(Raw, Gluten Free, Sugar Free, Vegan Option)


Coconut yogurt is a healthy snack, with good fats and probiotics.  Add chia seeds and you get the added boost of fibre and omega-3!

This is one of my all time favorite breakfasts or snacks.

Ingredients

• Coconut Yogurt Kefir ** (see substitutions below***)
  
• 1-2 Tablespoons of chia seeds
  
• Slice up your favorite seasonal fruit for flavor – bananas, mangoes, berries, passion fruit, pomegranate, etc…
  
• Add some raw nuts for crunch
  
• Some cacao nibs or sweetened cacao nibs for a treat
• Sprinkle with some plain oatmeal or raw buckwheat granola

Directions

• Mix the chia seeds with the yogurt and let soak at least ten minutes before eating.  
  
• Add the rest of the ingredients, either mix or layer depending upon your preference.
  

You can either mix this up for a casual bowl, or layer it beautifully in champagne glasses for a lovely parfait.  It makes a perfect breakfast or morning snack at your desk.  It is easy to make up the night before and store in the fridge too!

** Note - Coconut yogurt is very filling, I often find just a 1/4 cup is enough for one sitting, so start small as you can always add more.

*** Substitutions – instead of coconut yogurt kefir, you could use milk kefir, whole fat plain greek yogurt or whole fat plain yogurt.  Do be sure to choose a yogurt with no added sugar.

(Gluten Free, Sugar Free, Vegan Option) 

My kids love porridge. They often request it, but they know they have to request it at least the night before.
Why?

Because I soak it for 12 hours first! Soaking makes it easier to digest, and with naturally fermented probiotics too.

Sometimes I double the recipe thinking it will last two days, but instead the kids insist on having it as part of their dinner, like tonight!

Photo: oatmeal soaking the night before with some whey




Night Before

• 3 Cups gluten free oats (rolled, not instant)
  
• 3 1/2 Cups of warm water
  
• 1/4 Cup of whey or water kefir* (or you can use 2 T of milk kefir)
  
• 1 finely grated apple (for natural sweetness)
• 2 Tablespoons of cinnamon
• 1 Tablespoon of vanilla (either extract or powder)
• Mix together in a large glass bowl.
  
• Cover
  
• Leave in a warm place (on top of the fridge for me!)
  

* water kefir to make it vegan

Morning

• Add more warm or cold water** if you need to, and mix well
• Serve! No 

No need to warm it or cook it - this way the probiotic goodness remains beneficial for your body!

** You could add milk or yogurt instead of water - milk kefir, almond milk, coconut yogurt, etc...

My kids like to eat it with a huge dollop of yogurt (coconut yogurt to make it vegan).

Depending on your taste, you can add raisins to make it sweeter, or more apple, or other natural sweetener of your choice.  You can also add more fruit or nuts - it's a nice base to customize as you desire.

You can also try it with other grains, but my kids are oatmeal fanatics at the moment so I am sticking with what they eat!

( Fermented, Vegan, Raw, Gluten Free, Sugar Free) 

So easy, so yummy, so good for you!  In Hong Kong, fresh young coconuts are easily available at the local supermarkets.  They provide lovely fresh coconut water to drink, and soft creamy coconut meat to eat.  Making coconut yogurt kefir is a great way to add even more probiotics to your daily diet.

The coconut water, you can drink straight, or ferment into coconut water kefir.




Ingredients
3-4 young coconuts
1/2 Cup of water kefir (more or less depending how much 'meat' your coconuts had)
1 Tablespoon of water kefir grains (optional)

Directions
Scoop the meat out of the young coconuts
Put it in your high speed blender (I use a Vitamix)**
Start to blend to see how thick/thin it is
Add enough water kefir to blend it smooth and creamy - to the consistency you want

Optional - if you have extra kefir grains you can add them too, this will make the coconut yogurt ferment more, but might get too sour for some people. This is completely optional, I only do it when I have a load of extra grains and know I will eat the coconut yogurt within 1-2 days.

You can eat it fresh at this point - my daughter loves it!
Alternatively, you can put it in a bowl on the counter to ferment for a few hours.  It goes fluffy and more sour this way, but I still love it (daughter does not).

