I realised that it has been a little while since I tried a new recipe so I thought I should remedy that. I saw this recipe for protein balls come through on Facebook and thought it looked like something I could try. So yesterday was the day. The recipe comes from the RACQ magazine in their Health and Wellbeing section.
I know, I know another recipe that is sweet - sorry to those who are watching what they eat, but it is healthy. Does that count? The other reason I thought I'd make this was that it was a good excuse, I mean, way, to get some more protein into our vegetarian diet. And to top it off I had the ingredients in my cupboard, although I have no idea why I had coconut oil, and I vaguely remember buying raw cacao powder some time ago. Never mind I was ready to go. I blended all the ingredients in the food processor as directed and then did a taste test. Raw cacao is nowhere near as sweet as standard dark chocolate; ahhhh, that would be all the added sugar. This was just a bit too bitter. Right about here I must admit to a sweet tooth and if I'm going to bite into something that looks like chocolate there should be some sweetness to it. So I added more dates - can't tell you how many. Another taste test and no, still not sweet enough. Next in was a glug of honey and no idea how much of that I put in either. Now it tasted much better. I decided that I'd go with some seeds and nuts too just to add to the healthy goodness of it, so tossed a handful of sunflower seeds and walnuts and blended the mixture again. As it was just a little too watery I added some more protein powder and blended again. Yep. Now it tasted good! Into balls, rolled in coconut and into the fridge. A yummy treat as we walk past.
0 Comments
I've been planning on having a go at some homemade muesli bars for the last few weeks. I thought they would be nice for Steve to take to work, instead of the usual processed variety that we buy. And always a good excuse to make something new. I looked at quite a few recipes and finally settled on this one here from She Sows Seeds which I found on Pinterest. There were a number of reasons I chose this recipe over the many I looked at the main one being that I had all the ingredients - always important. Another reason was its simplicity and because I was looking for a recipe that was cooked. So I gave this one a try. A few changes were made along the way; I added sunflower seeds and used sultanas as I didn't have any dried apricots. But surprisingly I actually had some spelt flour which I used as suggested. I can't remember why I have spelt flour in my pantry - I must have bought it for a recipe at some point in time, but never got round to making it. Not so long ago a friend of mine used one of those mezzaluna chopper type thingies to cut her herbs and I thought it was a great idea. After going into several kitchen/homeware shops and having no luck finding one, I eventually found one in Big W. I decided to have a go using it to chop the nuts. It worked a treat. Now I wish that I had taken a photo of it. So this is the end result after coming out of the oven and being cooled in the pan. I added the extra coconut on the top just after I took it out of the oven. And ready to go for afternoon tea. I did have trouble getting the lovely straight edged cut that featured on the website, but they still tasted pretty good.
I really couldn't resist making these. And for some reason I felt like baking this afternoon. I mean, who puts zucchini in cupcakes? Seriously? I just had to give them a try. Of course I have all the usual difficulties when it comes to deciding to try a new recipe on the spur of the moment - matching the ingredient list with what I actually have on hand. Lemons? Not a problem - two trees in the backyard, however, they weren't quite ripe. I managed to find a few small ones but they didn't look very promising. Next issue; the recipe, being vegan, calls for the use of egg substitute. Hmmm I don't have that, as we use our own free range eggs. How many eggs do I use to replace a tablespoon of powdered egg replacer? Not really being able to get a sensible answer from google, I went with one and crossed my fingers. I didn't manage to squeeze out four tablespoons of lemon from the ones I got off our tree, so tossed in a little lime juice. I also used wholemeal flour. I think I followed everything else pretty closely though ... After waiting the 30 minutes or so, it was time to see if one egg was going to work. And yes, it did. So it's safe to say that instead of using a tablespoon of powdered egg replacer you can use one egg. I just love the cute red Valentine's Day patty cake cases I bought the other day. I made a quick frosting (not the one in the recipe) and topped the cupcakes with that and some desiccated coconut. I'm still not sure why there is zucchini in them but they tasted good! Morning tea for tomorrow is sorted.
