Paleo Brownies

This is a combination of a couple of my other favourite recipes, and they are just amazing every time! Also, the sun flour is more affordable than other nut flours, which is a relief for my wallet!

(Gluten, grain, dairy, sugar free)

1 cup pitted dates

½ cup brewed coffee

¼ cup melted coconut oil

2 eggs

½ cup cocoa powder

2 ½ cups sun flour (ground sunflower seeds)

Vanilla extract

Pinch salt

5ml vinegar

½ tsp baking soda

·         Soak the dates in the coffee for about ½ an hour

·         Blend in a food processor with an S-blade until smooth.

·         Add the eggs and coconut oil to the blender and blend until well combined.

·         Add all the other ingredients and continue blending

·         Spoon into a greased and lined square cake tin

·         Bake @ 180ºC for 30 minutes

Optional extras:

Add raisins, chopped nuts, berries, citrus peel or ginger after step 4.

Porridge!

Edible Harmony's awesome-looking apple pie energy bars: how they're supposed to look.

This weekend, after we'd been to a very damp (read: monsoon-engulfed) farmers' market and liberated what we could from the smattering of soggy stalls that were open, Aunty Em came round and made these. She substituted sunflower seeds, sesame seeds and linseeds for the nuts, because we're still not convinced about the safety of nuts. They were delicious and we will certainly be making those again!

This morning I valiantly attempted to replicate the recipe. The fact that we had virtually none of the ingredients in no way deterred me from my quest. Unfortunately, the lack of ingredients was a significant deterrent to the success of the recipe. Instead of solid, chewy, brownish bars, we got off-grey sludge. With bits in it. Hmm ...

I tried firming "them" up in the fridge. If anything, that made matters worse. So I tried baking the jolly things. The only differences now were a roasty-brownish colour, and elevated temperature (predictably). So, mother being the necessity of invention and all that, I plonked it into bowls, poured honey on top, and called it "porridge". It was delicious, and even the notoriously picky Red Riding Hood wolfed hers down and declared it delyummy! (Which is a good thing).

So if you're feeling adventurous and you need something - anything - besides eggs for breakfast on a dairy-free SCD diet, here's the porridge recipe we tried. Let me know if you experiment with anything similar.

Porridge Ingredients
2/3 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup raisins (or more, to taste)
Honey to taste (we used at least 1/2 a cup)
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tbsp coconut oil
Salt (I swear it!)
2 ripe bananas

Method
Keeping the seeds in a cup, pour liquid over them to just cover them. (I used brewed coffee, but I think a good tea, juice or even water would work just fine).
In the morning, turn the seeds out into the blender, then add all the ingredients.
Purée until "porridgey".
Line a small baking tin with baking paper, and empty the blender into the tin.
Bake at about 180°C (roughly 350°F, I think) for about 20 minutes, until it's golden brown. (I always use the smell test: if it smells ready, check it: it probably is ready).
Serve the goop into bowls and top with honey if you want to (it's very sweet). Yoghurt or your choice of milk would also be very nice, although it actually doesn't need anything at all.
Enjoy!

Just a note: this can be made into a very low GI, diabetic-friendly breakfast by omitting the raisins and subbing the bananas for a sugar-friendlier fruit. Have fun experimenting!

Sweet for my sweet, sugar for my honey?

We highly recommend the honey at the Farmers' Market - both The Bee Guy (Scrumpy Jack's Honey) and the Dairy place (Mortenson's Honey) have great tasting, pure raw honey.

Spring is Sprung!

It's been a glorious day in the Upper Highway and what better way to start Spring than a sunrise run (with the full moon slowly setting), followed by a trip to the Shongweni Farmers' Market. Seriously, if you live anywhere within 50km (or more if you're adventurous) of Hillcrest, just west of Durban, you really need to head out to The Market on Saturday mornings. Fresh organic produce, decadent desserts, happy dogs, adorable children, friends, and super finds. Not to mention a range of options for your steaming hot morning cup o' Joe. We love it!

Today's goodies included organic raw honey for use in chocolate cookies, biltong for snacks (oh I love biltong!), organic free range meat from Hope Meats, and a delicious selection of veggies. The gem squashes in particular were absolutely delicious! Even the kids enjoyed them.

To celebrate, when I got home I made Chocolate Covered Katie's 3 Ingredient Chocolate Bars. We used honey instead of stevia, and shape moulds instead of a simple plastic dish. I think the honey needs to be melted a little first, but the end result was certainly not unpleasant. Happy Days :)

Next up: crustless quiches for Tea Sunday at Church tomorrow. Excited!

