I love reading other blogs and articles listing favourite go to products and this is often the way I get on to many of the products I consume. So I thought I'd share a few of my recent good finds with you! When it comes to what I put in my mouth and on my skin I have a few 'musts'

Must

• Be natural
• benefit my wellbeing on some level
• be free from nasty chemicals
• be made with environmentally sustainable practices and materials

RAW KAYA

“If I wouldn’t eat it then it’s not going on my skin”. This is my motto with skincare and Raw Kaya certainly get the tick of approval here. Founders, Ebony and Trent have created a beautiful range of organic, plant based skincare products. These guys are very environmentally conscious and every time someone purchases Raw Kaya they are getting a step closer to funding their own wildlife and conservation projects.

My favourite product is their delicious coffee and lychee face scrub. My skin feels radiant after a good exfoliation with this. The Mandarin and papaya moisturiser if fast becoming a firm favourite too.

DADS OATS

The history of this family business is rich, spanning 5 generations of oat growers. These oats are grown in regional Victoria – by Dad (aka Morry). His children Alicia and Pete, founded Dad's Oats and are doing their Dad proud by bringing his tended crops to the table. Who doesn’t love supporting Aussie farmers? These are my choice when it comes to porridge and you can find my favourite porridge recipe here.

Our chai inspired porridge using Dads Oats

ROOFTOP HONEY

Rooftop honey is just that – hives placed on various rooftops of Melbourne’s cafes, restaurants, and hotels. Quite simply these guys are beekeepers with a vision to bring bees back to the city and suburbs of Melbourne while helping the global aim of saving the honey bee from the various threats of disease and human habitation. Chai and honey go together like.. well, bees and honey! Help save the bees and support this wonderful initiative and choose rooftop honey.

MINGLE SEASONING

Mingle seasoning is the brain child of 3 fitness fanatics, Jordyn, Emma and Aaron. A simple desire to create what was missing from their own pantries – quality food seasoning that isn’t laden with unhealthy additives. Together they created an impressive range of seasonings that are so much more than just spice blends but tools in the kitchen to keep healthy eating fun, tasty and simple. It’s hard to pick a favourite as they are all so good but I can’t go past a little Sienna in my life!

Add Sienna to some homemade sweet potato chips or try this amazing avo pesto – recipe available here

THE DAILY BAR

The daily bar is the guilt free answer to the 3pm slump, the after-dinner sugar cravings and the pre-workout fuelling snack. Our supermarket shelves are laden with supposedly healthy snack bars, with hidden sugary ingredients, preservatives, and additives - making our choice confusing. With flavour combos to suit all tastebuds you are sure to find your flavour. For me, I can’t go past the salted caramel.

What are some great products that you want to share with us? We'd love to hear some of your recommendations in the comments below ;)

Mama Chai xx

Porridge weather is certainly upon us. I love nothing more than to start these chilly mornings off with a bowl of steaming creamy oats. The fun part about porridge though is the toppings. I always mix it up and get creative, but the chai spiced pear is one of my ‘go to’ favourites.

I don’t feel as though I’ve quite mastered a porridge that is based purely on quinoa, but I always throw in a handful when making oat porridge just to bulk up the nutritional profile. Having said that oats are definitely up there when it comes to being a nutrient dense superfood, so I don’t think you can go wrong with either of these grains. Use 1 or the other or play around with the ratios, but below I’ve give you my preferred ratios taste wise.

INGREDIENTS - Serves 2-3 people

PORRIDGE

Rolled oats (My choice is Dad's oats) – 80gms

Quinoa flakes – 20gms

Cinnamon – ¼ teaspoon

Vanilla extract – ¼ teaspoon

Pinch of sea salt

Water – 400mls

Soy milk (or milk of choice) – 200mls

CHAI SPICED STEWED PEAR

Pear – 1 large or 2 small

Honey – 1-2 Tablespoons depending on how sweet your tooth is!

