Fresh Strawberries & Cream Birthday Muffins! – Original Recipe (Sugar Free, Gluten Free, Paleo) by Natural Health Mama

It was my birthday on Monday, and rather than eating anything too rich, sugary or chocolatey, I prefer a simple light sponge with freshly whipped cream and juicy homegrown strawberries!  The recipe is suitable for those following a paleo diet, and would also be a healthy option for giving to children, as you wouldn’t have to worry about sugar making them bouncy crazy!

I debated for a moment whether to top these muffins with melted chocolate, I guess because many of us tend to associate birthdays with chocolate goodies.  But then I thought of all the strawberries in my little greenhouse and decided that actually what I consider to be a treat these days isn’t chocolates and candy and fancy cakes, but nutritious and very delicious things like fresh fruit… particularly seasonal fruit that isn’t available to me year-round.  I like to enjoy these things whilst I can!  Also I have put so much time, will and sheer physical effort into re-gaining my pre-motherhood UK size 8 figure, that I really don’t want to put any weight back on!  But thankfully treats don’t have to be fattening or unhealthy in any way, so long as the ingredients used to make them are all good for health (duh!)

Ingredients:

4 large free range eggs

125g butter

4 tblsp honey

1 large ripe banana

100ml milk (either dairy or non-dairy)

2 tsp baking soda

100g coconut flour

150g tapioca flour

Fresh whipping cream

Fresh strawberries

Method:

In a large bowl beat the eggs until light and fluffy.

Puree the banana.

Melt the butter and stir in the honey.

Add the pureed banana, butter and honey to the beaten eggs, and pour in the milk.  Stir.

Add the coconut flour, tapioca flour and baking soda to the bowl and beat – slowly to start with otherwise the very fine flour will rise up in a cloud and cover you!

Line a muffin tin with paper cases and spoon the mixture into them.  This mixture doesn’t rise as much as cakes made with wheat flour, so fill the cases almost to the top.  Pop into a preheated oven at 170 degrees Celsius for about 25 minutes until golden.

Allow to cool on a wire rack.

Now all that’s left to do is whip the cream and slice up the strawberries!  I have lovely homegrown strawberries at the moment.  Simply dollop the cream on top and arrange the slices of strawberries to your liking.  Enjoy!

For healthy vegetarian, sugar-free, additive-free recipes for meals and snacks, please follow me!

Many thanks.

I have shared this recipe on Steemit at: https://steemit.com/food/@woman-onthe-wing/fresh-strawberries-and-cream-birthday-muffins-original-recipe-sugar-free-gluten-free-paleo

For extra tips on health for you and your family, can also support me as Natural Health Mama at: https://www.facebook.com/naturalhealthmamma

and follow me on Steemit at: https://steemit.com/@woman-onthe-wing

All photos in this post are my own original, taken with my Fujifilm Finepix S8200.

Beetroot, Black Grape & Black Bean Curry, Served with Kamut – An Original Recipe by Natural Health Mama

I adore curries – there’s so many flavour, texture and colour options, and you can use all kinds of vegetables/fruit that you don’t know what else to do with!  I had a huge bunch of black grapes I wasn’t sure how to use before they past their best, so I put on my thinking cap.  After a while I realised that grapes aren’t so different to tomatoes really, and so I wondered could I make a curry with them?  And the answer is a resounding YES!  Grapes are good for curries y’all – I can now confirm this!  Obviously grapes are pretty high in natural sugars so you wouldn’t want to be eating grape curries all the time, but as an occasional meal there’s no problems at all.

Curries are also a fantastic way to get vegetables into children, well, as long as they enjoy spicy food that is!  Luckily my 22-month-old likes nothing more than a mouthful of something spicy, so he is in no way lacking good vegetable nutrition.  You can use things your children wouldn’t normally eat, such as sprouts, kale, turnip, whatever, and they would never even know.  I had a broccoli stalk and a couple of halves of peppers I wanted to use up, and so I just minced them up along with the other veg.  No need to waste valuable veggies!

