Category Archives: picnic food

Super quick chocolate n’ice cream 

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The weather is finally warm! Woohoo!

That makes me want ice cream so I thought I’d whip up a quick batch of chocolate ice cream. It took minutes to make and has all the taste of lovely creamy ice cream with none of the bad stuff!

Only two ingredients: Frozen bananas and raw cocoa powder!

I used about two bananas which I chopped and froze yesterday but they don’t take long to freeze so whack some in now and you can make it in a couple of hours! I popped these into my Vitamix (any high speed blender will work) and added 2 tbsp of cocoa powder – whizzed it all together and voila! You can add a little more or less cocoa according to taste if you want.

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You could eat straight away or pop in to ice lolly moulds for later 🙂

Mint choc chip N’ice cream – dairy, gluten and sugar-free!

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Now it’s getting warmer I’m craving ice cream and I absolutely love mint choc chip ice cream so I thought I’d whip up a batch of a slightly less naughty version!

This is as good, if not better, than the traditional stuff and only has four ingredients!

The ingredients below made about 5-6 generous scoops but it will depend on the size of the bananas so you may need to adjust quantities a bit. Don’t be scared about the spinach – you really can’t taste it at all and it gives not only a great nutrient boost but a lovely green colour 🙂

I always have frozen bananas in my freezer for smoothies, banana bread etc. I don’t like over ripe bananas so if they ever start to get too ripe I chop them up and pop them in freezer bags. Then they’re ready to use any time! So first things first – freeze some bananas!

You will need:

Frozen bananas – I used 4 medium bananas

Handful of spinach (adjust according to how green you want it!)

Couple of tbsp Cacao nibs (or you can use any dark chocolate – sugar free or not – your choice)

Natural peppermint extract (to taste) (or fresh mint leaves if you happen to have some)

Pop the bananas in to a high speed blender – I use my trusty vitamix but any blender that can handle ice will do, and blitz it to start to break up the bananas. Once they start to smoosh up (technical term 😉 ) add the spinach a little at a time. Then add a few drops of peppermint extract – the amount will depend on how minty you like it! You don’t want it tasting like mouthwash though so go easy to start with! Keep blitzing it and stirring it in until the spinach is combined and the colour you want. Remove from the blender and stir the cacao nibs/chopped chocolate through it and serve!

It melts fast so get in quick! You can refreeze it – ideally refreeze in ice cube trays and then when you want to eat it pop the cubes in to the blender and give it a very quick blitz!

How easy was that? 🙂

Amazing Protein-Packed Flapjacks – dairy and gluten free

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I get hungry, especially after a workout and I love a good flapjack or energy bar but I hate the fact that so many of the store bought ones are just full of sugar. Many of the ‘healthier’ versions I’ve bought are tasteless and unappetising so last Saturday, after a full on day, I thought I’d create some homemade protein flapjacks – full of good things!

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I thought I’d do a little video to show you them in the flesh – so here goes:

and the finished product:

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These don’t take long to put together and you can always substitute things if you don’t have them in the cupboard or don’t like them.

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You will need:

300g rolled porridge oats (gluten-free or spelt if you want)

100g desiccated coconut

100g flaked almonds

100g Pumpkin seeds

215g dried, soft Prunes

315g dried dates

175g Almond butter (or your nut butter of choice)

100g Liquid sweetener (I used rice malt syrup but you can use agave, maple syrup, honey etc)

2 tbsp Coconut oil (measured when solid)

4 tbsp Vanilla protein powder (any brand you like – or you can also omit this)

4 tbsp Water

2 generous tsp Cinnamon

1/2 tsp Salt

Preheat the oven to 170 C.

Line a baking tin (I used a 20 x 20cm one) with baking paper. Mix the oats, almonds, pumpkin seeds and coconut together and pour into the baking tin. Place in the oven for 20 mins or until starting to brown. Make sure you turn regularly with a wooden spoon so the whole mixture gets toasted.

While that’s in the oven pop the dates and prunes into a blender or food processor and blitz to a paste. You may need to keep stopping to scrape the mixture back down in to the bowl. It doesn’t need to be completely smooth – a few lumpy bits are good!

Remove the oats from the oven and stir the protein powder through the mixture. Allow to cool.

Put the date mixture, nut butter, liquid sweetener, coconut oil, water, cinnamon and salt in to a large saucepan and heat very gently. Stir and allow the mixture to come together. Remove from the heat and pour the oats into the liquid mixture and mix really well.

