Really getting into the raw foods this summer and doing lots of experimenting.
Here’s one that we found delectable – juicy, colorful and looked very different.
How to:
2 small beetroot – grated
1 large carrot – grated
1 apple – grated
1/4 shredded cabbage
raisins
sunflower seeds
parsley
pumpkin seeds
Mix all the ingredients together and dress with dash of Sesame Oil , olive oil and Balsamic Vinegar

Mandoline Slicers

Slightly weird how a combination of events can switch things around in your head and have an instant effect – a death of a friend, a book about raw foods and a couple of videos on how food had cured a Doctor of multiple sclerosis and a bout of catarrh and aches and pains have started us on a total revamp of our lifestyle, recipe stash and  pantry.   We have always believed in food as your medicine and      Victoria Boutenko’s book   is all about Raw Food and the extreme changes the family made to become healthy and is pretty inspiring – a topic for another blog but there is a Truffle recipe in the book called Sergei’s Amazing Truffles  – the recipe uses 1 cup walnuts, 1/2 cup pitted dates, 1/4 cups young coconut water 4 Tablespoons raw carob.  - blend the whole lot in a food processor like a Vitamix and roll in carob.
Victoria Boutenko/s Books here
Vitamix Blenders Here

We made the Truffles and they were delicious but  the next batch was an experiment since we had no walnuts, no coconut water and wanted to reduce the amount of Carob to make it less rich  so we came up with the version below you can increase the amounts to make more or substitute ingredients – cashews are good but see what you have to hand.

Yummy Carob Pyramids or Balls

•  3 prunes  - cut in half to make sure there are no stones
• handful of dates –  cut in half to make sure there are no stones
• Rolled Oats or instant porridge
• handful sunflower seeds
• Carob – 1 large dessertspoon
• handful shredded coconut
• scrunched cornflakes or crunchy cereal of your choice
• Apple juice to mix to the right consistency

How to:  Put the everything except cornflakes  in a high speed blender like a Vitamix (I use a Magic Bullet)The Amazing Magic Bullet whizz up until desired chunkiness – don’t blend too much or they will be too smooth.   Either add crunchy cereal later or pulse until desired level of crunchiness and stir through.   Form into pyramids ( or balls if you prefer) and roll in a mix of coconut, Carob, sesame seeds and mixed nuts and chill in the fridge.

 12 Steps to Raw Foods by Victoria Boutenko

Want to try something cool, icy, and delicious but want to know what’s in it ?

Try these  Chocolate Ice Blocks or Iced Lollies

•  1 teaspoon gelatine
• 1/2 Cup cold water
• 1/4 Cup castor sugar
• 1 Tablespoon cocoa powder
• 1 Cup milk
• 1/2 Cup full cream milk powder
• 1 tsp vanilla essence

Put gelatine and water in bowl and leave for three minutes ( to set gelatine)

Put everything else in a blender and blitz

Melt gelatine in the water in microwave for 10 – 15 minutes on high

Add melted gelatine  to blender and whizz again

Pour into ice block moulds and freeze for at least 12 hours  - or in ice cube trays and add toothpicks

Additions and options 

Coffee version: leave out the cocoa and add instant coffee or strong coffee to the gelatine soak

Yoghurt and whizzed up pineapple is great 

Any fruit juice frozen by itself or blended with yogurt

Add cinnamon or  fresh or frozen berries – raspberries go well with chocolate.

 Kitchen Utensils and Gadgets

Bliss Balls  - quick easy and delicious treat that is healthy too.

Here is the approximate “recipe” but it is not an exact science as you can put in whatever nuts, dried fruits you have on hand.   Basically it is a grind and blend recipe and if the mix is not moist enough to mold into balls add a little fruit juice – orange or lemon is good but any will do.