Ingredients:

200g red lentils

200g beetroot

200g carrots

1/2 red pepper

1/2 yellow pepper

Broccoli stalk

2 red onions

1 bulb garlic

400g black grapes

200ml water

400ml coconut milk

Handful fresh cilantro or 1 tblsp dried cilantro leaf

2 tsp salt

1 tblsp black pepper

1 tblsp cumin

1 tblsp cayenne pepper

1 tblsp paprika

1 tsp garam masala

1 tblsp curry powder

400g can of black beans

Method:

In a saucepan cover the lentils with cold water, bring to the boil, and let simmer for 15 minutes until softened.  Drain and set aside.

Peel and roughly dice the beetroot, carrots, peppers, broccoli stalk, onions and garlic, then mince them all in a food processor.

Heat 1 tblsp of coconut oil in a large frying pan and add the minced vegetables.  Saute for 10 minutes until the veg has softened.

Remove the pits from the larger grapes (unless they have already been pitted), and put into a blender with 200ml water.

Add the grapes and lentils to the frying pan and mix in.  I love watching the red colour become more intense with every stir!

Add the herbs & spices and the coconut milk, and let simmer for 20-30 minutes until reduced to a nice thickness.

Rinse the black beans and add to the curry, and continue to heat for a further 10 minutes.  (Ensure the beans are piping hot before serving).

Serve with the grain of your choice… I used kamut and it worked beautifully alongside the curry.

Another evening I served it with brown basmati rice cooked with turmeric, and so made the meal really striking!

For healthy vegetarian, sugar-free, additive-free recipes for  meals and snacks, and the Steemit Culinary Challenge, please follow me!

Many thanks.

I have shared this recipe on Steemit at: https://steemit.com/food/@woman-onthe-wing/beetroot-black-grape-and-black-bean-curry-served-with-kamut-an-original-recipe-vegetarian

For extra tips on health for you and your family, can also support me as Natural Health Mama at: https://www.facebook.com/naturalhealthmamma

and follow me on Steemit at: https://steemit.com/@woman-onthe-wing

All photos in this post are my own original, taken with my Fujifilm Finepix S8200.

“Sensual Summer Mouthgasm Medley” – An Original Recipe by Natural Health Mama

Boy oh boy, if you’re after a healthy mouthgasm I’ve got one right here!  The combination of flavours, textures, smells and colours in this bowl promises a truly extraordinary experience with every bite.  I like to mix things up, as you know, rather than sticking to conventional preparation methods and combinations.  The resulting dish looks a little messy, but invites you to dive right in there with its alluring charm and good looks.  If I could box that taste….mmmmmmmmm, I’d be a millionnaire!

This dish is made up of several different components, and when combined, ooooh man, it’s heaven.  There’s a slightly sweet, creamy and crunchy coleslaw made from savoy cabbage, red onion, carrot and my avocado-based alternative to mayonnaise; roasted mixed seeds scattered atop the coleslaw; cumin-roasted chickpeas (crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside); feta cheese and homegrown strawberries (amazing taste together); refreshing crunchy cucumber; and a sprinkle of black pepper and apple mint to finish.

For those of you wondering what the heck a ‘mouthgasm’ is, I can give you the description according to @gardenofeden, (eco-village in Texas, blogging on Steemit) and you may like to check out their post too.  They were guest judges for the Steemit Culinary Challenge a while ago and gave us this exciting theme.

 “A mouthgasm is an epic sensation that delights all the senses and bursts on the tongue in unexpected ways…  Presentation is key to a proper mouthgasm – as we feast first with our eyes – but the smell, feel, taste, and even sound of a dish contribute to an unforgettable, multi-sensory experience.  Rather than follow a specific recipe, a mouthgasm has a loose formula that mixes tastes, textures, colors, and often surprising and/or super high vibe ingredients for a memorable, unique, sensual, once-in-a-lifetime explosion on the palette.”  ~ Garden of Eden

I’m sure most of you will have experienced a ‘mouthgasm’ at some point in all your years of eating!  It’s that moment when you realise the food in your mouth is the most delicious you’ve ever tasted and you never want it to be over!  You take your first bite and your eyes roll back and your knees give way slightly and you are consumed momentarily by the sheer pleasure of what you’re eating.  Maybe it’s creamy, maybe it’s crunchy, maybe it’s creamy and crunchy together in the most perfect way.  Maybe it’s spicy, or sweet, or tangy.  Maybe something you’ve always eaten in a savoury way is suddenly trasformed into something else entirely by combining it with a hint of something sweet.  Or vice versa.  But one thing is for certain – the fun of getting creative and passionate in your kitchen (oi oi) will give you the most joyous and memorable culinary experiences of your life!  So let’s all go have mind-blowing, tongue-tingling, stomach-seducing mouthgasms today!!!

