This healthful cake is gluten-free, vegan & refined sugar free with wholesome oats and buckwheat flakes. Plenty of natural sweetness from ripe bananas, yogurt, maple syrup and a dark chocolate topping. Satisfying and nutrient-rich at the same time! Perfect with a cuppa.
Ingredients
100g (1c) GF Oats
50g (1/2c) Buckwheat Flakes (or just additional oats)
150g (1 1/4c) GF Flour (I used a blend of Plain & Buckwheat)
1.5 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Salt
WET
1 TBSP Coconut Oil (melted)
1 Vegan Egg
1.5 tsp Vanilla
2-3 Medium Ripe Bananas (mashed)
120g (1/2c) Coconut Yogurt (or regular, Greek)
60ml (1/4c) Maple Syrup
60ml (1/4c) Almond Milk (or milk of choice)
TOPPING
60g (1/3c) Dark Chocolate
3 TBSP Peanut Butter
Walnuts
Directions
Preheat oven to 180c/160c Fan/350F. Line a 8×8 or approx tin with parchment paper
Sift together Dry ingredients in one bowl, Wet ingredients in another bowl. Add Dry to Wet to slowly incorporate.
Spread batter into prepared tin and bake for 30 minutes.
Melt Dark Chocolate & add Peanut Butter to form chocolate spread. Once cake is cooled, spread over top and add any additional toppings you’d like! (I enjoy walnuts!)
Yummy, healthy way to use up your leftover almond meal from making homemade almond milk! You can easily also substitute more oats or other flakes for meal in this warming, crunchy baked treat. Perfect for breakfast, sprinkled on top of porridge or yogurt. Or just eaten straight from the jar!
Ingredients
50g (1/2c) Almond Meal
80-100g (1c) GF Oats
20g Buckwheat Flakes
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Ground Ginger
1 tsp Vanilla
1 tsp Chia Seeds
2 tbsp Maple Syrup
Handful Chopped Nuts of Choice
60g (1/4c) Nut Butter (I use Powdered PB2)
50g (scant 1/4c) Coconut Oil
Pinch o’ Salt
Directions
Preheat oven to 160c Fan/350F
Mix everything together until well incorporated
Spread out on even layer baking sheet
Bake for 30 minutes turning mixture occasionally. Store in airtight jar, up to a week.
Gluten Free, Vegan & low-FODMAP. All we can say is YUM. This healthy, spiced soup is quick to put together and filled with immunity-boosting vitamins and nutrients!
Ingredients
2 tbsps Garlic Oil*
1 Shallot
1-2 tbsps Minced Fresh Ginger
1 tsp Minced Fresh Turmeric (or extra Turmeric powder)
2 Carrots (chopped)
1 Small Sweet Potato
1 Can Drained Chickpeas
1.5 tsp Turmeric Powder
1 tsp Red Chili Flakes
1/2 tsp Chili Powder
1/2 tsp Ground Cumin
1 tbsp Tamari/Soy Sauce
1.5 Can Light Coconut Milk
250ml (1 c) Vegetable Stock
50g (1/4c) Rice
3 handfuls Kale
TOPPINGS
Unsweetened Coconut Yogurt (or yogurt of choice)
Mint
Reserved Chickpeas (Baked 20 minutes with Chili Powder for extra crisp!)
Pitta breads
Powdered Turmeric
Directions
To a large saucepan, add Garlic Oil, Shallot, Ginger & Turmeric. Saute 5 minutes
Add Carrots, Sweet Potato & Chickpeas. Add Spices. Saute additional 5 minutes. Season with salt to taste.
Add Coconut Milk, Veg Stock, Tamari & Rice – Simmer for 30-40 minutes. Season with salt to taste. After 30 minutes, taste broth to ensure the salt level is to your liking. Add Kale and allow to simmer an additional 10 minutes.
Top soup with your desired toppings, and serve!
Notes
*I put a smashed garlic clove in EVOO. You can also add 2 cloves of garlic to this dish if low-FODMAP isn’t a dietary requirement for you.
A special treat in my family for years, finally I decided to try my hand at making it both gluten free and vegan. Not an easy undertaking. The result was a delightfully sweet and nutty rolled loaf, perfect with a cuppa in the afternoon. I paired it with lots of filling to offset the more dense/unforgiving gluten-free-ness of the dessert. Use whatever coconut biscuits you would like for this gluten free vegan potica. See my other recipes here.
