Category Archives: kids

Cake for breakfast! With ricotta, coconut and almond

05 Sunday Jan 2014

Posted by in breakfast, cheese, dessert, kids, Vegetarian

≈ 8 Comments

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ricotta cake with coconut and almond

ricotta cake with coconut and almond

I have a new oven! Which displays the temperature! Gone are the days of guessing what it might be; my new trusty oven tells me. To celebrate the joys of modern life I decided to make cake for breakfast. Not even coffee cake, just CAKE. I felt like Bill Cosby. Not as out there as it may sound at first. Plenty of coffee cakes are worse than plain old cake with their cream cheese marbeling or butter/sugar crumb topping. I would put this morning’s cake on par with pancakes and maple syrup. Add a side of fruit and it’s a happy morning. We even ate breakfast at the dining room table with Irish Breakfast and rooibos tea and real actual cloth napkins.

Ricotta, coconut and almond cake
Makes one medium-sized layer cake
1 1/2 cups of whole milk ricotta
2/3 cup coconut oil
3 eggs
2 cups flour
1/2 cup almond meal or almond flour
1 1/4 cups raw sugar
3/4 tsp baking soda
fresh grated nutmeg
3/4 tsp almond extract

1) Preheat oven to 350. The cake batter will not take long to put together.
2) Whisk all the wet ingredients together. I had to microwave my coconut oil for a minute to melt it as it wants to stay solid in the winter months.
3) Add the sugar and mix in with the wet ingredients.
4) Add the flours, baking soda and nutmeg. The batter will be fairly stiff.
5) Butter and flour a cake tin (or use baking parchment). Smooth the batter down a bit with a spatula. Then bake in the oven for about 50 minutes at 350. Dust with powdered sugar if you like. The top has a crumbly texture and the cake itself is super moist and delicious. Enjoy!

ricotta cake with coconut and almond

Tomato, lentil and barley soup with basil

03 Friday Jan 2014

Posted by in healthy, kids, peanut free, quick and awesome, soup, vegan, Vegetarian

≈ 4 Comments

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lentil and barley soup

It’s snowing where we are. No one’s on the road and schools have been closed. Time to stay cozy inside and enjoy the white world through the window. And make some soup!
The simplest soups are the best, and this is a cheap meal to boot.

Ingredients
1 onion, diced
2-3 cloves garlic (optional)
400g crushed tomatoes or 6-7 fresh tomatoes, chopped
2 tbs tomato paste
2 cups cooked lentils
1 1/2 cups cooked barley
1 and 1/2 vegetable stock cubes
3-5 cups water
fresh basil
dried basil
parmesan rind (optional)
salt and fresh ground pepper
olive oil
extra virgin olive oil
parmesan cheese (optional)

My friend calls this pizza soup because it is served with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, a few fresh basil leaves and fresh grated parmesan. By all means leave the cheese off if you are vegan!

1) Heat up the olive oil and cook the onion on a low heat (and garlic if using). About 15 minutes for the onion to soften and cook thoroughly.
2) Add the tomato paste and the barley and mix. Then add the vegetable stock cubes, water and tomatoes. If using fresh tomatoes, you may want to peel and deseed them. I don’t bother with that and I think the soup turns out fine. Canned tomatoes work great when tomatoes are not in season.
3) Add the cooked lentils, any leftover parmesan rind, a tsp of dried basil or a few leaves of torn fresh basil. Add fresh ground pepper to taste.
4) Bring to a boil and then turn down to simmer gently on a low heat for 15 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning. Also add extra water as the barley can absorb a lot of water. This should be a gently flavored soup, really brought to life by the texture of the chewy barley and the flavor from fresh basil, olive oil and cheese at the end.
5) Serve in individual bowls with a couple leaves of fresh basil, fresh grated parmesan and a drizzle of good olive oil and fresh ground pepper.

Kids love this!