Leek rice balls

Leek rice balls

Hope you had a wonderful Christmas everyone. These little balls  are remarkably delicious for something so easy and with relatively few ingredients. They make fantastic finger food (for anyone hosting NYE parties) and the kids love them! The leek is not really visible but gives a delicious, rich flavour.

Ingredients:

1 leek, diced

1 cup aborio rice

3-4 cups vegetable stock

1 garlic clove

dried thyme

salt, pepper

oil for frying

1 1/2 T Chia seeds in 1/4 cup water

2 T buckwheat flour (or other preferred flour)

Saute the leek and garlic, then add the rice and stir until it has been well tossed in the oil. Add in the thyme (as much as your tastes enjoy) and season with salt and pepper.

Then continue stirring whilst adding 3/4 cup stock at a time. Once the stock is absorbed, add another lot. Continue until the rice is cooked through (if you need more/less stock, don’t worry, you will know if it is cooked if you taste it).

Once cooled, toss the flour and chia seeds through.

Form into little balls (or flat patties) and lightly fry until crispy. Enjoy!

*I think this made about 1 doz balls? But don’t quote me on that. 😉

Green peppermint slice

Green peppermint slice

This slice converted my 3yo to peppermint. Woohoo 🙂 Not to mention it being the usual – gluten free, vegan, sugar free and absolutely yummy. I have another peppermint slice that I made up on this blog but I have to say, this one is much easier and very delicious.

Base

2 cups walnuts

20 medjool dates, pitted (and soaked if not already soft)

1/4 cup cacao powder

1 heaped T coconut oil

pinch salt

Blend the walnuts in a food processor, then add remaining ingredients. Once blended, press into lined tin and pop in the freezer.

Peppermint layer

1 cup dessicated coconut

3/4 cup macadamias

1/4 cup coconut oil

3 T rice syrup or coconut palm sugar

handful of fresh mint leaves

1 tsp peppermint extract

drizzle natural green food colouring if desired

Process coconut and macadamias into a fine consistency before adding other ingredients. Process, then spread over chocolate base and return to the freezer.

Top

1/4 cup cacao powder

1/2 cup melted coconut oil

1/4 cup rice syrup

1 tsp vanilla

Melt coconut oil and stir in remaining ingredients until smooth. Pour over peppermint layer and refrigerate until set. *Actually i put mine in the freezer and was able to cut the slice into squares after about 10 minutes. It does not take long!

Really, this is beautiful. I got a great idea from another site about whizzing up goji berries as a red festive splash and this is what is sprinkled on the top of the platter of slice pieces. Enjoy! And merry Christmas!

 

(And this is what it looks like with a festive sprinkle of chopped goji berries:)

 

Caramelized pumpkin, beetroot and hazelnut salad

Caramelized pumpkin, beetroot and hazelnut salad

Happy happy salady days in the warm weather (Australia)! Thankfully this is also a great salad for those snowed in at the moment because you can serve it as a warm salad which has that hearty feel as well.

Ingredients:

3 cups baby spinach

1 cup rocket leaves

2 cups  pumpkin pieces

1 cup  beetroot pieces

2 spanish onions, chopped roughly

1 cup roasted hazelnuts

1/2 cup slithered mint leaves

1/2 cup oil

Balsamic vinegar

Firstly, mix 1/2 cup grapeseed oil (or coconut) and 1/4 cup balsamic to toss the pumpkin pieces in. Then place them on a baking tray and put them in a 200 deg C oven. Toss the beetroot pieces in the balsamic and oil mix, and place them on a separate tray and roast. Thirdly, toss the chopped purple (spanish) onion through the mix and put it on a 3rd tray into the oven. Roast each until cooked through – note, the onions will cook through and caramelise first, the pumpkin pieces second, and the beetroot generally takes a LONG time depending on how large your pieces are. Test them with a fork to check they are soft. Then they are ready.

Once roasted and cooled, add to a bed of spinach leaves and rocket. Sprinkle roasted hazelnuts on top and chopped mint leaves. Drizzle any remaining oil/balsamic mix that remains over the top and enjoy!

It looks festive, doesn’t it!

Coconut rice bubble slice

Coconut rice bubble slice

And since my internet has been down lately, I thought I’d give you two recipes to play catch up.
This is a great Christmas season one.

You know the old rice bubble slice that everyone makes at Christmas time? Guess what. It can be healthy and yummy too!

Ingredients:

3 cups rice bubbles (or even better, get the rice puffs that don’t have sugar)

1/2 cup desiccated coconut

1/2 cup coconut oil (melted)

1/2 cup brown rice syrup

Stir together and either set in a tray (to be cut into squares) or drop into patty pans.

You can also add natural colouring if you want to make it colourful!

Delish!

Orange chocolate fudge cakes

Chocolate fudge cakes

I have always loved orange chocolate. I know it’s not everyone’s favourite but wow, I used to consume a lot of it. My favourite was about 15 years ago when Crunchies brought out an orange version. Wowww….my house mate and I used to stock up on them and lucky we did because they didn’t hang around long! We thought perhaps we were the only people buying them!

15 years later and I would get an instant migraine if I tried to eat a crunchie now anyway 🙂 And let’s face it, they are not great on a number of levels. Lucky I can cook!

Early in my blogging days I posted links to recipes relating to red kidney bean cakes and to be honest, I haven’t ever made them since. Today I thought I would dig it out and revamp the recipe. It truly is incredible to me that these work as cakes – with no butter, no sugar, no flour, no eggs. The staples. But truly, these work. And they are a brilliant fibre and protein hit for kids on the go.

I blended some dates and almond butter into a caramel and pasted them on top for “icing” but they are great without it.  You don’t have to make them orange of course. You can just do straight chocolate. Or add in some peanut butter for something different.

Ingredients:

1 tin red kidney beans (rinsed and drained)

2 tsp vanilla extract

8 dates (pitted and soaked)

2 T rice malt syrup

2 T (heaped) cacao powder

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp bicarb soda

1-2 tsp orange zest

1/4 cup orange juice

Process the red kidney beans in a food processor (keep scraping down the sides, you DONT want bean lumps in your cakes :)). Add vanilla, syrup and dates and process further. Add remaining ingredients and process until mixed.

Spoon into muffin tins and bake at 180 deg C for 25 minutes or until cooked.

Free ebook

I have had the absolute pleasure of teaming up with Tao Nutrition to create a FREE EBOOK of 7 recipes for health and vitality. Head on over to the Facebook page or Tao’s recipe page to sign up for your free copy.

Tao Nutrition is a brilliant plant based, all natural  protein superfood for anyone who values quality, additive-free, plant based, super-foody goodness. We put it in pretty much everything for a boost. Smoothies, muffins, desserts, breakfast, protein/date balls…you name it. Add it 🙂 And now you have a free recipe book to help you along the way!

Enjoy, foodies. xx