High-fibre, Low-fat Breakfast Muffins

Bored of the same old breakfast?  Fruit or Porridge not hitting the spot?   What about toast?  Well, lovely people, fear not.  I have a delicious and decent substitute to brighten up the seemingly endless grey mornings. But what can it be, I hear you ask?  (sorry, I hear those who skipped the post title ask; slackers)…

Coconut-Ginger Muffins (makes 12)

I’ve never had muffins for breakfast as by the time I had discovered such a wonder I was gluten-free so they weren’t really an option.  That is, unless I bought the ridiculously sweet, overly dry/overly gooey (always one or the other, so hit and miss) gluten-free variety.  Now I can experience this joy with my cup of coffee (with soy milk that doesn’t curdle!  Yes, I am still overjoyed with this discovery).  Here’s the recipe, that was inspired by one in VWAV:

Ingredients

2 1/2 oz raisins (soaked in hot water, whilst making the batter)
5 oz rice flour
2 tsps baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
3 1/2 oz sugar
2 tsps ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
2 1/2 oz desiccated coconut
2 tbsp ground flax seed
300ml soya milk
5 tbsp rapeseed oil
1 tsp vanilla extract

Method

Preheat the oven to 200C (fan) and either grease a muffin tin or line it with paper cases.  Sift together the flour, baking powder, bicarb, ginger, cinnamon, and salt.

Stir in the sugar, coconut and flaxseed so that everything is combined.  Make a hole in the centre of the dry ingredients and add all the wet ingredients (i.e. everything else apart from the raisins).  Drain the raisins and fold them into the batter.  Pour into the paper cases and bake for approx 25 mins. (A knife or cocktail stick inserted into the middle of a muffin should come out clean when they are ready).

Enjoy with your cup of joe, builder’s tea, or ‘erbal tea.

Btw, if you want to make these into more of a dessert, or if you just have a really sweet tooth in the morning, then you can ice them with the chocolate frosting from my post here).  This is how the husband likes to eat them, but I prefer them in their pure form

Each muffin (without the icing) contains 1.7 grams of fibre (which I’m guessing is good?), zero cholesterol (that’s definitely good, right?) and, for you calorie counters out there, only 188cals (I’m not going to make a habit of finding this information out because calorie counting can be a slippery slope, and a difficult rut to climb out of).  In this instance curiosity got the better of me.  Lucky I don’t have a cat…

Conscious Chocolate

Today there have been two highlights.  And this is despite being at a conference all about interprofessional working (don’t get me wrong; I think it’s important, especially when providing top quality patient care, however I’d prefer not to have a two-day conference all about it).  But that’s ok because the first highlight occurred at 6:30 this morning when…

… I finally discovered how to enjoy coffee with soy milk without the soy milk curdling!  I know you probably think that I’m WAY behind on the times but honestly I’ve been trying every trick in the book and googling the topic to death.  So what changed?  I read somewhere that if you add a tiny bit of bicarbonate of soda to the coffee (after you’ve made it up with hot water and before adding the milk), give it a good stir, then add the soy milk and voila!  (See below for evidence).  Apparently the alkalinity of the bicarb neutralises the acid in the coffee that causes the soy milk to curdle.  Now my mornings start with a lovely cup of coffee; black coffee in the morning is far too strong for my constitution.

Then this evening highlight number 2 occurred: I finally tried each of the six (yes, six) bars of raw chocolate that the generous vegan and vegetarian society approved company, Conscious sent me.  They state on their site that,

“To create delicious dark chocolate has always been the vision of Conscious Chocolate. Our range is as healthy as it is luxurious. Our mandate is that everyone, regardless of dietary requirements, can enjoy the variety of chocolate we make.”

Happy times!

