Gluten free, vegan, yeast free, bread buns – rolls or however you wanna name them ;-)

Hi everyone!

I think it’s time for another recipe!! Let’s make some gluten free, nutritious, vegan bread!

Take a large mixing bowl and add:

-          3 tbsp Chia seed meal (or double this amount in flax meal)

-          10 tbsp parsnip puree (or a different fruit or veggie puree – this will of course change the flavor depending on the puree you use!!)

-          4 tbsp water

-          2 tbsp apple cider vinegar

-          1.5 tsp psyllium husk

-          ½ cup almond milk, hemp milk or water

Mix thoroughly with an electric mixer, and add to the same bowl:

-          2 tbsp honey or rice syrup

-          ¼ cup olive oil or melted coconut oil

-          ¼ tsp turmeric = optional; mainly for coloring reasons

-          Small pinch of ground cloves and nutmeg = optional

-          1.5 tsp cinnamon

-          2 heaping tbsp raisins

-          1 tbsp very finely chopped ginger root

-          ½ cup coconut flour

-          ½ cup brown rice flour

-          1 cup tapioca flour (I guess you could substitute with potato starch or corn starch, but I have never tried!)

-          2 tsp baking soda

-          2 tsp baking powder

Beat again until everything is combined and a thick batter is formed.

Dump the batter into a bread tin, or make little balls and bake them separately on a baking sheet. Make whatever shape or form you want and bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit. The baking time will vary depending on the size of your bread(rolls)! I made 5 buns with this batter and it took me approximately 45 minutes. I didn’t watch the clock; I just checked my buns after 30 minutes every so often! I think this works best

Let them cool for 10 minutes after they’re done and serve or store for later enjoyment!

Slice the bread roll in half and spread with a little coconut butter and add your favorite toppings! Delicious!

Side note: If you’d use apple sauce you’d have delicious sweet bread! If you leave out the raisins, cinnamon and ginger, and add garlic powder (1 tsp), chopped fresh rosemary (2 tsp) and a pinch of black pepper + fresh black olives (2 tbsp) you’d have a tasty hearty bread to eat alongside some soup or salad! YUM!

Have fun experimenting with this recipe! 

Does anyone know if there is a difference between BUNS and ROLLS?! ^.^

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DELICIOUSLY moist coconut espresso muffins (Gluten and Sugar free)

I have another recipe to share! It’s actually a double recipe for both chocolate and ginger muffins

This is the recipe for the muffins I’ve made myself this weekend. I just tinkered with some existing recipe ideas (the unhealthy kinds) and came up with these babies (the healthy kinds)!

My mum is a harsh critic and she likes them… so they must be eatable !

I like to make as little of a mess in my kitchen, with little dishes, and multiple baking goods as a result. So I made 1 batch of basic batter, and scooped out half of the batter in silicon muffin cups. Added cocoa powder and some other ingredients in the remaining batter and scooped that batter into a second muffin tray.

Shall we begin?!…

You will need:

-          6 eggs (if you’d want these vegan, you need to use an egg replacer that can help the batter to rise. A flax egg won’t do the trick. I think something like Ener-G egg replacer would work best.)
-          ¾ cup very smooth pumpkin puree
-          ¼ tsp salt
-          ½ tsp vanilla extract
-          ½ tsp cinnamon
-          ¼ tsp stevia powder (mine isn’t as strong as some can be, so use however much you’d like to taste!)
-          ¼ cup water (depending on where you life, you might want to add 1 extra tbsp of water if you think your batter needs it!)
-          ½ tsp baking powder
-          ½ tsp baking soda
-          ½ cup (sifted) coconut flour**

Don’t bother to mix wet and dry ingredients separately. Just toss everything in a bowl and mix thoroughly with an electric mixer.

Get out a muffin tin, muffin tray, silicon muffin cups… or whatever you prefer to use!

Scoop half of the batter into the muffin cups; about 3 – 4 tbsp per muffin cup (I made the ginger variety a little bigger: 4 tbsp, and the chocolate a little smaller with 3 tbsp).

Chop up – or grade – some fresh ginger into very tiny pieces. Use about ½ or 1 square inch of gingerroot. Add ¼ to ½ tsp per muffin on top of the batter in each individual muffin cup. Add a pinch of cinnamon to each muffin and a pinch of nutmeg. Stir with a fork until combined.

Pop into a preheated oven at 375 degrees for about 20 minutes – check after 15 minutes for doneness – just to be safe !

In the meantime stir 2 tbsp (organic raw) cocoa powder + 2 tbsp carob flour + ¼ cup chilled coffee through the remaining batter. When all is combined, scoop batter into remaining muffin cups. I made 8 smaller muffins instead of 6 larger ones. Do whatever you like! You could stir some chopped walnuts through the batter as well… just thinking that might have been good too !

Sprinkle with some xylitol (or brown sugar) for a glossy ‘caramelly’ top!

Pop these into your oven and wait for them to cook. It will take about 10 to 15 minutes if you’ve done 3 tbsp per muffin, or 20 to 25 minutes if you’ve done 4 tbsp per muffin.

