Oat Milk & Cookies

by Liz Child

We LOVE oat milk, do you? So creamy and delicious and incredibly good for both you and the planet. For teas and coffees we definitely recommend a store bought option which doesn’t curdle or separate. But for all your other oat milk needs, smoothies, béchamel, cereal, porridge or a simple glass of milk, we recommend making your own to save on packaging and money. Oat milk is fairly straightforward to make yourself at home. But if you over-process it, it can come out a little slimy, and if you strain it through a nut-milk bag, can come out a little thin and watery. The best (and easiest) way we’ve found to separate the milk from the oat purée is straining it through your finest mesh sieve then letting any extra solids settle for a few minutes before pouring the top off into a clean bottle. If you have a loosely woven tea towel then you could try use that too, but the sieve method is so quick, easy and mess-free. Now don’t waste those leftover oat solids! Add to bread dough, smoothies or your bowl of oats, or make these zero waste oatmeal cookies, they are divine!

Liz x

Ingredients

For the milk:

  • 100g oats
  • 1 pitted date (or a tsp of sugar or maple syrup)
  • a pinch of salt
  • 800ml ice-cold water

For the cookies:

  • 100g oat purée left from making oat milk
  • 100g melted dairy free butter or coconut oil
  • 100g brown/white sugar mix
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • pinch of salt
  • 100g flour
  • 150g porridge oats
  • handful of raisins (or chocolate chips)

Method

  1. Turn your oven on to 175C and line a large baking sheet with baking parchment. Gather your ingredients.
  2. Make the milk by adding the ingredients to a strong blender and blending for just 40 seconds on high. If you over-blend, your milk can come out a little slimy. Now separate the milk from the solids by pouring it through a fine mesh sieve into a jug. Do not press or squeeze the milk through or it can become gritty/slimy. Let the milk settle in the jug for a few minutes then carefully pour the top into a clean bottle to store in the fridge (use within 5 days*). Leave any extra sediment in the bottom of the jug. Now tip the oat purée into the jug along with the sediment and you should be left with around 100g of purée. Perfect for making cookies (you can make the cookie dough in the jug).
  3. Melt the butter or coconut oil and stir it into the oat puree. Add the sugar and stir into a smooth batter. Then add the salt, cinnamon, baking soda and powder and vanilla, then stir again until smooth. Add the flour and stir until just incorporated. Lastly add the raisins and oats and stir until you are left with a sticky cookie dough.
  4. Spoon the dough onto the baking sheet you prepared earlier (makes 12-14 cookies) and bake until golden. Around 15 minutes but keep an eye on them as ovens vary. Allow to cool then enjoy with a cold glass of oat milk.

*NOTE – it is normal for oat milk to separate in the fridge. Always shake well before serving.

Blood Orange Sorbet

by Liz Child

All you need to make this sorbet is ONE ingredient, blood oranges (plus a freezer and a food processor). We are obsessed with blood oranges at the moment. Have you tried one yet? They are only around for a short season each year, so don’t miss out! They are a little sweeter than your usual oranges, with a stunning raspberry twist. Having that gorgeous purple/red hue is a sign of anthocyanin, a really powerful antioxidant which is brilliant for heart health. This sorbet makes a stunning palette cleanser between courses if you are cooking up a fancy feast, otherwise it is just a delicious, healthy dessert. No need for added sugar and it still feels like a luxurious treat!

Liz x

Ingredients

  • Blood oranges

Method

  1. Peel blood oranges and place the segments on a tray or plate which fits in your freezer. Freeze overnight or until solid. Remove from the freezer around 15 minutes before you need to serve the sorbet. It is best served directly from the blender.
  2. Put the frozen segments into your food processor with the S blade attachment. Blend until it turns into sorbet. At first it will look grainy and like it is not going to work. Don’t give up. Stop the machine a few times to scrape down the sides and keep blending. After a while the sorbet will turn creamy and smooth. Stop before it gets too juicy/melted.
  3. Working quickly now, scoop the sorbet out of the processor into a tub. Press it down and smooth it out with the back of the spoon. Dunk an ice cream scoop into a cup of hot water, then scoop out large balls of sorbet and enjoy!

