I think I'll start to do this end-of-the-month post so that I'll actually remember things. This month was quite eventful!

On the 12th of June, I started this blog! Thanks so much for visiting ♡ ♡ ♡ I hope you like my recipes! Let me know if you've got any requests for posts. I hope this font isn't uncomfortable to read :X

I also went for my first vegan potluck and got to know so many new people!! It was great ☺

And if you've seen my 10 Things on Instagram, I've mentioned that I've never cut myself before. Well that's invalid now! ☹ I was cutting (sawing?) an eggplant with a blunt knife and accidentely cut my right index finger. Actually the cut was tiny and didn't hurt much. But I half-fainted (I also half-fainted when I took my first blood test :x ) probably our of panic and fear. (Losing blood unnaturally is scary) Luckily at that time Dad came back and helped my to plaster my finger, sharpen the knife and chop up the rest of the eggplant. ♡ Mum called it 'an initiation ritual to cooking' LOL and that she's cut herself many times before :O I never want to cut myself again ahh. I'll be extra careful now!

I've also started doing dry skin brushing! It felt painful at first but now I quite enjoy it. I'll probably do a post about this another time ☺

And I've contined doing Bikram Yoga after stopping for a couple of weeks during the exam period.I can't really tell if I'm improving yet, but I feel that my neck is more flexible and stronger! I'll do a post about this too.

I watched a documentary on Why Are Thin People Not Fat and it really got me thinking.  In the documentary, a group of people were told to eat a huge amount of kcalories a day and restrict physical activity (5000 steps a day) the their weight gain was monitored. It made me realise that our bodies are smart enough to maintain our weight even though we eat more (or less)! Okay this sounds bad if you want to gain or lose weight, but it's good if you're like me and would like to maintain weight. Hmm. Maybe I'm not saying this right. But it gives me a peace of mind to trust my body to have a weight it wants as long as I feed it well and have moderate physical activity. Okay, maybe this still doesnt't make sense. This just makes me worry less about weight gain! ☺ Anddd one of the participants in the study (a Chinese, male) ate a lot, had minimal physical activity and STILL GAINED MUSCLE :O Is that not shocking?! It turned out he has this gene (if I remember correctly) which is quite rare. Wow.

And there's this article on why eating 2 large meals a day is better than 6 small meals for weight loss. How interesting! Not that I'm going to do this, but I've always thought that small meals keep your metabolism up higher through the whole day. And I do snack the whole day. :|

This is a good read and it kinda reflects what I feel about veganism. Especially paragraph 5 and 6. Sometimes I feel so bad that I'm not doing anything to help the dying and suffering animals :'( It's just like this horrible, helpless feeling. More so now. And also lots of loneliness when no-one around me is vegetarian or vegan. All this while I've been trying to convince and educate my parents, but they don't feel such compassion for the animals nor do they think that it's worth the trouble and effort to give up what they've been eating all their life for the health benefits. I'll still continue reading articles to them, sending them videos, etc but it'll not happen in the near future. Sigh. Not to prove that I'm right or anything, but I don't want them to suffer when their older, and to let them have this experience - the amazing new foods, the improvement in their health, having compassion for the animals and also the amount of explaining you have to do to skeptical 'vegetarianism-is-extreme' non-vegetarians. Btw, if I share something vegan-y with you it means that I care enough about you and/or you're not too far away. ☺

This morning I also read this, The Case Against Eating Fish. Because I don't really feel the same level of compassion towards fish as I have for land animals. But this article presents it very well!! For a school project I'll likely have to cook fish. Sigh.

