15 LichField Road556835 Singapore
Hi there ! so if you follow me on Insta, you know we all love Granola at home and I bake it all the time for ourselves or on order. I also keep on trying new flavours and combos to improve texture and taste. I have a few really decadent ones (ok still much healthier then most of the commercial ones you can find, even in health food stores 🙂 but sometimes I also want to have the really crunchy nutritious healthy bite to eat on its own or with some plant yogurt and fruits. Something that will be different from a simple nuts handful and yet not as sweet as a regular granola.
Most granolas will require quite a fair amount of oil and sweetener to bind the grains and nuts together. If you want to decrease some of it, you can try banana/apple or even pumpkin sauce as a binder. But it can affect texture and taste (for those who don’t like banana like my mum :). For these crunchy bites, I used flax meal as a binder and it helped me decrease to a minimum the oil amount. Also those bring a nice nutty flavor and are loaded in healthy Omega 3 !! As for the sweet tooth, I give you some flexibility in the recipe below (I personally like it not so sweet, my kids prefer much sweeter 🙂 Cacao is optional but really recommended for it’s flavour and also nutritional goodness. Ensure though you buy unsweetened cacao and not highly processed dutch coco powder. Give it a go and let me know your thoughts. And if you are not looking for such a healthy granola, look for my other recipes on the blog. In any case, enjoy and bake food that do you good but also makes you feel good and that you look forward to eat !!
Ingredients
- 260 g oats (rolled or steel cut)
- 50 g buckwheat
- 45 g hazelnuts +20 g almonds chopped
- 55 g pumpkin seeds, roughly chopped + 20 g sunflower seeds
- 40 g flax seeds
- 25 g liquid coconut oil or extra virgin olive oil
- 185 g water
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 2,5 tbsp cacao powder
- 65 g coconut sugar (50 if you have less of a sweet tooth / 80 to 90 g if you feel like a little sweeter granola)
- 1/4 tsp sea salt (adjust to your taste but a pinch is good)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven at 120°C fan forced
- Put in your food processor your flax seeds + 35g oats + sugar + cacao + water, oil and spices. Give a good stir and leave aside for 10 min to get your flax seeds to absorb some water
- Put all your remaining ingredients in a large bowl and stir to combine them.
- Mixer at high speed your ingredients in the food processor until you get a creamy texture (that’s what you are going to use to bind your oats, buckwheat and nuts)
- Transfer it to your bowl and combine well unit evenly mixed.
- Spread it on baking tray layered with baking paper and put in your oven for 30 min. At this stage you can already break down your clusters (I make really big ones to eat these bites a bit like a granola bar 🙂 but you can make small clusters too !
- Ensure your layer is even and thin to ensure you’ll get crunchy clusters (otherwise if too thin it will still be moist in the center of the clusters)
- Flip your granola layer after 30 min and put it for another round of 30 /45 min.
- Check it is well baked and crunchy and leave it to cool down totally before transferring to an airtight container to keep for a few weeks or in your freezer for a few months.
So I am French ! And considering living a life without eating any bread seems impossible to me ! I am attending nutrition courses and we had recently a lecture about grains. Some diets recommend not to eat any and it seems some people are really reactive to the proteins they contain (not only the wheat gluten). This scared me a little and I turned grain free for a few days… But actually as rightly explained in my course, food is bio individual and we all react differently to what we eat. In my case, I have figured that eating less gluten definitely helps me digest better and feel better, but I can not imagine skipping bread for the rest of my life, or at least at this stage of my life 🙂 However I try to enjoy only the best, eating sourdough organic bread when I chose to eat real bread. And of course I have banned white loaves or baguettes and any industrial baked stuffed. And when I decide to go gluten and / or flour free I bake myself some loaves like this one, which are super yum and so nutritionally good ! Of course it doesn’t taste like bread (no yeast or levain, and no flour) but it’s got a crust, a dense moist inside with some chunky seeds bites so it definitely recalls some nordic bread loaves and works really well with savory or sweet toppings. Don’t mention to your kids it’s made with lentils, they won’t taste them 🙂 and play with the different grains ratio if you want to have more / less buckwheat or quinoa, or millet flavor. You can also add a little spices like cinnamon, and some nuts or raisins if you want to twist it a little. Recipe below, super basic, just remember to prepare it the day before to soak your legumes, grains and seeds. This is actually super beneficial from a nutrition standpoint as it activates them by removing their physic acid external coating. Phytic acid prevents them from germinating and has been proven to diminish nutrients assimilation ! So don’t skip this part !
