#foodiefriendsinlottieskitchen
And third, she is so cool! She has the most amazing ideas when it comes to healthy snack and I wish I could go to Australia to purchase on of her Eat Like Eloise Goodie Boxes! Yes, it's crazy cool, Eloise makes healthy vegan, raw, paleo, gluten-free and sugar-free (phew!) goodies that she sells in and around Melbourne! If you live there I hope you'll hop over to her blog/homepage now and order one! Eloise is amazing at everything she does - if it's ballet, healthy cooking, teaching barre pilates or photographing and I bet she'll be great at Chinese Medicine too which she'll start studying really soon! El, good luck with whatever you do!
These cacao vanilla quinoa cakes are perfect for breakfast with fruit and chia pudding, as a snack, or even dessert!
Ingredients:
40g seed or nut spread
3/4 cup plant-based milk
50g mashed banana (about half of a large banana)
1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
1/2 tsp vanilla paste of extract
120g cooked quinoa (I use tricolour) (about 65-70g uncooked quinoa)
30g coconut flour
40g vanilla protein powder (I use rice protein)
A good couple of dashes of cinnamon
Grind of salt
2nd Bowl
1 1/2 tbsp cacao powder
2 tbsp cacao nibs (optional, or chunks of cacao chocolate)
+ additional splash of milk
Method:
1. In a large bowl, spoon in your spread of choice and pour in the milk. Heat in a microwave or in a saucepan, for 45-60 seconds until relatively hot (but not boiling), mix thoroughly until the spread is not lumpy. Add in banana, apple cider vinegar and vanilla and combine. Stir quinoa in gently.
2. In a separate bowl, combine all dry ingredients (not 2nd bowl ingredients). Add to wet ingredient bowl and combine well.
3. Scoop out half the mixture into a separate bowl (or the bowl the the dry ingredients were in). Add in (2nd bowl) ingredients (cacao powder and nibs). If the mixture is not the same consistency as first bowl, then add milk until both mixtures are the same. The batters will be thick and will be stuck to the spoon.
4. On a lined baking tray, scoop 1 tbsp of the vanilla batter onto the tray (don't pat down), then scoop 1 tbsp of the chocolate batter directly connected and next to the vanilla, so that when cooked, they form as one cake.
5. Cook for 20-30 minutes in the preheated oven (180°C, fan forced!) until firm, and golden and crispy on top.
6. Serve with yoghurt (soy or coconut if vegan), seed or nut spread or your favourite chia pudding recipe.
NOTE: I use a vanilla rice protein powder that is sweetened with organic stevia, so I feel no need to add other sweetener, especially with the banana added to the mixture. However, if you taste the batter and feel it is not sweet enough, then feel free to add natural sweetener such as stevia, agave, coconut nectar or rice malt syrup.