July will be a very busy month! And I still haven't caught up on watching Running Man. ☹
I've got a goal for July, and it's to stop eating by 8pm. Not to cut calories, but to let my body rest. I've read/watch quite a few videos/articles about this. 8pm sounds a bit late but I usually finish my dinner at 7+. Also, I usually eat 2 pieces of fruit (1 apple + 1 banana) after I reach home in the afternoon (before bathing and dinner) and more after dinner, but now I'll probably add another serve or two for my after school snack and not have fruits after dinner! Maybe my digestion will be better, since fruits are best eaten before meals. I've tried this on a few occasions before and it does really make me feel better and sleep better, but I've not lasted more than a week each time because my itchy-mouth is too difficult to control. -_- By posting this here I hope it'll make me feel accountable to whoever reads this. ☺ Also, this will really help me save time, as eating constantly takes up quite a lot of time.. So I hope this goes well!

And, I'll start drinking soymilk again. I stopped drinking it a many months ago but I can't remember why exactly. Probably one of the reasons was that I was drinking Nutrisoy no sugar added WHICH HAS FISH OIL and I was horrified when I found out. O Anyway, I'm drinking Powerbeans (no sugar added) now. I decided to start drinking soymilk again because after doing a recent school report (which includes making meal plans and calculating the nutrients), I found that most of the time the meals that I plan don't have enough calcium and I'd always have to add in more glasses of fortified soymilk. I did vegan meal plans btw. Two years ago I had a bone scan done (in a hospital) and I had osteopenia ( <-- okay it's my first time reading this and it looks scary). I'm having another scan in November! So I'll try to drink at least a glass of fortified soymilk a day (400mg calcium) and continue eating lotsa green leafy veggies and oranges! ☺

Thanks for reading! xx

Yum.

Cheezy Oven-Roasted Cauliflower Bites with avocado chunks and a sprinkle of black sesame seeds and pumpkin seeds, atop a bed of baby butterhead lettuce. With a creamy (storebought) wholegrain rice black galangal dressing.

 

With a Quinoa Cucumber Boat. Rainbow quinoa with raw veggies - portobello mushroom, yellow bell pepper, carrot and cherry tomato - in half a hollowed out cucumber. With a drizzle of rich black tahini and a squeeze of lime.

 

It's my first time roasting cauliflower and it turned out quite yummy! It wasn't crispy as I imagined it to be (perhaps too little oil or too low temp?) but it was tender, sweeter and flavourful. The garlic made it taste even better and gave it such a lovely aroma! It went so well with the dressing too. ☺

 

Cheezy Oven-Roasted Cauliflower Bites

Serves 1, as shown above

 

Ingredients

• 1/4 head medium sized cauliflower, cut into bite-sized florets
• 2 tsp coconut oil
• 1 heaped tbsp nutritional yeast
• 1 tsp curry powder
• 1 tsp dried parsley flakes
• 1/2 tsp chili flakes
• 1/2 tsp cracked black pepper
• 1-2 cloves garlic, minced

Method

1. Place cauliflower florets in a large bowl. Drizzle on and coat florets evenly in the oil.
2. Add in the rest of the ingredients and toss well.
3. Spread out evenly on a well oiled baking sheet.
4. Bake in a preheated oven for 180°C (after looking up some other recipes, I've found that most use at least 200°C for this! I'll try this next time ^^ ) for about 20 minutes, turning once halfway.
    

This is the dressing I used! It has 'the nuttiness of brown rice' and 'the pepperiness of galangal'. (Galangal is a ginger-like rhizome that tastes more peppery - I had to Google for this.) This tastes quite like mayo or Thousand Island, which is amazing considering the ingredients used and how healthy & low-fat it is! I like it, and yet I can't decide if I love it, because of the same fact that it reminds me of mayo and Thousand Island (bleugh).

 

This was bought from Pasarbella. It's at a quite reasonable price of $10 (if I remember correctly) but it's supposed to be finished in 2 weeks! But it's been 3 weeks since this has been opened and the taste is fine so.. ☺

Falafel is a popular Middle Eastern food and it's usually made with ground chickpeas. They're usually deep-fried though, so they're not very healthy. I've tried a deep-fried falafel before and though it was flavorful, it was also too tough and greasy for my liking. So I tried making baked falafel! ☺

I adapted a recipe for Baked Falafel from Chow Vegan. These are made out of 5 main ingredients, dried herbs and spices. And they're quite easy to make! These turned out amazingly yummy!! Crispy on the outside and moist on the inside, and they're sweet from the onions too! This falafel is made of already cooked/canned chickpeas insteads of dried (as they usually are), so you don't need a food processor to make them - just a fork!

