Breakfast

Cherry chia jam parfait

25th June 2016 by bos.kitchen Leave a Comment

The cherry obsession continues! This time in the form of a gloriously rich and creamy parfait layered with a berrylicious jam. Chia jam is a great way to try chia if you haven’t given it a go before. The lumpy texture can take a little getting used to, but if you like jam, you’ll dig chia jam. This is full of healthy proteins and fats and the jam is sugar free and brimming with berries. I also put a little carob sauce at the bottom of the jar as a little treat. If you don’t have all the berries listed below, feel free to just sub with whatever you have enough of. As long as you use 2 cups of fruit in total it will still turn into jam. Making almond butter can take a while even in a high speed blender, but boy is it worth it. The flavour of freshly roasted almonds with this cherry chia jam is something else. The recipe makes enough for about two of these jars, or if you’re making one jar just enjoy the leftovers on top of your smoothie bowls for the rest of the week! The jam is great on toast too.

Cherry chia jam

1 cup cherries, pitted
1/2 cup blueberries
1/2 cup strawberries
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup chia seeds
3 tbsp maple syrup

Coconut chia pudding

1/2 cup coconut milk
1/2 cup water
4 tbsp chia seeds

Almond butter

2 cups whole, unroasted almonds
1/2 tsp sea salt

Carob sauce

2 tbsp carob powder
2 tbsp maple syrup

Make your chia pudding at least 4 hours in advance. Add all coconut chia pudding ingredients to a jar and mix well. Cover and leave in the fridge until the chia seeds have plumped up.
If you’re making the almond butter, heat oven to 170°c. Add almonds to baking tray and pop in the oven for 30 minutes.
Take almonds out the oven and process in a blender with the sea salt until smooth and runny- this takes about 10 minutes in my Vitamix, just keep scraping the sides down, mashing and pulsing and eventually it will turn to butter!
To make your cherry chia jam, add cherries, blueberries and strawberries to a small pan and heat gently with 1/2 cup of cold water, chia seeds and maple syrup. After about 20-30 minutes it should reach a jam like consistency. Set aside to cool.
Make your carob sauce by mixing carob and maple syrup together.
Layer your jar with carob sauce at the bottom, then your coconut chia pudding, cherry chia jam and almond butter. Garnish with fresh berries and buckwheat for crunch.

*Leftovers of the chia jam and pudding will keep well in a sealed jar in the fridge for up to 5 days.

Cherry coconut nice cream

12th June 2016 by bos.kitchen 2 Comments

Cherry season is here! They taste so delicious right now. I love everything cherry flavour (including lip balms and fizzy cola bottles). Enter the perfect healthy treat to showcase this ruby red summer fruit, cherry coconut nice cream. The carob sauce is a firm staple in my kitchen, it’s luscious and gooey and a doddle to make. If you love dark chocolate, give carob a go. It’s more nutritionally dense than cacao and doesn’t contain caffeine which means it’s perfect to eat any time of the day! The toasted coconut chips on top of this take it to ice cream sundae level, so I’d really recommend making them. Cherry, carob and coconut may just be my new favourite thing.

Recipe (Makes enough for two, as pictured)

4 frozen bananas, chopped
1/4 cup coconut milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp cashew butter
2 medjool dates, pitted
1 tbsp Organic Burst maca (optional)
1 cup fresh cherries, pitted
1/4 cup toasted coconut chips
2 tbsp carob powder
2 tbsp maple syrup

If you haven’t toasted your coconut chips, chuck the chips onto a small baking tray. Bake in the oven at 140°c and keep an eye on them. After about 10 minutes they should be starting to turn golden around the edges. Take out and leave to cool.
Make your coconut nice cream by adding frozen bananas, coconut milk, vanilla extract, cashew butter, dates and maca powder (if using) to your blender or food processor. Pulse and mash every so often, adding a little coconut milk at a time until smooth. Add water bit by bit if you need to soften it.
Smooth your first layer down in your jar(s). Split the remaining mix in half, adding the cherries to the half left in the blender. Mix well until smooth. Now scoop out the cherry nice cream and pop in the freezer with the coconut nice cream and your jar(s). Leave to set for at least 30 minutes.
Make the carob sauce by mixing carob powder and maple syrup until smooth and glossy.
Grab everything from the freezer and layer up! Top with your toasted coconut chips, carob sauce and fresh cherries on top!

