Chocolate Chia Pudding with Raspberries [vegan]

As I mentioned in one of my previous posts, chia is still a novelty ingredient for me and I am fascinated by it: it is almost difficult to believe that so much goodness can be hidden in such tiny seeds, and dietary fiber is one of them. Since 34% of Chia is dietary fiber, it makes it one of the best sources in the world.

All types of plant food include dietary fiber – components that our body cannot absorb or digest so they go through our digestive system almost intact. And what it means to us is that high fiber food, in general, has less calories for the same volume as other types of food, which helps maintain a healthy weight.

Based on dissolving (or not) in water, there are 2 types of fiber: soluble and insoluble. Chia seeds are a great source of soluble fiber which is very beneficial to us because:

• it reduces the risk of heart diseases by helping to lower the blood cholesterol and
• it reduces the risk of developing type 2 diabetes by slowing down the absorption of sugar.

Adults should daily consume 20-35g of dietary fiber. If we consider having recommended 2 tablespoons of chia seeds (25-30g) per day, that tiny amount will provide us with approx. 40% of recommended daily intake of fiber in one go!

Since chia is so beneficial to our health then why not start a day with a delicious and easy to prepare chia breakfast? Which in truth is so good, it could be also served as a dessert.

INGREDIENTS (for 1 breakfast or 2 dessert portions):

125ml almond milk,

2 tbsp chia seeds,

1 tsp cacao powder,

4 tsp maple syrup,

100g raspberries.

METHOD:

1. Pour the chia seeds into a small bowl with the almond milk, stir well with a fork and put to a fridge for min. 1.5 hours or overnight. If possible, stir again after 15 min.
2. Add the cocoa powder and 2 tsp of the maple syrup to the chia and stir well.
3. Liquidise or mash the raspberries with the 2 tsp of maple syrup.
4. Serve in a glass layered chocolate chia and raspberries.

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Healthy Avocado Brownies [gluten free]

Who doesn’t love brownies? For sure I don’t belong to this group of people because I love them like almost everything else that contains chocolate. I especially adore brownies that my daughters have baked for the last few years. Their brownies are moist, chocolaty and rich. They are unfortunately also full of calories and fat as there is butter and plenty of sugar in them… So whenever I have those brownies, my guilt grows proportionately to the number of pieces I eat.

That’s why when I came across a brownie recipe that uses avocado instead of butter, I quickly had to test it out. To be honest I wasn’t ecstatic about the final outcome: I used chocolate with a very high percentage of cocoa solids and the cake was on the edge of being bitter. As I really liked the concept of healthier brownies, I didn’t want to give up and adjusted the recipe to make it sweeter without adding any more sugar. So I used a different type of chocolate and added lots of nuts as well as cranberries. That strategy worked really well: the result of my second attempt was most delicious.

INGREDIENTS (for 16 pieces):

100g dark chocolate (no more than 65% cocoa),

2 medium, ripe avocados, peeled and roughly mashed,

150g sugar,

2 tsp vanilla extract,

2 eggs,

40g cocoa powder,

45g almond flour or ground almonds,

40g dried cranberries,

100g mixed nuts (cashews, pistachios, Brazil nuts), roughly chopped,

METHOD:

1. Preheat an oven to 175 Celsius degrees (or 150 for fan ovens).
2. Line a small (e.g. 14cm x 24cm) baking tray with a parchment paper.
3. Melt the chocolate in a microwave or over a pan of simmering water.
4. Put to a food processor the avocados, sugar and vanilla extract; process them till smooth.
5. Stir in the melted chocolate then add the eggs and process again till everything is combined.
6. Add the cocoa powder and almond flour, mix well until combined.
7. Stir in the dried cranberries and nuts; transfer to the baking tray and smooth the top.
8. Bake for 30-35 minutes.

Based on a Half Baked Harvest's recipe  

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Lemon Cake with Chia Seeds

When it comes to Chia seeds, I am still on a voyage of discovery and experimentation. I read how healthy they are and therefore intend to use them as an ingredient in my food as often as possible. I have already tried them out in a few simple recipes (I will post them soon) but what I really wanted to do was to bake a cake with this novelty ingredient.

Chia reminds me a bit of poppy seed so I used it in a lemon cake as a substitute for poppy seeds. The cake turned out delicious: very moist with crunchy little bits. And although I do realize this is not the healthiest cake in the world (I tried to use healthy rapeseed oil instead of butter but it didn’t work), I am sure that adding chia seeds certainly made it healthier.

INGREDIENTS (for 8 portions):

175g butter, in room temperature,

175g sugar,

200g flour,

2 tsp baking powder,

Zest from 3 lemons,

2 tbsp lemon juice,

3 eggs,

100g Greek yoghurt,

2 tbsp chia seeds,

Icing:

100g icing sugar,

1 tbsp + 1tsp lemon juice.

METHOD:

1. Preheat an oven to 180 Celsius Degrees (160 for fan ovens).
2. Put a disk of parchment paper on the bottom of a round 18cm-diameter cake tin and grease its side.
3. Beat the butter and sugar till fluffy, add the rest of the cake ingredients and beat until everything is well combined.
4. Pour the batter into the prepared tin and bake in the hot oven for 50-60 minutes (when a wooden stick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, the cake is ready).
5. Cool down the cake at first in the tin and after 10 minutes on a wire rack.
6. Prepare the icing by mixing the icing sugar with the lemon juice, pour it over the cake.