 

You can enjoy them in a wrap. This is a Mountain Bread rye wrap with cucumber, raw bok choy, raw broccoli, tofu 'mayo', goji berries, pecans, raw pumpkin seeds, black sesame seeds and of course 4 of my falafel!

Have them on skewers too! Brought these to school for lunch. The Salad-in-a-Jar has sweet potato, raw broccoli, homemade hummus, cherry tomatoes, red bell pepper, brown shimeiji mushrooms, pecans and homemade granola. So yummy and filling! ☺

Baked Tomato & Herb Falafel

Makes about 20

• 1 1/2 cup cooked chickpeas (or a 15 ounce can)

• 1 small onion/half medium onion, finely chopped

• 2 tbsp flour (I used wholewheat spelt)

• 1 tsp baking powder 

• 1/4 cup chopped dried cherry tomatoes (pictured below)

• herbs & spices: dried parsley, ground ginger, chili flakes, black pepper, curry powder

• I would have added fresh parsley/cilantro if I had any!

1. Drain and rinse chickpeas. Put in a large bowl and smash with a fork (or use a food processor). 

2. Add the rest if the ingredients and mix well. 

3. Form into small balls, about 1 1/2" in diameter and flatten slightly. (Or use a cookie cutter to mold into shapes!) Place onto an oiled baking pan.

4. Bake for 10-15 mins each side in a preheated oven at 180°C, until nicely browned.
 

 

I've also made a pink version! These have 5 tbsp shredded beetroot added to the basic recipe above. Sadly, I forgot to add the flour and they came out kinda crumbly :X But still it tastes super yummy! I eat it as a snack too! ☺

 

Carrot Apricot Tofu Cake with a 'Cream Cheeze Frosting' topped with rich black tahini, frozen blueberries, frozen raspberries, hemp hearts and shredded coconut.

It's my first time baking a carrot cake of some sort! It turned out not bad ☺ Moist, slightly fluffy. Perhaps it could use a pinch of salt. This is based on my usual tofu cake recipe.

The 'Cream Cheeze Frosting' was interesting.. kinda more like a pudding XD The mix of ingredients sounds weird but I find that it tastes good ;) And psyllium husk is amazing :O

Carrot Apricot Tofu Cake
Serves 1

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup wholewheat flour
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• a dash each of cinnamon, nutmeg and ground ginger
• 4 tbsp pureed silken tofu
• 3 tbsp carrot shreds
• 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
• stevia to taste (I used 11 drops = sweetness of 1 tbsp maple syrup) or other liquid sweetener
• 2 finely chopped unsulphured dried apricots

Method

1. Mix the flour, baking powder and spices together.
2. Add in the tofu, carrot shreds, vanilla essence, sweetener and dried apricots. Stir until well combined.
3. Pour into a well oiled pan/ramekin and bake in a preheated oven at 150 deg C for about 20 mins
4. Remove from pan and leave to cool.

'Cream Cheeze Frosting'
Just enough for this cake

Ingredients

• 4 tbsp pureed silken tofu
• 2 tsp psyllium husk
• 1/2 tsp nutritional yeast
• sweetener to taste (1 used 7 drops stevia = sweetness of 2 tsp sugar)
• 1 tbsp or more water to desired consistency

Method

1. Stir the first 4 ingredients together and leave to sit for at least 10 minutes.
2. Add water if you find it too thick.
3. Enjoy! ☺

Soft Gingerbread Doggy Cookies (for humans). Healthier than most gingerbread cookies, I would think. And yet so very more-ish! ☺

Through making this I've learnt how important eye placement is.. Some of them look really funny lols. A couple of them remind me of Hello Kitty too! Haha.
This cute doggy shape is inspired by my Instagram friend, @leesamantha, who makes incredible food art!! ♡

They're made by placing a light brown heart over two dark brown (chocolate) hearts.

