Category Archives: Food Blog

Hamburger Buns

Makes 8 large buns.

Having worked as a cook and being a recipe developer and food obsessed in general people often ask me, “What’s your favourite food”? They expect some fancy answer like Canard a l’Orange or Boeuf Bourguignon. I can actually see their facial expressions go from inquisitive to complete disappointment when I tell them that it is just Hamburgers. I love them.

Not just any ol’ hamburger. But my own, with home-made hamburger buns, home made sauce, home made pickles, the whole shebang. I would never, ever buy pre-shaped hamburger patties, because I just don’t trust the seasoning, most of the time they have unhealthy ingredients and they’re so much fun to make at home. And you have the freedom to do whatever you want. Also pre shaped burgers tend to be too compact for my liking, and end up being rubbery, Yuck. But it all begins with a good bun so here we go.

Of course you can eat the buns with something else, for breakfast with egg and bacon, or for lunch with a tuna salad for example. They freeze very well.

Ingredients:

1 C. luke warm water about ° F

1/4 C.luke warm milk, soy or regular. (I use Soy)

1 tbsp. instant yeast

2 tbsp Honey

1 egg, at room temperature

2 1/2 tbsp. butter

3 C. Spelt flour

1 1/2 C. Whole grain Spelt flour

1 1/2 tsp. Himalayan salt

1 egg beaten for glaze

1 or 2 tbsp. sesame seeds for sprinkling on top

Method:

Mix the first 4 ingredients in the bowl of your food processor, set with the hook attachment. Let the yeast proof for 5 minutes until frothy.

Add the egg and butter, and mix a few turns. Set the processor on low and slowly add the flours and the salt. Knead for 10 minutes.

Turn out the dough on a floured surface, and give it a few turns and shape into a ball.

Put into a bowl sprayed with oil and cover with oil sprayed cling film. Let rise in a warm place for 2 hours. Until double in size.

Take the dough out of the bowl and put it back on your work surface sprinkled with a little flour. Knead a few times and shape into 8 buns. Put them on a baking tray covered with baking paper. Brush the buns with the beaten egg and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Cover the buns with cling film that has been sprayed with oil. Let rise for 30 min. No longer because they will keep on rising.

Preheat the oven to 400 °F.

Bake the buns for 15 minutes, turning them once half way. Let cool on a rack.

Vegan Raspberry and Chocolate Fudge Pie

4 Replies

So good and healthy, you could have it for breakfast lunch and dinner.

Full of protein, fibre, iron, vitamins and calcium. It’s Vegan, Sugar free and Gluten free.

The filling is made with Tofu which is has many health benefits, (you can’t taste Tofu, I promise) it lowers cholesterol and it promotes bone health, just to name a few.

The base is a crispy cookie like bottom, that is spread with a thin layer of +70% melted chocolate, to make sure the cookie crust stay crispy. Then a layer of fudgy chocolate cream and topped with a layer of light and fresh raspberry cream. So good. Then decorated with more berries and chocolate shavings.

Serves 8

Pre heat oven to 360° F

INGREDIENTS:

Bottom Layer:

3/4 C. Almonds, unsalted
3/4 C. gluten free Whole oats
a pinch of Himalayan salt
2 tbsp. Agave syrup
4 tbsp. coconut oil

Blend the ingredients in the food processor, until crumbly. Press into an 8″round cake tin covered with baking paper. Bake for 20 minutes. Let cool on a rack

Chocolate layer:

2 oz. 78% dark chocolate broken into pieces. I use the one sweetened with coconut blossom sugar.

Melt in the microwave for a minute until melted.

Cover the cookie layer with the chocolate to create a barrier. This will keep the cookie crunchy. Let the chocolate set completely before adding the chocolate fudge layer

Chocolate fudge layer:

8.8 oz Firm tofu, drained and squeezed dry with a kitchen towel.
3 tbsp. cocoa powder
3 tbsp Agave syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 pinch of salt
1 tbsp peanut butter.

Cut the tofu into small cubes and processor on very high until you have a smooth paste, add a few drops off water if it become too hard to blend.

Add the remaining ingredients. Set aside

Raspberry Layer:

1 C. Frozen raspberries
3/4 tsp Agar-Agar
3/4 C. Plain (soy or almond) Yoghurt
3 tbsp Agave syrup

Heat raspberries in a small saucepan, add the agar agar. Cook for 1 – 2 minutes. Set aside and let cool. Add the agave syrup. Add the yoghurt before it starts to set. Mix well.

To assemble, leave the ring around the cake tin. Spread the chocolate fudge layer over the chocolate layer. Let set in the fridge for half an hour. Next spread the raspberry layer over the fudge layer. Let set for a few more hours before decorating with more Raspberries or mixed fruit and chocolate curls and shavings.

Enjoy!

Myra XO

Watermelon Salad

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Serves 4

At home we try to eat what’s in Season, it feels like the right thing to do. So it’s really exciting when I see a Watermelon for the first time in season. Not only are they delicious but very healthy too. They are full of Lycopene which is a carotenoid good for heart health and bone health. They also contain Citrulline.

Citrulline is an amino acid that is converted by our kidneys into arginine.

Watermelon contains about 250 milligrams of citrulline per cup. Arginine improves blood flow and there’s also some preliminary evidence arginine may help prevent excess accumulation of fat in fat cells. Hello?