Lemon & Poppyseed Pancakes

by Liz Child

What kind of pancakes do you love to eat on pancake day? We enjoy them all! Thin crepes, fluffy American style and even savoury. This year we are going for a thick stack of lemon and poppyseed pancakes. We recommend always choosing organic citrus, especially if you are using the zest. Non-organic citrus fruits are treated post-harvest with all kinds of nasty waxes and chemicals to help them last longer on the supermarket shelves. You can be assured that all of our citrus fruit are organic, so it is totally safe to use the zest. Happy Pancake Day!

Liz x

Ingredients (makes around 10 large pancakes)

  • 1 large mug of flour
  • 2 tbsp poppyseeds
  • 1 tbsp baking powder
  • 1 tbsp sugar
  • pinch of salt
  • 2 tbsp cold pressed rapeseed oil
  • zest & juice of half a lemon
  • 1 mug of oat milk
  • butter for frying
  • to serve… whipped cream or natural yoghurt sweetened with icing sugar to taste, then lemon zest, juice and poppyseeds stirred through

Method

  1. Prepare your toppings and pancake pan first. Once you make your batter you want to cook it soon after before the raising agent starts to loose it’s oomph. Pre-heat your pan over a medium-low heat. Thick, fluffy pancakes cook low and slow so that they are golden brown on the outside and perfectly cooked through and fluffy on the inside.
  2. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, poppyseeds, salt, sugar, lemon zest, oil and baking powder. Then squeeze the lemon half and pour it into the mug. Top up the mug with oat milk and stir to create a soured milk. Pour the sour milk into the dry ingredients and whisk to just combine into a thick, smooth batter. Careful not to over-mix.
  3. Melt a little butter in your pancake pan then add a generous serving spoon of the batter. Allow it to cook until golden brown on the bottom (this takes around 3 or 4 minutes on a low heat) then carefully flip and cook for another 2 or 3 minutes or until the pancake is cooked through. Place in a tray to keep warm in a low oven.
  4. Repeat with the rest of the pancake mixture. Stack up the pancakes on plates and top with the cream or yoghurt, extra icing sugar, lemon zest and poppyseeds. Enjoy!

Banana Bread Muffins

by Liz Child

These muffins are so quick and easy to put together, completely delicious and a great way to use up over-ripe bananas. Despite being the most popular fruit in Ireland, with around 70 million being sold each year, about 25% of the bananas shipped to Ireland get thrown away!

Supermarkets are big culprits, as soon as bananas start getting brown spots on their skin, they are replaced with fresher green ones. But we are guilty at home too, us consumers routinely waste around 30% of the food we buy, imagine saving 30% on your food bill each week! As well as wasting our hard earned cash, think of the waste of resources it took to grow, harvest and transport our fresh produce. Wasted food also emits methane as it rots, a powerful greenhouse gas.

So next time you are looking at a bunch of brown, slightly squished bananas, why not make a quick batch of these muffins or pop them in the freezer (peeled and in chunks) to be used another day. Frozen bananas make the creamiest, sweetest smoothies and bananas pack a mighty nutritional punch. Full of potassium which lowers your blood pressure and starchy fibre to fill you up, moderate your blood sugar and feed your all-important gut microbes. Let’s go bananas for bananas!

Liz x

Ingredients (makes 12 muffins)

  • 3 large, over-ripe bananas (or 4 smaller)
  • 125ml olive oil (or any oil you prefer)
  • 250ml oat milk (or any milk)
  • 100g sugar (brown/white both work fine)
  • 400g flour (we like a mix of white and whole meal)
  • 3 tsp bicarbonate of soda
  • 1 tbsp lemon juice or vinegar (to help activate the soda)
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tbsp cinnamon
  • optional extras like chocolate chips, nuts, seeds, raisins, coconut flakes, crunchy sugar etc for topping the muffins or folding through the batter – this is where you can have fun and make them your own

