Oganico Shop and Tea room Loughton

Whilst on my travels and visiting family, I always find it difficult to find places that meet my dietary needs. In fact, it's near on impossible. I love going out for tea and cake, so I always keep a keen eye for new places that I could go and actually enjoy myself at.

Whenever I go to my parents, I usually have to venture into London to find suitable places to eat, but what with having M.E, I don't get to do this very often, and when I do, I take days to recover. So when I discovered a new wholefoods shop was going to open in Loughton Essex named Organico - I was very keen to see what it was going to be like.

For a healthy person, Organico is a pleasant 10 minute walk from the underground station (central line) however if you don't like walking so much, it would make an incredibly short bus ride!

Places like Organico, are gold dust!
Especially when you have food allergies and staying in Essex!

It's so nice to see shops like these opening up on the outskirts of London. Such a relief for me too, because from my parents, it's just a short drive in the car.
Parking is easy, as Organico is very close to county council car parks (bonus points there!)

Everything is Vegan!
Vegan tea, coffee, juices, smoothies... Even the cake is vegan. What's more, is that they have a couple gluten free choices too (yes, that's vegan too, yaay!)
On my first visit I had a Gluten free vegan Almond Muffin. It was sweet, moist, and had a wonderful texture.

On another visit I had a Spirulina orange truffle (annoyingly I've lost the photo) - now knowing what spirulina tastes like, I was a bit apprehensive... But this truffle was amazingly good! Just the right balance of orange to cover the taste of the spirulina, and sweet enough to cure the sweet craving.

It's an Aladdin's Cave for organic and vegan foods products They sell an array of cupboard foods, herbal teas, home essentials. Stacked from floor to ceiling, They're bound to have what you're looking for!

I really hope that as many people as possible visit this amazing little shop, because shops like this deserve to become the norm of society.




They're fresh, stylish, welcoming and homely, whilst catering for everyone's needs. Shopping needn't be a chore - it should be a pleasure, so why shop at a big bright and noisy superstore that's full of stress, when you could probably find all of your desired things in happy little places like this?

Vegan Chilli non Carne

I have been meaning to post up some recipes, but because I often don't write recipes down, this task is often tricky.

Tonight (with lots of help) I have made a Mexican inspired dish. I would have called it a 'chilli con carne' But - There's no meat, onions, or chilli in fact, in this meal, so I decided to call it the mild mexican, because it should suit at least some sensitive tummies, like me. 

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Makes about 8 meals - Freezable up to one month 

The staple ingredients for this recipe are:
1-2 tablespoons Odourless Coconut oil (it's cheaper than regular coconut oil)
2 tins of chopped tomatoes
1 tin ready cooked red kidney beans
1 cup of dried brown lentils
3 large cloves of garlic
1 tablespoon cocoa powder (you could use half a tablespoon of carob powder instead or one square of very dark chocolate)
2 teaspoons smoked/unsmoked paprika
1-2 teaspoons cumin
half a teaspoon coriander
half a teaspoon turmeric - as it's anti inflammatory
1 teaspoon mild chilli powder (optional)
1 tablespoon of gluten free vegan bouillon or one gfv stock cube  (leave this out if you are super sensitive to onions)
1 bay leaf
salt
black pepper - more the merrier as it is anti inflammatory
1 green bell pepper

The veg to bulk it out - I used in tonight's recipe:
1 onion

1 medium Aubergine (you could use a punnet of mushrooms instead)
1 yellow bell pepper (as well as the green pepper)

I'm running low on veg today so just used what I had in the fridge.

You could add in a fresh onion if you're not sensitive to them.

Method:

Pre boil the brown lentils (takes about half an hour till the lentils are soft)
Chop/process your veg to the size you like them (I like them chunky) Then fry them in a large pot the coconut oil till they have reduced in size.
Add all of the staple ingredients to the large pot, stir, bring to the boil, turn the heat down to a very low heat and leave to simmer for up to an hour ( I often forget about it! So if you're like me, put a timer on so you don't forget) 




Don't forget to use organic produce where possible!

Happy eating!

 - I would love to hear from you if you have used this recipe, even if it's just for inspiration :-)

Microwave Chocolate Brownie Recipe Now Vegan!

I bought a recipe book for microwave mug cakes recently, and was very surprised with how good the results were!

So I decided to make up an inspired recipe myself.

It tastes so good, it has to be posted up right this second! So here goes..

It might be gluten free and slightly lower gi, but in no way is it healthy! And I would recommend sharing this with a lucky loved one, as I can't finish it!

It's pure heaven though!

2 tablespoons Dairy free marge or coconut oil
1 tablespoon vegan milk
2 tablespoons coconut sugar
1 tablespoon Soft dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
2 tablespoons sugar free chocolate chips
half a tsp vanilla extract
3 and a half tablespoons gluten free self raising flour
a quarter teaspoon of xanthan gum  

Melt the marge/coconut oil in the microwave for 10-20 seconds until melted.
Add the sugar and cocoa powder and mix until smooth. Add the vanilla extract, xanthan gum  and the egg yolk and mix.
Now add the gf self raising flour and chocolate chips. Mix well. 

In a 800 watt microwave, cook for 1 and a half to 2 minutes

Leave to cool for about 5 minutes as this brownie in a mug will still be cooking.

It doesn't look much, But it tastes Amazing!




Dig in with a spoon when it's warm/cool enough to eat! 