Coconut yogurt can be eaten plain, added to a bowl of cut fruit, eaten with cereal, enjoyed as a creamy topping to any raw dessert and more.  It will last in the fridge up to 3 days so no need to finish it all at once.  After 3 days I find the taste is a bit too sour for most people.  
I also like to dehydrate coconut yogurt into coconut wraps - just spread thick on your non-stick dehydrator sheets!  For more on dehydrating click here.

WARNING!  Even in the fridge it expands, so please make sure your jar has room for the ever growing coconut yogurt.

** Note on blenders - you really do need a high speed blender to get coconut yogurt to the right consistency, regular power blenders just don't get it 'creamy' enough.

To learn how to open a coconut check out many videos on youtube or see this step by step photo instructions from Loulanatural:
How to Open a Coconut, step by step with photos

Related Links
Coconut Water Kefir
Loulanatural - Coconut Yogurt

(Gluten Free, Vegan, Raw, Fermented, Refined Sugar Free) 


I love almond milk.  I love kefir.  What better than homemade almond milk fermented with kefir grains?!

This drink is smooth and tangy at the same time, and chock full of great probiotics for you.

Drink it straight, put it in your muesli, or mix it with some chia seeds for a raw dessert - however you use it it won't last long.

There are two steps to this process, first to make the almond milk, second to ferment it.

Do watch the slide show below for key steps in images and captions.  

Ingredients

• 2.5 cups of almonds, soaked for 4-12 hours
  
• 5 cups of water
  
• 5 dates (soaked for 2-12 hours)
  
• 1/2 Tablespoon of vanilla extract
  
• 1/8 teaspoon of pink Himalayan salt 

Directions

• Drain and rinse the almonds after they have soaked
• Put all ingredients in your Vitamix or other high speed blender
  
• Blend until smooth - 1-2 minutes
  
• Strain through a cheese cloth, nut milk bag or Chinese soup bag**
  
• Squeeze to get all the liquid out

• Put the almond meal aside to use in the fabulous Raw Brownies with a Secret recipe.

• Pour the almond milk into a glass jar
  

Now, you could just stop here, and enjoy your almond milk - and trust me, I did, at least one glass before fermenting the rest!

To Ferment

• Add 2 Tablespoons of kefir grains*** to your large glass jar of almond milk
  
• Cover with a cloth and rubber band and place in a warm place to ferment (the top of the fridge is good)
  
• Ferment for 4-12 hours depending on the weather - taste after 4 hours, then every couple hours until it is the taste you like
  
• Don't worry if the almond milk kefir separates (see photo below), it is normal, just stir it with a non-metal stirrer and either keep fermenting or strain depending on the taste.  
• Once it tastes right to you, strain the grains with a plastic strainer
  
• Save the grains in a glass jar in the fridge to use again

Once fermented, put in a glass bottle with a lid put in the fridge.

We usually finish it within two days, but it will last almost forever in the fridge. Did I mention a glass of Almond Milk Kefir goes great with these Raw Brownies?

You can also use this to make an awesome smoothie - almond milk kefir, some berries, acai berry powder and a banana - sooooo good!  This is a great way to use it if you accidentally ferment it a bit too long.

** Chinese Soup Bags can be found in the local ParkNShop or Wellcome in Hong Kong, they cost about 10 HK for 3 bags - great value and perfect for nut milk!

*** I use water kefir grains, then I keep them separate from my other grains in a jar dedicated to using with nut milks.  You can also use dairy milk grains, and they will work fine as well, it depends on what you have.

**** The reason I keep my nut milk grains separate from my other grains, is so that if I am sharing grains with someone with a nut allergy, I know not to give them the nut contaminated grains.  This is just a precaution because I love sharing my kefir grains.

Related Links
LoulaNatural - Raw Almond Milk
LoulaNatural - Kefir FAQ

(Gluten Free, Vegan)

I love love love NY Jewish Bagels - they are both emotionally satisfying and yummy.  When I am back in the USA, I usually have one huge one every morning - a thin shmear of cream cheese, piled with lox, tomatoes, vidalia onions, pepper... and sometimes the non traditional avocado instead of cream cheese. 

In my over 20 years living away from the USA, it is the single top food I miss.  Sure I have tried bagels in London, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Beijing... but it's really not the same.

Since going wheat free, it made my last trips to the USA kind of painful.  I did discover that I could eat the Sprouted Spelt Bagels from Alvarado Street Bakery, so I have these when I am back in the USA and they are really excellent, but NOT gluten free. Reminder, spelt is NOT gluten free. 