Method

  1. Pre-heat the oven to 175C and line a muffin try with 12 large muffin cases.
  2. Peel 2 of the bananas and mash them in a large mixing bowl. Did you know you can eat the peels too? Reserve them for another recipe or pop them in the compost bin.
  3. Add the oil, milk, sugar, lemon/vinegar and mix well to combine.
  4. In a separate bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients – the flour, bicarbonate of soda, salt, cinnamon and any optional extras like nuts/seeds/chocolate/coconut/raisins etc.
  5. Now tip the mixed dry ingredients into the bowl of wet ingredients. Fold together until just combined. It’s very important here to not over mix and to work quickly. It doesn’t matter if there are a few dry lumps in the batter, just briefly mix together and then get on and get the muffins in the oven as soon as possible. This will ensure you get the lightest, fluffiest muffins. Over-mixing will activate the gluten in the flour and make them dense and chewy. Letting the mixture sit for too long will stop them from rising so much in the oven. So work quickly now.
  6. Divide the batter into the 12 muffin cases and top with slices of the 3rd banana. Add additional extra toppings if you like. Some crunchy sugar is traditional or go for crushed walnuts, seeds or a square of chocolate.
  7. Get the muffins into the centre of the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes or until beautifully risen and golden. This amount of batter should ensure you get those classic tasty muffin tops spilling over the muffin cases – arguably the best bit about a muffin. You’ll know they are done when a skewer inserted into the centre of a muffin comes out clean.
  8. Let the muffins cool slightly in the tin for 5 minutes then carefully take them out onto a cooling rack. Enjoy warm or cold – they should be light, fluffy and moist. Once completely cool, store in an airtight container and eat within 3 days or freeze to keep them fresh.

Easy, Low Waste, Apple Cake

by Liz Child

We know this recipe off by heart. It turns out perfectly every time with a sweet and tangy fruity bottom and a soft and tender sponge top. It’s the perfect pudding served warm with custard, cream or ice cream or served cold in slices with a cup of tea. This is our favourite low waste cake recipe because it’s the easiest and most delicious way to use up both the aquafaba from a tin of chickpeas (which is usually discarded) and apples, or any excess fruit really! We just often end up with too many apples in our fruit bowl, and so, before they go bad, I like to chop them up and put them in boxes or jars in the freezer, so useful for quick cakes and crumbles. We do the same thing with berries, pears and bananas (for smoothies and banana bread). Let me know if you give this simple cake a try.

Liz x

Ingredients

  • 1 tsp butter (for greasing the flan dish, I use Naturli)
  • 3 tsp sugar
  • enough chopped apples to cover the base of your dish (or any fruit you like eg berries, chopped pears, pineapple, plums, apricots…)
  • aquafaba (the liquid from a tin of chickpeas) around 150ml
  • 100g sugar
  • 200g flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 2 tsp cinnamon (or vanilla or other flavourings of your choice)
  • 3 tbsp milk (I use oat milk)
  • 4 tbsp good oil (I use olive)
  • 1 tsp icing sugar to dust at the end, optional

Method

  1. Preheat your oven to 175C and find a large flan dish or cake tin. You can even use a small roasting dish if you like, there’s no law to say your cake has to be round.
  2. Grease your dish by rubbing butter all over the base and up the sides. Then sprinkle over 3 tsp of sugar.
  3. Arrange your fruit over the butter and sugar as neatly or rustically as you like.
  4. In a mixing bowl, whisk the aquafaba until frothy, then add the sugar and whisk until creamy.
  5. Add the flour, baking powder and cinnamon and stir to combine. Careful not to over-mix here! Don’t worry if the batter looks a bit lumpy.
  6. Now add the milk and oil and mix again, briefly, to just combine into a thick batter.
  7. Spread the batter over the fruit, don’t worry if it looks a little thin and doesn’t quite reach the sides, it is supposed to be quite rustic and pudding like rather than a neat cake, and besides, it will spread and rise a lot in the oven.
  8. Now bake until the cake is risen and golden and springs back when you lightly press on the top. This should take between 30 and 40 minutes but ovens, fruit and dish sizes vary so just keep an eye on it.
  9. Drench with icing sugar and serve it warm in puddingy scoops with dollops of cream, custard or ice cream. Or let it chill and serve in neat slices with a cup of tea.

