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Gingerbread Sweetpotato Dream Cake

Smooth Christmas lover

Well here’s a winter treat worth sharing. This creamy raw cake gets its surprising richness from sweet potato and gentle warmth from gingerbread spices. And lemme tell you that it is one heavenly union.

Made in collaboration with Electrolux Explore 7 blender and Asennemedia

As you may may have noticed from my previous blog post where I launched my new ebook Dreamy Season – Wholesome food for Holidays & winter, I’m kinda of a Christmas freak. Like I could actually eat Christmas related food the whole winter season and when it comes to Christmas recipes, my imagination seems to be endless.

One of my favorite nice cream recipes I’ve ever created is a gingerbread nice cream that has sweet potato in it. Homehow those two elements make a perfect match and I’ve been wanting to bring them together in some other dish too.

Gingerbread Sweetpotato Dream CakeElectrolux Explore 7 blender

The idea evolved when I got to test the new Electrolux Explore 7 blender. As the first thing I wanted to try with it was a smoothie. I’m kind of a smoothie nerd and my way to test a blender is to see how smooth it actually makes my smoothie. And I have to say I was kind of surpised. Blenders in this price group usually leave smoothies a bit grainy but this baby blended them smooth as velvet. Really nice job.

The second thing I wanted to test was a raw cake. The batter there is thicker than in a smoothie so it gives new challenges to the blender. Again, very nice, very smooth. One great feature in Explore 7 blender is that it’s designed in a way that though it makes mixtures smooth it doesn’t heat up the ingredients so it keeps everything fresh and the nutrients alive n´ kicking. It isn’t a blender for thick nut butters, raw cake crusts etc, but you can definitely make great soups, smoothies, raw cake batters, grind nuts and even make juice (!) with it. Plus it’s pretteehh.

Oh, and back to my sweet potato gingerbread matching mission. So when I challenged the blender with a raw cake I wanted to make something christmassy. Because of my christmas mania condition, you know. Then I remembered the heavinly union of the gingerbread and sweet potato in my nice cream and the idea was born. Also wanted to make a nut-free raw cake for a change, as people ask me about them constantly.

And it came one fine piece of cake, I have to admit.

Try it yourself to get yourself into Christmas mood and let me know how it resonates! And if the Explore 7 blender resonated, tune into my Instagram as I’m giving away one blender on my today’s IG post. See you there!

V

Vegan & gluten-free gingerbread cookies

Dreamy Season is here

Hello love! Check this out – One thing I’m really proud of is that I get such an amazing feedback about my recipes from you guys. I also get a lot of wishes on what kind of recipes you want me to create and share. And I always listen to them very carefully, so that I can serve in the best way possible. 

Upon your wishes, I have now created a luscious collection of wholesome and delish feel-good Christmas recipes, most of them suitable for the whole winter season, not only for the Holidays.

Dreamy Season ebook

My brand new ebook is called Dreamy Season and it contains 62 recipes and 141 pages, all made with love by Yours Truly. In this book I have gathered my all-time favourite winter recipes and treats – the ones I love to pamper myself & my family during the Holidays. I have to say that this has been truly a passion project for me, as I’m a crazy Christmas lady who could eat Christmas-spirited food the whole winter. 

Dreamy Season ebook serves wholesome & delish recipes for breakfasts, dinners, desserts and drinks, all perfect for the Holiday season – or for those moments when you just feel like enjoying some deliciously comforting winter food magic.

How about for example a bowl of Pink Morning Kiss Porridge or Golden Oatmeal, a piece of Christmas Toffee, selection of plant-based Cheeses and some Christmas Wreath Pizza? Or maybe a slice of Tofu Ham, goodies from the Christmas Platter, a piece of Chai Banana Bread or few mouth-watering Gingerbread Fudge or Snickers Moon Balls with a sip of Cloudy Apple Drink? All plant-based, naturally sweetened and gluten-free, all good for your body as well as to your soul and perfect for those comfy winter moments.

You can read more about the book from here and check out also the Dreamy Season menu. Note that this ebook is in English and it has some of the same recipes that can be found from my Finnish cookbook Joulukirja.

Vegan hot chocolate

plant-based tofu ham

What’s in the ebook?

* 62 recipes

* All plant-based

* Gluten free

* Dairy free

* Refined sugar free

* Beautiful colourful images

* Breakfasts, dinners, lunches, drinks, dips/basics, treats

* Simple & easy recipes + some more challenging ones

* Book full of comfort and pleasure

Dreamy Season ebook - Plant-based Christmas platter

How can you use this ebook?

  1. Click the PURCHASE button.
  2. Apply the discount code at the checkout.
  3. Pay for the ebook safely with PayPal of with your credit card.
  4. Wait for your page to redirect you to a page with a downloadable link.
  5. Download the ebook onto your laptop, iPhone or iPad. (NOTE! the download link will be available to you for 24 hrs and then it will expire.)
  6. Open it with your preferred program such as Preview on Mac, Adobe Reader or iBooks
  7. Go and make your Christmas dreamy!

Snickers Bliss Balls

And for the celebration of the launch I’m giving a big discount for you guys. During this week you will get the Dreamy Season only for €5,90 with the code DREAMY. (Normal price is €9,90.) So if feel good Christmas food resonates, apply the code DREAMY here and get your copy.

I really hope you will enjoy the ebook as much as I enjoyed – LOVED – creating it. And when sharing your creations from the book, remember to tag me @vanelja in so that I can see them.

Wishing you the dreamiest season, friend. 

Vanelja's healthy, easy, gluten-free and plant'based pancakes

In Bed with Vanelja

Hello, Sunshine! So happy to see you here as I’ve got some real nice goodies waiting for you. Something I’ve created with loads of love and care and something that I hope will bring plenty of good vibes and inspiration to your mornings.

May I introduce: In Bed with Vanelja.

In Bed with Vanelja free ebook

In Bed with Vanelja – Comfy Breakfasts and Dream Food for Eternal Sundays is my brand new ebook I’ve created for all you dear followers of mine. As a thank you for your ongoing support and love. The ebook is now available for you to download – FOR FREE. 15 wholesome, plant-based, gluten free & naturally sweetened healthy breakfast recipes to make your mornings taste and feel oh-so-good.

In this ebook I share some of my all time favorite healthy breakfast recipes, like for example my go-to green juice, comfy granola, brekkie apple pie, Insta-famous blueberry crepes, pumpkin seed bread rolls, dreamy cream cheese, mocha soft serve and my updated weekend pancakes. Sooo many goodies waiting there for you!

I made this ebook as a handcraft by myself as I wanted to learn more about doing layouts an all that jazz. I got so excited about this project that in the end I had to shrink the book as it was about to become enormous. But I took it as a sign that I might be again ready for a new book project. So we’ll see if I’ll end up expanding this ebook to a bigger title or what will happen. The author in me is anyways purring again. 

Virpi Mikkonen In Bed with VaneljaEasy plant-based cream cheese recipe

In the ebook I was happy to team up with two beautiful Finnish brands, Kaslink Aito Oat Drink and Balmuir Home Textiles. Both known for their high-quality products. Kaslink’s organic oat drink, or oat milk as I say, is present in many of my recipes as I adore the mildly sweet and subtle taste of it and the fact that the oat in it is organic and locally produced here in Finland. And the luxurious linen beddings and kitchen towels and blankets by Balmuir just take the breakfast in bed experience to another level. People who follow me know that I love to eat (and shoot my food) in bed so pretty and comfy beddings are really a must in Vanelja household. Especially crazy for these sand tones linen duvet covers.

Vanelja's healthy, easy, gluten-free and plant'based pancakes

Gluten-free and vegan seed bread rolls

So go collect your copy HERE and let me know how you like the ebook and my healthy plant-based breakfast recipes. If you are listed on my newsletter you can find the ebook on your email you have given while subscribing. Just in case you don’t find it, check out your junk mail, if it has slipped there accidentally. 

Feel free to share love and let your friends know about In Bed with Vanelja!

V

* In collaboration with Balmuir & Kaslink.

 

Blueberry Dream Cake - Raw cake by Vanelja

Blueberry Dream Cake celebration

Well hello, babes! Finally it’s happening, updated Vanelja.com has opened its doors and welcomes you to take a tour. Though it took quite some time to get this open, it has been heart-warming to notice how many of you regularly uses the recipes on my site, as I have got tons of messages from people asking when all the material will be returning. So sorry you’ve had to wait for them, but happy to know you’ve missed my treats!

Blueberry Dream Cake by Vanelja

And now when the new site is open I’m also beyond excited to launch my brand new grocery: Blueberry Dream Cake by Vanelja. It is a treat that I absolutely ah-dore and I’m just so super duper happy to start offering my all time favorite raw cake to people. I get asked almost weekly if I do catering or if I take orders for my dream cakes, and now I can finally say YES!

And this one is truly a raw cake of my dreams. If I should pick only one sweet treat to consume for the rest of my life, it would be my Blueberry Dream Cake, most def, no doubt about it. It has such a mouth-watering taste with the pecan based crust with a hint of cardamom and the rich blueberry filling. The texture is creamy and fluffy yet the cake is very fresh because of the white layer with some hints of lemon in it. I honestly start salivating even now when describing it to you, haha. And what’s lovely about this Blueberry Dream Cake is that there is no coconut flavor that pushes through, which I feel is a problem in many raw cakes.

Blueberry Dream Cake - Raw cake by Vanelja

I’ve made my Blueberry Dream Cake in collab with Green Street, a big-hearted Helsinki-based provider for raw cakes and other healthy food. The cake will be out very soon, at 15th of May to be exact, and you’ll be able to buy it from certain retailers, supermarkets and cafés in Helsinki and Stockholm. Gonna list down all the retailers here on my site soon! And if you want to have a whole cake, preordering is open NOW and the first deliveries start 15th of May. If you have some parties coming up this spring and summer, like graduation parties, family get-togethers, brunches for friends etc. you can preorder the cake HERE. It is a great thing to serve for a big bunch of people as it is vegan, gluten free and naturally sweetened, so it fits to most diets and most occasions. I prefer it as a weekend brekkie, as it is perfect for cozy slow mornings.

The decoration of these photos are not included in the cake, but it has a beautiful pattern on the surface (which you can see here) so it can be served as it is, or  you can finish it for example with some blueberries or edible flowers.

Blueberry dream Cake brekkie

At the moment the availability of my Blueberry Dream Cake is limited only to Helsinki, Finland and Stockholm, but hopefully we’ll get the cake to wider reach too. Again, gonna be updating the retailers here on my site. And if you have a café and you’d think my Blueberry Dream Cake could match your selection, throw me a message!

But in the meantime, let me know how you like my cake and my new site! There are still some new features on their way + one surprise gift for you coming before the summer, so stay tuned – especially on Vanelja’s Instagram, as that is the place where I holler most often about my moves.

xo

V

Healthy Christmas Cake by Vanelja

Christmas dream treat: Gingerbread Coconut Bundt Cake

Hello friends! I thought I’d share this oh-so delicious and christmassy Gingerbread Coconut Bundt Cake recipe that got popular on my Instagram also here on my site, so that many of you’d find it.

Gingerbread Coconut Bundt Cake - vegan, gluten free and naturally sweetened.

I created this vegan & gluten-free cake with warm notes of gingerbread and juicy chuncks of dates originally for Risenta and have been preparing it several times already, as it is just sooo good and rich and delish. I try not to think about it too much now so that the cravings won’t hit me again or else I’ll find myself baking it again and eating it tomorrow the whole day…

But you go and make this! And let me know how you liked it!

Enjoy & Have a cozy Christmas!

V

Pink Golden latte by Vanelja

Colorful and cozy Dream Lattes

Hello Love! I’m here to give you some new inspiration for warm drinks – something that makes you thrive during the cold months and something super fun to try out at your coffee or tea break, at your breakfast or as your good night drink.

Pink Latte make from beet and vegan milk

I call them Dream Lattes (Or Soul Lattes – Sweet child has many names, as we say in Finlandas they sooth the soul in such a dreamy way. The happy pastel colors and nourishing ingredients make such a beautiful winter surviving combo that your average cup of coffee, tea or hot chocolate just starts to feel bo-ooring.

 

I’m a person who loves variation and I have been switching between these Dream Lattes during the last months and I love to come up with new modifications and color combos. I have never ever believed in the phrase “Don’t play with your food.” Of course you should play – Always, in every single situation you get a change! Playfulness in life is something that makes us vibrate in such a high and light level and that’s the path to true happiness and wellbeing. Through joy, you know.

Pink Latte make from beet and vegan milk

Well anyways, what I was saying about these Dream Lattes, is that few months ago I enjoyed my golden latte with different kinds of spices every evening. Then I started doing the Pink Latte, in which I incorporated beet powder (or blended cooked beet with the milk) and that was a true eye candy for me, because my color taste has stuck to what it was when I was 5, like “All pink everything”. Lately I have been doing my Smaragd Latte which is a combination Blue Latte and Green Latte, that includes matcha, chlorella and/or blue algae. And as you can see all these lattes look like some water coloring session would have just taken place – but they actually are quite potions, I tell you! Big powerful color & herb therapy session in one mug.

Then I have some news to tell!

  1. Last weekend Vanelja won the award for The Best Food Blog at The Blog Awards Finland! Yayyyyy! That was something so so miraculous, that I’m still astonished.  My updates and posts happen mainly on Vanelja’s Instagram account, and I had thought that this kind of an award is targeted mainly to more old school type of bloggers, so it was so heart-warming to notice that the jury had considered also other channels this time.  You can read my thoughts about the victory here from my Instagram post. Wanna send a HUGE warm hug to all my lovely followers for supporting me and being part of this journey.
  2. Vanelja.com is under a renovation and a new beautiful site is building up. This site functions normally until the launch, but I won’t be posting here before the new site opens. But my IG is as active as normal, so no actual radio silence happening.

Pink Latte, Golden Latte, Green Latte and Blue latte to sooth your soul

So stay tuned, my bunnies, and please do try out some of these Dream Lattes – or all of them! Tag your creations on Instagram #dreamlatte and @vanelja so I’ll see them! 

Be love and stay golden!

 

V

Pink Breakfast Pizza

You wanted recipes for lunch and dinner – I give you granola pizza!

What do you mean, that doesn’t look like your average everyday meal? My five-year-old ate that specific pizza as a dinner, straight from the photo background, after she’d came home from the kindergarten the other day. True story. That’s how we run things here at the Vanelja household.

Ok, to be honest (and boring), I have to admit that we do also eat so called normal food, every once in awhile, but that’s not on my blogging agenda today. Either. But, I give you a hint that in the near future I’m gonna launch something super exciting, that I know all you savory craving creatures will lovelovelove! So stay tuned!

And now back to this marvellous breakfast pizza. Such a whimsical weird creation it is. I always encourage people to play around with their food and experiment with familiar ingredients. And that is exactly what happens with this granola pizza. Your ol’ granola and yogurt breakfast, but in a new and refreshing form. Maybe not a totally new concept to all you trendy foodies out there, but something fun to try out, at least!

The crust is made from Vanelja’s Pink Granola (recipe below), but you can take the easy way and use whatever gluten free store-bought granola you like and stir in some berry powder or freeze dried berries to get that pretty pink hue. Then just top it with your favorite dairy free yogurt, berries, figs and flowers and cuteness overload and your favorite weekend brekkie is guaranteed. Although, I must say that this kind of a breakfast would give an extraordinary start also to a Monday morning, that’s when some extra magic and zest is usually needed the most.

Oh, before you run away after your granolas and yogurts, I just want to let you guys know that Vanelja is nominated at the Blog Awards Finland, in the food category – Yay! That would be my first award in my home counrty after 8 years (!) of blogging about health food. Phew – time really flies when you’re having a blast! So if you like what I’m doing, go click and leave a vote for me HERE. Only your email (Sähköposti) and your name (Nimi) is needed. Thank you, sugar – I mean, honey, raw and organic! haha!

