Kumara Brownie

(photo curtsey of https://lunchboxinc.co.nz)

Kumara brownie’s are a massive favourite in our house, they are delicious but also really filling and healthy! Make a double batch as they keep really well in the freezer and are perfect for lunch boxes or afternoon snacks when friends pop over.

Ingredients

• 1 medium sweet potato – 2-3 cups when grated
• 2 organic eggs
• ½ cup melted coconut oil
• ⅓ cup honey (or maple syrup)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract/paste
• ½ cup raw cacao powder, sifted (or cocoa if find cacao to rich)
• 1 teaspoon aluminum free baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2½ tablespoon coconut flour

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 185 °C (365 °F), make sure the oven is hot before you put in the brownies in.
2. Combine grated sweet potato, eggs, vanilla, honey and coconut oil oil in a large mixing bowl and stir together until well incorporated. Then add cacao powder, baking powder and baking soda and stir. Finally add coconut flour. Avoid adding too much coconut flour as it will absorb too much moisture which will result in drier brownies.
3. Once combined, pour the mixture into a baking tray lined with greased baking paper. I used a 9″/23cm square tin.
4. Cook for 25-30 minutes. Remove the tin and cool for 5-10 minutes before carefully removing the brownie cake form the tin. Cut them into squares and dust with a little cacao powder or melt some dark chocolate in a bowl over boiling water and drizzle it over the top. Serve with raspberries or strawberries and maybe some fresh cream or coconut yoghurt to be extra decadent.

Enjoy

from

Abby

x x x

 

Coconut Cream Ice Blocks

When you are a kid there is seriously nothing better than lying on the trampoline eating a beautiful cold iceblock on a hot day!!!  My boys absolutely LOVE this afternoon ritual!

Dairy, colours and refined sugars are a nightmare for children’s health, behaviour and immunity,  which is why I love this recipe so much.  It is not only insanely easy and fast, but it is also amazingly good for you!

Its easily adapted by adding in anything that tickles your fancy… berries, lemon, crushed nuts, cocoa or cacoa nibs for example.

Ingredients

• 400ml tin of coconut cream (organic if possible)
• 1 ripe banana peeled
• 2 tablespoons of raw honey or maple syrup
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla paste

Method

Put all ingredients into blender and blend till smooth. Pour into moulds, add berries of your choice, pop in popsicle stick and freeze for 6 hrs.

Enjoy

from

Abby

x x x

Paleo Christmas Mince Pies

These christmas mince pies are so divine, I love them in mini size bites too.   So nice to find a paleo version of the original.

Be mindful that they are still full of loads of natural sugars, so have in moderation!!!

Ingredients:

Sweet pastry

100 g (1 cup) almond meal

100 g (3/4 cup) coconut flour

60 g (1/2 cup) arrowroot

210 ml coconut oil, chilled

6 tablespoons honey or coconut sugar

2 eggs

 

Mince filling

100 g raisins

100 g sultanas

50 g dried cranberries

50 g (1/3 cup) currants

50 g golden sultanas

1 granny smith apple, core removed, finely chopped

100 g pineapple, chopped

3 tablespoons honey

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

½ teaspoon ground ginger

zest and juice of 2 oranges

 

Method:

To make the sweet pastry, mix the almond meal, coconut flour and arrowroot in a bowl. Cut the coconut oil into small pieces and work it into the almond meal mixture using your fingertips to form fine crumbs. Add the honey and eggs and mix until it forms a sticky dough. Wrap the dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 – 60 minutes, or until it is firm enough to roll out. (The dough can be stored refrigerated for up to 1 week and in the freezer for up to 3 months.)

To make the mince filling, place all the ingredients in a saucepan over low heat and stir to combine. Gently simmer, stirring occasionally, for 30 minutes. (Do not boil or it will burn and become bitter.) Turn off the heat, transfer the mixture to the bowl of a food processor and pulse a few times until coarsely chopped. Set aside to cool.

Preheat the oven to 160°C. Grease 10 x 7.5 cm flan tins.

Place the dough between two sheets of baking paper and roll out until 5 mm thick. Transfer the pastry and baking paper to the refrigerator, and chill for 5 minutes to slightly firm. Remove the top layer of baking paper and, using a 9 cm round cutter, cut out 10 rounds. Reroll the offcuts and cut out ten 7 cm star shapes.