 

 

Soft Gingerbread Doggy Cookies

Makes about 30, depending on size

 

Ingredients

• Dry
• 2 cups wholewheat flour (I used spelt)
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp each cinnamon, nutmeg
• 1 1/2 - 2 tsp ground ginger
• pinch of salt
• Wet
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1/4 cup melted coconut oil
• 1/4 cup molasses sugar (solid; if using liquid molasses reduce amount of water)
• 1/4 cup water/milk
• *I find these cookies sweet, but of you've got a sweet tooth you can replace some or all of the water with a liquid sweetener
• Dog Ears
• 2 tbsp cocoa/carob powder (I used 1 tbsp of each)
• 1 tbsp water 

Method

1. Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl
2. Whisk together the next 4 ingredients well and pour into the dry ingredients. Mix well until a stiff dough is formed.
3. If making them dog-shaped: to 2/3 of the dough knead in the cocoa/carob powder and 1 tbsp water if needed. Leave the other 1/3 dough as is.
4. Place both doughs separately in covered bowls in the fridge for 1 hour.
5. Lightly flour a clean surface. Roll out the dark brown dough to about 2-3mm thick. (For less soft cookies, roll them thinner) Cut into heart shapes. Lay out hearts in pairs, side by side on a greased cookie sheet.
6. Roll out the light brown dough. Cut into heart shapes. Slightly stretch them sideways and press onto the dark brown heart pairs.
7. Use the remaining dark brown dough for the eyes and nose. Poke holes in the cheeks with a skewer.
8. Bake in a preheated oven at 150 deg C for 10-15 mins. Cool and enjoy!



Baiye tofu is pressed beancurd sheets. It has a chewy texture and a prominent bean-y taste. It's usually used in Chinese cooking. Though I've never noticed it in any Asian dishes before! Hmm... I can't think of a specific dish that must have baiye tofu. Actually I only know how to use them in a Western-y way... So here are some things you can do with baiye tofu. I find it quite fun to peel the sheets apart! Hehe ☺

Rainbow Tofu Rolls. Use baiye tofu as a wrap! Much easier to roll than nori sheets, doesn't get soggy and it can hold much more filling ;) I stuffed these with purple sweet potato, carrot, asparagus, yellow & red bell pepper and alfalfa, with a squeeze of lemon. Topped with black tahini, black sesame seeds and a few sprays of Bragg's liquid aminos.

I just washed the tofu sheets, without cooking them, but if you'd like to you can steam them lightly (not too much or they'll be too soft to hold!) For each wrap I used 1/2 a tofu sheet.

Sweet Potato & Avocado Tofu Quiche. This uses alternating strips of baiye tofu and Mountain Bread rye wrap. Using the baiye tofu at the base keeps it from getting too soggy, but don't use too much of it at the side as it'll get a bit tough after baking! 

For this, the filling is made of 1/2 avocado and 150g silken tofu, pureed together. Then added with 1 tbsp chopped onion, 1 clove garlic, 1 tiny purple sweet potato (already cooked), 1 medium portobello mushroom, a few spears of asparagus, diced red bell pepper, 1 tbsp nutritional yeast, pepper, cayenne and curry powder. Baked at 150 deg C for about 30-35 minutes. My first try at something like this and I think it turned out not bad! ☺

Neither Pizza Nor Pasta. Baiye noodles with a simple no-cook tomato sauce and falafel 'meatballs', with eggplant 'pizza' at the side.  For the noodles, cut out four 1 cm wide pieces (from the block of tofu) and separate each layer to get long, thin, tofu strips. Then blanch/boil them lightly.

Sauce: blend 10 cherry tomatoes, 1/4-1/3 cup sundried tomatoes, a squeeze of lemon, chili flakes and black pepper. Add 1 tbsp ground flaxseed meal and let it sit for about 10 mins. Add water until desired consistency and other ingredients if you'd like. I added shimeiji mushrooms and three homemade baked falafel.

