no-electrical-appliances quick & easy vegan chocolate cake

Moist & delicious!
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This is a recipe I found by a vegan/vegetarian blogger (I have searched long for her link to put in here with no success as I follow a lot of bloggers)
Her recipe included ingredients which I do not use as… sugar/rice syrup for me, oil/olive or sesame for me, coconut milk/soy or spelt for me, so I just translated it into my “language”.
I love easy recipes which do not include electrical appliances & ingredients all houses have so I do not need to go out running to find them & this one fitted my criteria.
I was taking time off the blog but this is the exception… I find it important to share a quick-cheap-&-easy recipe that could help others.

Chocolate oozing out…
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Ingredients
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1. 3 1/2 cups wholewheat flour
2. 1 1/2 cup pure cocoa (you can use carob powder instead but it’s not as strong a flavor or coffee if you want to change it to a coffee flavored cake)
3. 2 cups rice syrup (sugar for some)
4. 2 tsp. baking powder
5. 400 ml = 13.53 fl. ounces soy milk (spelt or coconut for some)
6. 1 cup oil (olive,sesame any of your choice)
7. 1/4 cup of rum
8. 2 tbsp. apple cider vinegar (optional)
9. 2 tbsp. shredded coconut to sprinkle on top (optional)
10. A few pieces of unsweetened chocolate to put in the muffins (optional)

Ready for oven
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Method
——

1. Put the dry ingredients in a bowl, mix then add the liquid ingredients (I did not have apple cider vinegar so I did not use it)
2. You can be creative & make muffins out of it as I did, with pieces of chocolate tucked in the middle if you want it fancy, a flat or high cake with or without shredded coconut on top or anything else that tickles your imagination 🙂
It’s as simple as that!
3. Put in a preheated oven on 170 degrees Celsius = 338 degrees Fahrenheit for 20 mn (muffins)
& about 30 mn for the cake as it has more dough.

I’m including below photos of the cakes & of the unsweetened 100% natural chocolate if you want to make your own research to purchase it.

With coconut on top
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Enjoy it preferably accompanied by your loved ones around a log fire 😉
Now, it’s my imagination running…

Where’s my cup of tea?
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See the melted chocolate?
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Unsweetened chocolate
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Quick & Easy Seitan ( vegetarian meat ) recipe made from scratch!

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Until five years ago, I always bought expensive Gluten flour to make homemade Seitan.
Then, I just bought it ready made as the difference in price was not worth the hassle.
That is until I found a easy recipe explaining how to do it from scratch with plain flour.
When someone had proposed to show me how to do it about ten years ago I totally refused. It
sounded so very complicated…

Now, I make Seitan myself, the quickest, cheapest ( The price of less than a kilo of flour)
and easiest way!

Enjoy!

Dough resting
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Seitan dough recipe
——————–

1. 5 cups white flour
2. 2 Tbsp salt
3. 2 cups water

Method
——-

Put in a electric mixer or in a bowl all the ingredients. Knead until it has the regular dough texture.
Let it sit for 30 mn.

Put lump of dough in sifter with bowl underneath, let tap running. Squeeze dough for 5-10 mn
until water is clear.
Make sure nothing is left on the side of sifter. That is your gluten and it’s done!

Rinsing of dough
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add:
3 to 6 tsp spices for 7 cups of flour

For Asian flair: Garlic, onion, ginger
Italian flair: Basil oregano, sage, rosemary
Mexican: Garlic, cumin, silatro, hot pepper

Seitan dough ready to cook
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What is popular by me is, garlic,oregano, pili-pili ( hot pepper ) salt, paprika.
I fry it for about 30 mn or I put it on a fire, in tomato sauce with the same spices I use in the
Seitan dough. Sometimes I’ll put in in the oven in a bit of oil in a closed heat resistant glass bowl,
for 50 mn on 177 Degrees Celsius = 350 Degrees Fahrenheit.
Throw small balls in the soup, or fry with onions… there are endless possibilities!

Natural face wash… Honey!

As I posted yesterday James Wong Natural remedies, I thought of starting today, with the simplest and easiest discoveries I made ( after my holidays ) while researching on the internet for any natural solution to the regular use of soaps, cosmetics, face wash…

Face wash was my priority. I have a very dry skin and up till then I had to wash it with pure… water! Soaps or anything chemical gave the sensation of my skin pulling to the extreme.

So, I went to work for quite a long time until I found on you tube someone who had about the same problem and found that Honey was the best answer. It had antiseptics and antibacterial properties, it can fight infection in wounds, can fight allergies… and as it’s for external use, there’s not much counter indication in case people have some kind of intolerance ( unless their skin is sensitive to it which I have never experienced. )

It can be applied straight on the face, in the shower or bath so it can wash off properly.
I have since then, advised close ones who used it and were very happy with the results. Let me know what you think of it 🙂

P.s Up till one year of age, children should not eat Honey as it contains Botulinum Endospores!

Very easy, apple, raisin and bread Pie recipe

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Hi everyone!