Potica is a Slovenian festive nut roll pastry. This was made during special times of year in my family, but never vegan nor GF! Made with a filing of coconut biscuits and walnuts, this sweet treat is a lovely addition to your morning coffee or afternoon cup of tea. This recipe makes one small loaf that can be baked in a standard bread tin.
Combine Milk, 1.5 tbsp Sugar, Coconut Oil, & Vanilla Pod in saucepan over low heat. Let cool while you combine 1/2 tsp Sugar, Warm Water, & Yeast – let rest 5 minutes.
Add Milk & Yeast to Flour & Salt. Let rest 1-2 hours.
Preheat oven to 160c Fan/350F. Process all dry Filling ingredients (everything except milk) to a fine crumbly texture. Add milk by hand.
Roll out the dough until very thin. This is tricky with a GF pastry. I broke the dough in two, and rolled out two smaller circles (about 30cm or so) on parchment to prevent sticking. Some extra flour here may be helpful but not too much.
Spread filling thin evenly over dough, and carefully roll the dough up, starting from one of the longer ends.
Whether you did one large circle or multiple small ones, add rolled up dough cylinders to a bread pan, different layouts can create different fun patterns so no worries!
Brush pastry with oil/sugar mix and bake for 10 minutes at 160/350. Lower oven temp to 120/300 and bake an additional 30 minutes until golden!
Adding pumpkin to anything should just be a year long practice. It makes bakes, especially GF bakes so soft and luscious! These healthy blondies are filled with a generous portion of pumpkin, autumn spices and peanut butter!
Ingredients
DRY
120g (1c) Flour (I used Buckwheat)
34g (1/4c) Coconut Flour
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 tbsp Pumpkin Spice (I use 1/2 tsp + extra Cinnamon!)
1/4 tsp Salt
1/2c Chocolate Chips
WET
160g (2/3c) Peanut Butter (I make runny PB with PB Powder)
150g (2/3c) Pumpkin Puree
130g (2/3c) Sweetener (Maple Syrup, Brown Rice Syrup, etc)
1 “Egg” (vegan)
1/2 tsp Vanilla
Directions
Preheat oven to 170c Fan/375f. Prep brownie baking dish with parchment
Combine Dry ingredients in one bowl. Wet ingredients in another bowl. Add Dry to Wet, combine through.
For some VERY odd reason, Scotland was never on my travel list radar. Due to COVID-19 – travel was basically non-existent this year. We did plan a socially distanced getaway to Edinburgh and the Scottish Highlands though, and it was an absolutely incredible time. And not just because I’ve been sitting in my bedroom for the last 5 months. It was truly a breath of fresh air in so many ways. Returning to London was difficult! Here are some of my vegan, GF, low FODMAP Scotland finds and adventures in the Scottish Highlands!
The Quiraing, Isle of Skye
Cairngorms & Inverness
Scottish Wildcat!
Rothiemurchus
We set forth from Edinburgh through the Cairngorms and up to Inverness. Key memories of our drive through included seeing a Scottish Wildcat (a MUST-DO of my Scotland trip!) at the Highland Wildlife Park. As well as four-wheeling adventures to see hairy coos at Rothiemurchus. The gift shop at Rothiemurchus also had a fine selection of GF items!
Inverness
We stayed just outside of the city center of Inverness. It allowed us a quiet respite though still being close enough to most things to see in the main part of town. Inverness had some hidden gems of places to eat!
The Alleycat Entirely vegan cafe with GF options. Vegan haggis!
Fyrish Monument
About an hour drive outside of Inverness is the Fyrish Monument. A relatively quick hike up a hill to a historical landmark and amazing views. On the way back we discovered the Highland Farm Cafe. GF options plenty, they were so accommodating to make me a vegan lunch as well. The gift shop was very adorable and filled with local products & snacks.
Highland Farm Cafe – What a lunch view!
Vegan cheese & tomato sandwich
One special thing I loved about our hikes in Scotland was discovering all the mushies. The mushrooms in Scotland are adorable & beautiful!
Loch Ness & Invermoriston
Loch Ness
On our way from Inverness to the Isle of Skye, we went through both Loch Ness (sadly no Nessie sightings) and Invermoriston. We did find that Loch Ness boasted some lovely views, should you be passing through the area stop and take a look. We didn’t book in advance for any stops, but Urquhart Castle is a popular attraction along the way.
