ginger.
  
• Melt the butter, sugar and marmalade together in a pan over a low heat and stir
• Add the melted mixture to the oats and mix to combine. Press about 2/3 of the mixture into a 20 x 30 cm pan and press down.
• Spread a thin layer mincemeat over the top.
• Sprinkle the remaining flapjack mixture over the top of that.
• Gently press down again, don’t worry if it looks patchy. Put into oven preheated to 180 c for about 20 minutes.
• Melt chocolate in a double boiler, stirring frequently. (If you don’t have a double boiler, place a stainless-steel bowl on top of a pot of boiling water so that the bowl rests in the water but doesn’t touch the bottom of the pot.
• Once the flapjacks are cooked use a teaspoon to drizzle the chocolate over the top. Place in the fridge to cool.
• Cut in to portion size pieces.

Quinoa, butternut squash, mushroom, carrot and kale

“When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you till it seems you could not hold on a minute longer, never give up then for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn “

Harriet Beetrace Stowe

Quinoa, butternut squash, mushroom, carrot and kale

Ingredients

• 2 cups of Quinoa
• 1 cup butternut squash, cut into bite sized pieces
• 1 tablespoon coconut oil
• 1 red onion, diced
• 1 mushrooms, sliced
• 3 cups kale, torn into bit sized pieces
• 2 carrots thinly sliced
• 1 clove garlic thinly sliced
• Splash of white wine
• salt and pepper and chilli flakes to taste

Directions

1. Boil Quinoa in separate pan with a little salt
2. Whilst quinoa is cooking, heat oil in the pan and add the onions and the garlic. Cook for a few minutes
3. Add the oil butternut squash, carrots and mushrooms to the pan, cook until tender, about 10-15 minutes.
4. Add salt and white wine to pan
5. Add the kale and saute until wilted, about 2 minutes.
6. Serve hot and add chilli if you like it spicy!

Spicy Aubergine Dip

“Fall down seven times, stand up eight”

This dip is great with anything; bread, veg, salad, fish, meat, rice, quinoa you name it, its even great on its own. I ate mine with falafel and it was awesome! Look out for my healthy falafel recipe.

Ingredients:
1 Aubergine chopped in cubes
1 red onion, diced
1 red pepper, sliced
1 tin of chopped plum tomatoes (personally I dont buy chopped tomatoes as am never sure which part of the tomato you’re getting)
2 cloves of garlic chopped 1 teaspoon coconut oil
1 tablespoon paprika
1 teaspoon palm coconut sugar (or brown sugar)
half a scotch bonnet pepper, chopped
Sea salt

Directions:

1. Heat oil in saucepan, add garlic, onion and lightly brown off 3-4mins
2. Add Aubergine and Red pepper continue frying on low heat for 8-10 mins
3. Add Tomatoes, sugar, Scotch bonnet, paprika and salt, mix well and bring to the boil.
4. Simmer for 30 mins till sauce reduces.
5. Add more Scotch bonnet if its not spicy enough and if its too spicy add a bit more sugar.
6. Delicious served hot or cold!

Falafel, Aubergine dip and salad in pitta!

 

Vegan Dark Chocolate Caramel Bites With Sea Salt

“We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master”

ERNEST HEMINGWAY

These gorgeous treats were inspired by another recipe (Kris Carr), and since all my mums friends now want to eat them, I am posting them here for you. If you do make them please post whether you like them, or if you changed them at all.

Makes: 18 cookies

Ingredients:
7 ounces medjool dates
1 tablespoon tahini
1/3 cup dark chocolate
1 teaspoon coconut oil
Sea salt, for garnish

Directions:

1. Purée dates and tahini in a blender for about a minute (I used the hand blender as it was easier), then freeze mixture for 15 minutes.
2. Line a cookie sheet with wax paper. Measure out mixture by the teaspoon, roll, flatten to quarter-size bites, and lay on the prepared sheet.
3. Melt chocolate and coconut oil in a double boiler, stirring frequently. (If you don’t have a double boiler, place a stainless-steel bowl on top of a pot of boiling water so that the bowl rests in the water but doesn’t touch the bottom of the pot, and melt the ingredients in the bowl.) Using a fork, dip cookies into chocolate to lightly coat and return to the cookie sheet.
4. When all cookies are coated, lightly dust with sea salt and any extra chocolate to taste. Place the cookie sheet in the freezer for 20 minutes, then move to the refrigerator.
5. Serve cold, or at room temperature if you prefer them softer. Personally I like them from the freezer as they dont freeze but are just gorgeous and chewy!