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Treats & Snacks

Breakfast, Lunchbox, Treats & Snacks, Videos

Healthier Flapjacks

These flapjacks are the best yet. Loads of B vitamins … B for brain, B for battery, B for badass.

My nippers dig them too.

Expect these breakfast bars to last for 10 days in the fridge, ready to grab belting out the door in the morning. (Eh, they’ll also make the tail-back traffic much more interesting).

 

 

Megawatt Breakfast Bars

makes 24

140ml melted extra virgin coconut oil

80ml good quality honey (or maple syrup for vegans)

2 handfuls of regular pitted dates (100g)

1 banana, mashed

1-2 teaspoons cinnamon

Freshly grated nutmeg, a pinch

Generous pinch of sea salt flakes

Just over 2 cups (200g) regular rolled oats

Just under 1 cup (100g) of walnuts, roughly broken

1 cup (100g) ground almonds

Handful of sunflower seeds

 

 

(1) Fire up your oven to 170 Celsius. A regular 180 C oven is too hot, and will result in crumblie bars. We use a tin no bigger than a magazine page (around 8×10 is perfect).

(2) Using a saucepan, gently melt the coconut oil with your honey for 2 minutes.

(3) Chop the dates and add them to the party, followed closely with the mashed banana.

(4) Add any spices you fancy using – orange rind and cinnamon? Lemon zest and ground ginger? We’re using nutmeg and sea salt flakes today. The Boss.

(5) Once these ingredients are thoroughly socialised and gorgeously glossy, add your remaining ingredients. Mix well, and scrape into your pre-lined tin.

(6) Press down firmly with your fingers. Admire your brilliance.

(7) Bake for 30 minutes until lightly golden, but not darker in shade. Oats will turn bitter if you leave them to brown. Remove the tray from the oven. Resist cutting until they have cooled down. I like to let them firm up in the fridge for a few hours.

 

healthy breakfast idea

 

Taking the hell out of healthy.

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Breakfast, Treats & Snacks, Vegan &/or Raw

Cold Brew Cacao

This cold brew cacao tipple is a paean to hip hop and our new-age cooking. Try it without grooving. It gives a blood-gurgling boost of magnesium, the mineral us fillies can crave every month. Magnesium has shown to help alleviate circulatory problems such as varicose veins, headaches and cramps. Score.

Cold Brewing cacao nibs is the brainchild of Mike Cooper, Britain’s King Kong of Coffee. Cooper’s following is almost religious; such is the dedication of coffee lovers all over the world. Cold brewing coffee gives a deliciously complex cup, dancing with flavours and layers. Apply a similar technique to raw cacao beans, and you’ve got yourself an opera a cup. It’s my new food crush, sending my pheromones into orbit.

cold brew cacao nibs
Raw cacao wasn’t to be found in Ireland or conversations 10 years ago. Now every supermarket chain stocks some variety of it – cacao nibs, raw powder, cacao butter.

Little cafes from Bandon to Bray boast about using raw cacao beans in their desserts, straight from the chocolate tree. And if chocolate comes from a plant, it’s basically a vegetable, right?

Cold Brew Cacao
Makes 750ml

250g raw cacao nibs
750ml cold fresh water

Blitz the cacao nibs in a blender until they are roughly ground. You can also use your trusty pestle and mortar with some serious muscle.
Now transfer the roughly ground nibs to a large glass bowl and pour 750ml cold water on top. Give it a good smoosh, and let the flavours infuse and permeate the water for 16 hours (overnight).
Drain through a coffee filter, or a nut milk bag, or a very fine sieve to catch the residue. You can ditch or compost the solid collected in the filter.
Store the cold brewed cacao in your fridge and add to coffee or drink as is. You might like to soften it with agave or maple syrup.

reading list that excites me

Breakfast, Treats & Snacks, Vegan &/or Raw, Videos, x For Freezer x

Jamie Oliver’s Channel

I filmed a quick recipe over on Jamie Oliver’s channel. This drinks owns the summer, like Miley Cyrus owns twerking (only more tasteful I promise).

You can even pour it into dinky lolly moulds to impress the in-laws.

 

Leave me your thoughts and comments on the box below the vid, and let me know which drinks you want to see up on DrinksTube. I’ll get my geek on. I do the research, so you won’t have to!

Until then!

 

SJ

(photo credits Saskia Vermeulen)

 

 

A special announcement

Join me on Substack

Howdy! I’ll be deleting this website shortly. Gah! But please stay in touch – I so appreciate your loyalty and lovebombs.

You can continue to access my recipe drops over on Substack.  Hope to see you there, and to continue frolicking on this veggie-fueled dance floor.