Dandi Chai – 1 heaped Tablespoon

Water – ½ cup

Sprinkle of cinnamon

TO SERVE

Natural yoghurt and flaked almonds

METHOD

1. Place dandi chai with 1/2 a cup of water in a pan. Simmer for a few minutes. Strain liquid into a jug and discard chai.
2. Peel pears and chop roughly. You can thinly slice the pears or chop into cubes, both methods work well.
3. Add pears, strained chai liquid, a good sprinkle of cinnamon and honey to a small pan. Bring to the boil, then reduce to a low simmer. Place a lid over the pan and simmer for approximately 20 minutes or until the pear is tender but not completely falling apart. The liquid should be mostly absorbed and you may even like to caramelise the pears a little by cooking a few minutes beyond this point until they become lightly browned. Best to check the pears a couple of times throughout the 20 minutes to check that the liquid hasn’t absorbed completely and the pears are beginning to burn. Add a splash more water if this is the case.
4. While the pears are stewing you can start on the porridge. Add all porridge ingredients into a saucepan. Bring to a boil and then immediately reduce the heat to a low simmer
5. Simmer for approximately 7 minutes – or until you have reached your desired consistency - stirring occasionally. You can always add more water or milk if your porridge becomes too thick.
6. Ladle some porridge into a bowl, top with as much of the stewed pear as you like. I like to then add a good dollop of thick natural yoghurt, some flaked almonds and an extra drizzle of honey.

TIPS

• Swap the pear out for apple, works just as beautifully!
• I love Soy milk with porridge, but porridge goes well with just about any milk alternative
• Go vegan – use our vegan chai over the dandi and sweeten with rice malt syrup or maple syrup

Its hard to believe homemade crumpets would be so easy, but I was surprised to find this the case! Here is my adaptation with slightly more extravagant toppings than your usual butter and jam crumpet. Having said that, these crumpets will still rock your tastebuds with some quality real butter & jam.

As this breaky is quite rich, it couples well with something light and brisk such as Peppermyntle Tisane or a good ol’ breakfast tea such as Evermore.

CRUMPET INGREDIENTS

2 cups white spelt flour

1 Tablespoon of baking powder

A scant teaspoon of fine salt

1 teaspoon of caster sugar

1.5 cups warm water

Half a sachet of dry yeast (or 1¼  teaspoons)

METHOD

1. Sift the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar into a mixing bowl and combine.
2. Mix yeast with lukewarm water – TIP lukewarm is when the water runs comfortably over your skin without any sensations of cold or hot but is very comfortably warm.
3. Make a well in your dry ingredients and pour the yeast mixture into the well.
4. Whisk ingredients until you get a smooth batter.
5. Cover with cling film or a damp tea towel and place in a warm place to rise. A temperature of around 24-26 degrees celcius is ideal. I pop it in my bathroom, close the door and crank up the central heating. It’s a small space so heats up nicely!
6. DON’T SKIP THIS STEP! Leave to rise for at least 30 minutes. Its also fine to leave the batter to rise overnight. You would not need such a high temperature if its rising over a longer period.
7. The batter will have risen (fingers crossed!) and have little bubbles on the surface. It will be quite airy and a bit foamy.
8. Place some egg rings in a non-stick pan and spray them and the base of the pan with cooking oil. When the pan is hot, spoon mixture into each ring until about ¾ full.
9. Turn the heat down to a very low heat so as not to burn the bottom and cook slowly.
10. Bubbles will start to appear on the surface and then the surface will slowly start drying out. This may take a few minutes. Cover with a lid for a further 3 minutes until the tops are completely dry, then remove the lid and flip the crumpets for about a minute to get a little browning on the tops.

Now you can serve simply with butter and jam or you can go the extra mile and make my suggested topping below.

INGREDIENTS FOR TOPPING

Deli fresh ricotta

Hiranya Chai Honey (or regular honey)

Fresh Raspberries

Pistachios

1. Mix a little honey through the ricotta to sweeten it a touch.
2. Create candied pistachios by throwing a handful of pistachios in pan with a drizzle of honey. Heat gently until the honey starts to become thick and sticky – a couple of minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool. The honey will harden giving the nuts a sweet crunchy hit.
3. You can simply use fresh raspberries (or frozen) or make an easy coulis by heating some raspberries with a small amount of water and a sprinkle of sugar. Simmer gently until the raspberries start collapsing and softening. Then mash the raspberries roughly with a fork – voila!
4. Layer these toppings in any order you like. I recommended a bit of honey first to sink into the holes, followed by a thick layer of ricotta followed by the raspberry coulis and some extra fresh raspberries to garnish.

Happy Mother’s Day to all the wonderful Mums and mums to be out there

Mama Chai xx

We love a good chai inspired recipe and couldn't resist sharing this divine looking choc chai cake - healthy styles. 

