Black bean pate (my own version this time) or…Brown foods need love too.

In my language, Brown food is chocolate. Brown food (chocolate) can be green, or beige, without actually being green-coloured, or beige-coloured. See this post for more details.

This dip is in fact, green, while at the same time being brown-coloured,  not to be confused with Brown Food.

Are you with me? Then let’s make some pate.

 

Dead easy, all you need is a mini chopper ,some cooked black beans, a lime, and a few store cupboard items…. You can cook a whole bag of beans in the slow cooker overnight and then drain them, and freeze them in bags for recipes.

 

Black bean Pate- SO very yummy.

 

• 1.5 cups of cooked black beans
• 6 sundried tomatoes, snipped up
• 1T extra virgin olive oil (on reflection, this could be omitted for a fat-free dip, or increased for a silkier, more unctious dip)
• juice of 1 lime
• 1 teaspoon onion granules
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika

 

Whizz until completely smooth and until the sun-drieds are fully incorporated and processed.

 

 

I enjoy this with raw veggies. Here it is featured on a Green wrap (romaine lettuce) topped with a lime and coriander broccoli salsa.

For the salsa, just chop up any raw vegetables you can find, (broccoli, red pepper, celery) with as much red onion and tomato as you have available, a droozle of EVOO (extra virgin), lime juice and plenty of chopped coriander or your choice of herbs.

I enjoyed this twice this week with two different friends, followed in one instance by some (green) Brown Food.

 

Perfect.

 

 

 

Delicious black bean dip

This is not my photo. (How did you know?) Neither is it my recipe. (see the pattern?) It comes from Two Peas and their Pod and I am posting it because I ate a very similar dip for lunch today, with raw vegetables, and it is absolutely DE-licious!

Black beans, whizzed with cumin, salt, smoked paprika…they also add lime juice and cilantro (coriander leaf) which in my book makes it perfect. Next time I shall add these. Mine also had some cooked quinoa whizzed in there, extra protein…although I wasn’t thinking of the protein, I was just using up endy-bits in the store cupboard.

When I have established a great recipe, I shall post it here.

Meanwhile, always remember,  grey foods need love too, and this tastes delicious.

A protein-packed healthy dips using cooked beans, a little healthy fat and herbs and spices. The opportunities for flavours are endless (just check out the hummous market!)

Invent yourself a healthy dip and feed-back.

 

That’s all we have time for today folks…..

Happy Thursday!

x

 

Whole-grain low-sugar orange and berry muffins

Mmmmmm!!

 

 

This is not one of my creations, so I am linking to Peas and Thank You for the recipe.

Suffice it to say:

• They are wholegrain (Oat flour (which is just ground oats) and wholewheat flour)
• Low in sugar. It calls for 2T of maple syrup or honey. I used sugar, as I have no maple syrup and honey burns very quickly.From a blood sugar point of view there is no difference to using sugar than using honey or maple (yes, I know it “feels” healthier”, but there is 2T in 10 cakes. Not bad)
• I used a whole peeled orange instead of 3/4 cup of juice. Extra fibre, and easier.
• I put all the ingredients in the blender. I didn’t even bother grinding oat flour, I just threw in rolled oats.

 

Conclusion from a cake loving 9 year old- “They could be a LITTLE sweeter but pretty nice!”

We concluded we would put strawberry pieces all the way through rather than just on top to make them sweeter. (Tesco has frozen strawberries at 50p a box at the moment!)

 

Loving leaves. And healthier cakes.

Have you drunk your greens today?

For details of how to drink your greens and LOVE them, click here

PS I haven’t yet, but I will, oh yes I will!

Home-made peanut butter (in under 5 minutes)

I cannot understand why anyone would spend such vast amounts of money on fancy nut butters (cashew/almond) if they have their own food processor (or its baby sibling- The Mini Chopper- yes, it has been capitalised)

It is SO easy, so quick, a fraction of the cost of buying a jar, and no nasties!! No added palm oil, no sugar, no Weird Stuff, no salt (if you do not wish for it) In my “spreads section” here I have cashew nut butter (absolute favourite), pistachio nut butter, and Home-made nutella.

I also recently made roasted almond nut butter and used it to make home made almond toffee (posted here) The other day I made RAW almond butter in record time- less than 8 minutes!! Normally unroasted nuts take longer to release the oils….. still under the influence of my almond butter success,  my husband and I set to peeling monkey nuts. The “Under 5 minutes” does not include this therapeutic long, labrorious task, though made pleasant because I loved chatting to my nut-shelling partner.

There is nothing difficult in making nut butter. Take your nuts, unroasted or roasted as you prefer, and food process until they release the oils. That is all!

Just remember-

• Leave your food processor to rest for a minute if it heats up
• Scrape down the sides if need-be.
• Add salt at any point but if you are adding LIQUID sweetener (maple, honey etc) do not add this until it is completely buttered-up.