For a sweet ‘mouthgasm’ recipe, check out my Mouthgasm Tart!

Ingredients:

1 large red onion

2 large carrots

1/2 savoy cabbage

1 ripe avocado

2 tblsp natural yoghurt

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

Squeeze fresh lime

1 heaped tsp paprika

Drizzle honey

Sprinkle salt

1/2 can chickpeas (200g)

Drizzle olive oil

Sprinkle cumin

Approx 10 slices cucumber

100g feta cheese

Handful fresh strawberries

Handful fresh apple mint

Handful mixed seeds (I used sunflower, golden linseed, sesame)

Black pepper

Method:

Dice the red onion, grate the carrots, finely slice the savoy cabbage.

To make the dressing (mayonnaise alternative):  Mash the avocado in a bowl using a stick blender.  Add the yoghurt, vinegar, lime, honey, salt and paprika, and stir well.

Put the cabbage, carrot and onion into a large bowl and add the dressing.  Mix well using a wooden spoon.

Drain and rinse the chickpeas and dry on a clean tea-towel.  Put them onto a baking tray with a very small drizzle of olive oil, and sprinkle with cumin.  Pop into the oven at 200 degrees Celsius for about 30 minutes until golden and crunchy on the outside (yet still soft inside, yum!)

Roast the seeds under a medium-hot grill for several minutes until golden.

Dice the feta cheese, chop the strawberries into small pieces, and finely chop the apple mint.

Arrange everything in a bowl any way you please, and sprinkle with apple mint and black pepper.

For healthy vegetarian, sugar-free, additive-free recipes for  meals and snacks, please follow me!

Many thanks.

I have shared this recipe on Steemit at: https://steemit.com/food/@woman-onthe-wing/sensual-summer-mouthgasm-medley-an-original-recipe

For extra tips on health for you and your family, can also support me as Natural Health Mama at: https://www.facebook.com/naturalhealthmamma

and follow me on Steemit at: https://steemit.com/@woman-onthe-wing

All photos in this post are my own original, taken with my Fujifilm Finepix S8200.

Picnic Alfresco In The Forest… In The Rain! (Donegal, Ireland) by Natural Health Mama

Last week’s Steemit Culinary Challenge theme inspired me to have my own ‘picnic alfresco’, and despite the rain we had a wonderful time!  Since my wee man isn’t yet 2 I cook and bake all his food from scratch so I know exactly what’s going into his body.  For this picnic I made a selection of different savoury and sweet items, all made with natural organic ingredients suitable for little ‘uns:

– Mini khorasan soda farles

– Aduki falafels

– Salad skewers

– Curly potato crisps/chips

– Potato and red onion salad

– Pecan & date gingerbread men (no sugar)

– Cinnamon cookies (no sugar)

I will be sharing my recipes for these things in due course… I figured it’d make the post ridiculously long if I included all the food preparation too.  So for now I hope you enjoy viewing my picnic photos.  I live on the edge of Ards Forest in County Donegal, Ireland, and so picnics are a common occurrence for me, my husband and son Sky.  I had been hoping for a sunny day, but Donegal is a decidedly damp county and overcast drizzly grey skies are more the norm than summery days, even in summer.  Oh well!  Armed with a brolly and booted with wellies we found a good sheltered spot beneath the forest canopy, and so even though the drizzle continued we remained fairly dry 🙂  Well, until the heavens opened that is and we had to make a mad dash for home!  I got a few photos of the torrential rain, you can see at the end.  Thank goodness for umbrellas!

           

After a couple months of this kind of weather I think we’re due some sunshine, because when you live beside a forest you’re practically obliged to be wild, and never too old to be swinging from trees! Or maybe that’s just me 🙂

 

 

For healthy vegetarian, sugar-free, additive-free recipes for meals and snacks, please follow me!
Many thanks.

