Raw Chocolate and Hazelnut Tart

One of my aims in life is to create recipes that taste amazing and help you feel amazing! Believe me, this chocolate tart does exactly that. It is raw, dairy-free and oh-so delicious. The only sweetness comes from fresh dates and honey. The base tastes similar to ferrero rocher, whilst the filling tastes like chocolate pudding! In my earlier post, I talked about why cacao powder was so amazing – it works really well in this recipe as it provides the rich chocolatey flavour in both the filling and the crust.

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Springtime Snack Inspiration

I love Spring. Honestly, I think it may be my favourite season! I love that the weather gets warmer and the dreary winter skies turn a brilliant blue. I also love the abundance of fresh fruit and berries that come with this time of year. I don’t know why, but I tend to crave cheese and stodgy food in winter. But in the spring I crave strawberries, grapes, blueberries, apples, melon and yoghurt. I thought I would post some snack inspiration today. I have recently discovered apple and almond butter – I am obsessed with this snack and can’t believe I never had it before!

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Dairy-Free, Raw Chocolates!

Attention all chocoholics, put down your bar of conventional sugar-laden chocolate and check this recipe out. Now before I proceed, I must say that I am very lucky to work for an amazing online retailer who sell a plethora of delicious ingredients. I love my job. I get to test out all these crazy interesting products and taste these amazing health foods. Something that came to our attention a few years ago was cacao powder. Now cacao powder is possibly one of my favourite ingredients that we sell. Continue reading “Dairy-Free, Raw Chocolates!” →

Grain-Free Banana Bread

Banana bread is one of the best ways to use up over-ripe bananas. The riper the bananas, the sweeter the bread will be. This recipe is free from refined sugar, so sweet bananas really are essential! Normal banana bread uses wheat flour, but I wanted to try and create a grain-free version. I had a surplus of coconut flour and ground almonds left over, so this seemed a good place to start! Continue reading “Grain-Free Banana Bread” →

MILLET SUPERFOOD BOWL

Spring is truly here! This means lighter evenings, warmer weather and an abundance of fresh vegetables! This millet super-food bowl is a great way to enjoy all the amazing vegetables available right now. It is really healthy and packed with nutrients. Continue reading “MILLET SUPERFOOD BOWL” →

BUTTERNUT SQUASH AND KALE RISOTTO

I am a new(ish) vegetarian. I celebrated one year meat free this Easter. This is one of my favourite veggie dishes. I pretty much lived on this for most of last winter! I think it is one of the most comforting, warming dishes. The trick is to roast the butternut squash with some garlic and sage, it really provides an amazing depth of flavour. The porcini powder adds an incredible savoury umami flavour!

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PHOTOGRAPHY PROJECT: A WALK BY THE SEA!

I am trying to set myself regular photography projects. This weekend my project was to create a photo-journey of Brighton and Hove. I walked along Hove seafront to Brighton and basically snapped anything I found interesting. It was a great chance to use my new camera and it made me really take a good look at my surroundings. It was such a beautiful day and it felt lovely to be walking around in the sunshine after what feels like months of winter!

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APPLE, PEAR AND BLACKBERRY CRUMBLE

This afternoon I had a hankering for something sweet. I don’t always make desserts, but today was definitely a dessert day! Unfortunately there was nothing I could shovel straight into my mouth to satisfy my sweet cravings, so I decided to cobble something together.

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A WALK IN THE PARK…

TODAY

BY BILLY COLLINS

If ever there were a spring day so perfect,

so uplifted by a warm intermittent breeze

that it made you want to throw

open all the windows in the house

and unlatch the door to the canary’s cage,

indeed, rip the little door from its jamb,

a day when the cool brick paths

and the garden bursting with peonies

seemed so etched in sunlight

that you felt like taking

a hammer to the glass paperweight

on the living room end table,

releasing the inhabitants

from their snow-covered cottage

so they could walk out,

holding hands and squinting

into this larger dome of blue and white,

well, today is just that kind of day.

Continue reading “A WALK IN THE PARK…” →

Spinach, Pear and Cashew Smoothie!

Spring is just around the corner! That means sunshine, flower blossoms and to me – smoothies! I tend to have smoothies for breakfast almost every day in spring and summer. Smoothies are a great way to enjoy all the beautiful fruit that is available in these seasons. They are also a great way to get more veggies into our diet! I find they are a great way to re-boost my immune system if I have been overindulging (in a mountain of Easter eggs…)

This smoothie is a great blend of spinach, bananas, pears, cashews and flax seeds! You can use any blender to make smoothies, but ones with a powerful motor will provide a smoother finish. I use a nutribullet. It is one of my favourite kitchen gadgets and I really get a lot of use out of it. They cost around £99 – quite pricey but you really get a great blender. It has a blending attachment as well as a milling attachment. I make nut milk, nut butters and nut flours in mine as well as smoothies!

My smoothie recipe is super filling. This recipe makes one large glass of smoothie that I find keeps me full for most of the morning. Don’t worry about tasting the spinach. The flavours are masked by the other ingredients! I like to put a couple of cubes of ice in with mine, smoothies are best served chilled! Remember to sprinkle the bee pollen on after you have blended to enjoy the maximum nutritional benefits! I like to soak my cashews before blending. I normally soak a batch overnight. It makes for a really creamy smoothie!

Ingredients:

1 small ripe banana

1 small ripe pear

1 handful of baby spinach

1 handful of soaked cashews

1 tablespoon brown flax seed

1 tablespoon of goji berries

1 teaspoon of coconut oil

A sprinkling of bee pollen

A few cubes of ice

Fresh cold water

Directions:

Wash your spinach and chop the fresh fruit.

Add all ingredients apart from the bee pollen) to the blender and top up with the fresh water.

Blend until smooth. Pour into a glass and top with bee pollen!

~ Enjoy! ~

The Brighton Kitchen Test

Spring is just around the corner! That means sunshine, flower blossoms and to me – smoothies! I tend to have smoothies for breakfast almost every day in spring and summer. Smoothies are a great way to enjoy all the beautiful fruit that is available in these seasons. They are also a great way to get more veggies into our diet! I find they are a great way to re-boost my immune system if I have been overindulging (in a mountain of Easter eggs…)

This smoothie is a great blend of spinach, bananas, pears, cashews and flax seeds! You can use any blender to make smoothies, but ones with a powerful motor will provide a smoother finish. I use a nutribullet. It is one of my favourite kitchen gadgets and I really get a lot of use out of it. They cost around £99 – quite pricey but you really…

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