These chocolate bars are handmade and with the best quality ingredients.  I love how the packaging is simply designed and that the chocolate is in biodegradeable wrapping rather than foil or plastic.  But what about the taste?  Each bar is decadently rich and creamy, and complemented by it’s own additional flavour.  My personal favourite is the Essential Orange one.  The texture of each bar resembles chocolate truffles rather than your standard chocolate bar but this adds to the pleasure.  Remember a certain choclate bar advert with a woman in a bubble bath enjoying a bar of velvetty chocolate by a well known brand (the one that isn’t Cadbury’s)?  Well, these chocolate bars are at least a few steps ahead of the game.  Not only are they smoother than this well known brand (which I think has a different name in the US) but they are infinitely better for your health, the environment, and the welfare of animals.  Remind me why I’m only now buying them???  So where can you buy these beauties from?  They are available at most of local health food stores, online health food sites (such as Goodness Direct and Funky Raw), as well as directly from the Conscious website.  Whilst these are a little pricey, when it comes to treats not only tasting good but being good for you, personally, I’m happy to pay the extra.  So far I have tried Essential Orange, The Nutty One, Mint Hint, Berry Christmas, Plain, and Goji & Coconut (which is amazing!).  There are 8 other flavours that I’m yet to try; bring it on.

Are you sold?  What other makes of raw chocolate have you tried, and what were they like?

Love the Leaves: An Ode to Lettuce

I thought it was high time that the often neglected iceberg, romaine and other varieties of green leaves had the spotlight.  These leaves, especially the iceberg, are often associated with bland diet food.  However, I would like to suggest that the ‘berg deserves more respect and love than this, as do the other varieties of leaves that we humans and herbivores enjoy.  Therefore, I would like to state my argument present my ode in both picture format and carefully selected and long-pondered words.

To the Romaine variety, but can also include other types of leaves that can double up as a wrap or cup (e.g. collard, chinese lettuce).  How I love to stuff you full with various fillings and devour you.

Kale and Spinach; forgive me for not liking you raw, but I love you lightly sauteed and used in soups.  Thank you for providing me with great amounts of calcium, iron, folic acid, and vitamins A&C.

To all varieties of salad leaves such as escarole, raddiccio and frisee; you are more to me than diet food.  You are my staple lunch that I love to dress up in hummus,

spicy thai dressings,

balsamic vinaigrettes,

and chutneys.

In the evenings I like to enjoy you simply, nude, in all your natural glory, and alongside a sweet potato, vege sausages, and all other main meals.

Thank you, sweet/bitter leaves, for all the joy you bring to my meal times and the nourishment you give to my body.  Without you, I would be nothing… Ok, I’d stlll be here but probably not as healthy.

Afternoon tea, anyone?

Good evening!

It’s work avoidance time, once again.  After sorting out the laundry and recycling, and general tidying up I had one thing left to do before revising immunophysiology; write to you lovely people.  Today’s post is a good ‘un.  My baking ways are back in full swing after my detox, and I’m proud to present to you a low-fat, gluten-free, vegan vanilla cupcake.  The recipe for the vanilla cupcakes are adapted from Madhuram’s Eggless Cooking site (click here for the original recipe), and the frosting is from a recipe I found on VegWeb.com.  My first batch of cupcakes were a bit dense because I didn’t make allowances for the fact that I was using rice flour, and they weren’t quite sweet enough.  I also used a basic chocolate frosting recipe from VWAV, which I prefer to the one found on VegWeb, but I had run out of dark chocolate for the second (and final) batch of cupcakes.

Low-Fat Vegan Vanilla Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting (makes 14 cupcakes)

Ingredients:

1.125 (approx!) cups of rice flour
3/4 cup of golden caster sugar
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup unsweetened soy milk
1 tbsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar
2 tbsp Rapeseed Oil

Method:

Preheat oven to 180C (fan).  Sift the flour, salt and baking powder into a large bowl.  Stir in the the sugar before adding the rest of the ingredients.  Mix and beat until you have a smooth batter.  Pour the batter into the cupcakes, ensuring that each cupcake case is about 2/3 full.  Put in the oven for 16 minutes, or until the cakes have risen and are firm to touch.  Cool on a wire rack before frosting with…

Vegan Chocolate Frosting (from VegWeb)

Ingredients:

1/2 cup vegan margarine, at room temperature (I used Pure Sunflower spread)
2 cups of icing sugar
1 and 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp unsweetened soy milk
1/4 cup of cocoa powder

Method:

Beat the margarine until it is smooth.  Add the rest of the ingredients and combine.  Spread onto your cupcakes, and refridgerate if you want your icing to set a bit.