Using a spatula scrape the mixture back into the lined baking tin and press down firmly. Then allow to cool and pop in the fridge. Do make sure you lick the saucepan (once it’s cool enough!!!) because the mixture is divine when warm! 🙂

Once it’s chilled you can cut in to slices. It makes the perfect post workout snack on the go and is great to pop in to lunchboxes too!

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Chocolate Cherry Brownies – gluten and dairy free

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My hubby and I had a rare evening out last night with some very good friends to go and watch “Dirty Dancing” at the open air cinema. Tasked with providing dessert I decided I’d go for some good old chocolately goodness and whip up a new version of my brownies for us to munch on whilst watching the film… They’re almost as tasty as Patrick Swayze 😉

The sweet-sour of the cherries works so well to balance out the rich chocolate in these and they’re brilliant served with berries and some cashew cream (recipe here) for a decadent (but not too bad for you) dessert.

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You will need:

1/4 cup Rice flour

1/2 cup Ground almonds

1 cup unrefined Raw sugar (golden caster sugar, coconut sugar etc)

1/2 cup almond oil (or coconut oil)

1/4 cup raw Cacoa powder

2 tbsp chia seeds soaked in 6 tbsp water

1/2 tsp Himalayan rock salt

1/4 tsp Bicarbonate of soda

1 tsp Vanilla extract

100g dried Cherries

Dairy free chocolate (I use Willie’s cacao drops) – about a handful (approx 100g)

For Icing

100g Dairy free chocolate (again I use Willie’s cacao drops)

100 – 200g Unrefined icing sugar (adjust quantity to depending how runny you want your icing)

Freeze dried Cherries to decorate

Preheat the oven to 170C and grease a 20 x 20cm square baking pan with parchment paper.

Mix the ground almonds, flour, cacao powder, sugar, salt and bicarbonate of soda together in a large mixing bowl. In a separate bowl soak the chia seeds in the water. Once the chia seeds have absorbed all the water add them to the mix along with the vanilla extract, and oil. Whisk together using a hand mixer until well mixed. It should be thick and glossy when mixed.

Stir in the chocolate and cherries (cut them in half if they are large). Pour in to the baking tin and place in the oven for 25 – 30 mins until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Cool on a wire rack

Then prepare the icing. Melt the chocolate and then stir in the icing sugar a little at a time until you get the consistency you want. Spread quickly on to the brownies and sprinkle the freeze dried cherries and any other decorations you want to use on to the top!

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Then enjoy (preferably with a side helping of Patrick Swayze 😉 )

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Blueberry and Lemon Curd with a surprise ingredient – dairy and egg free!

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My lemon curd recipe (here) has gone down a storm so I thought I’d have a little go at some more curd! I’ve had some blueberries in my freezer for the last few months waiting to be used for something so I decided a blueberry and lemon curd was the one to try!

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This curd is lovely! It’s especially yummy smothered on sourdough fruit toast 🙂

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What’s this surprise ingredient then? Well it’s certainly not something you’d expect to find in a fruit curd! The problem with blueberries in baking is that they do tend to lose their flavour and I didn’t want to overpower them with the lemon. After a bit of research I discovered a nifty little trick to enhance the blueberry flavour; the addition of coriander seeds! Trust me you will not taste the coriander at all but it does bring out the blueberry flavour. This is because they both contain a similar compound so adding the coriander gives the blueberry flavour a real boost!

So you will need:

approx 400g Blueberries (don’t worry if you have a few more or less – it’s not critical)

1/2 cup Water

12 Coriander seeds ground (or a 1/4 tsp ready ground coriander)

Up to 1 cup of Lemon juice (see below) – I used 4 very large lemons

3/4 cup of unrefined raw Sugar (but adjust to taste)

10 tbsp Cornflour

zest of 2 – 3 Lemons

4 tbsp Dairy-free margarine

12 tbsp Coconut milk (or other non dairy milk – almond milk or soya milk will also work)

Pop the blueberries in to a saucepan with the water and heat gently until the blueberries are softened.

While the blueberries are softening you can juice and zest your lemons. You only need the zest from 2 – 3 lemons but it’s worth zesting all of them and keeping the remaining zest in the freezer to use in other recipes later.