The recipe can be found here at Vegan Mother Hubbard. We had our grandson stay over night on Saturday and on Sunday we thought we'd do some baking. What I really, really wanted to try was a cupcake (or patty cake) recipe using zucchini. It just seems so weird to use a vegetable such as zucchini is a cake recipe. Anyway I thought I'd play it safe and make something not quite as fiddly. Bring on the good old oatmeal cookies (there I go again - biscuits) that have always proven popular with the grandkids. We don't mind them either.
I can't remember where I came across this one, but wouldn't be surprised if it was another one that I had pinned ages ago. It's super easy and great to throw in a whole pile of other things. I typically add desiccated coconut as well as pumpkin and sunflower seeds. I also use Nuttelex instead of butter, and haven't noticed a difference. It's from Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution site. Needless to say, there aren't many left. A few for Steve's lunches over the next couple of days should just about see them all finished. Don't be put off by the "vegan" part of this recipe - all that means is that they are dairy and egg free. Even the covered chic chips are dairy free.
I've always been curious about sweet recipes that have strange ingredients in them like avocado or zucchini. In themselves they aren't strange, but I just couldn't get my head around having them in baked goodies. Anyway I decided to give this one a go. The recipe can be found here at Milk and Honey blog. I'm really not a cook, and not at all comfortable with making up recipes or straying too far from what is written down. However, I have gotten to a stage that when I don't have exactly the right ingredients I will substitute where possible. Of course, that does involve a bit of googling. I didn't have any avocado oil, so I used macadamia oil, and the only white vinegar I had was a white wine. Apart from that It was all pretty much as written, and easy to make. And yes, they tasted great! Morning tea for today and something for Steve to take to work, but the rest might have to go into the freezer for safe keeping (along with the pudding). Yes I know, it's been a few weeks since Christmas, but this pudding is just so yummy to eat I've had to slice it and hide it away in the freezer. Snacking on it as dessert with brandy custard sauce on a nightly basis was not the best start to a healthy eating new year. But it is oh, so good. I've never been one for baking or doing anything 'fancy' so when I decided to make this pudding for our family Christmas in 2011 I had no idea of what I was doing, or how it would turn out. I didn't own a pudding basin so I had to purchase one. I didn't realise that I needed one with a lid but I made do with a second layer of foil. Apart from the length of time it took me to chop everything, it was surprisingly easy to make and once sitting in the pot, a simple matter of checking the water level every now and then. And it even turned out onto the plate in one piece. You can find the recipe here at Taste. com.au.
Chocolate Brownies Ok, I have to admit, this is one of my favourite recipes and I have to often resist the urge to make these yummy brownies. They are just so quick to make, and taste great. I try to save baking them for a special occasion, otherwise they will just get eaten all too quickly if left in our cupboard. They are great on their own, just lightly dusted with icing sugar or you could dust with extra cocoa powder. Or add some yoghurt and strawberries.
I found the recipe on the back of a Nestle Baking Cocoa tin (never to be seen again), so I will reproduce it here. Ingredients:
Method:
Dust with extra nestle baking cocoa or icing sugar if desired and serve with yoghurt. |
Food Photography & Recipes
FOOD BLOGSMilk and Honey Lots of yummy recipes and great food photography
Taste.com.au Lots of recipes and the great thing is you can import directly into the Recipe app Mouthwatering Vegan Simply a huge number of vegan recipes in every category you could think of with lots of photos. Olives for Dinner Another site with vegan recipes and food photography Earthy Feast This looks to be a fairly new food blog, with an emphasis on vegetarian and vegan foods (her hubby is vegetarian). The recipes that I've looked at look delicious. Leslie Durso Veggie Dreamgirl This website is more than just recipes - go ahead and have a look around. Veggieful This food blog is run by two young Australians and has some amazing looking recipes and wonderful photos of said recipes. I do love that they have posted the nutritional information with the recipes! Archives
October 2014
Photoblog 2013Categories
All
|