Monday, 20 June 2016

A Few Easy & Tasty Winter Weekday Meal Ideas

As I'm spending most of my summer break at home, I started cooking a ton and have found a few new favorite recipes that I wanted to share! I'm not super great at writing up recipes, so I'll just give an overview of ingredients and basic steps: these are all super simple and very hard to mess up! I hope you love them!



Porridge with banana, coconut, and super seeds

  • Rolled oats
  • Plant-based milk (I like a mix of almond & coconut)
  • Tinned coconut milk
  • Coconut oil
  • Banana, sliced
  • Optional: chia seeds, flax seeds, fresh berries, almonds
I've gone a week with this for breakfast every single day, and never get sick of it! I put 1/2 cup of oats, 1 cup of milk, a splash of tinned coconut milk and half the sliced banana in a saucepan and heat it over medium flame for about 5 minutes (add chia/flax if you want here). Then add a tablespoon of coconut oil, and cook for a further 5 minutes. Once it's your ideal consistency, serve it up with the rest of the banana, and any other fruit or nuts on top!



Italian seasoned sweet potato chips

  • Sweet potato (I can happily eat one sweet potato, so maybe one per person)
  • Olive oil
  • Italian herbs (Moroccan herbs are also great)
This one is definitely the easiest of the bunch, it takes literally 3 minutes to get started. Preheat the oven to about 170 celsius. Peel and chop up the potatoes. I like wedges but also enjoy round slices. Then just pop them in a lined pan with olive oil and herbs, make sure everything's evenly coated, and pop in the oven. Turn halfway through cooking, and when they're a little bit crispy, they're ready to enjoy!



Brown rice burrito bowl with fresh guacamole

  • Rice (I like brown rice)
  • Black beans
  • Garlic
  • Avocado
  • Fresh coriander/cilantro
  • Fresh tomato
  • Lime juice
I was super hungry last week and threw this together to satisfy all my cravings. It's so great! Start by putting the rice on to cook, it will be ready when it's nice and fluffy! To make the guac, just mash the avocado in a bowl, add as much chopped tomato as you want, some lime juice, and about one clove of crushed garlic. Combine the black beans with 2 cloves of crushed garlic, and put it in a pan to heat up for about five minutes, stirring frequently. When everything's ready just pop it all in a bowl and you're good to go! (Pictured with some homemade tortilla chips: super easy too! Just chop up tortillas and drizzle with olive oil, bake in the oven until crisp!)



Cozy pesto pasta

  • One serve of pasta (I love brown rice or quinoa spirals)
  • About 1/2 cup of basil
  • About 1 cup of fresh spinach
  • Small handful of pine nuts or cashews
  • Olive oil
  • Lemon juice
  • More fresh spinach (or rocket/arugula, for serving)
  • Fresh tomatoes
  • Optional: cheese (vegan or regular, whatever you prefer)
Definitely my go-to comfort food, I love this so much! Pop your pasta on to cook with a pinch of salt. While it cooks, combine the basil, spinach and nuts in a food processor with approx. 1/2 cup olive oil and about 1 tbsp of lemon juice. Add less/more olive oil depending on the consistency you're after. Then just stir the pesto into the cooked pasta, add some fresh spinach leaves and fresh tomato and it's all done! Top with cheese if you like. Perfect for a night in front of the TV.
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Monday, 13 June 2016

Recipe: Super Easy Vegan & GF Salted Caramel Slice


A few months ago I began slowly changing my diet to cut out refined sugar, dairy, and gluten. I've been a vegetarian for many years and to me this seemed like a very doable and rewarding next step. The one challenge I kept facing was that my obsessive sweet tooth meant I was constantly craving a chocolate bar or bag of sweets, and I knew I needed to figure out how to make some healthier alternatives. I began reading some amazing blogs and recipe books (post on some of these coming soon), and now my pantry is stocked with ingredients that I can throw together to create some sweet deliciousness. Admittedly this is a little dangerous, but so far I am loving creating new and exciting treats.

This week I experimented a little bit and created something absolutely incredible: vegan, gluten free and refined sugar free salted caramel slice. Caramel slice has been a favourite of mine since I was a little kid, so this made me so so happy! This recipe is super duper easy, and you only need a handful of ingredients.





Salted Caramel Slice (Vegan, GF, Refined Sugar Free)

Makes approx. 16 bars

Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook/cool time: approx. 2 hours

Ingredients:

  • For the crust
    • 1 cup almond meal
    • 1 cup brown rice flour
    • 1/3 cup coconut oil (melted)
    • 2/3 cup water
    • 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
  • For the caramel filling
    • 5 medjool dates, pitted and halved
    • 1/2 cup almond butter (homemade works best here)
    • 1/3 cup pure maple syrup
    • 1 small tin full-fat coconut milk
  • For the chocolate top layer
    • 100g vegan chocolate chips
    • 1 tbsp coconut oil

Method:

  1. Start by preheating the oven to 180°C or 160°C fan-forced. While the oven is heating up, mix the crust ingredients together in a bowl until it is a dough-like consistency. Line a tray with baking paper or grease with coconut oil, and evenly spread the crust mixture out in the tray.
  2. Place the crust in the oven for about 20-25 minutes, or until lightly golden on top. While it is baking, place all the caramel filling ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat, and keep stirring until it forms a slightly runny, mostly goeey consistency. If you want it totally smooth (the dates will add some texture), then just blend it for a few seconds once it's mostly smooth.
  3. Once the crust is done and cooled, pour the caramel filling over it and place it in the fridge for about an hour, until it is nearly solid. 
  4. Melt the vegan chocolate with the tablespoon of coconut oil either over the stove or in the microwave, and pour over the other layers. Place it in the fridge again for another hour.
  5. Once the chocolate layer has solidified, remove it from the pan and slice into pieces. Enjoy the caramel and chocolatey goodness!
If you try this recipe, let me know in the comments below how they turned out, or tag me on Instagram with @rebeccasather!

x B




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