VEGANS CAN HAVE MUG CAKES TOO

VEGANS CAN HAVE MUG CAKES

I thought mug cakes were a thing of the past, those magical delights that cooked up in no time in the microwave. However I've discovered you can make vegan, low fat mug cake that actually taste good. Like seriously, its fluffy and moist with no oil, dairy, sugar or eggs. This version I have created is under 100 kcal even gluten free! Using chickpea flour is awesome as not only is it gluten free but it has a higher amount of protein then other flours.

MUG CAKES FOR ALL

Chocolate Banana Mug cake

Ingredients

1/4 of a small banana

1 teaspoon of flax seed

3 tbsp of alternative milk (I used almond milk)

1/2 tbsp of cocoa powder

1 1/2 teaspoon of chickpea flour (or other gluten free flour)

1/2 tsp of baking powder

1 tbsp of powdered sweetener 

pinch of salt

*optional 1 tsp of nut butter/ vegan chocolate nut butter (I used sesame chocolate spead)

  

-Mash together in good mug the banana, milk and flax. Set aside to thicken for a couple of minuets.

- Measure out you chickpea flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, salt sweetener and, if using, nut butter. I used raw sesame chocolate spread as it has a slightly bitter edge that would complement the chocolate making it more chocolaty (like adding a little coffee to chocolate to coffee does)

-Combine all your ingredients and place in a microwave for 1.30 minuets. 

- I heated up some cocoa powder, almond milk and agave to make a warm chocolate sauce and poured it over my cake once i removed it from its mug. You can leave it in the mug if you want.. but who doesn't love a little mini cake in front of you.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm... cake

Not a Chicken Kiev

The childhood food of chicken kievs has made a return..

 However this is its grown up vegan lower fat and healthier self. 

Not only is this baby gluten free but is stuffed with flavor and protein. It's taken me a while to plan and get round to this one, coming up with different ways to replicate this chicken dish, but I've finally done it. The key is a good firm tofu (smoked) and a bag f good mixed herbs. I like to use Dragonfly Organic tofu, which in the UK you can get and Holland and Barret and most other health food store. 

Tofu Kiev

Ingredients

Marinade

1/4 cup soy sauce/tamari

3 tbsp of balsamic vinegar

2 sun dried tomatoes

1-2 tsp of agave (depending on your taste)

1 tbsp of mixed Italian herbs

Pepper to taste

- Mix together all the marinade ingredients together in a bowl big enough to fit your tofu block in 

1 block of smoked firm tofu

3 toasted corn crispbread (or gluten free cracker of choice)

2 tbsp of mixed seeds and nuts

1 tsp of mixed Italian herbs

1/2 a tsp of salt

1/4 tsp of cumin seeds

3 heaped tsp of flaxseed

1/4 cup water

-Place your tofu in the marinade and spoon over the mixture. Leave to marinate whilst you prepare everything else. If you rotate the tofu ever couple of minuets or so the better the coverage of marinade.

- In a blender place your crispbreads, herbs, seeds and nuts, salt and cumin seeds. Blitz till they resemble fine bread crumbs, remove from blender and place in a flat bowl.

- In another flat bowl create your flaxseed egg mixture by mixing your flaxseed with water and setting it aside for it to turn gloopy (like an egg). 

1 cup  spinach

1 garlic clove

2 sun dried tomatoes

1 tbsp mixed Italian herbs

2 tbsp of veggie stock

2 tbsp of lemon juice

1 heaped tbsp of vegan cream cheese (i used one with chives in, garlic and herb ones would work well too)

1 chopped large spring onion

-Clean out your blender and place in all the ingredients above apart from the spring onion. Blitz till fairly smooth.

-Remove from blender and add finely chopped spring onion

-Now cut your tofu in half to make two 'kievs'

- Insert a whole through the center of your 'kiev' here you can see me using a knife sharpener to do it, as i couldn't find the apple corer, an apple corer would probably work better.

- Stuff your 'keiv' with the vegan cheese spinach garlic mixture

- Set out your flat plates of flaxseed and crispbread crumbs. Then coat you 'kiev' first in the flaxseed egg, then in the crumbs then place on a packing tray.

- Place in a oven at 180 degrees for around 20 minuetes or till cooked.

with chunky tomato ketchup and small trees

YUMM!

Vegan Nutella

For people who don't have a vita-mix or an amazing blender but still want to make vegan nutella, this is for you. I have found that the more liquid you add to a 'less good' blender the better it whizzzes. However most vegan nutella recipes I have seen have little to no liquid at all, it is basically a hazelnut butter with cocoa. Therefore the average to good blender struggles with this task and takes 100x longer to make. This recipe how ever uses almond milk to loosen up the mixture and make it more blendable.

 

SO VEGAN NUTELLA FOR ALL! 

Plus, because it's bulked out by the nutritious but lower calorie almond milk, this version is not nearly as fattening or as calorie dense as other vegan nutellas or nutella itself. Hazelnuts are rich in protein and vitamin E making them great for your hair and skin. 

Ingredients

1 cup almond milk (I did this again only with vanilla almond milk which was amazing)

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1/3 cup dates + one tbsp plus raisins soaked 

1 cup hazelnuts soaked for 4-6 hours

pinch of salt

sweetener of choice to taste

- To a food possessor or blender add your drained soaked nuts, raisins and dates along with the almond milk. Blitz till the mixture is the texture of ready break.

- Add your cocoa powder, salt and then blitz again till you reach your to your desired consistency. The smoothness of your nutella will depend on how good your blender is and how persistent you are at pulsing,blitzing and scraping down the sides.

Just keep persisting till you get smooth perfection

- Finally add your sweetener to taste, powdered or liquid, either works fine. You can also just up the amount of dates you use it depends on the type of sweetness you like. just I fined using half date and half sweetener works for my taste buds as dates are quite caramely and expensive and so on... 

- Store in the fridge in a jar, tub or bowl. It will keep for a good 2 weeks this way, however I

doubt it will last that long.

nom nom nom