Once the blueberries have softened add the ground coriander seed, stir well and heat for a further 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and pass the blueberries through a sieve. Use a wooden spoon to push as much through the sieve as you can. You will be left with a small amount of skin and pulp. Save this and use it in a smoothie! 🙂

Measure your blueberry juice out  – you need a total amount of liquid of 3 cups. The blueberry juice will be about 2 cups or so,  so make it up to 3 cups with the lemon juice. Place it all in to a cold saucepan. Add the cornstarch and whisk to dissolve. Add half the sugar and turn on the heat. Continue to whisk as you bring the mixture to a boil slowly. Taste as you go and add more sugar until you get to a sweetness that suits you. Once boiling allow it to boil gently for one minute without stirring.

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Add the rest of the ingredients, whisking the whole time, and cook for 3 minutes. Remove from the heat, pour into a bowl or jars and allow to cool. Place in the fridge once cooled. Then enjoy! 🙂

Oh My – Homemade Lemon Meringue Pie! Easy and dairy and gluten free! (vegan)

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Yes, you read that right – this is a completely dairy and gluten free lemon meringue pie! Can you believe it? I’m not sure I can but I am ridiculously excited about it!

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I’ve been obsessing about lemon meringue pie lately but really wanted to avoid the traditional gluten and dairy-filled pie recipes. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to pull this off but… oh my word – I definitely have! This is so yummy and really pretty easy too.

I gave a piece to my top taster and this was the result after only a few minutes… so I’m pretty sure she liked it too 😉

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This recipe is in 3 parts – the pastry shell, the curd filling and the meringue. The curd is super easy and the recipe has been posted separately (here) but I’ll re-post it here for ease. The curd recipe will give you more than you need but that’s ok – you can save it for later (or make some extra mini pies too!). If you want a thicker meringue then simply double the meringue ingredients.

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For the pastry:

100g Ground almonds
100g Flaked almonds
75g Rice flour(or other gluten free flour)
25g Golden raw Caster sugar (or other unrefined sugar)
50ml Almond oil
3 -4 tbsp cold almond or other non dairy milk
Pinch of Himalayan rock salt

For the filling:

1 1/4 cups of Lemon juice (I used 6 very large lemons)
Zest of half of the lemons used (freeze the rest of the zest for use later)
1/2 cup of Cold water
1 3/4 cups unrefined raw Sugar (adjust to taste)
5 tbsp Cornflour (corn starch)
2 tbsp non-dairy margarine
6 tbsp Almond milk (you could also use soya or coconut milk)

For the meringue:

6 tbsp Egg replacer (I used Orgran No-egg)
1/2 cup and 2 tbsp ice cold Water
1/2 cup unrefined raw Sugar (smaller granules work better)

Make your curd filling to start with (you can make the curd well in advance – it will keep for a few weeks in the fridge).

Juice and zest your lemons. You only need the zest from half of the lemons but it’s worth zesting them all and keeping the remaining zest in the freezer to use in other recipes later.

Place the lemon juice and water in a cold saucepan. Add the cornstarch and whisk to dissolve. Add the sugar and turn on the heat. Continue to whisk as you bring the mixture to a boil slowly. Once boiling allow it to boil gently for one minute without stirring.

Add the rest of the ingredients, whisking the whole time, and cook for 3 minutes. Have a little taste – if it’s not sweet enough for you then stir in some more sugar. Remove from the heat, pour into a bowl and allow to cool in the fridge. Place clingfilm over the bowl to avoid a skin forming.

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While the curd cools you can make your pastry.

Preheat the oven to 180 C and grease a 20 cm flan or pie dish lightly with almond oil.

Put the ground and flaked almonds into a bowl with the flour and salt and stir to combine. Keep stirring and add in the olive oil gradually. Add 2 tablespoons of almond milk and keep stirring. The mixture should hold together when pressed, if it doesn’t then add some more almond milk, stirring all the time, until it does. At this point have a taste. If you want a sweeter pastry then add some more sugar until you get the desired flavour. Press in to the flan dish. You may well have some pastry left over – if so you can either make some mini-pies or you can create little flat biscuits with the leftovers (just bake until cooked!) .

Bake in the oven for 15 minutes or until set and barely golden. Remove from the oven and brush the pastry with a little almond oil and return to the oven for a few minutes to set then set aside to cool.

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Once the pastry has cooled fill it with as much curd as you fancy and place in the fridge while you prepare the meringue.

Preheat the oven to 100 C.