Guest blog by Rebecca O'Mahoney of Clean Living in Style

This divinely delicious and rich cake is the perfect Valentine’s Day treat, or for that matter any celebration.

Its gluten, sugar and dairy free, high in nutrition and will give your taste buds a treat.

Chai Syrup Ingredients:

4 teaspoons chai tea (I use Calmer Sutra Vegan Chai, it’s a wet chai mix, fructose free and sweetened with rice malt syrup. )

1 small pinch of cracked black pepper

4 cardamom pods

Place all ingredients in a small saucepan and cover with water, on a medium heat simmer for 4 minutes. Turn off and strain, reserving the liquid and returning to the pan. Watching very closely simmer the liquid on a medium low heat, for approximately 4 minutes, until it’s just covering the bottom of the pan and starting to  thicken. Be careful not too take it to far, it will burn very quickly at this stage.

Allow to cool completely.

Preheat fan forced oven to 170 degrees Celsius

Grease and line two 20 cm cake pans with melted coconut oil

Cake Ingredients:

100g dark 70% or sugar free chocolate

200g coconut oil

250g rice malt syrup or honey (sweetener of choice)

3 eggs

200g almond meal

75g arrowroot flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon of ground cardamon

2 tablespoons organic cacao powder

Pinch of pink salt

150ml unsweetened almond milk

Gently melt the chocolate, and set aside.

In a mixer whip coconut oil and rice malt syrup till well combined, the one at a time add the eggs.

Stir in the almond meal, arrowroot, cacao, baking powder, ground cardamon and a pinch of pink salt.

Once combined, add almond milk and melted chocolate and  gently fold through to combine.

Divide batter between the two pans evenly, bake for 20 -25 minutes or until skewer comes out clean.

*please note all ovens are different and cooking times may vary.

Allow cakes to cool in the pans for 5 minutes once out of the oven, then transfer to a cake cooling rack to cool completely.

Chai Infused Coconut Yoghurt

250g unsweetened plain coconut yoghurt

4 tablespoons of the chai syrup (approximately)

Gently fold the syrup through the yoghurt, taste as you go to infuse the chai syrup flavour into the yoghurt to your liking.

To assemble, spread a layer of the coconut yoghurt on top of one cake, top with the second cake and then spread the top cake with the remaining yoghurt.

Tips:

*For a stronger and richer chai flavour, sprinkle any remaining syrup on the top of the first cake before topping with the first yoghurt layer, the continue as per the instructions.

*Alternatively, as you cut your cake you can top with a dollop of the yoghurt, instead of covering the entire cake.

By Rebecca O'Mahoney

Is there anyone who doesn't love a hot cross bun fresh out of the oven? I can just hear these little Easter buns screaming out for a good hit of fresh chai to nestle amongst the currants and cinnamon. Get your oven mits on, you wont be disappointed!

DRY INGREDIENTS

250gms of white spelt flour

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon dry yeast

1 tablespoon raw suar

3/4 cup currants

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon all spice

1/4 teaspoon ginger powder

1/4 teaspoon clove powder

(if you dont have all the above spices on hand, dont worry too much just use what you do have and perhaps up the amount of Calmer Chai you infuse in the milk)

WET INGREDIENTS

30gms unsalted butter melted

150ml milk

25ml (a splash) of boiling water

3 heaped tablespoons of Fresh Calmer Chai

50ml olive oil

METHOD

1. Pour a small amount of boiling water over the Calmer Chai in a jug

2. Add the milk and stir. Allow to stand and infuse. The longer this infuses the more chai flavour will be extracted into the milk

3. In a mixing bowl, add all of the dry ingredients and combine well

4. Pour the milk through a strainer and squeeze as much excess liquid from the chai, through the strainer as you can. 

5.Combine the strained milk, melted butter and oil. Allow for this these ingredients to drop to room temperature

6. Add wet to dry ingredients and stir well. Mixture should look wet but not runny

7. Cover with glad wrap and leave to rise in a warm spot for a couple of hours or until the mix has doubled in size

8. Preaheat oven to 200 degrees Celcius

9.  Dust some flour over your bench and knead the dough for around 30 seconds

10. Divide and shape into balls a bit bigger than the size of a golf ball.

11. Place on a lined tray with around 1cm space in between each one

12. Cook for 20 minutes. When you tap the top of the bun, it should sound hollow

13. Serve fresh with butter and a drizzle of Hiranya Chai honey.  

Enjoy and Happy Easter

Mama Chai xx