Month: October 2023

Recipe Sunday – Chickpea Blondies

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Happy Sunday beauties! How are you enjoying the autumn weather? Last night we changed the clock and I had just a long lie in this morning, I felt very rested and managed to do so many things! Also, I am coming to the end on my “Macrobiotic Detox” that I felt I could celebrate with a nice dessert which is still mostly Macrobiotic. In case you are interested, I am preparing a post explaining a bit the macrobiotic diet. In the meantime, I leave you today’s recipe: Chickpea Blondies by Rainbow Nourishments.

Chickpea Blondies by Rainbow Nourishments

Ingredients

  • ~1 ½ cups (250g) chickpeas, canned or fresh and drained well (I got this amount from one 15oz or 440g can)
  • ½ cup (125g) cashew butter, or nut/seed butter of choice
  • ½ cup (45g) oat flour,
  • ½ cup (170g) maple syrup
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • ⅛ teaspoon salt, or to taste
  • ½ cup (85g) mini dairy-free chocolate chips plus extra to decorate

Method

  1. Line an 8-inch square baking pan with parchment paper. Preheat your oven to 180°C (350°F).
  2. Add all the ingredients except the chocolate chips to a food processor or blender Blend until the mixture is as smooth as possible. It should be slightly runny.
  3. Remove the blade of your food processor. Add the chocolate chips and mix with a spoon or spatula. Make sure your blondie batter isn’t warm when you add the chocolate otherwise the chocolate will melt.
  4. Pour the batter into your prepared baking pan. Smooth the surface with a spoon or spatula. If desired, sprinkle additional chocolate chips on top of the batter and press them in.
  5. Bake the chickpea blondies for 23-28 minutes. The blondies are ready when they have puffed up and the surface is golden brown. If you insert a toothpick in the middle, it should come out clean (a few moist crumbs are fine but there shouldn’t be any wet batter).
  6. Place the square baking pan on a wire rack. Allow the blondies to cool completely in the baking pan for at least 1 hour. The blondies are very soft when they’re warm.
  7. When the blondies have completely cooled, remove them from the baking pan and cut them with a sharp knife. The blondies are very fudgy so it may help to run your knife under hot water before cutting them. If desired, sprinkle the blondies with flaky sea salt or enjoy with vegan ice cream.

Enjoy!

Love,

TVCL xx

Recipe Sunday – Happy Holiday Salad

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Happy Sunday everybody! How are you? The past two weeks have been really busy: 3 events in 3 weeks and I’ve been needing a bit of time to recover. I didn’t want to risk burnout and feeling overwhelmed like it happened last year, so I took some much-needed rest this time. Also, this month started with a “Macrobiotic Detox” – it was supposed to be only a week, but decided to extend it to a month. I am preparing a post to explain what can be eaten when following a vegan and macrobiotic diet. In a way, it has some similarities with the Spring detox that I’ve been doing for the past 2 years (“Limpia”), but the main difference is that the Macro lifestyle has a very interesting principle of balance between Yin and Yang. Anyhow – will explain all this in my next post, so stay tuned! As we are definitely into Autumn, pumpkins are everywhere and they are also a beloved ingredient in the Macro diet. So here is a recipe that I have been enjoying without getting bored – Happy Holiday Salad by The Macrobiotic Association.

Happy Holiday Salad by THe Macrobiotic Association

Ingredients

  • 2 cups Winter Squash Cut into chunks
  • 2 tablespoons Basil Finely chopped
  • Olive oil 

  • Sea salt
  • Black Pepper Freshly ground
  • 2 cups Mushrooms Thickly sliced
  • 4 cups Arugula
  • ½ block Firm Tofu Crumbled

  • ½ cup Pomegranate seeds

  • 1 tbsp Umeboshi vinegar
  • Balsamic vinegar

Method

  1. Heat the oven to 375 degrees.  
Put the squash in a roasting tin with 1-2 tablespoons of oil, and season well.  
Roast for about 40 minutes, stirring once, until the squash is soft and colored round the edges. 

  2. Add the umeboshi vinegar to the crumbled tofu and mix well. 

  3. Place a tablespoon of oil into a skillet over a medium heat. Add the mushrooms and a little salt and pepper, and sauté for a few minutes, until any liquid they release has evaporated, and set aside. 