Tropical golden kiwi smoothie

9th June 2016 by bos.kitchen Leave a Comment

Summertime is well and truly here in the UK and I couldn’t be happier. After what seems like an eternity of cold weather, I can finally start to enjoy my smoothies and nice cream in the heat! What better way to celebrate the sunshine than slurping on a big chilled jar of tropical smoothie. I used golden kiwi here, but feel free to use regular kiwi if you can’t find this one. Although the golden kiwi does really work well- it tastes like a cross between a banana and a green kiwi!

Recipe (Makes one large smoothie, or two regular glasses)

1 cup coconut milk
1 cup water
Handful of ice
1 cup frozen banana
1 1/2 cups pineapple chunks
1 tbsp coconut oil
1/2 mango
2 golden kiwis
1 tsp turmeric (optional, but makes it extra golden and nutritious)

If you want to decorate your jar, thinly slice some kiwi and brush with a little coconut oil. Stick to the inside of your jar and pop the jar in the freezer- this helps the slices to stick. Add coconut milk, water, ice, banana and pineapple to blend and mix until smooth. Pour half the mix into your jar and pop back into the freezer to set. I left mine for about 30 minutes.
To the remaining smoothie, add coconut oil, mango, kiwis and 1 tsp turmeric. Blend until smooth. Slowly pour into your jar. Decorate with fresh mint, toasted coconut and fruit slices. Enjoy the tropical vibes!

Radiant skin smoothie bowl

7th June 2016 by bos.kitchen 2 Comments

smoothie bowl beetroot kale kiwi blueberry cacao nibs coconut

This is actually a green smoothie bowl in disguise! It tastes sweet and creamy and boasts a whole host of skin boosting ingredients such as strawberries, beetroot, kale, avocado and flaxseed. Quality sleep, exercise, plenty of water and a healthy diet all contribute to a beautiful complexion. However, I’m also passionate about using as many organic, natural products as possible. Your skin absorbs up to 60% of what you put on it, so it’s worth taking the time to check out the ingredients. Organic Surge are have a beautiful collection of organic skin and hair care. Their products are not tested on animals and are 100% free of harsh chemicals – no parabens, sodium lauryl sulphate, artificial fragrances or colourants and no genetically modified ingredients. They kindly sent me a few bits to try recently and I am thrilled with them. You can find out a bit more me, my favourite products and my beauty routine on their blog here if you like.

I’m taking over their Instagram this week, please follow along for some more beauty boosting recipes.

Recipe

-makes enough for two bowls or three small glasses

1 large handful of frozen strawberries
3 frozen bananas
1 large handful of kale (stalks included)
1/2 avocado
1 tbsp ground or whole flaxseed
1/4 cup coconut or almond milk
1/2 cup water
1 tbsp beetroot powder or 1 small raw beetroot
2 tbsp dairy free yoghurt
Toppings of choice: I used blueberries, kiwi, cacao

Recipe

1.Add all smoothie ingredients apart from the yoghurt to your food processor or blender and mix until smooth. Pour into your bowl.

2.To make the pretty yoghurt topping, add small dollops of yoghurt all over your smoothie bowl. Stir with a chopstick of knife to make swirls. Top with fruit, cacao nibs and shredded coconut.

Caramel nice cream

18th May 2016 by bos.kitchen Leave a Comment

IMG_3921-1-2

For me, nice cream is just about the best thing ever. I spent years as a vegan thinking I had to buy the overpriced, tasteless soya ice cream in tiny pots from health shops, until I discovered the humble frozen banana. Something magical happens to bananas when you freeze them. They blend up into the most rich, creamy tropical deliciousness that you could only compare to a really thick milkshake. Even the really mushy ones can be frozen and blended up into smoothies. As with all fruit, if it’s almost had it, chuck it in the freezer and use it later, I can’t bear to see food go to waste. If you haven’t tried freezing your bananas before, I can’t recommend it enough. There’s no going back once you’ve tried it. Just remember to peel them before you freeze them. I have admit I’ve made that mistake before.

Guilt free and packed with b vitamins and carbs to fuel you through your day. I managed a good six hour stint digging weeds at the allotment after eating half of this! If you don’t have a very powerful blender, just wait for the bananas to soften a little before blending. You can always pop it in the freezer to firm up.

