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Carrot & Hazelnut Loaf

June 9, 2013 · by · Leave a Comment
Carrot & Hazelnut Loaf

Carrot & Hazelnut Loaf

It really is easy to make a different kind of bread every time. In this one, the hazelnuts create most of the flavour and the carrots the colour 🙂

◊    3 cups of organic white spelt flour (or a mixture of wholemeal and white; wholemeal is healthier and tastes beautiful too, it just rises a little less)
◊    3 tsp of dry yeast
◊    1.5 tsp of Himalayan rock salt◊    2 tbsp of minced garlic
◊    1/2 cup of hazelnuts, crushed
◊    +/- 1/2 cup of carrot juice, add warm water to make about 3/4 to 7/8 cup of fluids
◊    3 tbsp of olive oil

Actions and directions:

– add all dry ingredients to food processor, pulse a few times to mix
– with machine running, slowly add oil and then the water
– you want the dough to form a ball, it is fine if it is a little sticky
– let the dough rest and rise (either in a baking tin or not, depending on what shape you want) in a warmish spot under a towel, about 45 minutes
– heat oven to 200C and when hot, bake the bread for 40 minutes – to check if it is done, tap it with a knife, it should sound hollow

Let the bread sit and cool down a little before you slice it (in other words: hide it 😉 ).

Filed Under: All, Breads & Wraps · Tagged: , ,

Israeli Couscous w Minted Eggplant & Tomato Sauce

June 8, 2013 · by · Leave a Comment

 

Israeli Couscous w Minted Eggplant & Tomato Sauce

Israeli Couscous w Minted Eggplant & Tomato Sauce

 

You need (for 2 persons):
♦    1 cup of Israeli couscous
♦    2 tsp of veggie stock powder
♦    1/2 eggplant
♦    1 hand of fresh mint leafs
♦    1/2 tbsp of toasted sesame oil
♦    1/2 tbsp of deodorized coconut oil or any oil you prefer
♦    1 cup of Tomato Sauce (like for instance, this one)
♦    about 1/2 cup of hemp milk or other non dairy milk
♦    a few twigs of fresh rosemary, leafs finely chopped
♦    2 or 3 cloves of garlic, minced

You do:
– boil the couscous in water with the stock powder, should be done in 15 minutes
– slice the eggplant in pieces of your liking, I cut them in ‘fingers’
– roughly chop the mint
– in a separate pan, heat the oils and add the eggplant and the mint, bake gently
– when the eggplant is almost done, in a sauce pan, heat a bit of oil, add the chopped rosemary and garlic. Quickly stir fry and then add Tomato Sauce, then stir in the hemp milk, dilute as much as you like
– when couscous is done, rinse and if needed stir a little bit of olive oil through (to keep it from being sticky). Then scoop onto place, pour sauce on top, and arrange eggplant on top of that again

Serve and enjoy 🙂

Filed Under: All, Complete Meal Ideas, Main Dishes, Pasta & Legumes · Tagged: , , , ,

Basil Tomato Sauce

June 8, 2013 · by · Leave a Comment
Basil Tomato Sauce

Basil Tomato Sauce

 

No more store bought prepared tomato sauces once you’ve made your own, they are SO tasty and beautiful. Do use home grown or organic tomatoes though, as they are much more flavoursome than non-organic.

You need (for about 1.5 cups):

•    8-10 tomatoes
•    14 leafs of fresh basil
•    a dash of olive oil
•    2 tsp of minced garlic
•    1/4 cup of non dairy milk (I used hemp milk)
•    salt & pepper to taste

You do:
– quarter the tomatoes (or just roughly chop them)
– cook them in a small pan with the olive oil, garlic, pepper and basil
– let simmer without a lid so water can evaporate, stir regularly
– when the sauce is reduced enough to your liking, take off heat and blend sauce with stick blender
– return to heat and add non dairy milk, heat through and dilute more if you like to
– taste and add salt if you need to

Filed Under: All, Dips, Sauces & Condiments · Tagged: , , ,

Baked Fruit & Nuts stuffed Pita

June 6, 2013 · by · Leave a Comment
Baked Fruit & Nut stuffed Pita

Baked Fruit & Nut stuffed Pita

 

A nice way of serving fruits and have a filling breakfast (or lunch, or snack ) 🙂

You need (for 2-3 persons):
♣     1 banana, cubed
♣     1 nectarine, cubed
♣     half a hand of almonds
♣     half a hand of hazelnuts
♣     half a hand of walnuts
♣     oil for baking (I like to use coconut oil)
♣     1 wholemeal pita per person (so 2 or 3)
♣     1 tsp cinnamon

You do:
– lightly toast the pita bread, to make it puff a little
– heat the oil in a skillet
– add nuts, bake and stir for a few minutes
– add cubed banana, nectarine and cinnamon, bake for a short while, switch off heat before it goes too soggy
– cut off the top of the pita bread so you have a nice pocket
– stuff the pita with the baked goodies and serve.

You could drizzle some orangey Cashew Cream on top (just mix orange zest and a little bit of agave or coconut nectar with Cashew Cream), or serve on the side 🙂

 

Filed Under: All, Breakfast, Fruit dishes, Light meals, Wraps & Sandwiches · Tagged: , , , ,

Dill, Garlic & Tomato Skins Dip

June 6, 2013 · by · Leave a Comment
Dill, Garlic & Tomato Skins Dip

Dill, Garlic & Tomato Skins Dip

 

Another dip to use the tomato skins that are left over when you made a skinless tomato sauce.