V

Dreamy Blueberry Thyme Raw Cake

Hiya Honey! Look what I’ve got for you today – A dreamy and creamy blueberry thyme raw cake –  A cake that can also be found on the cover of the latest THRIVE magazine. That’s right, babe, my cake is an actual cover girl! So sooo amazing! There’s also a four page spread & a feature of me in the magazine in where I share some of my food secrets + many many other great features and recipes of super talented recipe creators.

I first created this blueberry raw cake in the spring with a collaboration with a Finnish salad and herb producer Järvikylä when I made an adaptation of their thyme blueberry cake and during the summer the cake photo has become easily one of my most shared and liked IG posts ever and it has been so much fun to see people making their own creations of it and posting them on their pages and sharing them with me. The beauty and magic of Instagram.

To celebrate my cover photo I thought to share the recipe here on my site too – So here you go, my friend, go and enjoy these blueberry filled dream bites!

V

Vegan Chocolate Nice Cream with raw chocolate Cake chunks

Deluxe Chocolate Nice Cream + Ebook news!

It is time, to get your nice cream balls rolling again, baby!

You probably remember the N’Ice Cream book by me and my co-author Tuulia Talvio that was launched exactly a year ago, first in Finland and in the US and then later in the year in 6 countries, like in France, German and Chroatia. The book has found it’s home in the arms of so many healthy ice cream lovers around the world that it is hard to even realize. So thank you! There is no better feeling than when your passion inspires people, makes an impact and is even a part of a cultural change (the ever so lovely ice cream culture), like now for example when we’ve been witnessing many big brands bringing out their vegan ice creams with better sweeteners after the last summer in Finland.

We have not been talking about an ice cream revolution for no reason! * raised fist emoji *

To give it even a stronger boost we have now launched this Deluxe Edition of the Finnish N’Ice Cream book – as an ebook – with 10 new bonus recipes in it, which means now over 90 recipes for lovely delicious vegan, gluten free and naturally sweetened ice creams. And you can get it only for 8,90 euros.

Note, that this Deluxe Edition is only available in Finnish and as an ebook and you can download it here. We’ll try to find a way to get these bonus recipes out also in English in some form asap!

But so that you international readers won’t have to return with empty hands, here’s one faaabulous nice cream flavor for you to exploit: Deluxe Chocolate Nice Cream with Peanut Butter Swirls and Raw Chocolate Cake Chunks! I came up with it by accident when I decided to blend together chocolate mousse (from my Chocolate Pizza Post) and frozen banana. So freakingly delicious. Then I also stirred in some raw chocolate cake chunks and peanut butter swirls and I honestly almost started to cry when tasting it. That’s what pure pleasures can do to you. 

When scooping balls from this nice cream a song by Barry White, Can’t get enough of your love, babe, started playing in my mind:

“I’ve heard people say that
Too much of anything is not good for you, baby
Oh no
But I don’t know about that
There’s many times that we’ve loved
We’ve shared love and made love
It doesn’t seem to me like it’s enough
There’s just not enough of it
There’s just not enough
Oh oh, babe
My darling I, can’t get enough of your love babe…”

 

That kind of sums up the whole essence of this nice cream. You just can’t get enough of it – And you don’t even have to. As good stuff makes good to you.

V

Wholesome Chocolate Pizza

When you combine the biggest food passions of our family into one creation, you get something like this:

Gluten-free and vegan chocolate pizza filled with sweet potato chocolate mousse, raspberries and peanutbutter.

Soooo heavenly. Won’t be missing the traditional Easter desserts this year!

Refreshing and luscious weekend to all you bunnies too!

 

V  

Almond Yogurt Berry Popsicles

It’s always so fun to watch how people have different ways of reacting to the first rays of spring sun here in the North. After a long and dark winter people get so cute with their excitement. Some switch immediately into their light jackets and start to trip along with their small spring shoes even though the ground is still completely frozen. (Ok, that was totally a granny thing to say, but I’m a person who just hates to freeze and keeps her pantyhoes on until June. So yeah, I’m a granny.) And some optimistic people, like my dear partner, switches the summer tires on. And then go travel with the tram or taxi when the snow suddenly decides to return. (Like it tends to happen and like it also happened last weekend.)

 

And then there are people like me, whose first thought is: Ice Cream! It really is some chemical reaction that happens in my brain: Sunrays --> Must make nice cream.

 

During the last week I have managed to make nice cream from many different kinds of ingredients, for example from purple yam aka Ube. The color was so amazing so it just yearned to be blended into a nice cream. Check it out from my Instagram

 

The same thing happened a few days ago when I received a box of smoothies and breakfast bars from Semper. Naturally they started a new life as a nice cream. Well, some of them. Most of the bars ended up in the “quick snack stash” in our car and the smoothies in our refrigerators “panic shelf”, which is our family’s life saver. We are just so bad in routines, meal planning and all that wise adult stuff and the mealtimes manage to surprise us almost every time. Plus we usually move with super short notices so everything that is healthy and easy to grab along is totally needed in our household.

 

One of our favorite snacks are nice creams that can always be found in our freezer. Either we make nice cream from frozen bananas with frozen berries or fruits or almond butter or then we enjoy smoothie popsicles. It’s fun to have the familiar breakfast/snack, as in yogurt with berries and granola, in a form of an ice cream. The kiddo loves it and I don’t have to feel guilty for giving her ice cream or two as a evening snack. Win/Win. 

 

Oh, and all the nice cream lovers in Finland – or people who understand Finnish – the Finnish version of the N’Ice Cream book by me and Tuulia Talvio is coming out as an ebook in a month with some new bonus recipes. So stay tuned, if you wish to download a huge package of nice cream recipes into your phone or computer. In the meantime you can start your Summer of N’Ice Cream with these popsicles!

 

V

 

In collaboration with Semper 

 

Green Goddess Sweet Potato Pizza & One ingredient pizza crust

Hello, love! I have one pretty delicious weekend greeting here for you! And it comes in a form of a pizza. I hope you like sweet potato, because this pizza crust is all about it. I mean ALL about it. Totally and completely. Nothing else added.

One of the most popular everyday foods in our household are mini pizzas made on small sweet potato slices. We all love them. They are super easy to make and it takes less than 30 minutes to get them ready. The only thing that started bugging me in the whole mini pizza process was that I always have to add all the toppings separately on each and every slice. So, as a great optimizer as I am, I started to think how could I use the same idea but in a bigger pizza size.

After a few test batches I found out that when I slice the sweet potato lengthwise with a cheese slicer and place the slices overlapping on a baking tray in a form of a round pizza, it makes a great crust which cooks up quickly. And when I sprinkle on some organic mozzarella (and/or feta or vegan cheese) it works like a glue for the slices and makes the pizza easy to eat. Of course you won’t get it as firm as a normal pizza crust would be, but firm enough so you can eat it decently – and with a smile on your face, because it’s just so so tasty.

As a pizza topping I used loads of greens, lovely vegetables and fresh herbs, which made the whole thing look so generous and verdant, especially when I added some edible flowers on it, that I named it the Green Goddess Sweet Potato Pizza. Talk about life energy and abundance.

If you like it more hard core, go ahead and add some organic meat and cheeses on, if you feel you get your divine energies better that way. My kid loves her sweet potato pizza with some tomato puree, tuna (MSC certified, of course) and pineapple. And as she’s going through some picky state of life, I let her enjoy it that way and won’t push my greens on her pizza.

What I love most about this recipe is that it takes less than 30 minutes to make and you can use almost anything you happen to have in the fridge, as long as you have sweet potatoes. As a person who live is the moment, not planning too much her eatings and at the same time gets VERY hungry VERY quickly this kind of a dish is just priceless.

So, there you go! I hope this delivered you some inspiration for the weekend. May the pizza goddess light your way to the kitchen!

 

V

In bed with the Quirky Quinoa

I just love homemade yogurts. Dairy free homemade yogurts. There’s something magical in the whole process, which is sort of an alchemy or some other mystical procedure where you play with the forces of nature. Living cultures of good bacteria, to be exact.

I also love the fact that only sky seems to be a limit to what different kinds of yogurts you can prepare: With what ingredients and spices you make it, how strong and sour you want it to be and so on.  

When I was creating the yogurt recipe for this blog post I noticed that I have actually tried out quite a big range of different kinds of ingredients for homemade vegan yogurts and also managed to get at least one vegan yogurt recipe in every single cookbook I’ve ever made, no matter what the subject has been.  

In It’s a Pleasure – Sweet treats without gluten, dairy and refined sugar there are recipes for Coconut Yogurt and Almond Yogurt. In my Healthy Fast Food book (Only in Finnish) there are Fruit Bomb Yogurt and Chia yogurt and in the Christmas book (Also only in Finnish) there is this Oven Apple Yogurt made with Oatmeal and Apples. And also from the N’Ice Cream book you can find a recipe for Breakfast popsicles made from homemade vegan yogurt.

So it looks like I have a bit of an obsession about this theme. But a good obsession, I must say!

Because without that obsession I would have not for example created this Blueberry Quinoa Yogurt. …I knooow, it sounds quite quirky – Quinoa Yogurt. (Maybe I should have named it a Quirky Quinoa Yogurt, ha!) But at least here in Finland one of the most popular vegan yogurts are based on oats and well, quinoa isn’t that much different. Just remember to add enough berries (other berries will do also!) and sweetener as the taste of quinoa alone can be a bit strong. 

I was actually quite surprised after my first test batch when I tried to google if someone else had made something similiar, but couldn’t find anything. Nada! No quinoa yogurts on the market or quinoa yogurt recipes in the whole world wide web! Really? Gotta get my Quirky Quinoa Yogurt Factory running asap! Who’s in? Throw me an email and we’ll start a yogurt revolution together!

But now, will you excuse me, I have to get back to my office aka my bed and make new inventions. I got these ah-mazingly fluffy and soft Feel blankets & pillows from Familon with crispy duvet covers made from percale cotton to our new home and since then it has felt a surprisingly good idea to have a home office – and a studio – and a dinning spot – in the my bed.

I wish you a cozy and yogurt-filled weekend, my love!

Oh, and if you feel you don’t have time nor the patience for the fermentation process, you can as well eat the yougurt straight from the blender, as it can be enjoyed as a whipped porridge as it is!

V

In collaboration with: Familon 

Le Chick! Caramel Bars – Nut-free and vegan super treat

Time to fulfil your wishes. Your nut-free wishes! Nearly every time I post a new sweet recipe I get messages from my lovely readers with allergies asking if it would be possible for them to prepare the recipe without nuts or almonds. Most of the times I have to disappoint them because nuts and almonds play such a significant role in many raw/health recipes, and the recipe just wouldn’t be the same if you substitute them with something else.

But now, my babies – now I have something magnificent for you! Something that is nut-free, raw, vegan, gluten free, dairy free and naturally sweetened, all at the same time. And delicious too! This one is truly a crowd pleaser.

And it doesn’t lay on coconut! Many times nut-free treats use coconut to get the creamy rich texture, but I know that the taste of the coconut doesn’t please everyone. And I have to admit that I don’t prefer a strong coconut flavor either and nowadays I use coconut in my recipes in veeery subtle ways so that the strong hippie vibe doesn’t push through. (All my love to hippies ♡)

So, therefore I picked a more neutral ingredient here that still gives a nice wholesome consistency. I picked chickpeas – le chick! Those brilliant little creatures that are so versatile, nutrient-rich and lovely. Then I accompanied them with fresh organic dates. Because dates are my no. 1 favorite sweeteners and they also add a nice little bonus to the texture and taste. I really could not survive without fresh dates in my kitchen.

Which brings to mind another quoestion I get asked a lot – Which dates do I use? Well, the ones that you can always find from my kitchen are fresh organic dates by Fontana that are sold in cardboard boxes in fruit ja vegetable section in supermarkets – at least here in Finland. I like the texture, the taste and the fact that they are organic. They are also easy to find because they are available very widely in the supermarkets – at least here in Helsinki. So I was very happy to pair up with Fontana with this post, because I actually use their dates A LOT.

And here’s my hot tip for a natural date sweetener:

Buy a package of fresh dates. Preferably organic. Take about 20 dates, take out the stones and place the dates in a blender. Add about 1 cup water and 1 tsp vanilla extract or ½ tsp vanilla powder, if you like. Blend until creamy and smooth sauce. Add more water, if needed. And if you like your sauce to be extra smooth, remove the date skins under a running water. Then pour the sauce inside a sealable clean jar. Now you have a lovely sweetener that you can use when baking in breakfasts or in any way you want. Store the date paste sealed in a fridge and you can use it easily for 2 weeks.

Now there you have it. Go ahead and make this date caramel paste & my Le Chick! Caramel Bars and serve them for example to your Valentine next week. Moi moi!

V

In collaboration with: Fontana organic dates

Raw Licorice Chocolate Mousse Cake

New year, fresh winds! A new edition of my very first cookbook, It’s a Pleasure – Sweet treats without gluten, dairy and refined sugar (in Finnish: Kiitos hyvää – Herkkuja ilman sokeria ja gluteenia) has just came out in Finland with new recipes in it. 

I’m really excited that I had an opportunity to design new stuff for this title, as I feel that although the book came out already two years ago here in Finland, the subject is still very topical.

Well, actually I can’t think of a time when healthy yet delicious sweet treats would go out of style. At least they are very much trending in our household all the time. And it was only 3 months ago when the book came out in the US, so it’s great to blow some new wind to these sails also in Finland! (I know there might not be that kind of idiom in English, but you get the point.)

So cake, muffins, donuts, cookies, chocolates, candies, ice creams and other heavenly goods, all without gluten, dairy and refined sugar. Gentle yet effective ease for sweet cravings with 86 recipes. Pretty luscious package, if I may say. And you’ll recognice the new Finnish edition by the green stamp it has on the cover. 

To celebrate the new edition I wanna give away one copy of the new Finnish title to one lucky reader. All you have to do is drop a comment and say hello here in the comment field and I will pick a winner (located in Finland) on Sunday 22nd at 22.00. (10 pm)

Of course I don’t wanna leave you guys from other counties with empty hands, so I’m giving away one copy of the English title, It’s a Pleasure too. So eeeveryone can join! And please do!

Here is also one of the new recipes from the new Finnish edition: my current No.1 favorite raw cake, Raw Licorice Chocolate Mousse Cake, with a super soft and tasty filling and crunchy truffles. Enjoy, babes!

V

Gluten-free & Vegan Carrot Cake

Before starting my Christmas zen, that I preached about in my last post, I just had to come and share one more Christmas treat with you guys! I know I already threw my Holiday greetings and all but when this recipe popped out of my computer I just couldn’t resist myself.

So I just drop this looovely carrot cake on your gentle hands without further introduction, because before I can start enjoying my Holidays I have to run and get couple of small presents and arrange our new home, to where we just moved – because my soul is yearning for a Christmas tree and one really can’t bring such a guest of honour into a chaotic environment, right? And you can also do the Christmas cleaning with a laid-back attitude, like listening to good old Christmas tunes from Frank Sinatra, Aretha Franklin and Ella Fitzgerald while eating this carrot cake with the other hand and swiping the dust with the other. That’s quite yin & yang to me.

Well, anyways, this gluten-free and vegan Carror Cake is found from our Christmas book “Joulukirja” and it just so nice, moist and tasty and the spices are PERFECT for the Holidays. It is good to prepare the cake the day before, so that the texture gets just right overnight.

Enjoy, my loved ones & have a lovely Christmas! (Lets see if I will come back still one more time with some new recipe for the Holidays before the Christmas Eve.)

 

V

Gingerbread porridge

And so has the week before Christmas started. The perfect time to start fueling up hard core with all the lovely christmas flavors, spices and Holiday treats and taking the Christmas in with all your cells and taste buds. Showering with cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, anise and ginger. Living the Christmas to the fullest! Like they say. Or like I say, at least.

Although I have a strong tendency to flip into the Christmas insanity, my passion is mainly focused on the food & the mood, not so much on the material stuff. Well okay, I have installed a small set of fairy lights (aprox. 8 meters long) on the balcony and a humble (only a half meter big) star on the window, but otherwise I mainly believe in peace & love kind of Christmas. Because when you just stop, breathe deep and be present then you are in the very essence of Christmas.