Glen Rowan Cafe We did come across this adorable cafe in Invermoriston which is a perfect pit stop along the way. We were able to sit outside, have a lovely tea and GF sandwich/salad.
Isle of Skye
Onward to the Isle of Skye! This amazing part of our trip included so many stunning hikes and scenery. We did find some GF options out and about – but I also planned ahead and made many of our meals at our Airbnb. It was so much less stressful than trying to find a place to eat or deliver. Especially since we wanted to have a calm, relaxing trip away from city centers. We stayed near Portree and were able to do lots of day trips around the Isle.
Fairy Glen
Fairy Glen
Fairy Glen
We drove out to the Fairy Glen – and I must say, it was a surprisingly wonderful time. The green grassy hills and windy (and windy!) paths made you feel like you certainly stepped foot into a storybook.
Portree & Scorrybreac Trail
A hike starting in the town center of Portree takes you out past Loch Portree and some rolling hills/open areas. A good place to see hairy coos. I would strongly suggest not approaching them, as tempting as that may seem!
Hairy Coo
The Granary Cafe – Portree Escaping the rain, we found this delightful little cafe for a coffee and a piece of GF carrot cake. By the time we were finished, we saw a break in the weather so we then quickly drove to….
Old Man of Storr This was an impromptu hike powered by carrot cake! The rock formations and fog at the top just made the entire place seem like another planet.
Trip Favorite: The Quiraing.
A definite must-see on the Isle of Skye. We lucked out and had fine weather this morning (minus a few little showers on our way down). This hike is quite full of adventure and the views are absolutely epic. Parts of the hike would be considered strenuous, but every part of it was worth the climb! We went around the Quiraing circuit trail counter-clockwise.
Neist Point & Dunvegan
We took a drive over to the far western side of the Isle of Skye, stopping in Dunvegan along the way. We stopped at the cafe inside The Dunvegan (also rooms to stay). Nearby there is also Dunvegan Castle, we didn’t stop here – but had a glimpse of it on our drive out to Coral Beach. I can’t say Coral Beach was worth it – perhaps in better weather!
The Dunvegan Cafe Yummy chips and cutest GF bun around! My husband enjoyed a huge sausage.
Neist Point SO WINDY! I’d recommend taking the path to the left of the parking lot, up the hill to the viewpoint. There are cows up there too! We didn’t walk out to the lighthouse itself.
Homemade Meal Ideas
One huge difference in travel for us these days is meal planning. With COVID and food allergens, it was far easier to bring along some easy dinners after our days of exploring.
Vegan Grilled Cheese & Tomato Soup. I made these toasties with leftover kale and tomatoes. Sheese vegan cheese melts perfectly! I found it in the health food shop in Portree.
Amisa Organic Veggie Burger Mix I purchased this mix and brought it with on our trip! Just add water, some kale and hummus and we had a delish dinner.
Glencoe
On our way out from the Isle of Skye, we stopped at a fantastic cafe for GLUTEN FREE PANCAKES. GF Pancakes are just a holiday must. I’m glad we found them!
“Just a little further” – seemingly our motto of the day. We were completely spoiled by a totally clear-sky sunny Friday in Scotland. The weather couldn’t have been more beautiful. Powered by this, we decided to try the first part of a hike in the Glencoe area called The Lost Valley.
Just ahead: A Mountain.
Reaching the valley, we looked ahead and laughed at our insanity for thinking we were going to do the entire hike. We decided to walk a little further, then started up a portion of the mountain. Before we knew it we were basically halfway up and there was no stopping us now. Parts of the hike were quite a scramble. The summit was cold but stunning, and we really felt an amazing sense of accomplishment! I don’t think I physically pushed myself in this way for many moons.
The Summit
We hobbled our aching legs back into the town of Glencoe and found the Glencoe cafe for a lovely tea & GF flapjack.
Glencoe Cafe GF/Vegan options – breads for toasties and a small selection of baked goods. Unique selection of local gifts.
Glencoe Lochan Trail Since it was such an amazing afternoon, we took advantage and also walked this super easy, super beautiful circuit path in town.
Loch Lomand
Heading back south (sadly) back home…we had one more stop in the Loch Lomand area.