 

 

 

 

at 2 minutes…

 

at 3 minutes 30 second. I added 1/8 t salt

Spread on mini spelt roll with St Dalfour Strawberry jam. Happy husband…

 

So there you have it!!  What nut butter will you make first?

IN-credible Broccoli salad dressing

No cashews this time kids. They have not graced my cupboards for a while as the prices have shot up. Here is a wonderful, and I do mean wonderful dressing that intrigued and delighted at a recent potluck lunch. It is a actually inspired by one I did nearly two years ago, though this is definitely far more splendid.

But I have a playgroup run to do so let’s get to the point.

• Juice and zest of 1 lime
• about 20 “grates” of a big chunky ginger root
• 4 teaspoons of honey or other sweetener such as agave or maple syrup
• 4 teaspoons of brown rice miso*
• 4 teaspoons of tahini (sesame paste)**
• 1 teaspoon cumin

 

* If you cannot get miso, a fermented soybean paste, use a quality soy sauce such as tamari (no added sugars and weird stuff)

** Tahini is VERY rich in calcium and you can also use it to make sesame toffee- what’s not to like? But if you cannot get it (I had run out this morning) you can substitute a nut butter of your choice. I just used Whole earth peanut butter; if you cannot make your own nut butter, this brand  is a more wholesome substitute with no sugar or salt added and only a very small amount of palm oil.

Here is your delicious wholesome dressing:If you use Tamari instead of miso it will be less textured, as miso is a paste- that’s fine.

TASTE YOUR DRESSING!

If you use tahini, you may wish to add a little more honey- personal taste. Like a little extra zing? more lemon or lime or a touch of white vinegar. A little extra “fruitiness”- a dash of extra virgin olive oil. No salt needed- it’s in the miso. You can also thin it down with almond milk or protein pack it some more by stirring in a little hummous.

 

Stir through your

• diced/shredded broccoli
• Red pepper
• red onion
• sesame seeds
• raisins

I will not bother with quantities here. It’s a salad. A bowl of veggies! Throw in whatever you wish!

Just one more tip though:

Those yummy broccoli stalks?

 

If you have a mini chopper, you can shred them nicer and fine for your salad.

Alternatively, chop finely.

And now: Ta-daaaa!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Disclaimer- I am not a food photographer. But this tastes SO good! ENJOY!!

 

“Sticky date and Orange(unconventional) muffins”

So I found these little gems in a cupcake/muffin recipe book I had, boasting “These little delights are packed full of goodness”. What? How did I miss this before?!

I hurriedly flipped the photo over to discover a date-based, highly unconventional recipe- huzzah! Right up my alley! It has been a long time since I have done less-traditional muffins. I do tweak my baking to make them less sickly-sweet and all-or-mainly wholegrain, dairy-free etc and it is still enjoyed by 2/3 of the kids (the third doesn’t like cake anyway).

The last time I experimented with date-sweetened muffins, I posted them here, but I have to say I was impressed with how simple this was. Way simpler than mine, though less cake-like in consistency compared to mine. 5 ingredients including lemon zest? Sounds good!

The photo is a bit deceitful to say the least. If you look carefully these are 100% without a doubt, regular white flour cupcakes with a glaze on it. A date-based wholemeal flour cupcake does NOT come out white. Never mind….this is your photo people, as I forgot to photograph ours, and my husband has taken them on an overnight trip.

Kind of oil heavy if you bear in mind this makes only 6 cupcakes. Never mind. Definitely a recipe I will be working with again. Will the kids eat them? I doubt it……Isaac might.

• 75grams (1/2 cup) of pitted dates
• 85 mls (1/3 cup) water
• 85 mls (1/3 cup) fresh orange juice
• 85 mls (1/3 cup) sunflower or other vegetable oil
• 225 grams (1  and 3/4 cups) self-raising wholewheat flour
• Zest of 1 lemon

AAAAH so THATS why! I just realised I only put in 1/3 cup of flour- in my head all the ingredients were equal quantities!  :)  Nevertheless they were very good!

1. Cook the dates and water together till soft, and mask or whizz into a paste. If you already have date paste, well- hooray! Though I did not notice how much paste comes out of 1/2 a cup of dates.

2.Whizz or mix together the date paste, orange juice, oil, lemon zest and sift in the flour.

3.Break the dough into 8-9 balls (this also explains why mine only made 6 and why I could not “break” the dough, rather I dolloped it into muffin cases……)

4. Cook at 180 for about 15-18 minutes.

5. Meanwhile make a topping of 2Tablespoons of honey, 1 T water and 1T fresh orange juice. Heat gently until thickened

6.Once the muffins come out, top with the glaze and leave to cool.

Delicious!

Recipe from THIS BOOK.