And it is just so much more romantic just to burn candles and enjoy small dishes and treats with christmas flavors all around the christmas time than to go bonkers with decoration and to stress over huge Holiday dinners that take insanely long time to prepare. 

“You get the most beautiful Christmas by returning back to basics: To the simple and tasty food that makes you feel good and to small handmade ornaments and gifts that touch the heart.”  Like we say in our new Christmas book that I made with my ever-so-lovely friend Riikka Kantinkoski. The book is all about a low-key Christmas with easy, natural and rustic interior ideas and healthy (gluten-free, dairy-free, naturally sweetened and mainly vegan) recipes for the Holidays and for the whole winter time. The book, called Joulukirja (“The Christmas book”) came out a few weeks ago and I’m super proud of it. Go check it out, if you happen to be in Finland and hang around bookstores!

The Gingerbread Porridge in this post didn’t make it into the book, but it most certainly would have if I just would have came up with it a bit earlier than last week. But hey, luckily I can share it with you guys now!

I got to use lovely Gluten-free & Deluxe products of Lidl in it, for example Gluten-free Rolled Oats, Walnut oil, Dates and Clove & Cardamom Mills. Those spice mills are especially my favorites because you can just go ahead and grind lovely christmas flavors on just about everything with them! On your porridge, on stews and casseroles, on cakes and other treats – or even on your cranky neighbour that needs to get into Christmas mood.

…I bet Lidl wouldn’t sign the last recommendation for use, but you get my permission.

Or even better, go ahead and prepare this Gingerbread oatmeal to the Grinch of your life and I bet you’ll see a warm light start shining through his/her eyes. I mean, this stuff really brings the Christmas. 

Be good, my friend & eat a lot of porridge.

V

(In collaboration with LIDL)

It’s a Pleasure – Nut Caramel Candies

Life has had quite hectic twists and turns lately. Sometimes I wonder how it is even possible for me as one human being to cope with all these projects I have managed to gather in my life. But in some weird way person kind of multiplies herself, expands time or makes other magic tricks when stuff just needs to be done. And there is no time to sit around when a revolution awaits! A food revolution, you know, in which I try to take part with my work.

A part of my revolution dream has now become reality as my very first cookbook about healthy sweet treats, that came out in Finland some time ago has now been released in the US and it goes by the name It’s a Pleasure. I’m so happy about the outcome – the book looks and feels super pretty and nice and I hope it can help to transform globally the way people feel about sweets with it’s over 80 recipes for cakes, candies, cookies, muffins, ice creams, chocolates and other sweet treats – all without guten, dairy and refined sugar. Because there is just no better way to indulge than to savor with treats that left you feeling light, healthy and satisfied!

Try for example these overwhelming pralines. I have prepared big batches of them lately and people have LOVED them. And no wonder. The best pralines combine many elements: a soft filling, a texture that snaps nicely and something crunchy. Also, a hint of saltiness is a big plus. These chocolates are all of the above and can be created with very simple and wholesome ingredients.

Please, just try them! And if you wish to have a copy of It’s a Pleasure, throw me a message here below before Oct 10th and I’ll pick two winners to whom I’ll post the book next week – in Finnish or in English, you choose!

Until then – Viva la revolucion!

V

NUT CARAMEL CHOCOLATES

Vanilla N’ice cream sandwiches & Giveaway

The time has come!! The N’Ice Cream book about healthy vegan ice creams by me and Tuulia has come out today in the US. And I’m over the moon excited! The Finnish version of the book got sold out in a week here in Finland and I hope the international audience will love the English version just as much.

Several people have now said to me that the N’Ice Cream book feels like the ultimate summer saver for them, and that makes me sooo happy. Because that is exactly what this book was designed to be. To enable a feel-good summer with healthy, naturally sweetened and gluten-free vegan ice creams, ice pops, sorbets, soft serves, instant ice creams, ice cream cakes & cookies, waffle cones, sauces, jams and all that jazz. And also our very best tips on how to prepare delicious ice cream easily without an ice cream maker.

You can now buy the book from:

If you like to have more n’ice cream inspiration, come and follow our Instagram: @nicecreambook where we share pics & tips and give shout-outs to peoples beautiful nice cream creations. Be sure to tag your n’ice cream photos #nicecreambook and @nicecreambook so that we can see them!

And now, ladies and gents, I'm happy to introduce these treats I have for you: Lovely lovely Vanilla Chocolate N’ice cream Sandwiches that I made inspired by a couple of recipes from the N’Ice Cream book. They just might be the perfect summer snack. And the perfect way to celebrate the launch of our book. Note that you can always just skip the cookies and make the instant ice cream base and enjoy it with this super quick chocolate sauce, if your ice cream cravings won’t wait!

And then there’s still one more thing: A giveaway! I’m giving away one copy of the N’Ice Cream book. Just write a short hello and why you would like this book to the comments below and you’re in! You’ve got time to participate until midnight Sunday the 22nd of May. And the giveaway is this time open to US, Canada & Finland. Good luck, my friends!

V

VANILLA N'ICE CREAM SANDWICHES

The Divine Chocolate Cake & Your gift

Hello, Love!

I have been waiting so eagerly to tell this to you. And now I can finally announce:
The hottest – or should I say the coolest cookbook of the summer is now available for PRE-ORDER! And – there is a magnificant pre-order gift, too!

Hooray, it is really happening, my friends! I’m so happy to launch this!

So as I mentioned in my previous post, N'Ice Cream – the healthy vegan ice cream cookbook by me and Tuulia Talvio will be out May 17 by Avery Publishing, Penguin US. There’s gonna be over 80 delicious recipes for healthy vegan ice creams without gluten, dairy and refined sugar. …Creamy ice creams, ice pops and sorbets, instant ice creams, ice cream cakes & cookies, waffles, sauces and jams, you name it. THIS BOOK covers it all when it comes to wholesome ice creams!

And as a thank you we wanted to make you something special. So when you pre-order N'Ice Cream cookbook now, you'll get this delicious gift:

GATHER e-book with over 30 recipes for your wholesome, easygoing, plant-based summer parties.

Oh yes, baby, it is true! By pre-ordering N'Ice Cream now you'll get this luxurious digital cookbook totally FREE. (Or if you’ve already pre-ordered the book – Thank you! – the offer includes you too.) Gather is not available in any other places so pre-ordering is really the only way to get your hands on this summery piece. And note also that the gift book comes as a pre-order gift only with the N'Ice Cream cookbook, so it is not included with the Finnish version, Hyvän olon jäätelökirja, which will be out in stores in Finland already in about 2 weeks.

GATHER E-BOOK OFFERS:

  • More than 30 original healthy plant based recipes for your summer get-togethers

  • All recipes are vegan, free from gluten, dairy & refined sugar

  • Recipes for savory snacks, sweet desserts and fresh drinks

  • Tips for organizing a stress-free party

  • A full-size color image for every recipe

The book includes recipes such as Falafels & Cashew Sour Cream, The Vegan Party Platter, Flaxseed chips & Creamy Dip, Sweet Potato Mini Pizzas, Nut-free Blueberry Pie, Divine Raw Chocolate Cake (presented below!), Apricot Cookies and Nut Fudge, Summer Pancake Cake, Brazilian Lemonade, Melon & Lime Aqua Fresca and many many more! And note, that all these recipes are totally new and original, not posted anywhere else before.

Check out more about Gather e-book and how to pre-order and get your gift HERE.

Oh and hey, I recommend warmly to subscribe to Vanelja’s newsletter asap, as there is coming some great weekly giveaways, bonus recipes, playlists and everything wonderful to get you in summer vibes & ice cream mood!

Come and follow also our official Insagram page of N’Ice Cream. A really nice giveaway is coming in our IG page already today, so hurry. We are waiting for you! 🙂

N’ICE CREAM HOT LIST:

And before I leave you to enjoy the Divine Raw Chocolate Cake from Gather I have to say that we are AMAZED by all the support we have been getting from people to help to spread the news about this book. From people we know and from total strangers too! We are grateful for all the help we can get to spread the word of n’ice cream and healthy ice cream revolution.

If you feel like you would want to help in any way we would be so so happy! Like by sharing this post, the N’Ice Cream preorder gift, N’Ice Cream Instagram posts or anything else. Or if you are a blogger and would want to share some ice cream tips, some photos, bonus recipes or a small feature / interview, please send us an email to nicecreambook@gmail.com and we’ll got you covered!

And now, finally. The cake. The Divine Raw Chocolate cake. It is a-bliss. Please enjoy!

V

DIVINE RAW CHOCOLATE CAKE

N'Ice Cream News

Ok, wow. Do I have some BIG news for you people. Big, creamy, delicious and heavenly news. And yes, it is about ice cream, and it is about books. As I bet you guessed already from the photo.

So, remember the e-book about healthy ice creams we did last summer with my friend Tuulia, that was called Kind Ice Cream for You? Yep, the cute little pink book that became surprisingly popular during the summer. Well, we thought that the e-book would have been just a nice little summer project for us, but life had bigger plans for it.

As it happened, one brilliant book agent found our e-book through my friend Jessie’s blog post (Jessie, you girl are pure gold! I thank you from the bottom of my heart for writing that post!) and asked if me and Tuulia were interested in making an actual book out of our e-book.

And oh-my-god, OF COURSE we were!

So one thing lead to another and now I am SO PROUD and SO HAPPY to announce that our cookbook about healthy vegan ice creams is gonna be out in the US in May 17th and it goes with a name N’Ice Cream. The publisher of the book is the ever so lovely Avery, part of Penguin Random House which is one of the biggest book publishers in the world.

So there we are now with our ice creams sharing the home with Nobel prize winners and biggest best-sellers in the world.

So crazy. So so crazy amazing! N’ice cream, I scream, everybody screeeam!

There you can see the cover of N'Ice Cream on the right hand side on the first photo. That one is gonne be seen in bookstores all around North America and Canada. The cover photo on the left hand side is from the Finnish edition called Hyvän olon jäätelökirja, that will be out in the middle of May in Finland through Cozy Pyblishing.

So it’s gonna be healthy, vegan and super easy ice creams for all the people around the world soon! And we are just so overly excited here and can’t wait them to come out. We feel we have done something revolutionary with this piece and that the recipes in the book have an actual potential to make this world a little better place. Maybe we’ll too get a Nobel nomination from it. Haha!

But really, as Don Kardong put it: "Without ice cream there would be darkness and chaos." So ice cream IS plain good, and healthy ice cream is even better.

And if you wanna join this ice cream parade beforehand, you can go and pre-oreder N'Ice Cream already from these places:

I can tell you that there is going to be a super duper nice gift for people who will pre-order the book and it will be the perfect companion to N’Ice Cream. But more about it next month!

Also, be sure to sign up to my NEWSLETTER because there’s gonna come some brilliant material to subscribers during this spring.

And finally, before I wrap this up, I want to thank deeply everyone who supported us with this project in any way, purchased our e-book back in the days and shared the love – there's some good karma coming your way!

So, we are living wonderful times, my friend, and the upcoming spring is gonna be filled with possibilities for all of us. Lets keep the light up!

V

3 Ingredient Vegan Apple Pie

We made a fun little video with my man about this 3 Ingredient Vegan Apple Pie I had developed and I suddenly thought it might be a good idea to share the whole version of the recipe here too. Although it is insanely simple and you can basically see the whole procedure from the video!

The recipe is from my new and – happy to say – no. 1 best-selling cookbook in Finland Kiitos hyvää Pikaruokaa (meaning healthy fast food) and I personally feel this recipe here is one of the most relaxed ways to make an apple pie I have ever encountered. I’m glad that it popped into my head somewhere from the cosmos one cloudy day when I really needed a quick comfort food.

So check out the video HERE – and see how the magic happens!

I hope you’ll try it and love it as much as my family does!

V

Gluten-free Vegan Semlas

One of my favorite things in the world is problem solving and finding a solution. Give me an overhand knot and I’ll untangle it. Tell me something is impossible, I’ll find a way. Show me a problem, yo, I'll solve it.

Because in my world, there ain’t no problems, just solutions not yet found.

And that is exactly what a vegan semla (aka shrove bun, a traditional sweet bun filled with whipped cream and almond paste or raspberry jam and consumed for example in Finland, Sweden and in Estonia at Shrove Tuesday / Pancake day.) without gluten, dairy, yeast and refined sugar appeared at first.

Sure, I had made gluten free and yeast free semlas many times before, but they always included eggs. With eggs it is easy. With eggs everything is easy. And then, on the other hand all the vegan semla recipes they include usually white flour and yeast. With white flour and yeast it is easy. Even a baby can do it.

But to make a vegan semla, that has a nice and soft texture, that doesn’t crumble, that has a heavenly taste and none of those belly swelling ingredients – THAT was a tricky equation. That was something I just had to get involved.

So I made my math and baked the first batch. Disaster. The taste was good but the texture was horrible. Let’s modify the recipe and make another batch. Buns come out all flat. Ok, the third version usually always works. Not this time. The taste is great, the texture is better, but buns remain raw on the inside no matter how long I bake them. And finally when they are done, they look horrendous.

At this time a normal person would just say, oh well, let’s just eat pancakes then!
But a maniac like me – is just getting started.
So I roll my sleeves, take a deep breath and go to the mattresses.

I twist the recipe here and there, pour a little bit more of this and less of that. Change the baking temperature and add a new ingredient. In my head the buns should come out brilliant, but you can’t never be certain when it comes to baking. There is always a bit of magic involved, and a lot of chemical reactions happening that are hard to predict. But with high hopes I send my buns to the oven. And with a growing excitement I take them out, split them and fill them. …And with happy tears in my eyes I finally eat them.

I’m in love with these semlas. My family is in love with them too. Please do try them also. With the vanilla flavored coconut whipped cream and super easy homemade almond paste. They just belong together. This equation equals love.

V

Pst, Check out also my other shrove bun inspired recipes:

Creamy Raspberry Cardamom Smoothie & Creamy Raspberry Raw Cake

SEMLAS

3 Ingredient Chocolate Cake

After a long development I can proudly announce that I have captured the essence of a chocolate cake. And here comes the news: A delicious chocolate cake can be done with only just 3 ingredients!

And before you say anything, like "3 ingredient chocolate ain't no news, miss!, let me clarify: this ain’t one of those 3 ingredient cakes, that has been spreading in the internet, which includes store-brought chocolate, which actually contains a big bunch of different ingredients. No, no, no.

This cakes includes solely 3 basic NATURAL ingredients: Organic eggs, dates and raw cacao powder. Yep, that's all you need.

You can of course refine the recipe for example with vanilla powder, cinnamon or a tiny pinch of chili. And top with super easy chocolate mousse, or whipped coconut cream and berries!

The recipe is from my brand new cookbook, and I feel it is a good example of how simple you can make cooking, and still enojy nice flavors and clean ingredients.

And then to the muse of my cake! I have dedicated this cake to my friend’s amazing ethical fashion brand Lovia. Lovia’s clothes and accessories are produced in Helsinki, Finland and they use mainly recycled and organic materials in their clothes and accessories. I recommend to take a look at their beautiful and unique products, photos and films at their site.

Lovia’s pure, wild, clean and dark style made me think of deep chocolate flavors and pure basic ingredients used in a new and innovative way. And the outcome was truly somewhat magical!

As a christmas present Lovia wanted to offer 30 % discount to Vanelja’s followers during this weekend. With the code LoviaVanelja30 you can get the discount when shopping at their online store before the midnight of 13th of December.

So have some chocolate cake folks and make your weekend merry!

V

3 INGREDIENT CHOCOLATE CAKE

Healthy Fast Food

Baby, It is dark, rainy and cold outside but my heart is shining brightly!

The reason for this glow is that my book about healthy fast food can be now finally found in the bookstores in Finland!

And may I just say: Pheeeew.

I’m feeling SO relieved. And happy. But not at all super hyped like I was when my first book was released a year ago. Now the feeling is more trusting, confident, calm and collected. I can be proud about the outcome and I know that this book will be the most used cookbook in our household! My husband, who is quite a lazy cook, has been cooking from the book many times already. So my main mission here is accomplished: Get the guy to cook!