Ingredients for one loaf
- 100 g coral lentils
- 140 g buckwheat or millet or quinoa (or combination of all those, which I prefer)
- 70 g Sunflower seeds
- 70 g Pumpkin seeds
- 10 g chia seeds
- 10 g Hemp seeds
- 4 tbsp Psyllium powder
- 250 ml water
- 2 tsp sea salt
- 2 tsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 tsp baking soda
Instructions
- Soak all your seeds and grains the day before in filtered water.
- In the morning, rinse them well and drain them
- Preheat your oven to 160°C fan forced
- Mix your psyllium with 125 ml water and let it rest for a few minutes
- Transfer your seeds and grains to your high speed blender and add your psyllium and all the other ingredients.
- Mix to blend well and break some of your seeds but ensure you keep some bits and texture. Once done add additional spices / raisins / nuts if using any.
- Transfer to your prepared tin layered with baking paper and top with additional seeds
- Put in your oven for min 1h and 20 / 25 min. Check, it should be gently golden on the top and your toothpick will come clean when checking doneness.
- Let it cool down in the tin before transferring out and wait it’s totally cool to slice.
- Enjoy!
I could live only eating fruits and veggies (don’t do it though it’s not balanced 🙂 ! And we are spoilt here, especially when it is the mango season ! My kids love fruits too, but sometimes find it a bit boring when I tell them their afternoon snack will always feature a fruit. Smoothies are a great way to shake it up and make it much more fun for them to have their dose of real natural sugar, vitamins and fibers ! And yes smoothies are much better in my opinion than juices. I have a cold pressed juicer at home and do use it, especially to make veggies juices. But compared to a smoothie you lose all fibers when you juice. And for that reason too, smoothies are much more filling and Leo will always be satisfied with a smoothie whereas he ll ask for more after a big cold pressed juice 🙂
Adjust the recipe below to get the consistency you like and either drink or eat it. In case you make a smoothie bowl, top with goji berries, extra banana or mango slices, hemp seeds, pomegranate, raw cacao nibs, quinoa flakes or coconut flakes.
Ingredients (Serves 2)
- 1 +1/4 cup frozen mangoes
- 1 cup frozen bananas
- 1/2 cup almond milk
- 1/2 cup coconut milk
- 5/6 ice cubes (adjust to consistency you like)
- Optional 1/4 tsp real vanilla extract
Instruction
Put everything in your high speed blender, blend until smooth.
I guess many of my readers are currently working from home, and craving for their morning coffee ritual on their way to work ! I personally am more of a morning tea person, but then when lunch time approaches I do need my caffeine fix (usually, right now on a detox !) In any case, if you like coffee, then try this smoothie recipe. It is nutritionally balanced and will keep you fueled up for your whole morning ! Banana and nuts bring creaminess, and the coffee taste works super well with the nuts and seeds added for extra goodness. So just head over to your high speed blender, grab the ingredients listed below and make yourself a nice cuppa 🙂
INGREDIENTS
1 cup coffee (use whatever coffee you like)
1 small banana frozen and cut into chunks
1/3 cup almond milk unsweetened
2 soft dates (or more if you have a sweet tooth)
2 tbsp GF oats
2 tbsp hemp seeds
1,5 tbsp chia seeds
1 tbs flax seeds
1 tbsp pecan + 1 tbsp cashewss (ideally soaked in warm water for 30 min to help make them more tender, but not need if you have a thermomix or vitamix)
A few ice cubes (adjust to consistency you like)
Optionnal: a pinch of cinnamon or vanilla
DIRECTIONS
Put everything in your high speed blender and blend until super smooth adding more ice cubes if needed. If you want to make it thicker and eat it as a smoothie bowl, put less ice cubes and top with a few toppings (raw cacao nibs, crushed roasted nuts, granola, ..)
