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As you can tell by now, we are terrible at getting ‘Foodie Friday’ blog posts out on time – hey ho better late than never! Luckily being in Uganda means we are 2 hours ahead; whatever time I get this in, it’s 2 hours earlier than what it would have been if we were in the UK. We try to encourage seasonal and local products, so being on the equator with super rich soils, the fruit you get from Uganda is next level. It seemed only rude to not use these to our advantage! Don’t let the frog’s-spawn look discourage you – this pudding is AMAZING. Not only that, it’s cheap to make (with local fruits), easy to make with minimal effort involved, and can easily look impressive.  Out of curiosity, we decided to cost out how much our ingredients were: 2 small sweet bananas (the same size as 2/3 ‘normal’ banana) = 100 shillings (~2p) 5 passionfruit = 1000 shillings (~21p) Mango = free (from our garden!) 2 cans of Coconut milk ~10000 shillings (~£2.04) Chia = 6000 shillings (~£1.28) For 10 puddings, we spent in total ~£3.55, making each dessert cost a huge ~36p! (Obviously for the UK prices will change due to ingredients) Just a little about these ingredients…. The mango I found on the floor, underneath the mango tree in the garden! Normally monkeys or insects get them before we do so I was lucky to grab one in this case. The passionfruit and bananas are sourced from the local market, 5 minutes away, and all grown locally. We do sometimes get bananas in our garden, but not at the moment. Chia seeds are readily available in Uganda – and YES that does make them pretty cheap! (for once). For all you chia lovers, you’d hate to know that you can buy them a kilo at a time in the supermarkets if you want AND they’re organic. The final ingredient is coconut milk - one of my all-time favourite cupboard staples. Being so versatile, you can use it in both savoury and sweet dishes; I use it all the time in curries, sauces, soups, desserts, vegan ice cream etc. This pudding is Gluten Free, Vegan, No Added Sugar and Paleo I did not need to add in any sugar in this case as the fruit seems to be ‘sweet on steroids’ in Uganda. If you fancy it sweeter, you can add in date syrup, maple syrup, agave nectar, honey derivatives, honey (non-vegans), etc to your taste. Prep time: 5-10 minutes Chill time: 4 hours/overnight Serves: 10 Ingredients 2 cans coconut milk 125g chia seeds (for a more solid mixture add more) 1/2 mango 2 sweet small bananas (3/4 ‘normal’ banana) 5 passionfruit Method 1. Combine the coconut milk and chia seeds in a bowl and mix well. 2. I added in 3 passionfruit and a small amount of chopped mango, mix well to combine with the coconut-chia mix. (Give the mixture a taste, and if you want to add in some sweetness, now is the time to do it!) 3. Pour into small glasses / ramekins / jars 4. Put into the fridge and leave for a minimum of 4 hours 5. Chop up the remaining fruit and arrange on top as to your liking Other tasty combinations - Toasted coconut flakes, cacao nibs and date syrup - Cinnamon, apple (or apple coated with cinnamon and brown sugar), raisin - Passionfruit, fresh orange juice and zest - Summer fruits - Fruit and nut mix Enjoy! Love, Lemon & Jinja X

Because of the recent obsession with our chocolate hazelnut spread, we’ve decided to dedicate last week’s (very late), Foodie Friday to the glorious-ness that it is - sorry its late! If you’re very lucky, you’ve come in on the days where we’ve had a taster hanging around! If you’ve also been lucky enough to recently try the Little Bee Bakery Chocolate and Hazelnut Vegan and Gluten Free cake, that rich chocolate spread they use is ours (If you haven’t tried the cake yet, it’s AMAZING)! So why is our chocolate spread so great? It’s just 67.5% Hazelnuts, and 32.5% Lemon & Jinja Vegan Chocolate Buttons!!......Yes you’ve heard us correctly – it’s VEGAN! [For you non-Vegans, don’t let that put you off – the buttons just give it a richer taste.] Hazelnuts taste awesome, especially when roasted Vitamin E – hazelnuts have the second highest content (behind almonds) of vit E, which, as many of you might know, is great for anti-aging. Rich