Moist Chocolate and Coconut Cake

By now, I think I'm finally starting to realize that for most people, healthy cakes should taste just as well as regular cakes for being worth eating at all. I'm that type of person that eat anything that goes under the designation "desserts", no matter if it tastes good or if it's not much to brag about. So, it's quite some good news on behalf of me, to know that it actually exists healthy, gluten and even dairy free (!!!) cakes that taste even better than the cakes we usually eat, which in most cases are stuffed with refined sugar, processed flour with added gluten and loads of bad fats! Now, I don't have to worry about the amount of cake intake, because it won't do any damage on by body, AND it tastes phenomenal. 

This lovely recipe of mine is actually so easy to make, and I bet even my little sister on nine years would have been able to create this beautiful masterpiece without any complains. The consistency of the cake itself is sort of like chocolate fudge, but at the same time incredibly light and airy. It's a cake you don't grow tired of, and you can easily store it in the fridge for up to a week. So in case you get some friends or family over, you already have a delight that you know everybody is going to love! 

MOIST CHOCOLATE AND COCONUT CAKE

Serves 8

200g (apx. 3) carrots

200g dark chocolate

200g coconut oil

4 eggs

150g coconut sugar

3 tbsp honey

1 tbsp coconut flour

2 tbsp almond flour

Boil the carrots for about 40 minutes until they are tender and soft. Mash using a hand blender.

Preheat the oven to 180°C / 320°F, and line a spring pan (24 cm / 9 inches). Melt the chocolate together with the coconut oil in a saucepan on low heat.

Separate the egg yolks and egg whites into separate bowls, and with a mixmaster, whip stiff the egg whites. Then, make eggnogg adding the coconut sugar and honey into the egg yolks.

Simply add the carrot paste, melted chocolate and coconut oil and the different types of flour into the eggnogg bowl. Carefully toss in the whipped egg whites and pour the batter into the spring pan.

Let cook for 30 minutes, let cool for about 10 minutes, and serve with your favourite berries and fruits. I like to drizzle over some honey as well!

Lentil Carrot and Coriander Burger With Avocado Hummus

It's weird, the thing about obsessions. After getting into a sort of pattern, you feel like there are certain things you can't live without...at least not live happily without. Well yes, that's my relationship with veggie burgers. It simply is something I can't live without as a vegetarian.

These burgers must be the best one's I've made this far. They are deliciously moist while having a thin and crisp crust. The taste is both quite spicy from the fresh coriander and onion, but it also has a nice sweet taste which kind of rounds off the rich flavour. The avocado hummus basically speaks for itself as both regular hummus and guacamole tastes fantastic on itself! A great tasting salad is always good to have besides, and so is the roasted almonds which gives a nice crunch and some different texture to the dish!

LENTIL CARROT AND CORIANDER BURGER WITH AVOCADO HUMMUS

Makes 10 burgers / serves 4-5

Burger

6 carrots

1 handful fresh coriander

1 yellow onion

1 tin lentils, drained // 400g

some salt and pepper

1 tsp apple vinegar

the juice from 1/2 a lemon

1/2 cup chickpea / quinoa flour

Avocado Hummus

1 tin chickpeas // 400g

1 ripe avocado

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp tahini

a pinch salt and pepper

the juice from 1/2 a lemon

Salad

1 tin cooked green beans // 400g

1 cucumber

1/2 small red cabbage

10 cherry tomatoes

1 tbsp apple vinegar

the juice from 1/2 a lime

4 tbsp olive oil

1/2 cup almonds

1 tsp ground pepper spice

1 pinch ground cayenne

Start by preparing the burgers. Set of a saucepan with water to boil, and add the carrots. Let them cook for about 35 minutes depending on the thickness of the carrots. Add the fresh coriander, onion and lentils into a food processor. Blend, and once the carrots have become soft, add them in as well. Season with salt and pepper, and pour in the vinegar and lemon juice. Once blended well add the flour a little by little until it's a thick paste. Form the batter into 10 even chuncks, and press them down a bit before leaving each uncooked burger on a baking sheet until it's time to cook them.

Make the avocado hummus by adding all the ingredients into a food processor and blend for about a minute, scraping down the sides a couple of times in between. For the salad, chop the green beans in half, and put into a mixing bowl. Slice the cucumber lengthwise using a cheese cutter or something similar and do the same with the cabbage. Cut the tomatoes four times, and add it all into the salad bowl. Pour over the vinegar and lime juice and give it a stir.

