Iris Cohen - notetoiris

18/02/2023

08/09/2021

Eat like you give a ****

05/09/2021

17/08/2021

Blackberry bars recipe below, foraged and baked with Nza, so lovely to be sharing these experiences with her and she seems to love it just as much 🥰 We were picking blackberries and eating them, Nza was eating them almost as fast as I could pick them 😅
Have you foraged blackberries? I feel like I see them everywhere! Thinking of what to make next with them… Nza is asking for jam jam jam so we might have to do that but would love to hear some suggestions 🧡

Ingredients
- 200g / 1 1/2 cups white spelt flour (or all-purpose flour)
- 120g/ 1 1/2 cups oats
- 100g / 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 45g / 1/3 cup chopped hazelnuts
- 220g / 1 cup unsalted vegan butter, room temperature
- 280g / 2 cups fresh blackberry’s
- 1 tablespoon sugar (we used muscovado)
- 1 tablespoons arrow root powder

Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 180°C.
2. Line a baking pan with parchment paper.
3. In a bowl, toss blackberries with tablespoon of sugar and arrow root powder. Set aside.
4. Combine in a mixing bowl the flour, oats, brown sugar, baking soda, salt, and hazelnuts. Mix to fully combine.
5. Add the softened butter and either crumble by hand or beat on low speed, until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
6. Spoon half of the oatmeal mixture into the prepared pan. Gently press mixture into bottom of the pan.
7. Top with the blackberries.
8. Sprinkle with remaining oatmeal mixture. NOTE: do not press down on the mixture.
9. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until golden brown.
10. Cool completely before slicing into squares or slices and enjoy!

09/08/2021

As world breastfeeding/chest feeding week has come to an end and I’ve seen so many lovely nurturing photos, read so many inspirational stories of determination and love, wether feeding for an hour, three days or three years. It’s an incredibly journey no matter the distance or ways.

Nza and I had a painful and little frustrating first two weeks of breastfeeding but I’m so happy I persisted, as we went on the journey until I got pregnant now with our second child. She’s turning three in November and is very conscious still of mamas milk and does still try to squeeze the breasts for comfort… This picture is of her first day Earth side, I still had a lot of adrenaline in me and giving birth at home + breastfeeding her made me feel the most bad a** I’d ever felt. Before sleep deprivation kicked in, I was only staring at her in her Moses basket thinking ‘wow, we created a human’. I’ll never forget this day I fully embraced motherhood and the care for this little being, soon to experience this again in a whole other way! 🥰

Please feel free to reach out for support if you have any questions or would like to connect on this subject, you are not alone 🧡

09/08/2021

The weekend was spent doing more clearing and cleaning for baby arrives, also known as nesting! I am moving things around and doing deep cleans now every day, a bit here and there and find myself pottering around…
Have to defrost the fridge and clear it, cook lots of meals to stock it for that newborn stage, washing all the babies clothes, readying the towels etc for our home birth. Packing hospital bag (just in case) and an overnight bag for Nza (just in case)… Our current mattress is too soft for bed sharing so will have to source a new one, please let me know if you have any tips!
Also hiring a birth pool and really starting to look forward to the birth, catching baby and bringing her on to my chest 🥰
Such a magical event before the newborn/fourth trimester stage of less sleep, strange poopy nappies, beginning a new journey of breastfeeding, adapting to life as a family of four… all very exciting and starting to feel more real every day!
🧡

(The Eco plastic free and vegan nappies by Naty were kindly gifted to us)

08/08/2021

My first go-to breakfast is now a big plate of fruit which Nza often shares with me…🍇🍓🍈🫐🍊🍌
The weather has been so up and down this weekend, one time I’m hot, then I’m cold and wearing a jumper. Lights on in the house and then the sunshine comes out, feels quite autumnal this weather, hence me making an indulgent plum cake… See recipe in previous post. 💜

Happy Sunday all may you have at least a glimpse of sunshine wherever you are ☀️

07/08/2021

🌈 Plum cake recipe below 🌈
We picked lots of plums at a PYO farm near us and asked in our stories what to make with them… We got some great answers but basically ate most of them as they were! So made this plum cake experiment today with the rest. This is a pretty sweet cake, dense yet fluffy, more sweet then I’d normally make a cake but if you have a sweet tooth this is definitely for you! 🧡
💫
Ingredients
100g coconut oil
100g butter (we used )
180g/1 cup + 1 tablespoon coconut sugar
250g/1 cup apple sauce (2 apples chopped finely, cooked down with a splash of water)
165g/1 cup + 1/3 cup wholemeal spelt flour
120g/1 cup white spelt flour
2 teaspoon baking powder
Pinch of sea salt
11 small plums, pitted and halved
1 tsp cinnamon
Juice from 1/2 lime or lemon
💫
Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 180 C and line a cake pan with parchment paper, we used a larger one to have lots of surface for the plums but can use any you have
2. Mix coconut oil, 1 cup coconut sugar, and apple sauce in a medium bowl. Then fold in the flour, baking powder, and sea salt, and gently mix to combine. Pour the batter into the cake pan
3. Sprinkle the remaining tablespoon of coconut sugar, cinnamon, and lemon juice over the halved plums and toss to fully coat. Press the plums-cut side up-on top of the batter
4. Bake in the oven for 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let it cool for at least 30 minutes before removing cake from the pan and cutting
5. Enjoy!

05/08/2021

Hello baby, we can’t wait to meet you 🥰

30/07/2021

Sharing a fruit platter together and bringing the sunshine inside as the weather is so up and down recently 🍓🥭🍇
I often hear healthy eating is more expensive and it’s a reason to not eat healthily, it is most of the time but remember the bill at the end can be costly too. We are lucky to live close to a fresh fruit and veg market which brings cost down significantly. This plate of fruit cost £1 altogether with the most expensive bit the mango being £0.75 🥭
A few things to remember
🍓 Fruit is riper at the market so not to get too much at once as you’ll have to eat it quickly (or freeze it) not to waste it
🍓 It makes for great fresh sorbet or addition to your nice cream
🍓 Fruit contains a high percentage of alkaline water so great for snacking or to have first thing in the morning
🍓 Children learn by example so I bet that if you start eating a fruit platter they’ll join in pretty quickly
🍓 I can often buy grapes with seeds which I prefer to seedless, same goes for watermelon 🍉
I’d love to know what your favourite fruit is! We are growing strawberries in our garden but I would love to have lots of fruit trees one day… 🍑🍐🍎

28/07/2021

Black Forest gâteau cake, can we have it again for breakfast? Asking for a friend. 🎂 Happy birthday hope you had a great day, we sure did 🍁
Glad the veganised version of this worked out, I swear there is a cherry soaked chocolate cake under all this coconut cream! This was so fun to bake and the cherries were so nice, seasonal and local🍒 Nza got carried away with the chocolate, she was so desperate to help which basically means help to eat! Have a look at my stories… she also enjoyed the cherries and swallowed one seed by mistake and said oops in the cutest way. She’s getting so big and can’t wait for her to meet her baby sister. To see Nza carry herself as the big sister and cuddle her, it’s going to be so emotional 😭 I always wished I had a sister and the people I meet who do tell me it’s going to be a great experience for them to have each other. I feel very grateful we have this opportunity and hope they help carry each other through life…

27/07/2021

Happy 40th birthday to my husband 🌻💫
You help Nza to reach for the stars and we hope you’re enjoying your birthday week from us and our friends&family who are making it special as it’s a special milestone 🥳