  4. In a bowl, combine the squash and the just-warm mushrooms with the arugula and tofu.  
Add the basil and a generous dash of balsamic vinegar.

I hope you’ll enjoy this!

Love,

TVCL xx

Recipe Sunday – Vegan Apple Cake

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Happy Sunday, beautiful kittens! How are you? Autumn is definitely here and it couldn’t be sweeter! Again another super busy week as we’re getting the last things ready for a big event next Saturday at the library. But I wanted a homemade, sweet something that I could eat for breakfast or as an after-dinner treat. Since I’ve been so lucky as to be gifted literally bags full of organic apples from a customer of my partner, and the weather has really been so autumn-y, I couldn’t resist to the temptation of an apple cake. This is the go-to cake for my mom, everybody loves the apple cake that she makes almost every Sunday, but I’ve never been too much of a fan even before going vegan (after that, I couldn’t have it because she uses eggs). And now, I had this craving, for a comforting homemade apple cake: maybe I am turning into my mom or maybe it’s the Autumn – who knows. What I do know, is that I am here to share the recipe that I followed (not all of it, I didn’t have the yogurt, but it came out just lovely) to make a very easy yet delicious Vegan Apple Cake by AVirtualVegan.

Vegan Apple Cake by AVirtualVegan

Ingredients  

  • 3 cups (375 grams) all-purpose flour, (plain flour in the UK)
  • 2½ teaspoons baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda, (bicarbonate of soda in the UK)
  • 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • ½ teaspoon fine sea salt, not table salt
  • ½ cup + 2 tablespoons (144 grams or 150 mls) vegan yogurt, vanilla or plain, preferably unsweetened
  • ¾ cup + 2 tablespoons (180 grams)sugar, cane, white granulated or light brown
  • 1 cup (240 ml) unsweetened plant milk
  • 5 tablespoons (75 ml) liquid oil , any neutral tasting oil like sunflower, vegetable, canola or melted refined coconut oil. For oil-free see the recipe notes.
  • 1 teaspoon (5 ml) apple cider vinegar, or lemon juice
  • 1 tablespoon (15 ml) vanilla extract
  • 5 medium apples, about 700g (1.5 lb) of apples weighed before peeling/coring

For the topping

  • ¼ cup (50 grams) coarse sugar, like turbinado or demerara
  • ¼ cup (25 grams) flaked almonds, OPTIONAL (omit for nut-free)

Method 

  1. Preheat oven to 360 °F (182 °C) and make sure you have a shelf placed in the middle of the oven.
  2. Grease a 9-inch springform cake pan that’s at least 3 inches deep or a 9 x 13 dish/pan. If using a cake pan cut a circle of parchment paper and put it in the bottom.
  3. To a large bowl add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Whisk them up to combine.
  4. In another bowl, add the yogurt, sugar, milk, oil, vinegar and vanilla. Whisk them all up until well combined.
  5. Peel, core and chop the apples into chunks of about ¼ inch.
  6. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir them together. Don’t over mix or beat it vigorously. Just stir gently until you can no longer see any dry flour.
  7. Pour in the apple chunks and fold them gently and evenly through. Again don’t over mix.
  8. Spoon into the prepared pan and level the top with a spatula. Sprinkle over the flaked almonds and the coarse sugar and place immediately in the oven on the middle shelf.
  9. If in a cake pan bake for around 1 hour and 15 minutes. It might need up to 1 hour 20 minutes. Insert a toothpick or skewer into the centre of the cake. If it comes out clean then the cake is ready. If you see any signs of wet batter return to the oven for another five minutes. If baked in a 9 x 13 pan/dish check it at about 55 to 60 minutes. It might take a little longer though. The time will vary depending on whether you’ve used a metal pan or ceramic. Insert a toothpick or skewer into the centre of the cake. If it comes out clean then the cake is ready. If you see any signs of wet batter return to the oven for another five minutes.
  10. Once cooked, remove from the oven and leave for at least 15 to 20 minutes in the pan to settle. Before attempting to remove from the pan carefully run a knife or long spatula around the edges to free up any sugar or caramelized apple pieces that might have stuck to the side. Leave the cake to cool on a wire rack. If you baked it in a 9 x 13 pan/dish, allow it to cool in the pan/dish and serve straight from the pan/dish.

I hope you’ll enjoy this for your breakfast, snack, after-dinner treat or any way you want!

Love,

TVCL xx