I don’t know about you but for some reason I’m enjoying the festive season even more than ever this year.

Maybe it’s got something to do with this Xmas being the last one of this decade!

Maybe it’s got something to do with having little children (that help you to become aware and be in awe of every little thing).

Maybe it’s because I don’t have a giant 8.5 month preggie belly like I did last year and in 2015 (so I can do cool and ‘dangerous’ things like ice skating!)

Maybe it’s the giddy thought of our forthcoming flight to California and spending Christmas Day the American way with my best friend, aka Lake’s Godmama.

Maybe it’s the ecstatic feeling of making New Year’s Eve plans with my sister and the thought of seeing more of her in 2020. (A very Russian belief says that the people you’re welcoming in the new year with are the people you’ll be spending a lot of time with over that new year. It may be superstitious but I’ve always enjoyed choosing my NYE crew thoughtfully- you’re guaranteed a great party if nothing else).

Maybe it’s because I finally feel like I got my health back and I’ve lots of energy and extra hours in my day to enjoy being alive! (Thanks to LMS Wellness for all the advice and to my fellow Hay House author, Medical Medium for all the info on celery juice, which I’m now drinking for the forth week in a row).

Or maybe it’s all because of our Christmas tree in The Living Room. 

Or the fact that this is the only month of the year, that we're holding not one, not two, but three Festive In The Wild Afternoon Teas.

Or maybe it's the fact that I had a stall at my first ever (which also happens to be my favourite ever!) Christmas Market this year. Walton Street Market was seriously the best! Reindeer, camels, owls, jazz, traditional organ grinder, the Xmas carols quire, hot kombucha, my cheezecakes not melting, festive vibes for dayzzzz!

Or maybe it's because 1st of December landed on a Sunday this year and we kicked off the 2019 festivities at a Christmas lunch with special friends.

I made this nut-free Mango Chai & Lime Cheezecake on a Gingerbread Base and it was a hit and a half! Now you too can make it...

Mango Chai & Gingerbread Lime Cheezecake

(nut free, dairy free, gluten free, raw) 

GINGERBREAD BASE

1 cup (90g) jumbo oats

1 cup (100g) desiccated coconut

1 cup (150g) pitted dates

1 tbsp grated ginger root

1 tsp cinnamon powder

pinch salt

1 tbsp maple syrup

-Process all the ingredients except maple syrup until completely broken down.

-Add maple syrup to the food processor and process some more until a large ball develops.

-Transfer to a 7 inch springform tin and press using your hands or the back of a spoon.

GINGER LIME LAYER

1 cup (240ml) hot boiling water

3/4 cup (135g) xylitol

1 block (200g) creamed coconut

3/4 cup (155g) extra virgin coconut oil or vegan butter, melted

1 ripe avocado (150g of flesh)

1/4 cup (60ml) lime juice, approx. 2-3 limes

2 tbsp grated ginger root

1/2 tsp spirulina powder, optional

-Dissolve xylitol in boiling water, inside a blender jug. Chop up the block of creamed coconut and add it to the blender, then blend on high using a tamper rod. 

-Add all remaining ingredients and blend again until creamy.

-Pour over GINGER BREAD BASE and smooth out the surface with back of spatula.

MANGO CHAI LAYER

1/2 cup (120ml) cold water

1 tbsp agar-agar flakes

200g ripe mango flesh, approx 1 mango

8 soft pitted dates or 3 medjool dates, de-stoned and soaked if too dry

2 tbsp maple syrup

1 tbsp spice mix (mine had cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and cardamom)

-Pour water into pan, sprinkle with agar-agar flakes and heat without stirring until boiling. Reduce heat, simmer and stir occasionally for 5-10 mins until flakes are completely dissolved.

-Transfer the agar water and all remaining ingredients into a blender. Blend using a tamper rod until smooth.

-Pour over GINGER LIME LAYER and smooth out the top with the back of a spoon.

-To set, transfer to the fridge overnight or to the freezer for 4 hours. Store refrigerated at all times and serve cold.

My baby turned ONE on 13th January.

I still can’t believe it.

Our NCT teacher once said that ‘It’s long days and short years with little ones’ and wowee is it true…

It now takes me two days to respond to a text, three days to finish an email and based on the date of this blog post- over a month to publish a recipe.

