It's a tasty dessert

Vanilla cashew cream, raspberry & tahini chocolate sauce topped with crumbly oat cookies.
I bet you haven’t tried a better plant-based dessert to date.

Ingredients & the method for 2 generous portions

For the cashew base
150g of cashews, soaked in boiling water for 30 minutes
6 medjool dates
a few drops of vanilla
a pinch of salt
Drain the cashews, pop everything in a high-speed blender and add just enough cold water to cover the cashews halfway.
Blend until it is the consistency of yogurt, add a splash more water if needed.

For the chocolate sauce:
2 tablespoons of tahini
1 teaspoon of soy sauce (trust the process)
1.5 tablespoons of raw cacao or 2 tablespoons of good quality cocoa
3 tablespoons of agave
a few drops of vanilla
2 tablespoons of water
Mix everything in a bowl until silky.

For the oat cookies
50g of oats
25g of flax seeds
2 tablespoons of coconut oil
2 tablespoons of agave
1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
a pinch of sea salt
Put the oven on 180 degrees C.
Line a baking tray with baking paper.
Melt the coconut oil in a small pan.
Blend the oats and flax seeds in a blender or coffee grinder until it turns into flour.
Mix everything together in a cereal bowl.
Take a heaped teaspoon of the mixture. Pop it on the baking tray. Repeat until all of the mix is gone.
You should have 6-8 blobs, just make sure to leave some space between them because they will spread out.
Bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes until golden.

For the raspberry
1 punnet of raspberries
1/2 tablespoons of agave
Take 6 raspberries out of the punnet.
Mash the rest with a fork to form a rough puree. Adjust the taste with some agave if it’s too acidic.

To assemble:
Divide the cashew cream between two bowls.
Add a heaped tablespoon of raspberry puree, roughly stir in.
Ladle over a tablespoon of chocolate mix.
Top with the raspberries and a couple of crumbled cookies.

Chinese-style beef noodles, sesame cucumber, 7-minute egg & sprinkles

Oriental cooking isn’t my forte.
But I was researching tasty things to make with beef mince and came across a tasty looking beef noodle recipe. It used a lot of pre-made sauces like hoisin and oyster sauce but in the name of research, I decided to give it a go and see what happens.
The recipe wasn’t terrible but it left me feeling really lethargic, super thirsty and just a bit meh.
I knew I could do better and above all, I knew I could create a bowl of food that will leave you nourished and full of energy.
I took out the sugary sauces, added tonnes of flavour with 5 spice, ginger and garlic and topped the bowl with pretty greens and an egg for extra goodness.

This delicious bowl of food will give you 5 of your 10-a-day (hiya vitamins & minerals), lots of protein and lots of feel-good vibes (because it’s so comforting). 

Plus it’s super tasty, so make it.

Fyi - it’s pretty easy to make this with veggie mince too

Ingredients & method to feed 4:
320g of organic beef mince
1 pack of medium egg noodles cooked to packet instructions

1 red onion, sliced
1 teaspoon of Chinese 5 spice 

2 carrots, chopped into matchsticks 

1/2 head of broccoli, chopped into matchsticks

A large handful of beansprouts
4x Clarence Court eggs, boiled for 7 minutes then peeled

Pop a large frying pan (or wok) on a medium-high heat.
Fry the mince and onion until browned.
Season well with salt & pepper.
Add the carrots, broccoli and 5 spice, cook for a further minute. Season everything again with salt & pepper.

In the meantime, make the flavour paste. 


For the flavour paste:

1 thumb-sizes piece of ginger, peeled

2 large cloves of garlic, peeled

1/2 stock cube (veg, chicken or beef)

2 tbsp of soy sauce or tamari (I used Kikkomanuk tamari)
1 tbsp tomato puree
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
100ml of water

Blitz everything in a blender until smooth.
Pour over the beef & veg.
Swirl a splash of water in the blender to remove any “stuck” flavour paste and pour this over the beef too.
Add the noodles & beansprouts and cook for a further minute. 