in Q-10 – a coenzyme and antioxidant present in hazelnuts, which is great for cell health Lower cholesterol level – hazelnuts have a high percentage of mono-saturated fats (aka. good fats) which burn cholesterol Vitamin B6 – hazelnuts have a fairly high amount of B6, which helps towards mental and bodily functions No palm oil! - sustainable or unsustainable, palm oil is added as a cheap filler and preservative. It can also quicken the production process as it helps smooth the mixture quicker. We know we wouldn't eat it with added oil, so why should we sell that to you? No other added oils, such as coconut - the same as before, we wouldn't want added oil in the spreads we eat! No added sugar, colourings or additives - the spread is so tasty that it doesn't last long enough to need a preservative! ....Yes, we do realise that the Lemon & Jinja Vegan Chocolate Buttons still have sugar in them.... we’re not denying it! We’re just saying that our spread is healthier for you than your average shop alternatives that add in other ingredients as fillers and preservatives. Buy what you need - you can buy as little or as much as you want! Just make sure you pre-order first. It's refillable - bring in your own container to refill - no need to buy new jars each time. Deposit scheme - buy the jar once from us, then you can come back in the next time and swap it straight out for the next one. No need to wait for refills, no need to buy another jar! [alternatively bring in your own jar] Personalise your ingredients - you have any specific requirements? Sugar added? Milk chocolate buttons? Smooth or Crunchy? More or less nuts? Let us know in advance and we will see what we can do for you. Just to compare it to a well known brand, we have picked on Nutella® (sorry Nutella®)   Some of you may or may not have seen this picture of the breakdown of Nutella®’s ingredients :....   We had a few comments following our Instagram post about the ingredients, so we've done our research and went onto Nutella®'s UK and Ireland website. There's good news and bad news...   The good news The palm oil Nutella® use is 100% certified RSPO (Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil - its fully sustainable and doesn't even mix or come into contact with unsustainable palm oil) The bad news The vast majority of this spread is just sugar (which is probably why it is so addictive!). In fact, 15g (around 1 tbsp) Nutella® = 8.4g sugar (according to the nutritional information on the Nutella® UK and Ireland website ) --> OVER HALF THE SERVING IS SUGAR However, Nutella® do not tell you the actual percentage of sugar or palm oil. You can't find it on the website, or on the jar! Yes, we found the percentage for each ingredient, but not sugar and palm oil. In the picture above, it shows the breakdown of the ingredients, with sugar as 55%. To help justify this huge figure, we calculated the sugar percentage from the weight provided from the Nutella® nutritional information (8.4g sugar in 15g Nutella®), resulting in a similar percentage - 56% sugar content! Last but not least... We also make almond butter and peanut butter! 100% nuts (except for a pinch of salt). AND we have more to come! Fancy cashew butter? Pistachio butter? Or anything else? Just give us a shout and we can do it (prices might change obviously)! AND for those with kids (...we know its the adults) who are addicted to Nutella®, we can make a milk chocolate spread (to order only - not vegan) to help smooth the transfer away from conventional chocolate spreads. Its been tried, tested, and successful (speak to Little Bee Bakery about this!)Ciao for now, Love, Lemon & Jinja x

