The Dark Side Anti Unicorn Smoothie! A Deep Dark Vegan Smoothie full of Goodness!

This smoothie comes out looking so deep and dark and is rich in goodness. There's only so many Unicorn Hot Chocolates a girl can cope with in one day, so I've created the complete antithesis to the Unicorn Food Trend, this is my backlash, in a splash! Sometimes, I just can't keep that rebellious streak down. 

So to feed the rebel in you and escape the sweet light pinks and prettiness of all things unicorn, sip on this!

Before I go and make one of these delicious creations for myself, here's the recipe so that you can make one too!

The Dark Side, Anti-Unicorn Smoothie

1/ Throw the following ingredients into a blender:

A handful of frozen cherries.
A handful of frozen banana
One and a half tablespoons of Spirulina
Half an avocado
One Tablespoon of Raw Cacao Powder
Half a tablespoon of Agave Sweetner
250ml of Almond Milk


2/ Whizz it altogether and you get a really dark, almost black smoothie that tastes AMAZING! 

Nutrition Facts
Servings 1.0
Amount Per Serving
calories 204
% Daily Value *
Total Fat 4 g	6 %
Saturated Fat 0 g	2 %
Monounsaturated Fat 0 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0 g
Trans Fat 0 g
Cholesterol 0 mg	0 %
Sodium 386 mg	16 %
Potassium 789 mg	23 %
Total Carbohydrate 27 g	9 %
Dietary Fiber 6 g	24 %
Sugars 22 g
Protein 3 g	7 %
Vitamin A	35 %
Vitamin C	16 %
Calcium	65 %
Iron	13 %
* The Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet, so your values may change depending on your calorie needs. The values here may not be 100% accurate because the recipes have not been professionally evaluated nor have they been evaluated by the U.S. FDA.

Easy Vegan and Gluten Free Blackbean Brownies with NO OIL!

So, I am still on a plants only diet, since Veganuary January 2017 but did you know, you're not automatically slender, if you only eat plants? There are some products that are 'accidentally vegan' and I have been enjoying those, like the original Oreos and some others that I can't remember now because they are so off my radar, as I am now concentrating on a vegan diet and a healthy one. 

I still want to enjoy tasty things though, like Brownies! The Black Bean Brownie recipe that I have shared on this blog is in itself quite healthy but I am using My Fitness Pal to count those calories and make sure that I am getting the right nutrients and I have seen that oil in cake adds quite a few unnecessary calories. Swapping in apple puree instead of oil doesn't work in all recipes but it works in this one and gives the brownie a truffle-like dessert texture. I ate mine whilst still warm and enjoyed moist pockets of melted chocolate, however, I can imagine it also tasting great if kept in the fridge, as a cool dessert.

So, here's how to make your very own batch of easy vegan black bean brownies with no oil!


1/ Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

2/ Take a 9" x 9" square brownie tin, line with grease proof paper.

3/ Place the following ingredients into a blender:

400g can of drained black beans

Two tablespoons of Divine Cocoa powder.

1/4 of a cup of Essential Applesauce.

1/3 of a cup of Chantico Organic Agave Sweetner 

1/4 teaspoon of salt

1 x teaspoon of Taylor and Colledge Vanilla Bean Extract vanilla essence 

1/2 a teaspoon of Doves Farm Gluten Free Baking Powder.

1/2 a cup of gluten-free Oats

A pinch of ginger and a pinch of chilli, or leave out, or put more in according to your taste!

4/ Blend it all together, I use the smoothie setting on my blender.

5/ Smash up a 100g bar of Divine Chocolate and stir it into the mix.

6/ Then pour the whole mixture into the brownie tin and cook for 24 minutes. 

Don't forget, you can buy all the ingredients you need in our shop, online and instore.

Enjoy but if you can't be bothered to make them yourself, just pay us a visit in Shepton Mallet and we will make them for you.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
calories 173
% Daily Value *
Total Fat 6 g	10 %
Saturated Fat 3 g	16 %
Monounsaturated Fat 0 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0 g
Trans Fat 0 g
Cholesterol 0 mg	0 %
Sodium 15 mg	1 %
Potassium 128 mg	4 %
Total Carbohydrate 25 g	8 %
Dietary Fiber 4 g	16 %
Sugars 13 g
Protein 5 g	9 %
Vitamin A	0 %
Vitamin C	0 %
Calcium	1 %
Iron	6 %
* The Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet, so your values may change depending on your calorie needs. The values here may not be 100% accurate because the recipes have not been professionally evaluated nor have they been evaluated by the U.S. FDA.