The eggplant pizza bites are about 1 cm thick eggplant slices topped with pea hummus (2 tbsp peas and 1 tbsp homemade hummus in a food processor), cherry tomatoes, baby corn, parsley flakes, chili flakes and black pepper. Baked at 180 deg C for 20 mins in a preheated oven. If you find the eggplant skin too tough, you can cut tiny slits around it before baking ☺

 

 

I hope these have given you some ideas about what to do with baiye tofu! I'll probably try doing a lagzanea lasanea lasagna (I can never spell this word!!) next.

On a side note, this is the last week of the three week school holidays. ☹☹☹ How sad. I've not even properly enjoyed myself yet! Assignments still not done. And haven't caught up on Running Man. Sigh... Must really stop procrastinating! 

On Saturday (yesterday), I went to a potluck organized by a fellow Instagrammer, Sonal! It was my first time meeting so many vegans & vegetarians in real life! It was such a fun and eye-opening experience. There were like people from all over the world there :O Lols and I realised I don't really know about good vegan food in Sg because I usually cook for myself... I also got to know my IG friend Chen Xi (@peabrainner) more! We only met face-to-face once on Monday when I had lunch at The Living Cafe. ☺

 

We had a quiz game too. :) Found out a lot of interesting, shocking things about what eating animals and livestock production does to our health and the environment.. and I promptly forgot them :X Okay I did remember one; the water required to produce 1 pound of meat is sufficient for a person to bathe for 365 days! :O

 

There were 20++ of us there and so there were tons of fooood. Like a huge buffet. Where I could eat anything and everything :'D *cries with joy* And there wasn't a leafy salad in sight! (I only realised this when I went home and mum asked me if I had any veg o_o - the closest thing was some kale chips!) So vegans don't eat salad all day okay... ;) And I ate until I was explodingly full. I wasn't even hungry when I woke up today (and I always am)! Haha. I was wondering why I was so full but then mum told me that samosas and super filling. No wonder. And I counted that I had at least 6 servings of fruit...

 

I brought Pumpkin Pie with a Wholewheat Black Sesame Crust. It can be much improved so I'm not sharing the recipe yet! First time baking it; maybe I shouldn't have taken the risk :x The filling was too soft (mostly made of pumpkin and cashews - I should have used tofu too like the last time I made pie) and the crust stuck to the pan so i didn't really taste it -_- I'll make it again the next time I feel like having pie. Which may be weeks and weeks later...

 

Anyway, here is most of the wonderful food that was there yesterday. I'll try my best to guess their names! ☺



These 2 pizzas were made by Sonal. They were so yummy!! Loved that the crust was thin and crunchy! ☺

Quinoa & Chickpea Salad

Bryani rice. Indian food is ♡♡♡

Rolls from New Green Pasture Cafe. The Sri Lanka Roll (top) was so good!
The Seaweed Roll was yummy too ☺

Indian samosas. My first time trying them! And also my first curry-puff-like thing in years, I think!

Yum.

Pasta.

Fruits! There were also strawberries, peaches and more grapes

Raw desserts from Frunatic!

I shared this with Chen Xi. Creamy and smooth and sweet! No idea what it is though... hehe.

More raw cakes from Frunatic (which I didn't eat because my stomach was exploding)

My pie! With apple hearts and pepitas.

 

I'm missing the food there now. I'd definitely go for another one of such gatherings! Thanks again to Sonal for organising this! ☺♡ (and sorry if I was very lifeless - a combination of the tiredness from Bikram and my original energy level :x )

 

 



These cakes use tofu in place of oil and eggs, while leaving it with a moist and fluffy texture (though sometimes it turns out a bit too dense)! Today I made Chocolate Blueberry Mini Tofu Cakes, which had one of the best textures out of all the tofu cakes I've made so far! Fluffy and not too dense or moist.