I was getting pretty desperate to try a gluten free bagel recipe, my expectations were suitably low, I was not expecting Brooklyn Bagels... but I wanted something with a chew that was different from bread or a roll.  

I think I found it with this combination - even hubby had seconds and the kids loved them too!  Served with cream cheese, wild salmon lox, yummmmmmy.  So good in fact, I forgot to slice the tomato and onion!

Many GF bagel recipes have coconut and almond flour as the main and only flours - I make so many other things with those ingredients, and I knew bagels they would not be.  At the same time, i knew just using Bob's GF All Purpose Baking Flour would not be right either... so I combined the ideas.  

So I found this easy recipe at Bob's Red Mill and modified it.

Ingredients

• 2 Tablespoons of chia seeds
• 12 Tablespoons of warm water

• 2 1/2 cups Bob's GF All Purpose Baking Flour
• 1/2 cup tapioca flour
• 1/2 cup almond flour
• 1/2 cup coconut flour
• 1 teaspoon xanthan gum (not needed if you use Bob's 1:1 GF Flour)
• 1 teaspoon Baking Powder
• 1 teaspoon instant yeast
• 2 Tablespoons coconut sugar 

• 1 cup warm water
• 3 Tbsp olive oil

For the topping:

• 2 Tablespoons of chia Seed
• 1 Tablespoons of salt and black pepper or other toppings of your choice - sesame seeds, poppy seeds, garlic, onion, etc...

Directions

• Preheat oven to 180 C / 375 F
• Mix the chia seeds and water in a 2 cup glass measuring cup and let sit for 10 minutes 
• Put all the dry ingredients in your food processor or mixer and blend for a few minutes
• Add the extra cup of water and olive oil to the chia and water and mix you made above
• Add the liquid mixture to the dry ingredients in the food processor and mix well

• Prepare a bowl with room temperature water that is big enough to put your hands in
• Prepare two baking trays covered in parchment/baking paper or a silicon mat
• You do not need a bagel/donut pan, but can opt to use one, I preferred the bagels that were not made in them.
• Wet your hands to shape the dough into bagel shapes 
• I made bagel shape, stick shape and one small 'bagel bite'

• Once you have them all laid out, you can add toppings as you desire - chia seeds, salt, garlic, onion, poppy seeds, sesame seeds, whatever you fancy.
• Let them sit on the counter for about 30 minutes before putting them in the oven
• Bake for 12-15 minutes depending on your oven.
• Enjoy on their own or with your favorite bagel combinations!

Helpful Hints
Form them by hand, with very wet hands.
Bake on a metal tray with parchment paper, not silicon tray.
After you bake them, once they cool, slice them and freeze them right away.
Then, when you want a yummy gluten free bagel, you can just get one from the freezer.  
This helps keep the fresh flavor for much longer.
(you can do this for bread and store bought bagels too -but ALWAYS slice first!)

(Gluten Free, Sugar Free, Yeast Free, Dairy Free)

Very short post to go with my Easy Japanese Onigiri post.

Another super healthy school snack is hard boiled eggs. My kids love them!  Sometimes they prefer to be given them in the shell and sometimes peeled.  Other times they request a 'car' or a 'fish'. 

These 'egg molds' are available at most Japanese style stores - in HK this includes Japan Home Store and Justco $12 Living Plaza, but sometimes in the local supermarkets too.  

I recommend organic eggs, and choosing the smallest eggs in the carton for the molds - you can see what happens to the larger eggs in the car crash in the photo.

We also always bring hard boiled eggs with us when we travel - but in the shell.  They are easy to pack and provide a nutritious snack for plane rides and picnics.

Directions

• Boil organic eggs until very hard boiled
  
• Prepare a large bowl of ice water
  
• When eggs are done boiling, immediately immerse them in ice water - this makes them easier to peel (really!)
  
• Pick a small egg out as soon as it is cool enough to touch, and peel it
  
• Put it in the mold, and then immerse the mold in the ice water too.
  
• You want to leave the egg in the mold until it is really cold so the egg holds shape - I often put them in the fridge over night.
  
• The next day, pack two hard boiled eggs for school snack - one with a fun shape, and one in the shell.  

