Category: Recipes

MY FAVOURITE FRESH JUICE

Published on by simplycarinaxo11 Comments

Good morning beautiful souls,

I hope you had a great weekend! I must apologise for not posting last night, I had a busy weekend and was busy socializing both evenings and thus didn’t get around to finishing a post. So I thought I’d recycle a post this morning as it’s an easy peasy recipe for a fresh yummy start to a new week.

Here goes, this is my absolute favourite fresh juice of all time. Sadly making fresh juice can be quite expensive sometimes, so this is a treat, however occasionally you can find reduced fruit so keep your eyes open and look in local fruit and veg shops too!

Orange and Grapefruit Juice No.1

The drink – it’s nothing special, just freshly squeezed oranges, grapefruits and lime with a sprig of mint, but the combination is kinda amazing!

Orange and Grapefruit Juice No. 2

I would usually squeeze 3 oranges, 1 red grapefruit, 1 lime and garnish with a sprig of mint. I would also recommend popping the freshly squeezed juice in the fridge to chill before drinking or adding and ice cube or two – it is the most tasty and refreshing when cool!

Orange and Grapefruit Juice No. 3

Well I really hope you all make this because I’m obsessed with this juice aha. Do let me know if you try & enjoy it too!

VEGAN MERINGUES

Published on by simplycarinaxo21 Comments

Good evening beautiful souls,

If you follow me on Instagram (@simplycarinaxo) you will already know that I made vegan meringues the other day!!

If you’re a meringue fan but are like myself a vegan and can’t eat eggs or are allergic to eggs or even just fancy trying something new, then this recipe is for you.

I’ll warn you in advance, although easy it takes almost 3hs to make these meringues, but they are super tasty and so it’s totally worth it!

Now you might be wondering how on earth you can make vegan meringues when one of the main ingredients is egg white. Well I’d heard ages ago that chickpea brine could apparently be used as an egg white replacement and so when I stumbled across this recipe I was eager to test it.

I was a bit skeptic at first but apart from turning out somewhat hollow and crisp rather than chewy, they were very tasty!!

If you’re not drooling already at the thought of a meringue dessert then here’s the recipe for you to test yourself :

Makes 6-8 meringues

  • 400 g can of chickpeas which should yield
  • 100g of aquafaba (brine)
  • 110g of caster sugar
  • Vanilla seeds

Whisk the aquafaba at high speed until stiff white peaks are formed; this will take about 15-20 minutes.

Mix the vanilla seeds into the sugar before adding the mixture to the aquafaba a couple of spoonfuls at a time, making sure the sugar is whisked in properly before adding the next few spoonfuls.

When all the sugar is mixed in and the meringue is thick and glossy, it is ready.

Preheat the oven at 130 degrees centigrade and line two baking trays with grease proof paper.

Spoon the mixture (I’d say a large heaped tbsp) onto the baking tray well apart as the will grow quite a bit.

Now bake for 1 3/4 – 2 hours until the meringues are fairly firm unto and on the base. Take out of oven and leave to cool completely.

Once cool, you can enjoy this delicious treat however you like. I suggest some vegan vanilla ice cream and a fruit compote or fresh berries!

Now enjoy!

If you give these a go do let me know how they turn out!!

MY FAVOURITE LOW SUGAR COCKTAIL

Published on by simplycarinaxo8 Comments

Good evening beautiful souls,

Now that the weather finally seems to be improving I’ve been feeling the cocktail vibes more and more and am ditching the red wines. However as summer and bikini season are approaching I thought I’d share with you my favourite low sugar cocktail so that you can still enjoy a drink without worrying about your waistline too much.

I’m not sure what to call it yet, maybe Bitter Breeze or something…

Well here it goes. You will need:

  • A lime
  • Gin
  • Diet bitterlemon
  • Fresh mint
  • Ice cubes

First pop your ice cubes into your glass – next add to your strength liking gin and bitterlemon (for this glass I used 2 shots of Bombay Dry Gin with ca. 300ml of bitterlemon) – squeeze in half a lime – decorate with another slice of lime and fresh mint.

Et voila – one Bitter Breeze at the ready – now sit back, relax and enjoy!

BEETROOT BROWNIES

Published on by simplycarinaxo19 Comments

Good evening beautiful souls,

It’s time for me to share one of my favourite recipes with you – I hope you are excited!!!

This recipe is from the beautiful vegan cookbook Peace & Parsnips. I love this book and everything I have tried so far has been super tasty, so I can’t wait to try more recipes in the future!