Small step for the humankind, big achievement for my family. Huge.

Hopefully other takeaway lovers and lazy cooks will also find the book inspiring!

The book offers over 80 recipes for healthy, easy and quick vegetarian dishes, all without gluten and refined sugars. Most of the recipes can be done totally vegan. And the best part here is that the dishes can all be done less than in 30 minutes and they come with super simple ingredient lists.

I don't mean to brag but isn't that just great?!

And because many of you have asked me about the English version, I can now say that I’m in the progress of getting the book translated into English, but it will be a project for the next year. Let’s see then in what form it will eventually come out!

But here's as a tasting, some examples from the menu of my book:

For breakfast:

  • 3 x Easy Pancakes
  • 3 x 3 Ingredient Smoothies
  • 3 x Energy Bars
  • Blueberry Ginger Porridge
  • Cinnamon Jar Porridge
  • Chocolate Oat Porridge
  • Coconut Oat Breakfast Rolls
  • Easy Dairy-free Cheeses
  • Fig Pear Crumble

For Lunch & Dinner:

  • Stuffed Sweet Potatoes with Curry Peanut Butter Sauce
  • Asian Green Wraps
  • Nepalese dish with 3 ingredient Naan Bread
  • Quick Curry with Sweet Potato Noodles
  • Sunshine Pasta
  • Avocado Pasta
  • Shiitake Seed Risotto (rice-free)
  • Eggplant Pizzas
  • White Pizza
  • Beetroot Pizza
  • Sweet Potato Pizza
  • Burrito Bowl with Chili Sin Carne
  • 3 x Easy Mayo (egg-free)

For Dessert:

  • 3 Ingredient Chocolate Cake
  • 3 Ingredient Peanut Butter Cake
  • 3 Ingredient Apple Pie
  • Almond Soft Serve
  • 2 Ingredient Cookies
  • Wholesome Banana Muffins
  • 2 Ingredient Apple Donuts
  • Melon Cake for Kids

And lots and lots of more dishes and treats! A small introduction of the book can be found here.

Have a lovely week, Friend!

xxx

V

Vegan meatballs and sweet potato pasta

One year ago I dreamed about a cookbook that would save our family meals.

My dream book would have recipes that would take less than 30 minutes to make, preferably only 15 minutes, ingredients lists should be nice and short, they would not include gluten, dairy or refined-sugars and most of the recipes should be vegan. The book should offer wholesome recipes for breakfasts, dinners, lunches, snacks and for sweet treats. Kid-friendly recipes would be a big plus and also if the book could also offer better alternatives for pizzas and burgers, my man’s favorite meals. All in all, the recipes in the book should be healthy, super easy and super delicious.

Too sad there wasn’t any book like that on the market. I went through a big bunch of cookbooks and waited for a hero that would fly into my arms and save those moments where the stomach is empty and the mind goes blank at the same time. There were nice recipes here and there but a book that would fulfil ALL my needs just didn’t seem to exist.

So, I had to make it myself. And I did.

Two weeks from here my next cookbook about healthy fast food is going to be released in Finland. The Finnish name is Kiitos hyvää Pikaruokaa, and I’m proud to say that the book offers EXACTLY everything I just described above!

I am so thrilled and I can’t wait to get it in my hands – For one since I actually cook the recipes from the book everyday, and I can’t remember all my recipes in detail, and I don’t wanna go on searching for them from my computer all the time, so I really need to get the book in my kitchen and in my hands – ASAP!

Gonna let you know more about the book later, but I’m sure you guys are going to appreciate it as well. Who would not love healthy and tasty fast food!

But now, to today’s meal! This vegan meatballs and pasta recipe is not actually from my upcoming cookbook, because I created it after the book had already gone to print, but it makes an excellent and simple everyday meal also. I’m just loving this easy pasta made from sweet potato and the rich taste and great texture of these vegetarian meatballs! If you ask me it's quite an excellent mimic of the Italian classic meal, with a healthy and fun twist.

V

VEGAN MEATBALLS AND SWEET POTATO PASTA

Sweet Potato Oat Porridge

Hello darlings, it’s been a while! Actually over a month since my last post. …Oops. I could say that I have been working like crazy and have been doing this and that and the third, which would be very much true, but as my mother always says: only a lazy person counts her work. So let’s trust her and forget explanations and concentrate on the present, and on the most essential – the goodies I brought you!

I have been doing some collaboration with Oatlet Store, which is a brilliant webshop that deals oat-based products. And as a big fan of all oat related I have been super excited to test their gluten-free oat products from Provena and to design new recipes with them.

One of my absolutely favorite thing that came out of my laboratory is this pre-christmas sweet potato oat porridge. It is just insanely tasty, comforting and rich! And it includes my favorite ingredients at the moment: Sweet potato, cinnamon, cardamom, pecan nuts and – jumbo-sized oat flakes. Oh-my-god – TOTALLY different thing than those small oat flakes, that taste like a cardboard, especially after you’ve tasted jumbo ones. So delicious, and you get beautifully textured hearty porridge out of them.

I’m planning to make this sweet potato oat porridge my family’s official christmas porridge that will be consumed every morning until christmas. Well, at least on the weekends. And maybe only in December. I would rather like this to give nice taste memories to my kid than to cause any food traumas. It is too good to be overdosed. …Although I have a tiny hunch I’m gonna do it personally anyways.

But hey, with this pre-christmas porrdige I have also a pre-christmas gift for you: With the code VANELJA you get -20 % discount when shopping in Oatlet Store and the discount is available for two weeks from now. Oatlet Store ships throughout the EU. And if you want a tip, I can recommend at least, surprise surprise, these Provena Gluten Free Jumbo Oats and also Provena Gluten Free Whole Grain Oat Flour for baking.

Have a lovely November, stay warm and eat a lot of porridge!

V

SWEET POTATO OAT PORRIDGE

Happy Birthday Vanelja!

It was exactly one year ago when I opened the doors of Vanelja and introduced it to the world for the first time. And in my very first blog post I then wrote:

“Nothing in Vanelja is permanent, no goals has been set. That makes it possible to grow to whatever direction life takes it to. It is exciting to see what kind of flowers will Vanelja bloom in when the fertilizers are freedom, passion and pleasure!”

And wow, what beautiful blossoms have I been able to witness during this first year! I have been just amazed by all the opportunities, connections and people life has sent through my blog.

During this year I have made great new friends from different parts of the world, I have also made 3 cook books (insane, I know! do not try at home), been featured in international media, websites and blogs, been picked by Instagram to their suggested users list, been nominated in the Saveur Food blog Award and actually winning the award in the Best-designed blog category. And then there are also some huge huge things I can’t yet talk about that have started to seed during this year.

So may I just say: Phew. And thank You. Thank you life, thank you dear You, thank you universe. I promise to continue following my dreams. And as Elsie De Wolfe said:

“I am going to make everything around me beautiful – that will be my life.”

And I’m also going to make lots of these delicious banoffee-muffins, which you should try also. They too taste like a dream.

V

BANOFFEE MUFFINS

Cinnamon Bun Waffles from Gratitude

One of the most traditional ways to celebrate something here in Finland is to make coffee and serve cinnamon buns. That old school serving suits all types of parties and in every occasion.

A baby is born – coffee and cinnamon buns, you win a lottery – coffee and cinnamon buns, someone dies – coffee and cinnamon buns, your blog is nominated in The Blog Awards Finland in the Health and Wellness category – coffee and cinn.. Wait, no. Actually then it’s not coffee nor cinnamon buns, but healthy cinnamon bun”ish” waffles! The exception proves the rule.

So here I am with my not-so-traditional but yet so-very-delicious cinnamon bun waffles as it indeed happened that my blog got nominated in the Blog Awards Finland in the Health and Wellness category. Yay!

The nomination in that specific category made me took a stroll down memory lane and look back to where I started, which was five years ago in my former Finnish health blog called Kiitos hyvää.

Kiitos hyvää was a blog mainly about well-being and “high quality life”. In that time I was very deeply into all kind of nutrition stuff, different methods of measuring health and gaining better health, raw food, superfood, super this and super that. I was truly and totally a health nerd. All that super health hype feels kind of funny to me nowadays, but it was an adventure I had to take in order to get here, into more peaceful and calmer place.

It is very relaxing when you realise that the purpose of your life is to serve only in a way that brings great joy to yourself and others. Not to battle and strive. That is the reason I nowadays post only easygoing inspiration and nice recipes and not try to convince anyone of what is the best diet or how should others live their lives. I don’t have clue, only a delicate and occasionally fading hunch on how to live my own.

But that’s how life, health and wellness are, delicate and constantly changing things that escape exact definitions and are not bound to one truth.

My truth today is happiness and gratitude for being nominated in the biggest Blog Award in my country. And from that happiness I channel these cinnamon bun waffles to you!

Thank you for being there, friend.

V

CINNAMON BUN WAFFLES

Late summer Power soup

Hello lover, I just dropped by to tell you that in case you were wondering what to make for lunch this week or prepare quickly in the evening, here is the recipe you have been looking for! It is especially designed for these late summer days when the sun is still nicely warming our noses but you can already feel that the chill of fall is on it’s way.

The recipe is super simple, it’s quick to prepare, takes less than 15 minutes and the ingredient list is nicely minimalistic. So it has exactly those features that an excellent everyday food should always have. And it of course tastes heavenly.

It is a spinach soup with a twist. The soup is made of ripe, juicy pears and fresh spinach leaves accompanied with coconut milk and a nice bunch of fresh herbs, coriander and parsley.

I’m loving how it is creamy and smooth, fresh and earthy, all at the same time. I couldn’t wish for better elements from my power soup.

I hope you’ll find it is a perfect match for your late August days too!

V

PEAR SPINACH SOUP

Week of Sundays

Did I hear someone wondering why it is so quiet in Vanelja and why the lady of the house has not been posting ANYTHING for over five weeks (which equals an eternity in the world of internet)?

Well, let me explain. It is because of the incredible tradition we have here in Finland called a summer holiday month. Yes, a holiday MONTH. In my country people just totally stop working for about 4 – 6 weeks in the summer time. No joke. They travel to their summer cottages, soak their feet in some of our thousands of lakes or in the Baltic sea, wander in forests picking berries, laying around in their hammocks and watching the clouds go by. And if you are an employee you get actually paid for doing all that. Plus your employer gives you also a big monetary reward when you return to work, as a thank you for coming back. I’m still not pulling you. Welcome to Finland.

Although, as I’m nowadays an entrepreneur and outside of that financial support system when being on a vacation, but still, what can you do, I’m a true Finn, I need my holiday month. Also I’m a true believer of freedom which means that you do what ever your heart desires and sometimes it might just be something else than blogging. Like swimming in the sea and picking cloudberries.

But now I have returned from my big Finnish summer adventure and trying to re-teach myself on how to use the internet. I’m starting gently and for the time being my bed is my home office and my pajamas are my uniform. That is why it also felt natural to share you guys a breakfast recipe, because my week has mainly felt like an eternal morning, or a Sunday.

This dairy free peach coconut yogurt and cinnamon granola enjoyed with peanut butter is just a perfect thing for hazy lazy times like this.

And the super soft bed linen you see in the pictures, that are decorating my headquarters, those I got from ever so lovely Evencki. I think it wash actually the linen that made me think of peaches in the first place. The color and the tender softness. Both perfect for a week of Sundays.

V

Grazy, Crazier, Galette

Galette. The word which commonly refers mainly to certain pies is associated in my mind with a crazy person. As “galen” means “crazy” in Swedish and “galette” could then easily be a crazy person in Italian, or something.

In my head I see a passionate woman with a messy hair and flour dust all over her face who is so crazy about pies that she doesn’t have time to polish it and fiddle with it, so she just mixes whatever fruit or berries she can find, throws the fillings in the center of the dough and sort of slaps the sides in the middle so that the pie barely keeps it’s form and then swooshes it into the oven! And when the pie is done, she eats it while still standing in front of the kitchen counter with her apron on. Sucking her fingers in between devouring because the pie is still way too hot, but at the same time way too tempting and delicious for her to keep her fingers away from it.

Well, the reality is much more boring, and galette means just a flat cake, usually a rustic berry or fruit filled pie. Or quite surprisingly, a thin man. But not a crazy baker. Only in my head. And possibly in yours too now.

So with that image in your mind I suggest you to try this luscious gluten-free berry galette that is super simple to make. And even though nothing usually beats freshly baked pies this pie is actually maybe even more delicious if you happen to have the willpower to save it for the next day.

When I did the first batch I savored it immediately.

Yes, with my apron on, in front of the oven. Yes, I am the messy crazy baker lady described. Yes, you already knew it, I know.

But, with the second batch I managed to save a few pieces until the next day. And boy was it moist and tasty then!

Next I’m going to make one pie to be eaten right away and one to be saved until the day after. I’m also planning to try this base with peaches and raspberries and with apples and cinnamon. Strawberries & rhubarb I already tried, and It was heaven! Pears and figs would work with this one too
And why not also savory fillings! Like mushrooms and onions, or roasted vegetables and herbs. Or squash and ricotta!

Ok, apparently my summer is going to be just totally “galette”. Hopefully yours too!

V

Try this galette for example with vegan vanilla ice cream, they are match made in heaven! Healthy ice cream recipes can be found in our Kind Ice Cream for You eBook.

Rum & Raisin Chocolate Ice Cream

I have to say my life is super full at the moment. Actually even a little bit too packed for my taste. My calendar is full with work, meetings and photoshoots, my hands are full with things to do both in home and also in work field, and my head is crowded with stuff I need to remember and take care of. Surprisingly, even though it usually never goes together with a hectic life, my heart is full also – and it is just bursting with gratitude!

One reason for that is this unforgettable incident I had last week in New York at the Saveur Food Blog Awards where Vanelja was nominated as one of the finalist. And you can’t believe this – the craziest thing happened: Editor’s Choice for Best-designed Blog! As in Vanelja was picked to be the winner by the editors from the almighty Saveur magazine!

high-fives with my graphic designer friends Leena Oravainio & Lotta Niemien who helped to build this site and with all you followers, readers and lovely friends and supporters! You guys made this happen!

It is such a huge honor and such a recognized award that I am still totally overwhelmed and it is still hard for me to understand that it actually happened. The whole event, the award, all the amazing people and fellow bloggers I met. The whole experience was like from a dream. Especially when I was totally jet-lagged and was feeling quite surreal even in the first place.

So now, we need to party. Because that's what we people do when something big comes our way – we celebrate and throw a party to mark these big happenings and changes in our lives to somehow make them feel more real, right? First we ask someone to pinch ourselves and then we party.

And because it is summer and I’m just all about ice creams at the moment, as our e-book about healthy dairy-free & refined-sugar-free ice creams, Kind Ice Cream for You just got launched last week, I decided that we celebrate with ice cream. Yay!

This one is an adaptation of one “Instant Chocolate Ice Cream” recipe from our book which can be enjoyed as a soft serve or as a more solid ice cream. I chose to flavor it with a little bit of rum and raisins just to make it more festive. And because rum & raisin is my all time favorite ice cream flavor. And well, because alcohol just gives a nice boost to certain occasions. Though here the rum is first brought to a boil so there’s no change/risk of getting tipsy. …Although, you just might do it anyways because of the intoxicating raw chocolate and the super rich flavor!

So enjoy, live life to it’s fullest and celebrate all the big and small treasures life throws to you. For example now with these luxurious party ice cream balls flying your way!

V

Remember to follow me on Instagram and tag your ice cream photos with #kindicecreamforyou or #kindicecream!

RUM & RAISIN CHOCOLATE ICE CREAM

Kind Ice Cream for You

It has arrived! Our e-book about healthy ice creams is finally out! And I must say that I am deeply and utterly in LOVE with it. Hands down, it must be the loveliest cook book I have ever encountered. And that is my totally objective opinion. If me and my partner-in-crime Tuulia Talvio would have not made it I would still love it to pieces! Hahaa!

But the most amazing thing for me here is how this book took even myself by surprise. Because when we started making it this winter I would have never guessed that it would become so big, beautiful and comprehensive as it is.