Hi there ! So if you follow me, you probably know that I work in a tiny artisanal super yummy bakery in Singapore (Microbakery&Kitchen) owned by a Singaporean friend. Being French I was born with bread, raised with baguettes and pain de campagne, and developed over the years a strong tastebud for sourdough loaves. At Micro the team bakes the best sourdough in the whole Singapore I believe, and each time I part time there I end up increasing too strongly my Gluten intake 🙂 So normally at home I tend not to bake too much bread, especially as I don’t bake sourdough (not enough time commitment for that unfortunately) and tend to avoid yeast. But once in a while I am tempted to make my own bread, probably some kind of maternal manifestation of my love for my family (yes my kids and buddy are Bread lovers !). I had made a few previous attempts at no knead breads but they were not so successful (crust to soft, or dough not airy enough…) so when I found out about the Sullivan Street bakery no Knead Bread recipe on NY Times cooking website I was again tempted to give it another trial !
Made a few adjustments to the original recipe, twisting the flour and adding some seeds/ nuts. If you are stuck at home at the moment and are in the mood for baking, go for it, you won’t need to go out to buy bread tomorrow morning 🙂 confinement recipe validated ! and you will enjoy really good tartines for brekkie with your family. This recipe is really easy and you can make it with your kids ! Just need to plan resting time of min 14 hours (ideally around 16 🙂
As always, don’t hesitate to contact me if you make this recipe and have any question or feed back. ENJOY !
INGREDIENTS
3 cups flour : 1,5 cups spelt + 1,5 cup wholewheat* (can substitute with GF flour but bread density will be different, I have tried with Bob’s redmill 1 to 1 successfully )
1,5 cup water at 25 deg C
1 medium carrot grated (for extra fibers 🙂
1/2 cup seeds or nuts (choose whatever you like, I like hazelnuts or walnuts and pumpkin seeds also work very well 🙂
2 tbsp chia seeds
Optional 1/4 cup dried apricots / raisins / cranberries and if you choose them optional spices (0,5 tsp cinnamon or 0,25 tsp cardamon)
1,5 tsp sea salt
3/4 tsp dry instant yeast
INSTRUCTIONS
The day before (afternoon if you are planning to bake next morning), whisk all dry ingredients together i a large bowl, and add the water gradually. Stir well to combine everything well.
Cover the bowl tightly and leave it to rest on your countertop at room temperature.
16 hours later minimum:
Preheat your oven at 230 deg Celsius Fan forced.
Put your pan in the oven to preheat as well. You need to use a pan that has a lid and can go in the oven. Ideally a Staub / Le Creuset / Dutch oven kind of pan. It will help getting a nice crust and moist interior.
After 30 min preheating, scrape your bread dough out of the bowl. It should have well risen and be airy. it will be sticky so use some more flour to work on your dough and shape it in a ball form. You might need quite a fairly amount of flour depending on the flour you used. It’s normal ! Add flour and shape your dough until it gets the shape of a ball and is not sticky any more.
Transfer your dough on a baking paper sheet, scar it, and top with a little nuts/seeds if you want to.
Take out your Pan out of the oven, transfer the dough with the baking paper into it, drop some water on your lid (using a spray bottle works well 🙂 and close immediately the lid, then put back your pan in the oven for 35 min.
After 35 min, open the oven, remove the lid and let the bread crust get a nice colour for approx 10/15 min (check regularly).
Once you have a nice bread loaf with a nice golden or slightly darker crust (depending on your taste), take it out and leave on a grid to rest and cool down for min 1 hour before slicing (otherwise it will get mushy).
