A spiced tea favorite transformed into a soft, frosted, date-sweet slice–this healthy Chai Spiced Quick Bread is the perfect cozy sweet treat! Vegan, gluten-free, oil-free. It’s kind of like a malt loaf. If you don’t need it to be GF you can easily put normal flour in instead of the GF flour, but I would still use the oat flour as it is very tasty.
This dessert is a mixture between an Aero and and After Eight, but it’s vegan and refined sugar free! It makes a lovely light finish to an evening meal. I like to cut into small squares and serve with coffee after dinner. But on retreat it was the main desert and cut into larger slices for an indulgent chocolate treat.
We’re proud to have been featured in Outdoor Swimmer magazine. The article gives an overview of what to expect at The Zest Life Yoga and Wild Swimming retreats with their perfect combination of yoga and swimming in the outdoors. Our retreats are held in stunning locations, choose the lakes and sea around Anglesey and Snowdonia in north Wales or the epic lakes of the Lake District. (more…)
How often do you share your feelings with those around you? Or how often do you suppress what you really feel for fear of how it will be received? Learning to express your emotions is a valuable part of being an evolved human being. We no longer need to roam the earth grunting at each other and clubbing each other around the head. We are intelligent beings and have developed intricate words to express in great detail how we feel. Its through this expression that our world becomes safe. It’s so important to put words to our emotions and then be able to convey them to those around us. (more…)
This is the most wonderful no sugar and vegan cake. It’s doesn’t have frosting so is easy to box up and take on picnics. It makes the most amazing post wild swim snack too. Adapted from a recipe by Madeleine Shaw.
Here is another delicious recipe from our retreat chef Cathy. This healthy green soup is great for spring with all these lovely fresh flavours. We think the fresh mint is a perfect match. You can use fresh or frozen peas and watercress can be replaced with spicy salad leaves of your choice. Serve with warm sourdough bread and finish with micro greens and a chilli oil drizzle.
This celeriac and cauliflower soup recipe was a big hit in our February retreats. These two seasonal vegetables are a lovely combination, enhanced with the simple addition of garlic and herbs. While celariac has celery-like, earthy notes, cauliflower is milder with a cabbage taste, together their sweeter nuttier flavours create a creamy richness in this hearty soup perfect for those colder days.
I haven’t always loved poetry… as a young girl I thought it was a waste of time. I took extra drama in school and I would much rather have been playing out my friends than having to go to the one to one lessons reciting poetry.
Then in my twenties I started to write poetry as a way of expressing myself. Trying to get my feelings, which were often desperation, out and onto paper. I felt that when they were out of my body they were somewhere away from me and therefore heard. And through writing poetry I started reading poetry again. (more…)
In my twenties I used to work as a stewardess on yachts, sailing and crusing around the Caribbean and the Mediterranen. It sounds glamorous doesn’t it but it was actually one of the lowest times of my life. That aside, I remember crossing the Atlantic to Portugal which took about 14 days via the Azores, then flying home to wales to see family, finally coming back from sea after months of being away. (more…)
These lemon bars are both vegan and gluten free, a nutty base topped with with a creamy tangy citrus filling and sweetened naturally with dates, banana and maple syrup. It’s a no bake raw food recipe so packed full of trace elements, nutrients and enzymes to boost digestion, immunity and general health. A lovely healthy treat!