 

I have shared this post on Steemit at: https://steemit.com/food/@woman-onthe-wing/picnic-alfresco-in-the-forest-in-the-rain-donegal-ireland

 

For extra tips on health for you and your family, can also support me as Natural Health Mama at: https://www.facebook.com/naturalhealthmamma

 

and follow me on Steemit at: https://steemit.com/@woman-onthe-wing
All photos in this post are my own original, taken with my Fujifilm Finepix S8200.

Weight-Loss Spinach & Feta Herby Salad, with Pearled Barley – An Original Recipe by Natural Health Mama

Yep, another salad, but trust me they’re all so different that I’m nowhere near bored of salads yet!  As this mild weather continues I still don’t feel like eating big cooked meals, so salads are perfect because there’s multitudes of different flavour combinations, different types of vegetables and fruit, different herbs, different grains to use, different protein components (eg cheese, eggs, beans, etc).

It’s so funny to think when I was growing up salads seemed to consist only of limp lettuce, floppy cucumber and dry tomatoes… Why oh why serve such a boring salad to children, when really we need to serve tasty and colourful salads so that they grow up enjoying not enduring these healthy meals!

I firmly believe that if children can develop tastes for a wide array of vegetables, fruits, legumes, wholegrains, lean proteins, and all these other lovely healthy foods, they won’t struggle so much with weight issues later on in life.  Me – I didn’t even know the word ‘legume’; the only grain I was really familiar with was rice (white crappy rice to be precise); and I had no idea how to flavour a salad with anything other than Heinz salad cream.  Thankfully I have always had a very active lifestyle so I didn’t pile on the pounds like many other less-active young people, but my diet was heavy on the ‘bad’ carbs and I didn’t eat nearly enough veg.  So, familiarity of healthy foods and a good nutritional understanding is absolutely essential, in my opinion, in order to maintain a healthy weight.  And it’s best to teach the little ‘uns waaaaay before they become hard lovers of stodgy processed food.  After all, prevention is better than a cure, as they say!

For a few different salad ideas you may like to have a nosey at my other recipes:

Caramelised Carrot & Red Onion Salad, with Bulgur and Cilantro Flowers 

Warm Squash, Feta & Freekeh Salad

Satiating Slimmer’s Salad

Lucky Shamrock Salmon Salad

Ingredients:

30g pearled barley

Fresh spinach leaves

25g feta cheese

1 large carrot

Handful baby plum tomatoes

Approx 10 slices cucumber

1 red onion

3 cloves garlic

1 or 2 broccoli florets

Handful fresh thyme

Handful fresh oregano

Squeeze fresh lemon

Drizzle Manuka honey

Black pepper

Method:

Put the pearled barley into a saucepan and cover with cold water.  Bring to the boil and simmer for about 30 minutes until tender.  Drain and rinse with cold water.

Slice up the cucumber, onion, garlic, tomatoes… Grate the carrot… Finely chop the broccoli.

Finely chop the herbs.  (So fresh and pretty!)

Put all the prepared salad veg into a bowl and mix in the herbs and barley.  Give a good squeeze of fresh lemon, a drizzle of Manuka honey, and sprinkle of black pepper.  Toss with your hands or a spoon.

Dice the feta cheese.

Wash and pat dry the spinach with a clean tea-towel.  Chop or tear the leaves into bite size pieces (unless you’re using baby spinach, which is the perfect size!)

Put the spinach into a bowl, then the salad veg, and finally scatter the feta cheese on top.  Serve and enjoy!

For more healthy vegetarian, sugar-free, additive-free recipes for meals and snacks, please follow me!

Many thanks.

I have shared this recipe on Steemit at: https://steemit.com/food/@woman-onthe-wing/weight-loss-spinach-and-feta-herby-salad-with-pearled-barley-an-original-recipe

For extra tips on health for you and your family, can also support me as Natural Health Mama at: https://www.facebook.com/naturalhealthmamma

and follow me on Steemit at: https://steemit.com/@woman-onthe-wing

All photos in this post are my own original.