Enjoy immediately, or keep in a bread bag for a few days, or slice and freeze to eat on demand if you leave in SG 🙂
Hello ! Feeling you need a little “cheer me up” this morning for breakfast ? Then think about chocolate 🙂 But not the nasty “N….a” spread you put on toasts or hot choc you drink with marshmallows 🙂 I am talking about real chocolate benefits, ie raw “Cacao”. Do you actually know the difference between cacao and cocoa ?
Simple: raw cacao comes from cold-pressed un-roasted cacao beans. It keeps all the goodness of cacao, which are numerous: living enzymes, antioxidants, magnesium (which can help reduce stress :), potassium, and iron). And lastly it is rich in alkaloids which interact with our neurotransmitters and help us feel good !!!!….
Cocoa comes from the same beans but they have been roasted at high temperatures, hence less nutritional benefits. However if you can’t find raw cacao, cocoa is still a valid option for this smoothie. Healthy enough and will also put a big smile on your face 🙂
Recipe so simple you have no excuse not to make it as I am sure you have everything you need in your pantry ! ENJOY and share your comments !
Serves 1:
1 frozen banana (not too ripe if you want to reduce sugar level)
1/4 cup GF oats
125 ml almond milk (adjust to consistence level you like)
1 tbsp raw cacao
1 tsp chia seeds
1 to 2 soft dates (adjust to your sweet tooth)
1/2 tsp real vanilla extract
Pinch of sea salt
Blend everything in your high speed blender / thermomix until smooth. Pour less / more milk wether you want to drink or eat it. If eaten as a smoothie bowl top with extra seeds, quinoa puffs, cacao nibs, more dates or fresh fruits. YUM 🙂
A new porridge recipe base for you guys ! Overnight one, so no excuse not to make it as it will only take a few min to prepare the day ahead (or even a few days ahead) and just finish with the toppings in the morning. Gluten free, raw, vegan, refined sugar free, nourishing and very yummy. The way we like to start the day, right ?
Recipe just there. Happy Brekkie !
Serves 1
110 grs GF rolled oats
1 tbsp chia seeds
2 tbsp vegan (or greek) yogurt or even unsweetened apple sauce
100 ml almond or oat milk + 2 tbsp water
1 tbsp gula melaka (adjust to taste)
1 tsp cinamon
1/2 tsp gingerbread spices
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
A pinch of sea salt
Just blend everything well overnight in your container (double or triple quantities for batch cooking as it can keep for a few days in the fridge)
In the morning, add half a raw medium pear, thinly sliced (if you have time roast it with a little coconut sugar, YUM !), drizzle extrat gula melaka if you have a sweet tooth, raw cacao nibs, vegan yogurt, roasted pecans and pepitas and here it is !
So you love smoothies but always feel guilty drinking a lot of sugar and lacking proteins when you enjoy one. And you don’t feel like having a veggie protein shake either … Then this one is for you: sweet but using berries which fructose and GI level are ok, and protein rich using silken tofu 🙂 and really pretty: we all love a pink smoothie, right ?
Some people might be reluctant to use tofu, I still use organic tofu to get some vegan proteins a few times a week. I have read many studies about soy and believe that if you eat it in moderation and buy the right stuff it is still a very good ingredient (though I don’t use soy milk often as I don’t like it’s taste). And don’t worry the smoothie doesn’t taste like tofu at all 🙂
The best thing with this smoothie is that it only takes 2 min, you can use frozen fruits when berries are not in season and you can customize it the way you like it.
Enjoy and let me know your thoughts if you make it.
Instructions (Serves 1)
- 75 grs strawberries
- 25 grs Raspberries
- 75 grs silken tofu
- 120 to 175 ml almond or coconut milk ( depending how dense you want it)
- 1 to 2 dates according to your sweet tooth
- 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
- Put everything in your #thermomix and blend until totally smooth
- Top with fresh raspberries, pumpkin seeds, shredded basil or mint, raw cocoa nibs or anything your fancy !
