Zizi's Adventures - Real Food, Real Stories

Vegan Chocolate Popsicles With Roasted Almonds

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One day I woke up and I knew I had to make vegan chocolate popsicles somehow. I was looking for recipes but didn’t find anything suitable for me. Then I had the idea that I hade made raw chocolate ganache cake before and what would happen if I used that recipe for the popsicles…

Then I tried…

I tested the recipe…

And you know what happened?

Miracle…

Not exactly! We had creamy, thick chocolate-y vegan popsicles to enjoy! Yum!

It’s easy to make and I dare to say it is the healthy version of chocolate popsicles.

Don’t miss this experience!

Vegan Chocolate Popsicles with Roasted Almonds

Ingredients (for 4 popsicles)

– 1 ripe avocado
– 50 g unsweetened cocoa powder
– 60-70 g coconut flower sugar or cane sugar
– 30 g coconut oil
– 100-150 ml almond milk (you can substitute with rice- or oat- or soymilk)
– 1 vanilla bean, split and seeded
– pinch of salt
– small handful of almond

Method

Roast the almonds in a dry non-stick pan for 5-6 minutes. Set aside to cool, then chop them roughly.

Place all other ingredients in a food processor then blend everything until smooth. If you find it too thick, add a little bit more almond milk. Put half of the roasted almonds into the popsicle molds, then pour the chocolate ganache cream over the almonds. Sprinkle the remaining almond over the top, insert sticks and freeze until solid (at least 2 hours).

Enjoy!

Strawberry Leather Or The Healthy Version Of Gummy Candy

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This is going to be a very red post, full of strawberries. Strawberry leather… have you heard about it before? This is actually fruit leather and you can make it from juicy apricot or peach (I will definitely try from these stone fruits too!). This leather thing is exciting not only for children, for adults too. It’s very easy to make but it takes a few hours. Anyway, you will be amazed with the result so don’t miss it!

Last year I found a couple of fruit leather recipes online but somehow I’ve never made them. This year when the Hungarian strawberry season started I was the first one at the market to buy a batch and try to make these yum gummy candies.

Why should we make our gummy candies? The traditional gummy candy (bear) is made from a mixture of sugar (a lot!!!), glucose syrup, starch, flavouring, food colouring, preservative, citric acid, and gelatin (derived from the collagen mainly inside pig skin (hide) and cattle bones!!!). I think that’s enough reason to convince myself to make my homemade version as healthy as possible. We can say that gummy candy is only a plastic chemical product. Remember this next time when you stand at the cash desk and all the colourful candies will tempt you to buy them.

Raw food diet followers make fruit leather in food dehydratator. I don’t own one so I baked my version in the oven at the lowest temperature. Ingredients are only strawberry, honey and vanilla. Do you also think it’s a healthy gummy candy?

Strawberry Leather

Ingredients

– 5 cups strawberry (about 600-700 g)
– 3 tablespoons honey (you can use maple syrup or rice syrup too)
– 1 vanilla bean, split and seeded

Method

Hull and half the washed strawberries. Place them in a pan and cook on low heat for about 12-15 minutes. Turn off the heat, add honey and vanilla. Pureé it with a hand blender. Pour the strawberry mixture on to a baking sheet (38*35 cm / 14,96*13,77 inch) covered with parchment paper.

Put in the oven and bake (dry) at 50C (122F) – this is my lowest temperature in my oven – for about 6-8 hours. Leave the oven door a bit open to let the moist out.

First time when I took the sheet out of the oven the leather was very firm so I put it back in the oven and I let  it cool there. The next morning the leather was softer and it was easy to peel off from the parchment paper.  Use a scissor to cut stripes and roll them up.

Strawberry leather on baking sheet…

Strawberry leather without baking sheet turned against the light…

Amazing experience – strawberry leather in my hands!

Fruit rolls…

Vanilla And Honey Rhubarb Galette And A Virtual Potluck Dinner Party For Food Revolution Day

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I bet May 19, 2012 will mark an important day in history thanks to Jamie Oliver’s first-ever global Food Revolution Day. Jamie Oliver is a great guy and a huge inspiration. I got to know him (not in person unfortunatelly! yet!) 12 years ago when I used to live in the UK (before he become famous in Hungary). He is an amazing, enthusiastic person, a big fighter. This food revolution movement is for you and your family. If you care about your children and their future, take this revolution and make it your own. Educate yourself about food and cooking. Make only a few small changes, cook at home with your family from fresh ingredients and magical things will happen!

