thank goodness for december

Now that November is over, I can get busy in the kitchen again.

Going sugar-free made me realise that I just love making desserts.  Is that bad?  Maybe, but as the kids say these days, YOLO!

To welcome fruit in my life, I made the following pillows of goodness.

Oat and banana pancakes

Serves 13x10 cm pancakes (i know, weird number)

Ingredients

1 1/4 cup wholegrain oats

1/2 cup wholemeal flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp sea salt

1 1/2 cups unsweetened almond milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 ripe bananas + 1 to serve

coconut oil spray

Maple syrup to serve

Method

Place all ingredients, except bananas, in a large bowl and use a hand held blender to blend until smooth.

Add 2 bananas and blend until incorporated in to the batter.

Spray a large frying pan with coconut oil and heat on medium heat until hot.

Add batter and cook in two.  About 1/4 of a cup per pancake.

Repeat process until all batter is used up, spraying pan as required.

Serve pancakes with extra banana and maple syrup.

Or do as I do, eat them on their own or covered in almond butter.

YUM.

But it's not just the sweet life I love, I also love making new food discoveries.  I've recently discovered a little something called Slim Pasta.  I'd been looking at it for a while but wasn't too sure, but decided to try it out and it has proved quiet tasty and easy to use.  I just use it in place of noodles and pasta in meals and it's also easy and quick to prepare.

Here's a couple of recipes I've been making of late.

Spicy Curry Noodles with Spinach and Mushrooms

Serves 2

Ingredients

1 packet of slim pasta organic fettucini

2 cups of baby spinach

1 cup red capsicum strips

1/4 cup red onion, thinly sliced

1 cup enoki mushrooms, cut in half

1/2 cup zucchini julienne

1/4 cup coriander chopped

2 TBS unhulled tahini

2 TBS tamari

4 TBS water (or more depending on preferred consistency)

1/2 tsp chilli flakes (optional)

1 TBS curry powder

sprouts and sesame seeds to garnish

Method

Prepare pasta to packet instructions.

Combine tahini, tamari, water, curry powder and chilli flakes in a bowl, and whisk to combine.  Should reach a smooth consistency. Add more water at this stage if required.

In a large bowl, combine all your vegetables and pasta, add dressing, and mix throughly.  I use my hands as I like to get every single strand of pasta and vegetable covered in the goodness.

Divide into serving plate and decorate with sprouts and seeds.

 I like to eat this at room temperature or cold, it's refreshing and really filling.  It also travels well and is a favourite work lunch/dinner.

Roasted vegetable Pasta
Serves 2

Ingredients

1 packet of Slim pasta organic fettucini
2 garlic cloves unpeeled
3 grey zucchini
1/2 large eggplant
2 large flat mushrooms
2 cups spinach shredded
1/4 cup basil shredded
1 cup tomato pasta sauce
2 tsp nutritional yeast
4 kalamata olives sliced
2 semi-dried tomatoes sliced

Method

Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius.  Line a baking tray with baking paper and set aside.
Cut your zucchinis in half lengthways and cut into 1 cm slices.
Cut your eggplant into 1 cm slices and cut each slice into quarters.
Slice your mushrooms and combine them with your other vegetables and garlic.
Lay flat on baking tray and dry bake them for apporoximately 20 minutes or until soft and slightly golden.
Cook pasta to packet instructions and place in a large bowl.
Add your cooked vegetables, shredded spinach, basil, and sauce to the pasta and mix thoroughly until sauce is incorporated and everything is coated.
Serve and decorate with olives, tomatoes and nutritional yeast.
Eat straight away!
You can have this cold or warm.  Up to you.

The beauty of this dish is that you can add any vegetable you want.  Baked capsicum would go really nicely too, with a bit of chilli flakes in the sauce.

As you can see, I didn't use any oil in the cooking, so this is perfect for those watching their fat intake.  The pasta itself only has 11.8 calories per serve, so when you combine it with dry baked vegetables and a tomato sauce, you've got a really good, low-fat, low-calorie, nutrient dense meal.  You are getting some B group vitamins from the mushrooms and nutritional yeast, some iron from the spinach, and the vitamin c in the tomato sauce is helping with it's absorption.  Winner of a dish.  Really satisfying and won't leave you filling bloated and needing a nap like starchy pasta.

I've also been experimenting with some burger recipes I've found on the net.  The one I tried was from fatfreevegan and it was delicious.  I love this blog as most of her recipes are made using no added fats and they are really delicious.

I served them with a side of sweet potato chips which I dried baked and a lovely salad of spinach, carrots, sunflower seeds and capsicum with a simple lemon vinaigrette.


Inside my burger bun, i had avocado, baby spinach, and sprouts.  I also made some coriander cashew mayonnaise and pickled red onions.