Savoury Seed & Sundried Tomato Biscuits – An Alternative to Additive-Filled Snacks for Children – An Original Recipe by Natural Health Mama

I eat masses of seeds and nuts myself, but for my infant son there’s still the risk of choking or breathing them into his airways, so I asked myself “how am I to get these nutritious foods into him?”  My husband and I decided to raise Sky as vegetarian until he is old enough to understand about where meat comes from and choose for himself whether he wants to eat it, so I must ensure he has all the nutrition available to him.

As many of you have seen recently I have been grinding nuts and seeds up for various things, such as my Vegetarian Quiche with a Sesame, Linseed & Hazelnut Crust, or my Manuka Honey, Hazelnut & Golden Linseed Creamy Cheesecake.  So the experimentation continues and yesterday I came up with these Savoury Seed & Sundried Tomato Biscuits, which are very simply made yet very tasty, healthy and most importantly – safe for an infant!  The last two afternoons I have been feeding him nibbles of these biscuits, and he keeps coming back for more so I guess it’s thumbs up for these biscuits Mama!  Hooray for their seedy goodness!!!

Ingredients: (makes about 25)

100g sesame seeds

100g golden linseed

50g hemp seeds

50g sunflower seeds

50g coconut oil

50g butter

100g sundried tomatoes

2 large free-range eggs

2 tblsp dried oregano

2 tblsp dried rosemary

1 tsp black pepper

1 tsp cinnamon

Cold water to keep your hands wet to shape biscuits

Method:

Grind the seeds finely – I used the grinder attachment on my blender.  Put the ground seeds into a large bowl.

Rub the oil and butter into the ground seeds using your hands.

Chop the sundried tomatoes into small pieces… I find scissors much easier than a knife!

Add the sundried tomatoes to the bowl, along with the eggs, herbs and spices.  Using your hand, thoroughly blend all the ingredients together to make a nice sticky mixture.

Keeping your hands wet, shape the biscuits into rounds and pat them flat.  They are a little fragile at this stage, but will hold once baked so don’t worry!  I also find silicone baking trays are very handy as they don’t stick and therefore don’t need rough treatment with a spatula to remove them from the tray!  If you don’t have a silicone tray, use some baking parchment or lightly grease the tray.

Pop into a preheated oven at 180 degrees Celsius for 15 minutes until golden and crunchy.  Allow to cool before moving from the tray.

Eat on their own as a snack, or alongside a meal.  Yummy!

For more healthy vegetarian, sugar-free, additive-free recipes for meals and snacks, please follow me!

Many thanks.

I have shared this post on Steemit at: https://steemit.com/food/@woman-onthe-wing/savoury-seed-and-sundried-tomato-biscuits-an-alternative-to-additive-filled-snacks-for-children-an-original-recipe

For extra tips on health for you and your family, can also support me as Natural Health Mama at: https://www.facebook.com/naturalhealthmamma

and follow me on Steemit at: https://steemit.com/@woman-onthe-wing

All photos in this post are my own original.

Caramelised Carrot & Red Onion Salad, with Bulgur and Cilantro Flowers – An Original Recipe by Natural Health Mama

On warm summer days a flavoursome salad for dinner is preferable to a hot and heavy meal.  I love the lightness of all the fresh vegetables and herbs, yet plenty filling with the carrots and the addition of a grain – in this case bulgur wheat.  I know many people avoid grains these days for weight and digestive issues, amongst other things.  But personally I find no ill-effects on my digestive system if the grain is organic and therefore pesticide free.  Surprising how much difference this makes, but then a little bit of poison is still poison so perhaps it’s not so surprising after all!

I’ve been so busy lately that I’ve had to neglect my outdoor duties a little and my cilantro plant has flowered, which means I will have to let it go to seed now.  Once cilantro has flowered there is no way to bring it back to being all leafy like before.  The thing to do is wait for the round corinader seeds to form and then grind them up to use in cooking, or plant the seeds to grow more cilantro.  I will be doing both!  But since the flowers are so pretty and have the same cilantro flavour as the leaves, I decided they’d be a lovely thing to scatter over my salad.  I love the flavours of carrot and cilantro together… if you’ve ever had these flavours in homemade soup you’ll know it’s gorgeous!  So why not a salad.  And I have to say it was absolutely delicious!

