Chocolate Quinoa Cake with Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

It's about time I posted another proper dessert here on the blog, don't you think? Looking at the blog archives, I haven't treated you with something nice and sweet for more than a month. I don't want to leave the impression that I don't cook, bake or eat sweet things anymore. Quite the opposite actually.

While I try to fix my sweet cravings with fruit (or in more persistent cases: dried fruit), I don't mind the occasional (and at times quite regular) sweet treat. While I can say that I am off store-bought or restaurant desserts, I do love my own "healthified" versions. Not just for myself, but especially for my children. My kids are no different to other kids - they love sweets and chocolate too.

Same applies to grains. While I try to keep my diet as grain-free as possible, I don't mind the occasional pasta dish or a piece of cake made with whole wheat flour. Again, I would not eat those those shop-bought or restaurant versions, but I do enjoy the occasional grainy meal at home.

Finding the balance between what's good for you and what's not and when and with what amounts is not easy. People are influenced by their upbringing, their cultures and their environments. That shows in their diet too. Once medical conditions come to into the equation, it gets even more complicated.

I am not saying that today's Chocolate Quinoa Cake is a healthy and guilt-free cake. Unless you have adverse reactions to any of the ingredients (particularly dairy or the glutenous whole wheat flour), an occasional piece of it will not do any damage to your health.

Enjoy!

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CHOCOLATE QUINOA CAKE WITH VANILLA BUTTERCREAM FROSTING

(Print Recipe)

3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teapsoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon sea salt

1/2 cup coconut/palm sugar or grated jaggery
1/3 cup olive oil
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup cooked quinoa

Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
1 cup raw powdered sugar
1/2 teapoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon butter, softened
1 1/2 tablespoons milk

Serves 8-10
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Preheat oven to 175C/350F. Grease small bundt cake form or medium loaf tin.

In a bowl, sift together flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
I another bowl, blend sugar with olive, yogurt and vanilla. Mix wet and dry ingredients until just combined. Then gently fold cooked quinoa into the batter.

Transfer to prepared cake tin. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until cake tester comes out clean. Let cool in tin for a few minutes, then turn out and let cool completely on wire rack.

Buttercream Frosting
Mix all ingredients and stir vigorously until smooth. Drizzle or spread over cake. Let stand for a few minutes to let it harden.

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Mango Sorbet

June is the official start of summer in Dubai for me. It's the squelching season: you'll be hot and sweaty, no matter what time of the day. The temperatures even at night will not drop below 30C/86F. During the day expect anything between 38C/100F and 48C/118F. From August onwards, combine these temperatures with high humidity. Then carrying your grocery bags into the house from the car that's parked right in front of it, makes you want to have a shower right away.

I gotta start training for the Berlin Marathon in July. The Dubai summer makes it very difficult. You have to be extra careful not to overheat or dehydrate. Dehydration may be the smaller problem and can be controled much better. Overheating is the bigger issue: if the core temperature rises above a certain point, your body will just shut down and you'll have a heat stroke.

Training through the summer means that you might just give up on certain days as the heat will not let you do what your marathon program prescribes. The good news is that there will be an air-conditioned indoor running track of 650m that will be open to the public from 20 June until 20 August. I see myself doing quite a few laps on this one - my first long run in the first week will be 21k/13miles. That's 32 laps. Sounds scary, doesn't it!?

I thought I would train for a 3:10 marathon and be happy with anything under 3:15 on race day. My weekly mileage will be between 60 and 85k (that's 37 and 52 miles).

Despite the heat and the upcoming grueling marathon training, I feel ready for it. The official big racing season in Dubai closes by March/April. I had a few months of relaxation now with lots of slow runs. I feel very ready for another challenge. In fact, I can't wait! My weekly mileage has been quite steady and not too low. I think I can ease into the training without much difficulty. Just the heat will be the critical factor.

