Category: Plant Eaters

Ooh look at my loot!

Laura Nana7 Comments

I went to the health food store yesterday to replenish my stocks and I can’t wait to start using these goodies! 

laura of london
Health Food Shop Loot

I bought Vegan Hemp Protein powder for a pre- or post-work out boost. It’s slow releasing and contains no chemicals which is very important to me. 
 

Hemp Protein Powder
Hemp Protein Powder
 
I also got some apple cider vinegar which on the label says ‘with the mother’ I found this quite amusing and baffling in the shop but have since found out that this is a good thing! It includes strands of proteins, enzymes and friendly bacteria that give the product a murky appearance and people believe this to be the reason that cider vinegar is so good for you although this hasn’t yet been supported with scientific studies. 

 

Apple Cider Vinegar
Apple Cider Vinegar
 
I got some more raw extra virgin coconut oil, mainly because it was on special offer. It is so versatile to use in most meals and has some great health benefits – helping to burn fat, increase energy, defending against bacteria and viruses, lowering the risk of heart disease and cholesterol – there is a lot! You can do your own further research to find out more, I don’t cook with anything else these days. 

 

Raw Extra Virgin Coconut Oil
Raw Extra Virgin Coconut Oil
 
I bought some Moringa superfood powder to put in my smoothies, granola and soups. Moringa is a tree grown in sub-Himalayan areas. It is used medicinally to treat a multitude of ailments (anaemia; arthritis; asthma; cancer; constipation; diabetes; diarrhoea; epilepsy; stomach pain; stomach and intestinal ulcers; intestinal spasms; headache; heart problems; high blood pressure; kidney stones; fluid retention; thyroid disorders; and bacterial, fungal, viral, and parasitic infections). 

 

Moringa Powder
Moringa Powder
 
I use chia seeds in everything from overnight oats to salad toppings and on top of toast, its a good source of calcium, iron, omega-3 and zinc. Chia seeds are part of the mint family and the seeds can be black, brown or white – the darker seeds have a slightly higher antioxidant concentration. 

 

Chia Seeds
Chia Seeds
 
I can’t wait to get using them, first stop will be a berry smoothie with the Moringa. I fully recommend paying your nearest health food store a visit, have a slow wander round and chat to the staff there – they’re usually very helpful and knowledgeable. 

Obviously, please do your own research before making a purchase, just because the items I’ve purchased for my particular needs may not match yours. If be happy to discuss further, feel free to get in touch with any questions or comments. 

Meal Plan 3 Laura of London

Breakfast, a couple of dinners and a new meal plan – you lucky sods!

Laura NanaLeave a comment

Morning all,

I’ve recently started a new job hence the radio silence for a week or two but I’ve got some beauties for you this morning and more to come soon, including (hopefully) a wonderful guest blog from my lovely friend Nicola French!

Cashew cream on toast
Cashew cream on toast

Breakfast this morning is gluten free toast with cashew cream, which you’ll know having read my ‘Game Changer‘ post, this is my new and most favourite sweet treat!

Its been a pretty busy week as I’ve also started going back to the gym. I’m like a kid in a sweet shop with all the class options and had my first PT consult with one of the trainers, I’m really looking forward to getting fitter and leaner over the coming months, make sure you follow my Laura_of_London Instagram to track my progress!

Vietnamese Prawn Rolls Laura of London
Vietnamese Prawn Rolls

We’ve had a couple of nice new recipes this week as well as some good classics – my Vietnamese prawn rolls went down a storm last night with the family, they always taste so clean, healthy and fresh and adding a bit of spice to the dipping sauce makes all the difference!

I also tried to make a couple of new salads, first was a Goats Cheese and Grain salad with a honey lemon dressing and then we had a Steak and roasted veg salad with a lovely peppery mustard dressing.

I’ve made another meal plan for you to try, I really would urge you to try these for a week or to – most of the recipes are available on my site, they’re all clean eating and I’m always available to help chat through any questions you have. I’d love to have any feedback from people who have tried them as I want to make sure they work!

Have a super fantabulous weekend everyone, if you’re in London, it looks to be a nice hot BBQ-tastic one!

Meal Plan 3 Laura of London
Meal Plan 3

Meal Plan 3

Goats cheese and Grain Salad

Laura Nana1 Comment
Goats Cheese and Grain Salad
Goats Cheese and Grain Salad

Ingredients

  • 150g soft goats cheese cut/torn up into smaller pieces
  • 2 ready cooked beetroot balls
  • 2 sweet potatoes
  • Salad leaves
  • 2 spring onions chopped finely
  • 1 tbsp Lemon Thyme leaves
  • 1 tbsp honey
  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • Merchant Gourmet Grain Mix

Method

Cut the sweet potato up into small chunks and roast in the oven for 20-25 minutes in some coconut oil. Leave them to cool. You can do this the night before and leave them in the fridge.

Lay out the grain mix on a serving plate or platter.

Sprinkle over the thyme leaves and spring onion.

Chop the beetroot into bite-size pieces and add to the platter with the goats cheese and sweet potato.

Mix the honey, lemon juice and olive oil and season well with salt and coarse black pepper. Taste the dressing – it should be quite tart with a background sweetness. Adjust with more/less honey or lemon as necessary.