Well worth a swing by on the way into the Loch Lomand area is the nearby Kilchurn Castle. You can drive out to a viewpoint across the pond – or head to the castle and walk right up to it.
Kilchurn Castle
Further on into Loch Lomand, I had it recommended to me to stop at The Real Food Cafe (looks like they have amazing GF Fish & Chips). But when we arrived it was much too busy a scene for our preference. So we continued on the road and fortunately came across Country Mumkins At The Artisan Cafe. This ADORABLE cafe was just good, old fashion home cooking. They were more than happy to help craft me a GF/Veg lunch.
Country Mumkins!
Veg toastie w/ homemade hummus
We stayed for the night in the Oak Tree Inn in Balmaha. On site was a pub featuring GF options on their dinner menu. I had a salad with a very generous portion of potatoes. Best of all, there is a cafe next door called St. Mocha – EVERYTHING in their bakery display case was gluten free! I was certainly spoiled for choice. Definitely took some inspirations back for my recipes.
Oak Tree Inn Pub
St Mocha Coffee Shop & Ice Cream Parlour
The Scottish Highlands was probably one of my favorite trips ever. The balance of much-needed relaxation mixed with the outdoor adventure was exactly what the soul needed. I look forward to any opportunity to visit this friend to the north again someday.
Not just an amazing answer if you’re playing Scattergories, this Courgette Coffee Cake packs a healthy dose of nutrients & fiber. Cinnamon spiced coconut sugar makes it perfect with your latte!
Ingredients
DRY
160g (1 1/4c) Buckwheat Flour (or flour of choice)
Vegan and Gluten Free, these cinnamon-spiced, warming muffins are lovely for breakfast, or goes superbly with a cup of tea! If you have the time, I love to roast my sweet potato in the oven low and slow. But a microwave can be used to quickly soften in a pinch!
Ingredients
DRY
160g Flour (1 1/3c) (I use 80g Buckwheat & 80g Rice Flour Blend)
Gluten free, vegan & low-FODMAP – these muffins are perfect for on-the-go brekkie, or with a cuppa in the afternoon. Made with oat flour (just blitzed porridge oats) – these are filling & satisfying. With coconut yogurt, zucchini & banana they also add a healthy boost of vitamins and nutrients!
1 Grated Zucchini (squeeze as much water out as you can!)
125g (1/2c) Unsweetened Coconut Yogurt (applesauce can also work herefor non-fodmappers)
5 tbsps Milk
2 tbsps Coconut Oil
85g (1/4c) Maple Syrup
1/2 tsp Vanilla
Directions
Preheat oven to 350/160c Fan. Prepare regular size muffin tins (mini muffin tins are great too, just decrease bake time!)
Grate zucchini. Sift together DRY ingredients. In separate bowl mix together all WET ingredients. Mix until all well incorporated.
Fill muffin tins. This mixture is vegan & dense – almost more like an oat bar. The muffins will not change shape much in the oven so fill/shape them as you would desire them to be after baking.
I was so excited by the fact that we actually went on a little mini adventure, I just had to write about it while the memories are still fresh! Koala & I hired a car and went on our first excursion “out” since lockdown. We mainly stayed within the Surrey Hills are with a brief day trip down to Arundel for a hike. Here are the trials and tribulations of one lady with food restrictions and two germaphobes traveling during a global pandemic.
1. Denbies Wine Estate
Stop #1 was a stay at the hotel located on the Denbies Wine Estate. It was mostly business as usual around here – quite a few precautions in place but we were able to have a real taste of “normal” life for a moment. Our first night we attended a special food & wine pairing event. Denbies even catered to GF/Vegan! (Sometimes its easier to just adhere to that versus adding in the whole fodmappy thing – but I digress). It was a lovely 3 course meal.
Denbies Food & Wine Pairing
Appetizer of falafel with an absolutely yummy hummous with red pepper. A side of artichoke, olives & sun ripened tomatoes. Artichokes have been a recent favorite of mine (in reasonable serve size)
My main included rice, avocado & cauliflower (unfortunately I didn’t eat much of the cauli for fodmappy reasons). With absolutely lovely GF bread and the BEST vegan feta I’ve had! I made myself an avo toast with these components, along with the mango/pomegranate salsa.
For dessert I was offered three different delicious bars from Honeybuns bakery. I didn’t get a picture of the millionaire’s slice, as I immediately ate it. Also enjoyed Denbies’ Pinot Noir – my favorite of their selection.
