Eat food you love that loves you back
Here’s my next instalment of ‘what to do with lots of sweetcorn and courgettes at the end of a good summer?’ series. This dish is focused on sweetcorn, and is a double corn recipe using both fresh off the kernels with dried and ground corn. Continue reading “Chilli sweetcorn baked polenta”
I read an article recently in which a ‘celebrity baker’ scoffed at those who include fruit and vegetables as a key ingredient in their cake. Well, I have to disagree, even though I’m not a professional baker! Some of my favourite bakes include a good helping of veg – sweet potato chocolate brownies, carrot cake and my new favourite, courgette loaf. They may have a different consistency to your traditional baked cake (watching Great British Bake Off, I’m in awe of their delicate crumb!), but I like a sweet treat that’s gooey, substantial and full of goodness, so veg in cake is just fine by me.
So as part of my mini-series on what to do with the mass of courgette around at the moment, here’s a great little cake to try for afternoon tea. Well, it’s more of a loaf, similar to banana bread than a Victoria Sponge, but nevertheless it’s still cake in my book! It is dense, but in a sticky, satisfactory way, reminiscent of bread pudding but a million times lighter!
The benefit of using veg or fruit in baking is added moisture; the potential problem with courgette is that they are 95% water, which could make your cake a soggy, heavy disaster. To prevent this, just squeeze some excess water out of the courgettes once they’re grated. You could do this through a clean tea towel, but it’s a bit messy and you can end up spending ages picking up bits of courgette from odd places (or maybe that’s just me….?). An easy way is to pack it into a measuring cup or small pot and press it down so the water rises to the top and then drain that off, holding your hand over the top. Don’t take off too much though, otherwise your cake will suffer.
This cake really is super healthy – it’s dairy free, can be gluten free, plant based, contains minimal refined sugar and is packed full of lovely nutrients and fibre. On top of that, it is also refined oil free, the apple sauce replacing the oil in this instance. Not that fat is bad, far from it, but refined oils such as sunflower or vegetable oils take their toll on our cellular health and so should be minimised as much as possible. To add a little fat into the mix, pop in some chopped walnuts or pecans – the flavour, texture and nutritional value will be happy if you do!
The downside of cutting out refined products in this cake is shelf life – oil and sugar act as preservatives, so best keep this loaf in the fridge and use it up within 3 days. Mind you, once you taste it, that won’t be a problem! Enjoy.
Yummy courgette loaf cake
2 tablespoons ground flaxseed
6 tablespoons water
240g wholemeal/spelt/gluten free flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 medium courgette, grated (small)
100g coconut sugar (or other minimally refined brown sugar)
160g apple sauce
10mls lemon juice
50g raisins and/or chopped walnuts
Place the ground flaxseed and water into a bowl and mix well. Put to one side to thicken – this is your flaxseed ‘egg’.
Pre-heat the oven to 180ºc. Grease a 2lb loaf tin and line with baking paper.
Place the flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon into another bowl and mix well together. Add the sugar, lemon juice and apple sauce to the flaxseed mixture and stir well, then add the courgette and stir again. Pour the wet mix into the dry mix and quickly combine together – don’t over mix. Stir in the raisins and nuts (if using) and pour into the prepared loaf tin. Tap the tin on the worktop to level and stop the raising agent working too quickly, then pop in the oven.
Bake for 25 mins then check – the loaf should be slightly risen and lightly browned on top. Stick a skewer or cocktail stick into the cake – if it comes out coated with mixture, pop back into the oven for another few minutes until done. Remove from the oven, leave to cool for 10 minutes or so, then tip out onto a cooling rack, carefully peel off the baking paper and let it cool completely.
Sweet corn and courgettes are right in season at the moment, and it’s a bumper crop. I love sweetcorn. Ripened during the long sunny (hopefully!) summer days, fresh corn is so sweet and succulent it’s a joy to eat. Continue reading “Sweetcorn and courgette fritters”
Some may call us brave, others foolish, but we have just been away on holiday for two weeks, leaving our teens at home to fend for themselves. Continue reading “Summer crumble comfort”
Summer is here and we’re off on our hols! We booked our trip some time ago after checking out things like weather, accommodation and things to do. There’s also one more thing we have to check out – food options. Continue reading “Holiday season!”
There are times when only chocolate will do. But when you’re eating dairy free, you can’t just grab the first bar you find. Then if you’re eating gluten free and want to cut out the junk and eat more whole food, then things get even more complicated. By the time you actually find something that meets the criteria and hits the spot, life has moved on and you don’t really want it anymore! Which is great for the waistline, but frustrating for the tastebuds! Or worse, you succumb and eat something that makes you feel dreadful.
There are more and more dairy free chocolate brands available to buy, usually in the supermarket free from section or a health food shop, but they can be expensive and you don’t really know what’s in them.You could make you’re own chocolate of course – something that I do want to do. I even have a friend who teaches it, but still haven’t made it to a class. Fortunately, I have an easy solution to chocolate bar frustration that’s really quick to make and tastes amazing – chocolate refrigerator chunks.