Warm a frying pan and add in the olive oil once heated. Roast the almonds until they're dark golden, which will take about 10 minutes. Add the spice and stir. In the pan you already roasted the almonds in, add some more oil and cook the burgers. Let each burger cook for about 5 minutes on each side. Plate up the dish. Put some salad in the bottom. Slather on some avocado hummus, put on a couple of lentil carrot and coriander burgers and finally drizzle on the almonds!

Banana and Vanilla "Milkshake"

It's been a couple of fantastic weeks here. I've travelled from country to country, and I've seen and experienced so much new and exciting! What I really want to share with you, is this photo of the most beautiful place I've been to, ever! The picture you see below is taken in Albania, in a place called "Syri i kalter". It's basically a big hole in the middle of a river with only spring water coming up from the ground 50-100 meters beneath. The water here is so incredibly fresh and clear, and it's all just a perfectly turquoise hole with loads of different fishes and plants growing underwater. It's just like being in the middle of a jungle in Amazonas! For anybody who want to experience something new and undiscovered for most people, this is the place to visit!

The recipe for this post, is in my home, the thing that make me survive the intolerants of dairy products. This "milkshake" is so delicious. It has a lovely, silky consistency, it's really rich in flavour, takes only 4 ingredients to make, and it's ingredients that most people happen to have at home and it's fast and easy to make! So I say, why not try this one out if you're craving something sweet but nourishing!

BANANA AND VANILLA "MILKSHAKE"

Serves 2

1 tin coconut milk // 400g

3 large bananas

1 vanilla bean

1 tsp cinnamon

Start by scraping out the seeds from the vanilla bean. Simply combine all ingredients in a blender and blend until you see that air bubbles are created in the liquid. Pour into two nice glasses and enjoy!

Maca Oatmeal With Raspberry Acai Sauce

So this is the last night in wonderful Berlin, a city that I've fallen completely in love with! We've went to a numerous excellent cafés and restaurants, and I think I've really got to see many of the best parts about Berlin's street life through exactly that – the food! If you want more details and my recommendations on restaurants and cafés to visit if you're in Berlin, just check out my instagram (@greenfoodlilly), and you'll find everything written there! So as it was the last day in Berlin, and we were only about half way through our list on "places to go to in Berlin", we knew that it was going to be quite a hectic day, and so I knew that I had to make an extra energizing breakfast this morning. For situations like these, oatmeal is perfect! It keeps long in the stomach and you'll feel full for many, many hours. As well I added some wonderful and sweet-tasting maca powder, which is a wonderful source of vitamins as well as it actually helps clear up the skin! On top I added some of my favourite berry sauce, which has a perfect balance between sourness and sweetness! In other words, a really pleasuring breakfast!

MACA OATMEAL WITH RASPBERRY ACAI SAUCE

Serves 2

Oatmeal

1 cup large oats

1 cup water

1 tbsp maca powder

Sauce

 cup fresh raspberries

4 tbsp water

2 tsp acai berry powder

different types of nuts

Combine all ingredients for the oatmeal in a saucepan. Heat up and stir constantly for 5 minutes. In a separate little saucepan, add the berries, water and acai powder. Bring up to boil and mash with a fork until the sauce is evenly smooth. Serve up the oatmeal, pour over the sauce and drizzle over some nuts.

Banana and Blueberry Muffins

Being on vacation can be both a real pleasure while leaving behind school work or job, but it can also be a little bit of a struggle. For me myself, I often find it hard to find right places to go and eat because there is a lot of food I simply can't eat! Well, I've sort of found out what kind of restaurants I can go to without any worries (such as Vietnamese restaurants or Asian in general), but when it comes to sweets I'm kind of stuck. It's often very hard – nearly impossible to find cafe's, restaurants or bakeries that make gluten and dairy-free desserts, so I therefore find it so much better to put together a couple of ingredients that they basically sell in whatever city you may be in! I was really lucky to have a complete kitchen in our rented apartment in Berlin, but you'll do fine as long as you have an oven! I've tried to make this recipe suit a typical holiday-lifestyle, where there isn't a lot of fancy whole food shops, and I've therefore have used soy flour when baking these ones. Until now I don't think I've been to a single shop without seeing soy flour placed in the shelves, so I think soy flour is a great option when you've got nothing else by hand. These muffins are so good-tasting, and are perfectly soft and moist in the middle. They have a lovely taste from the sweet banana, and the blueberry juice literally just melts in the mouth just by taking a bite! A lovely sweet treat on a summer day!

