More carrot cakes :) Healthier and tastier

Carrot cake experiments, some with sweet potatoes, some with raw carrots. They all come from the same original recipe, and after I make some variations, on flour type, oil, amount of sweetness and so on. This is the link for the original cake –

( Not so) Naughty Carrot Cake!

And I will post some of the variations (if I can find it) .
Happy days ❤

Mais experiencias, desta vez com bolos de cenoura. Todas estas receitas derivam de uma que postei ha bastante tempo no blog :

( Not so) Naughty Carrot Cake!

Uso sempre essa como base e depois vario, por vezes uso batata doce e cenoura, outras cenoura crua. Mudo o tipo de farinha e o tipo de adoçante. Vou ver se encontro as receitas para algumas das variaçoes

 

Recipe :

600g of cooked carrot and sweet potato ; 5 eggs, 300gr of flour (mix of white, spelt and coconut – coconut max of 50grs) ; 75 gr of sweet freedom ; 1 tablespoon of baking powder ; 2 tablespoons of coconut oil ; 3 tablespoons of natural yogurt. Blend all together and bake at 180C for 40m.

Receita :

600grs de cenouras e batata doce cozidas em agua ; 5 ovos ; 300grs de farinha (mistura de branca, espelta e max de 50grs de farinha de coco) ; 75gr de adoçante tipo mel ; 1 colher de sopa de fermento ; 2 colheres de sopa de oleo de coco ; 3 colheres de sopa de iogurte natural. Triturar tudo (com esta receita pode-se usar a varinha magica) e cozinhar a 180C durante 40m ou ate o palito sair seco.

 

Recipe :

5 medium carrots raw; 5 eggs ; 2 cups of flour (1 white, 3/4 buckwheat, 1/4 coconut) ; 3/4 cup of coconut oil ; 1 cup of coconut water ; 1 cup of sweetener ( maple, honey) ; 1 teaspoon of cinnamon ; 1/2 teaspoon of turmeric. Blend everything. Bake at 180C for 40m . This chocolate icing was made with chocolate powder, coconut cream and maple.

Receita :

5 cenouras cruas de tamanho medio ; 5 ovos ; 2 taças de farinha ( 1 de branca , 3/4 de trigo sarraceno e 1/4 de farinha de coco- ou so o trigo sarraceno) ; 3/4 Taça de oleo de coco ou azeite ; 1 taça de agua de coco ou agua de cozinhar as cascas da cenoura por exemplo ou 2 colheres de sopa de iogurte natural (mas vai modificar o resultado final) ; 1 taça de adoçante como mel, ou xarope de acer ou açucar de coco ; 1 colher de chà de canela ; 1/2 colher de chà de açafrao das indias. Triturar tudo ate ficar cremoso e cozinhar a 180C durante 40m ou ate o palito sair seco.

Sorry, no recipe for this / Nao tenho a receita deste.

 

Sweet potato and coffee brownies Brownies de café e batata doce!

I’m not sure who invented this but Deliciously Ella has a good recipe! This recipe is mine though ❤

Ingredients :
2 eggs ; 1 very full cup of cooked sweet potato (bake it) ; 2 big dates ; 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract ; 1/2 cup of sweet freedom (or other natural sweetener and to taste) ; 1/2 cup of spelt flour ; 1/3 cup of olive oil ; 1/4 cup of expresso (good coffee) 1 teaspoon of baking powder ; 1 teaspoon of psyllium husk ; 1/3 cup of nuts (optional, just adds a crunch) ; 1 pinch of salt ; 1/3 to 1/2 cup of good chocolate powder and 1 heaped teaspoon of almond butter (or other nut butter)
Blend all together and bake at 180C for 25m. Let it cool completely before slicing. Tastes better the day after. Too this to my friends dinner party and they loved it! 😀

Nao sei quem inventou esta combinaçao, mas a Deliciously Ella tem uma receita boa. Esta é contudo minha 🙂

Ingredientes :
2 ovos; 1 chavena bem cheia de batata doce (assar 1o e amassar tudo ate ficar em polpa); 2 tamaras bastante grandes ; 1 colher de chà de extracto de baunilha; 1/2 chavena de adoçante natural ; 1/2 chavena de farinha de espelta ( podem usar farinhas diferentes, nao afecta os brownies, pois nao crescem) : 1/3 chavena de azeite ; 1/3 ou 1/2 chavena de cacau de boa qualidade ; 1/4 chavena de café de boa qualidade ; 1 colher de chà de fermento ; 1 colher de chà de casca das sementes de psílio ( se nao tiver nao é necessario, mas adiciona fibra) ; 1/3 chavena de nozes (mais uma vez opcional mas adiciona textura crocante) ; pitada de sal e 1 colher de chàa cheia de manteiga de amendoa (ou outra noz, se nao tiver, nao substituir por nada). Colocar tudo na trituradora (ou fazer devagar com a varinha magica, partindo as tamaras em pedaços pequeninos) e cozer no forno a 180C durante 25m. Esperar ate ficar completamente frio antes de cortar, sabe melhor no dia seguinte. Levei para um jantar com amigos e eles adoraram!