Line the prepared flan tins with the pastry rounds and trim to ensure you have smooth clean edges. Because this dough does not contain gluten it will feel quite different to regular dough and may crack a little more easily. If cracks do form when lining the tins, simply bind the dough together with your fingers to seal. Add 2 tablespoons of mince to each pastry case and spread with the back of a spoon until level. Place a pastry star on top of each pie and transfer the pies to a baking tray. Bake for 15 minutes, or until the pastry is golden. Set aside for 5 minutes to cool before removing from the tins and transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Adapted from Pete Evans recipe

Enjoy

Abby

x x x

Paleo Chocolate Cake

This gorgeous chocolate cake is totally my lifesaver when it comes to birthdays and special events.  It is so amazingly moist and moorish, it pleases even those straight edge folk who don’t want a bar of healthy cooking!

My kids absolutely love it too as do all my nieces and nephews who are as little as 2 years old so it gets the thumbs up all round.

This cake is full of healthy ingredients so can be happily eaten several times a week or made into cup cakes for school lunch boxes or to satisfy an evening chocolate craving!

I usually double the ingredients to make a nice big cake.

PALEO CHOCOLATE CAKE

Ingredients

• 2 cups of finely grated raw pumpkin
• 2 organic eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/3 cup of honey (or 1/2 a cup of maple syrup)
• 1/2 cup of coconut oil or ghee is dairy tolerant
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tsp aluminium free baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 cup raw organic cocoa powder
• 1/4 cup coconut flour

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C  line a cake tin with baking paper
2. Whisk grated pumpkin, eggs, syrup, oil and vanilla with a fork in a bowl. Sift dry ingredients over the bowl and mix well.
3. Pour into the baking tin and smooth top.
4. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Cool in tin and turn out onto a rack until cold.
5. Ice with frosting (see icing recipe below)
6. Garnish with dehydrated buckwheat (see pic), grated almonds or edible flowers
7. Refrigerate till icing is set
8. Keeps well in fridge for up to a week and also freezes well.

Icing

• 1 cup of soaked cashews
• 1/2 cup of organic cocoa or cacao powder
• 100 g cacao butter melted
• 1/3 cup maple syrup or 3 tablespoons of honey
• Juice of 1 small lemon or lime
• Blend together till creamy
• Spread over cooled cake

This recipe is adapted from www.84thand3rd.com and oil tribe http://www.oiltribe.co.nz/paleo-chocolate-cake/

Enjoy

from

Abby

x x x

Abby Soares

Registered Nurse | Nutritionist | Health Coach

Nourish Holistic Health & Nutrition Ltd

4735311 | 0272766268 | www.nourishholistichealth@wordpress.com | www.nourishhealth.co.nz |

 

 

 

Gut healing stocks

When your gut is leaky and damaged one of the best cures is beautiful homemade meat stock.  These stocks are cooked with meat and bones to draw out gelatine, glutamine, collagen and minerals.  These components heal and seal the lining of the gut to restore gut health.

Try these two gorgeous soups and eat them daily to promote gut healing.

Have with either coconut kefir or sauerkraut to increase the good bacteria in your body and reculture the good bacteria in your gut.

POACHED CHICKEN STOCK

• 1 Whole Organic Chicken
• 6 stalks of celery chopped
• 1 onion quartered
• 4 carrots, peeled and diced
• Cover chicken with water
• 2 cloves of garlic peeled and crushed
• 1 tablespoon cracked pepper
• A few sprigs of thyme, rosemary, or other herbs (remove after cooking)
• Juice of one lemon
• 1 tablespoon of sea salt

Place Chicken in large pot, add all ingredients.  Bring the water to a boil, reduce the heat to a simmer for about and hour and 20 mins.

Remove chicken, allow to cool and shred the meat.  Place meat back with the soup.  Save the bones to make broth.

Try to eat soup once a day or in a cup with meals to aide digestion.

In time you will be able to crush a raw garlic bulb into the cup of stock to boost detoxification, kill bad bacteria, improve immunity and energy levels.