Ingredients:

• Oats – any quantity
• Prunes
• Hazelnuts
• Dates, Banana
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon cloves – ground
• 1 tablespoon carob powder
• lemon rind
• coconut for rolling the Bliss Balls in

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This is one of the quickest and tastiest salads and if you use all the different colored peppers, yellow, red, orange and green and serve in a glass dish it can look magnificent.

• How to:
• Grill or BBQ the peppers until the skin turns black
• Place in a bag or bowl to steam through enough to make the skin easy to remove.
• Slice the peppers
• Add salt and pepper to taste,
• Sprinkle Olive oil ( or avocado oil is nice too) and vinegar ( I use cider vinegar)
• Serve with herbs of your choice, spring onions, chillies or you favorite things !

Oats combined with divine flavors make this an  extra yummy breakfast treat.

Use organic ingredients to get the maximum taste and health benefits.  We made this one cold winter morning and it was so delicious we had it three times in a row – the next porridge without it tasted very boring !  This recipe serves four people.

• 2 cups rolled oats
• 4 cups water
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• Large pinch salt
• 1 Tablespoon maple syrup
• 2 Tablespoons butter
• 3 Tablespoons brown sugar
• 2 bananas, thickly sliced
• 1/2 cup cream

Method

• Place oats, water, cinnamon, salt and maple syrup in a pan and bring to a simmer over medium heat.
• Stir constantly while cooking for about 5 minutes until it becomes thick and smooth.
• Heat butter and brown sugar in a shallow pan and cook until golden and bubbling.
• Add banana slices and saute 1 minute until nicely colored.
• Divide porridge between bowls and top with the banana slices.
• Add cream to caramel remaining in pan and heat until golden and real syrupy.
• Pour over bananas and porridge.

350 Recipe Ideas for Busy People

Potato Soup Goes Thai

This is a unique twist on potato soup when you feel like something a bit more exotic but want the comfort of steaming hot potatoes and it also works  well for a start to a dinner party as an entree.   We like it steaming hot with grilled Ciabatta bread cut lengthwise and grilled until crisp or lebanese bread popped under the grill.  We also like it chunky and not blended for a hearty meal with grilled thick slices of homemade bread.  Try it and see if you have found another favorite.

• 4 Large potatoes  (around 500g to 600 g)
• 2 Cups water
• 1 cube chicken stock powder
• 2 Tablespoons Fish sauce (Nam Pla)
• peeled rind of 1/2 lemon or lime ( don’t grate)
• 2 Teaspoons  fresh chopped coriander – use ground coriander  spice if you can’t get fresh but the green adds a better look
• 1 cup coconut cream
• Peel and chop the potatoes
• add water, stock cube, fish sauce and the lemon or lime peel.
• Simmer together for 20 mins or until the potatoes are tender.
• Remove from heat and remove lemon or lime peel
• Add coconut cream and lime juice and puree until smooth
• Blend or pure until smooth and creamy
• Season to taste using freshly ground black pepper

350 Recipe Ideas for Busy People

Home made wine brewing, Green Grape, Blackberry, Feijoa and Apple Cider vinegar

Recently we have got into making our own wine. We started off with Lemon Champagne, moved on to Rose Petal Champagne and now have things bubbling and fermenting away continuously.  If you would like to give it a try but think it’s too hard, rethink it as its pretty neat to sip away at something you have made yourself with the big plus that you know what is in it and the process is quite simple once you get the hang of it and its exciting watching it all happen and knowing you have made your own wine from scratch.

As you can see from the photo we have a variety all fermenting away and all we have really had to do was cut up the fruit and give it the odd stir and keep an eye on it.  Currently we have Persimmon and another lot of Pear Wine (called Perry) on the go as well.

Try some simple wines first to start off with and the only materials you really do need are glass bottles or carboys and  air locks to keep insects out – you can use cotton wool instead but the airlock ensures fruit flies stay out.   Plastic water containers will work if you can’t get glass.    Read more for the recipe following post

We have recently moved house complete with the newly made wine sitting fermenting in its bottles complete with airlocks fitted to keep out insects. Moving doesn’t seem to have harmed it in spite of being warned not to move it round and disturb it, the wine is still bubbling away nicely and we have invested in several more glass carboys so we can siphon the wine off to leave the dregs or finished yeast that has settled in the bottom.