'What are buckwheat groats?' 'How do I cook with buckwheat?' 'Is it gluten free?' There are some bulk grains you can identify very easily - rice, quinoa, couscous - and then there are the weird ones, like 'raw buckwheat groats' - what are they?! Buckwheat groats are the hulled seeds of the buckwheat plant. But it's not even related to wheat at all... It's gluten free! Packed with various vitamins, antioxidants & protein. Good for you hey? Imagine toasting the buckwheat like you would nuts, in a pan or on a baking sheet in the oven. And that's it. Simple! The groats are ready when they have darkened in colour and that's when they become more fragrant. Good for: - salads - soups - cereals - pasta [adds a good crunch] - granola [what we are doing today!] So let's get going... Buckwheat granola   Ingredients:   - 200g raw buckwheat groats - 160g mixed nuts - 280g mixed seeds - 65g mixed dried fruit - 1 tsp ground ginger - 1 tbsp lemon juice - 125ml maple syrup - 2 tbsp coconut oil We have added a lot of ingredients into this, but this is so easy to change up. You can add more nuts and less seeds or vice versa. I was initially sceptical about the ginger as I would have thought cinnamon would have been better, but it worked out so well. I guess the maple syrup adds a much sweeter taste to it.  Approximate cost: £5.00 Method: 1. [We ignored this step, but you don't have to!] Put the buckwheat, nuts, lemon juice and pumpkin seeds in a bowl and cover overnight. Drain and rinse thoroughly once done. 2. Preheat oven to 150C. 3. Heat the coconut oil until it melts. Add the buckwheat mixture with all the other ingredients in a large bowl (or mix it straight into a baking tray to save on washing up!) 4. Toss it altogether and lay onto one or two baking trays. 5. Bake the mixture whilst stirring occasionally, for around 45 minutes (or until golden brown)6. Leave to cool and then break into clusters. Store in an airtight container. If you leave it sitting for at least a few hours it is more likely to stick together. Et voila, you are now a professional chef having cooked with the weird and wonderful buckwheat groats AND you have some tasty granola to show off.Say goodbye to always cooking with quinoa and cous cous and try something new! Love, Lemon & Jinja X

The famous granola recipe stemmed from somewhere.. and this was it's roots!

Foodie Friday has begun! Every week, we will release a recipe that focuses on ingredients found in Lemon & Jinja. It will ease your shopping with us, as you know what you need to get and can focus more on the eating side... Far more important!So, drum roll please! First up we have... 3-step energy balls  There are SO MANY different ingredients that could go in this recipe, but instead we thought we would stick with the well-known Deliciously Ella recipe. Her recipe requires only 6 ingredients! Simple. Why do we love these? Well, first of all, they are very versatile. If you don't have an ingredient, it is easy to substitute. If you don't have almonds or almond butter, why not use another type of nut? Add in some prunes or figs to change the taste slightly. Some people like to roll crushed nuts or desiccated coconut on the outside of the balls for added flavour. Cocoa powder for cacao powder... The ideas are endless! Energy balls are a great thing to carry around with you - this recipe made me 28 balls - eat one or two a day and it could last up to a month! They keep for such a long time, just remember to keep them refrigerated. The cacao powder and dates cater for those with a sweet tooth - who knew healthy could taste so good...? Ingredients: - 200g almonds [£2.99] - 400g pitted dates (it says Medjool but we used the ones from the shop that are already pitted!) [£2.68] - 44g cacao powder [44p] - 2 tbsp almond butter [approx. 66p] - 30g chia seeds [45p] - 1 tbsp coconut oil [approx. 28.5p] - 2 tbsp water [FREE] Approximate cost: £7.50 - bear in mind this lasts a month! So 25p a day! Method: 1. Put the almonds in your food processor to get them nicely crushed (we kept it going until they were about 0.5cm chunks - easy to roll up into balls) 2. Add all other ingredients into the food processor and whiz it altogether. It is ready when the contents are sticky.* 3. Roll the mixture into balls (1-1.5in is best) and pop in the freezer for 30 minutes to harden.*If not sticky enough, add a TINY bit more water (don't add more coconut oil as it will make it too sticky). But don't be fooled - the mixture won't look that sticky but it will be able to roll up into balls.  So, we now challenge you to make these. Upload your efforts and whether you added anything different into the mixture! Love, Lemon & Jinja X https://deliciouslyella.com/