Zizi's Adventures - Real Food, Real Stories

Vegan Sugar Free Banana Coconut Pancake with Vanilla Coconut Cream

by

After posting a sugar free chocolate cake here I am again with something yummie, vegan and also sugar free. The pancake is a simple vegan recipe (similar to the others I posted before) but the cream’s recipe comes from one of my favourite blogs, the Green Kitchen Stories. 
If you make this vanilla coconut cream your kitchen will smell heavenly. It is a real comfort, lazy breakfast on a Sunday morning.

Vegan Sugar Free Banana Coconut Pancake with Vanilla Coconut Cream

Ingredients (makes 8-12 pancakes)

For the pancake
– 1 cup white spelt flour
– 1/4 cup whole wheat spelt flour
– 1/2 cup shredded coconut (unsweetend)
– 2 tablespoons aluminium free baking powder
– 1 cup oat milk
– 1 ripe banana, mashed with a fork
– 1 vanilla pod, split and seeded
– pinch of salt
– coconut oil

For the vanilla coconut cream
– 400 ml (1 can) coconut milk
– 1 cinnamon stick
– 1 vanilla pod (you can use only the skin of the vanilla that was seeded for the pancake)
– 3 dates, pitted
– 1 small piece of ginger, peeled
– 2 tablespoons tapioca or corn starch

Method

In a bowl mix together the dry ingredients: flour, shredded coconut, baking powder and salt. In another bowl mash the banana then add oat milk, vanilla. Give each mixture a stir then add the wet to the dry combining just until mixed. Set aside for 10 minutes to allow the batter to rise.
Meanwhile make the coconut cream. Put coconut milk, cinnamon stick, ginger and vanilla in a pot. Let it boil on medium heat, while stirring, then turn down the temperature so that it simmers. In a small bowl mix the 2 tablespoons tapioca starch with 2 tablespoons water and add it to the coconut cream, cooking for another 20-25 minutes (occaisonally stirring). Drain the cream (removing the cinnamon stick, dates, ginger, vanilla pod) and set aside. 
Prepare a non-stick pan with 1/4 teaspoon coconut oil on medium heat. Spoon batter into pan, forming 2 small pancakes. Cook until lightly brown on the bottom. Turn and brown the other side. Serve the pancakes with the vanilla coconut cream.

Globe Zucchinis Stuffed with Pesto Quinoa

by

After I  had posted this recipe on my Hungarian blog I noticed another globe zucchini recipe on Béa’s blog. It was funny. She also stuffed her zucchinis with grain but with millet not with quinoa. 
I also love millet but right now my favourite grain is quinoa. It’s not difficult to find out if you follow my blog. 🙂 I cooked the quinoa and seasoned with home made pesto. To make the pesto I used lemon basil. Lemon basil, known for its strong lemon scent, is very popular in a variety of cuisines, especially Thai and Italian.

It’s so easy to make this dish. It’s full of flavour.

Globe Zucchinis Filled with Pesto Quinoa

Ingredients

– 4 small globe zucchinis
– 1 cup cooked quinoa
– 2 handful of lemon basil leaves
– 4 cloves garlic
– 1 tablespoon pine nuts
– 1/2 lemon’s juice
– 50 g goat cream cheese (optional)
– 100-200 ml olive oil
– salt, pepper

Method

Wash the zucchinis then cut a small top for each one. Using a spoon, scoop out the flesh, makin sure not to puncture the outer skin. Set aside.
To make the pesto put all the ingredients: basil leaves, garlic cloves, pine nuts, olive oil, salt and pepper in a kitchen blender and mix everthing until combine (incorporated). Pour the pesto over the cooked quinoa and mix well. This time you can stir in the goat cream cheese.
Stuff the zucchinis with this pesto quinoa then top each with its hat. Place them in a baking dish, drizzle with olive oil and bake the zucchinis for 30 minutes on 170-180C (350F). Serve with green salad.


Lemon Quinoa with Zucchini and Chickpeas

by

The main wave of emotions after the amazing Food Blogger Connect weekend still keeps me going and makes my head spinning! I don’t even know where to start so I need to calm down first than I can write my post about the event.

Anyway… until then I have a couple of recipes to share with you. I’m a bit behind with the translations (from Hungarian to English) so this and a couple of more recipes’ (that to come) photos were taken with my old camera. Lemon quinoa with zucchini and chickpeas is an easy summer dish that can be your  delicious lunch or dinner anytime.

Lemon Quinoa with Zucchini and Chickpeas

Ingredients (serves 3-4)

– 1 cup quinoa
– 4 small zucchinis (yellow and green), sliced
– 1 can (240 g) chickpeas, drained
– 1 onion, peeled and chopped
– 3 branches fresh thyme
– 1/2 lemon’s grated zest and juice
– salt, pepper
– coconut or olive oil

Method

Bring the quinoa, water and 1 teaspoon salt to a boil in a pot. Reduce heat and simmer for about 15-20 minutes or until the quinoa opens up revealing a little spiral and is soft and pleasant to chew. Set aside.
Heat a splash of coconut oil in a pan and saute the onion. After 5 minutes add zucchini and saute for another 5-6 minutes, then add the chickpeas. Season with salt, pepper and the leaves of thyme branches. Add lemon juice and cooked quinoa and turn off the heat. When serve sprinkle with lemon zest.