Recipe (makes enough for two)

4 frozen bananas (peel and chop your bananas into chunks, freeze overnight)
2 pitted dates
1 tbsp Organic Burst maca powder (optional)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp almond butter (plus a little more, for decoration)
1/4 cup almond mylk
2 tbsp cacao
2 tbsp maple syrup

Make your cacao sauce – mix cacao and maple syrup together well and set aside.
Blend everything else together in a food processor or blender. Stop and pulse and mash things up to get it all going. Add a little more almond mylk if you need to, but go steady- too much and you’ll end up with smoothie. Blend until smooth and creamy. If you’d like it a little firmer, pop in the freezer for thirty minutes.
Smear the cacao sauce and a little almond butter around your jar or bowl and layer in the caramel nice cream.
Top with shredded coconut, edible flowers, blueberries and granola.

Cinnamon buckwheat pancakes with chocolate sauce

9th May 2016 by bos.kitchen 2 Comments

Everyone needs pancakes right? Or maybe it’s just me. I love the endless array of toppings you can use, plus they only take a few minutes to whip up. Perfect for a lazy Sunday morning or a post work out refuel. I’ve kept these gluten free, but feel free to sub the buckwheat for plain all purpose flour if that’s all you have. I’ve added cinnamon and maca powder to the dry ingredients. Cinnamon is loaded with antioxidants and is a powerful anti inflammatory. Did I also mention it tastes amazing in pancakes? I love it! Maca powder really energises me and has a powerful balancing effect. I like to have it when I have a big day ahead. It also has a slight caramel flavour, which lends itself perfectly to this recipe. The chocolate sauce is made with carob powder, which is even better for you than cacao, but much cheaper and has more of a rich, dark chocolatey flavour. It’s worth getting your hands on some if you can.

Recipe

Dry

1 cup buckwheat flour*
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
2 tsp Organic Burst maca powder (optional)
1 tsp cinnamon

Wet

1 mashed banana
1 3/4 cup dairy free mylk (I used almond)
2 tsp vanilla extract
Juice of half a lemon
Coconut oil (for frying)

Chocolate sauce

2 tsp carob powder
2 tsp maple syrup

Mix all dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl.
Combine all wet ingredients apart from the coconut oil in a jug and add to dry mix. Stir until combined, try not to over mix. You want the mixture to be thick, but very pourable, I always do a little test pancake first and then add more liquid if needed.
Heat your pan up to medium heat and add a dab of coconut oil. Spoon in half a ladel of batter into the pan and fry until bubbles appear all over. Turn over and cook on the other side. Keep in a warm oven until you’ve made all your pancakes.
To make the chocolate sauce, just mix carob powder and maple syrup. Mix well with a fork until the mixture is smooth and glossy.
Serve warmed pancakes with chocolate sauce, fresh fruit and more maple syrup!

*If you don’t have buckwheat flour (it can be expensive, I never buy it), just make your own from buckwheat groats. Simply grind buckwheat groats in your blender until they turn into flour, it only takes a couple of minutes!

Skin glow smoothie bowl

18th April 2016 by bos.kitchen Leave a Comment

green smoothie bowl with avocado wheatgrass lime and coconut

It’s Monday morning and there’s no better time for a green smoothie bowl in my opinion. This beauty is packed full of skin boosting ingredients- avocado, coconut oil, bananas, wheatgrass and flaxseed. Get that natural, luminous glow with this nutritious bowl. I always use Organic Burst wheatgrass, which tastes much better than any others I have tried (it’s like green tea) and is ethically sourced and organic of course! Buy yours here.

Recipe

2 frozen bananas
Half an avocado
1 tsp coconut oil
1 tsp Organic Burst wheatgrass
1 lime, juiced
1 cup almond mylk (or other non dairy mylk)
1 tsp ground flaxseed
Fruits and rawnola/granola for toppings

Add all ingredients to blender and process until smooth and creamy.
Pour into your bowl and decorate with fruit and rawnola.

Carrot cake breakfast parfait

30th March 2016 by bos.kitchen 2 Comments

I had a real craving for carrot cake this week. I don’t often have carrot cake, but I’m a huge cinnamon fan and love all those warming spices, ginger, cloves and nutmeg, so I tried to make my version of carrot cake, in a jar. It also had to be healthy enough to pass as breakfast. I have to say, this recipe is a winner, it was so creamy with the right amount of sweetness. I’ve been trying to use more buckwheat of late, it’s always so satisfying. Buckwheat is really easy to digest and full of protein, fibre, nutrients and anti oxidants, which makes it a great way to start your day. If you don’t have buckwheat, oats would work well too.