BANANA AND BLUEBERRY MUFFINS

Makes 12 muffins

3 ripe bananas

1 cup soy flour

1/2 cup sesame oil

2 organic eggs

1 tsp natron bicarbonate

1/2 cup fresh blueberries

Preheat the oven to 150°C / 300°F, and line 12 muffin moulds on a baking tray. Mash the bananas in a bowl using the back of a fork, and mash until it's got a smooth and even texture. Simply add the rest of the ingredients, give it a good stir and add about 2 tablespoons of batter into each mould. Place in the oven for 20 minutes and enjoy!

Filled Zucchini With Beetroot and Carrot Paste and New Potatoes

Hi dear all of you lovely readers! To give a little update, I just arrived Berlin, and I've got to say that I'm deeply impressed by the germans when it comes to the way they've figured out their direction within the food world. Of course we still see loads of people eating deep-fried stuff such as snitzels and so on, but they're really inquisitive when it comes to developing new and healthier food habits which focuses on eating clean and organic food. We ended up eating at a really nice place called "Oliv", just outside "Alexander Platz" and I've really got to give credits for the food! So for anyone who happen to be in Berlin, I really recommend visiting that lovely restaurant!

Over to the food-part of this blogpost. Zucchini's always been a huge favourite of mine in the world of fruits and vegetables. You can basically make anything out of them and use it in every recipe you'd like, either it's stews, lasagnes, soups and even cakes! So here I chose to take the wonderful vegetable in itself and emphasize the beauty and deliciousness of this green and nourishing vegetable. This is a perfect recipe for anybody who loves zucchinis and genuinely well-cooked dishes!

 FILLED ZUCCHINI WITH BEETROOT AND CARROT PASTE AND NEW POTATOES

Serves 4

Filled Zucchini

2 large zucchini's

1/2 tin lentils

1 leek

2 charlottes

2 garlic cloves

4 cherry tomatoes

1 pinch salt and pepper

6 tbsp olive oil

1 handful thyme

Beetroot and Carrot Paste

4 small beets

4 carrots

1 tbsp tahini

3 tbsp neutral oil

Potatoes

new potatoes // try and choose the smallest ones as they contain more nutrition

some olive oil

1 pinch salt and pepper

some thyme

Start by preheating the oven to 200°C / 390°F. Roughly chop the beets and place in a saucepan with boiling water. Add in the carrots as well, and let it all boil for 50 minutes. In another saucepan, boil the potatoes for about 30 minutes until they're quite soft. Cut the zucchinis lengthwise and scrape out the seeds using the back of the spoon, but remember to put the scraped seeds into a mixing bowl. Add the lentils, chopped leek, charlottes and finely sliced garlic into the bowl, add half of the oil, salt and pepper. Stir well, and add about two spoons of the mixture into each and every of the hollowed zucchini's. Place on a baking tray, drizzle some olive oil on top, cut the tomatoes in half and place two halves on top of each zucchini. Put the thyme besides, to make them turn out crispy when taken out of the oven. Let cook for 35 minutes. When the beets and carrots are really soft, put them in a food processor and process together with some oil and tahini. Pour over into a bowl for serving. Heat a frying pan with olive oil, add the potatoes, drizzle over some salt, pepper and chopped thyme and let them roast until the skin has become really crispy. Put the potatoes in a bowl, and serve everything! Enjoy!

Overnight Aqai and Flaxseed Oats

When it comes to breakfast, I feel like nothing can compare with the wonderful feeling of planning out which delicious meal you're going to make the next day. Sometimes I take this little session of planning and imagining which breakfast I want to cook for myself right before I stand up the same morning, while other times I'm quite targeted when it comes to what I imagine I would like to eat. Often, I make breakfast plans in my head for up to a week ahead! That was the case this morning, and I therefore find overnight oats perfect when I find myself in that situation. The feeling of going to bed, knowing that the breakfast is in the fridge, processing and intensifying all the flavours and nutrition inside of them, must be one of the best feelings. This is yet another reason to look forward to wake up!