Put the egg-replacer in to a large, clean, dry mixing bowl. Add a small amount of water and begin to whisk – ideally with an electric hand blender if you have one. It will form a sticky paste. Continue to mix and add a little water at a time, together with a little sugar. Whisk the whole time and add the water and sugar very gradually. You will see that the paste begins to rise. Whisk until you have stiff peaks and it is a marshmallowy consistency.

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Remove the filled pie from the fridge and spread the meringue over the top. Allow to sit for 10 – 15 minutes so it begins to set. Then place in the oven for 30 minutes. If you want a browned finish to the meringue you can use a cooks blow torch to add that effect.

Allow to cool (if you can wait – I confess, I couldn’t!) and then enjoy!

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Malt loaf muffins! Dairy and Gluten free!

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After seeing a post of some delicious looking malt loaf muffins my friend Vicky made I decided I simply had to have a go at gluten and dairy-freeing them! I love the spicy richness of malt loaf so was sure these would be divine. These also super easy to make and make a great grab and go brekkie if you’re on the run. Thank you for the inspiration Vicky! 🙂

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You will need:

1 2/3 cups gluten-free Oat bran (if you don’t need to go gluten free then go with wheat bran)

1 cup and 4 tsp Coconut sugar (or other raw, unrefined sugar)

2 tsp Rice malt syrup (or Agave)

2 cups Raisins and currants

2 tsp ground Cinnamon

2 tsp Allspice

1/8 tsp ground Cloves

1/8 tsp ground Nutmeg

pinch of Himalayan rock salt

2 cups of Almond or other non-dairy milk

2 cups of Gluten free flour (or Spelt flour)

2 tsp Baking powder

This mixture will make approx 12 medium sized muffins and 6 mini ones.

Pop all the ingredients apart from the flour and baking powder in to a large bowl and mix well. Allow to soak for a couple of hours so the bran absorbs the milk and forms a wet mush!

Preheat the oven to 180 C.

Mix the flour and baking powder together really well and then add to the wet ingredients. Combine thoroughly and then pop in to muffin cases, sprinkle some coconut sugar over the top and bake for 20 – 25 mins, or until a skewer comes out clean.

These are delicious straight out the oven while still warm or will keep for a few days in an airtight container. You can also freeze them to eat later.

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Pumpkin Butter (gluten and dairy free) and a bonus Pumpkin Purée Recipe!

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This is so simple and so yummy! It’s like a cross between a jam and a nut butter, with a hint of sweetness but also the savoury flavour from the pumpkin! Simply divine and a great way to use up any pumpkin flesh you have left over after carving those little beauties!

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You will need:

about 800g Pumpkin purée (made from the pumpkin flesh – see below for recipe.  A 6 inch pumpkin should yield enough purée. Althernatively you can buy canned purée if you need to)

1 cup unrefined Coconut or other raw dark sugar

Optional – you can also add spices to your butter. If you fancy doing this I recommend:

1 tsp ground Cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground Cloves

1/4 tsp Allspice

To make the purée, scoop the seeds out of the pumpkin (don’t throw these away! You can lay them out on a pan and roast them – see here for a great recipe).

If you are not using the pumpkin to carve then simply cut it in to halves or quarters and place on a roasting dish and cover with foil. Bake in the oven for 25 mins at 200 C until the flesh is soft. Remove from the oven and scoop the flesh out of the pumpkin, and then place in a bowl.  If you are using the left overs from carving you will probably need to use a few pumpkins (it will depend on the size and how much carving you do!). Lay the flesh out on a baking tray and cover with foil and roast – 10 – 15 mins should be enough depending on the size but just keep going until the flesh is tender.

Use a hand blender to purée the pumpkin. Place the resulting purée in to a muslin cloth / cheese cloth and squeeze the excess water out and voila – you have your own pumpkin purée!

To make the butter:

Place the purée into a sauce pan and add the sugar and spices if you are using them. Then heat on a medium heat, stirring frequently. You are aiming to reduce the pumpkin down to a very very thick, dark paste. This quantity should yield about 1 – 2 cups of the butter itself so just keep going. You need the heat high enough to reduce the purée but just under the burning point. It took me about 45 mins to get to the butter stage – it should be so thick it sticks to the spoon and won’t slide off. Once you are there then remove from the heat and either place in a sterilised jar or simply pop in a bowl and eat!

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Perfect on sliced apples, fruit toast or it goes brilliantly on these breakfast pumpkin bread sweet loaves too (recipe to follow shortly!). Enjoy!

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Spiced Toffee Apples!

