Posh Cocoa Coconut Granola

Well, hello there! I know, I'm lame - I HAVE been keeping up on Instagram. At any rate, today's theme is... ROAD TRIP! To be honest, when I go on a trip, I tend to just pack some store-bought snacks and drinks - but that makes for a pretty boring post if you ask me. In the fall, my husband and I like to go to Norfolk if we get the chance, for chilly dog walks and cozy fires, and there's this company we sometimes find our rental through that leaves a welcome basket - nice tea, coffee, wine, and sometimes a posh granola. Call me an old-time hippie, but I think homemade granola makes a nice hostess gift, or indeed a nice 'thank you' for a house-sitter, cat-feeder, or plant-waterer. Anyway, want the recipe? Its crunchy, flavourful and indulgent yet relatively wholesome: 

1 1/2 cups quick oats

1 tbsp dessicated coconut

1 tbsp cocoa nibs

1 tbsp ground flax seeds

1/4 cup mixed seeds (like pumpkin and sunflower - whatever you like)

1/4 cup pecan pieces

1/4 coconut oil, melted

1/4 cup of non-dairy milk

1 1/2 tbsp agave nectar (if you sub something else, like brown rice syrup, use 2 tbsp)

1 tbsp brown sugar

Mix it all together, and bake for about 20 minutes at 180C (350F), until browned. Rather than the standard method of sprinkling over a larger baking sheet, I actually like to press it together in a thin layer, break it apart after it browns, then bake again for another 5 minutes or so. I just like the big, uneven chunks I get that way, but it does take a little longer. 

Let it cool, and either gift it or keep it all to yourself!

Summer Porridge Parfait

Still enjoying our last blast of summer here in California, so I thought I would share one of our quick, simple, warm weather breakfast go-tos. There's nothing to it!

Uncooked quick oats

Non-dairy yogurt, coconut or soy (as plain as possible!)

A little brown rice syrup

Seeds, nuts and fruit (chia, sunflower, almonds, walnuts, pecans - any kind of berry works really well, or chunks or pear)

I like to layer it up like a parfait. Sometimes I add a drizzle of Udo's oil.  Breakfast is served in under a minute, and it's always a hit! Enjoy the warm weather while you can folks! 

Strawberry Buckwheat Hotcakes

I've mentioned that the babe is quite impatient for breakfast since she started sleeping through, so on the weekends, I like to sneak downstairs and get started on something nice while she plays with her Dad, gets changed, etc. It's a quiet moment for me, and when they do amble downstairs, there's a lovely hot breakfast for all of us. This is a weekend breakfast.

Basic Spelt Waffles

 

We have waffles fairly frequently - I'd say I make a batch once a week, which can also give us leftovers to freeze if it's a weekday. Thought it only fair to post my basic, basic, basic spelt waffle recipe, although I can't take full credit for it. The original proportions were from Vegan Brunch, just stripped down to make it weaning-baby-friendly. F. loves them - lately she's been reverently whispering 'bwead', and even attempting to say blueberry, but it comes out 'boobooboo'. At which point I die. Without further ado:

 

2 cups of non-dairy milk, in our house usually hemp or soy

1 teaspoon of apple cider vinegar

3 tablespoons of neutral cooking oil, like canola

1 tablespoon brown rice syrup

2 cups spelt flour

1/4 tsp salt

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 tablespoon cornstarch

Spray oil for the waffle iron

 

Mix up the wet ingredients, mix up the dry ingredients, mix 'em together. Use a light touch with the batter, so it doesn't get tough. I find spelt flour can vary in texture quite a bit - if it's too thick, add another tablespoon of milk. It shouldn't be as thick as muffin batter, but slightly thicker than pancakes. Cook as per your waffle iron, generously using the spray oil between batches.

 

You could use some proportion of white flour if these are too whole-grainy, but I admit I like them that way. The babe usually has hers with nut butter and fruit, and I have maple syrup!

 

Top tips:

 

Let your waffle iron pre-heat properly. This only makes, like, 8 waffles in my Cuisinart. You can't afford for 2 of them to be duds.

 

While the iron pre-heats, let the batter rest for a few minutes. It's better behaved that way.

 

Don't overfill the iron. I'd rather have cute frayed edges than messy, overflowing, burning awfulness. Been there.

 

In the event of a waffle iron disaster, they make pretty decent pancakes with a little more milk. Again, it's happened to the best of us...

 

 

That's it! Embarrassing basic, but healthy enough to be in our regular rotation.

Pizza Dough Cinnamon Rolls

Look, they aren't bakery style, but if you've got some leftover pizza dough - why not make cinnamon rolls! Refined sugar free, unless you glaze them, and ready in 15 minutes. Not too shabby.

Ingredients:

Leftover pizza dough (the batch was made from 500g "OO" flour, 1 teaspoon yeast, 1 teaspoon salt, 325 ml warm water, and about a tablespoon olive oil - this was roughly a third of the resulting dough, two days later.)

