Pages

instagram

Instagram

Giant Pasta




My kids call it the "Giant "pasta. I guess for them its sort of Giant!!

I promised to post this recipe last night, but I have run out of time. My apologies to anyone who wanted it!!

Here is is:

Giant Pasta Shells




What you need:

1/2 pack of Giant Pasta Shells
5 frozen broccoli florets ( frozen works better in this recipe)
5 chestnut mushrooms
2 tbs of coconut cream
1 tbs of all purpose flour ( we use gluten free)
1 tbs of coconut oil
1 tsp of vegan bouillon 
200ml of water


Step 1:

Pre cook pasta according to instruction on the packet. Drain, set aside

Meantime when the pasta is cooking, cook broccoli in plain water,  drain, that should take no more than 10 min. 

Grate the mushrooms and shallow fry in the coconut oil. Add 100 ml of water and pinch of bouillon.  In a separate bowl mix approx. 100ml of water with coconut cream and flour. Add to the boiling mushrooms. It should turn into a thicker sauce. 

Drain the broccoli. With a potato masher mash the broccoli and add rest of the bouillon. Then fill the pasta shells with broccoli mix. Line them up in a heat prove dish. Pour the mushroom mix over. 

Bake in the oven for 10-15 min.

and then eat up!




Milking the almonds




Yes, one of the most common vegan "problems"

MILK

My son once asked me how I milk the almonds. It made me chuckle but also sad to know that at this young age he knew cows needed to be milked to obtain milk by humans.

I don't go preaching to people to give up cows milk, but I'm open to educating people about what goes behind the closed door of dairy farms.

The reason why I went vegan was me watching the film called "Earthlings" , I'm not going to go into any details here.But it has opened my eyes and over night I decided to go vegan.

We drink homemade almond milk. Mostly because all the other milks I found in the supermarkets contain lots of additives. I completely understand that manufacturers need to make sure milks last longer as they will sell better but what they put in them is plain scary.

I'm raising my kids vegan because I want them to be healthy, so giving them milk full of chemicals isn't an option. We take pride and joy in our milk, its simple and delicious. We make it plain, but later add agave, dates to sweet it up.

Here is the recipe:


Almond Milk



Makes 2 small bottles:


200g of organic raw almonds 
400ml of cooled boiled water
1 cheese cloth ( or baby's muslim will work too)
2 small bottles ( sterilised with boiling water and cooled)
1 pint of boiling water

You will need a blender


Step 1:


Pour water over the almonds and cover with cling film. Leave it for 1 h

Drain the almonds and peel the skin. They should "pop" out of the skin. Some people like it with the skins on, and thats ok. We prefer it smoother and that is without the skins.




Step 2:

Put the cheese cloth over a tall dish, make sure its clean as its where your milk will drip to. Leave a generous amount of cloth sticking out, the weight of the milk will make the dish sink.

Put the almonds in a blender, pour the cooled water with the almonds. Make sure to shut the lid!!!

Blend on low speed for 30 sec, then on fast for another 30 sec. 

Once its all blended pour over the cheese cloth. Grab the edges of the cheese cloth and squeeze it tight. Repeat until no milk is coming out. 



Step 3: 

Pour the milk into prepped bottles. Shut tight. Refrigerate. 



Step 4:

Do not throw away the pulp!!!



Spread it on grease prove paper, and dry in the oven. about 2h on 140C

Once its dry, put in food processor and blend slightly to ensure even and smooth texture. 

Voila! you have made your own almond flour!! use it in cakes, sprinkle over chia puddings. Possibilities are endless!!






Little Helper :)




My children love to cook with me. And I love cooking with them. 

I don't have many memories from my childhood. Not many happy ones anyway. Our minds usually remember the bad stuff, which hoover over happy memories like black clouds. 

I want my children to remember me and the fun stuff used to do together. 

Over the weekend we made gnocchi, something I DO remember making with my mother. 

We had fun, there was lots of mess but the result was fantastic, delicious lunch and time well spend .



My son is not veggie crazy, not like my daughter, so any chance I can get veggies into him is a great chance.  We used ordinary potatoes, sweet potatoes, beetroots and avocado. My kids call it rainbow dumplings. 

I was criticised recently for my pictures not being professional enough. I want to clarify something, this blog is not in any means a way to make money, recipes are mine, they come from the heart, and I have a job and two children who I raise pretty much alone. Snapping fancy photographs isn't a priority. I try to make them nice by slightly editing them adding borders etc. But I learn from any feedback, good or bad so I will try to get those photos nicer :)

recipe for gnocchi below:

Rainbow Dumplings (Gnocchi )


What you need:

1 large sweet potato
2 medium size potatoes
1 medium beetroot
1 medium avodado
approx 8 cups of flour ( we used gluten free)

4 spoons of coconut oil or any vegetable shortening 
pinch of salt 

The first step I do the night before 

Cook the potatoes and beetroot until soft. Leave the avocado until you are ready to make the dumplings.
I cook them in their skins and peel just before I'm about to make the gnocchi .

Once you have your veggies cooked, peel the skin and mash them up. In separate bowls. 


So they look like this. 

Make them one by one, by adding approx. 2 cup of flour to each mash. I found that sweet potato takes more flour than any other. 




