Adaption of the Chocolate Loaf

I hate to be cynical; but it always seems like when you're looking for something you can't find it. But then when you're not, every door is open to you. When I became vegan for a few months, I could hardly find anything that would fill the sweet hole beyond fruit and Alpro Soya yogurt. The choices were very limited and I was hard-pressed to get a good baking recipe - even on sites that specialised in vegan baking.

Recently, I was searching for fitness tips and stumbled across 2 vegan baking recipes on FitSugar. The vegan no-bake brownies that I made (and that are listed under the 'recipe' section) were very nice. They lacked the gooey fudge texture of normal egg crammed, butter filled brownies but nonetheless calm the angry cravings of a sugar-deprived stomach. Essentially, they tasted vegan. 

The bet recipe I tried was sold to me as: "Zucchini bread that tastes like brownies". I had to give it a go. And, it was delightful. Even the raw batter tasted like real brownies. It was so chocolatey and fudge-like that I could instantly tell it would be a winner. When it was baking, it smelled divine and when I took it out I could finally say that I'd made something vegan that tasted 'normal'. It has quite a crumbly texture but it's not at all dry: a lovely treat for a Saturday evening! 

I had initially intended to make these into muffins by the mixture was incredibly sticky and formed a ball which I didn't want to break up. Beside, for the first try, which is always my mistake, I ought to stick to the original recipe. 

However, I did make a slight change. I am not a particular fan of dried cranberries so I substituted half of the required quantity for glacé cherries which are one of my favourite baking ingredients!!

(Vegan) Chocolate and 'Cranberry' Zucchini Loaf 

(Taken from www.fitsugar.com) 

NOTE ON THE RECIPE: This is an American recipe and so measurements are in cups. If you have cup measures then I always find that American recipes are a lot easier because they save you the hassle of measuring ingredients with scales. However, I have written the equivalent measure in grams alongside the initial measure for ease of access. 

Preheat oven to 190 degrees C

1. Grate 225g courgette (zucchini) thinly and place in a bowl. Place to one side
2. In a separate bowl, mix 120g wholemeal flour, 60g cocoa powder (unsweetened), 1 tsp and 1/4 of baking powder, a pinch of salt, 1/2 tsp cinnamon and 1/4 tsp mixed spice. Place this to one side
3. In a large bowl, Mash 1 ripe banana and stir in 110g caster sugar, 125ml canola oil and 1 tsp vanilla extract
4. Pour the shredded courgette into the above mixture and stir until combined
5. Stir in all of the dry ingredients
6. Add to the bowl 60g of dried cranberries or glace cherries
7. Line a small loaf tin with baking parchment, pour in the batter and bake for 45 minutes (The cake should be soft to the touch and cooked on top. Insert a skewer into the middle to ensure it is fully cooked)

mmmm...appetizing!!! 

For the Love of Salad!

If you know me well, or are an avid reader of my blog, then you'll relaise that I hate salad. Nothing screams 'CAAAAAAARBS' more than a severe deficiency of bread in favour of bowls of leaves and cucumber.

Well, that was, I did hate salad but after creating my own 'special recipe', I've fallen in love.

I first got into salads having delivered them in my job. Goats' cheese, lentil and butternut squash is my lunch of choice, a new recipe of the company.

I can't really remember when or why I decided to make my own salad but I think it partly came from the fact that salad is 0 propoints on WeightWatchers. So here's what I do:

Of course, my salad isn't 100% healthy. It's got a bit of protein and a staple of life: cheese.

Wash a handful of spinach leaves and place in a bowl. Dice some large tomatoes and place on top of the spinach. Dice, finely, one yellow bell pepper and add to the bowl. Crumble around 40g feta cheese on top. Now, finely dice 2 rashers of smoked bacon. Add this to the bowl and toss everything together. Add 2 tsp dijon mustard and serve. 

I don't know why but I absolutely LOVE this! My favourite mouthful is the last one, where the feta becomes soft and coated with mustard then you pick up a little hint of everything. The smoked bacon is just beautiful and particularly scrumptious if it is slightly crispy.

If you fancy spicing your salads up, give this recipe a try!