OVERNIGHT AQAI AND FLAXSEED OATS
Serves 1

1/2 cup oats
2 tsp ground flaxseeds
2 tsp aqai berry powder
1/3 cup coconut water
1/3 cup almond milk

Topping
2 figs, dried or fresh
goji berries
sunflower seeds

Combine all ingredients for the overnight oats in a little bowl, stir and place in the fridge and (obviously) let sit in the fridge over the night or for at least 6 hours to make the oats expand and let the flaxseeds form a sort of gel-like layer outside of them. Once ready to be eaten, take out of the fridge, half the figs, place them on top and drizzle over some goji berries and sunflower seeds.

Super-Fiber Summer Smoothie

What isn't better than to drink a refreshing and energizing glass of smoothie on a hot summer's day? Well...nothing is better than that. Especially since this large portion of super-pink, thick liquid is so full of all sorts of delicious and exotic flavours! The contrast of oats/granola in the bottom and in the middle with the smooth and creamy smoothie really is heavenly, and a must-try for any smoothie-and breakfast lover!

SUPER -FIBER SUMMER SMOOTHIE

Serves 1

Smoothie
1 cup coconut water

1/3 cup oat milk

10 frozen raspberries

10 frozen strawberries

1 mango

5 tbsp oats

1 tsp cinnamon

1 handful cashew nuts

For the layering

crunchy and fruity buckwheat and oat granola

Simply combine all ingredients in a blender and blend for a minute. Add 3 tablespoons of granola in the bottom of the glass, pour in some smoothie, add another tablespoon granola and pour in the rest of the smoothie.

Vegan Chocolate Chip Chia Cookies

Finally...my dear readers, I've found the optimal cookie recipe that tastes phenomenal! As for those who have read the "regular" yet heathier recipe of mine that I posted some while back (Healthier Chocolate Chip Cookie), I promised to find a great recipe for a vegan version of the delicious cookie. And I held my promise , and here you got the most fantastic recipe for classic chocolate chip cookies for anybody who happen to be vegan, or just want to try out something a bit unusual. These darlings are full packed with a sweet, round flavour and are perfectly soft but with a nice medium-hard crust. So, so delicious!

VEGAN CHOCOLATE CHIP CHIA COOKIES

Makes 8 cookies

2 tbsp chia seeds

2/3 cup water

2 tbsp coconut oil

2 tbsp chia oil

1/2 cup buckwheat flour

1/2 cup almond meal/flour

4 tbsp honey

50g dark chocolate

Start by preheating the oven to 200°C / 390°F. Add the chia seeds into the 2/3 cup of water, and let it soak for 10 minutes. Have the oil, flour and honey into a mixing bowl and mix into an even but thick batter. Cut the chocolate into little chunks and add it into the batter. Finally stir in the soaked chia seeds. Line a baking tray and create the cookies by adding a spoon of batter, pressing down, and spreading out into a circle. Repeat 8 times until you have 8 even sized cookies. Cook for 10 minutes in the oven, take out and let cool for half an hour before eating!

Spelt Crust With Minted Avocado Topping

I am personally a huge fan of spelt flour. It's so easy to work with and it makes every pastry a dream to make and to eat afterwards! People who are really into the wave of gluten free food, know that spelt do contain gluten. But not much! As I find myself only being intolerant, which basically mean sensitive, for gluten, I don't find eating any crust or pastry made out of spelt flour any problem at all! So if you're like me, and is only sensitive for gluten, spelt is worth trying out once in a while.

Over to the crust (or pizza as one may call it) itself. Because this spelt crust is really an enjoyable and crispy option for the thin-crusted Italian style pizza. This together with the velvety soft texture of the topping and the quite interesting flavour the mint adds to the dish, this really is a wonderful and comforting dinner meal or appetizer for anybody!

SPELT CRUST WITH MINTED AVOCADO TOPPING

Serves 1-2

Crust

1 cup spelt flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp sodium bicarbonate

1/3 cup lukewarm water

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Topping
1 avocado
1 cup green lentils
about 5 mint leaves
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
juice from 1/2 a lemon

Preheat the oven to 200°C / 390°F. Simply combine all of the ingredients for the crust in a mixing bowl, stir with a wooden spoon and once the dough is finally coming together, knead the dough with your hands. Let it sit for 2-3 hours. Sprinkle some spelt flour onto a clean surface, and place the dough in the middle. Roll out the dough using a rolling pin and place onto a lined baking tray. Cook in the oven for 10 minutes. Meanwhile combine the ingredients for the topping in a food processor and run it until a smooth paste. Once the crust is ready, slather the topping on top of the crust and finish off by sprinkling over some mint and oregano.