Lovely homemade granola!! :D

Homemade granola recipe : ( the quantities are not very important)

200g of jumbo oats
1 courgette grated
1/2 cup of coconut oil
1 cup of peanut butter (or another not butter)
1/2 cup of sweet freedom, agave ( to each person taste)
1 cup of raisins
1 cup of seeds ( flax, sesame seeds, pumpkin, sunflower seeds, poppy seeds)
1 cup of natural whole organic yogurt

Melt coconut oil, sweet freedom and peanut butter. Mix all the ingredients together. Bake at 150 degrees for 40m or until golden brown. It sticks together a bit, just break with your fingers. Once cold store in a jar for a week. This ingredients can be changed for whatever you have at home, you can omit the yogurt and add avocado and some fruit juice instead!

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Receita de Granola : ( as quantidades nao sao muito importantes)

200 g de aveia
1 courgette ralada
1/2 chavena de oleo virgem de coco
1 chavena de manteiga de amendoim (ou outra manteiga de nozes)
1/2 chavena de mel, agave sweet freedom ( quantidade ao vosso gostol)
1 chavena de sementes( abobora, girassol,sesamo, linhaça e poppy)
1 chavena de iogurte natural biologico

Derreter a manteiga de amendoim com o oleo de coco e adoçante. Misturar os ingredientes todos. Aquecer o forno a 150 graus e cozinhar durante 40 minutos ou ate ficar dourado. Fica um bocado colado, mas desfaz-se em pedacinhos com as maos. Esta receita pode-se adaptar facilmente, usando os ingredientes que se tem em casa. O iogurte pode ser substituido por abacate e sumo de fruta.

Healthy delicious waffles! Buckwheat, almond and rice flour – GF :)

Bought myself a waffle machine, it arrived today, I’m so excited with new possibilities! Am I the only one?? So this was my 1st go at it 🙂

Comprei uma maquina de fazer waffles e chegou hoje! Estou super entusiasmada, os pequenos almoços nunca mais serao os mesmos !

Waffles! Healthy and super yummi! If you don’t have a waffle maker, this recipe can be used for pancakes!
Waffles deliciosas e saudaveis! Se não tem uma maquina destas, pode usar a massa para fazer panquecas!

Recipe/ Receita :

1/3 cup buckwheat flour / 1/3 chavena de trigo sarraceno
1/3 cup brown rice flour / 1/3 chavena de farinha de arroz
1/3 cup almond meal / 1/3 chavena de farinha de amendoa
1 egg / 1 ovo
1 pinch of salt / 1 pitada de sal
1 tablespoon of honey, agave, sweet freedom/ 1 colher de mel ou agave
Juice of half a lemon / sumo de meio limao
1 teaspoon of baking powder / 1 colher de chà de fermento

Mix all together and pour into the waffle maker.It’s ready in 6 minutes! For toppings I had nuts,raisins cinnamon, honey,pumpkin seeds, and an orange.
Mexa tudo bem mexido, e ponha na maquina de fazer waffles e em 6 minutos està pronto a ser servido! Servi com canela,passas, nozes, mel, sementes de abòbora e uma laranja 🙂

Sweet parsnip and apple bread ( nuts and raisins too!)

I’m off today so I decided to experiment a bit in the kitchen . I had lots of apples and parsnips, no eggs, so I decided to search for a recipe online, wasn’t really in the mood for cake, more like a sweet bread. Found this recipe : http://fightcancerwithfood.wordpress.com/2012/10/02/parsnip-apple-bread/   and modified it to fit my taste 🙂

You will need : ( I don’t write it down but almost all my ingredients are organic )

2 cups of white flour self raising ( better wholemeal but mine finished)

1 cup of brown rice flour ( gives the bread a lighter texture)

1 cup of oats

3 tablespoons of  sugar

2 apples (grated)

1 turnip (grated)

1 teaspoon of baking soda

2 teaspoons of  baking powder

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1 tablespoon of cinnamon

1 teaspoon of  Spekulatius  ( german spice that has cloves, cinnamon, star anis,ginger and others..)

