APRIL RECIPES​

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Coconut and Banana Muffins

I've had a bag of coconut flour in my cupboards for longer than I care to think about (luckily it has a long use by date). Finally I got round to using it, and now I can't get enough of the stuff. My current thing is coconut muffins - sweet and savoury. 

1 cup coconut flour
6 eggs
4 tbsp melted coconut oil
2 medium sized bananas - mashed
2 tbsp flax or chia seeds
1 tbsp natural vanilla essence
1 cup almond or coconut milk
2 tbsp rice malt syrup (if you really want to be healthy use blackstrap molasses instead)
1/2 tsp mineral salt
1 tsp baking soda

Preheat the oven to 350 F/170 C. Sieve the flour into a large mixing bowl. Add flax, salt and baking soda. Whizz up the eggs, milk, vanilla essence and rice malt in a blender and then slowly beat into the dry mixture. The coconut flour is really absorbent, so it will soak it all up. Then add in the mashed bananas and melted coconut oil and mix really well. Divide out the mixture into 12 cup cake cases - it doesn't rise much, so don't worry about filling them to the top. They take about 20-25 minutes to cook. 

You can adapt them really easily - sometimes I add one banana and then a handful of blueberries. Or try savoury ones (my mum loved them, my dad not so much!). Instead of fruit, rice malt and vanilla essence, add a handful of parmesan and a pinch of turmeric. I also then add a few pumpkin seeds and a little more salt. But they are quite easy to adapt to your own tastes, so give it a go and see what you can come up with. ​

Sweet Berry
​Smoothie

Handful of fresh strawberries or raspberries
Handful of blueberries - frozen are fine
Half a ripe banana
1 tbsp ground flaxseed - you can find these in all supermarkets
1 tsp peanut butter - find healthy brands that don't add sugar
Milk of choice - coconut and unsweetened almond milk work as well as dairy
A couple of ice cubes

​Simply place everything in a blender and enjoy!

Home-made
​Hummus

​If you have a blender or food processor you can make your own hummus. It’s quick, easy, cheap and you know exactly what’s gone into it! 
 
Strain the chickpeas from a can (don’t throw away the liquid). Or if cooking your own chickpeas, take roughly the equivalent amount of 1 can. Again, keep the cooking liquid. Then whizz together:

chickpeas
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon good oil – extra virgin olive oil, hemp oil, whatever you like
2 teaspoons either tahini or good nut butter
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
salt
add some of the chickpea liquid if the consistency needs it
 
Be flexible with all the ingredients according to consistency and taste – what’s right for you. I’ve been using nut butter that I’ve made myself simply by whizzing together nuts, a pinch of salt and ground nut oil.