Simone’s Festive Apple Loaf

by Liz Child

Our farm photographer (farmtographer?) Simone has kindly shared her families festive apple loaf recipe with me. This is a delicious German cake, full of fruit, nuts and spices. It’s just the thing, thickly sliced and spread with butter on a chilly afternoon with a big mug of tea. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. It tastes very Christmassy and I’ll definitely be making it again. If you have lots of apples to use up, then this recipe will certainly help! And the recipe just happens to be egg, dairy and fat free (that is, until you spread your slice with butter of course!)

Liz x

Ingredients

  • 500g peeled and grated apple
  • 200g sugar
  • 125g raisins
  • 6 dried apricots, chopped
  • 70g almonds, chopped
  • 1 heaped tsp cocoa powder
  • 2 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp ground cloves
  • a pinch of salt
  • 40ml rum (or fruit juice)
  • 250g plain flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder

Method

  1. Mix the apple and sugar in a large mixing bowl and allow it to sit in the fridge overnight or for an hour or so at room temperature.
  2. Pre-heat the oven to 175C. Line a loaf tin with baking parchment.
  3. Add the rest of the ingredients to the apple and sugar mixture (which should now be very wet) and mix to evenly combine the ingredients into a thick, spoonable batter.
  4. Spread the batter into the lined loaf tin and bake the cake for 1 hour and 15 minutes or so until it is risen and set. It should still be moist but when you insert a skewer it should come out mostly dry with a few damp crumbs.
  5. Allow the cake to cool in the tin then remove and slice it thickly. This cake stays fresh for a week in the fridge if tightly wrapped.

Crumbly, Melt-In-The-Mouth Fudge

by Liz Child

I have a childhood memory of the best homemade fudge. Every shop-bought fudge I’ve ever purchased has never lived up to that memory. It’s usually too close to caramel or toffee, too chewy or sticky. To me, fudge should hold together in blocks, but when you bite into it, it should have a buttery, sweet flavour and a slightly grainy, melt-in-the-mouth texture. It should crumble and be short and snappy rather than chewy and stretchy. I’ve been experimenting in the kitchen and I’m really happy with this recipe.

Our new Natruli butter blocks make it easy to recreate a dairy free version. This recipe works just as well with dairy/dairy-free ingredients so you do you. A jar of fudge is definitely going in all my homemade Christmas hampers to friends this year. Do you make homemade Christmas gifts? I’d love to hear about them in the comments.

Liz x

Ingredients

  • 150g butter
  • 300g sugar (our whole cane sugar is perfect for this recipe, otherwise use an even mix of soft brown and white sugar)
  • 250ml milk (I use oat milk but any milk will work)
  • a large pinch of Achill Island sea salt flakes
  • 1 tsp vanilla essence

Method

  1. Put all the ingredients except the vanilla into a heavy bottomed pot.
  2. Melt them together over a medium-high heat, stirring regularly with a wooden spoon.
  3. Bring the mixture up to a bubbling boil. Stir frequently and let it bubble and thicken for 20 minutes or until it reaches 115C.
  4. Take the pot off the heat, add the vanilla then beat with a whisk for around 8 minutes or until the sugars start to crystallise. You should notice the mixture change from glossy and smooth to thick and grainy.
  5. Scrape the mixture into a small baking tray lined with baking parchment (did you know we sell compostable baking paper?), level it out and score/cut it into 32 squares using a blunt knife or the edge of a spatula.
  6. Cover the tray with a clean tea towel and let it set at room temperature for a few hours.
  7. Once it’s completely cool you can pull it out and snap it into squares. Pack the fudge into an airtight container and enjoy within 2 weeks! It will store well at room temperature in an airtight container. It is prone to dry out in the fridge so it’s best to keep it at room temperature.

Trick AND Treat Brownies

by Liz Child

These deliciously dark, squidgy brownies are an absolute treat (and shhh! contain a few tricks too). Make these for the little monsters in your life and trick them into eating beetroot, sunflower seeds and black beans. Hahahahahaaaaaaa! *evil laugh*

This tricky treat is packed full of plant protein and fibre. It is gluten, nut, dairy and egg free, but most definitely not flavour free! So it’s perfect for everyone to enjoy at your Halloween party. These are seriously good, let us know if you make them. All the ingredients can be added to your next order. Did you know we have compostable bags of nuts, seeds, oats etc in the grocery section of our shop? We deliver to every address in Ireland. Happy Halloween!