Coriander Cashew Mayonnaise
Makes 1 1/4 cups

Ingredients

1/2 cup raw cashews, soaked overnight (4 hours minimum)
1/2 lemon juiced
1 cup coriander chopped
1/2 cup water
1 tsp sea salt
8 drops of tabasco (optional)
1/2 small clove garlic


Method

Place ingredients in a blender and blend on high until completely smooth. 
Season to taste. 
Store leftovers in a sealed glass container.  Keeps for up to 3 days.

Pickled onions

Makes approx. 1 1/2 cups

Ingredients

1 large red onion thinly sliced
3/4 cup white vinegar
2 teaspoons sea salt
3 tablespoons sugar
1 dried bay leaf
4 whole cloves


Method

Place your ingredients, except onion, into a medium saucepan, and bring to a gentle boil until all the sugar has dissolved.
Add the onion, and stir for a couple of minutes.  Take it off the heat, place it in a glass container, and put in the fridge to cool down.  Or you can let them cool down at room temperature but I couldn't wait that long!!

And whilst we're on the topic of add-ons, I have to say that hummus is one of my favourites.  It's full of fibre, and it's super tasty and nutritious.  I always wonder why people buy it when it's so simple to make.  You can add it to just about everything, and it's such a great protein rich snack to keep those munchies away.  Here' my fail proof recipe.

The best Hummus

Makes approx. 1 1/2 cups

Ingredients

1 400g can of organic chickpeas

1/2 lemon juiced

1 small clove of garlic

1 tsp sea salt

1/4 cup unhulled tahini

6 drops of tabasco (optional)

1/4 cup water (or more depending on preferred consistency)

Method

Place all ingredients in a food processor or powerful blender and whiz until smooth.

Enjoy with EVERYTHING!!

I don't know what it is but whenever I'm feeling a little out of sorts, I always turn to soup. It's also perfect for when I'm feeling cerebrally challenged after a long day at work as it requires minimal preparation or fussing over.  Chopping and blending is as hard as it gets.  Thank goodness for soup.

Green power cream soup

Serves 2

Ingredients

2 cups fresh spinach chopped

1 cup zucchini chopped

1 cup broccoli chopped

1/2 brown onion chopped

1/4 cup flat leaf parsley chopped

1/4 cup celery chopped

2 cloves of garlic

1 litre of water

1/4 raw cashews

1 vegan stock cube

2 TBS creamed corn (optional)

alfalfa sprouts (optional)

Method

Place water, cashews, stock cube and garlic in a saucepan and bring to the boil on med-high heat.  Lower heat add zucchini, broccoli, celery and onion and cook for about 5 minutes.  Add spinach and cook for a further 2 minutes.  Turn heat off and add parsley.  

Using a hand held blender, blend until smooth.

Check seasoning once blended and adjust as desired.

Serve with a TBS of creamed corn and some alfalfa sprouts.

Again, I didn't add any oil, and you will get some good fats

from the cashews, as well as a bunch of other good stuff.

But a meal is not complete without a sweet little treat!  Now that No-sugar-vember is over, I have been able to indulge in some fruit and indulge I have!

With the temperatures reaching crazy high 30's, here's a treat to keep you cool.

Cookies and Cream Gelato

serves 2.....or 1 :)

Ingredients

For the cookies

1 cup raw almonds

1 cup raw brazil nuts

6 medjool dates

1/4 cup raw cacao powder

1 TBS coconut oil

1 tsp vanilla essence

For the gelato

2 frozen bananas

Method for Cookies

Place all ingredients in a food processor and process until you get a crumb that holds together when pressed into a ball.

Take about 3 TBS of the crumbs for your gelato.

Line a shallow tray with baking paper and press the rest of the crumb into it to make a slab.  Cover and place in the freezer for indulging at a later date.  Or you can get cookie cutters and cut out shapes, store shapes in a container lined with baking paper and keep in the freezer.  Take them out only as you are about to eat them otherwise you risk eating them all in the one go, and they will also return to their crumbly beginnings.  Don't say I didn't warn you!

Method for Gelato

Place frozen bananas in food processor and blend until it reaches a smooth, gelato like consistency.  Add your crumbs and pulse until it's incorporated into the gelato but not blended threw.

Serve and enjoy. 

A chocolaty hit without the refined sugars.  That's what I like the most.

With the festive season creeping upon us, I'm looking forward to trying out some christmas inspired recipes. I'm going to perfect a pumpkin pie, and also make some quinoa stuffed mini pumpkins for christmas dinner.  And you can't have christmas without vegan christmas pudding with lashings of vanilla custard can you?  No, that would be wrong!

Peas, love and mungbeans

xxb