Oats pouring into bowl for sweet potato brownies
SocialJoy
Lots of lovely summer activities going on in London, from outdoor cinema viewings with picnics, to Summer in the Park concerts with Lionel Richie & Stevie Wonder! A mini heatwave and the odd thunderstorm, it certainly makes outings interesting. Have become a fan of the lido at the Serpentine in Hyde Park. I did a charity swim this month for “back up” and was in the water at 6.30 am after cycling to the park, up at the crack of dawn. The hottest day of the year last week, I also cycled to the Lido for a refreshing swim too!
Had a BBQ on the rainiest day of the month, just typical! Although it didnt actually rain in the evening so we were all outside, but food cooked in the ovens. Made a delicious feast of hot buffalo chicken wings to start, followed by ribs cooked in beer, home made rosemary & cumin lamb burgers, haloumi, courgette & mushroom kebabs and roasted aubergine skewers marinated in jerk sauce with a few interesting salads. I made my own version of Eton Mess for dessert and an experimental pea cake for future KitchenJoy classes, with raspberries and a lime icing which turned out really well & quite dense.
One of my outings was to see the Nigel Slater play - Toast, which was brilliant, not only informative about his childhood days and how he started cooking but very funny too. It was also interactive with the audience tasting foods mainly from the 70’s era of old fashioned sweets such as black jacks and walnut whips.
I met with a copywriter for lunch in Soho, as I was thinking of writing my autobiography. We ended up chatting for 5 hours, a lot of ground to cover. I have to submit x15 pages on an intro which I hope will be wow factor to get the readers to continue ! Watch this space.
WorkJoy
The Live Wall is now flourishing with lots of new different plants, will take a while to grow fully but with the warm weather they are doing well. I continue to work with As Nature Intended (ANI) and they had a relaunch of their store in Balham this month with a private viewing the night before the store officially opened with various chefs and tasting demo’s. I showcased my pea, za’atar & feta fritters which everyone seemed to enjoy. There was also tasters of vegan pizza, vegan cheeses, vegetarian pasta’s and many more delights. https://www.asnatureintended.uk.com/stores/balham-store-as-nature-intended/
Am delighted to be going back in August, to the Law Firm - Wedlake Bell to host an evening event of a power brain smoothie and veggie fritters on the hob. I shall we working alongside a wine co, where the wines will be paired up with my foods.
I also did my first government tender workshop London Waste & Recycling Board (LWARB) https://www.lwarb.gov.uk/ in Soho last Sunday, where I demonstrated a smoothie and energy balls. There were lots of influencers there and great exposure on social media for KitchenJoy and also for awareness on vegetarian recycled foods and non waste. http://smallchangebigdifference.london/
There were events continuing all day on this subject. Love not Landfill event:
The next LWARB course will be held at KitchenJoy on 7th August
I launched a couple of new courses on my website this month, the FODMAP diet which has been requested many times by clients so I will run this after the summer. Also as I work with Not on the High St (NOTHS), they requested a chocolate course. Now who wouldn’t like this! It will be mainly desserts working with vegan chocolate, raw cacao and 85% dark chocolate, some raw recipes as well. But I will also make a pulled pork taco main course with raw cacao added. Clients have booked up already for the first course on 15th October https://www.kitchenjoycookery.com/classes/chocolatemakingcourse
KitchenJoy
This month there were a few No Sugar courses, using pineapple and banana in the smoothies to show you can have some natural sugars but lots of greens added as well, including spinach leaves, moringa powder and parsley. The main course was Japanese miso glazed salmon with maple syrup again demonstrating the powerful antioxidants in this ingredient. We finished with sweet potato brownies with no added sugar as this food group has natural sweetness and is slow releasing carbs.
Sweet potato brownies
Makes 10 Brownies
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 50 minutes
Ingredients:
500g of sweet potatoes (about 2 medium)
12 mejdool dates
6 tbsp of maple syrup
2 tbsp melted coconut oil
a pinch of salt
100g ground oats
6 tbsp raw cacao
100g ground almonds
Start by pre-heating the oven to 180C (fan), then peel the sweet potatoes. Cut them into chunks and place into a steamer for about twenty minutes, until they become really soft.
Once they are perfectly soft and beginning to fall apart remove them and add them to a food processor with the pitted dates.
Put the remaining ingredients into a bowl, before mixing in the sweet potato date combination. Stir well.
Place into a lined baking dish and cook for about forty-five to fifty minutes, until you can pierce the brownie with a fork and bring it out dry. Remove the tray and allow it to cool for about ten minutes – this is really important as it needs this time to stick together!
Cut into squares, ideally served with coconut yoghurt.