Liz x

Ingredients

  • 100g sunflower or pumpkin seeds
  • 100g porridge oats (gluten free if needed)
  • 100g sugar (or your choice of sweetener)
  • 100ml oat milk (or any dairy free milk)
  • 1 tin of black beans (including the liquid)
  • 5 tbsp oil or butter
  • 6 tbsp cacao powder
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • a pinch of salt
  • 250g cooked beetroot
  • 250g melted dark chocolate

Method

  1. Preheat your oven to 180C and line a baking dish (I used a 20x28cm one) with baking parchment.
  2. In a food processor, blend the sunflower seeds and oats into flour.
  3. Then add the rest of the ingredients except the melted chocolate. Blend until smooth.
  4. Mix in the melted chocolate then pour the batter into the dish. Even it out, getting into the corners, then bake for 40 minutes or until cracked on top and still a little wobbly.
  5. Allow the brownie to completely cool in the dish. Then remove onto a chopping board to decorate and slice as you like.

Scramble, Kale Pesto & Miso Mushroom Toast

by Liz Child

Weekends are for brunching and here is one of our favourites. The combination of fresh, vibrant green pesto, soft, wobbly scrambled tofu and juicy, umami mushrooms is just perfect!

You can make your own pesto very easily if you have a food processor or blender – I used my kale and pumpkin seed pesto that I’m making on repeat this time – or you can of course use a ready made one for ease. We sell a few organic jars of pesto in the grocery section of our shop. The scramble is simply a gently sautéed pack of organic silken tofu seasoned with salt, pepper and some chopped sun-dried tomatoes. And those gorgeous, meaty mushrooms are marinated with our new packs of umami paste then grilled.

What’s your favourite brunch? Are you a sweet or savoury person? Let us know in the comments.

Liz x

Ingredients (serves 4)

Method

  1. Cut bread and pop it in the toaster ready to go. Heat up a griddle pan (or fire up the grill in your oven).
  2. Slice the mushrooms in half and mix them with the umami paste and a drizzle of olive oil in a bowl. Then push them onto skewers and place them in a hot griddle pan (or on a tray under your grill) to cook whilst you get on with the scramble.
  3. Heat up a knob of butter (or tbsp of olive oil) in a medium-high heated frying pan. Open your pack of silken tofu, drain off any excess liquid and then pop it in the pan. Break it up gently with a wooden spoon or a spatular.
  4. Season the scrambling tofu with salt and pepper and then add the chopped sun-dried tomatoes. Keep the scramble moving and cook it for 5 minutes or so until it’s warmed through, but don’t break it up too much. It’s nice when there are still some larger pieces.
  5. Meanwhile turn the mushrooms in the grill to cook the other side and then toast the bread.
  6. Spread the toast with a thick layer of pesto, then divide the scramble and mushrooms between the plates.
  7. Enjoy whilst hot!

Kale & Pumpkin Seed Pesto

by Liz Child

The new season kale coming out of our fields and tunnels is so stunning! We are adding it to all our meals. Don’t forget to add some to your next order! Here’s a quick and easy kale pesto recipe which is so handy, not just for pesto pasta, but for sandwiches and wraps, to spread on toast and top with scrambled egg/tofu, to toss through freshly boiled new potatoes… My recipe is dairy and nut free to make it allergen friendly (I use pumpkin seeds which are incredibly nutritious and ours come in compostable bags), but as always, tweak it to your liking with different nuts/seeds and cheese. And do share how you love to eat your pesto in the comments below.

Liz x

Ingredients (makes a jar like the one pictured above)

  • 100g kale – rinsed
  • 100g pumpkin seeds – toasted
  • 1 clove of garlic – peeled
  • 1 pinch of salt
  • 1/2 a lemon – zest and juice
  • 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
  • 100ml extra virgin olive oil (plus extra for a thin layer on top at the end)

Method

  1. Put all the ingredients into a blender or food processor.
  2. Pulse until the ingredients come together into a rough, textured sauce.
  3. Taste for seasoning and add more olive oil, lemon juice or salt as desired.
  4. Spoon into a clean jar and top with a layer of olive oil to keep it fresher for longer.
  5. Keep in the fridge and use within a week, or freeze for longer storage.