Gone are the days of going to the bathroom in peace; you can’t finish a single cup of tea, ever; you teach everyone to slow down and chew chew chew while eating but swallow your own plate of food, whole, together with the plate, I think, wait where is the plate then? You tidy up for more hours in a day than you’ve ever done in any given month before, yet nothing looks tidy. Daylight Savings is now about being woken up a whole hour earlier, instead of gaining an hour. You could stare marvelling at your bundle of joy for hours, yet count down the minutes till daddy gets home for bath time.

Your days are loooong, yet a year flies by.

It’s all so confusing being a mother and yet it’s what makes the most sense. Every emotion intensifies with a child- your hard days are really really hard and your good days make you feel like a superhuman. You look at your little person in disbelief that they’ve been here for a whole year already, but most of all that you’ve ever lived without them.

Happy Birthday Little Lady Lakey Lake, you probably won’t remember it, but your cake was so so tasty!

It was a moist, decadent baked banana cake, which was also free from dairy, egg or any animal food. It was of course free from anything refined and so that I don’t have to worry about you overdosing on nuts, I made the icing free from cashews too!

The tiger nuts I used in the recipe aren’t actually nuts at all, they are root vegetables. They are naturally sweet, which means that you don’t need to add as much sweetener to recipes. They are also mighty nutritious…

Tiger nuts have MORE iron than red meat! 

According to Dr Axe, 1 ounce of tiger nuts has 1.8 milligrams of iron (10% of DV in a 1 ounce/30g serving) and according to Authority Nutrition, 1 ounce of beef has just 0.8 milligrams of iron (29% of DV in a 3 ounce/ 85g serving)!

More to that, tiger nuts are also full of potassium, magnesium, zinc, Vitamins C and E, plus they are high in fibre and work as a prebiotic, which is all great news to beautiful skin and a healthy digestive tract.

These little nutty sweet nuggets can be eaten on their own, but I find them a little too chewy for my liking, so I make mylk, using the exact the same method that I do for making my almond mylk, here>>

Here's the recipe of Lake's Birthday cake, using tiger nut milk in the icing:

THE HEALTHY BANANA CAKE

For the baked cake:

[I made 2 of these recipes and stacked both cakes for Lake’s birthday]

4 ripe bananas
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
3/4 cup coconut palm sugar
1.5 cups rye (or a GF) flour
1 teaspoon vanilla powder (or 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/3 teaspoon Himalayan salt
1 cup chopped chocolate, cacao nibs or your favourite nuts (I use pecans or cashews and add a little more coconut sugar if using anything other than already sweetened chocolate)

-Preheat the oven to 180C.
-Mash up the bananas in a large bowl, using a fork. Stir the olive oil through, sprinkle with all remaining ingredients, except the chocolate/nuts, and stir really well. Finally add the chocolate/nuts and stir again.
-Oil the inside of a removable base cake tin or line a cake tin with tin foil (I use 7inch tins). Pour in the mixture, not forgetting to scoop out everything from the bowl with a good spatula (invest in a quality soft spatula!)
-Bake for 45 minutes or until a knife comes out semi clean after being inserted (don’t worry if there’s a little smudge on the knife, because when it comes out too dry, the cake can be overcooked).

For the Tiger Nut Mylk Frosting:

[This recipe makes enough to cover 2 x cakes, halve it if only making 1]

1 cup tiger nut mylk (same method as Almond Mylk)
2 cups desiccated coconut
3/4-1 cup xylitol, depending on taste
1.5 cup melted coconut oil
1 teaspoon turmeric powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 drops lemon or sweet orange extract

-Tiger nut mylk doesn’t keep very well so it’s best to make it fresh for this recipe. Also, if you get yours out of the fridge, it will be super cold and can make the coconut oil solidify inside your blender jug WHILE blending! (Speaking from experience here :))
-Add all the ingredients into the blender and blend on high using a tamper.
-If you’re making this icing for a raw cake, simply pour it over the cake whilst it’s still in the ring tin and transfer to the fridge to set for 3 hours. If you’re making this icing for a baked cake, let the cake cool down completely before applying. You will notice that the icing is quite runny, so if that works for you, simply pour spoon-fulls over the top of the cake. I like the icing nice and thick (looks more lush too!), so I transfer the entire mixture into a container and place in the freezer. Every 5-10 minutes (for up to an hour), I take it out and stir it really well to avoid the development of any clumps. Do not leave it in the freezer for more than 10 minutes and if you do and the icing turns lumpy, just blend it all again.
-Pour the icing over the top of the cake and using the back of a spoon, gently let some of it slide down the sides. You can carry on and cover the entire cake if you prefer that look.