“Food Revolution Day is also an opportunity for everyone around the world to do something.” – says Jamie in a Huffington Post article. “The Food Revolution and Food Revolution Day is about empowering people through education or, frankly, just inspiring people to be more street-wise about food, where it comes from and how it affects their bodies. If you know how to cook you can save yourself money, feel better and live longer, and the chances are, your kids will follow suit. After all, we all kind of become our parents in the end.”

This is Jamie’s video about the Food Revolution Day…

We, international food bloggers and friends stand up for the real food event that’s why we decided to organize a virtual potluck for this day. Everyone cooked and baked her own food at home and today we are bringing it together on the Internet and sharing the recipes with you. The only thing we regret that this party is virtual. Hopefully we will organize something similar live in the near future.Let me introduce you our small team and the menu:
Karin (from Germany, originally from the USA) – Nibbles and Dips
Giulia (from Italy) – Green Panzanella Salad
Valeria (from Italy) – Purple Kale, Sorrel and Lancashire “Caesar” Salad
Regula (from Belgium) : Mussels with Real Traditional Belgian Fries
Emiko (from Australia): Crespelle Verdi di Pesce
Sarka (from England, originally from Czech Republic): Rhubarb and Almond Panna Cotta
Zita, myself (from Hungary): Vanilla and Honey Rhubarb Galette

Galette is a general term used in the French cuisine to designate various types of flat, round or freeform crusty cakes. Galette is also a type of thin large pancake mostly associated with the regions of Normandy and Brittany, where it replaced at times bread as basic food, but it is eaten countrywide. The filling can be savory or sweet, you can add any kind of herbs and spices.

Galette is very easy to make and you can take with you for a dinner party or a picnic with friends. I used whole spelt flour and buckwheat flour that has a rich, nutty flavor and a very high nutritional value. In addition, it is gluten free. Rhubarb is one of my favorite spring vegetables although I always use it in desserts. Honey and vanilla perfectly complete the sour taste of rhubarb.

Except cane powder sugar, lemon and vanilla all of this recipe’s ingredients come from Hungary so they are locally grown and produced (I have rhubarb plants in my small community garden but I couldn’t use it yet so I bought the rhubarb at the organic farmers market in Budapest).

Vanilla and Honey Rhubarb Galette

Ingredients (serves 4)

– 200 g whole spelt flour
– 150 g buckwheat flour
– 160 g cold butter
– 3 tablespoon cane powder sugar
– 1/2 teaspoon salt
– grated zest of 1/2 lemon
– 8 tablespoons cold water
– 170 g rhubarb, cleaned and cut into 5-7 cm pieces
– 3 tablespoons honey
– 1 vanilla bean, split and seeded
– freshly whipped cream to serve

Method

In a bowl mix together flours, powder sugar, salt and lemon zest. Cut butter into small chunks and add to the flour mixture. I always use my hands for this: with your fingers rub the butter into the flour until you get a crumbly mixture (pea size pieces). Mix in the cold water until the pastry comes together into a smooth, elastic ball. Wrap in plastic and place in refrigerator for at least an hour.

In a bowl mix together rhubarb with honey and vanilla.

Preheat the oven to 180C (350F). On a lightly floured surface, roll the pie dough out to a 30 cm (about 11,81 inch) circle and transfer to a baking sheet covered in parchment paper. Place the rhubarb pieces over the pie crust, leaving about 5 cm (about 1-2 inches) boarder. Fold over the edges of the crust, pleating as needed to make an even circle. Bake galette at 170-180C (350F) for about 30-40 minutes until crust is golden brown. Serve with whipped cream.

Millet, Oat And Apple Muffins And Meeting Béatrice Peltre

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These gorgeous, yum and moist muffins were baked for a picnic to Szentendre. This riverside town close to Budapest is known for its museums, galleries and artists. Due to its picturesque appearance and easy rail and river access, it has become a popular destination for tourists staying in the capital of Hungary.

This was the first time I used millet flour in baking. It has a subtle flavor, lots of vitamins and minerals, and adds a lovely creamy color to baked goods. I had a good experience with using it so I’ll give it a try next time too. Have you tried millet flour before?

Image is copyright of Béatrice Peltre and is used with author’s permission

This muffin recipe comes from my latest favorite cookbook of Béatrice Peltre “La Tartine Gourmande – Recipes for an Inspired Life. I’ve been a big fan of Béa’s award-winning blog for a while. The first time I found it I couldn’t stop reading her stories and admiring her photos. In a couple of days I went through all her posts! I think it was love at first sight.She is an icon in the food blogging sphere. I think everyone knows her name and wonderful blog. If somehow you don’t, hurry up and check it out, after reading this post. She is a friendly and chatty person, a great cook, a talented baker and knows her way around her camera. Béa’s styling is stunning and the mouthwatering photos she takes, make you jump and run into the kitchen.

