Spirulina powder

Spirulina is a type of blue-green algae which grows in warm alkaline waters, commonly grows well in Africa. Originally used as a food source by the Aztecs.

Spirulina is a wholefood and is arguably better for the body to digest and absorb than man made multi-vitamins. It is a very good source of a complete protein, with 60-70% of protein (of its dry weight), and rich in vitamins, minerals and amino acids. Also very high in iron and is easily absorbed in the body. Health benefits of Spirulina include; help purify the liver, and therefore helps counteract toxins in the body, help fight viral infections, strenghten both the immune and nervous system, and can encourage weight loss.

I bought Spirulina in powder form because you only need a tablespoon a day, whereas the tablets, you need to take these three times a day 30 minutes before you eat - this does not work into my day to day living, so powder it is! You mix one tablespoon of powder into 250ml of cold water or juice. I recommend half water half orange juice, though you could throw it into your morning smoothie! I found mixing the powder into the juice quite difficult so I got one of these sport bottle and shake it up, which works really well.

The taste is quite subtle but unique! hence why I mix it in with juice and not water alone!  

Spirulina is considered a 'superfood' and a wholefood - much better for you than any processed man made pill.



Vegan Raspberry Mufffins

These lovely muffins are so easy to make and you can always change the fruit to one your would prefer, I like raspberrys and in this recipe they stay tart and give a burst of flavour.





To make 8 (ish) all you need is;
1 and 1/2 cups of flour
1/2 cup of sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon of salt
1/4 cup of sunflower oil
3/4 cup soya milk
1 cup of frozen raspberries

You then mix the dry ingrediants together in a bowl, combine the milk and oil, then pour this into the dry mixture and stir. Finally fold in the raspberries. Spoon final mixture into muffins cups in tray.

Oven needs to be set to 200 degrees and they take 25-30 mins.

This is a very simple recipe and can be used as a foundation to make interesting an exciting alterations. I made these last night and I used 1 and 1/4 cups of flour and 1/4 of ground almonds, which worked really well.

Enjoy!

Soy Green Tea Ice Cream

I've rediscovered my ice cream maker this summer and have been playing about with a few recipes, but lately I've been reminiscing about my trip to Thailand last summer, so I've had a go at recreating some of my favourite flavours out there. (Incidentally, it's iced green tea latte - with the green tea pulled like a shot of espresso over ice, topped off with condensed milk - and cartons of soy milk that I'm talking about. Perfect in the heat.) I've adapted the recipe from an American site, but I think after tasting it I got the measurements pretty much right.

Ingredients
500ml soy milk (I used sweetened, and would probably recommend it against the sharpness of the green tea here, but you could easily go for unsweetened instead)
500ml soy cream
2tbsp arrowroot powder
2tbsp matcha powder
170g caster sugar

Method
1. Using about 125ml of the soy milk, whisk in a bowl with the arrowroot powder. Add the matcha powder, and continue whisking until you get a smooth, quite thick green paste.
2. Pour the rest of the soy milk into a large(ish) saucepan, and add the cream and sugar.
3. Over a medium-low heat (i.e. don't get all impatient like I was tempted to!), bring the mixture to the boil, stirring with a whisk occasionally. When the mixture starts to boil, take it off the heat.
4. Add the matcha mixture into the saucepan, whisk it all together. It should start to thicken up a bit.
5. Leave to cool for a while, then when cool enough, put in fridge for a few hours.
6. Transfer mixture to ice cream maker and freeze "according to manufacturer's instructions" (I love how that exact phrase is used EVERYWHERE in ice cream recipes!) - mine took about 50mins (slightly longer than a usual batch of ice cream would take).

Enjoy!