BEEF STOCK

• 1-2 T bone steaks with fat on (or lamb shanks, chuck steak or stewing steak, fat in is important as fat heals the gut and nourishes the brain.)
• 4 carrots peeled and sliced thin
• 1/2 a celery chopped
• 2 onions peeled and quartered
• 2 cloves of garlic crushed
• 1 tablespoon of salt
• 1 teaspoon of pepper

Place in slow cooker in the morning on high, allow to cook all day and turn off and have for dinner or allow to cool and store in the fridge for another meal.

Cook for a maximum of 6 hours (3 hours of that time will be heating up and around 3 hours will be cooking time)

Save half of this stock to have in a cup with other meals and eat the remainder as a delicious gut healing beef soup.

Enjoy

Abby

X X X

Grain Free Apple Muffins

I love these apple muffins, they are delicious and my kids adore them.  They freeze well, so double or triple the batch, they are great for lunch boxes or snacks on the go straight out of the freezer.

This is a great replacement for a sandwich in the lunch box or to settle sweet cravings in the afternoon with a cup of herbal tea.

Ingredients

• 5 eggs
• 1 cup homemade stewed apples
• ½ cup coconut flour
• 2-3 TBSP cinnamon
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp vanilla (optional)
• ¼ cup coconut oil
• 2 T honey (optional)

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.
2. Grease a muffin pan with coconut oil.
3. Put all ingredients into a medium sized bowl and mix with immersion blender or whisk until well mixed.
4. Let sit 5 minutes.
5. Use ⅓ cup measure to spoon into muffin tins.
6. Bake 12-15 minutes until starting to brown and not soft when lightly touched on the top.
7. Let cool 2 minutes, drizzle with honey (if desired) and serve.

Enjoy

from

Abby

x x  x

Raw Chocolate Mint Slice

INGREDIENTS:

Base:

2 cups almonds, soaked

6 dates

1 cup cacao powder

1/2 cup desiccated coconut

1-2 tsp unhulled tahini

2 tbsp filtered water

Mint layer 

1 tbsp Spirulina powder/green powder

10 drops peppermint oil

2 cups raw cashews

1/2 cup water

1/4 cup maple syrup

Chocolate icing  

2 cups cashew nuts

1/2 cup maple syrup

3/4 cup cacao powder

1/2 cup filtered water

100g (4 oz.) cacao butter

1/4 tsp tamari

 

METHOD:

Base:

1. Blend all the ingredients in a food processor until combined.

2. Press into a slice tin (10″ x 14″ jelly roll pan).

3. Freeze for 10-15 minutes until set.

Mint choc layer:

1. Blend all the ingredients in a blender or Vita-mix until smooth.

Choc icing:

1. Melt cacao butter in a small saucepan over gentle heat (don’t allow to smoke)

3. Combine all ingredients in a Vita-mix and blend until smooth.

 

ASSEMBLY:

1. Spread mint choc layer evenly over base mixture.

2. Once spread evenly over base, allow to set in the freezer.

3. Once the mint layer has set ( firm when touch) spread the chocolate icing layer over (sprinkle with cacao nibs if desired) and return to freezer until the chocolate icing is firm to the touch.

4. Slice and serve

Nutritional info: The above ingredients are packed with nutrients and antioxidants. They satisfy the sweet tooth without causing a large spike in your blood sugar levels (due to all the good fats and protein component).

 

Enjoy

from

Abby

x x x

Abby Soares

Registered Nurse | Nutritionist | Health Coach

Nourish Holistic Health & Nutrition Ltd

4735311 | 0272766268 | www.nourishholistichealth@wordpress.com | www.nourishhealth.co.nz |

Lasagne Dairy and Grain Free

PALEO LASAGNE

This dairy, sugar and grain free lasagne is delicious and a brilliant way to get loads of veggies into yourself and your family.

Why go dairy, sugar and grain free?  Well these three food groups are the most inflammatory foods commonly consumed, that cause significant damage to our bodies.  Eliminating them reduces inflammation which is at the root of all illness.  You’ll feel the benefits of this way of eating after only a few days.