Chocolate Blueberry Mini Tofu Cakes
With avocado kiwi cream (1/2 avocado + 1/2 green kiwi - seems perfect for a facemask too ;) ) and a ripe banana.

So fluffy, yet moist with bursting blueberry lava! ☺

Goes great with nature's butter!

 

Serves 1, makes 2 mini muffins
Ingredients

• 3 heaped tbsp (about 1/3 cup) wholewheat spelt flour (or other flour)
• 1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 3 tbsp pureed silken tofu (or yoghurt)
• 3-4 tbsp water/milk
• 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
• stevia to taste, or if using other liquid sweetener reduce water by same amount (I would suggest at least 11 drops stevia/1 tbsp maple syrup for this)
• 20 blueberries

Method

1. Mix the dry ingredients (flour, cocoa powder and baking powder) together.
2. Add in the wet ingredients (tofu, water/milk, vanilla essence, stevia/sweetener)
3. Fold in the blueberries.
4. Pour into 2 well-oiled cupcake/muffin cups and bake in a preheated oven at 180°C for 10-15 minutes.
5. Cool and enjoy!

Some of the other tofu cakes I've made before

Savoury Tomato & Herb Cake
Topped with tahini and garnished with parsley. Stuffed with tofu scramble (a big handful mashed firm tofu, 2 button mushrooms, half handful chopped red bell pepper, seaweed shreds, 2 sprays Bragg's liquid aminos, turmeric and other spices)
This was Mum's breakfast on Mother's Day! ☺

 Ingredients

• 3 tbsp wholewheat spelt flour
• 1 tbsp rolled oats (or omit and use 1 more tbsp flour)
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 3 tbsp pureed silken tofu (or yoghurt)
• 3-4 tbsp water/milk
• 2 tsp nutritional yeast
• 1 tbsp chopped sundried tomatoes
• dried herbs & spices (I used parsley, pepper, cayenne and ginger)
• optional: pinch of salt

Method

1. Mix the dry ingredients (flour, oats, baking powder, nutritional yeast) together.
2. Add in the wet ingredients (tofu, water/milk)
3. Stir in the sundried tomatoes, herbs & spices
4. Pour into a well-oiled pan and bake in a preheated oven at 180°C for 20-25 minutes.
5. Cool and remove from pan.
6. If you're going to stuff it, let it cool for a while and carefully cut from the edges before cutting the middle, which can be quite soft.

Strawberry-Matcha and Tomato & Herb Cookie Cakes
Moist and fluffy, sweet/savoury cookie-shaped cakes. Served with a pudding of cocoa-carob tofu mousse and banana slices, topped with cacao nibs and tahini.

 

Makes 8 small cakes

Ingredients

3 heaped tbsp (about 1/3 cup) wholewheat spelt flour (or other flour)
3/4 tsp baking powder
3 tbsp pureed silken tofu (or yoghurt)
3-4 tbsp water/milk

Strawberry Matcha Cakes

2 tbsp finely diced strawberries
2 tsp matcha powder
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
1/2 tsp cinnamon
stevia or other liquid sweetener to taste

Tomato & Herb Cakes

• 1 tbsp chopped sundried tomatoes
• 1 tbsp chopped walnuts
• 1 tbsp water
• 2 tsp nutritional yeast
• pinch of chili flakes, dried parsley, black pepper & ground ginger

Method

1. Mix the first 4 ingredients together. Divide batter into 2.
2. For the Strawberry Matcha Cakes: To 1/2 of the batter, add the next 5 ingredients. Scoop into well oiled muffin tin (makes 4).
3. For the Tomato & Herb Cakes: To other 1/2 of the batter, add the last 5 ingredients. Scoop into well oiled muffin tin (makes 4).
4. Bake in a preheated oven at 180°C for about 15-18 minutes.

Vanilla Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake
Stuffed with apple slices & carob tofu mousse, topped with a strawberry, hemp hearts and tahini. I didn't have chocolate chips so I used cacao nibs.. but choc chips will be better since cacao nibs don't really melt!