While I was waiting for these to cook I cleaned up just 1 big bowl, 2 measuring cups, 2 measuring spoons, and 2 electric mixing sticks (does anyone know the real term for those swirly things to mix the batter with?!). Dishes done in 2 minutes!

After 30 minutes total (first I had just one batch of muffins in my oven, than I had two, and for the last 5 minutes I had

 just the chocolate muffins in there) I had 8 moist chocolate muffins and 6 chewy pumpkin-ginger muffins! They’re both delicious and very nutritious as well! Even if you eat half the recipe it still wouldn’t sabotage
your diet – isn’t that good to know !
Low in sugars, fat and calories. High in fiber and vitamin A (because of the pumpkin)!

Hope you’ll give these a try and enjoy!

**  If working with coconut flour, pay a little extra attention to the consistency of your batter and the cooking time! Coconut flour is very fibrous so it can dry out your baked goods if you haven’t got enough liquid or you leave it in your oven for too long… I’ve had that happen many times before! It requires some getting used to, but once you do… it’s one of the BEST gluten free flours out there!!

Article: finally scientists are noticing how produce is becoming less nutrient-dense because of our poor eating-culture!

 

This article my mum send me yesterday. It’s fascinating, so I’d love for you to read it too! http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2128310/An-apple-day-keeps-doctor-away-especially-old-variety.html

To us health-enthusiasts this probably isn’t big news, but what is… is that “regular” doctors and scientists are actually admitting the foods (veggies and fruits) our ansestors ate were way more nutrient-dense then those domesticated varieties we find in the stores nowadays!

“It could eventually be possible for wholesalers to grow more nutritious varieties from dozens or even hundreds of years ago.” quote from a leading researcher!

FINALLY PEOPLE, YOU’RE TALKING SENSE AGAIN!

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2128310/An-apple-day-keeps-doctor-away-especially-old-variety.html#ixzz1rsQntgN9

Liebster award!

I love receiving comments, so I was happy to notice I had another comment on my “about me” blog-post. I was pleasantly surprised to read in this comment that I’ve been nominated for the Liebster award!

 “A Liebster is an award passed on by a fellow blogger. When you nominate someone, it’s because you believe they are an up and coming blogger with under 200 followers.”

I feel honored that I got nominated by http://livepassionatelytonight.wordpress.com/! We both have a passion for health with a similar background. So if you enjoy my blog, definitely go check out hers as well!

It’s a great feeling to know that you (and hopefully others ) enjoy reading my blog! 

This next part is just copied and pasted from http://livepassionatelytonight.wordpress.com/2012/04/10/liebster-award/:

If you receive the award, you should:

1. Thank the giver and link back to the blogger who gave it to you.

2. Reveal your top five picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.

3. Copy and paste the award on your blog.

 4. Hope that the people you’ve sent the award to forward it to their five favorite bloggers and keep it going!

So these are my 5 picks!:

-          http://alexiaku.wordpress.com/; because she’s a lovely person and a self said ‘health food freak’ (just like me ) – she’s a great inspiration to anyone who enjoys yoga!

-          http://domesticdivamd.com/; because I love to read her blog-posts. Her writing is awesome, and her recipes are great. I admire her for following her heart by going to Med school!

-          http://iheartvegetables.com/; have you read the name of this blog?! I mean…how can someone who hearts veggies be anything else but cool?!

-          http://cookeveryday1.wordpress.com/; because I love how she combines culinary school with nutrition and food sciences! Best of both worlds if you’d ask me!!

-          http://tiarefitness.com/; with her bubbly personality she keeps others motivated to work out. I love health, food and fitness… so I can relate to her !

Here you have it… my top 5 at the moment! So, check out those blogs as well as http://livepassionatelytonight.wordpress.com/!

Thanks everyone for reading my blog and for the great community here on wordpress.com!
XO, Leanne

HAPPY EASTER! – Coconut Butter Recipe (It’s just so good!)

Hi Guys!!

HAPPY EASTER!! 

Since it’s a holiday, and I’ll be out and about celebrating … I won’t be updating on my eight-week-challenge this Sunday; but I’ll do this next Wednesday (along with my second weigh-in!). My week is going really well . I’m above target calories almost EVERY day . I still do my workouts religiously – I might have done a few at half paste, but that’s ok – I’m still loving it!

Anyway…I did want to share something else… it’s my fave nut-seed-something-butter at the moment: Homemade coconut butter! It’s super delicious and super easy to make. You will need a high speed blender or food processor and a few cups of unsweetened shredded coconut. I used approximately 4 cups (or 5? sorry I lost count since I added the coconut per third cup!) of coconut and I got 2 cups of coconut butter.

Add the coconut in your blender or food processor. You might have to process half of the amount of coconut first – until it starts to break down and decrease in size – before adding in the rest! That’s how I do it .

Than you blend.. and blend.. and blend.. and you’ve guessed it; you blend some more!

After 10 minutes or so you’ll notice the coconut is getting “smoother” and thicker – kinda like marzipan. After 20 minutes or so you’ll see it turn into a more liquid consistency and after another 5 minutes it will be perfect!

Easy as pie!

Here’s the process in pictures!

Hope you’ll enjoy!