Ingredients:

30g bulgur wheat

2 carrots

1 red onion

1/2 red pepper

3 cloves garlic

Baby spinach

Cilantro flowers

Drizzle of honey

Squeeze of fresh lemon

Black pepper

Method:

Put the bulgur into a saucepan and cover with cold water.  Bring to the boil then simmer on moderate heat for about 15 minutes until tender.  Drain and set aside (or allow to cool and pop into the fridge, depending how soon you’re going to eat it).

Slice the red onion and carrot into bite-sized chunks (not too thin) and lay in a roasting tray.  Drizzle with honey then roast in a preheated oven at 200 degrees Celsius for 15 minutes.

Finely dice the red pepper and garlic.

In a bowl mix together the bulgur, carrots, red onion, red pepper, garlic and a good squeeze of fresh lemon.

Wash the spinach well and pat dry with a clean tea-towel.  Roughly slice up for ease of eating.

Here are my cilantro flowers… I chopped them up smaller so they can be easily scattered over the salad.

Arrange the salad – spinach to line the bowl, then the grain & veg mixture on top of that. and finally scatter the cilantro flowers over the top and sprinkle with black pepper.  Delicious!

For more healthy vegetarian, sugar-free, additive-free recipes for meals and snacks, please follow me!

Many thanks.

I have shared this recipe on Steemit at: https://steemit.com/food/@woman-onthe-wing/caramelised-carrot-and-red-onion-salad-with-bulgur-and-cilantro-flowers-an-original-recipe-vegetarian

For extra tips on health for you and your family, can also support me as Natural Health Mama at: https://www.facebook.com/naturalhealthmamma

and follow me on Steemit at: https://steemit.com/@woman-onthe-wing

All photos in this post are my own original.

The Perfect Scones for Sweet or Savoury (No Sugar) – An Original Recipe by Natural Health Mama

Scones are a wonderful snack or accompaniment to meals, and so quick to make that everyone should be doing this little bit of home-baking!  Store-bought scones or ready-made scone mixture usually contain sugar, non-organic flour (containing harmful levels of pesticide residue), preservatives and often artificial flavourings too.  Scones containing these ingredients do more harm than good so for the purpose of avoiding poisons I do recommend making them yourself.  So now I will share with you my ‘perfect scone’ recipe that took me many attempts and adjustments before I was completely happy with it!

The key to great tasting scones is using a good-quality organic flour, or mix of flours as is now my preference after much experimentation with different types.  My ultimate favourite for the perfect scone taste is half-and-half fine wholewheat flour and wholemeal spelt flour.  Spelt flour, from the ancient grain, has a distinctive characterful ever-so-slightly nutty flavour, but as it’s so rich I mix with the softer flavour of wholewheat flour.  It is nutritionally superior to standard wheat, and also easier on the digestive system.  Many people with gluten sensitivities find spelt treats them ok.

Many people add sugar to their scones but I always make them without as they really don’t need sugar!  For sweet just spread a little honey or maple syrup on top, and for savoury just butter, nut butter, cheese, or as a side to any cooked meal.  You can also crumble stale scones to use in place of breadcrumbs in falafels, burgers, meatballs (veggie or meat), anything like that.  So versatile!

Ingredients: (makes 1 dozen)

300g wholemeal spelt flour

300g fine wholewheat flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp unrefined salt

175g butter

2 large free-range eggs

Enough milk to form a dough

1 egg yolk to brush on top

Method:

In a large bowl mix together the flours, then stir in the baking powder and salt.

Rub the butter into the flour mixture using your fingertips until it resembles fine breadcrumbs.

Crack the eggs into the bowl, along with a good splash of milk, and start to mix it in using your hand to stir and squeeze the liquid into the dry mixture.  Add more milk gradually, mixing thoroughly and then adding a little more as needed, until you have a firm & slightly moist/sticky dough.  You can use any kind of milk, including non-dairy, but I like goats milk for my scones.

Get a handful of scone mixture and shape into a round (a little smaller than tennis ball size) and place onto a lightly floured baking tray.

Using a pastry brush coat each scone with egg yolk.  This gives a golden finish when baked, and also adds a wonderful smooth texture to the outside of the scone.  Pop into a preheated oven at 190 degrees Celsius for 20-25 minutes until golden looking and have a hollow sound when you tap the base.