Village Greens Farm Shop at Denbies
One of the other great things about staying on the estate was the adorable Village Greens Farm Shop they have on the property. Wines, cheese, frozen and cold foods, prepped vegan dishes and all the treats you could want (plenty of GF options, no worries!) Two things we found there that we treated ourselves to were Montezuma’s Vegan Milk Chocolate bar and a legit Gingerbread slice – never had gingerbread like that before!
Breakfast at Denbies
Breakfast was included with our stay, and due to COVID in lieu of a buffet-style, they had you preorder your selections. Which was amazing, as I was able to fully customize my GF/low-FODMAP breakfast and have it delivered to me at a comfortable social distance from others!
And when in doubt, and you don’t feel like thinking too much – there is always Pizza Express GF takeaway nearby in Dorking!
Stepping Stones Hike
One of my favorite little morning hikes we did while staying at Denbies was across the road to the Stepping Stones. If you’re ever around the area it is definitely worth the walk around.
2. Day Trip to Arundel
We did a quick trip out of Surrey and nearly to the south coast – stopping in Arundel for a day hike. The town was quaint and beautiful with the castle on one side and a huge beautiful cathedral on the other. I didn’t get many pics of the town center, as there were a lot of people. I ended up having quite a bit of anxiety and we retreated to the car so I could eat a homemade banana muffin in peace. Always have a backup food plan while traveling…especially when you have dietary restrictions and there’s a pandemic where cafes have pared down menus or you don’t want to sit inside!! Once we got outside of the city center on the hike, we relaxed and enjoyed the scenery. This hike took us past the Cathedral straight away, and then out to Hiorne Tower before hiking up quite a hill to an amazing overlook. With sheep. Lots of sheep.
Cathedral of Our Lady & Saint Philip HowardBanana muffins save the day
Hiorne Tower
3. Guildford
Our next stop was Guildford, a sizable town on the western outskirts of the Surrey Hills Area. We’ve only ever passed it by while riding a train to a different destination so we decided to pop in for a couple nights stay. We stayed at the Guildford Harbor Hotel, which was nice and had it’s own restaurant though we did not eat there. Deliveroo was our friend our first day here! We were just too people-pandemic-exhausted to venture out further.
It has been way too many moons since Koala & I have had a day as lovely as our Sunday out in Guildford & the surrounding areas. Seriously, it is definitely a contender for the Best Day of the Year. It started with the lovely blueberry bakewell and a sleepy Sunday morning walk around Guildford. From here we decided to see what Loseley Park had to offer. And that was well manicured gardens and lawns – a huge estate and general merriment.
Loseley Park
Shere
We then decided to venture over to Shere, a lovely little town in the middle of the Surrey Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (real name).
Cute cafe with an even cuter name! The Dabbling Duck in Shere was a great place to get a coffee or GF avo toast (all from a comfortable takeaway window – no need to sit inside or in their back garden but you could if you wanted to!)
Albury Winery
From here we took a walk through the countryside, through the trees and quiet forest – to the Silent Pools. And then by complete coincidence our hike ended at the Albury Winery – an organic sparkling wine vineyard. I KNOW, what are the odds?! It was booked out for tables, but they allowed walk-ins for a self-guided winery tour. (Basically, you walk the grounds, read facts, drink wine, and see pheasants)
Silent Pools
And if the day couldn’t get better, we found a local pub called The Queen’s Head with an extensive GF menu, including Fish & Chips (10 minute drive out of Guildford to East Clandon)
5. Stonehenge
On our last day out, we decided to take a drive to Stonehenge. Neither of us have been there in several years. You have to book your entrance time slot in advance. We arrived early and I found the experience to be much nicer this time without huge tour buses and groups of tourists. Though by the time we left there certainly seemed to be more people than I thought there would be with such regulations. But it was fun to see again!
Concluding Thoughts
I was grateful for the break from the norm – we needed it especially since we’ve been two little expat hermits post-lockdown. We did learn a lot though, and I’m glad we have this knowledge of what stresses us out most while traveling these days. Koala and I are seasoned travelers in our past life – we used to like to hit new cities/countries pretty fast & hard. I think we learned that navigating this new world we need to be a bit more slow-paced and patient with ourselves. This runs true both in our style of travel and mindset in general these days. 🙂