1 cup of milk

1 tablespoon of sweet freedom or agave

1 hand full of nuts

1 tablespoon of Maca powder

3 tablespoons of chickpea flour and mix it with a bit of water and let it sit for 10 minutes

1 cup of raisins

Mix all the ingredients together, put some baking paper in a tray grease it with a bit of olive oil, fill it with the  mixture.

Pre heat the oven at 180 degrees Celsius and bake for around 50 minutes.

Have a good cup of tea with it, and you are in heaven, sweet healthy heaven 😉

What are you Halloween plans?

Best upside down apple/cinnamon/nuts cake, no really!

For our saturday dinner I decided to make lasagna ( my next post) and this amazing cake! If you love cinnamon, and christmassy flavours ( I know it’s a bit early 😉 ) then this cake is for you..

For the cake :

Dry :

200g of self rising flour

1.5 teaspoons of baking powder

100g of golden sugar ( I think you can reduce this easily to 70g)

Wet :

2 tablespoons of olive oil /rapeseed oil

2 eggs

175g of natural yoghurt

2 drops of vanilla essence

1 tablespoon of melted butter

1 splash of vodka for good luck

Combine all the dry ingredients and then add the wet to it, mix all together. At the end fold in carefully the whipped egg whites.

For the upside down/topping part:

4 big apples, sultanas, sugar, butter, cinnamon

Peel and cut the apples, in a pan add a tablespoon of butter with some sugar, this part s up to your taste, and add the apples, sultanas and cinnamon ( i used 2 heaped teaspoons) . Let it cook for around 20m in a low heat, and add boiling water, everytime it starts to get too dry.

I “greased” the baking tin with liquid caramel that I buy in a portuguese shop, but I’m sure you can buy elsewhere. Add the cooked apples to the bottom of the baking tray, 2 raw sliced bananas and after top it with the cake mixture.

Pre heat the oven at 180 degrees C and bake for around 35/40m or until golden.

In the meantime heat a bit of the liquid caramel ( or make your own, or heat a bit of honey) in a pan and put in some chopped nuts ( in big pieces) leave it enough time just to coat the nuts.

Once you remove the cake from the tin, pour over the caramel or honey and nuts mixture, and let it cool.

Enjoy!! It’s really tasty and so good with a cup of tea 😉

Cinnamon : is a digestive aid that helps normalize levels of both glucose and triglycerides in the blood. It’s a 1st class antiseptic, rich in antioxidants. Just smelling it is said to boost cognitive function and memory.

Take care xx

Bacon and cheese muffin, perfect sunday treat! :)

Another drama in the house of  Fiona!…..

A pipe burst this week in our bathroom, a huge flood, emergency plumber and no sleep. And all of this followed by a day’s work, fun and games 😉 So another week went by without much time to cook.. And that’s why this week my main workouts were yoga and pilates, as I need as much calm as I can summon.

So today, I decided that lot’s of food was going to come out of my kitchen! Today I will show my cheese and bacon muffins, delicious and really easy to put together!

Ingredients :

250g plain flour

50g semolina

grated cheese, I used cheddar and parmigiano

3 eggs

100ml of olive oil

bacon

sesame seeds

2 tsp baking powder

250ml of milk

parsley

salt and pepper

cumin and tumeric to taste

Preheat the oven at 180 degrees C ; Combine flour,semolina, baking powderand seasonings. On a separated bowl whisk the eggs, milk, olive oil and parsley. Add the egg mixture to the dry ingredients, add the bacon( that has been previously fried)  and mix all together. Grease your muffin tin, or use paper cases and fill them with the mixture. Bake for 20m or until golden brown.

Eggs : Excellent source of protein. Contains vitamin D for healthy bones and teeth, and nutrients that help balance blood sugar levels, protect against heart disease, and support the healthy function of nerves and the brain.

Countdown for USA  : 17 days!

Waht have you been baking lately? Tell me your favourite savoury muffin recipes! Hope you had an amazing weekend and have a good week! xx

 

 

 

 

 

( Not so) Naughty Carrot Cake!