I’ve made this beetroot brownie recipe a couple of times now; the brownies are super easy to make, perfectly moist and of course taste amazing! So no excuse not to try this recipe for yourselves!

I have altered the original recipe a little, but it is quite flexible so don’t worry about experimenting. Anyway, let’s jump right into it!

Ingredients:

  • 300g dark chocolate
  • 150ml vegetable oil
  • 125g Flour
  • 100g Prunes
  • 100g Nuts
  • 200g Silken tofu
  • 125g Beetroot, finely grated
  • 150g Unrefined brown sugar

(I also added some dried apricots and a little rosewater – although apparently not enough of the latter as I couldn’t taste the rose flavour – I need to experiment more with this I future)

Method:

Firstly, melt the dark chocolate carefully in the microwave on a low heat/defrost setting making sure you don’t burn it. Once melted stir in oil. Leave to cool.

Preheat oven to 190 degree.

Whisk tofu and sugar together in a bowl before stirring in the cooled down molten chocolate. Next add the beetroot, Prunes, and nuts (as well as apricots or whatever else you want to add) then slowly fold in the flour until all is combined.

Pour the mixture into a ca. 27×17 cm tin lined with banking paper and level out.

Pop in oven and bake for 25-30 minutes on the middle shelf.

Leave to cool in tray then lift out onto wire wrack and cut into squares. The brownies should be nice and moist with a slight crust on the outer edges.

Best served warm with vegan vanilla ice cream or fruit compote.

And there you have it! Brew yourself a nice cup of coffee, sit down, pick up your favourite book and enjoy this yummy treat!!

Please let me know if you try these as I’d love to see what you think!

COOK BOOK HAUL

Published on by simplycarinaxo10 Comments

Good evening beautiful souls,

I recently purchased a few new cook books from The Works and thought I’d show you. If you’re not in the habit of frequenting The Works, I really urge you to check it out on a regular basis because they always have some amazing deals and sales on.

I always find it too easy to fall into the same cooking patterns recycling the same recipes over and over again, so I’m really looking forward to trying out some new recipes from these books. There’s so many yummy recipes out there I just need to make more of an effort to try them all. Which makes me think… Has anyone ever watched Julie & Julia?! It’s about a woman named Julie who decides to cook every single recipe from Julia Child’s cookbook in a year and blogs about it. I’ve always wanted to do that haha a day although it’s never going to happen, the idea of actually cooking every single recipe in a cookbook is kinda cool. I’d love to achieve that, I mean who knows what delicacies we’re missing out on by not trying more recipes!

Anyway here’s the cook books I just added to my collection and I can’t wait to read through them and try some new recipes out!

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I’ve already got one of Aine’s cook books but for a fiver I couldn’t complain and the more new recipes for inspiration the better. Then I also liked the idea of discovering some raw food ideas, as I’ve heard lots of positive things about a raw vegan diet. Oh and the last book I guess isn’t a cook book, but a book about vitamins and minerals which I thought would be a very interesting and hopefully informative read. Being vegan now has opened my eyes more to making sure I’m receiving all the nutrients my body needs; and this is not due to the ever present stigma that vegans struggle to get all the nutrients their body needs (a rant for another time), but rather because the whole vegan lifestyle for me is about starting to take better care of my body. So I’m looking forward to educating myself some more!

Now I’d love to know if any of you already own these cookbooks and if so what are your favourite recipes?!

BUTTERBEAN DIP

Published on by simplycarinaxo9 Comments

Good evening beautiful souls,

I have recently been obsessed with this Butterbean dip for the Peace & Parsnips recipe book. It is soo good I just had to share it with you! I use my mini food processor to blend this delight together and recommend you buy yourself one (you can find a link on my Shop page) it’s cheap and super useful. The Cookbook is another I would recommend – even if you aren’t vegan I believe it’s great to try different healthy meals you wouldn’t usually eat and have some fun exploring new recipes. Anyway here goes the easy quick Butterbean dip:

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Ingredients:

  • Garlic (I would use at least 4 large cloves – use this as your starting point and you can always add more or less depending on your taste)
  • Butter Beans
  • Parsley or Coriander (I like to use quite a lot of fresh herbs, more than in the recipe, but again start with a little and keep adding to suit your taste)
  • Pepper & Salt
  • Olive Oil
  • Lemon Juice

Method:

Depending on the size of your blender you might be able to make this in one go or like me have to split the ingredients in half and blend two lots.

