Carrot + peach breakfast loaf {vegan + gluten-free}

July 3, 2016 by Margaux 11 Comments

This all started because I wanted to make a legit 3-ingredient cake or something, except it didn’t quite work out that way, so now I’m left with 7 ingredients, excluding spices, which obviously don’t count :p Something super easy and winsome to whip up when you know you’re going to have one of those awful weeks where you grab-and-go, or for if you have a social event that doesn’t require something too spectacular on looks but delicious in taste.

I’ve made this a few times now, and I don’t at all want to toy with the recipe other than perhaps seeing if I can make rusks out of them, because I cannot imagine anything more magical at this point in time. I’ll have to play around with quantities, a bit but I am actually at the point again, after a very long while, where I actually enjoy baking again. This has been a pretty murky year, especially since my family moved to Morocco last year this time, so it’s just amazing to find pleasure in more creative tasks again. One can always bog through daily chores to a certain degree, but in some moods or states there’s nothing less than a shockingly stellar day that can entice me to actually do more than just steam or blend my food and use the kitchen for practical purposes. Point being, this loaf was fun to make and fun to eat. Happiness!

CARROT + PEACH BREAKFAST LOAF

Makes 10 – 12 slices

• 1 can of peaches, rinsed of juice or syrup
• 2 cups oat flour
• 1/2 cup sugar of choice (I used coconut sugar)
• 2 medium carrots
• 2 TBSP flaxseed powder
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tsp ginger spice
• 1 tsp baking powder
• Optional: 2 tsp cardamom
• big pinch salt
• 2 tsp vanilla extract

How-to:

1. Preheat your oven to 180C and line and spray a loaf pan.
2. In a food processor, blend your carrots until they are roughly grated-looking. Add your peaches, sugar, vanilla and spices and blend until you get a mildly chunky consistency. You still want some carrot to shine through.
3. Add the rest of your ingredients and pulse until combined.
4. Bake for 40 minutes. Let it cool then lift the loaf out by the baking paper and let it cool off the paper on a cooling rack.
5. Slice and serve. Store in the fridge.

I used to be quite organized last year with a foodie publishing calendar to nerd out over, but for a long while that fell to the wayside. I’m now going to have a beast of a time today sitting back with lovely machine coffee and get back into scheduling a whole list of delicious treats I’ve been jotting down on scraps of paper for the last while. Although I’ve undoubtedly only just uncovered the tip of the iceberg with regard to my new work, I still foresee myself being able to have a bit of a life and also create order out of the chaos, which includes regular walks and possible gym visits again, to let my body know that my mind is now back where it should be. 🙂My family was visiting recently and it was wonderful to see them again, and I think the subconscious angst about them existing in some sort of parallel universe, far removed from my reality, was bumming me out. Now that we’ve been to visit them in Morocco and my little sister (younger sister, as she would sass me) has even had a sleepover here, it seems like a new state of normal has set in. I can’t be thankful enough for the fact that I’ve had the privilege of settling down in one town with my Man-thing (where I plan to spend eternity), because I now despise travel and get my kicks in other ways, like discovering new ingredients or having small adventures.
Yesterday I challenged myself a bit by going with a pal to the next city over to attend an editing workshop and then to my very first vegan restaurant in South Africa! Admittedly the city is only an hour or so away from ours, but to someone like me that’s usually cause for lots of stress. I actually had a lot of fun and could not stop grinning when I saw this big “vegan” sign outside the restaurant, because South Africans love their meat. I didn’t have to ask a single question about substitutions or whether they were sure that everything was A-OK, and best of all I didn’t have to eat a cheese-less pizza! I had an amazing bean and rice burrito wrap and half of a chocolate marble mousse and maple cheesecake, and the cheesecake was just divine. So, a bit payoff for a tiny bit of stress. Rawr! I also got my friend’s leftovers, so spend the evening scoffing the most delicious lasagna with cashew cream. Seriously, vegan restaurant food seems to revolve around nuts for creaminess but it was totally worth it!

Have you challenged yourself recently?

What food did you eat this week that made you happy?

 

Happy Sunday! xx