2 Tablespoons melted vegan margarine

2 Tablespoons brown rice syrup

Cinnamon

Roll out your pizza dough (about enough for one pizza) into a rectangle. Spread on the margarine and syrup - you'll have too much of both in all likelihood, but you can eyeball it. Sprinkle cinnamon on top. Use more than in the pic above - I just didn't take a pic after because I use my fingers to mix it all together, like fingerpainting.

Roll and slice, bake for 10 - 15 minutes on 180C (350F). Boom, cinnamon rolls. Check them at 10 minutes, just in case, because they can go a bit hockey-puck if they bake too long. If you want to glaze them, by all means use an icing-sugar and soy milk glaze, but I quite like them plain, and obviously then they are ok for little ones. This was the last batch, made with whole grain dough:

Eats and Sleeps

Peppermint tea. Finally ok to have, as I'm trying to wean. It can reduce milk supply, so should be avoided by new moms.

 

Chickpea "tuna salad" on seaweed sourdough, with sprouts and avocado. I think the little miss is coming out of her picky phase a bit, fingers crossed.

 

 

Co-sleeping is the best. Co-sleeping is the worst.

 

Breakfast.



A snack while me and my man both worked at the kitchen table, me on coursework, him on work-work. Too. Much. Technology.



Part of my grand weaning plan: hot, frothy (soy) milk. She loves it! And I think she enjoys having it from a mug like a grown-up. She calls it tea.



Her "tea".

 

And another boobless nap. Just gotta keep going. Getting her down for a nap used to be one of my easiest tasks.

Back to Life, Back to Reality

We're back home, and missing summertime HARD. Cape Town is really pretty special. Yes, obviously there are some seriously troubling things about South Africa. Yes, there were daily power outages and MANY warnings about crime. But I have to be honest, and we honestly had an amazing trip. Not a lot of pics from the end of our trip, because I was mainly using the good camera or my husbands phone (it has/had a better camera than mine) - the former has yet to be backed up, and the latter ended up in the pool (R.I.P., iPhone). I may do another Cape Town post later on, but I is too tired.

 

On arrival, F. really brought it home that we are NOT on vacation anymore by pooping in the bath. I was with her. And the dog has vomited several times. Excellent.

 

 

Breakfast. I did miss my juicer. Green juice for me and the babe, plus some fruit and peanut butter toast. My mom used to always draw a heart on my peanut butter toast, so I'm doing the same. I remember hers looking cuter though? 

 



 

Sleep, finally. I stayed up the ENTIRE overnight flight. My fella was going straight into the office, because he's a crazy person, so he slept most of the way.

After her nap, she was still so sleepy that she fell asleep sitting up. Check out those lashes!

Our only souvenirs - a tablecloth and a cool wooden bowl. I have a few block printed tablecloths - love them.

One last phone pic from our final couple of days, in Franschhoek. She looked so sweet in her little blue dress.

Table Mountain and Camps Bay

Relaxing with an insanely cheap (by London standards) drink in Camps Bay.

More fruit. I can't get enough. 

The beach? If you insist...

On top of Table Mountain. My younger brother is a scientist with an interest in lichen and bryophytes - took these for you bro. 

Bricking it on the way up the cable car. My husband wanted to carry her, but I insisted on Ergo. Felt ill thinking of her being loose up there! I don't like heights!

Oh yeah, we made it up!! F pointed out every bird in Cape Town. 

Another great day in the Southern Hemisphere. 

Sunday in Cape Town

What a beautiful place. We are so lucky. Blogging from my phone while I have wifi, so forgive font oddities!

Breakfast. 

Simon's Town

Chapman's Peak

Nearing Cape Point. 

Out. Of. Hand. Beautiful. I'm totally sunburned, obviously. 

Gingerbread Porridge

 

It's a bit embarrassing to call this a recipe - it's more like a good idea, or a template for wild experimentation. It's yum, whatever it is. Great for a cold; the molasses is loaded with minerals and the spices cut through congestion.

 

1 cup of jumbo rolled oats (look, steel cut are delicious, but ain't nobody got time for that.)

3 cups of water

1 tablespoon of Blackstrap Molasses

1 tablespoon Brown Rice Syrup

1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

About a teaspoon of cinnamon

About half a teaspoon of ground ginger

A sprinkling of ground clove

A crack of black pepper (black pepper? YES.)

 

To serve:

Non-dairy milk

Vegan margarine

Seeds, nuts, etc.

 

You basically cook it all for 10 minutes, at a good simmer. The spices are to taste, this is just approximately what I end up with. You may like it spicier. I'd only venture that it ought to be cinnamon > ginger > clove > pepper. Nutmeg or Allspice could be fun too.

 

Variations:

Pumpkin Pie: Add leftover cooked squash, blended. Use a little less molasses.

Carrot Cake: Add grated carrot, raisins and walnuts.