 Serves 1
Ingredients

• 3 tbsp wholewheat spelt flour (or other flour)
• 1 tbsp rolled oats (or omit and use 1 more tbsp flour)
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 3 tbsp pureed silken tofu (or yoghurt)
• 3-4 tbsp water/milk
• 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
• stevia to taste, or if using other liquid sweetener reduce water by same amount (I would suggest at least 11 drops stevia/1 tbsp maple syrup for this)
• 1 tbsp cacao nibs/chocolate chips

Method

1. Mix the dry ingredients (flour, oats, baking powder, choc chips) together.
2. Add in the wet ingredients (tofu, water/milk, vanilla essence, stevia/sweetener)
3. Pour into a well-oiled pan and bake in a preheated oven at 180°C for 20-25 minutes.
4. Cool and remove from pan.
5. If you're going to stuff it, let it cool for a while and carefully cut from the edges before cutting the middle, which can be quite soft.

Red Velvet Tofu Cake
This turned out too moist in the middle, because I added too much cocoa powder (3/4 tbsp) and ended up having to keep on adding beetroot shreds (3 heaped tbsp) to get a redder colour.. I'll be trying this again some other time! ☺

Granola is such a crunchy and addictive snack! But storebought granola is often very unhealthy. Best to make it yourself, especially when it's so easy and takes only half an hour! I like adding quinoa to mine for more crunch but it's still yummy when you don't add it. I enjoy mine without any added sugar or fat, but if you'd like to you can add a couple tbsp coconut oil and a drizzle of maple syrup. The next 3 recipes for granolas I've made and enjoyed! ☺ Each can probably last for 1 or 2 weeks in an airtight container.. not that I've tried since they usually disappear within 4 days! Feel free to substitute the ingredients. And the method is essentially the same.. I just copied and pasted! ;)

Newer Recipe: Pumpkin-Spice Quinoa Granola Clusters with Dried Strawberries

Pumpkin Pecan Granola
Slightly less sweet than those that use banana, but still so addictive!

 

Makes about 2 1/2 cups (the millet puffs shrink - you could use quinoa too!)

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp chia seeds
• 1/2 cup millet puffs
• 1/2 cup rolled oats
• 1 cup chopped nuts (I used 3/4 cup pecans & 1/4 cup slivered almonds)
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1/3-1/2 cup mashed pumpkin (use more for more clusters)
• 1/2 cup dried fruit (I used freeze-dried pineapple, goji berries and golden raisins)
• *this is slightly sweet, so if you'd like a sweeter granola, replace up to half of the banana puree with maple syrup.

Method

1. In a large bowl, mix together the first 7 ingredients.
2. Add the mashed pumpkin to the granola mixture. Stir together until well combined. You may want to use your hands for this!
3. Spread evenly on a well-oiled baking sheet and bake in a preheated oven for 15-20 mins at 180°C .
4. Stir granola once midway to prevent burning.
5. After 15-20 mins, or when granola looks crunchy and nicely browned, stir the granola and add in the dried fruit. Leave it in the switched off oven to cool for 5 mins.
6. When granola is done, remove from oven and let cool completely. Store in an airtight container.

Banana-Coconut Quinoa Granola
Toasted coconut is so fragrant ♡◡♡ Made this today and I can't stop eating it! Finished more than a cup of it so far :X I used rainbow quinoa for this ☺

Makes about 3 cups of wonderfulness
Ingredients

• 1 tbsp chia seeds
• 1 tbsp black sesame seeds (or other seeds)
• 1 tbsp pepitas (or other seeds)
• 1/2 cup uncooked quinoa
• 1/2 cup rolled oats
• 1/2 cup coconut flakes, cut into smaller pieces
• 1/2 cup chopped mixed nuts (I used cashews and macadamia)
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1 ripe medium banana
• 1/2 cup dried fruit (I used gojiberries, freeze-dried pineapple and unsulphured apricots)
• *this is slightly sweet, so if you'd like a sweeter granola, replace up to half of the banana puree with maple syrup.