Allow to cool on a wire rack before slicing in half and treating yourself to a good slab of butter – as of course freshly baked scones call for more than a meager buttering!

For more healthy vegetarian, sugar-free, additive-free recipes for meals and snacks, please follow me!

Many thanks.

I have shared this recipe on Steemit at: https://steemit.com/food/@woman-onthe-wing/the-perfect-scones-for-sweet-or-savoury-an-original-recipe-no-sugar

For extra tips on health for you and your family, can also support me as Natural Health Mama at: https://www.facebook.com/naturalhealthmamma

and follow me on Steemit at: https://steemit.com/@woman-onthe-wing

All photos in this post are my own original.

Manuka Honey, Hazelnut & Golden Linseed Creamy Cheesecake (No Sugar) – An Original Recipe by Natural Health Mama

As cheesecakes go this is a pretty healthy one, though my taste-buds are a bit dubious about that after a little sample!  The richness comes from the cream and this sure tastes too good to be considered ‘healthy’, though if you look at the ingredients it arguably is healthy!  Everything organic and fresh, sweetened with dates and the oh-so-delicious and medicinal Manuka honey from the New Zealand Manuka tree.

Many people don’t give enough thought to the versatility of nuts and seeds… they are usually eaten as snacks on their own or sprinkled over salads etc.  But have you ever thought to grind them up and use as an excellent alternative to flours?  As they are very oily they’re really good for dessert bases and sweet/savoury pie or quiche crusts etc as you really don’t need to add much additional coconut/avocado oil or butter to help them bind.

Back in my unknowing and unhealthy days I would make the base with crushed digestive biscuits (sugar, preservative, non-organic wheat flour containing pesticide residues, etc) and in the topping I’d use icing sugar with the cheese and double ‘cream’ which was in fact a mixture of buttermilk and vegetable oils.  But using natural sweeteners means you can relax and enjoy your desserts way more, and as long as you’re not eating a whole cheesecake in one sitting, a little treat is perfectly fine.  In fact, as long as the ingredients are high quality, organic, non-GMO etc etc, then it’s actually a very nutritional treat!  Just make sure you check the ingredients on the cream to make sure it’s actually real cream, and check the cottage cheese and choose one without those harmful preservatives (or better still – make your own).  Hooray for nature… we really don’t need man’s crappy sweet things do we?!

Ingredients:

25g coconut oil

25g butter

100g ground hazelnuts

100g golden linseed

100g dates

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

250ml whipping cream

225g cottage cheese

3tsp Manuka honey

(And a little bit of 70-85% cocoa dark chocolate to grate on top)

Method:

Grind up the hazelnuts and HALF the amount of golden linseed (I used the grinder attachment on my blender).  Put into a bowl and add the remaining linseed.

Finely chop the dates and add to the bowl, along with the coconut oil, butter and cinnamon.

Using your hands squeeze the mixture together to blend all the ingredients properly.  Nice and sticky (and tasty!)  You may think ‘hmm it still feels a bit crumbly’ but trust me, once it’s pressed down as the base and chilled it will be perfectly firm and not at all crumbly.

Line a tin (approx 8″) with foil or baking parchment, and press the mixture firmly into the base of the tin using the back of a spoon.  Pop into the fridge to chill for at least 30 minutes before adding the topping.

Whip the cream until thick enough to form peaks.  Careful not to over-whip and curdle!

Drain the cottage cheese of excess liquid then press the cheese through a sieve using a spoon.

Stir the Manuka honey into the now-smooth cottage cheese, then pour into the bowl with the whipped cream and mix carefully.

Pour the topping onto the chilled base.  Swirl extra honey on top and grate a little dark chocolate, and return to the fridge overnight to set.

Carefully remove the cheesecake from the tin and slice into portions.  Enjoy!

For more healthy vegetarian, sugar-free, additive-free recipes for meals and snacks, please follow me!

Many thanks.

I have shared this recipe on Steemit at: https://steemit.com/food/@woman-onthe-wing/manuka-honey-hazelnut-and-golden-linseed-creamy-cheesecake-no-sugar-an-original-recipe

For extra tips on health for you and your family, can also support me as Natural Health Mama at: https://www.facebook.com/naturalhealthmamma

and follow me on Steemit at: https://steemit.com/@woman-onthe-wing

All photos in this post are my own original.