Spaghata Nadle! (Spaghetti Noodle Substitute)

If you're a fan of blogs and you have a sense of humour, you've probably seen Allie Brosh's wonderful Hyperbole and a Half. We love pretty much everything she posts, although we really hope she finds her way through her current trials. It's amazing how you kinda get to know someone through their blog, and their pain can sometimes feel as personal to you as your friend's or sister's. Get well soon, Allie!

Anyhoo, one of our all time favourite posts themes (for reasons as yet unfathomed) was the Spaghata Nadle. We found it absolutely hilarious, and applicable to virtually any situation you face. I won't elaborate - check it  out for ourself. 

Again, I don't know why this should be, but for some reason this dinner ingredient always makes me think of spaghata nadles. Perhaps because it's so very almost like spaghetti noodles ... but not. Here's what we do instead of spaghetti noodles for bolognaise and meatball dishes:

Zucchini Noodles 

(Courgettes if you feel fancy (or French); baby marrows if you're from the East Rand originally. Don't worry, we won't judge.)

Ingredients

Lots of baby marrows/zucchinis/courgettes

garlic

Salt

Olive oil for sautéeing

Method

Wash and peel the courgettes.

Grate or peel them into long, thin slices (this takes practise).

Heat the oil until it is about medium hot.

Add the courgettes and let them brown for a few minutes.

Add salt and garlic to taste.

Stir occasionally.

Keep checking on them until they just start to turn light brown on some of the edges.

Serve them hot on their own or topped with bolognaise sauce or meat balls. Or anything you like, really.

Delicious.

Delicious VEGAN chocolate mousse - packing a secret antioxidant punch!

The year before last we attended a GREEN Tasting evening. Everything was organic, from the coffee to the meat to the cheese to the wine - even the packaging! It was a wonderful evening hosted by The Big Green Directory, and we were amazed at the range of GREEN options available, not to mention how reasonably priced everything was.

Our favourite items that evening were the Moroccan Lamb sausage from Hope Meats (also available on Saturday mornings from our farmers' market. Brilliant!), and the chocolate mousse. Well, naturally.

The reasons we loved loved loved this mousse were:

• It's packed full of antioxidants (from the cocoa and the secret ingredient).
• It's vegan (we're not, but we're sympathisers. As long as there's biltong, I'll never be vegan).
• It's free of bad fats and full of good ones.
• It tastes AMAZING.
• You don't have to stop eating it for any reason - except the clang of the bottom of the bowl hitting your teeth, of course!

So, without further ado, and with permission from the incredibly clever and inspired Rolene of RAWLean, here's the solution to your chocolate cravings:

RAWLean's Delicious Vegan Chocolate Mousse

Ingredients:

• 2 ripe avocados
• ½ cup organic raw cacao powder (most health stores will have this)
• ¼ cup agave nectar (check sweetness to taste)
• ½ vanilla pod or 2tbs vanilla extract
• 1tbs coconut oil
• Seasonal berries

Method: 

Blend all ingredients in a food blender until smooth. Allow to set in the fridge for one hour. Serve in a wine glass with seasonal berries for garnish.

Chocolate Cookies!!

Yes, I know. Not one but two exclamation marks. It's a crime against grammar and a grievous assault against the English language. All I need to do now is reformat this entire post in Comic Sans and we'll know that The End is upon us.

However, the hyperpunctuation is not without merit. Because today I discovered .. wait for it ... SCD cookies! Delicious, easy, quick and perfectly legal if you overlook SCD's aversion to chocolate. In my not-at-all-humble opinion, modern research says a lot about the anti-oxidant properties of cocoa and how good it is for your heart.

But frankly, a single, poorly researched, dubiously funded sentence in a throw-away trash-mag would be more than enough to convince me to make one small SCD concession because, let's face it, I'm never giving up chocolate.

Today I stumbled across this recipe. I adapted it as detailed below and I must admit that the results have been consumed utterly. Not even a crumb to mark the passage. So much of yummmm ...

Sugar-free, dairy-free, flourless CHOCOLATE cookies

• 3/4 cup of organic raw honey (or more to taste), slightly softened
• 3 egg whites
• 15 drops of pure vanilla extract
• a pinch of teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup cocoa powder (or less - this is a very strong taste. Heaven).

Preheat the oven to 175°C. Beat all the ingredients together until the result is a smooth, frosting-like heavy cream that is virtually impossible not to devour. Drop teaspoonfuls onto a greased or parchment lined baking sheet (grease the parchment) (I didn't grease the paper and the cookies did stick a little bit. I was forced to chew the remnants off throw away the excess).  Bake for about 12-15 minutes, depending on how crunchy you want them - longer =  crunchier. Place on a wire rack to cool (if you can help yourself).