Zucchini Banana Cocoa Muffins

Yup that is a bit of a mouthful of a name.  I had some over-ripe bananas and some extra zucchini that I hadn’t got around to using.  A little searching on pinterest (are we ready to start use “pinteresting”?) and I came across The First Mess, which is another brilliant food blog full of yummy veggie and vegan food.  These brownies have me thinking of doing a vegan June…

I didn’t have all the ingredients for the original so made a few changes.  They are really moist and I am looking forward to my mid-morning snack every day this week.

Zucchini Banana Chocolate Muffin

Adapted from The First Mess

Ingredients

• 2 ripe bananas
• 1 cup oat milk
• 1/3 cup coconut oil (melted)
• 2 cup spelt flour
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1 ½ tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 grated zucchini
• 1/2 cup chopped pistachio nuts

Method

1. Blend bananas, milk and coconut oil
2. Combine dry ingredients
3. Add wet to dry and stir in zucchini
4. Put into greased muffin tin and cook on 180°C for about 20 minutes

Makes 12

p.s. I really need to start baking things aside from muffins so I can take prettier food pictures.  It is the only reason for baking right?

Aubergine pizza

I was recently inspired by a pizza recipe on Sprouted Kitchen to come up with my own idea.

Instead of doing a tomato base I used an aubergine paste.  If I had the ingredients I probably would have made a more precise babaganoush but for this I just whole roasted aubergine (one per pizza) and some whole garlic.  I then squeezed the excess moisture out the aubergine and pureed with some roasted garlic.  I went Greek for this option with sundried tomatoes, olives and feta.  I also found out about za’atar and sprinkled that on top (shop bought because I couldn’t find sumac.  Anybody spotted this in a store?).

If you are vegan you could easily leave off the feta.  I used the spelt pizza bases from Biona but also made this on wholemeal pita breads which make nice mini pizzas.

One Recipe Three Ways

For my birthday gathering I made some of this really good rosemary lemon white bean dip.  The great thing about it is that it is really versatile.

I first had it as a dip (duh).

Then I had some on a grated carrot sandwich – the lemony zing and carrot worked really well together.

And then with what was left over I made myself a cup of soup by adding some hot water and a little bit of stock.

The soup was so good I think next time I am just going to make it as a soup.

Do you have any multi-tasking recipes?

Birthday Weekend

It is my birthday today.  I think 28 is going to be a good year.

The weekend was mostly spent catching up with my mom and Mr after my two months away.

Saturday my Mom gave me my birthday present: a picnic blanket (please be a good summer), pretty cake stand which goes very well with some carboot finds from a while back and home-made red velvet cupcakes.

We then went to Mildred’s for lunch which despite having being a vegetarian in London for almost seven years I hadn’t yet been to.  I am sad that I hadn’t because this place does great food with happy and efficient service.  They are currently refurbishing so I will need to head back once the new look is installed (although currently it has that “urban raw” look going).  I then had desert at Gelupo.  You have to head over for their Easter Specials.  I had the Carrot and Ginger which was really light and lovely but their “Rabbit Hatch” which is hay-infused milk (!) was pretty amazing and really creamy.

As it was colder than I had planned we wondered into the National Portrait Gallery to have a wander.  One of the things I love about London is that you can just pop into an art gallery and look at a room and walk out.  Which is just what we did.  They have a small exhibit called Queens in Waiting which shows some portraits of Princess Charlotte and Princess (who became queen) Victoria with some of their early history.  I can’t say the art itself was that interesting but I did feel more authentically British after learning some more about our monarchy.

Sunday was pretty much a lazy day except for a visit to a friend for a beer before heading out to dinner at Manna with the Mr.  We hadn’t been to Manna since we lived in Camden about 5 years ago so it was good to revisit.  The food was as good as ever and I believe it has been redecorated.  The service was slightly slow but it is always good to not be rushed at dinner.  For dessert we shared a “not to be missed” blood orange cheesecake with amaretto ice-cream.  Yum!

Today as my actual birthday and with Mr on holidays we are going to go for brunch and a wander.  Friends around tomorrow.  I love Birthdays!

Sugar free breakfast

So I have been struggling with boring oats and thought I would spice things up a bit with some pumpkin puree.  Unfortunately a couple spoonfuls in my porridge made it taste like baby food.  So I made some pumpkin soup with some turnip, but it tasted bitter.  I just don’t think turnips and I are going to be friends.  So instead I had the weeks healthiest breakfasts (lies, all lies).

First up.  Pumpkin French Toast.  I just added some of the puree to the egg mix and stirred it in.  Then fried as normal in coconut oil.  Served with chopped almonds and some butter.  One egg, some oat milk and 2 teaspoons of puree is enough for two slices of bread.  This was so yummy I made it twice.

Number two. Pumpkin Pancakes.  I have seen some recipes out there but thought I would just do something along the lines of my vegan banana pancakes.  Unfortunately they don’t really “cook” all the way through but because they were vegan it didn’t bother me.

This week I need to try some healthier (translate as less carby) breakfast options I think.  I’m pondering bringing one piece of fruit a day back into my diet but will probably ponder it so long that another week will have gone. I don’t feel like I have had any sugar cravings though have felt the need for some biscuits as an emotional crutch this week.  I have successfully ignored them though, I don’t want any future “treats” to have any emotional relevance.  Know what I mean?