A Simply Nourishing Avocado Chocolate Smoothie Recipe!

This is just an easy peasy recipe, that can be thrown together and ready to drink within 5 minutes, as long as you don't get distracted! I get distracted sometimes, but usually, when we are selling this in our shop, I manage to concentrate long enough to get to the end!

1/ You need to throw the following ingredients into a strong blender:

1/2 an avocado scooped out
250 ml Almond Breeze Unsweetened Almond Milk
1 x Frozen Banana (If you don't have to hand use an unfrozen one and throw more ice in)
1 x Teaspoon of Vanilla Extract by Taylor and Coleridge
1 x Tablespoon Agave Sweetener Chantico Original
1 and a half x tablespoon  Raw Cacao Powder by The Raw Chocolate Company (Substitute Cocoa powder, if you wish)
A handful of ice.

2/ Blend.

3/ Pour into a big glass. We serve ours in mason jar!

This is delicious! Smooth, nutritious and delicious.

Schmeese Vegan and Gluten Free Pizza

Right now, cooking in my oven is a Schmeese Vegan and Gluten Free Pizza!

I've got to blog this recipe quickly, as it only takes 15 to 20 minutes to cook and I want to finish this, so that I can eat it! Yum, yum!

So, this is how I made my Vegan and Gluten Free Pizza:

First of all prepare the Schmeese!

1/ Put one tablespoon of coconut oil into a saucepan and heat.

2/ Then add one tablespoon of buckwheat flour.

3/ After about half a minute add 1/2 a cup of almond milk slowly to the pan, whilst stirring.

4/ Then add two tablespoons of Engevita Flakes and stir them in well.

5/ Put this on the side, whilst you prepare the base.

Now, prepare the base.

1/ Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celcius.

2/ Prepare a baking tray or pizza tray by putting grease proof paper on it and oiling the paper really well.

3/ Put the following into a jug or bowl;

1/2 a cup of Buckwheat Flour

2 tablespoons of arrowroot

2 tablespoons of ground flaxseed

1/2 a teaspoon of baking powder (Gluten Free)

1/4 a teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda

a pinch of salt

4/ Mix well.

5/ Add 1/2 a cup of water to the mix. You may need to add more buckwheat flour as you go to make it combine into dough that can be rolled into a ball without being too sticky to handle.

6/ Put the ball of the dough in the centre of the baking tray/pizza tray and flatten then spread out by pushing towards the edges with your fingertips. Keep going until it is a nice round or rectangle shape.

7/ Then spread the following on top of the pizza base:

1 tablespoon of tomato puree

Freshly crushed garlic, or powdered garlic.

Chilli Flakes

Mixed Herbs.

A touch of Tamari Gluten Free Soya Sauce

8/ Then sprinkle a grated carrot over the top and lay out some spinach leaves.

9/ Then drizzle the Vegan Schmeese Sauce over the top!

10/ Put the pizza into the pre-heated oven and cook for 15-20 minutes.

Well, my pizza finished cooking, about halfway through writing this, I presented it on a bed of salad leaves from our local Shepton Mallet Friday Market and it was delicious. The salad leaves come from Tasty Leaves and most of the ingredients to make the pizza are available from our online shop, or come and visit us in Shepton Mallet. My Coffee Stop, 34, High Street, Shepton Mallet, Somerset, BA4 5AS!

My Delicious Vegan and Gluten-Free Spicy Black Bean Chocolate Brownies

I am posting this yummy recipe, especially for one of our regular customers, who keeps asking me for it. So here is is for you.

I know most coffee shops and restaurants don't usually release their secret recipes but I am going to put them all into a cook book one day, so this is my little method of getting it all down before you actually have to pay for it! (I didn't want to write that bit but our customer Rob, who can hear what I am writing because I keep reading it out, keeps piping up with suggestions in the background and he said that he hopes you buy the book anyway, as a matter of fact, I agree with him).

I wanted to create a brownie that everyone could enjoy, the catch word I like to think of in our shop is inclusivity, (It's probably not a real word but it could be one day). I want everyone to be able to eat the same thing and not worry about allergies, or health issues, or weight gain and so on. So, I try to make things that all the different groups of minority eaters can enjoy together.