This week I bought 3 cookbooks to get inspired, all 3 quite healthy cookbooks. And as I was looking at a carrot cake recipe I remember how much I used to love carrot cake when I was back home, in Portugal. But mind you that is not the cake that you get over here, the one that you can see all the carrot bits and has the white frosting, which I hate, It’s the smooth bright orange one! As always I didn’t follow any specific recipe, I look at 4 or 5 recipes of the same thing and combine according to my taste, and this was the result :

The ingredients :

2 cups of flour (used organic self rising white)

3/4 cup plain organic yoghurt

1/3 rapeseed oil

4 eggs

5 medium carrots

1 tablespoon of baking powder

1/2 cup of sugar (used yellow unrefined)

Honey to taste, maybe 1/2 cup

Pinch of salt

For the icing:

half a packet of Black&Green 70% chocolate

4 Table spoons of cocoa powder

1/3 cup of skimmed organic milk

1 teaspoon of butter

Peel carrots and boil until soft. Put in a blender with oil,yoghurt and blend until smooth. Add eggs and blend a bit more.

In a bowl mix flour, salt, baking powder,  add the wet mixture and combine.

Coat the baking tray with some kind of oil/butter and flour and pour the raw cake in.

Bake at 180 degrees for about 40m.

In bain-marie combine the icing ingredients and let them melt gently for about 10m until shiny and thick.

Take the cake out of the baking tray and spread the chocolate icing…

Enjoy! I can tell you it taste absolutely amazing, and I think it’s not so bad for you! In fact it was my dinner with a nice cup of white tea. I did a body conditioning class just before, so I deserve it 😀

Take care xx

Rich Black Beans Chocolate Brownies !

Just one day off work this week means that it is being spent in the house mainly, slept until late as I needed to catch up on it, waking up at 7 all week is not that easy!

Since I found this  https://fionabluerecipes.wordpress.com/2013/06/26/healthy-baking-swaps/comment-page-1/#comment-47  that I wanted to try to make brownies with black beans, so I searched the internet, the best cook book ever, and found a recipe at the food network website. The measures are in cups, the american way, but you can find the conversion quite easily on the internet. I have one of that plastic measuring cups that have all sorts of measurements in it, so I hope it is accurate.

At this very moment I’m waiting for the brownies to cool so i can cut and plate them, hope it’s tastyyyy!

The ingredients :

3/4 cup cooked black bean

1/2 cup vegetable oil, or olive oil

2 eggs

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2/3 cup sugar

1 teaspoon instant coffee or espresso

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup mini chocolate chips, divided

1/3 cup flour (wholemeal)

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar, for dusting

This is the original recipe, I swapped sugar for honey and added 2 tablespoons of matcha. I used a whole packet of dark 70% chocolate, and unfortunately I didn’t have better choco powder, just the cadbury one…

I blended everything wet together, beans with oil until smooth, after eggs, melted chocolate and cocoa powder, coffee, vanilla extract and honey. On a bowl I mixed flour, baking powder and salt and added this to the blender and pulse just until all is mixed.

I broke some pieces of chocolate and added to the mixture. Grease your baking tray and bake for 20m at 200 C or 390 F.

Enjoy and let me know if you ever baked sweets with unexpected ingredients!

They taste amazing, rich and moist!! Perfect with some green tea with mint leaves!

Take care till next time xx

Strawberry muffin,but a healthier one!

Long time no see! Tonight I am just going to share a quick recipe for strawberry muffins! They are little and a bit healthier than the “normal” ones 😀

It’s really quick to make and it’s going to be a fab snack in the afternoon with my coffee!

Ingredients :

110g of plain flour ( I used self raising,maybe it’s better plain), for a wholesome muffin swap for wholemeal flour ( I didn’t have any)

50ml of rapeseed oil

4 tsp of plain yoghurt

( the original recipe called for 110g of butter, swapped by the yoghurt and the oil)

2 organic eggs

half a tsp of baking powder

125g of berries

I used 30g of sugar plus quite a bit of honey ( to taste)

Poppy seeds

Mix together the oil, yoghurt,sugar, honey and eggs for 2 minutes. Add the flour, baking powder, poppy seeds and keep mixing at the end join the berries and use the spoon to mix in and not the electric mixer. 😉

Spoon it into beautiful colourful cupcake cases and bake at 190 degrees for around 20m depending on the oven.

Serve with fresh fruit and enjoy!

Perfect for anytime of the day 🙂

Tuck in!! YUM

As you know I was on holidays that’s why I haven’t been posting so much, but I took many pictures in the meantime! My next post is going to be holidays food, plus a few updates on some diet changes! Keep in touch and let me know which one is your favorite muffin recipe!x