Beetroots are incredibly healthy for you. First of all of course, they are a vegetable! They are an excellent source of fibre (for healthy bowels), folate (for healthy DNA replication and reduces heart disease), manganese (trace mineral required for healthy bones, skin and blood sugar control) and potassium (lowers blood pressure).
Beetroots contain powerful antioxidants called betalains with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon or ginger or both, optional
Instructions
Heat oven to 170 degrees C
Line a large baking tray with greaseproof paper and set aside
Place all ingredients into a medium sized bowl and mix together until well combined
If your honey and peanut butter are a bit stiff and hard to mix, place bowl over a saucepan of simmering water until warmed through and this should help
Using a large teaspoon, spoon out blobs of mix onto your prepared oven tray
Bake for 12 minutes
Allow to cool before removing from tray
Store in an air-tight glass jar
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Notes:
Natural peanut butter means there is no oil, sugar or other undesirable ingredients added
Almond butter or any other 100% nut or seed butter can be used in place of peanut butter
For a nut free version, replace peanut butter with tahini and use a mix of pumpkin and sunflower seeds in place of the 1/4 cup of walnuts
For a vegan version use maple syrup or other liquid sweetener (agave, rice syrup etc) in place of honey
Quinoa flakes may be used in place of oats – but I haven’t actually done this, so if you try this version, please let me know how it goes
LSA or ground chia seeds can be used in place of ground linseeds
Note – I like to buy whole linseeds and grind them myself. I always store them in the freezer to keep them as fresh as possible. They can be used directly from the freezer
barley risotto (trust me it tastes soooo much better than it looks! This is from the days when I was just learning how to photograph food)
Barley is a pretty amazing grain
It’s very low GI and high in soluble fibre which not only lowers LDL cholesterol but is a fabulous food source for those little microbes that live in your gut – the very ones that keep you incredibly healthy
And this style of barley or BARLEYmax is even more special
As it has particularly high levels of fibre, and particularly high levels of a type of fibre called resistant starch
Which can greatly reduce your risk of bowel cancer – the second biggest cancer killer in Australia
You can find out more about resistant starch here – And here
So I decided to create a very quick to make, healthier style banana bread (which we all know really is cake, right?)
2 large extra ripe bananas, peeled (320 grams of flesh)
3 eggs (170 grams)
8 medjool dates, pitted (150 grams)
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
⅓ cup (50 grams) barley flour
⅔ cup (85 grams) wholemeal plain or spelt flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon psyllium husks
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
5 teaspoons (20 grams) chia seeds
Instructions
Preheat oven to 170 degrees C and line a standard loaf tin with greaseproof paper
Start by melting coconut oil either in microwave, on stove top or in bowl of thermomix
Add oil to your food processor bowl (if not already in your thermomix) along with bananas, eggs, dates and vanilla paste
Blend together until smooth - 30 seconds speed 5 in thermomix
Sift together barley flour, wholemeal flour, baking powder, psyllium husks and cinnamon
Add to food processor bowl along with chia seeds
Pulse to mix together, or mix for 5 seconds on speed 5 in thermomix
Pour mixture into prepared loaf tin and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a skewer poked into the centre comes out clean
Allow to cool before slicing and enjoying
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Note: if you can’t find barley flour, just use all wheat or spelt flour
A lovely addition to this cake would be some chunks of crystallised ginger….mmmm!
For a vegan version, replace eggs with linseed eggs (1 egg = 1 Tablespoon ground linseeds + 3 Tablespoons water and allow to sit for 10 mins before using). And if you do, please let me know how it turns out 🙂
Join me for one of my fun, informative and practical classes in St Peters, Sydney.
You will be in a small group, capped at 6, where you can watch, help, taste and overall enjoy a terrific foodie experience.