(Gluten Free, Sugar Free, Yeast Free, Vegan option)

Apologies to all my Japanese friends - please do not read this post.  My Japanese friends make perfectly beautiful onigiri (rice ball) with all the extra traditional ingredients.  Nothing beats a truly Japanese onigiri. The ones I make have three ingredients and are never quite perfectly shaped, most importantly my kids love them!

The basic concept is rice and something else smooshed together in a triangle or small shape.  Then wrap in plain nori seaweed to keep it all together.  

There are lots of other details if you want to get complicated - feel free to google things you can add to the rice, or how you can make a 'surprise' in the middle of the rice ball - but I like to keep it simple!

Next time you have rice for dinner, make a bit extra.
After dinner, put the extra rice in a bowl, and mix in whatever you have - I like using salmon, but you can use shredded chicken or bits of sesame and seaweed or anything you think will taste good.
Mix with a fork
Mash into molds
Take out of molds and store in a covered container in the fridge overnight

Another way of doing it is put the rice in the triangle molds, then use your finger and dig a hole in the middle, then add the salmon, then cover with more rice, then smoosh down - this makes for a 'surprise' in the middle.  My friend did this with feta cheese and her kids loved it, so really be experimental and try it with whatever you have!

They are great for breakfast, lunch boxes, school snacks, plane trips, picnics, and more.

Normally, you would keep the seaweed separate until right before eating.  But my kids prefer me to wrap it for them - it then gets 'soggy' but they say they like it as it holds everything together better.

Look at the photos for different mold shapes and how I make them.

Ingredients

• Cooked rice (Japanese, white, brown, jasmine, basmati, all work, a bit wet helps)
  
• Cooked salmon (see my recipes here) or other filling (can be vegan!)
  
• Plain nori seaweed wrappers
  

Directions

• Mix the still slightly warm rice in a bowl with your filling - we like salmon
  
• Slightly overfill the mold
  
• Press down really really hard! You want to mash it all together so it keeps the right shape
  
• Take the top off and use the little flap at the bottom to help push the onigiri out
  
• Once you have a plate full, either put in fridge, or wrap in seaweed and eat right away
  

All of the materials shown in the photos below are easily found at Japan Home Store or the Jusco 12 HKD Living Plaza shops located around Hong Kong.

If you can't get the molds, you can use a cup or mug line with plastic wrap it will work the same way.  

Happy onigiri making - do share below how you get on and what interesting filings you try!

(Gluten Free, Sugar Free, Yeast Free) 

I love Brazilian Cheese Bread, Pão de Queijo, as a basic recipe it is tapioca flour, cheese, butter, milk, eggs.  

When I first made them, it was in a blender and they were light more like 'popovers' very easy - but the only thing you could do with them was eat them as a snack. Similar to this recipe from Simply Recipes.

Then I discovered one of my favorite 'restaurants' ever - Mama's Cheese Bread in Brookfield, Connecticut, USA.  They took Brazilian Cheese Balls to a whole different level for me - making them into sandwiches!  I literally had 5 or 6 a week last summer when I was in the USA.  The kids had some of the balls or a sandwich every morning too.  We bought their dough and took it home to bake when guest same over, we were addicted.  Oh, how I miss them now we are back in Hong Kong.  I swear he could make a global chain of his secret recipe.

Now, what I am about to share, is nowhere nearly as good as Mama's Cheese Bread.  But I did want to play around with making a thicker dough, that could be baked into a slightly heavier 'roll' type of bread for mini sandwiches.

As with my other recipes, this is very flexible, so play around until you get a texture you like.

Ingredients

• 3-3 1/2 Cups** of tapioca flour/starch
  
• 1 Tablespoon of baking powder
  
• 1 Cup grated parmesan cheese
  
• 1 Cup yogurt cheese/farmers cheese or grated mozzarella cheese
  
• 1/3 Cup butter or olive oil (room temperature)
  
• 2 Eggs (room temperature)
  
• 1 Cup of milk (dairy or non dairy)

(**If you want them a bit lighter use less flour)
They are very bland, so if you want to spice it up you can with some black pepper, paprika or other spices - maybe a curry variety? 

