Healthy, low-cost dishes to make you smile

Tag: dairy-free

Indian style sweet potato fritters

Indian style sweet potato fritters

I love a fritter as a freeze-ahead meal prep item to use for impromptu dinners, packed lunches, picnics and as a veggie packed side, so these Indian Style Sweet Potato Fritters are a total winner. If you have any random root veg laying around you […]

Allergy Friendly Flapjacks

Allergy Friendly Flapjacks

  It’s always so helpful to have a quick and easy recipe up your sleeve which uses store cupboard ingredients and tastes delicious too. Even better if it’s accessible to as many people as possible. These healthy flapjacks are great for those who might not […]

Free From Everything Healthy Chocolate Brownie Muffins

Free From Everything Healthy Chocolate Brownie Muffins

Okay, now brace yourself, these chocolate muffins are (deep breath) egg-free, fat-free, dairy-free, gluten-free, sugar-free, nut-free, but definitely NOT flavour free! There is a good reason they are called Free From Everything Healthy Chocolate Brownie Muffins you see! I know what you’re thinking, what do they actually contain? The answer is basically all the good stuff.

In fact, there is so much good stuff in here that they would be a fabulous breakfast for anybody who doesn’t ‘do’ breakfast. They’re the healthiest choice you could go for if you need a sweet snack at coffee time, and the kids will think you’re being the best parent ever giving them this delicious treats when you know that they are actually bulking up on goodness. They are packed with iron, zinc, magnesium and antioxidants so this is certainly a situation where cake really is good for your health!

Overall then – a muffin case of perfect. I hope you’ll be pleasantly surprised by how fluffy and light these brownie muffins are. Serve them with the optional topping which is like a chocolate  fudge, So sweet and squishy but with only a few simple ingredients.

Free From Everything Healthy Chocolate Brownie Muffins

September 25, 2018
: 8
: 10 min
: 25 min
: Easy

By:

Ingredients
  • 90g dried dates
  • 90g dried figs
  • 100g oats (gluten free if required)
  • 30g cocoa powder
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 250 ml water
  • 100 ml milk of your choice
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
  • Topping:
  • 100g dates
  • 100ml milk of your choice
  • 2 tablespoons cocao powder
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
Directions
  • Step 1 Preheat oven to 180°C / Fan 160°C / 350°F. Line 8 muffin tins.
  • Step 2 First make a flour from your oats by blitzing them in a blender until they are a fine powder.
  • Step 3 In one bowl mix the oats flour, cocoa powder and baking powder.
  • Step 4 In a blender put together the dates, figs, water, milk and vanilla essence. Blend this mixture together until it’s smooth and lump free.
  • Step 5 Now at the wet mixture to the dry mixture and mix until just combined. You don’t want to overmix this.
  • Step 6 Divide into your muffin tin divide into your lined muffin tins, fill to ¾ full and level the tops with the back of a spoon.
  • Step 7 Bake for 25 minutes, or until a toothpick or skewer comes out clear.
  • Step 8 While they are cooking make the topping. Simply blend the dates, milk, cocoa and vanilla together until you have a thick paste. Placed this in the fridge for about an hour to firm up before frosting the top of your cooled muffins.

Pineapple and Ginger Energy Balls

Pineapple and Ginger Energy Balls

Having a naturally sweet energy ball at the ready in your fridge is brilliant if you are trying to cut down on your chocolate and candy intake – by filling up on the good stuff you won’t crave the rubbish! And the great thing about […]

Seed and Fruit Flapjacks

Seed and Fruit Flapjacks

Flapjacks are such a great bake – they can be made with minimal utensils, take minutes to put together and are pretty adaptable to the ingredients you have and like. Made right they can be a nutritional powerhouse but many off-the-shelf versions are packed with […]

Quick and Easy Courgette Soup (zucchini)

Quick and Easy Courgette Soup (zucchini)

As soup season and courgette’s rarely co-inside I’ve never tried courgette soup.  But faced with a haul of them from a kind friend and the sudden stormy week I’ve been working on a soup which will work now and also keep in the freezer for the autumn too.

This is the most simple but surprisingly tasty recipe which I’ve come up with which suits so many diets. It’s also delicate in flavour so great for smaller children too. It takes around 20mins to make (the thicker the pieces are chopped the longer it will take to cook) and is so creamy despite having no added cream or thickener. It’s amazing how much flavour the courgettes have!

