THIS WEEK WE caught up with Aisling Kenny, an avid foodie whose healthy take on baking will inspire you to bake up a storm this weekend!
With a background in HR, Aisling has now returned to university to complete a masters in Food Business Management, all while sharing her delicious creations on Instagram. Check out her plant based treats and mouthwatering mid-week dinners on Instagram at @greeneyeskenny.
1. Spelt flour apple muffins: I grew up surrounded by both of my grannies and mom baking apple tarts, scones, and brown bread, and as such I much prefer the taste of homemade baked goods. In recent years I’ve also started experimenting more and adapting my baking with alternative ingredients like whole wheat spelt flour, almond meal etc to make my homemade treats and cakes healthier and more filling.
2. American-style cookies: My favourite sweet treat changes all the time but my two favourites recipes this year have been vegan blueberry muffins from @gwynethpaltrow and American style dark chocolate chip cookies from @thehappypear which I leave in the oven longer to make them extra crunchy!
3. Dark chocolate orange cake: I love making fruit-based breads like banana bread or pumpkin bread which I can bring to work for a treat. The odd time when I bake a cake it’s usually for an occasion. For mom’s birthday last September I adapted Nigella Lawson’s dark chocolate orange cake… the smell of boiling oranges is so good. I also recently made a caramel apple cake which used coconut sugar and was incredibly moreish!
4. Raid-the-fridge vegetable curry: I don’t label my diet but I eat at least 75% plant based. I do believe that we need a variety of foods to feed our bodies and our microbiome so I am not against eating meat, I just think we need less of it in our diet, so that’s why I’ve chosen to eat the way I do.
I think it’s really important for our generation to reduce the volume of meat we consume both for our planet and our long term health – plus I love vegetables so it’s easy for me to really enjoy my diet as it is now, especially with a bit of spice added!
Any advice for eating more plant-based food? For people who are just starting out on a more plant-based journey, I’d recommend finding alternative meat substitutes which are available in pretty much every supermarket now and mean you can easily make vegetarian versions of classic dishes like spaghetti bolognaise.
If you eat meat for every meal, you could try reducing it to one meal per day, and then once you are used to eating more plant-based meals aim to try and have a few days each week without any meat products. For inspiration, I find it really useful to look up #meatfreemonday posts on instagram.
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