In French we say “avoir la banane” meaning “being happy” and yes bananas are a super fruit that puts a smile on my face ! They contain a fair amount of fibers and several antioxidants, and are proven to help digestion. They are quite sweet indeed but if you eat raw bananas go for the unripe bananas as their GI is only about 30 (whereas ripe bananas GI is approx 60). Great in smoothies and vegan nice creams, when you bake vegan cakes you also tend to use a lot of bananas as they are a good binder and can often help replace part of the eggs and also some oil in recipes.
In the banana bread though they are not an ingredient but THE STAR INGREDIENT of the recipe ! To ensure a tasteful and sweet loaf, chose them super ripe (which is super easy in SG) and if they are not ripe enough put them for sometime in your oven (with their skin) to speed up the process before using in your batter.
Banana bread have so many variations and so many people claim to have the best banana bread recipe, I am not gonna write this one is the best you’ll ever have 🙂 But if you look for a rich tasty flourless loaf, you’ll probably end up baking this one more than once !!
Moist, rich in protein and healthy fats, gluten free, refined sugar free, vegetarian but not vegan (you can replace eggs with egg replacer of flax eggs. It will still be good, but denser and more moist / won’t rise the same). GIVE IT A TRY !!
INGREDIENTS
- 200 grs almond meal
- 300 grs large mashed super ripe bananas + 1 banana sliced in 2 to top
- 3 large eggs ( or vegan equivalent)
- 50 grs maple syrup
- 50 ml olive oil
- 25 grs flax meal
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp salt
INSTRUCTIONS
- Preheat oven to 160 °C fan forced.
- Whisk together eggs, mashed bananas, oil, vanilla, cinnamon and maple syrup.
- Add the almond flour and flax meal, salt, baking soda, lemon juice and stir until all smooth
- Transfer the batter to a pan lined with parchment paper and distribute the batter evenly. Add the 2 banana halves on top (and some flaked almonds if you want)
- Bake the loaf for approx 55 to 65 min until a toothpick comes out clean (if at some point it starts to become to dark on the top, cover with aluminium foil and continue baking)
- Once done, take it out from oven and let it cool in the pan before taking out and slicing.
- Can keep for 5 to 6 days in the fridge in airtight container, or be sliced and frozen for 2 months.
I am sure you often have no time for a proper brekkie. Then what to you do ? skip it ? eat a banana ? grab a muffin or a croissant at the bakery ?
Well none of these answers are OK 🙂 🙂 Breakfast is a very important meal and even if you don’t have time, or don’t feel hungry when you wake up, like my daughter Rose, you should eat something properly balanced to fuel up your day !
Those cookies are an easy and fun way to eat brekkie on the go. Made with lots of seeds and superfoods, sweetened with natural fruits and a little natural sweetener and using the goodness of nuts and coconut oil to give moisture, they are crispy outside and chewy inside, yummy and healthy !
They are also super versatile as you can play with the seeds, fruits or even add choc chips:) to have new variations
VG (if you use vegan sweetener option) – GF – RSF and good for you 🙂
INGREDIENTS
- 1 cup GF oats
- 1/2 cup oat flour
- 1/2 cup seeds (pepitas, SF, melon..)
- 1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce
- 1/3 cup dried super fruits (mulberries, blueberries, goji, ..)`
- 1/4 cup flax seeds meal
- 3 tbsp coconut oil (used refined if you don’t want the subtle coconut
- 3 tbsp almond milk
- 2 tbsp honey or maple syrup for VG option
- 1tbsp chia seeds
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
DIRECTIONS
- Combine all dry ingredients in a large bowl
- Do the same for all wet ingredients
- Mix dry and wet, and leave for a few min to bind and get a sticky dough that is scoopable.
- Scoop out and drop cookie dough the size you want on a baking sheet. Ensure there is a little room between each cookies, though those don’t tend to spread much, so flatten them a bit before putting in the oven to get a cookie shape 🙂
- Put in preheated oven (165°C fan forced) for 17/20 min (depending on the size and thickness of your cookies start checking if they turn golden in the edges after 15 min)
- Take out, cool down and eat or store for a few days in an airtight container. They can also be frozen and kept for a few weeks to be reheated on demand (though usually I prefer to freeze the raw cookie dough)