Quick and Easy Courgette Soup (zucchini)

August 10, 2018
: 4
: Easy

By:

Ingredients
  • 1 tablespoon oil or butter
  • 2 onions, finely sliced
  • 3 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 750g courgettes, washed, trimmed and chopped in medium size pieces
  • 2 vegetable stock cubes, crumbled
  • 750ml water
  • 3 bay leaves
Directions
  • Step 1 Soften the onion and garlic, lid on, in a medium size saucepan for 5 to 10mins until completely soft.
  • Step 2 Add the courgettes, stock, water and bay leaves. Replace the lid and bring to the boil then simmer for around 10mins until the courgette is soft.
  • Step 3 Remove the bay leaves and blitz until smooth. Season to taste.

Chocolate Caramel Fudge – vegan, sugar and gluten free

Chocolate Caramel Fudge – vegan, sugar and gluten free

This vegan, gluten free, sugar free ‘fudge’ is certainly high on taste and the special squidge which makes fudge well, fudge! It took a few attempts to get this Chocolate Caramel Fudge just right but each one was just as yummy so don’t worry if […]

White Bean Pate

White Bean Pate

I’m not entirely sure what children ate in the world before houmous. Was there even a world before houmous?!?! Is there a single way of spelling it we can all agree on?!? It’s certainly one of those foods which ends up on the table or […]

Chocolate and Raspberry Cake (gluten-free)

Chocolate and Raspberry Cake (gluten-free)

Do you ever find that you go through stages of cooking certain things? Like you will always make that particular salad or pie when people are over for lunch? When you have to think of a dessert to make, one will always be front and centre of your mind? Then a couple of months later you move on and those easy and nailed recipes are forgotten again? I am totally guilty of this which is why I’m resurrecting this Chocolate and Raspberry Cake from the vaults of my cooking brain – which to be fair is most of my brain!

This was such a classic in my household and always got such a great reaction I made it as part of my two-courses-in-one-hour challenge on MasterChef UK. And it was very much a hit with Gregg Wallace and John Torode who polished the served slice off. After that I just stopped making it. But while working out what to make for friends coming for dinner recently I remembered it and thought this cake would finish off the meal perfectly, as it did.

Couple of notes, I have found adding the raspberries at the end is the best way of ensuring they don’t all drop to the base of the cake. But you can stir them through the mixture before cooking if you would prefer. This cake will crack on top. If you would prefer you could turn it upside down to cool and then cover with a chocolate ganache and perhaps garnish with fresh berries or free-dried raspberries. I have served this with a raspberry coulis, crushed Amoretti biscuits and mascarpone mixed with Amaretto liqueur.

Chocolate and Raspberry Cake (gluten-free)

May 4, 2018
: 15 min
: 50 min

By:

Ingredients
  • 250g dark chocolate, melted
  • 6 eggs, 5 separated
  • 200g caster sugar
  • 150g ground almonds
  • 150g frozen raspberries
Directions
  • Step 1 Line a 7.5 to 8inch (20cm) cake tin with a reusable liner or greaseproof paper. Preheat the oven to 180°C / 350 °F /Gas Mark 4.
  • Step 2 Melt the chocolate either in the microwave or in a bowl over a pan of hot water. Put to one side.
  • Step 3 In one bowl whisk the egg whites until stiff but not dry, they should just hold their shape.
  • Step 4 In another bigger bowl whisk the yolks, single whole egg and sugar until it’s thick, pale and foamy and you can make trails with your whisk in the surface.
  • Step 5 Whisk the cool chocolate and almonds into the egg yolk mixture until thoroughly combined.
  • Step 6 Then fold in the egg whites, a little at a time, with a spatula or large metal spoon.
  • Step 7 Place in the prepared tin. Now scatter the frozen raspberries evenly over the top and push them below the surface with your finger.
  • Step 8 Level off the top and place in the oven for 50mins.
  • Step 9 Check the cake is cooked through with a skewer, if not return to the oven for another 5mins before checking again.
  • Step 10 Cool in the tin for around 10mins before placing on a cooking rack.
  • Step 11 You can eat this cake warm or cold.

Cauliflower and Lentil Curry

Cauliflower and Lentil Curry

I have a minor obsession with my children loving Indian food for no reason other than I love it myself and cannot wait to take them to India which I think is one of the most fascinating and special countries in the world. They love […]