Method

1. In a large bowl, mix together the first 9 ingredients.
2. Puree the banana and add to the granola mixture. Stir together until well combined. You may want to use your hands for this!
3. Spread evenly on a well-oiled baking sheet and bake in a preheated oven for 15-20 mins at 180°C .
4. Stir granola once midway to prevent burning.
5. After 15-20 mins, or when granola looks crunchy and nicely browned, stir the granola and add in the dried fruit. Leave it in the switched off oven to cool for 5 mins.
6. When granola is done, remove from oven and let cool completely. Store in an airtight container.

Banana-Nut Quinoa Granola
The very first granola I ever made! ☺ Recipe adapted from Happy Hearted Kitchen

Make about 3 cups of awesomeness
Ingredients

• 1 tbsp chia seeds
• 2 tbsp flaxseeds
• 1/2 cup uncooked quinoa
• 1/2 cup rolled oats
• 1 cup chopped mixed nuts (I used walnuts and pecans)
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1 ripe banana
• 1/2 cup dried fruit (I used goji berries, chopped figs and raisins)
• *this is slightly sweet, so if you'd like a sweeter granola, replace up to half of the banana puree with maple syrup.

Method

1. In a large bowl, mix together the first 7 ingredients.
2. Puree the banana and add to the granola mixture. Stir together until well combined. You may want to use your hands for this!
3. Spread evenly on a well-oiled baking sheet and bake in a preheated oven for 15-20 mins at 180°C .
4. Stir granola once midway to prevent burning.
5. After 15-20 mins, or when granola looks crunchy and nicely browned, stir the granola and add in the dried fruit. Leave it in the switched off oven to cool for 5 mins.
6. When granola is done, remove from oven and let cool completely. Store in an airtight container.

Fully Raw Smoothie combinations that I've enjoyed! Usually I just throw together whatever I have on hand - with at least 1 banana each. Just listing down the ingredients used for now! :X Each served one (me). ;)



Acai Smoothie Bowl

Superfoods for breakfast! ☺

1 scoop Sabazon freeze-dried acai powder, 1 small dragonfruit, 1 apple, 1 ripe banana, 1/4 cup blueberries, 2 tbsp lemon juice, 2 tsp chia seeds, 1 tbsp ground flaxseed and a small piece of beetroot (for the colour).

Topped with coconut flakes, hemp hearts, goji berries and dried mulberries. 

Coconut Green Smoothie

This was super good! Probably one of my favourites. Because of the aroma, taste, sweetness and creaminess from the coconut!

1 coconut's meat, 1/2 of the coconut's water (about 170ml), 50g (1/2 pack) baby spinach, 1/2 large ripe persimmon, 1 frozen banana and 1/2 apple.

Topped with dried mulberries and pepitas. 

Gradient 'Green' Smoothie

Much harder to layer than I thought! Lols. The raw taste of the veggies is covered by the sweetness and taste of the bananas - make sure they're ripe before freezing them!

3 large frozen bananas, 1 tbsp lemon juice, heaping 1/2 cup each of carrot, beetroot and purple cabbage shreds.

Topped with cacao nibs and hemp hearts.



Very Green Smoothie

Not really a sweet smoothie. This was about 1L.

2 large bunches bok choy, a huge handful romaine lettuce, 1 small dragonfruit, 1 frozen ripe banana, 2 ripe plums, juice of 1/2 lemon.
Topped with hemp hearts and frozen raspberries.

2 bunches bok choy, about 3/4 cup apple peels, 1 banana, 1 orange, 1 pear.

Chocolate Banana Smoothie

So simple and it can never go wrong! ☺ Using cacao nibs instead of powder also gives it more texture and gives you something to chew! Actually I used it because I don't have cacao powder. ;)

3 frozen bananas, 2 tbsp cacao nibs, a bit of water.

Topped with hemp hearts, more cacao nibs and a sprig of mint.

 

The rest are quite self-explanatory ☺