1. The meat layer is mince with 2 grated carrots (any way to up those veggies!).  Fry up mince till brown in 1 tablespoon of coconut oil and add carrots to mixture.  Use this as your base, pressing into a lined baking dish.
2. Slice Zucchini thinly and place over base. Zucchini is a wonderful pasta replacement.
3. Cook  500 grams tomatoes with 3-5 cloves crushed garlic, 2 grated carrots and two chopped onions.  Simmer until garlic and onion is translucent. Pour over zucchini base.
4. The green layer is silver beet (or spinach also works well), lay these leaves thickly over the tomato layer.
5. The ‘cheese’  sauce | 1cup soaked cashews blended with handful of silver beet or half a cup of cooked pumpkin (depending on the colour you prefer)
6. Cook in the cover at 150 degrees Celsius for 20-30 mins or until top is golden
7. Allow to cook.  Best eaten the next day after a night in the fridge, however is still delicious on the day.

Enjoy

Linda

HEALTH COACH | BSc (PSYCH) | NUTRITIONIST

x x x

Nourish Health and Nutrition

Sweet Slaw

This delicious slaw is super filling, delicious, great on the budget and easy to make in bulk so it lasts for several meals.

Cooking once eating twice is a life saver when it comes to feeding a big family and avoiding constantly being in the kitchen!!!!

Making a big batch of this slaw means you have veggies for breakfast, snacks, lunches and dinners sorted for at least a couple of days.

I usually do a few bulk salads a week,  so there are always healthy options on offer with minimal work/mess!

It makes an excellent base that is easy to dress up with different dressings or garnishes such as nuts and seeds, raisins, oranges or grated apple

INDREDIENTS | METHOD

• 1 medium red cabbage cut into 8th’s and fed through the food processor or sliced thinly with knife
• 4 large carrots fed through grating blade in food processor or grated
• 1 bunch of coriander chopped
• 1 bunch parsley chopped
• Mix all indigents together in large bowel
• Store in air tight container in the fridge

GARNISHES | DRESSINGS

• Activated and roasted almonds/walnuts (fry activated nuts in coconut oil)
• Activated sprouted sunflower seeds
• Raisins
• Grated apple (only add this to the dish your eating as it goes brown when stored in the fridge)
• Chopped orange pieces
• Chopped watermelon pieces
• Olive oil
• Salt and Pepper
• Lemon juice/olive oil/salt and pepper
• Lemon juice from 1 lemon/1 teaspoon mustard/quarter a cup of olive oil/1 teapoon salt and pepper to taste

This slaw keeps well in the fridge for 3-4 days and is delicious served on its own or with meats/eggs/nuts/seeds.

My 9, 7 and 5 year olds love helping make this slaw and are more than happy to help themselves to a bowl full from the fridge whenever they’re hungry.

Enjoy

from

Abby

x x x

Abby Soares

Registered Nurse | Nutritionist | Health Coach

Nourish Holistic Health & Nutrition Ltd

4735311 | 0272766268 | www.nourishholistichealth@wordpress.com | www.nourishhealth.co.nz |

Sunflower, Rosemary and Sesame Crackers

I love these gorgeous crunchy crackers, they’re easy to make and taste amazing.  I first found this recipe from http://www.mypetitekitchen.com.  My Petite Kitchen is a great whole food blog that has loads of deliciousness!

INDREDIENTS

• 1 cup sunflower seeds (soaked and dried in oven below 50 degrees or in dehydrator)
• 1/2 cup sesame seeds (soaked and dried in oven below 50 degrees Celsius in oven or dehydrator)
• 3 garlic cloves crushed
• 1 tbsp rosemary (thyme also works well)
• 3-5 tbsp water
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp sea salt

METHOD

Preheat the oven to 180°C and line a tray with baking paper.

Place the sunflower seeds , salt and garlic granules in to a food processor.  Process on high for 2-3 minutes or until the seeds become a dense flour like consistency.

Add the sesame seeds, dried herbs and olive oil, pulse to combine. With the food processor running on low, slowly start to add the water one tablespoon at a time. The mixture will start to come together in a dough like consistency. Transfer the mixture to the prepared baking tray and knead slightly (it will be a little crumbly don’t worry). Place a piece of baking paper on top of the dough and using a rolling pin, roll out the dough to around half a cm thick. Remove the top piece of baking paper then using a knife, score criss cross lines in to the dough.

Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until golden brown. Allow to cool completely, then using your hands, break along scored lines and serve.

Makes around 20 crackers. Will keep in an airtight container for 1 week.

Enjoy

from

Abby

x x x

  See more at: http://www.petite-kitchen.com/2013/02/sunflower-sesame-crackers.html#sthash.tySN407F.dpuf