The recipe of these came together after I was bought a solid chocolate ‘cake bar’ from a healthy food stall – a long, mars bar sized chunk filled with nuts and dried fruit. Having not consumed a decent chocolate bar for a number of years, it was quite a revelation, but so rich and filling that I couldn’t finish it all, despite a seriously concerted effort. Having made great changes to the way I eat, it really was just too much for me – shocking!
Whenever I munch my way through a new food or dish, I’m always analysing it’s make up and trying to decide how to recreate it myself. Realising that this would be simple, I grabbed the dairy free chocolate drops and got to work.
Chocolate refrige
rator chunks
250g dairy free chocolate
2 tablespoons coconut oil
250g of chopped nuts, seeds and dried fruit
(my favourite combo is pecan, raisin, cranberry, pumpkin and flaxseed)
Pop the dairy free chocolate and coconut oil in a medium sized bowl. Place it over a small pan of simmering water and stir whilst it melts to combine. Remove from the heat and stir in the nuts, seeds and fruit combo you’ve chosen – mix well.
Tip the mix into a prepared tin (*see below), cover with a freezer bag and place in the freezer for a couple of hours to set hard. Remove from the freezer, tip out of the tin onto a board and chop into chunks (careful of your fingers though as it’s pretty hard). Place chunks into a pot and leave in the fridge until you’re ready to eat them (if you manage not to eat them all during the chopping process). Enjoy!
*I have found that disposable flan dishes are the best mould to use, and as it’s easy to remove when frozen, you can reuse them a number of times. If you don’t have any, just line any tin with foil to help you remove it later – don’t use cling film though, unless you want it as part of your chocolate chunk
Having decided to have a business based around food, I spend a lot of time cooking, whether experimenting on the family in the kitchen or preparing dishes for my course participants or supper club attendees. Now don’t get me wrong, I do love it, but I also really enjoy someone else doing the cooking every now and then and having an evening out.
stuffed aubergine rollsWhen you have to be careful with certain ingredients though, eating out can become a little challenging at times, depending where you are. More and more chain restaurants like Zizzi and Los Iguanas have cottoned on (which is great if you live near one) and provide dairy free, gluten free and vegan options for their more sensitive guests, but the choice is limited, so can get a little repetitive if you want to eat out regularly. Now that may sound a little picky, and to be honest I’m just grateful to be able to eat something that I know won’t make me ill! But sometimes it is nice to have more of a choice. Fortunately, living so close to Brighton, there is a veritable array of cafes and restaurants to chose from, serving up (mainly) delicious and innovative creations. The only dilemma then is choosing where to go and what to have, which when you’ve got used to such limited choice can be a little overwhelming at first!
Fragrant pakoras1847 opened up in North Road in Brighton last year, right in the heart of the ever popular North Laines. It is part of a chain – there’s 4 locations now – and is light and modern inside. We booked quite early for a Saturday night as we had an event to go to after, but it was still pretty busy, so booking is definitely advised.What I love about restaurants like 1847 is that because they are dedicated to vegetarian or vegan food, the menu features vaiety, creativity and a real understanding of how plant based flavours combine, often in innovative ways. The menu clearly marked which were vegan and there were also gluten free options – a real bonus for the sensitive diner! The only one who struggled a little in choice was my hubby – aubergine was a big feature in the the vegan options and he’s not a fan, but he was happy with some deliciously lightly spiced pakoras to start followed by ‘fish’ and chips’ on a sweet pea puree – the presentation was so precise it was almost a shame he had to eat it!
Our friends tried the stuffed aubergine roll to start, which was also so pretty, followed by celeriac gratin made with local cheese – obviously not for the dairy free diner, but the construction was awesome and they declared it delic
ious . I opted for their ‘Surf and Turf’ option, a huge aubergine steak that was crisp on the outside and unctuously gooey on the inside, with a herb ‘butter’. The surf was sea vegetables, which I have to say didn’t really do it for me, but it was a clever idea.
Even though we were pretty stuffed, the dessert menu had options, so had to be tried. I had heard the vegan gluten free chocolate brownies were awesome, and I can confirm that rumour is true – my friend chose them and then we had to help her clear the plate as it’s a huge portion! Don’t order one for yourself unless you are seriously hungry. The vegan creme brûlée was also a big hit, and beautifully presented. Mine however, the trifle, was quite a disappointment as it promised much and delivered little. My mistake; curiosity and a childhood love of trifle tempted me but I should have had the brownies!
So all in all, we had a great experience at 1847 – fabulous gins, great food (mostly), super company (provide your own!) and all finished in time to go and enjoy the rest of our evening with happy tummies, but a slightly lighter wallet! I’m sure we’ll be back again some time soon – those brownies are calling!
When I started eating a dairy and yeast free diet 7 years ago, it was really tough! For a start, trying to get my family and friends to stop fretting about my food choices was hard, and cooking food that kept everyone happy was a challenge. I was starting from scratch with many recipes, trying to work out how to adapt them successfully (there were more than a few failures, that’s for sure!). And as for eating out, well that was like being in an episode of Fawlty Towers at time, without the canned laughter and funny bits.