Simple Gluten Free Vegan Chickpea and Mushroom Pie

The easiest and rather cheap pie filling I have ever made! I was really tired and wanted something quick, so I came up with this.
I've yet to perfect gluten and rice free vegan pastry, but it wasn't a bad attempt :-)

Instead of pastry you could add mashed potato, mashed swede and carrot, mashed sweet potato, or even mix the filling with pasta - it's totally up to you!

Serves 4 as a pie

Ingredients:

For the filling:

400g chestnut mushrooms
2 teaspoons gfv boullion or a stock cube
2-4 tablespoons millet flakes/quinoa flakes/oats
tablespoon chia seeds
400g tin of ready cooked chickpeas, or your favourite legume
tablespoon tomato puree
salt and pepper
optional extras...
one medium carrot chopped
25g peas 

chop the mushrooms ideally in a food processor and sweat down in a wok on a medium - high heat
once the mushrooms have become watery, add the boullion, tomato puree, chickpeas, millet flakes and chia seeds - stir.
Add hot water if the mixture looks dry.

Once the chickpeas are heated through it's ready to eat as it is! Serve with mash potato or pasta and veg,

For the pastry that's in the photo...
3 measured tablespoons of each,
buckwheat flour, chestnut flour, almond flour
heaped tablespoon coconut oil
level tablespoon sunflower oil
tsp xanthan gum
tablespoon soya protein powder (optional)
water to bind

Bind the flours and fats together till they form breadcrumbs.
Add water a little at a time, you don't want to mixture to become too wet.
once your dough seems pliable, roll out on greaseproof paper then either bake separately at 200oc for 15-20mins or on top of the filling  at 180oc fan for 20-30mins

Gluten/Dairy Free Cupcakes

Chocolate 

Left, Cappuccino - Right, Lemon 

 This recipe may already exist, but I certainly didn't find this in any book!

After trying hundreds of different recipes, I decided to just give up and experiment 

by making my own recipes.

This is the easiest, most versatile,
cupcake recipe I hope you will ever find.

It works for me, friends and family every time. You can change the flavour so easily without harming the texture or bake. 

Flavour variations are below the recipe.  

Sadly the gluten free flour I used at the time contains rice flour as like most ready made gluten free flours do, but fear not, I am on a mission to make delicious cupcakes without the need of rice flour when I have the energy - so watch this space :-)

This recipe can be made vegan.
Just swap the eggs for 1/4 cup of unsweetened apple sauce, or a tablespoon of ground chia seeds mixed with 2 tablespoons of vegan mylk and mix.
Watch this blog for specially made gluten free vegan recipes
in the future.

For best results weigh in ounces as that's what I use when I make these cakes. I have converted the measurements using an online converter from ounces into grams for those who do not have scales that measure ounces.

Tip - Mix well! Sounds simple, but it can so easily be missed. Traditional cakes don't always require lots of mixing, but for gluten free they require an extra bit of care. They take a little longer to make using a wooden spoon but it's worth it, don't be tempted to get the electric whisk out! If you really have to use an electric whisk or cake mixer, use it on the slow settings only.

ALWAYS add Vanilla extract no matter what flavour you're doing, otherwise it just won't taste right. (at least that's what I think, and I'm pretty fussy!) 

The fuss pays off, because this recipe has won me competitions!

Vanilla

You will need -
A muffin tin that holds 12 cakes, or 2 fairy cake tins
12 medium-large paper cases, or 24 fairy cake cases
a silicon cake spatula (so there's no batter wasted)
Medium mixing bowl
Ice cream scoop or 1/4 us cup and spoon
Makes - 12 large cupcakes or 24 fairy cakes 

Pre heat oven to 160oc Fan and line your muffin tin

Ingredients:

6oz / 171g gluten free self raising flour
6oz/ 171g golden caster sugar
6oz/ 171g dairy free margarine that's suitable for baking
2 medium/ large Eggs
1 teaspoon Xanthan Gum
1 teaspoon gluten free baking powder
1 vanilla pod or a tablespoon of vanilla extract

Combine the marge' and caster sugar
Fold in half the flour mixture then add the eggs/egg substitute, vanilla (other optional flavourings)
and xanthan gum.
Beat well!
Add the remaining flour and baking powder and mix until fully combined

Spoon out the mixture into the paper cases as evenly as possible, with the other end of a spoon, stir the batter in the cases to make the batter more even (this helps make a uniformed bake) Make sure the oven is pre heated to 160oc fan

Bake for 25 minutes, once out the oven  transfer the cakes to a wire wrack, leave to cool.

Decorate with your favourite butter cream and decorations and munch!

Flavour variations:
Chocolate chip - pinch of salt and 2oz/55g chocolate chips
cappuccino - use 3oz of soft dark brown sugar and 3oz of golden caster sugar instead of 6oz of caster' with half to 1 tablespoon of espresso coffee powder depending how strong you want to coffee to be (do not add water!)
Lemon - Grated lemon zest of a whole lemon with juice of half
Almond - add 2oz/55g of ground almonds and a cap full of almond extract (optional)
Chocolate - Add 2oz/55g cocoa powder, pinch of salt, and extra half a teaspoon of baking powder and half a tsp of espresso coffee powder (do not add water)

try these combinations:
Almond lemon,
chocolate chip coffee
Chocolate, coffee (and chocolate chip)