My ice cream maker is doing over hours these days. I have posted several sorbet recipes here on the blog before (check the extremely delicious kiwi sorbet, the refreshing raspberry sorbet or my luscious lemon sorbet). They are all made in the same way: puree raw fruit, add some honey and lime/lemon and put it in your ice cream maker. Today's mango sorbet is not exception. It's raw refreshing goodness. It's as close as it gets to eating raw fresh fruit. Enjoy.
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MANGO SORBET

(Print Recipe)

3 cups ripe mango, peeled and cubed

3-4 tablespoons honey (or agave syrup for a vegan version)

2 tablespoons lime juice, freshly squeezed

Serves 6-8

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Place mango cubes, honey and lime juice in a food processor and blend until smooth. Transfer mixture to ice cream maker, and follow instructions of the ice cream maker.

Alternatively, transfer mixture to a shallow dish and freeze for 45-60 minutes, or until almost solid. Take out of the freezer, and thoroughly stir with a fork. Put back into freezer and freeze until solid.
Scoop out the frozen mixture and place into a food processor. Pulse until smooth. Transfer sorbet to airtight container and return to freezer until ready to serve. If necessary, pulse again in a food processor just before serving.

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Spicy Roasted Cauliflower Tomato Salad with Raisins

If I could only pick one "health food" to have available for the rest of my life, it would be turmeric. Turmeric is the most powerful spice to me. I'll try and sprinkle it into anything I can.

I first got aware of the health benefits of turmeric when anti-inflammatory foods caught my eye. It made sense to me that many lifestyle-related health issues would have their root in long-term inflammation of the body.

Inflammation is the body's totally healthy response to injury and infection, a way of defending ourselves by sending immune cells and key nutrients to the areas that need them most. Long-term inflammation, however, can be quite dangerous. When inflammation as an immune response is never "shut off," so to speak, the constant production of immune cells can do permanent damage, leading to cancer, heart disease, arthritis and Alzheimer's among other health concerns.

Chronic inflammation can be caused by a sedentary lifestyle, lack of sleep,  or the foods that we choose to eat or not to eat. It will not come as a surprise that sugar, refined grains, vegetable oils, dairy, processed and red meats, food additives, and alcohol are highly inflammatory foods.

Now which are the most powerful anti-inflammatory foods? With regards to herbs and spices, it's definitely turmeric, but also parsley and ginger. For fruit, try blueberries and papaya. And for the vegetables, try and incorporate as much seaweed, broccoli, green leafy vegetables and some sweet potato into your diet. Have some walnuts or almonds as your snack between meals.

Today's salad is one of my summer staples this year: full of anti-inflammatory ingredients. It consists of a lot of well spiced veggies, that roast peacefully and without much work in the oven. The salad keeps well in the fridge, so it's worth making double or triple portions. It's hearty, satisfying, yet light and full of flavor. Perfect for the approaching summer and healthwise good for you all year round. I hope you enjoy!
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SPICY ROASTED CAULIFLOWER TOMATO SALAD WITH RAISINS

(Print Recipe)

1 medium head of cauliflower
1 1/2 cups of cherry tomatoes, halved
2 red onions, cut into wedges
3 bay leaves

1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 tablespoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon chili powder

1/2 cup cooked chickpeas
2-3 tablespoons raisins
3 tablespoons chopped parsley

Serves 4
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Preheat oven to 200C/400F.

In a small bowl, combine spices with olive oil and stir until well blended.

Cut the cauliflower into bite-sized florets. Pour the spice mixture over the cauliflower and stir until cauliflower is well coated. gently add in the tomato halves, onion wedges and bay leaves. Spread out the vegetables in a single layer on a baking sheet.
Roast for 20-25 minutes, or until cauliflower is starting to caramelize.

Transfer roasted vegetables to serving dish. Add cooked chickpeas and raisins. Sprinkle with chopped parsley for garnish. Serve warm or at room temperature.

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Vegan Cheezy Rosemary Roasted Chickpeas

I recently read an interesting article about the paleo diet hype. It pointed out that it is being marketed way overboard as to what the original meaning of the caveman's diet was supposed to be; simple foods, minimally processed with short cooking times or even eaten raw.

These days, you can find a vast amount of food blogs and cookbooks focusing on paleo recipes, or even more specifically, paleo desserts. The point of the article was that many of these blogs and cookbooks miss the point. While their ingredients are OK for a caveman's diet, the amount that is being used is beyond healthy. Think of cups full of coconut oils, nut meals, nut butters and honey that go into those sold-as-healthy paleo recipes. The sheer amount of these ingredients makes them very calorie-dense dishes that makes overeating almost unavoidable.