I feel lucky because I had the chance to meet and see her at work last August at the Food Blogger Connect in London. I learnt so much from Béa and other speakers of the event. The biggest highlight of attending the conference was to meet my fellow food blogger friends in person. I came away with so much inspriation, idea, a whole group of new friends and ready for action attitude.

Béa at work

Béa’s book transports you to a word of bright colours, flavors and delectable, easy to make recipes. Although she is not vegetarian I hardly found meat or fish recipes in the book so I was happy that I could cook & bake all the recipes only with small changes. Like I did with these muffins. No quinoa flour is available in Hungary so I used millet flour instead. I changed the butter into coconut oil and Muscovado sugar into coconut flower sugar.

Millet, Oat and Apple Muffins

Ingredients (makes 10-12)

– 60 g millet flour
– 30 g oat flour
– 50 g rolled oats, plus more for topping
– 50 g coconut flower sugar (you can substitute with cane or Muscovado sugar)
– 1 teaspoon alkaline free baking powder
– 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
– 175 g apple (2 apples), peeled, cored and grated
– 2 organic eggs
– 50 g coconut oil (you can substitute with butter)
– 2 tablespoons tahini (sesame cream)
– 1 vanilla bean, split and seeded (you can substitute with 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract)
– pinch of sea salt

Method

Preheat the oven to 180C (350F) and line 10-12 hole muffin tray with paper cases.

In a bowl mix together the dry ingredients: flours, rolled oats, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In another bowl beat the eggs with the cane sugar until creamy and light, then add tahini, coconut oil, vanilla and mix. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ones and with a wooden spoon mix until smooth (don’t overwork the batter!). Stir in the grated apple.

Spoon the mixture into the cases, filling them about two thirds full, dividing the batter evenly and topping each muffin with rolled oats. Bake the muffins for about 25 minutes on 180C (350F). Remove from the oven when a cocktail stick just comes out of the muffins cleanly. Leave them to cool on a wire rack.

Fig Frangipane Tart

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The born of this frangipane tart has a short story. Let me tell you… I found this recipe on my friend’s, Emiko’s blog who I met in London at the Food Blogger Connect Conference. She is a great person, a true friend and a talented photographer.  When I saw the photo of this tart, I fell in love with it. I was dreaming to bake it but it’s difficult to get figs in Hungary… either you are lucky and you have a tree in your garden or you have friends, relatives, neighbours who have fig trees in their garden. 🙂 In my situation, option number two is the winner.

So a sunny Sunday morning in September the door bell rang… we got a basket of figs from the neighbours. Oh, yeah! We are lucky! I ran into the kitchen and started making this tart straight away. Instead of sugar I used honey to sweeten the filling.

I didn’t know what frangipane means so I searched on the internet for the information. Frangipane is a filling made from almond. This filling can be used in a variety of ways including cakes, tarts and other assorted pastries. Originally designated as a custard tart flavored by almonds or pistachios it came later to designate a filling that could be used in a variety of confections and baked goods.

Fig Frangipane Tart

Ingredients

For the pastry

– 250 g white spelt flour
– 125 g cold butter
– 70 g cane powder sugar
– 1 egg
– 1-2 tablespoons of cold water

For the frangipane
– 100 g almond meal
– 50 g butter
– 50 g honey
– 1 egg
– zest of 1 lemon
– 20-25 fresh figs

Method

To make the pastry, in a bowl chop the cold butter into small cubes, add to the flour and cane sugar. Rub the butter into the flour with your fingers until you get a crumbly mixture. Add the beaten egg until and the water until the pastry comes together into a smooth, elastic ball. Wrap in a clingfilm and let it rest in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. After resting the dough, roll out  the pastry on a floured surface to cover your pie dish (diameter: 20-23 cm) and prick holes with a fork all over the pastry.

To make the frangipane, in a bowl mix together almond meal, butter, honey and the egg. Add lemon zest, then mix and stir until combine. Turn the mixture out onto the pastry. Add the fig halves, face up, to cover the entire tart. Push the figs down gently into the frangipane so that the surface is even. Bake at 180C (350F) for about 30-40 minutes or until golden brown.

These quantities will give you enough to make a large tart plus some extra leftover. From the leftover dough I made fig biscuits! 🙂