Irish Brown Soda Bread (Vegan)

You may have noticed that a few of my post here are vegan. This is partially to be inclusive but also because in my family we have a vegan, a vegetarian, someone who is lactose free and a person who for various reasons avoids taking lots of milk. So making recipes that suit these requirements is fun and gives me options when baking for others. It is not always simple and I cannot tell you how many recipes I have started adapting only to realize that it just will not work. This Christmas when I was home we were talking about Irish soda bread and how most of the recipes, including mine, contains milk. So this January I have been working on a Vegan version of my previous recipe and I have to tel you I am very pleased with the outcome.

New year, new you?! thoughts and healthy dessert

It is the second week of January and it definitely feels like it! Some of the new year motivation subsides and the dreary January blues might be settling in. Yet everywhere we are still surrounded by advertisements, tweets, instagram pictures and television shows about how to lose weight and 'detox' after Christmas. Which is...................great, I guess, it's good for people to feel motivated to make healthy choices. I don't really believe in 'detoxing' but I think that's a subject for another post, or possibly another blog. However I do believe in making healthy choices and particularly healthy substitutions. This weeks post is one of my favourite dessert substitutions.

This bowl of deliciousness can be made super healthy. The biscuit here is garnish but without it this dessert contains no added sugar, no fat but tonnes and tonnes of flavour. It tastes like apple pie and ice-cream but without any (unnecessary) guilt. The 'ice-cream' is actually just 0% fat greek yoghurt with vanilla mixed in.

On to the 'apple pie.'

4 Stewing Apples
2 Lemons
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp all spice

1-  Preheat oven to 180'C. Roughly dice the apples

2- Cover in the lemon juice as you go to prevent browning

3- Add the spices and mix well

4- Place in a ceramic bread tin and cover with tin foil.

5 - Bake for 30-40 minutes on the middle shelf.

The apples before they go into the oven

When you take the apples out of the oven, they will look as if nothing has happened

The apples post-cooking

Now here you have to just trust me...and stir. These apples will then turn into the apple pie filling below

It's that simple!!

As you can see I find this recipe perfect as it is. However if you find that you need more sweetness, or less bitterness then I have two suggestions. First, try adding a tiny pinch of salt. It sounds weird but apparently salt and bitter tastes use the same receptors on the tongue so salt can block out the bitterness. Then if you still need a little sweetness you can add honey or agave nectar.

This recipe makes new year's resolutions or healthy choices that much easier to stomach! Dessert is a very important part of a healthy diet! Healthy for body and soul! I make this throughout winter and absolutely love it. I would definitely recommend you try it, enjoy some January guilt free deliciousness and I will see you next week =)

Happy New Years!!

It's 2016!!!! I'm so excited for the new year! This year I will (hopefully) complete my doctorate!! I also have some other exciting events upcoming, including some travel, baking projects and basically I am just very much looking forward to 2016. You wouldn't necessarily know it from reading this blog, mostly because I like to focus on the positive, but certain aspects of 2015 have been incredibly difficult and I am hoping to put that behind me. I spent New Years Eve with my wonderful bf who treated me to a night in a fancy hotel, dinner and drinks!! It was so so much fun and really was a great start to what I hope will be a great year.