Vegan Strawberry Buckwheat Pancake

by

I made my first vegan pancake not long ago. Since then I tried different kind of flours with different kind of fruits. To be honest I had a few kitchen failures as well so I have to work on some of the recipes because they didn’t turn out how I wanted to. This strawberry buckwheat one was a complete success and the first time using buckwheat flour.
Buckwheat flour is flour ground from Fagopyrum esculentum, known more casually as buckwheat. It has a rich, earthy, nutty flavor and a very high nutritional value, making it popular in many nations, especially in Asia. In addition, buckwheat flour is gluten free, leading people with gluten intolerance to seek it out as a flour alternative. Buckwheat is an excellent source of protein. It is one of the few sources of plant protein that contain all 8 essential amino acids, in particular the amino acids lysine, threonine and tryptophan.
It is low in fat and high in fibre. It is also a good source of complex carbohydrate and has a low simple carbohydrate (sugar) content. Buckwheat is rich in iron, potassium, zinc, calcium, phosphorus, manganese, magnesium and selenium. It also contains the antioxidants vitamin E, rutin and quercitin.All things considered, that makes buckwheat and its flour a pretty healthy food.

Vegan Strawberry Buckwheat Pancake

Ingredients (makes 10 pancakes)

– 1 cup buckwheat flour
– 1/4 cup whole wheat spelt flour
– 2 tablespoons baking powder
– 1/2 vanilla bean, split and seeded
– 1 cup oatmilk
– 2 tablespoons sunflower oil + for cooking
– 1 tablespoon maple syrup + for serving
– pinch of salt
– 8 pieces of strawberries, cut in thin slices

Method

In a bowl mix together the dry ingredients: flours, baking powder, salt. In another separate bowl mix together oatmilk, oil, vanilla and maple syrup. Give each mixture a stir then add the wet to the dry combining just until mixed. Add the strawberry slices and mix it with the batter. Set aside for 5 minutes to allow batter to rise.

Prepare a non-stick pan with 1 teaspoon oil on medium heat. Spoon batter into pan, forming a pancake. Cook until lightly brown on the bottom. Turn and brown the other side. Serve with maple syrup and more strawberries.

Creamy Avocado Macaroni

by

I can’t tell you how many years ago it was (but imagine a long long time!) that I spent every summer with my brother at my grandparents’ place in a small Hungarian town, called Makó. Both of my grandmothers cooked lunch everyday. When we heard the bell ring at noon on the radio, the lunch was ready, the table was set and we could eat. I can still evoke the smell of those kitchens. I remember the vintage cutleries and plates we used – today I’m trying to find some of these in my parents’ garage – I’m a kitchen props addict! 🙂 If we had pasta for lunch it was obvious that my grandmothers made it fresh. During Socialism there were no dried spaghetti, fusilli or penne pastas in the Hungarian stores. If you wanted to eat it, you had to make it at home. Oh, how I miss this home made pasta time!
Today, we, people are a bit too comfortable, don’t you think? It is easier to buy the dry pasta from the shelves of the supermarkets then make it at home. I know it because I do the same. So I decided to do something against it. I bought a pasta machine and from now on I’d like to make fresh pasta as much as I can.

I’m talking about my childhood and especially the fresh pasta because my dearest Italian friend, Giulia hosts May’s Monthly Mingle and the theme is Fresh Pasta. Behind the idea of Monthly Mingle is the talented foodblogger and food photographer, Meeta whose work I admire very much. She loves entertaining and with this virtual mingle she would like to invite everyone over to join her and her guest hosts for a bit of fun, story telling and hopefully a lot of laughter.

Giulia, as a true Italian, is a fresh pasta maniac. It has gradually become her favourite dish and her favourite executive toy when she’s stressed. Well, this macaroni making was my first try and I was a bit stressed to handle the pasta machine… twisting and cutting the macaronis at the same time! They don’t look very pretty but with the creamy avocado sauce the whole dish tastes fresh and delicious. It is a quick, comforting, home-y food.

Thank you  Giulia for setting this exciting challenge!

Creamy Avocado Macaroni

Ingredients (serves 2)

For the pasta
– 2 organic eggs
– 200 g semolina flour + more for dusting
– a pinch of salt

For the avocado creamy sauce
– 2 ripe avocados, peeled and pitted
– 3 garlic cloves, peeled
– 1 lemon’s freshly squeezed juice + lemon zest
– small handful of basil
– salt, pepper
– 1 tablespoon olive oil

Method

To make the sauce place all the ingredients in the food processor. Start blending it until becomes very smooth. Set aside.

To make the pasta dough mix together the flour with the eggs and salt in a bowl. Using your hands knead the dough until it gets elastic, kind of soft and doesn’t stick to your fingers anymore. Set aside for 15 minutes. In smaller portions press the dough through the pasta machine making macaronis or any kind of shape. Sprinkle them with flour.

In the meantime bring salted water to a boil in a  medium sized pan. Add in the macaronis (in portions).  When the noodles begin to float (3-5 minutes) on the top, remove with a slotted spoon, drain and rinse well and place pasta into a bowl. Follow this procedure until all the macaronis have been cooked. Pour sauce over the pasta and toss until fully combined. Garnish with lemon zest, pepper and serve immediately. (This dish does not reheat well due to the avocado in the sauce.)