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Homemade Granola with Red Berries

Granola is such a great solution to quick breakfast: you only have to pour it into a bowl, add your favourite type of milk or yoghurt and voila, ready to eat! Of course you can also add some fruit and honey or other sweetener, if you wish and have time, but it is not necessary as there is already so much in granola itself: oats, nuts, dried fruit, etc. However, if you look closely at the ingredients’ list on some of the pre-packaged granola, you may find out there it contains too many additives that are not necessarily the healthiest.

The best way to overcome this problem is to make your own granola. It will contain exactly what you like and want, and furthermore you will be able to limit the amounts of sugar and fat, too. And making it is really easy: it is just a question of mixing the ingredients and putting them into an oven. The only problem with the homemade granola may be that because it tastes so good, you will also have it at other times than breakfast. 

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups of rolled oats,

6tbsp olive oil,

4 tbps honey,

1 cup raspberries,

1 cup chopped strawberries,

2tbsp pumpkin seeds,

2 tbsp sunflower seeds,

4 tbsp chopped hazelnuts and Brazilian nuts.

METHOD:

1. Preheat an oven to 170 Celsius Degree (150 for fan ovens).
2. Pour the oats to a heatproof bowl.
3. Mix the olive oil with the honey, warm up till runny (it can be done in a microwave) and pour over the oats, stir very well to coat all the oats.
4. Add the berries, stir and put to the hot oven for 30 minutes.
5. Take the dish out from the oven, stir in the seeds and nuts, put back to the oven for 20-30 minutes.
6. Store it in an air-tight jar for a few days.

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Almond Meringue Roulade with Chestnut Filling

A few weeks ago I was having a friend over for late lunch. I knew she - just like I - liked meringues so I had no problem with choosing a perfect dessert for her: meringue roulade with – this time – chestnut filling. I got to the kitchen in the morning only to discover I had neither corn nor potato starch that I always used for my meringues. Before setting off to a shop, I decided to look for an alternative recipe. As always BBC Good Food site helped me solve my problem: I found a recipe in which ground almonds were used instead of any type of starch.

This meringue was completely different than the one I always used for my roulades: it was thinner and actually crispy. I was a bit worried it was going to break while I was rolling it but it seems that keeping it under a damp cloth after it was baked did make it pretty elastic. The whole cake tasted really divine and probably better than if I had used my original recipe as the almond-y meringue complimented the chestnut filling really well. And it all happened by chance ;)

INGREDIENTS (for 8-10 portions):

4 large or 5 small egg whites,

220g caster sugar,

1 tsp almond extract,

1 tsp white wine vinegar,

50g ground almonds,

2 tbsp flaked almonds,

300ml double cream,

5-6 tbsp sweetened chestnut puree.

METHOD:

1. Preheat an oven to 190 Celsius degrees (170 for fan ovens).
2. Line a 25cm x 35cm (or similar) baking tin with baking paper.
3. Whisk the egg whites till stiff; continue whisking and add 1 tbsp of sugar, beat for 10-20 seconds more and add another 1 tbsp of sugar, continue until you have used all the sugar.
4. Gently stir in the almond extract, vinegar and ground almonds.
5. Spread in the prepared tin, sprinkle with the flaked almonds, put to the oven and bake for 30 minutes till golden and firm.
6. Remove from the oven, cover with a sheet of baking paper and a damp tea towel.
7. Whip the cream till stiff; stir in the chestnut puree.
8. Remove the tea towel from the top of the meringue but keep the baking paper. Carefully flip the meringue upside down so the top with the flaked almonds is now on the bottom on the paper.
9. Gently peel off the paper and spread the chestnut filling on top.
10. Roll the roulade carefully, use the paper to help you.

The meringue recipe comes from BBC Good Food site.

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Leek and Potato Soup with Truffle Oil [vegetarian]

Although Leek and Potato Soup might be a classic in some countries, in Poland (or at least in the area I live) it is unknown. A few years ago we went to Italy for our skiing holiday. We reached our destination after two days of driving but since it was too early to go to our hotel, we found a busy, family type restaurant for lunch. And that was the place where I tried this soup for the first time.

Leek and Potato Soup is already delicious by itself but truffle oil really moves it up to quite another level. Although the below recipe obviously is not exactly the same as at that restaurant, the soup is as lovely as the one I had a few years ago. I have made it so many times since then and it is always greatly appreciated by everyone. It is important though to have a really high quality truffle oil: the one with truffle’s pieces rather than one with just its aroma.

INGREDIENTS (for 4-6 portions):

30g butter,

450g potatoes, peeled and cut into 2-3cm cubes,

450g white parts of leeks, sliced,

1 onion, cut into cubes,

850-1000ml vegetable stock (it can be made with this concentrated stock paste),

250ml milk,

salt and pepper,

truffle oil for serving.

METHOD:

1. Melt the butter in a medium size pot.
2. Add the potatoes, leek and onions, season and then stir well to coat in the butter.
3. Scrape the sides of the pan with a spoon so all the vegetables are on the bottom, put a disc of grease-proof paper on top of them and cover the pot with a lid.
4. Decrease the heat to medium low and cook for 10 minutes.
5. Remove the paper, pour in 850ml of stock, bring to boil and cook for approx. 15 minutes or until the potatoes are soft.
6. Liquidize the soup in batches and transfer to a cleaned pot.
7. Add the milk, adjust the seasoning and bring to boil again. If the soup is too thick, add more of the stock.
8. Serve the soup in bowls, drizzled with the truffle oil.

Based on BBC Good Food recipe

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