First we planned to make just a nice small e-book about healthy, dairy-free, refined-sugar-free and gluten-free ice creams with few nice recipes with few nice pictures. But the project kept on growing and growing until one day we realised that we have a real book in our hands, well, on our computer screens – with 130 pages and over 60 recipes, great pictures – and last but not least, a beeeautiful layout, thanks to my dear friend, a super talented graphic designer Leena Oravainio.

So here I am now, super proud, deeply happy and a little bit teary over our kind and beautiful new-born book, Kind Ice Cream for You. And I really want you to meet her, so go ahead and
read more about it in the book’s official website: www.kindicecream.com.

You can buy the book through my SHOP or through www.kindicecream.com or by going straigh HERE. All the roads lead to the same destination. NOTE: E-BOOK IS TEMPORARILY OUT OF STOCK

So be free to share, download and spread the love! We have really poured our love and passion in this one, so we are very grateful for all the help you can give in spreading our kind ice cream message! #kindicecreamforyou #kindicecream

Take care, be Kind and have a lovely ice-cream-filled June, my friend!

V

Kind Snickers Ice Cream Cake + Big News!

Ok, are you ready for the most delicious summer of our era? Have your taste buds and sweet teeth ready because an ultimate e-book about healthy and delicious homemade ice creams, KIND ICE CREAM FOR YOU is almost here!

This is a book that we have been preparing the whole spring with my lovely colleague & friend Tuulia and it is going to be published online in the beginning of June, meaning next week! Eeeek! This is so Exciting! It´s going to be the book of our dreams – and hopefully yours too!

KIND ICE CREAM FOR YOU serves over 60 recipes for homemade & healthy ice creams, all free from dairy, soy, gluten and refined sugar. Most of the recipes are raw and they can easily be done vegan. People with nut-allergies will find loads of goodies for them too!

The book is going to give you recipes for Creamy Ice Creams, Soft Serves, Sorbets & Ice Pops, Instant Ice Creams, Ice Cream Cakes & Cookies and Addings & Toppings + introduction to kind ice creams and to good quality ingredients. And because it is an e-book it can be easily read with a laptop, a tablet or a smartphone. That way you can carry it with you to all of your summer adventures and make kind ice creams whenever you feel like indulging!

And hey, it is in English so all you quality ice cream lovers all around the world can read it!

All in all, I honestly think this book includes everything a perfect ice cream book should. I am feeling SO happy and proud.

AND NOW A WARM RECOMMENDATION: Right now would be a perfect time to sign-up to my newsletter, because all the subscribers who have signed up before 1.6. will be getting a 20 % discount from the KIND ICE CREAM FOR YOU e-book immediately when it´s released, which makes it then only 9,50 euros! And you´ll be also getting a free Smoothie Guide delivered straight to your e-mail right away!

Sign-up HERE

Last week we asked you guys in our social media channels to give us your helping hand and to tell us your favorite ice cream flavors. We received over 200 mouth-watering ideas and happily noticed that many of them were already covered in the book, for example, blueberry pie, mango melon, matcha white chocolate, licorice, cherry garcia, salted caramel and so on.

Still, we managed to pick two winners who will win free copies of our e-book and whose favorite ice cream will be included in the book. The other winner is Salla, who wished for a healthier version of Snickers Ice Cream and the other one is Minna whose favorite ice cream is Mint Chocolate Ice Cream Sandwiches. Both recipes will be now found in the book, and in our web sites too, as tastings. The recipe for the super amazing Mint Chocolate Ice Cream Sandwiches is found at my co-author Tuulia´s page, and the recipe for Snickers ice cream will be presented here – in a cake form!

This chocolate covered caramel peanut butter ice cream cake is just a perfect treat for summer parties. People who love peanut butter and caramel will adore it!

And don´t be frightened if this recipe seems to have a little too many steps for your taste – 90 % of the recipes in our book will be super easy, because we think both summer and this book should be merely for lazy pleasures. But in some occasions you just need to have a few extra layers to make it festive – like now when announcing this super cool ice cream news!

V

SNICKERS ICE CREAM CAKE

Chocolate Luxury cake in a jar

Hi Honeys! I have been in silence here for quite some time, mainly because I have been soaking my feet in the golden sands and foaming waters of Venice Beach, LA and also enjoying the blooming spring of New York and tried to keep myself as far from computer as possible. With a quite great success, as you may have noticed.

The other thing that is keeping me busy elsewhere is my book project, well, actually TWO book projects that I´m currently working on. (Gonna hype more about them later! But may I just say that there will be coming up some insanely delicious stuff made with a big and shining heart!) And because there is only one me and only certain amount of hours in the day and a soul that seeks also for relaxed family time so that easily equals some tranquility in this channel.

But, now I got you something special to make up my absence: A luxurious and truly amazing chocolate cake in a jar recipe that I designed a while ago to one Finnish web site but hadn´t posted it here yet. This layered sweetie has it all – the creaminess, some crunchiness, the rich cake layer and above all delicious taste and wholesome ingredients!

And it is actually very simple to assemble even though the instructions may seem quite complicated by a first glance. You just layer some clean chocolate cake crumble, raw chocolate sauce, banana, nuts and coconut whipped cream in a jar and then spoon the magic in your mouth! simple and sensational.

Please let me know the level of your love when you decide to try it! At least my heart expanded to the maximum already with the first bite.

V

CHOCOLATE LUXURY CAKE IN A JAR

Spring break

“I know this is what I want to do for the rest of my life, nothing compares to this feeling of freedom.”

That is a quote from a surfer Colin Moran and those words lay in a picture upon my bed in my new crib, an airbnb flat in Los Angeles to where I came for a one month work/vacation trip.

So if you´re wondering why there is not coming new material and recipe innovations as often as usual it is because I´m giving space for fresh inspiration and sparkling new ideas. Setting myself free from the old and familiar and keeping a slight break from the routines. Even my personal blender I brought with me quit its deal in the very first day I tried to test out a new recipe here. A clear sign that I need to concentrate on other things now!

Although, I do have some un-published recipes up in my sleeve that I´m gonna share with you guys, so stay tuned! In the meantime you can jump in my travelling bag and follow me on Instagram!

Flying free kisses!

V

Pistachio Fig Smoothie

I have a huge spring time crush happening here. The target of my affection is oh-so creamy and dreamy home-made pistachio milk. What a charmer. The color of this heavenly nectar is so beautiful that I could just sit and watch it´s tones through my drinking glass forever. …If I would not be so eager to gulp it down in a heartbeat.

Pistachio milk is perfect for example in making raw cakes and ice creams and it´s a loveliest base for smoothies too! In today´s smoothie recipe I connected pistachio milk with figs. And boy did it turn out delicious!

I warmly recommend you try it out on some lovely spring day. And also a bunch of other delicious and fresh smoothie recipes from my free e-book, Creamy Smoothie Guide!

And hey, while you´re here could I ask you to take a minute (or more like 30 seconds) and vote for VANELJA in Saveur Food Blog Awards in the best-designed blog category, as my blog is one of the finalists. Your vote would mean a world to me! As this whole being-in-the-finals already did. You need to registrate first but it only takes a second and you won´t get any junk mail.

So Click & Vote for VANELJA and pure pleasures! Thank you darling, I send you loads of love in return!

V

PISTACHIO FIG SMOOTHIE

The Creamy Smoothie Guide

“She´s a smooth operator, smooooth operator…”

I am so happy to announce that I have created something really cool for you guys. I have been a real “smooth operator” and collected my all time favorite smoothie recipes and best smoothie tips inside of virtual covers of an e-book. The Creamy Smoothie Guide includes 34 pages packed with delicious recipes, mouth-watering photos and hot tips + a formula for a perfect green smoothie. This e-book is a gift from VANELJA to you! You can now download it from HERE.

At the same time you´ll be able to subscribe to VANELJA mailing list which means that you´ll be privileged to get more pure pleasures, recipes, news and quality content, such as this smoothie guide, to your email about once in a month. No non-sense spamming, I promise. Just diamonds.

So go ahead and download your Creamy Smoothie Guide and make your blender buzz! I hope the guide can channel even a drop of that inspiration and energy to you that these liquid lovers give to me! Feel free to share love and tell about VANELJA and The Creamy Smoothie Guide to your friends in your channels:

Facebook

Instagram

Pinterest

Twitter

TWEETABLE: A LOVER OF SMOOTHIE? GET THIS FREE CREAMY SMOOTHIE GUIDE WITH 34 PAGES FULL OF MOUTH-WATERING RECIPES, PICS & TIPS!

Thank you!

V

Stracciatella Chocolate Cake

I have always found it very interesting to observe how different people react on new things, when they hear great news, new opportunities arises or something good happens. Some go openly bonkers screaming and jumping from happiness, some start panicing and turn the good thing into something scary and intimidating and some swallow their joy and let just a slight smile escape through their lips even though they are dancing and moshing inside.

And then there are people like me who´s natural reaction for something good is to bake a cake. (After the going-publicly-bonkers-phase.) For me a cake represents a deep and intense joy and something ultimately festive. The whole procedure including designing, cooking, eating, food styling and photographing a cake is something that my soul finds very relaxing, joyous and gratifying. For me creating a cake is art on it´s best.

This weekend I have been celebrating with this phenomenal Stracciatella Chocolate Cake that was my reaction to one magnificent news I received on friday. It is born from pure happiness and bliss. When I served the cake people were just chewing it in total silence for a while, then they took a deep sigh and bursted into a praise. Like music to my ears.

I´m not going to tell just yet what was the thing that inspired me to make this super tasty and creamy and luscious piece of work, that I will announce tomorrow on my social media channels (Instagram & Facebook). Now I just wanted to share my happiness in the form of this cake and wish it can pass on some of my great mood and love to all of you!

V

STRACCIATELLA CHOCOLATE CAKE

White pizza

Who ordered a super tasty grain-free and yeast-free pizza? Hold your tablecloths! Here comes your waitress with so jaunty dance moves that even the pale white pizza on my tray almost blushes.

But what can you do when you have created something so tasty and phenomenal – A delicious white pizza that is build on a gluten-free, yeast-free and vegan pizza crust and which is one amazing combination of a crispy pizza and and a rich savory pie – with a hint of flaky mouthfeel to it. It is simply a hit!

I first planned to post it on friday, which is a classcial pizza day, but then thought, screw that, I´m probably going to make it on every evening this week so I must give others the opportunity to do that also. And preparing this “pizza pie” takes less than 20 minutes so you could actually make it even on your lunch break.

And wait, before you run to buy the pizza ingredients I want to highlight also these two gluten-free Vanelja Pizzas, that you could also find interesting:

Butternut Squash and Sage Pizza

Cauliflower Pizza

Try these out and find your favorite!

V

WHITE PIZZA

Sea Salt Toffee

These last days I have been so grateful for all the feedback and daily messages that I am receiving from the people who have bought my KIITOS HYVÄÄ -cook book (in Finnish) and who have cooked something that has blown their mind away and taken them to healthy treats heaven. That is absolutely the best thing for me as a cook book author. To success to inspire and give new ideas for clean eating. And to read, hear and see the reaction of the people when they notice how good, let´s say for example a raw blueberry cheese cake or raspberry candy sticks can taste or how delicious a Cherry Garcia ice cream made mainly from hemp seeds, raw chocolate and honey can be!

After my book was published in December it has been the best selling cook book (for 3 months already!) for example in this Finnish online book store. And that is beyond amazing! It says clearly that people are tired of that shabby, shitty and bloated feeling they get from the traditional pastries, and that they want to feel good not only when they are dropping that piece of cake into their mouths but also afterwards. And no-one wants to give up their pleasures and sweet treats! And actually no-one has to, you just have to pick better ingredients and maybe learn few new tricks.

At the moment I´m looking for a publisher in the US and in Europe so that I could get the book in other languages also, for aaaall you people with sweet n clean cravings out there! Many of you have been asking for an English version, and I also heard a funny rumor that such would be published any day soon. But as far as I know it is not happening just yet, although I took it as a sign, so maybe in the near future it will be not just a rumor but also reality. Fingers crossed!

In the meantime I will share one of the most loved recipes from the book – Sea Salt Toffee Candies aka Nut Butter Toffee! We also made a video of them sponsored by the great nu3.fi. CHECK IT OUT!

And because all the feedback that I have received from these I really have to give a word of caution: These golden cuties seem to be truly addictive stuff. They are super easy to make and they taste delicious. Before you notice you´ll be making another batch. And another, and another.
Regardless, please do try!

V

SEA SALT TOFFEE CANDIES

Flourless Chickpea Blondies

Everything easygoing feels now very tempting. Or maybe those kind of things always attract me like a light bulb attracts the fly. Light-hearted, bright and laid-back essence just feels the right way to be. Ask for example from golden retrievers, daisies or from these carefree little blondies!

So the recipe of the day is called Flourless blondies, Flourless Chickpea Blondies, to be exact.

Once again, a surprise ingredient! Peas. But you´d never guess by the delicious taste what they are actually made of. And that is because they get their genius side kick from banana, almond butter, honey and vanilla extract and maybe, if you will, from a pinch of cinnamon too. So good, I promise!

And I love the way how they are super easy to make, just blend all ingredients in a blender, pour into a pan and bake. Ta-daa! And the whole procedure takes less that 30 minutes from the moment you start having cravings until the moment you pop them out from the oven. My kind of darlings!

And speaking of darlings, I would love you to be one too and vote my blog at Saveur magazine´s annual food blog awards, in case you like my recipes, photos and videos or find this page inspiring! Nominations close on March 13 so you´ll have two more days to vote. Getting nominated would mean a lot to my work.

Thank you and have a lovely and light-hearted rest of the week!

V

FLOURLESS CHICKPEA BLONDIES

Dairy-free Chocolate Ice Cream Pops

Sunny summer greetings from the grey and rainy Finland! You dear blogger is totally in shining summer vibes here even though the weather gives us no reason to actually celebrate just yet.

The cause of my mental summer trip is that I´m preparing here one super nice surprise for you guys for the upcoming spring and summer. So inspired by that I have taken kind of a head start here, wearing floral pants, eating ice-cream and all that.

And speaking of ice-cream. I found this old recipe which is actually one of my most loved vegan ice-cream recipes that is maybe familiar to some of my Finnish readers who followed my old blog. Because it is truly a crime to hold this delicious recipe for myself I decided to put it online again and translate it of course also to english.

So here they are, my super delicious vegan ice-cream pops that are easily made with only just 3 ingredients. And when you add just a few bonus seasonings you´ll get yourself a really luxurious treat. I recommend to try them in both ways!

V

DAIRY-FREE CHOCOLATE ICE CREAM POPS

Clean Bounty Bars

I´m all about secret ingredients. Like in cooking adding stuff that would suddenly feel weird and totally wrong for example in sweet treats. In my KIITOS HYVÄÄ healthy treats cook book (in Finnish) there is for example a recipe for Mint Pistachio Brownie that includes black beans, a Sweet Chocolate frosting that is made from avocado and a Caramel Mud Pie of which magic lies in sweet potato. Unexpected and therefore interesting. And extra interesting – and quite essential – it is also that the one who eats the dish would never ever guess.

And this is how we get to today´s topic. Which is a chocolate bar recipe that is also found in my cook book. These rich and creamy coconut bars, also called as Clean Bounty Bars are simply de-licious.

But. If I would tell you that one of the main ingredients in these delicious looking coconut chocolate bars is in fact potato would that spoil your appetite? I hope not, because that is truly the case.

Mashed potato is one of the key ingredients in these babies and I don´t know what it actually does to them but it makes them taste goood. And makes the texture and mouthfeel oh so goood.

And the most surprising thing while making these bars happen when you mix the mashed potato with honey – it turns into liquid! Crazy magic potato!

I promise that after these chocolate bars you´ll never look the good ol´ potato at the same way.

And hey, check out how the magic really happens and watch this Clean Bounty Bars VANELJA video!

V

CLEAN BOUNTY BARS

Lovers Chocolates

I had made something super sweet and cool to pamper you in this Valentine´s Day but some higher forces threw so many small obstacles on my way when I tried to release the post that I realised it is just better to lift my hands, leave it and post it some other day. When the stars align, wind blows from the right direction and the time is ready.