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Before I start with my glut of hallowe’en inspired pumpkin bakes I thought I’d quickly get this one in! Nothing says autumn, Hallowe’en and fireworks night like toffee apples! I’m always so disappointed with the ones you buy in the shops so I thought I’d make my own this year!

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These are easy to make but you just have to have a little faith and let that sugar boil! They’re great fun to make for the kids, though I certainly wouldn’t let the kids make them themselves – children and boiling sugar aren’t a great combo!

If you have a sugar thermometer for the toffee then that’s brill! I don’t, but luckily my mum does, so I borrowed hers! If you don’t have a handy mum to borrow one from then never fear, you can still make this by using a bowl of cold water to test when the toffee is ready (see below).

You will need:

300g Golden granulated sugar

100g Unrefined brown sugar

1 Star anise

1 large Cinnamon stick

2 Tbsp Maple syrup

100ml Water

75g Pecans crushed/chopped finely

6 Apples (Braeburns work well, as do Granny Smiths – you want an apple with a bit of tartness to combat the sweet toffee)

6 wooden sticks or lolly sticks

Put the granulated and brown sugar in to a large pan. Add the water and stir over a low heat until the sugar had dissolved. Add the vinegar and maple syrup and then bring to the boil.

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Once boiling allow it to boil rapidly without stirring until the toffee reaches 150 C on a sugar thermometer (or the “hard crack” level). If you don’t have a thermometer you can test when the toffee is ready by spooning a little in to a bowl of cold water. It should harden immediately and be easy to snap. Now it will take a while to get to this stage so don’t be afraid to leave that sugar bubbling away!

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Once it reaches “hard crack” remove from the heat and stir in the pecans.

Place a stick (I used lolly sticks) in to the core of each apple. Dip the apples in the toffee while it is nice and hot and then place on a baking sheet to cool. You need to work quite quickly. If the toffee gets too hard you can gently re-warm it (but be very careful not to overheat it).

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Once the toffee has cooled and set then you can tuck in! They’re definitely best eaten the day they’re made but can be kept somewhere dry and cool and enjoyed over the next few days too.

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Plum and Apple Chutney

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Believe it or not after making my plum and almond cake and egg-less plum cake, I still had some plums left! I also had the very good fortune to be given a massive bag of apples from my friend Zena’s garden (how lucky am I! 🙂 ), so I decided I’d have a go at my first ever batch of chutney! I am a massive fan of chutney but have never tried making it myself – mainly because my mum, and my very good friend Colette from Colette’s fitness kitchen, make THE best chutney and have kept me in good supply! But with this glut of autumn fruit I thought it was about time I repaid the favour!

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You will need:

1 kg Apples (bramleys will work best but I used the apples I was given which were some sort of eating apple, and then I added a few extra bramleys in)

1 kg Plums

2 large Onions

1 whole Garlic bulb

1 inch of Root ginger (or a piece approximately the size of your thumb!)

500ml Cider vinegar

450g Golden unrefined caster sugar

1 Cinnamon stick

1 tsp Cumin seeds

3 star Anise (you can substitute with 1 1/2 tsp of chinese five spice)

1 tbsp Himalayan rock salt

Prepare all the ingredients to start with. Peel the garlic and cut in to fine slices. Peel and grate the ginger, and thinly slice the onions. Peel, core and chop the apples.

Pop the onions, garlic and ginger into a large pan or stock pot. Add the apples and all the spices and vinegar. Bring the pan to the boil gently, stir well and then turn the heat down and allow to simmer for 30 mins with a lid on until the apples are soft.

While the apples are cooking slice the plums in to quarters (or eighths if they’re large) and add them once the apples are soft. Add the sugar and stir well. Leave it simmering with the lid uncovered for at least 40 minutes or until the plums are cooked and the chutney has thickened. You will know when it’s ready as if you drag a wooden spoon through it to reveal the base of the pan and takes it time returning then you know it’s done. Trust me this could take a while – it will depend how much juice comes out of the apples and plums. Just stick with it and keep stirring while it simmers down.

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Pop some jars in to the oven to sterilise (20 mins at about 180 C will do it), remove the star anise and cinnamon stick and ladle the chutney in to the jars. Seal and label the jars. It’s best to let the chutney mature for a month if possible before you eat it. It will keep for up to a year, but once opened it’s best to keep it in the fridge and eat within a month.

Makes a great gift or, just enjoy it yourself with some cashew cheese!

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