For the cucumber

1 cucumber, made into ribbons with a peeler

Juice of 1 lime
1 teaspoon agave or maple syrup
2 tbsp sesame oil
Pinch of sea salt & black pepper
1 tsp sesame seeds
Combine everything and set it aside to marinade whilst you make the rest of the dish.

To sprinkle on top:
3 spring onions, sliced 

1 bunch of fresh coriander

Divide the beef noodles between bowls.
Top with an egg, a handful of fresh coriander, some spring onion slices and a large tablespoon of cucumber.

Smokey beans on toast

Mostly I cook because I love nice food but there is also a bigger picture: health.

This recipe was created with iron in mind because low iron translates to feeling low.
Without going into too much detail, we need iron to make the right brain chemicals. Without this, we feel low.

This recipe contains around 10mg of iron which is just over half of the total amount of iron needed per day (for women, 100% for men).

Plus there is a good dose of vitamin C. (We need Vit c to absorb iron, so this part is mega useful.)

Ingredients for 1:

1 stick of celery, diced
1 shallot or 1/2 small onion, diced
1 teaspoon of smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon of chipotle paste or a pinch of chilli flakes
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
1 tin of beans such as butter beans or cannellini
100g of baby leaf spinach
1 tablespoon of smooth peanut butter
sea salt and black pepper to season
rapeseed oil for cooking
good bread to serve
a handful of fresh parsley to serve (this is high in both iron and vitamin c)
a tablespoon of sour cream to serve (optional)

Method:
Pop a frying pan on a medium heat.
Add a splash of rapeseed oil, the celery & shallot/ onion and cook for a couple of minutes until softened.
Add the paprika and chipotle paste. Stir and cook for a minute.
Pour in the chopped tomatoes, season well with sea salt and black pepper and cook for 10 minutes on a low heat to reduce the sauce.
Add the beans and season again.
Add the spinach bit by bit and stir to wilt it.
Stir in the peanut butter.
Taste to check the seasoning.
Serve on some sourdough bread, topped with fresh parsley and sour cream.

Roasted vegetable pasta sauce

If you haven’t yet heard me harp on about how we should be eating more vegetables then here it is: we should be eating more vegetables, at least 10 portions of veg a day in fact.
It’s totally doable but I recognise some of you may be slightly fussier eaters or at least have to cook for fussy eaters.
So here is your solution: lots of roasted vegetables disguised in a delicious pasta sauce.
This recipe is also great to use up veggies that are past their best, or those half peppers that are lurking in the back of the fridge.

Please note: whilst super high in nutrients, this recipe does lack protein, so either use a protein pasta or top with protein such as some cheese or a cooked chicken breast.

Ingredients to feed 4:
1/2 aubergine, cut into chunks
1 small courgette, thickly sliced
1 red onion, roughly chopped
1 stick of celery, roughly chopped
1/2 - 1 pepper of any colour, roughly chopped
2 medium carrots, roughly chopped
2 cloves of garlic, peeled but left whole
a couple of sprigs of fresh thyme
200g of passata (or chopped tomato)
100g sundried tomato
Sea salt and black pepper to season
Rapeseed oil for roasting
Pasta to serve
A handful of fresh basil (optional)

Method:
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.
Pop all of the veggies, apart from the passata & sundried tomatoes, on a roasting tray.
Drizzle with rapeseed oil, season with a pinch of sea salt and scatter over the thyme.
Stir to combine and roast for 30 minutes until the vegetables are cooked.
Cook the pasta according to packet instructions and drain, reserving a couple of tablespoons of the pasta water.
To make the sauce, transfer the roasted veggies to a blender whilst still hot, add the passata and sundried tomatoes, around 1/2 teaspoon of sea salt and lots of black pepper.
Blend until it is completely smooth.
Check the seasoning and add more if needed.
Combine the pasta, sauce and pasta water, stir well then divide between plates.
Serve with a few fresh basil leaves scattered over the top.

The sauce freezes well, just freeze it before adding the pasta.