“If you gotta force it, just leave it alone. Relationships, friendships, ponytails. Just leave it.”

Said someone somewhere in some Pinterest picture.

I think it is a good thought especially now at Valentines. When you are at ease love comes and what is meant to happen happens. No need to stress, fuss and hustle. All is good.

Here are my 3 favorite clean chocolate treats for you to prove it. They´re all pure good. Make them to your loved one or show yourself some self loving and care.

Sweet Valentine´s Day, my friend.

V

Creamy Cardamom Rasberry Cake

I love theme foods and traditional treats that are consumed only in one specific feast and only once a year. And I also love love love spring and every small promise and hint that says that spring is actually and finally coming and bringing the light back. So those two loves combined it is no wonder why I am so inspired and excited of the upcoming Shrove Tuesday (which is for me the first solid promise of spring) and it´s treats.

In many countries Shrove Tuesday is know as the Pancake day, that naturally means that the day is celebrated by consuming pancakes. In Finland we have that pancake thing also, but even more common treat is the “Shrove Bun” which is this sweet baked roll that is halved and filled with raspberry jam or almond paste and whipped cream. People go always nuts about them! And argue every single year which is the BEST and the REAL filling for Shrove Buns – raspberry or almond paste. (I must say I love them both but in the end I would lean towards raspberry jam.)

As delicious as the Shrove Buns are there is one problematic thing about them. They include wheat, yeast, white sugar and dairy which makes many peoples belly bloat. Especially because for many people one bun is just not enough.

That is why I have created these alternative treats that you can consume generously and still feel fresh and great afterwards! Last year I created this gluten-free, yeast-free and dairy-free Shrove Buns (sorry the recipe is only in Finnish here) and this year I made this Shrove Smoothie as in Creamy Cashew Cardamom Raspberry Smoothie AND also Raw Shrove cake as in Raw Creamy Rasperry Cake which are both inspired by the traditional tastes of the Shrove Bun.

So this year no-one needs to feel like a gas balloon or decline from treats anymore. How wonderful is that! And how wonderful is also that the sun has been actually shining here for two days already (which feels like a miracle after this exceptionally dark and gray winter)!

So hurray for the sunshine and Shrove Tuesday and enormous amounts of treats! Spring is coming and love is in the air, and in the smoothies and cakes and buns!

V

RAW CREAMY RASPBERRY CAKE

Raw Chocolate Coconut Cream Cake

This cake was born to be a legend. I first released the recipe over two years ago in my old blog and it immediately gained a great success. I haven´t got that much comments and feedback from any of my other recipe. Both raw cake and traditional cake lovers seemed to love it. And no wonder. It combines creamy vanilla frosting, deep chocolate flavors and banana. You just can´t go wrong with those simple and always stylish ingredients.

The recipe found its way also into my healthy treats cook book and now I think it´s time to release it again online – in the name of democracy. Classics belong to everyone.

So help yourself and stick your spoon into what I would modestly call one of world´s best raw cakes.

V

RAW CHOCOLATE COCONUT CREAM CAKE

Caramel Mocha Muffins

I´m a true believer of pleasures. Good amount of lazy enjoyments keep your brain working and new ideas flowing.

I have had quite a hectic time in the beginning of this year and one thing that keeps my mind clear from all the work fuss are my midday hot showers. No matter how worried, stuck or stressed I feel when I step into the shower I always leave with calm feeling and fresh new ideas and realizations. Sitting under a hot running water for about 15 minutes in the middle of my home office day is my everyday pleasure and meditation technique numero uno.

Look for example these caramel filled mocha muffins with vanilla coconut whipped cream frosting. These babes were born while one of my midday showers. Well, the idea was born there. And while they might not be any world changing innovation I think they are still truly remarkable. So luscious and tasty and soft and lovely! And I have heard amazing feedback from many people about these muffins. Someone called them life savers. So maybe there might be some world changing potential in them after all.

So I say relax your brains and go ahead and seek for pleasures and enjoy! Lazy time can be very productive. You can start with these muffins.

V

CARAMEL FILLED MOCHA MUFFINS

Chocolate pudding cake

I must say – and it might come as a surprise when thinking of my profession as a food editor, recipe artist and a cook book author – but I´m a quite terrible cook.

And that is when it comes to normal, real food, meaning warm dishes, meals and dinners. In that area of cooking my imagination just stops and mind goes blank. I have maybe two kinds of dishes that I can handle well: the other one is oven roasted or steamed vegetables and the other one is veggie soups. Oh yeah, there´s also a third one I like to serve and that´s called “Let´s go out to eat.” That´s something that is served in our family many times a week. And I´m not proud of it. It´s just that I might miss a chromosome that makes mothers eager to cook meals for their family. My man misses that too. His cooking chromosome, I mean. Well, maybe mine too.

Okay, I think I would have the basic skills one needs in preparing good meals, but it is the passion and interest that I lack. Even though the inspiration would be found everywhere. Cook books and internet are bursting delicious recipes, but for some reason mostly the sweet stuff catches my eye. Or snacks. Or breakfast things. That part of cooking makes my eyes sparkle and mouth water.

This being said it might not be a surprise that I´ll once again serve you guys something from that field. It is a great invention of mine called a Breakfast Cake. It unites granola and chocolate pudding. It is truly a brilliant thing. It´s really soft and fudgy and can barely hold a shape of a cake. But it can, and that is why it´s called cake, not just a pile of pudding and granola. It is not too sweet because in the morning too much sweetness for me is like loud noise to tastepuds. You will want to wake up your senses gently.

The other great thing besides the subtle and delicious taste and a great concept is that for a change this recipe is totally nut-free. I´ve received so many pretty requests for nut-free recipes from people with allergies that I thought now is the time.

I have also received many pretty requests for recipes for healthy meals but as you now know, I´m not quite there yet. Still developing. Maybe someday in the future I will start creating these great entrees for you readers and for my family. (to be honest, hopefully I will be able to hire someone to do that in my home and on this site…)

So for now I´ll continue with these sweeties and snacks! With them – I rock.

Try this and you´ll rock too.

V

CHOCOLATE PUDDING CAKE

Silver toffee

Since my childhood I have always been a sucker for candy. I must say that it is the biggest temptation for me. Even now, when I have been eating quite clean for over 6 years, it is still sometimes hard for me to pass those colorful candy shelves. All those sweets, chocolates, flavors and smells just make my head blur. Usually I can manage myself, but if you give me a bowl of candies – I will sure empty it. And not leave one tiny piece behind.

Well, we all have our addictions.

And I´m not alone with this one. Candy business is huge and especially here in Finland and also in Sweden even adults eat candies like there´s no tomorrow! It is crazy. That is why it is my passion to create better alternatives for all those common candies filled with refined sugars, colourants and artificial flavors. One of my dream is to join forces with some candy factory and to start creating healthy sweets for people. So holler if you happen to be in candy biz! I´m your girl.

And then to the real topic of this post. It is the licorice toffee that I´ve created. I got the inspiration for it from this really popular retro toffee bar that we have here in Finland called “Hopeatoffee” as in Silver toffee. I don´t know where the name comes from, because it ain´t silver. It´s black. That is because it´s made from licorice. It´s soft tasty licorice toffee and I can understand why it has been on market for over 30 years now. It is good.

But of course not as good as my new version! This updated silver toffee has only three ground ingredients: organic rice syrup (or honey), almond butter and dairy-free milk. Then you flavor it with licorice, anise, vanilla and salt, cook it for 5 – 20 minutes, depending on how sticky you want your toffee to be, pour it on molds or on board, let it cool and you´re good to go!

You´ll love it.

Have fun time cooking and munching! And stay tuned, because there´s more clean candies to come!

V

LICORICE TOFFEE

Naked champagne orange cake

For the last night of the year I wanted to prepare a cake that makes you feel both grateful and hopeful at the same time. For those are the two essential emotions one should feel when one year ends and another one begins.

To achieve that goal I chose champagne and orange to be the star actors of this party delicacy. The layers of my rustic naked cake are filled with orange chia jam and orange coconut whipped cream. The final result truly tastes like the New Year´s eve – glamorous and joyful!

And even though the alcohol evaporates when you bake the cake in the oven, this cake totally get´s one into party mood. Even kids!

My soon-to-be-3-year-old daughter tasted it, ran to hug me and said that the cake tastes so good that it makes her stomach dance!

Dancing and hugging, that´s what the best parties are made of. And champagne, of course.

Magnificent New Year to all of you!

V

NAKED CHAMPAGNE CAKE

Mince Pie Cookies with a Plum Jam Heart

Higher forces are talking through me. I mean something bigger than me made me do stuff – to bake christmas cookies, to be exact. (I´m happy the forces communicating through me are seemingly good-natured, maybe a kind spirit of pastries or something.)

Many days I was haunted by this idea of gluten-free version of a traditional finnish christmas mince pie with a plum heart. And many days I tried to avoid this given mission. Just wasn´t in the mood. Then yesterday I finally gave in and stuck my hands to the dough. And created this easy modern version of the mince pie.

Actually they are more like cookies, even though the texture reminds a little bit of a puff pastry. The taste is delicious. The chia plum jam with a hint on licorice gives them a perfect juicy heart. Our 2-year-old went totally bonkers with these and had a great temper tantrum when after her fifth cookie I didn´t give her more. I think that means I kind of nailed my mission.

And if you were wondering (beacuse of my “talking higher forces” or “given missons”), I´m really okay. I can insure you. Not overstressed about my book and hearing voices, really. I´m actually very realxed and happy. Especially now when I got this new christmas recipe out of my system and the outcome was fantastic.

So keep ´em coming, you all mighty spirit of pastries!

V

MINCE PIE COOKIES WITH A PLUM JAM HEART

My magical Ginger bread cookies

To me there is nothing more that screams christmas – or rather that sings christmas, with the jingle bells backround – than ginger bread cookies. One bite or one sniff and you travel straight to the winter wonderland and to christmas mood.

In fact, as much I love a good ginger bread cookie I don´t want to eat them any other time than just before christmas. So that the magic won´t fade.

Now when it´s only 9 days to christmas I can finally swing into high gear and start baking my magical crispy cookies with warm flavors. Wishing they would make the winter wonderland reality, meaning that the snow would finally come.

So here´s my gluten-free and grain-free ginger bread cookie recipe that I have created for you. Added also some nut butter in just to make the spell more intense. Join the magic and enojy!

V

GINGER BREAD COOKIES

The best ingredients in life

What a relief. What happiness and love and bliss! My cook book baby has finally born. When I first got the book in my arms a week ago I bursted into tears – and in laughter at the same time!

It is surprisingly strong experience to see the whole journey you´ve made, all the work, joices, experiences that happened while making the book, all condensated to one piece.

Yes, the most pure and strong happiness you get is through you´re own passion and from the result of your hard work. And when you get to share it with good people. Like I did last week in my book launch party at my home.

That could have been one of my most memorable nights ever!

Only a small bunch of people were invited so that the atmosphere stayed intimate. There were lots of cakes, candies, candles, laughter – and flowers! So much flowers. As lovely Hennamari Asunta teached us about flower binding & flower arrangements. The night truly contained the best ingredients in life. I didn´t concentrate that much on taking photos, but you can catch a glimpse in Eeva´s blog to see some pictures of that evening. (the text is in Finnish).

I so much wish that I can get my book out also in english some day for all you non-finnish-speakers out there! I bet the world needs my book of healthy treats outside of Finland too!

In the meantime you can follow this site for more recipes – or learn some finnish and order my book from HERE! I won´t promise it will be easy – but I promise it will be worth it.

V

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Vanilla stars

I am sooo excited here right now. Butterfly disco in my stomach and a permanent crazy persons grin on my face. One reason is that it is the first day of December and I can finally and totally release all my christmas moves! Baking, decorating, dancing… Last night we already brought the christmas tree inside and I can see how it´s just praying for me to dance around it along with some good old Frank Sinatra tunes while munching ginger bread.

But, there is yet another and this time bigger reason for my hype and that is that my first cook book (!!!) Kiitos hyvää is gonna be released in Finland in this very week!

*more awkward dance moves here*

The book is about sweet treats with no white sugar or gluten. (or dairy or yeast or any shady stuff). The book is about pure pleasures – like this site. It´s available only in Finnish at this moment but let´s hope that we´ll get an english version of it later for all of you fellow pleasure seekers around the world!

Here´s a small sample of the sweet treasures of my book: Vanilla coconut stars with chocolate almond butter heart.

When you taste them you really feel like they´ve dropped on your tongue straight from the heaven.

V

VANILLA COCONUT DROPS WITH A CHOCOLATE HEART

Vanilla coconut pudding

Nothing suits better for hazy early winter mornings than this vanilla coconut pudding with a hint of warm spices. It kisses you so softly that you can then handle anything the day brings.

V

VANILLA COCONUT PUDDING

Cranberry Cinnamon Cookies

I have started it. I have let Christmas in. Some might say it's way too early for this annual guest to arrive. Yet in my point of view, Christmas has so many lovely qualities, especially flavors and things to eat, that if you want to enjoy it to the maximum, you really need to start early.

As I did when I baked these lovely Cranberry Cinnamon cookies.

In some weird way these cookies remind me of cinnamon rolls, but these are definitely more cookie-like than buns, while still quite soft in the center. And crisp at the same time. With some soft and juicy cranberry and raisin hits. And almond flakes. Aaand that cinnamon and cardamom flavor. These cookies are simply a must pre-Christmas treat!

V

CRANBERRY CINNAMON COOKIES

Paleo toast for Papa

This sunday is Father´s Day here in Finland. And because our papa – as in my man – does not appreciate too much cakes or other pastry I designed some savory treat for him: Paleo toast with ricotta cheese, pear slices, cinnamon, pecan nuts and honey on top. To be served him in bed, of course.

These darlings were so good. You really need to make them, now. Or at least for tomorrow breakfast. If you happen to value a good and luxurious toast. And who wouldn´t?
Toast makes you happy, especially with abundant toppings like these. There´s something addictive with combination of soft and crispy, warm and cold, sweet and savory. Attraction of the opposites. Attraction of a good toast.

V

PALEO TOAST

Perk up your porridge relationship

I love a meal of good honest oatmeal porridge. So warm and comforting in the cold mornings. So safe and secure. And yet easily – oh so boring. Especially when eaten at almost every breakfast in the cold season, as the tradition goes in many households here in Finland. Oatmeal porridge with butter. Oatmeal porridge with berries. Oatmeal porridge with milk. Oh my dear porridge, I love you, but we really need to spice things up if we want to save our relationship!

And so came the spices. Last week I got to taste this really interesting variation of oatmeal porridge in a PR event. Oatmeal was cooked with coconut milk and served with licorice sauce. The combination was so darn delicious! I had to try it at home and make my own version of it.

I cooked the oatmeal in a mixture of oat milk and coconut milk with some vanilla, and also added a ripe banana in slices. I topped the whole thing with licorice chia jam.
Oatmeal and licorice are both inherently Finnish flavours and they match beautifully with coconut and banana. There's north and south combined. There's something familiar and something surprising. Not dull anymore! This one truly perked up my porridge relationship and made the love stronger.

V
COCONUT OAT PORRIDGE WITH LICORICE CHIA JAM

Peanut butter popcorn cake

The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it.

That was said by Oscar Wilde. And that argument I have been trying to proof today by making this ridiculous and fabulous chocolate covered peanut butter popcorn cake. Because there has been some frequent thoughts of chocolate, peanut butter and popcorn on my mind. Together. Combined.

And because it is Halloween.

So now, I can inform you all that Oscar Wilde was wrong. I did not get rid of the temptation. Actually it got worse. This morning I have had to yield to the temptation in every 15 minutes and go time and again back to the fridge and chip off “just one more piece” of this cake. But I don´t mind. I love it.

And warmly recommend it. To every pleasure seeker and peanut butter & popcorn & chocolate lover. This is a perfect movie night snack or halloween treat. If you don´t mind your hands getting all cluttered with chocolate and your temptations getting bigger by every bite.