Add 1 tbs of your shortening ( i use soft coconut oil)and salt. Kneed until its smooth. It take approx. 10 min.
You should end up with 4 bowls of soft dough ( resembles play dough!!)




Put water on boil. You will need a large pan.


All its left its making the shapes. Roll a small amount and then press with a fork to make the pattern .They should look like this:


Once the water is boiling ( remember it has to boil) throw about 20 every time. Once they surface then cook for further 1 min and drain.

They are perfect served plain with a pinch of salt or with a sauce of your choice. 

Enjoy 










One of those days...




yep. its been one of those days.

When I feel like the worst mother on the planet. It started quite well...we had our amazing pear pancakes for breakfast. Recipe below.

Then the children helped to clean up their room, then we made lunch. We had fun making gnocchi with my younger sprawling....and then it all went down hill.

Children are very complicated creatures. Being a parent its so hard. You try to be open minded, compassionate, and focused but its so hard it sometimes impossible to keep them happy.

So two grumpy children and me, full of positivity due to lovely weather. We went out to the park.

Fail no 1. No parking
Fail no 2 had to park at the mall and walk...two grumpy children complaining they have o walk
fail no 3. Park was so busy they had nowhere to play.
fail no 4. They decided they wanted to go to get some sorbets and we walked back to the car
fail no 5. Mummy was distracted and took the wrong turning , we ended up adding extra 10 min of driving. with two grumpy children its not fun
fail no 6. sorbet shop closed down
fail no 7 traffic on the way home.


plus many many many more cries and complaints.

I find it really hard to control my own emotions when we have a day like this.. ..So i ended up crying too.

When you are a parent you try to make your children to understand the world, you teach them respect and you teach them empathy for others, you teach them that to win you sometimes have to loose, and that being different is ok. But today I felt like a failure. After a quick bedtime I realised 3 things:

1. My kids don't need trips, sorbets, they need me.
2. Overstimulation is often as bad as no stimulation
3. Trying too hard is exhausting and upsetting, its ok to give yourself a break.

So from now on, I will listen more, and I will try to agree with them the best solutions to our problems. I will tell them about my feelings and will listen to them telling me how they feel. I will make sure they have all they need to be happy, smiley and just be children.

From now on I will try harder but not too hard

Have a good night all.



Pear Pancakes: 




What you need:  (serves two)

2 ripe pears ( apples work too , best bramley apples)
2 cups of almond milk (or any milk you use)
1cup of self rising gluten free flour ( i find that gluten free is better for pancakes)
1 tbs of coconut oil (or any oil)
1 tbs of egg substitute ( i used chia , 1 teaspoon of chia with 100 ml of water to make 5 servings- blended, i used one)
agave nectar to pour on top


In a bowl mix together flour, milk and chia until smooth. In a frying pan melt the coconut oil ( or any oil , heat up ), then using a heat proof spatula add the hot oil to the flour and milk mixture ( be careful its hot!!)  
mix well.  set aside.

peel the pear and cut into rings, using a small knife cut the seedy nests out. then dunk the pear rings in the batter mixture. 

Then using a soup ladle dollop the pear rings onto the frying pan. You shouldn't need any oil as you already put it in the mixture. Cook until golden brown and then flip gently to make sure its cooked evenly and the pear is soft in the middle. 

Serve warm with agave on top or maple syrup if you prefer. 

Enjoy




Viva la Pasta!!!




We are obsessed about pasta in out household. When I realise its not really good for you, I try to buy gluten free and if not available we use wholegrain brown pasta. 

Pasta is the easiest dinner to make, very often is on our tables the night before our food delivery. A fridge cleaning :)

We used to have Italian au pair, oh my! the homemade pasta was out of this world!

Here is a few of our favourites:


Veggie packed Spag "Bol":




What you need:

  • pasta of your choice ( we used linguini, gluten free) - one handful per person
  • 1 finely chopped onion
  • 1 finely chopped carrot
  • 1 finely chopped parsnip
  • other veggies are optional, we like adding courgettes &mushrooms
  • 1 cup of organic tomato pasatta
  • salt & pepper
  • pinch of brown sugar 
  • 1 tbs of oil ( we use coconut oil)



                                                              How to make it :

Put a large pan on boil filled with water). Meantime, shallow fry the onion, then ad carrot and parsnip plus other veggies if you are using any. Cook until soft. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and add a pinch of sugar. Pour in pastas and bring to boil. Transfer the veggies and sauce into a high pan and blend until smooth. 

Once the pasta is cooked, drain the noodles but keep about 2 tbs of pasta water. Add the blended sauce and pasta water. Toss around and serve. 

So quick and so delicious. 






 Coco-nutty Mushroom Penne



What do you need:

  • 7-8 chestnut mushrooms ( I choose organic ) - chopped
  • 1 courgette (chopped)
  • 1 cup of penne pasta per person ( serves up 2)
  • 1 tbs of coconut oil ( or any oil )
  • 1 pinch of veggie seasoning ( like vegan Bouillon)
  • 2 tbs of coconut cream
  • splash of water

How to make it:

Cook pasta, according to instructions. Shallow fry the mushrooms and courgettes. Sprinkle with seasoning. Once cooked splash with water and add coconut cream, cook to reduce , it will turn into a lovely creamy sauce. Add to your cooked pasta. So simple and effective.