vegan

Rose sherbet

5th July 2016 by bos.kitchen Leave a Comment

An exotic Rose Sherbet, the best way to cool down on a warm day. Made with ice, cashews, strawberries and rosewater. This sherbet is so creamy and refreshing. My version is refined sugar and dairy free. I added a little raw beetroot to boost the rosy pink, but you can omit this if you don’t have any. I made this originally with 1 tbsp of rosewater, which wasn’t enough for me. My advice is to add a tbsp at a time and taste, some rosewater can be very potent.

Sherbet has been around since the 16th century! It is traditionally made from fruit juices or extracts of flowers, mixed with sugar and water to form a syrup. The syrup is then stored and mixed at a later time with water or ice. As refrigeration was only available to the rich, reducing fruit to a syrup or liquid meant that even the poor could enjoy something sweet and fruity all year round.

Sherbet is an important drink in Muslim culture and often served to end a day’s fasting during Ramadan. In Egyptian Arabic, you can say ‘dam sharbaat’ which means somebody is very sweet, it translates to ‘his blood is sherbet’. Children are often called ’sharbaataat’, meaning ‘cuties’ or ’sweethearts’. How cute is that? In some parts of Turkey, a woman drinks rose sherbet to show she has accepted the groom’s hand in marriage. This is a very special drink with a lot of history, I had so much fun learning about it!

Recipe – makes enough for two glasses

3/4 cup cashews (soaked overnight and drained)
1 large handful of ice
1/2 cup water
1 cup frozen strawberries
2-3 tbsp rosewater
1 tsp vanilla
1 tbsp rice malt syrup (or other liquid sweetener)
2 inch piece of peeled, raw beetroot (optional)

Add all ingredients to blender and process on high until smooth and creamy.

Jammie Dodgers

3rd July 2016 by bos.kitchen Leave a Comment

Jammie Dodgers, Bo’s Kitchen style. Jammie Dodgers hail from the UK and consist of a sticky, mega sweet jam sandwiched between two shortbread cookies. These traditional biscuits used to be vegan, but as with most accidentally vegan snacks, they decided to put an animal product back in the mix for no apparent reason, so I had to make my own.

This simple cookie recipe surprised me with how delicious it was, considering it only has five ingredients! The jam is a chia jam with strawberry and plum, if you have any left over it tastes great on toast or on top of oatmeal. They keep really well in the fridge, as the coconut oil helps to keep them firm. They’re made with coconut sugar and coconut oil, far healthier than their sugar laden, non vegan cookie twin. Of course I’ve made this vegan and E number free! I made these with spelt flour, but I’m sure you could use a gluten free flour too. I may give them a whirl with buckwheat flour next.I’ve eaten most of this batch to myself so I know they must be good! I’d love to hear how you get on if you try this recipe, I’m already preparing for my second batch tomorrow…

Recipe

200g coconut oil, melted
130g coconut sugar
1 flax egg (1 tbsp ground flaxseed mixed with 3 tbsp water)
2 tsp vanilla extract
350g spelt flour

Strawberry and plum chia jam

1 cup strawberries, chopped
4 fresh plums, pitted and chopped
3 tbsp Organic Burst chia seeds
2 tbsp maple syrup/agave syrup
1/4 cup water

Preheat your oven to 180°c and line two baking sheets with greaseproof paper.
Make your chia jam by adding all jam ingredients to a small saucepan and bringing to a boil. Turn the heat down and simmer for around 30 minutes until jammy, stirring every now and then. Add a little more water if you need to.
To make the cookie dough, mix coconut oil and coconut sugar in a large bowl with a wooden spoon. Then add flax egg and vanilla extract. Mix until combined.
Add the spelt flour, using your spoon at first and then your hands, to make sure it all comes together as a dough.
Leave dough to chill for 15 minutes in the fridge. Make sure your chia jam is set aside to cool. Sprinkle a little spelt flour on your work surface and roll the dough out to about 5mm thick. Cut out your dough using one round cookie cutter and one heart cutter. Cut out as many cookie shapes as possible and use the heart cutter for half of them.
Use a spatula to carefully lay the cookies on your prepared baking sheets and bake for 10-12 minutes, until cookies are lightly coloured, but not brown at the edges (they will firm as they cool). Leave to cool completely on a cooling rack.
Using a teaspoon, dollop a heaping spoon of jam on your cookie and gently press the heart shape cookie on top. Sprinkle with a tiny amount of icing sugar if serving immediately, or keep in the fridge to enjoy later.