V

PEANUT BUTTER POPCORN CAKE

Popcorncake:

  • 5 cups non-salted popcorn
  • 0,5 cup melted butter
  • 0,5 cup thick peanut butter
  • 2 tbls organic raw honey or coconut palm syrup + toffee stevia drops
  • 0,25 cup crushed peanuts
  • 0,25 cup crushed raw chocolate or cacao nibs

Chocolate frosting:

  • 4 tbls peanutbutter
  • 3 tbls coconut oil or butter
  • 3 tbls raw cacao powder
  • 4 tbls organic raw honey or coconut palm syrup
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract

On top:

  • crushed peanuts
  • crushed raw chocolate or cocoa nibs

Butter a bundt pan. Prepare the popcorn. Remove all unpopped grains from the crowd and put the popcorn in a bowl. Melt butter, peanut butter and honey in a warm water bath. Pour the mixture into a bowl with popcorns. Add in the nuts and chocolate chips and mix. Press the mixture firmly into the cake pan. Put the pan into the freezer for a couple of hours. Take the pan from the freezer and turn the cake out onto a plate and put in the fridge and prepare the frosting.

Melt peanut butter, coconut oil / butter and honey in a warm water bath. Add cocoa powder and vanilla. Check the taste and add more spice or sweetness if needed

Frost the cake and top with chopped nuts or grated raw chocolate. Put the cake into the freezer for about 15 – 30 minutes. Serve, chip off pieces with your hand or with a help of a knife and enjoy! Store in the fridge.

Note: This cake has to be served cold, otherwise it will lose it´s shape. You won´t get perfect cake slices but more like delicious blocks and chuncks!

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The crunch gang

My man and daughter both love crisp bread, hard rye bread to be exact, and they both have a very devoted way to munch and crunch their bread at the mealtime. I feel always a little bit bystander with them because my stomach don´t like rye bread that much and gluten-free crisp breads that you can buy from the supermarket have been kinda disappointing to me. So I´m usually out of the crisp bread gang.

Now my situation looks brighter though! Risenta contacted me and asked if I would want to try out their new gluten-free seed crisp bread mixture and when I looked at the ingredient list I answered YES straightaway.

The mixture includes only nice quality seeds: Sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds, flax seed, psyllium seeds and chia-seeds. And no weird additives. You just need to add some oil and water and bake the dough in the oven for a while, and before you know you have nice and tasty and gluten-free crispy bread in front of you!

You can of course use the same technique by mixing different kind of seeds, if you have tendency to collect seed assortments in your closets, like I do. But if not, this package is a easy way to make some crackers when you get an urge to crunch.

I also made some salty chips and crackers from the mixture and they came also out really nice.

My family liked them also. Mainly maybe because now we could all enjoy some nice crispy bread family time together, with no moms left outside.

V

Risenta Seed Crackers

  • 350 g of Risenta Seed Cracker Mix
  • 4 dl of boiled water
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil

Preheat the oven to 175 celcius degrees. Mix the contents of the bag with 4 cup of boiled hot water in a bowl. Stir in 3 tablespoons of olive oil. Let the mixture rest for about 10 minutes.

Pour the mixture onto two baking tarys coveres with baking sheets. Put another baking paper on top of the mixture. Press mixture with your hands until smooth flat plate. Remove the baking paper on top. Sprinkle on some salt and / or dried herbs.

Bake in the oven for about 55 minutes, until bread is dry and gets a beautiful brown color. Take out of the oven and cut to pieces. Store in a resealable jar or box.

*IN CO-OPERATION VANELJA & RISENTA*

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Sunday in bed

What happens when two ultimate breakfast lovers and foodies meet? Answer is: Sunday in Bed breakfast menu. Which means foods that make you stay with your breakfast long, keep your pajamas on the whole day, crumble on sheets, leave food and dishes here and there so that you can return eating after a small nap.

We created the menu together with super lovely Tuulia from Uusia Tuulia blog (that you can read also in english now!) We two share the same food visions, we love good and delicious food, clean flavors, fresh ingredients, and most of all, good breakfasts.

Sunday in Bed breakfast menu includes:

  • Almond yogurt

  • Berry almond granola

  • Lemon pancake

  • Orange blossom jam

  • Hemp bread rolls

  • Kiwi Spinach Apple juice

I could go on and on about how amazing all these dishes are eaten together or alone, but instead I just recommend you, very warmly, to write down all these ingredients and get them for your slow weekend mornings.

The recipes for almond yogurt, jam and bread rolls you can find here below and the recipes for granola, pancake and juice you can get from Tuulia´s blog.( Just switch the language to english from the upper bar on her page!)

Have lazy and lovely weekend!

V

ALMOND YOGURT

(dairy-free)

  • 2 cups raw almonds (soaked overnight)
  • 4 cups water
  • 2 tbl honey
  • 1 probiotic capsule or 1 package vegan yogurt starter 3 tbls natural yogurt/ unflavored vegan yogurt with active bacterial culture
  • 1 – 3 ts agar agar (if you want your yogurt to be thicker)

blend soaked and strained almonds, water, and sweetener and blend until smooth. Strain the mixture with cheese cloth on top of a bowl, so that you get a nice white almond milk. You can use the left over almond pulp for example with crackers or bread rolls.
Pour the almond milk into a pot and warm it so that it almost boils. If you want your yogurt to be thicker, add agar agar and boil carefully for about 5 – 7 minutes and add probiotic powder after that. Allow the mixture to cool. Stir in the brobiotic powder / yogurt. Pour yogurt into a sealable clean glass jar. Allow the mixture to incubate for about 6 – 12 hours. Store the yogurt in an air-tight container/jar in the refridgerator.
Try different lengths of time yogurt cultures and amount of culture you use so that you find the best way to make the perfect yogurt for your taste!

HEMP BREAD ROLLS

  • 1 tablespoon of chia-seed + 0,5 cup water
  • 1,5 cup almond flour (you can substitute part of this with the almond pulp left over from making the almond yogurt)
  • 0,5 cup oatmeal
  • 0,25 cup potato flour
  • 0,5 cup hemp seeds
  • 0,25 cup of linen seeds
  • 1,5 tsp psyllium fiber husk
  • 1,5 tsp baking powder

  • 1,5 cups of water (or some dairy-free milk)

  • 0,25 cup melt butter (or coconut oil)
  • 2 tablespoons hemp oil
  • 1 tsp local honey
  • 0,5 teaspoon of apple cider vinegar
  • pinch of sea salt

Preheat the oven to 200 celcius degrees. Mix chia seeds and oat milk in a small bowl and let it sit for about 15 minutes until you get a gel-like mixture. Mix the dry ingredients together in a bowl. Add water, melted butter/oil, chia gel, honey, apple vinegar and salt. Allow the dough to swell for a couple of minutes. The dough should be soft, plump, like a yeast dough – not dry. If necessary, add some flour or liquid.

Take pieces of dough and roll them into balls and put them on a baking tray covered with a baking sheet. Sprinkle some poppy seeds on top. Bake the buns for about 30 minutes in center of the oven until they are nice and golden. Take out of the oven, let them cool a bit, serve and enjoy!

ORANGE BLOSSOM CHIA-JAM

  • 3 oranges
  • 3 tablespoons local raw honey
  • 1 teaspoon orange flower water
  • 3 tablespoons chia-seeds

Puree the oranges in the blender until the mixture is smooth. Add the honey and orange blossom water and stir. Taste and add sweetness, if you will. Pour the mixture into a clean, sealable glass jar and stir in the chia-seeds. Leave to thicken, stir after 15 minutes and put the jar in the fridge for about 1 to 5 hours. Use with pancakes or other goodies! Store in a refrigerator in closed jar. Use within a week.

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A true charmer

In Finland we have this one delicious small chocolate covered mint truffle bar with a hint of vanilla called Pätkis. Pätkis and I have quite a strong and long lasted love relationship. Actually at one point it was an almost unhealthy addiction, from my part, I have to admit. Being together felt always such a good idea and it tickled all my senses, but afterwards I felt always used and empty.

And I'm really not the only missus this small charmer has. Actually, almost all my female friends have a small or big crush on him. One friend of mine thought that her relationship with Pätkis wasn't doing her any good, so she threw me a challenge and asked if I could make a healthy version of her favourite chocolate lover. I sympathised her pain, so I rolled up my sleeves and got into action.

And I did quite well, I have to say. Of course you can never totally copy the charm of a true Casanova, but for me this does the trick.

Chocolate truffle on the inside, a hint of peppermint and vanilla, and a chocolate coat on top. Everything is raw, unprocessed, no white sugar, no additives, no e-codes or other gimmicks.

This lover is a true lover. No exploiting of women. He leaves a girl smiling and feeling good about herself. And I'm happy to pass the love!

V

RAW MINT TRUFFLE CHOCOLATE BARS

About 8 pieces

Raw Mint Truffle Bars:

  • 0,5 dl cacao butter
  • 0,5 dl raw cacao mass
  • 4 tbls cold-pressed coconut oil
  • 5 tbls raw cacao powder
  • 4 tbls organic honey (or coconut palm syrup)
  • 2 tbls almond butter (or some salt free nut butter)
  • a few drops chocolate flavored stevia (optional)
  • 0,5 tsp vanilla powder
  • 0,5 tsp peppermint extract
  • a mini pinch of sea salt
  • 1 dl of almond meal

Chocolate coating:

  • 1 dl grated raw cacao mass
  • 0,5 dl grated cacao butter
  • 2 tbls cold-pressed coconut oil
  • 4 tbls raw cacao powder
  • 4 tbls organic honey (or coconut palm syrup, or stevia)
  • 0,5 tsp vanilla extract or a few drops of vanilla flavored stevia
  • a mini pinch of sea salt

Mint truffle bars:

Melt the cacao butter, cacao mass and coconut oil in a warm water bath until liquid. Add raw cacao powder, honey, stevia, vanilla and peppermint extract and sea salt. Stir. Check the taste and add more spice if needed. Mesure the almond flour into a blender and add the chocolate mass. Mix until smooth. Scrape the mixture into a bowl and put it into the freezer for about 15 minutes. Prepare the chocolate coating in the meantime.

Chocolate coating:

Melt the cacao butter and coconut oil in a warm water bath until liquid. Add cacao powder, honey, and salt and mix. Check the taste and add sweeteners if needed.

Take the chocolate mass from the freezer and form small chocolate bars. (If the mixture is still too loose put it back in the freezer for a moment.) Glaze the bars with the chocolate coating. If the frosting is too runny, keep it a little while in a cold water bath so that it thickens a little bit. When all the bars have their coating, put them in the freezer for about 30 minutes. Serve and enjoy! Store in a refrigerator. Best when kept in a room temperature for a while before serving!

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Heavenly bread

There was a time when I avoided all bread. It made me feel bloated and annoyed. Then came the time when I realised that the villain was gluten in breads, the reason for my misery. So I switched to gluten-free breads that you can buy from supermarkets. They tasted horrible. AND caused unpleasant feelings in my stomach. What followed was an ecstatic time period with raw foods and raw crackers. I felt awesome, but as time went by, the dry crackers started to stuck into my throat, metaphorically speaking.

From crackers I switched to home made gluten-free nut and seed breads that gave some ease to my bread-hunger. But hey, they don't compare to fluffy, tasty white bread. If anyone says anything other than that, they are fooling themselves and other people.

So what happened then, you might wonder. Well, as it usually goes in these kinds of stories, I had an enlightenment. I found the world of gluten-free and grain-free flours, powders and other natural additives. And after then, gluten-free baking felt like a dance!

My latest dance moves in that field happened last weekend: I baked these amazing heavenly fluffy poppy seed buns with chia seed gel and psyllium husk as the main binders. If you´re looking for a totally vegan recipe, you can switch the butter into coconut oil or some other oil you prefer!

This is an enter to a bread heaven. Especially enjoyed with this strawberry butter.

Btw, After the recipe, check out my best gluten-free baking tips!

POPPY SEED BUNS

(gluten-free, yeast-free)

About 12 rolls

  • 2 tablespoons chia-seeds + 0,5 cup water
  • 2 cups almond flour
  • 0,5 cup buckwheat flour
  • 0,5 cup potato starch
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 2 tbsp psyllium husk
  • 1 cup oat milk (or other dairy-free milk or water)
  • 1/2 ts liquid honey
  • 0,5 cup melted butter or coconut oil, or half and half
  • 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
    • poppy seeds on top

Preheat the oven to 200 celcius degrees. Mix chia seeds and water in a small bowl and let it sit for about 15 minutes until you get a gel-like mixture. Mix almond flour, buckwheat, potato starch, baking powder and psyllium husk in a bowl. Add oat milk, melted butter and/or oil, chia gel, liquid honey and salt. Allow the dough to swell for a about 10 minutes. The dough should be soft, plump, like a yeast dough, not dry. If necessary, add some flour or liquid.

Take pieces of dough and roll them into balls and put them on a baking tray covered with a baking sheet. Sprinkle some poppy seeds on top. Bake the buns for about 25-30 minutes in center of the oven until they are slightly golden. Take out of the oven, serve and enjoy!

Check out our poppy deed bread rolls tutorial video HERE.

STRAWBERRY BUTTER

  • 5-7 fresh strawberries (or 0,5 cups of freeze dried strawberries)
  • 200 g unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 1 tablespoons honey
  • pinch of black pepper & sea salt

Melt the butter until soft. If you use freeze dried strawberries, put them into a blender and puree until powder. Put all the ingredients into a blender and blend until the mixture is smooth. Let the butter thicken a little bit in the fridge.

VEGAN STRAWBERRY FRESH CHEESE

  • 5-7 fresh strawberries (or 1 cup freeze dried strawberries)
  • 0,5 cup cashews (steeped for at least an hour)
  • 270 g plain tofu
  • 1 tablespoon juice of a lemon
  • 1 teaspoon coconut syrup
  • 1 tablespoon almond oil (or other mild vegetable oil)
  • 0,5 tsp bourbon vanilla
  • pinch of black pepper
  • pinch of sea salt
  • 3 tablespoons almond milk (or other dairy-free milk or water)

If you are using the freeze-dried strawberries, chop them first into a powder in a blender. Place all ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth thick paste. Line a small bowl with a plastic wrap and press the mixture tightly into a bowl with a spoon. Cover the bowl and let the cream cheese sit in the fridge overnight. In the morning make a ball or stick from the mass. Serve for example with breakfast buns. Store in the refrigerator in a sealable jar or wrapped with foil or plastic wrap.

GUIDE TO GLUTEN-FREE BAKING

Best flours, powders, tips and tricks to successful gluten-free baking!

FLOURS:

  • -Almond flour/almond meal:

Tasty and rich in fiber, just like many other gluten-free flours does not form starch by itself, so you´ll need to use some booster with it, for example baking powder and psyllium husk. Some almond meals/flours that you can find in stores are rougher and include almond shell. The rougher almond meals are full-fat, which means they do not bind as much moisture as the finer almond meals.

  • -Coconut Flour:

Slightly sweet coconut flour is one of my favorites. Coconut flour swells in liquids, so you need it less than half of so called normal flour.

  • -Nut/Almond flours:

Different kinds of nut flours can be used to provide a variety of taste nuances. They are mainly best used with other flours. You can prepare nut and almond flour yourself by grinding the nuts in an effective blender. Beware, however, not to blend too much so that the flour does not transform into nut butter, which, too, is certainly an excellent ingredient in baking!

  • -Oatmeal:

Gluten-free oat flour is created easily at home by grinding gluten-free oatmeal in a blender. Oatmeal has a great viscosity, but the dough can easily become too slimy. Use alongside with other flours, psyllium husk and xanthan.

  • -Buckwheat flour:

Versatile and easy flour, and works superbly on its own or mixed with other flours. Gives nice rye flavor to baked goods. For very sweet pastries use only with other flours.

Try also these gluten-free flours: Rice flour, corn flour, soy flour and potato flour!