I kept this recipe raw because I just really like cold buckwheat porridge. It’s probably because the weather is getting ever so slightly warmer too. I’m sure you could heat it up after blending if you prefer, in which case I’d suggest using one mashed banana rather than two frozen bananas.

I’ve added some soaked sultanas and raw grated carrot after blending to bring some texture to everything. Another nice addition would be some nuts or pumpkin seeds. Feel free to customise with whatever you have in the cupboards.

I’ve also added this baobab from Organic Burst, which comes from the stunning organic baobab trees of Malawi. Baobab is loaded with Vitamin C and iron and also helps regulate acidity in the body (perfect for those of us who can’t give up that morning cup of coffee, or glass of wine in the evening). It also has a pleasant citrus flavour, which pairs beautifully with the carrot in this parfait.

Recipe –

1/2 cup buckwheat (soaked overnight in water)
3/4 cup cashew mylk (or any other non dairy mylk)
1 tbsp roasted peanut butter
2 frozen bananas
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
A grate of nutmeg
1 tsp Organic Burst baobab
1 grated carrot
1/2 cup sultanas or raisins (soak overnight in enough water to cover)

Soak your buckwheat and sultanas overnight in cold water.
Rinse your soaked buckwheat well under cold running water, until there is no more sticky residue.
Add rinsed buckwheat, cashew mylk, peanut butter and bananas to a blender or food processor and pulse until desired texture. I like mine smooth and creamy so blend for a minute or so. Add a little more mylk if it’s too thick. If you prefer it thick, pulse a few times for a grainier texture.
Add the cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and baobab to the blender and pulse until incorporated. Taste for sweetness and adjust as needed.
Empty into your bowl or jar and stir through the grated carrot and soaked sultanas.
Top with raisins, cashews, carrot ribbons, cinnamon and more peanut butter.

Buckwheat parfait with acai lavender cream

27th March 2016 by bos.kitchen Leave a Comment

buckwheat parfait with lavender cream and chocolate granola in a jar healthy breakfast dairy free

Today is Easter Sunday. I don’t know exactly why people eat so much chocolate on this day, it almost makes me want to not eat any… but despite my best attempts to resist I had to indulge in a little dark chocolate for breakfast. Despite its sweet exterior, this little pot is packed full of the good stuff, bananas, buckwheat, dates and acai. This parfait takes a minute to prepare but the buckwheat needs soaking overnight.

It’s lightly sweetened with bananas, dates and a lavender buckwheat cream. The lavender is completely optional, but I think it turns this into a super fancy breakfast pot that could easily pass for a dessert.

Recipe

1 cup soaked buckwheat, drained and rinsed well (soak overnight in 2 cups water)
3 frozen bananas
4 pitted dates
1/2 cup almond mylk (or any non dairy mylk)
1 tbsp Organic Burst Acai
1 tsp edible dried lavender
Chocolate granola, dark chocolate, rice syrup and edible flowers for decorating

Add soaked buckwheat, 2 frozen bananas (save 1 for the lavender cream), dates and almond mylk to a blender and process until smooth and creamy. Layer three quarters of the mixture into two jars, leaving a small gap at the top.
Add the remaining banana to the leftover mix and blend with Organic Burst Acai and lavender. Blend this until extra smooth. Taste and add more lavender or acai if required. Layer on top of your buckwheat parfaits and decorate. I used chocolate granola, dark chocolate, rice syrup and edible flowers.

Blueberry walnut whip with carob sauce

16th March 2016 by bos.kitchen Leave a Comment

You’ll need –

4 frozen bananas (small-medium size)
1 cup frozen blueberries
3/4 cup walnut mylk
1/2 cup walnut meal (I used mine from leftover walnut mylk)
1 tbsp acai powder
1 lime, juiced and zested
2 tbsp shredded coconut

For the sauce –

1 tbsp carob
1 tbsp maple syrup

First, make your sauce. Add carob and maple syrup to a small bowl or jar. Mix well until smooth.
Add all other ingredients and the lime juice (save the zest) to a high speed blender and blend until extra smooth and creamy.
Smear carob sauce around your jar and pour in the blueberry walnut whip. Top with the lime zest, more frozen blueberries and coconut.