Directions

• Preheat oven to 190C (375F)
  
• Prepare two baking trays with parchment/baking paper

Put all the ingredients in your food processor with the plastic S blade in the following order:

• Tapioca flour
  
• Baking powder
  
• Mix
  
• Add the cheeses
  
• Mix
  
• Add the butter and eggs
  
• Mix
  
• Add the milk - add the milk slowly as you might not use it all, you want to stop when you can *just* roll the dough into little balls and they keep their shape
  

Roll balls and put on your two baking trays.  I tend to do one tray of smaller balls, and one of larger ones which I slightly flatten to use for sandwiches (see photo below).

Bake around 20-25 minutes, until they puff up and start to turn a slight golden color.

Best eaten warm from the oven, or within 12-24 hours.

(Gluten Free, Refined Sugar Free)

Going gluten free can be really hard.  Not everything is easy to make from scratch and have it come out great.  An added problem is many of the gluten free foods have some nasty ingredients - but not Namaste Brand, which is a staple in our house.

Prior to making our home wheat and gluten free, I used to bake a lot - breads, muffins, pizza dough etc... all from scratch.  I would use whole wheat flours mixed with white, I would even add gluten to my bread!  

When I first went wheat and gluten free, I would mix flours and make things from scratch... then I discovered All Purpose Gluten Free Flour - yippee!  I still make some things from specific flours, but the AP GF Flour is handy for so many recipes.

For pizzas, muffins and pancakes, all of my gluten free attempts, be they with a mix of healthy flours or using All Purpose Gluten Free Flour, were less than impressive.  I love our cauliflower and also our quinoa pizza crusts, but it's not the same really...

Then I tried Namaste brand, and my whole family fell in love with them!  

Namaste Sugar Free, Gluten Free Muffins
This mix makes perfect fluffy muffins, and we have them a couple times a month. We add cinnamon and vanilla, then a load of frozen raspberries or blueberries - soooo yummy! No sweeteners needed at all. They are best hot from the oven, okay the next day, but the third day quite chewy - so eat them fast :)

Namaste Gluten Free Waffle and Pancake Mix
Much better than anything I have made from scratch (both gluten free and non gluten free). For pancakes, I have to add almost twice the amount of recommended liquid (I like a thinner batter than most people). We just add a bit of vanilla and cinnamon.  You can also use yogurt or milk kefir as the liquid for extra fluffy pancakes.  Add liquid until the batter is the consistency you like. 
We did a taste test with the Arrowhead Mills Gluten Free Pancake Mix, we found Arrowhead Mills a bit heavier, but worth trying to see which you prefer.

Namaste Gluten Free Pizza Crust Mix
We have this once a week, and it is by far a family favorite!  
I followed the instructions exactly, and used my food processor with the plastic blade to mix the batter. 
I line a baking tray with parchment/baking paper and spread the batter thin with an offset spatula.  It's never really even, but it always comes out great!
In the oven, the crust really puffs up, after the recommended 20 minutes, I take it out, flip it, press down any huge bubbles and bake it again for a few minutes for extra crispness, before taking it out again and adding the sauce and cheese before the final bake.  
My favorite cheese is to mix mozzarella and goat cheese! 
Comes out really great every time. The crust has lots of flavor, with a nice crunch. It also works in long thin strips as 'not' bread sticks.
The only negative is that it doesn't really work for 'cold pizza for breakfast' - but then again, it is soooo good, we rarely have leftovers!

Pizza Tips: 
If you have one, use a pizza stone in the oven under the tray
Always cool on a rack before slicing - you can use an oven rack if you don't have anything else

Lack of sleep destroys me, literally, I had very little sleep last week, and this week feel awful with laryngitis and a very sore throat, even whispering or speaking softly hurts.

This morning, thinking about Louise's great morning drink, I whipped up this in my Vitamix.

• 2 small pieces of fresh turmeric
  
• 2 large chunks of fresh ginger
  
• 1 whole lemon, pitted and peeled 
• 1 Tablespoon of cinnamon
  
• 1 Tablespoon of raw honey
  
• 1 Tablespoon of raw apple cider vinegar
  
• 1 Cup of water kefir
  

If you don't have all the ingredients, don't worry, make it with what you do have and be creative.  As usual, any blender will work, just use what you have.

I drank it with a glass straw to get maximum benefit for my throat and get into my body as fast as possible.  The Vitamix did make it super frothy, so  it might be best to wait a bit before drinking... not that I did.  

Can't say if it helped or not, but it tasted great and I'll have this again later today and tomorrow morning.