STARCHES

  • -Psyllium seed husk:

The powder made of the ground seeds swells in liquid. It brings about thickness to gluten-free dough and facilitates processing. Perfect for almond or coconut flour, for example! When using psyllium, the amount of flour should be reduced about 10-30%. You should test different marks because the quality and thereby the result may vary a lot.

  • -Xanthan:

A polysaccharide powder derived from a bacteria called Xanthomonas Camestr is in a fermentation process gives thickness and fluffiness. Fits well with cakes and biscuits when mixed with flours.

  • -Tapioca powder/tapioca starch:

The mild-flavored tapioca powder is obtained from cassava root. It gives pastry lusciousness and structure, and can also be used to thicken.

  • -Flax or chia meal:

Flax meal or chia seeds used with liquid combine to a gel that works well as the binding agent in baking. Use flax meal or chia seeds as they are or finely chop the flax seeds, whisk about 1 tablespoon seeds/meal and 3 tablespoons water, and keep the mixture in the refrigerator for 15 minutes. This will give you the so-called flax egg, which can be used to replace the egg in many recipes.

You may also try ripe banana, peanut butter, soy protein and agar agar to give viscosity to your gluten-free dough!

Other tips:

– Golden rising tip: Add to the pattern a little more baking powder and something acidic, such as lemon juice or apple cider vinegar. This way you get beautifully risen pastries.

– Gluten-free doughs can easily glue to your hands. Oiling your hands will make them easier to process.

– Make your very own gluten-free flour mixture by mixing, for example, buckwheat flour, almond flour, psyllium fiber and xanthan.

– Experiment boldly a variety of gluten-free flours to find your favorite and to learn how different flours behave and what kind of recipes each isbest suited for.

V

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Once you go black

There's some licorice mania going on here. All licorice related feels now tempting. All kinds of licorice and chocolate combinations in particular.

A few years ago, I fell in love with the Finnish Panda Duello candies that were these wonderful chocolate-coated licorice pieces. (For which, by the way, my husband directed a cute ad)

I got a little upset when I realized that these candies were no longer being manufactured, which was ultimately a good thing, because I panicked and developed my own substitute – a healthy licorice chocolate. The recipe is included in my upcoming Kiitos hyvää cookbook that will find its way to the Finnish shops in the first week of December.

Only it's terrible to have to hold back so wonderful a secret for such a long time!

So to ease the pain of keeping this secret and to help my licorice mania, I made a licorice smoothie parfait with a hint of chocolate.

I have once made a licorice smoothie for Four Sigma Foods back in the day that charmed many. This smoothie parfait is a lot like the FSF smoothie, except that this one contains a few different ingredients and is built in layers, which makes it more a dessert than a morning smoothie.

Licorice smoothie parfait

Chia pudding:

  • 5 rkl chia seeds
  • 1 cup almond milk (or other dairy-free milk)
  • ½ tl vanilla powder

Licorice smoothie:

  • ¼ cups almonds
  • 2 dried figs
  • 1 banana
  • 2 cups almond milk (or other dairy-free milk)
  • 1 ts vanilla extract
  • 1-4 ts black licorice root extract powder (or grated licorice extract stick)

    • 1 banana

Chia pudding:
Make the chia pudding by adding chia seeds, almond milk and vanilla in a jar, stir after 30 minutes and let then sit 2 hours or overnight in a fridge. The longer you refrigerate the pudding, the thicker it will be.

Licorice smoothie:
Add all ingredients into a blender. Blend until smooth. Add enough liquid to make it smooth but not too watery.

Assembly:
Add about ¼ cups of smoothie in a big glass. Spoon in chia pudding and add then sliced banana. Top with the licorice smoothie. Grate some licorice extract stick on top. Serve and enjoy!

Try, if you dare. You see, this might very easily lead to an addiction for licorice lovers. You know what they say, once you go black, you never go back.

V

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Flowers make a weekend

I just stopped by to wish all you guys a beautiful weekend! Relax, enjoy, eat well and buy flowers. Flowers make a weekend, if you ask me.

And if there´s no flower market near, you can always watch our flower video.

Love!

V

Bomb your stress away

This week has passed among the most essentials. Even though it felt at times like -everything- was left undone. You see, I have spent the week at home taking care of my daughter who was feeling a little bit sick. Very effective pull back to basics. Good move, life.

Now that the girl has gotten better, it is time for this mother to hurry back to work and take care of "everything" left undone. No, wait a minute – first it´s time for this mother to pamper herself, for a chance. Because no good will be done with a tense mind. And at this moment I don’t know a better way to relax than a hot bath. Especially when accompanied by some charmers, such as these homemade bath bombs.

BOOM – a fizzy lavender scented fella in the same tube bombs your stress away in no time.

Lavender bath bomb

  • 150 g baking soda (sodium carbonate)
  • 70 g citric acid powder
  • 25 g corn flour or potato flour
  • 1 tablespoon dried lavender flowers
  • 15 drops lavender essential oil
  • 1 tbls melted coconut oil to
  • lil bit water

Measure baking soda, citric acid and corn flour or potato flour into a bowl and stir. Add dried lavender flowers. Add essential oil and melt coconut oil, and squeeze the dough with your fingers. Add water one teaspoon at a time, and squeeze the dough with your fingers at the same time. Add water until the mixture resembles damp sand, and it retains its shape when you squeeze it in your hand. Press mixture firmly into molds as soon as possible. Allow to dry at room temperature overnight. Remove from molds.

To use, drop one or two bath bombs in a bath with warm running water.

V

Enjoyistic butternut squash and sage pizza

Well this is something else. When you get a slice of tasty gluten free pizza, then you know you´re having a good day. I already have one nice gluten free pizza recipe here, a cauliflower pizza that is. And now here comes another champion! This stuff is gluten free and grain free, so it’s suitable for many kinds of diets. Also to people who follow enjoyism, which I do. The most important guideline in our ideology is to eat only food that we can enjoy, other we steer clear of.

The most interesting thing about this deeply enjoyable pizza is that you don’t add any tomato sauce, but instead you spread generously ricotta cheese on the base. Then you slice some butternut squash and mince some garlic on top. And enjoy it with fresh sage leaves.

-Very exquisite taste, said my husband. -Fucking good!, slipped from my mouth. And even in front of our child. Happily, she didn´t probably hear. By the looks of it, she too was following the rules of enjoyism, swinging slowly, with her eyes closed and savouring deeply her pizza slice.

PALEO BUTTERNUT SQUASH PIZZA

2 pizzas

Pizza base:

  • 2 dl Coconut Flour
  • 2 dl tapioca flour (starch)
  • 1 tablespoon psyllium husk
  • ½ teaspoon sea salt
  • 1 dl olive oil
  • 1 dl heated water
  • 2 organic eggs

Filling:

  • 2 dl ricotta cheese
  • 1 Butternut Squash
  • 1 clove of garlic
  • pinch of flake salt
  • black pepper
  • a handful of fresh sage

Preheat oven to 225 celsius degrees. Combine coconut flour, tapioca flour, psyllium husk and salt in a bowl. Pour in olive oil and warm water and stir. Add the lightly whisked egg. Mix until well combined. Add two to three more tablespoons of coconut flour until the mixture is a soft but somewhat sticky dough. Place the pizza dough ball onto a sheet of parchment paper. Roll out the dough until it is fairly thin. Add flour if needed, but be careful that the dough wont´´ become too dry. Place the rolled out dough into preheated oven and pre-bake for about 12 minutes.

Slice the butternut squash into thin slices, with mandolin or with a sharp knife. Take the pre baked pizza crust from the oven. Spoon on some ricotta cheese and place the butternut squash slices on top. Grind on some black pepper and sprinkle some salt finger. Chop one clove of garlic on the surface (or squeeze it on top of baked pizza with a garlic clamp). Bake in the oven for about 15 more minutes. Take out from the oven, top with some fresh sage leaves, serve and enjoy!

Figs, Pears and The Great Escape

This year fall came suddenly. It came from the bushes, ran briskly beside me when I was on my morning jog precisely today at 8.30 am. Gave me a smile way too fresh and zesty, a smile I wasn’t at all ready for. Gave me goose pumps. Sniffling and my fingers numb, I returned home and started making some warm and comforting crumble pie. And planning my Big Escape.

No, this isn´t the kind of a post where you praise the fresh autumn days, candles and wool socks. Sometime ago, I would have tried my very best to find something good in the cold and dark season that is on it´s way, and on some level I still do it, but at the same time I’ve grown in that kind of honesty where I can admit that the upcoming winter kind of frightens me. Even though I know the season will bring me some exciting work stuff.

Honesty feels good. You don´t have to like winter. It’s ok not to be a winter person, even if you live in Finland. So, that being said, I have ordered from the universe´s mail order a second home for me and my family somewhere warm and sunny. Maybe in the West Coast of US? Maybe. We’ll wait and see for my order to be processed.

Back to that crumble pie. Its soul is made of figs and pears. I’d say it’s perfect food for this season. Warm, honest, kinda heavy, juicy, plump and sweet, still somehow easygoing. I ate the whole pie for my breakfast-lunch. Wearing wool socks. I lighted a candle, too. It was all kinda sweet, I have to admit. But the thing that warmed me the most was the thought of my big escape.

FIG PEAR CRUMBLE

Fruit Filling:

  • 4 large fresh figs
  • 1 large ripe pear
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 tablespoon water
  • sweeten with vanilla stevia (or 2 tablespoons of domestic honey)
  • Cumble

  • 1 dl almond meal
  • 1 dl rolled oats
  • 0,5 dl almond flakes (or for example pumpkin seeds)
  • a pinch of sea salt
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 5 tablespoons soft butter or coconut oil
  • sweeten with vanilla stevia (or 2 tablespoons of domestic honey)
  • Preheat the oven to 175 degrees. Wash and slice the figs and pears. Put the pieces in a saucepan, add water, vanilla extract and stevia. Bring to a boil and simmer on low heat for about ten minutes. In the meantime, make the crumble.

    Apply almond flour, rolled oats and almond flakes in a bowl. Add the salt and cinnamon and mix. Pour in the melt butter and add stevia. The mixture will be chunky and crumbly.

    Pour the fruit filling into a buttered baking dish. Add then the crumble topping. Bake in center of the oven for about 20 minutes, or until the surface has a slight tint. Take out of the oven, serve and enjoy! Try for example with greek yogurt!

    Chocolate bread in bed

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    So it’s Friday. Time to pamper you.

    I have created an awesome duet for your weekend´s easy mornings: chocolate bread with whipped vanilla butter. I know, sounds almost ridiculously good. And to tell you the truth, when I took the first bite, I actually had to laugh out loud. It was luscious. Rich and moist. Mind-blowing.

    The chocolate bread built on almond flour and banana is by itself an experience. But with vanilla butter – whipped vanilla butter – it becomes luxurious.

    So try it and enjoy it slowly, at breakfast, in your pyjamas, maybe in your bed. Take all the time in the world. Have no hurry. In the end, we are eternal beings in a ready-made world. At least after this chocolate bread and vanilla butter it seems ready.

    CHOCOLATE BREAD

    (gluten-free, milk-free, paleo)

  • 3 dl almond flour
  • 1 dl raw cocoa powder
  • 0.5 dl chopped walnuts
  • 1 tablespoon psyllium husk
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • a pinch of sea salt
  • 4 organic eggs
  • 2 ripe bananas
  • 2 dl oat milk (or, for example coconut or almond milk)
  • 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
  • 3 tablespoons melt coconut oil
  • 2 tbsp local honey
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • The dish size: about 12 x 20 cm

    Preheat the oven to 200 celcius degrees. Lightly oil the loaf and cover with baking paper. See the instructions here.

    Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl. Separate the eggs – egg whites in another bowl and the yolks in another bowl. Whisk the egg whites until peak arises. In the other bowl mix the egg yolks, mashed banana, oust milk, apple vinegar, coconut oil, honey and vanilla extract. Combine all ingredients together in a bowl. Mix. Pour the mixture into the prepared bread pan. Bake for about 30 minutes. Take the loaf from the oven, turn the oven temperature into 175 degrees, remove bread from loaf pan, place it on the oven rack and bake for another 15 minutes. To try if the bread is done use a toothpick. Insert about half of the toothpick into the bread. If the toothpick comes out with dough on it then you´ll need to bake the bread for 5 more minutes. Repeat this step until the toothpick comes out clean. Take the bread out of the oven and let it cool a while. Serve and enjoy.

    WHIPPED VANILLA BUTTER

  • 100 g soft butter
  • 0.5 dl almond milk (or other milk drink)
  • 1 tablespoons local honey
  • vanilla seeds or 0.5 tsp vanilla powder
  • Apply the softened butter, almond milk, honey and vanilla in a bowl and beat until creamy, fluffy and white. Store in a refrigerator. Excellent spread for example with the chocolate bread!

    V

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    3 Ingredient Cinnamon Cookies

    Today there are cookies on the menu! Watch our cookie video and try this super simple, cute and tasty recipe. You can also try oatmeal flakes or buckwheat flakes instead of coconut.

    3 Ingredient Cinnamon Cookies

    Approximately 6 – 8 pieces

  • 1 big and ripe banana
  • 1 cup shredded coconut
  • ½ tsp cinnamon
  • Preheat the oven to 175 degrees. Mash the banana and ddd the coconut and cinnamon. Mix. Taste and add seasoning or sweetness if desired. Shape the cookies into balls on a baking sheet and press them to about half a centimeter thick cookies. Bake for about 15 minutes, until the biscuits get a delicate golden brown color. Allow to cool and enjoy.

    V

    Cool down hottie

    I´m the type of person who tends to heat up easily. When there are not enough hours in the day for all the ideas, projects and inspiration, my mind and body go into overdrive. Usually I can find the balance quite easily by calming down and eating more alkaline food, drinking green juices and so on, but once in a while the cooling down task proves to be more difficult.

    Lately I have been working with two very dear and big projects, this website and my upcoming cookbook that will be released in Finland in December. These projects combined with other work stuff and a quite speedy life with a 2-year-old have made my body collect some extra heat.

    So now, with all you lovely readers as my witnesses, I promise to take action and make cooling off and quieting down my main missions. This means more daily meditation and being conscious, being present.
    I believe that in a peaceful state of mind you can be just as effective as when your mind is in overdrive.

    What is needed is just a little bit of learning and more concentrating when it comes to my type of hotties. And hey, lovely cooling treats like this pretty sorbet made from frozen grapes! You can find the recipe in HERE.

    Some meditation and some sorbet will help you to cool down and take the edge off an agitated state, for sure.

    Welcome

    Wow. This is it. Vanelja is finally here. A webpage that combines all my favorite things in the world – genuine food, fresh beauty, flowers, drinks, cakes, children and movement.

    Photos, recipes and other writings in Vanelja are mainly done by me, Virpi Mikkonen. Videos and othe media content is made and produced by Vanelja Media. Maybe someday the Vanelja team will grow but for now this is mainly my playground and an webpage build on my value an taste.

    The story of Vanelja started already in September 2013, when I quit my wellness orientated Kiitos hyvää blog. It was right after then when I started to yearn for something more, dreaming of some bigger online project. Something that was not so much concerned about wellness, but more about pleasure. Then a word Vanelja popped in my head, and I knew that it had to be the name on my new webpage.

    And a year later, after planning, visualizing, some resting, long needed quiet time, after many laughters, some tears and lot of help from my dear friends came Vanelja alive. A page for pure pleasures.

    Nothing in Vanelja is permanent, no goals has been set. That makes it possible to grow to whatever direction life takes it to. It is exciting to see what kind of flowers will Vanelja bloom in when the fertilizers are freedom, passion and pleasure!

    Words can´t describe how happy and relieved I now feel. And how grateful I am to all the people who helped this came true. Thank You All. Especially Lotta Nieminen, Leena Oravainio, two graphic designers and visual geniuses behind Vanelja´s layout and Antti Takalahti, a computer mastermind who encode this page from scratch. I´m also oh-so grateful to my husband, my daughter, my friends, parents, all who helped and encouraged me with this project.

    Now I just welcome you all warmly and let you take a tour in Vanelja. I would love you also to leave a comment and let me here your thoughts.

    Welcome to create and experience Vanelja!

    V