Raw kiwi cheesecakes

1st July 2016 by bos.kitchen Leave a Comment

I have to admit, I’ve never been a cheesecake fan. Too rich and creamy for me. But raw cheesecakes? Yes please. They are filling, nutritious, delicious and require minimal effort to make! The best thing is they stay fresh for up to a month in your freezer, so anytime you get a sweet craving, you can satisfy all your sugary needs with a healthy alternative. These slices are raw, refined sugar free and vegan of course! If you don’t have any almonds, feel free to sub in more buckwheat groats. I used Zespri Golden Kiwis for this recipe, which you can find in all major UK retailers until October. If you haven’t tried them before, definitely keep an eye out for some, they taste like a cross between a regular kiwi and bananas! I’m sure you already know by now how I feel about bananas. So these sunny little fellas were right up my street.

Raw kiwi cheesecakes

Base

1/2 cup buckwheat groats
1 1/2 cups pitted dried dates
1/2 cup almonds
3 tbsp coconut oil, melted

Filling

3 cups raw cashew nuts, soaked overnight in water and drained
1/2 cup coconut oil, melted
Juice of one lemon or lime
1/2 cup agave or maple syrup
1/2 tsp matcha powder
1/3 cup coconut milk
2 green kiwi fruit (1 peeled, 1 unpeeled)
1 golden kiwi fruit (unpeeled)

Prepare your slice tin (I used an 8 inch square tin), line with baking paper, ensuring the paper goes up over the sides.
Blend buckwheat groats briefly on their own in your blender or food processor, until crumbly, but not quite flour. Now add in the dates, almonds and coconut oil and blend until mixture starts to stick together. Press into your lined tin. I put another layer of baking paper on my base at this stage, followed by a book on top, to make sure it’s evenly flattened. Set aside in the fridge. Rinse out your blender.
Now the filling. Pop drained cashews, coconut oil, lemon/lime juice and agave syrup into blender and blend on high until really smooth. Keep going until there are no lumps remaining.
Add half of the filling mix to your chilled base and pop in the freezer briefly. To the remaining mix, add matcha powder, coconut milk and one green peeled kiwi fruit. Blend again until smooth. Add a little more matcha if you’d like it greener.
Now add your final layer- pour on the green coloured filling on to your cheesecake. Slice up your remaining two kiwi fruit and arrange on top, alternating between green and yellow kiwi slices. Pop in the freezer to set overnight.
Let sit out of the freezer for 30 minutes before slicing. Stores in the freezer for up to a month.

Baobab sunshine smoothie bowls

30th June 2016 by bos.kitchen Leave a Comment

Wake up and feel amazing with my baobab sunshine smoothie bowls. This recipe reminds me of being on holiday. Creamy coconut milk, pineapple and orange are a winning combination. With the weather being so wet and dreary here in the UK at the moment, I am resorting to making my own sunshine in the kitchen!

I added a good dose of Organic Burst baobab to these beauties for an extra pick me up. Baobab is full of natural vitamin C and iron, which is just the thing if you’re feeling tired and depleted of energy. It has a slight citrus flavour which works beautifully in these fruity bowls. I’ve also added a little of my favourite spice, turmeric, which is a powerful anti inflammatory with a multitude of benefits. It’s secret is curcumin, a powerful healing compound. Did you know that in some studies, curcumin has been proven as effective as Prozac in treating manic depression? In fact, some studies show curcumin to be even more effective than prescription drugs! I won’t rave about it for too long, but seriously, take a minute or two to do some research on this miracle spice and you’ll see what I mean.

Baobab sunshine smoothie (makes enough for two bowls)

1/2 cup coconut milk

1/2 cup water

4 frozen bananas

1 pear

1/4 pineapple

1 orange

1 tbsp peanut butter

1 tsp turmeric

2 tsp Organic Burst baobab

1. Blend all ingredients together until smooth, adding more water as needed.

2. Top with fresh fruit, coconut shreds, toasted nuts and chia pudding.

Strawberry kiwi slushie

5th April 2016 by bos.kitchen 1 Comment

Strawberry kiwi slushie

Recipe –

1 handful of frozen strawberries

2 handfuls of ice

1 tsp Organic Burst baobab

2 kiwis

half a cucumber

1 tsp Organic Burst wheatgrass

1. Blend strawberries, 1 cup of ice and the baobab together in your blender. Add a little water to get it going, you want it very thick but just pourable.

2. Pour into your glass and tilt to the side so it sits on half the glass. Place in the freezer at the same angle, while you make your green smoothie.

3. Rinse out blender briefly with water. Add kiwis, cucumber, 1 cup of ice and wheatgrass and blend until the same texture as your strawberry smoothie, adding water as needed.

4. Carefully remove your glass from the freezer and slowly pour in the kiwi smoothie. Garnish with fruit and enjoy in the sunshine!