Pour this over the salad then add the salad leaves and toss well together.

Its extra specially tasty with a nice cold cheeky glass of Pinot Grigio 🙂

A game changer…

Laura Nana5 Comments

Trust me, I’m not using that title lightly! I’ve just made something quite amazing from a ridiculously small number of ingredients leaving me in a state of shock!

So this week I’ve been researching the benefits of soaking nuts and grains etc to remove toxins and make proteins and other good nutrients more easily absorbable by the body. 

During the research I came across quite a few posts about ‘cream’ substitutes – especially when looking at vegan sites. 

I tried to make Cashew Cream today and I’ve pretty much polished it off standing in the kitchen cooking dinner!

  
 
It’s super smooth as a result of soaking the cashews and the maple syrup is a great partner in crime. I’m going to have this as ‘Strawberries and cream’, it could easily be a ‘buttercream’ on top of GF cupcakes and might even work with my morning granola/compote concoction. 

If you make anything from my blog, please make this.

Ingredients 

  • 1 cup plain cashews
  • 1/4 cup water 
  • 2 tbsp maple syrup
  • Small pinch of sea salt

Soak the nuts covered in boiled water for 15 minutes. 

Drain and add to a blender with all other ingredients and blitz for 3-4 minutes. 

Add more water and blitz again if you want a thinner ‘cream’.

Done. Taste it. Smile at your genius. Eat. 

Frittata-ta-ta-ta-ta

Laura NanaLeave a comment

I haven’t had a frittata for well over a year, I’m not a big egg eater you see but my family are and I’m on a mission to keep our meals cheap at the moment. 

 

Spanish Frittata Laura of london
Spanish Frittata

This is a Spanish frittata with a summery salad topping, I’ve  given some optional extras depending on how much veg you have in and whether you want to make it vegescarian, meaty or fishy! You’ll need a really good non-stick pan for this dish. 

Ingredients 

  • 4 eggs
  • 1tsp coconut oil
  • 1 leek or onion or 3-4 spring onions
  • 1 pepper, red, green or orange is fine
  • 100g chestnut mushrooms 
  • Handful of peas
  • 1 tsp thyme leaves
  • 2 medium size white potatoes 
  • 1/2 avocado, scoop lumps with a teaspoon
  • 2 ripe tomatoes, roughly chopped
  • Salad leaves – I used lambs lettuce

Optional extras

  • 100g diced chorizo
  • 50g grated cheese
  • 200g shrimp/small prawns
  • 1 tsp chilli flakes

  

Method

  1. Finely dice the onion/leek and pepper. Strip the thyme leaves from their stalks. Thinly slice the mushrooms and the potatoes.
  2. Put the potatoes in a pan of boiling water for 7 minutes and drain. Leave to cool a little.
  3. Heat the coconut oil in the pan and add the onion/leeks and cook well for 5 minutes. Then add chorizo or prawns (if using) and cook for a further 2 minutes. Add the red peppers, thyme, paprika and mushrooms and allow to cook down. Add the potatoes and season well.
  4. Turn the oven on to the grill or the oven/grill function at about 180.
  5. In a bowl, crack two of the eggs. With the other two eggs, separate the whites and the yolks. Add the yolks to the bowl containing the other two cracked eggs and whisk. Then whisk up the separated egg whites well until white and frothy. Pour the egg whites into the egg mix and whisk all together. This will make it lighter and it’ll puff up a bit under the grill. 
  6. Pour the egg mix into the saucepan containing all your lovely veg and leave for a minute to set around the edges. Add the handful of peas. 
  7. Add the grated cheese and place under the grill for 5-7 minutes until brown and crispy on top. 
  8. Remove from the oven and loosen around the edges with a palette knife.
  9. Shuffle it onto a plate and top with your salad and a spritz of lemon juice.

  

I served mine with a little chilli sauce mixed into some mayonnaise as a little treat.

  


Notella – nutty, chocolate-y deliciousness 

Laura NanaLeave a comment

I heard this weekend that Nutella contains more sugar in it than hazelnuts. 

I’m a big fan of substituting bad things with good things and this weekend I wanted to do a clean eating version of Nutella – for my own sake as well as my sons! I miss it!! 

This recipe made a good jam jar size portion that will keep well in the fridge. 

I’m having it for my 10am snack today slathered on a banana and I also added it to some ‘n-ice’ cream, but we’ll come to that later. 

 
Ingredients 

  • 200g hazelnuts 
  • 50-70ml almond milk or other non-dairy milk
  • 1tsp coconut oil
  • 60g honey
  • 40g of cacao or cocoa powder
  • A small pinch of salt 

Roast the hazelnuts in an oven at 180 for ten minutes. 

Let them cool a little. 

Place in a good strong blender with all the other ingredients and blitz for 5-10 minutes until you have a consistency you are happy with. It may not be as smooth as shop bought but it will be delicious on toast (gluten-free) and will give you more health benefits than its shop bought counterpart. 

‘N-ice cream’ is where you blitz frozen slices of banana with whatever flavour you like (peanut butter, notella, clean jam) and then re-freeze until solid. It’s a fantastic alternative to regular sugary ice cream and perfect to cool down on these hot summery days.