WARNING: this stuff is ridiculously sweet (tastes amazing though) so make sure you use unsweetened soy milk.  Next time I may use less icing sugar and more cocoa so it’s not quite as sweet.

Coming up soon…

I have a tahini-free hummus recipe that I’m working on,  a  review of raw chocolate by the company Conscious, and hopefully a new section dedicated to eating out vegan and gluten-free style.  Fingers crossed life won’t get too busy before then!

Let’s Get Nakd

No, that’s not a typo in the title; I do mean “nakd” rather than “naked”.  Nakd GF and Nakd Raisins are the new product ranges from Natural Balance Foods; the company that also produces Trek Flapjacks, Trek protein bars, and Nakd bars (none of these are gluten-free but they are wheat and dairy free).  Since these new products are happily gluten-free and vegan friendly and all raw I was excited to try them out.  Aware that my tastes are somwhat different to the mainstream (according to my husband at least) I thought I’d better bring in some help, i.e. my nervously willing home group (pictured below).

We all tried each of the bars and raisins and, whilst there were mixed reviews, overall the feedback was positive.  Personally, I’m not a lover of raisins on their own but I do enjoy them in certain dishes and baked goods.  However, these were great “as is”.  Whilst I was not a fan of the lemon flavoured raisins, my friend Liz was.  Everybody enjoyed the pineapple, cherry and orange flavoured raisins once we got our heads around the ingenious concept of dried grapes infused with other fruit flavours.  I think the best ways to enjoy these, apart from as your usual mid-morning/mid-afternoon snacks, are as a dessert accompaniment (such as on top of your favourite vegan-friendly ice-cream or mixed into your favourite soy yoghurts), or as film food.  Both Tom and I love munching on chocolate-coated raisins, and these would make a great, healthier substitute.  Essentially, I thought fruit-infused raisins was a fun idea, which succeeds in elevating the often neglected raisin (read: childhood packed lunch with little boxes of Sun-Maid raisins; remember them?). That reminds me, these would be great for children’s lunch boxes.  I might try to slip a packet in with the husband’s lunch; he needs some help getting his five-a-day!

The Nakd GF bars; I LOVE them.  I used to love the Larabar range and was gutted when they stopped selling them in the UK (another reason why I’m envious of you US bloggers/readers).  But alas, the void has been filled by these bars.  Now I just hope that they continue making and expanding this range.  Each bar is great, and if I had to choose a favourite it would be a toss up between the Pecan Pie and the Chocolate Orange one, and dependant upon when I was eating the bar.  The Chocolate Orange one would be great as an afternoon snack or to satisfy your after dinner chocolate craving whilst feeling virtuous.  This was also my testing group’s favourite bar.  And the Pecan Pie bar would be great as a breakfast on the run, or mid-morning snack.  Saying that, the Cashew Cookie used to be my favourite, which means that the Ginger Bread one may soon take the numbero uno slot.  The only disappointing thing about the Ginger Bread bar was that it tasted more of cloves than of ginger.  I am a massive ginger fan so this was a shame but don’t let this put you off as it’s still “delish”.

Essentially, if you love your health foods like me then you MUST go out and buy any of the bar range.  However, there was some debate over whether these were a bit too healthy (both in taste and concept) for them to be a go-to snack unless one was feeling particularly health-conscious (which isn’t a negative in my book).  Either way, the nakd bars and the pineapple infused raisins will have a regular place in my university book bag.

Have you tried any of this range?  What was your favourite?