You can make wine with almost any fruit or vegetable, like Parsnip, Beetroot, Apple, Grape (the Classic of course ) Guava, Plum is delicious – use your imagination.

Wine Recipe for most fruits is similar:

Cut  6 cups into smallish diced pieces (crush if berries)

Add at least 6 cups of sugar (yes, the dreaded white sugar) into a spotlessly clean bucket or glass jar or carboy.  If you can get a one gallon one or five liters its easier to judge the amounts as you need to fill to the top with filtered water or previously boiled and slightly cooled water.  Cover with cloth, tied tightly so insects cannot get in or put in your glass container covered with cotton wool.

Stir every day for 30 days and watch it ferment and bubble away.

Keep a close watch on it as if you fill it too full it will ferment all over and come up the top of the jar and out over everywhere !

When the bubbles have stopped coming up and it has stopped fermenting strain and pour into bottles or jars.  Let it stand until it settles and the used up yeast goes to the bottom and then you can siphon it off and let stand again until it goes clear, then bottle and it will be fine to screw the caps down.

Keeping will improve it or you could choose to have a sampling now.  You need to have a bit of patience for this process as a lot of wines improve on standing, like say, 6 months or longer.

Gluten Free Recipes Here

It is a very old family recipe that has been well tried and tested and is so old it was still in imperial measurements – we make it when we want something crunchy and shortbready without going to a lot of effort and they always get the ultimate compliment of disappearing very fast !   Today, we used up the last of them on a visitor and the look on one family members face when our visitor polished up the last of them was a classic.

Conversion tip  25 grams equals one ounce

Dutch Shortbread Biscuits

• 4 ounces  or 100 grams butter
• 3 ounces or 75 grams sugar (caster sugar is quicker to melt in or brown sugar makes a more caramelly biscuit )
• 6 ounces or 150 grams flour
• 1 teaspoon of baking powder
• pinch of salt
• one crushed weetbix or large handful of cornflakes or other crunchy cereal of your choice

Method

• Turn oven on to 180 – 190 degrees
• Melt the butter, add to all the dry ingredients
• Mix well
• either place teaspoonfuls on a cold greased baking tray OR shape into small ovals and place on baking tray
• Bake for 15 – 20 minutes until golden brown and crispy.
• Cool on tray for a few minutes – this is because if you try to get them off too soon they will break up
• Transfer to a wire cake rack to cool down if you can wait that long !

Sugar free cakes and cookies here

Variations

Add grated zest of a lemon or orange

Add coconut or cinnamon

Vanilla is a good addition for a change

We  put raisins in sometimes  but some family members complain these are no good for dunking into coffee !

Gluten Free Recipes Here

A Flash in the Pan: 100 Fast and Furious Recipes for Wok and Stir-Fry

Stir Fry Pork and Green Beans

2 Tablespoons Vegetable Oil
2 cloves garlic – chop this finely,
250 grams pork, sliced thinly and cut into bite sized pieces
1 1/2 Tablespoons fish sauce
1 Tablespoon oyster sauce
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon sugar
150 – 200 grams green beans (snake beans,runners,dwarf beans – any kind fine) cut the beans into bite sized pieces
3 Tablespoons water or stock ( this is optional depending on how much sauce you like)
Method
Heat oil in a hot Wok.
Stir fry garlic briefly
Add pork and stir fry until golden
Stir in fish and oyster sauces, pepper and sugar
Add the beans and stir fry for 1 minute
Add a little water or stock if needed to make a good amount of sauce.
Taste to see if seasoning is required.
When the pork is cooked remove from heat.
Serve with rice and garnish with roughly chopped coriander leaves

A Flash in the Pan: 100 Fast and Furious Recipes for Wok and Stir-Fry