  • Chop up you garlic and parsley/coriander and put into blender
  • Add the Butter Beans, the olive oil and the lemon juice
  • Grind some salt and pepper into the mix
  • Now blend together

Suggestion – I admit I never measure the lemon juice and olive oil, I just keep adding them into the mix bit by bit until I get a smooth slightly thicker than hummus consistency

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Ways to use the Butter Bean dip:

This recipe comes in the cookbook as an accompaniment to the beetroot burger (which recipe I will most definitely be sharing at some point too as it’s amazing!) but I have since used it in many different ways and here are some of my favourite – have a go and see what you like and if you can think of any other ways to use the Butter Bean dip, do tell me because I would love to know!

  • Use it like a dip (make it less thick by adding more oil, lemon juice or a splash of water) then chop up some carrot and cucumber sticks or use bread sticks, dip in and enjoy!
  • My favourite is probably these pitta breads – pop a pitta in the toaster and spread the Butter Bean dip on then top with tomatoes or cucumbers or whatever topping you like!
  • I tried this one for the first time last week and though  it was yummy – the Butter Bean dip works well in a wrap and filled with delicious fresh veg like carrots, cucumber and salad – you could also add some falafel which would be scrumptious.

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FAJITAS

Published on by simplycarinaxo19 Comments

Good evening beautiful souls,

The other day I made vegan fajitas – it’s one of my favourite easy meals to make and so I thought I’d share my recipe with you – I hope you enjoy!

(serves 4-5 people)

Ingredients:

  • 1 onion
  • 4 garlic cloves
  • 1 red pepper
  • 3 large tomatoes
  • 1 chilli
  • 1 can of kidney beans
  • Tofu (Instead of meat I use tofu, although I guess you could use vegan mince as well)
  • Fajita spices
  • Salad
  • Wraps

Method:

  • Chop up your onion, garlic, pepper, chilli and tomatoes
  • Drain the tofu and cut up, then marinate in the fajita spices. Tofu by itself is rather tasteless I feel, but marinate it in fajita spices and it changes everything.
  • Fry your onion and garlic in a little olive oil, once a little brown add the peppers and chilli. After 5 mins add the tomatoes and kidney beans
  • Wash the salad (I used Kale to fill the fajitas, but it is quite coarse so any other salad would work well too)
  • Fill your wraps (I recently discovered these amazing beetroot and spinach wraps in Tesco – I definitely recommend). Alternatively you can use romaine lettuce as a wrap which makes for a lighter fresh meal.

Now sit down and enjoy!

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ORANGE PUMPKIN CRISPY CAKES

Published on by simplycarinaxo1 Comment

Good evening guys,

On Friday I hosted a Halloween games night and made these cute pumpkin crispy cakes. I thought you’d like this easy recipe, so here you go.

You will need:

  • Silicone moulds (these pumpkin ones were from Lidl)
  • 195g mars bars
  • 90g butter
  • 3 cups of rice crispies
  • Orange extract
  • 200g milk, dark or white chocolate

Melt chocolate in the microwave and pour a little into each silicon mould. Pop into the fridge to cool. Now chop up butter and mars bars and melt on a low heat until smooth. Add a couple drops of orange extract. Once smooth take off heat and stir in rice crispies. Take moulds out of fridge and fill with rice crispy mixture. Leave to cool down before putting moulds back into fridge to set. You’ll be able to enjoy them after an hour or two.

Love Carina xo

2 TASTY SMOOTHIE RECIPES

Published on by simplycarinaxo3 Comments

Good morning guys,

As you already know I failed the smoothie cleanse challenge I set myself. The thing which really caused me irritation was not being able to eat anything, like physically being able to chew something.  So in the end I resulted to having a breakfast smoothie, a lunch smoothie  and a meal in the evening.

Sadly also apart from yoga I can’t remember going to the gym last week so I only lost 1lbs this week :/ but onward and upwards! It’s a new week now! And I started it with a healthy day and 1 1/2hs at the gym yesterday! Today I had a yummy smoothie bowl for breakfast too – so the health game is back on!

Anyway I did say I’d share my favourite smoothie recipes with you, so here’s two for you – I hope you enjoy, let me know what you think if you try  them!

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Peanut Butter Blaster:

1 banana – 1 heaped tbsp of cocoa powder – 1 heaped tbsp of smooth peanut butter – small squeeze of honey – almond milk (however much you like depending on how runny or thick you like your smoothie)

Green Machine:

40g of fresh ginger – a good handful of mint – 1 squeezed lime – 3 squeezed oranges – 1 large handful of kale – 1 pear – 1tsp of greenboost powder – 1tsp of matcha powder – 1/2 mango (depending on how juicy your oranges are you can also add some cold green tea)

Enjoy guys

Love Carina xo