The great thing about these Brownies is if you swap the Divine Bar of chocolate for the Hasslacher's 100% Cacao option, they are perfectly suitable for a clean eating paleo diet, with no refined sugar in.

Here we go then:

1/ Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

2/ Take a 9" x 9" square brownie tin, line with grease proof paper.

Take one 400g can of drained black beans and put into a blender.

2/ Add two dessertspoons of Divine Cocoa powder.

3/ Meanwhile take 1/4 of a cup of Biona Organics mild coconut oil and put it in a warm place to melt. I normally put mine in a bowl of hot water.

4/ Take 1/3 a cup of Chantico Organic Agave Sweetner and pour into the ingredients that are already in the blender.

5/ Add 1/4 teaspoon of salt, a teaspoon of Taylor and Colledge Vanilla Bean Extract vanilla essence and 1/2 a teaspoon of Doves Farm Gluten Free Baking Powder.

6/ Take half a cup of gluten-free Glebe Farm Oats and add to the ingredients in the blender.

7/ Add a pinch of ginger and a pinch of chilli, or leave out, or put more in according to your taste!

8/ Pour your melted coconut oil into the ingredients in the blend and then blend. I use a smoothie setting on mine.

9/ Smash up a 100g bar of Divine Chocolate. This has sugar in it, so for a cleaner option, you could use Hasslacher's 100% Cacao. Just use about 8 cubes, as it is very intense, if you love bitter, you'll love it with this chocolate! Then stir whichever smashed up chocolate you have chosen into the mix.

10/ Then pour the whole mixture into the brownie tin and cook for 19 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean.

Get the ingredients now for the Hasslacher's Version

Get the ingredients now for the Divine Chocolate Version.



Nutritional Information.

This recipe makes 9 portions.

The Hasslacher's Version is about 127 calories per serving.
13.5g Carbs Sugars 7g
6.8g Fat Saturated is 5.8g
2.9g Protein
64.6mg Sodium
5.3% Iron


The Divine Chocolate Version is about 165 calories per serving.
20.5g Carbs Sugars 12.7g
Fats 8.7g
Saturated 10.6g
Polyunsaturated 2g
Monounsaturated 1.7g
Trans 2.3g
Sodium 394.4mg
Potassium 284.3mg
Dietry Fiber 3.8g
Protein 3g
Calcium 1.5%
Iron 8.5%

Blueberry Sherbet Slush

Oh my, I invented this crazily sweet and zingy number last night, whilst wanting to give my children something sweet but healthy to enjoy whilst watching a film. I can still imagine the flavours on my tongue, like fruit and sherbet and sweetness all exploding off each other, such a refreshing little number and with a secret ingredient, that pulls it all together and makes it even more nutritious for you than ever. (I know, not so secret now that I am going to mention it but there you go!). The secret ingredient is Baobab powder! We sell this in our shop, so if you would like to make this for yourself at home, please visit us to buy it, or you can order it online.

The Aduna website tells us that Baobab is a 100% natural and organic African superfruit that actually dries on the branch of the tree. It is a rich source of Vitamin C, high in fibre and has more antioxidants than any other fruit! That is one amazing superfood powder! It is said to boost immune function, help energy release and improve skin health.

In this luscious smoothie, we are throwing in some blueberries, known for being a superfood which is high in antioxidants. On the NHS website, Alison Hornby, a dietitian and BDA spokesperson is reported as saying that blueberries are a fantastic choice as one of your five portions of fruit and vegetables a day, as they are low in calories and high in nutrients. This is despite admitting that scientific evidence at the moment is inconclusive about the broader health claims of this fruit.

I was going to write a small amount of information on why the pineapple chunks in this smoothie are also extremely good for you but the list is so good and so strong and nicely presented here, that I thought I'd let you click on that instead! However, if you just want to stay on this page, basically, the pineapple is a nutrition powerhouse, great at helping you to fight colds with high amounts of Vitamin C and an excellent help with digestion and respiratory well-being because of the high amounts of Bromelain.

Of course, this smoothie is now on the menu, so come and order one, come in specially to treat yourself, in the nicest possible way.

If you are too far away to pop in, or just want to make it at home, here's how to make this amazing smoothie for yourself.

Put the following ingredients into your strong blender:

A handful of frozen pineapple
A handful of frozen blueberries
300ml of apple juice
2 x teaspoons of Aduna Baobab powder, available from us!

Whizz the blender on the ice setting, then whizz on the smoothie setting.
Pour into a glass and enjoy!