Then just to make it even more complicated, we moved to India, where many of the ‘free from’ itemswe relied on were not available, and finally going mainly plant based, which really freaked some people out. Never knowingly normal!
I’ve learnt a lot on my food journey, and continue to learn all the time, and indeed still making changes – you may have noticed more gluten free recipes appearing recently. There’s been a few mistakes, some frustration and the odd tantrum (whose, I’m not saying!). But I don’t regret it, and I don’t even miss my old favourite foods any more, as I have load
s of new favourites instead, that don’t leave me unwell or in pain. Plus there’s so many ‘side-benefits’ to eating a whole food plant based diet, like glowing skin and hair, and effortless weight loss. There’s continual discovery and experimentation going on in my kitchen, less cookery rules to follow and a budding array of new restaurants and cafes to visit, as suddenly eating plant based is ‘in’.
One of the things I love about my journey, is sharing the benefits with other people so they can start their own healthy food adventure, only with less hiccups – that is why I created my Eat Well, Live Well course. Packed full of the valuable information, short cuts and tips I have learnt over the last few years, I just love
seeing others become enthused and enjoying the changes in their own lives, or someone close to them. And because it’s not just about learning information, but enjoyment too, Ialways include a full lunch (or supper) as part of each session, and provide a full recipe folder of over 60 dishes to follow. In fact, one recent participant only cooks from my folder, which is quite a compliment.
Covering diverse subjects like nutrition 101, social norms, how to bake amazing cakes and gut bacteria, the Eat Well, Live Well course is a 5 week spring board into never looking at food the same way again. The next cohort starts this week in Hove on Thursday 9th June, so time is short to get on board before the summer break – email me if you want to join us karen@thesensitivefoodietichen.com. If you can’t come along and join the fun this time, there’ll be other opportunities, including an on-line version that should be available from September. Exciting times!
Getting a good breakfast can be a challenge at times, especially if you’re short of time or have run out of inspiration. It’s easy to get stuck in the same routine, grab the nearest empty calorie cereal or, worse, have nothing at all. Continue reading “Chia-up – breakfast cheer”
Every now and then my husband gets the urge to have a session in the kitchen. Apart from the inevitable mess, I love it when he’s inspired to try out something different – not only does it give me the night off, but it’s usually something he’s been thinking about for a while and researched within an inch of it’s life. Big contrast to my sudden inspiration, throwing things together to see what happens approach!
He’s been mainly plant based for over a year and a half now which is quite a surprise to both of us! Having gone for it, he’s quite happy not to go back eating to meat and dairy for now as it stops him from pigging out on pastries and burgers. There are a few things he misses though (thankfully beer is plant based). Oddly, one is kedgeree, something we rarely ate but obviously on his list of ‘foods I love’. So he decided to get researching to make a completely plant based version.
It didn’t take him long to discover the original version of kedgeree – kichiri, a simple Indian comfort food, traditionally given to those under the weather. Legend has it that kedgeree, which includes milk, fish and egg, was devised by Colonial Brits in India, then brought back to England, although according to Wikipedia, there is some contention that it appeared in Scotland in the 1700’s; the India connection remains intact though. When exactly a fish, rice and egg combo became a breakfast dish, I’m not so sure.
Kichiri is the perfectly balanced plant based dish. A mixture of rice, lentils and some super spices, it’s tasty, satisfying and remarkably moreish despite the simplicity. The lentils give it a little bit of texture and it’s aromatic rather than spiciness, so gentler on the palate.
Rice and lentils create the perfect plant based protein – both these lovelies contain the full range of essential amino acids. Even though it’s one of the top arguments detractors will come up with when you decide to go plant based, there’s no fear about missing out on protein as long as you eat a wide range of products. And of course wholegrain is best as more nutrients are retained. And lentils give you much more than just protein – they also have a wonderful dollop of fibre, manganese, iron and B vitamins amongst others.
A cucumber raita completes this dish perfectly – using dairy free yoghurt of course! You could get flashy and add make a little spicy tempering to go on the top – toasted cumin and mustard seeds with a couple of dried red chillis and some fresh curry leaves to finish. Lovely.
So why not give this a go and see what you think – is definitely different to kedgeree but still comfortably familiar!
Kichiri (serves 4)
160g green lentils
270g wholegrain basmati rice
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon black mustard seeds
1 onion, diced
1 inch piece fresh ginger, grated
2 cloves garlic finely chopped
1 carrot, diced
1 red pepper, diced
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
pinch of salt
1 litre water
couple of handfuls fresh coriander
Heat a glug of olive oil in a large pan and sauté the cumin and black mustard seeds until they start to pop. Add the onion and ginger and cook for a couple of minutes, stirring so it doesn’t burn. Add the carrot and red pepper and cook for another minute or so, then add the garlic, rice and lentils as well as the ground coriander, turmeric and salt and cook on a low heat stirring all the time. After a minute or so, carefully pour in the water, bring to the boil and pop on the lid. Turn the heat down low and cook for 15-20 minutes until the water has been absorbed and the lentils are tender. Turn off the heat, and leave to steam for a couple of minutes.
Season to taste with salt and pepper. Sprinkle fresh coriander over the top to serve. Enjoy!