The Happy Place

When people say 'find your happy place' they usually refer to 2 things. Occasionally it's used as a joke - a wind up for an aggravated person. But more often than not, it refers to a state of mind. A place of complete serenity where worries and stress no longer jar your every thought.

So it never really occurred to me that you might actually be able to find your happy place ... And go to visit. 

The other day I read a post on a blog I follow called Absolutely Lucy. It was all about how she remained happy and about finding your happy place. She said a 'happy place' is a place that you've been to which holds some fundamental importance for you. Your 'happy place' could be a park, a beach, a house. Anything that makes you happy and holds happy memories. It's so simple and I don't know why it never occurred to me before. 

I was having a bit of a dip earlier on last week when I happened to read Lucy's post. I began to wonder about my happy place because I needed to get there. It's hard to start to think of somewhere happy when you're not in the mood. But I still tried. 

Lucy's happy place was an island off Malta called Comino. I went there with my family some years back too so I retraced the holiday through my mind, remembering the beautiful turquoise of sea and the spare rocky expanse. We had literally just been dropped off the boat on a baron land in the sea. I remember worrying that the boat would not come back to collect us and that we were sold our death in the package of a 'pleasant day trip to a popular tourist island'. 

It was a good holiday, but this wasn't my happy place. I went through the catalogue of my other recent holidays. This year we went to Borneo - it was my childhood dream come true and, even though it ticked off number 1 of my bucket list, this still wasn't my happy place. Not because I was ungrateful or because I didn't have an amazing time but because the time we spent on the island was so jam packed that there wasn't a lot of thinking time. 

Thinking time. Where had I had a lot pf that recently? Then I found it. My happy place. An island near Bali: Lombok.

We've been there 2 years in a row now to the same hotel. It's an absolutely beautiful place. It's set right on the beach with its own infinity pool that looks out onto the sun setting behind the mountains of Bali. The water is clear and pickled with colourful tropical fish. When you walk the length of the beach: a walk that takes a leisurely 15 minutes, you get to a bend where large boulders block your entrance. The waves crash over these boulders as though trying to break them and there are fish that stick themselves to the rocks and advance with each breaking wave. 

This year, we sat atop these rocks and meditated: a method that James had learnt from his recent trip to Cambodia. We sat and tried to clear our minds. We thought of nothing and listened. There were no people on this stretch of the beach. It was ours. 

Thinking about this place; remembering the warmth of the sun, the stillness of the sound, the erratic push of the sea, the sticky smell of salt, puts a smile on my face. This was the place that immediately took me away from my low spell and gave me drive and motivation. I clung onto a menory that I loved. Something that I wanted to repeat. 

I remember visiting those rocks a couple of times over the weeks and coming with pen and paper. I wrote poems, I wrote feelings, I wrote prose. It worked wonders for my creativity. 

In the light of reflecting upon that holiday, I now have a new determination. Something I've wanted to do for ages was travel, especially travelling solo. Lombok is my happy place, but I wonder how many more happy places there are out there. It is my plan to start out to find my happiest place on earth! Perhaps a bi ambitious, yes, but there's no time for ambition like when you're alive! 

Hummus Time in No Time At All!

When I first moved to Dubai, I hated hummus. I found it dry and as though it lived in the shadow of bread. Why would I eat a liquid, half formed and tasteless version of a carbohydrate that I could get so easily, cheaply and didn't have to eat with mountains of carrot sticks?

However, it didn't take long for my taste buds to wake up from their ignorance and realise that the 'tasteless' taste was actually a gently satisfying zing. Now one of my favourite lunches is (perhaps, rather boringly) barbecued chicken, arabic bread and hummus.

I've been wanting to make hummus forever but being wary of what the word 'tahini' meant, I never ventured into that culinary sphere. But I wish I had sooner because I could have been making this all summer!

But 'should've', 'would've' and 'could've' are the last words of a fool, so at least I now know how simple (and healthier) homemade hummus can be!

Super Speedy and Satisfying Hummus

1. Blend 1 x 400g can of chickpeas with 1 clove of garlic, 2 tbsp olive oil, 2 tbsp tahini paste and 1.5 tbsp lemon juice in a food processor. 

2. Continue to blitz until the mixture comes together then add 1 tbsp of water (for the consistency above) or continue adding water until you have your desired consistency

Simples!