 

We've had it twice this week. It's so comforting!

Weekday French Toast: Easy, Lazy, Healthy(ish), Vegan

 

 

There are a few lots and lots of vegan French Toast recipes out there, but this version is so incredibly simple, I can throw it together in 15 minutes on a weekday. It's also relatively virtuous (as virtuous as fried bread can ever be, I suppose) - no sugar or salt for weaning babes, and can be made with just a handful of cupboard staples (at least staples in our house!). This is a small batch. It's a weekday, remember? Can easily be scaled up.

 

A few tablespoons neutral cooking oil.

3 thick slices of sturdy bread. Stale is fine, even better. I used some homemade malthouse from Friday, but Sourdough would also work well. The flimsy, shop bought stuff probably won't work.

Half a cup of non-dairy milk. My top choices would be almond, hemp or soy. We used almond today.

1 Tablespoon chickpea flour

1 Tablespoon ground flaxseed

Generous sprinkling of cinnamon

 

Ok, first things first, before even putting your coffee on, get your pan and oil pre-heating. If the pan isn't good and hot, these bad boys WILL stick. My kitchen is unheated, and in the winter it's freezing in there at night, so I don't judge if my pan is pre-heated by time, but rather by the way the oil behaves. I pre-heat my cast-iron skillet on medium low, until the oil swirls around quickly. Sluggish oil = ruined toast.

 

While your pan is getting good and warm, lazily mix together the milk, chickpea flour, flaxseed and cinnamon with a fork on a shallow serving plate. Give it a minute to come together - if you don't already know this, ground flaxseed adds a viscosity that is not unlike egg, you just have to give it a little time to work its magic. Soak the bread, both sides. Now is a good time to make coffee.

 

 

As appetising as wet bread is, don't taste the batter. Chickpea flour is foul when raw. I found out the hard way.

Fry 'em up! You obviously want them browned on both sides. For me, that's about 3 minutes a side. They shouldn't stick if you follow the golden rules I just made up:

 

Pre-heat well - have I mentioned that?

Don't mess with them until you are fairly certain they will be browned. If you try to flip them too early, or sneak a peek before they are browned, the pan won't 'let go'.

Use a metal spatula, and really be careful to get under there.  

 

Any number of toppings would be delicious, and as they aren't sugary to begin with you can be as decadent or abstemious as you feel that day. I had brown rice syrup and pumpkin seeds with mine, the babe had some banana slices. It's a big hit in our house!

Birthdays and Mondays

This weekend we had a surprise birthday party for my husband, it was hectic, but fun. Leftover cake:

 

 

And having houseguests, I made my normal batch of spelt waffles:

 

 

We also started attending a Steiner playgroup today, which I quite enjoyed. The first time I went to it, to see if we liked it, I thought it was a little bit crunchy, but then so are we - so we decided to give it a go. It was such a success that F threw a full-on tantrum when we had to leave. :/ The play space is beautiful (I will ask them if I can take a snap or two), and they burn incense and light candles, they sing songs and all the food is vegetarian - it really is lovely.

 

Lastly, one of my wonderful brothers sent us some late Christmas gifts, in time for a "Merry Ides of January", and they are merry indeed. A hat:

 

 
Books:
 

 

And a very sweet inscription for her:

 

Love my brothers! Thanks Uncle Will!

A Little Bit More

Way back in the early days of breastfeeding, when we were having a horrible time and I was worried about my milk supply, a community staff nurse said to me, "There's always more. They can always get a little bit more, even when you think they're empty". I've come to think of that as a metaphor for parenthood at large; there's always a little bit more - time, patience, love - more than you ever thought you had, and if they needed more still, you'd find it. 

She slept a glorious 8 hours last night, after what has been the hardest week in months. So glad to have my happy baby back. Here she is enjoying her porridge:

 

 

Like, really enjoying it.

 

 

A rare prone moment:

 

A Sweater is Just a Blanket You Can Wear

Oh my. The baby has a cold, the husband has food poisoning (WE HOPE), and the mom has to stay up and help everyone. Well, the baby anyway, the husband knows how to throw up. I was meaning for my first post on the new blog to be an introduction to our small but sweet life, but, to be honest, it isn't feeling particularly sweet today! But honesty is the best policy, and sometimes motherhood is hard. In fact, the only way I could coax myself out of bed this morning was by telling myself "a sweater is really just a blanket you can wear". Oof.

Getting through it with hemp lattes and homemade bread.

That is "Gingerbread" Porridge. Normally we just have grated apple or pear to sweeten our porridge, but we were out. So I used blackstrap molasses, dried ginger, cinnamon and a little brown rice syrup. It smelled wonderful, and I hope that it cut the through Frieda's congestion! She ate tons, at any rate. On top, we both had chia seeds and a little hemp milk, and I had walnuts as well. 

Homemade Rye bread. I'm a beginner.

My angel normally:

Today it's all snot and tears and lots and lots of yelling...