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! 

Healthy Lentil 'Shepherds' pie

 Today has been a feast day of gorgeous comfort food! I really fancied a shepherd's pie, but of course, without the meat.

Whenever I want something inspired by meat dishes I go for either brown/green lentils or aduki beans. Lentils are much easier and cheaper to get hold of, so are usually the first choice.

I had my organic veg order arrive yesterday. So having planned what we were going to make this week, the shepherd's pie was first on the list!

We always batch bake in this house because I can't cook most days, if I want to cook, someone is always helping, as in I choose the ingredients, sit down and tell them what to cook, and do the taste testing..

Today's meal is definitely a keeper! (I'm getting the hang of writing these recipes down)
Super comforting and super filling! If you need that full feeling without the fear of piling on the lbs,
I really suggest you try this.

So here it is.

Vegan Lentil Shepherds Pie.

You will need.
A large rectangular oven dish
A very big pan, or deep sided wok
2 pans to boil your veg and lentils.

Serves 6-8 people - I made 6 portions, because I like my food!

Ingredients

1 cup dried green lentils
1 leek
1 celery
1 red bell pepper
2 courgettes (zucchini)
400g chestnut mushrooms
1 tbsp tomato puree
1 stock cube or 1 and a half tbsp stock powder in 250ml boiled water
1 tsp turmeric
black pepper
6 slices or grated vegan cheese (optional)

Mash topping.
1 butternut squash
3 mini-medium potatoes

Start boiling the lentils.
In a food processor, blitz the celery and leek till they are very small pieces.
Add to the wok or large pan and with a little oil sweat them down.
Process or chop the mushrooms to how you like them, I used my chunky strip blade on my food processor. Leave to one side.
Chunky chop the courgette and red pepper, add to the celery and leeks, stir and cover the pan,leaving it for 5 minutes to sweat down. Add the chopped mushrooms and vegetable stock, turmeric, black pepper  and stir.
Once the lentils have softened add to the vegetable mixture and gently mix. leave to simmer on a low heat.

Pre heat oven to 180oC fan

wash the butternut squash and potatoes thoroughly as we will be keeping the skins on.
Once you have washed them, chop into cubes, rinse, add boiling water and simmer till they become soft (about 15-20 minutes)
Drain and mash well, add salt and pepper to taste.

Transfer the lentil mixture to the oven dish,






Then Add the Vegetable mash, layering or sprinkling the vegan cheese on top.

Bake for half an hour, and serve with your favourite green veg. I had peas and kale. and a dollop of mayo!


We even had berry crumble after!






I used chestnut flour, millet, vegan marge and coconut sugar for the crumble topping, and added maple syrup and amaretto to the berries, Seriously naughty!

Seriously stuffed now.

Hope you enjoy this meal as much as I did!


Fancy cake for dessert? Try this Cupcake recipe 

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)