This is not really breaking news if you think about. But have you thought about it? It's actually quite easy and tempting to be lured into those hypes that make you believe you are doing something good to yourself . Along the way, you may loose touch with reality.

Moderation is the key. That's probably not new to you either. If you cook your dishes from scratch, you may have an idea how much nuts go into nut butter. If you look at the oil in your measuring cup, imagine having a few spoonfuls. Same with the honey or other sweetener. How appealing would these foods be when eaten separately and unprocessed. You would surely eat less than when they all combined and baked into some delicious cake or brownies.

This applies to my recipe today, roasted chickpeas, a delicious and healthy snack. While all ingredients - chickpeas, nutritional yeast, sea salt, rosemary and a little olive oil - are surely not unhealthy when eaten in moderation, it is quite easy to snack away on these and finish a whole can of chickpeas without even realizing. And that is not a full meal, it's still just a snack.

Do you get my point? You can still overeat or have health problems, or have problems to loose weight, when you follow one of these healthy diet hypes - be it vegan, paleo, gluten-free, etc. Common sense, listening to your body's signals and moderation shall help keep your health and weight under control.
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VEGAN CHEEZY ROSEMARY ROASTED CHICKPEAS

(Print Recipe)

2 1/2  cups chickpeas, cooked and drained

4 tablespoons fresh rosemary, finely chopped
4 tablespoons nutritional yeast
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
2 teaspoons olive oil

Serves 8
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Preheat oven to 180C/375F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, combine all ingredients and stir until chickpeas are evenly coated. Spread the chickpeas in one layer on a baking sheet. Better results are being achieved if the chickpeas are not too crowded. Roast in preheated oven for 60 to 75 minutes ( or even longer), depending on size of the chickpeas. They are ready when they are crunchy, and not chewy anymore.

If the chickpeas loose the crispness after a day or too, roast them again at 165C/350F for 10-15 minutes and leave them in the warm/switched-off oven for another 15-20minutes.

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Chakalaka - Spicy Tomato Pepper Relish

Chakalaka is a South African tomato-based relish that has its origins in the townships of Johannesburg. 10 years ago, I was living in Johannesburg for a year and stayed at a vegetarian bachelor's house. The fridge was always empty, apart from a few lonely vegetables. But there was always chakalaka in the house. The  jarred version, but never mind. My vegetarian bachelor's friend was not much of a cook.

For dinner we'd cook some of those lonely vegetables and then drown them in chakalaka sauce. As far as I can remember, we didn't even have any grains or the otherwise very typical South African pap with it. We ate it more like a vegetable stew.
It is an awesome sauce, very versatile as you could use it as a dip with cracker, as a relish over grilled meat (not in that vegetarian bachelor's house though) or over pap. I got to taste many versions of it at various BBQs, which the South African claim they are world champions in.

There are versions with beans in it which makes it more a stand-alone meal. I prefer the simpler version with lots of green peppers: they give an otherwise regular tomato sauce (let's be honest, that's what it is) a refreshing summer kick. Then spice it up with as much chili as you like. A simple but incredibly delicious relish. Enjoy!
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CHAKALAKA - SPICY TOMATO PEPPER RELISH

(Print Recipe)

1 tablespoon olive oil
2 medium onions, thinly sliced
4 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
2 green peppers, deseeded and cut into 1-inch sticks
6 tomatoes, finely chopped

2-3 tablespoons tomato paste
1 tablespoon mixed dried herbs
1 teaspoon curry powder
1/2 teaspoon sea salt (or to taste)
1/2 teaspoon chili powder (or to taste)

Serves 6
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In a medium pan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Fry onions for a few minutes, until softened. Add garlic and peppers and fry for another few minutes. Stir in chopped tomatoes and tomato paste. Season with herbs, curry powder, chili and sea salt.
Cover with lid and simmer over low heat for 15-20 minutes. Stir occasionally.

Serve hot or cold as a dip with crackers, or as a sauce over grilled meat or pap or polenta.

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