This is the easiest and cheapest recipe ever.
Enjoy, try it out if you feel like it and let me know.

Easiest bread Pie recipe
————————

Ingredients
—————

1.   One loaf of dry bread ( the one of your liking )

2.   1 1/2 packet of raisins ( 250 gm = 8.8 ounces, is the amount per packet(!)

3.   4-5-6 Tbsp approx. ( big spoons, the more for the ones who prefer more oil in there food ) of olive or any kind of oil

4.   4 very big apples ( cut in rough slices or more if you want it very sweet )

5.   A fat sprinkle of cinnamon

6.   1-2-3 cups of rolled oats ( depending on how starchy you want it )

7.   1/2 liter = 17.64 ounces boiling water, add more if too sticky but I doubt it. It has to be soft and a bit loose.

Organic versus non-organic
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That’s about it!

Method

———-

Throw everything in a big bowl, add boiling water on top of it all, mix and wait 5-10 mn so the bread and other ingredients

become soft, mix again until you get a homogeneous consistency, pour in a covered with baking paper baking tin,  the size in

the  ” Apple cake/Multi-User  recipe ”  ( it is always going to be the same utensils ) flatten it with a spoon and slide in the oven at the usual

heat of 170 Degrees Celsius = 338 Degrees Fahrenheit for about 45 mn but if you want more or less crusty you’ll have to check

a bit before.

Enjoy it warm of cold to take at work or to the park!

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P.S This recipe will give you two trays so, cut in half if you do not need as much.
I put one in the freezer but some might prefer it fresh.

Apple cake/ Multi-User dough/ quick & easy/ 100% natural recipe ( Now, in wholemeal Spelt flour too!! )

Wholemeal…
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Hi everyone!

On this beautiful Sunday morning I would like to give you a very easy apple cake recipe with a dough that could be used for anything your imagination fancies, from sugarless jam layers, to chocolate ( carob powder for the cocoa sensitive ) or plain lemon, vanilla, rum, coffee, orange, almonds, from real or essence flavors, raisins, or raisins and dried fruits as Mango with pineapple and cranberry if you like, which will make it into a English fruit cake! Just use your creative side and innovate! Have fun while exploring, it’s the best way to have good results!

For the Gluten sensitive, there are countries where you can find specific flowers for that purpose, inquire at your local nature shop.

Enjoy and let me know!

White version
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Sugarless apple cake

——————————-

Dough ingredients

—————

1.   2 1/2 cup white Spelt flour ( Same rule as before, same cup throughout. Any flower you wish if your habits and availabilities are different )

2.   1 pinch of salt ( Best from a nature shop but not indispensable )

3.   2 tsp ( Dessert spoon ) Baking powder

4.   1 pinch Baking soda

5.   1/2 cup oil ( As I mentioned before, I use extra virgin olive oil and the taste goes away in the baking or cooking but, anything is good )

6.   1 cup of rice syrup ( Honey, Golden syrup or any natural sweetener )

7.   1 cup of Soda water or sparkling water if you want.

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Method

———-

Mix thoroughly by hand too before pouring the dough unto the apples, the ingredients are likely to stick at the bottom.

I’m giving you all these minor details as they tend to be annoying to have to discover on the spot 🙂

8.   Peel 4-5 very big apples or 6-7 regular, cut in regular slices.

Take a  baking tin ( I happened to have a 5 cm =2 inches deep, 23 cm = 9.05 inches wide and 32 cm = 12.59 long, and fitted perfectly ) but anything will do, don’t be afraid to experiment, even if it’s not perfect at the first try, what a sense of victory when it comes out just right!

Put a baking paper sheet in it, fill with your apples to the near top, slide in the oven on 150 degrees Celsius = 302 degrees Fahrenheit, for one hour to one and a quarter. I nevertheless enjoy ” checking ” on it, you need the apples to be thoroughly baked.

Serve it warm or cold, they’ll bless you for it! 🙂

…and wholemeal
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P.S I have made for the photos, one batch in the usual white Spelt flour and the other I tried for the first time to do it with Spelt wholemeal flour. It is delicious but doesn’t look as nice to the eye ( being brown ) This cake keeps very well in the fridge, but from experience, it seldom stays that long!

Let me know what is your opinion about the wholemeal version 🙂

Granola bar recipe update for the Gluten sensitive

A friend asked me, if I could adapt this recipe to a Gluten free one. I did some research, ( It might help
all the Gluten sensitive people hence, this Post ) and found out that oats are not counted as
Gluten but, a grain of wheat might slip in so, maybe nature shops are more reliable. (?)
I think every country has its level of reliability which each person has to investigate.

Then I checked if rice is considered Gluten, ( for the rice syrup or malt if you want ) it is not, so those are already two unobjectionable ingredients.

So, the only undesirable ingredient left is the flour that is used as a thickener,
and one could use anything at hand, as rice flour for example… It is easy to just
innovate and improvise in accordance with the components one always has at home.

I hope this is of help to all the people who have this intolerance.

Have a lovely weekend!