Vegetarian Quiche with a Sesame, Linseed & Hazelnut Crust – An Original Weight-Loss Recipe by Natural Health Mama

Since beginning my weight-loss mission and avoiding carbs I’ve been playing around with ingredients to create interesting things to eat.  I adore vegetables and eggs and all those wonderful things, but being a vegetarian and avoiding carbs means meals can get pretty ‘samey’.  If I don’t enjoy eating it, I don’t enjoy cooking it.  So it’s gotta be interesting or I’ll get bored very quickly!  Some people who aren’t into legumes often say they’re too bland, but I love legumes and miss them in all their carby glory!  At least they’re the ‘good carbs’ though, and thankfully I will be re-introducing them into my diet again soon.

But until then a woman’s gotta eat, so I made this experiment quiche and oh my goodness – it’s soooo tasty!  I thought it would taste good (because how could it not with those ingredients) but actually it’s really really really tasty!!!  I’m very happy with this recipe, and will be making this many more times for sure.  With a few adjustments it would work very well with a sweet filling too, so there’ll be more recipes to come when I get chance!

I’m not 100% sure if this quiche would meet the ‘rules’ for the ketogenic diet, though I’m hoping it does as I’m still determined to provide fellow Steemit user @katdvine with at least one interesting recipe for her keto diet!  I’m pretty sure the ingredients are fine, but I wouldn’t know about the calorie count and all that.  Perhaps a small slice along with vegetables etc would be OK.  I will be asking her anyway once I post this!

Ingredients:

For the crust:

200g golden linseeds

150g sesame seeds

150g ground hazelnuts

25g coconut oil

1 large free-range egg

25g sundried tomatoes

2-3 tblsp dried oregano

1 tsp cinnamon

For the filling:

2 large free-range eggs

120ml milk (any kind inc. non-dairy)

1 small red onion or 1/2 large

1/2 pepper or mix of peppers

2 tsp parsley

1/2 tsp chilli flakes

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp black pepper

15g cheese, grated

Method:

Finely grind the hazelnuts and 2/3 of the amount of seeds (I used the coffee-grinder attachment on my blender).  Put into a bowl and stir in the remaining 1/3 of seeds.  It’s nice to have the texture of whole seeds in the crust.

Chop up the sundried tomatoes into small pieces… Using scissors instead of a knife is easier I find!

Add the sundried tomatoes to the bowl, along with the dried oregano, cinnamon, coconut oil and egg.  Squeeze the mixture with your hands until it’s all blended together nicely.  It will be quite sticky, since the nuts and seeds are oily too, which makes it easy to form the crust.

Press the mixture into approx 8″ tin or pie dish, which you should line with baking parchment and also grease well (with butter or coconut oil).  Keep the sides of the crust fairly thick so it won’t crumble when removing from the tin later.

Pop into a preheated oven at 190 degrees Celsius for 15-20 minutes until firm to touch.  It doesn’t brown too much as you can see below, but the tomatoes end up slightly charred (in a tasty way not a burnt way!)

Dice the onion and peppers (or your choice of veg) and put them in the base of the crust.

Lightly whisk the eggs with a fork and add the milk.  Mix in the parsley, chilli flakes, salt and pepper.  Pour the mixture into the crust over the vegetables, sprinkle with cheese and also a final sprinkle of herbs/chilli to make it look pretty.

Pop back into the oven at 190 degrees Celsius for 25-30 minutes until golden looking and firm to touch.  If the filling wobbles when you poke it, give it a little more time in the oven 🙂  Allow to cool for 5 minutes or so before removing carefully from the tin.  Serve with vegetables… or whatever you want depending on your diet!!!

For more healthy vegetarian, sugar-free, additive-free recipes for meals and snacks, please follow me!

Many thanks.

I have shared this recipe on Steemit at: https://steemit.com/food/@woman-onthe-wing/vegetarian-quiche-with-a-sesame-linseed-and-hazelnut-crust-an-original-weight-loss-recipe

For extra tips on health for you and your family, can also support me as Natural Health Mama at: https://www.facebook.com/naturalhealthmamma

and follow me on Steemit at: https://steemit.com/@woman-onthe-wing

All photos in this post are my own original.