•     3/4 cup of tomato skins
•     1/2 cup of Cashew Cream
•     2 tsp minced garlic
•     1 tbsp of dried dill
•     salt and a decent amount of pepper

Way to go about it:

– add the tomato skins & Cashew Cream to your blender, blend till nice and smooth (or not so smooth if you prefer)
– add garlic (start with 1 tsp, as I looooove garlic and tend to use a lot), dill, some salt and the pepper
– blend quickly again
– taste and tweak

Serve with anything! I have used it on home made pizza as base sauce, mmmm 🙂

 

Filed Under: All, Dips, Sauces & Condiments, Gluten free · Tagged: , , , ,

Raw Ginger Chocolate

June 5, 2013 · by · Leave a Comment

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Raw Ginger Chocolate
No chocolate is nicer than raw chocolate, made by you 🙂 Not only is it fantastic to eat them, but also to see the smiles on the faces of your friends and family when they taste them 🙂

I use 'official' chocolate moulds and also silicon trays or small muffin moulds. If you use floppy moulds, you may want to put them on a tray or piece of carton so it is easier to transport to the fridge.

Other flavours are easy to create, by adding (to a unflavoured base) orange zest, nuts of all sorts, a small dash of liquor, chilli powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, you name it! This makes roughly 1.5 tray of choccies, so about 18.
Prepared by:
Cuisine: vegan, raw
Recipe type: sweets
Serves: 18
Prep time: 
Cook/wait time: 
Total time: 
You need
  • 1 cup of grated raw cacao butter
  • ½ cup of raw cacao powder
  • ¼ cup of raw agave nectar or coconut nectar
  • 2 tsp of vanilla paste or essence
  • 2 to 3 tbsp of grated ginger, depending on how strong you want the ginger flavour
To do
  1. slowly melt the grated cacao butter in a plastic jug or ceramic jug au bain Marie. (Never let it boil, as it is meant to be raw, so definitely not to be heated over 46C). Using a stainless steel jug or glass has failed with me as the chocolate became too hot and therefore thick, so don't try that 😉
  2. when it is melted, use a small whisk to stir in the vanilla paste and agave nectar
  3. when that is nicely mixed, stir in the cacao powder bit by bit, but no need to worry about clumps as they dissolve pretty much straight away
  4. when the powder is dissolved, your chocolate mixture is ready to be poured
  5. while you don't use it, just let it sit on the stove in the warm water so it doesn't go thick
  6. add the ginger to the chocolate and mix through
  7. fill up all moulds and pop in fridge or freezer
  8. it won't take long for the chocolate to get hard; after an hour, pop one out and when all nice and hard, pop the others out too.
  9. Keep them in a container with lid in the fridge.
Notes
It is easy to make some plain chocolates and some flavoured ones: just fill a part of your mould before you add the flavours.

 

This makes roughly 1.5 tray of choccies, so about 18.

Needs:

♥    1 cup of grated raw cacao butter
♥    1/2 cup of raw cacao powder
♥    1/4 cup of raw agave nectar or coconut nectar
♥    2 tsp of vanilla paste essence
♥    2 to 3 tbsp of grated ginger, depending on how strong you want the ginger flavour

Way to go:
– slowly melt the grated cacao butter in a plastic jug or ceramic jug au bain Marie. (Never let it boil, as it is meant to be raw, so definitely not to be heated over 46C). Using a stainless steel jug or glass has failed with me as the chocolate became too hot and therefore thick, so don’t try that 😉
– when it is melted, use a small whisk to stir in the vanilla paste and agave nectar
– when that is nicely mixed, stir in the cacao powder bit by bit, but no need to worry about clumps as they dissolve pretty much straight away
– when the powder is dissolved, your chocolate mixture is ready to be poured
– while you don’t use it, just let it sit on the stove in the warm water so it doesn’t go thick
– add the ginger to the chocolate and mix through
– fill up all moulds and pop in fridge or freezer
– it won’t take long for the chocolate to get hard, and once hard, take them out of their moulds and keep them in a container with lid in the fridge.

I use ‘official’ chocolate moulds and also silicon trays or small muffin moulds. If you use separate moulds, you may want to put them on a tray or piece of carton so it is easier to transport to the fridge 🙂

This kind of chocolate is just the BEST and other flavours are easy to create, by adding (to the plain mixture) orange zest, nuts of all sorts, a small dash of liquor, chilli powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, you name it!

It is easy to make some plain chocolates and some flavoured ones: just fill a part of your mould before you add the flavours.

Filed Under: All, Raw & Almost Raw, Sweets · Tagged: , , , , , ,

Herb Bread

June 4, 2013 · by · Leave a Comment
Herb Bread

Herb Bread

 

You need (for a medium size loaf):

♦    3 cups of organic white spelt flour
♦   at least 2 heaped tbsp of your favorite herb spread (of course you can use fresh herbs, you’ll have to chop a lot, and add 1.5 tbsp of oil)
♦   1.5 tbsp of olive oil
♦   3 tspn dry yeast
♦   1.5 tsp Himalayan rock salt
♦   7/8 cup of warm water (it could be slightly more or less, depending on your flour)

Actions and directions:

– add all dry ingredients to food processor, pulse a few times to mix
– add herb spread
– with machine running, slowly add oil and then the water
– let the dough rest in a warmish spot under a towel, about 45 minutes
– heat oven to 200C and when hot, bake the bread for 40 minutes

Let the bread sit and cool down a little before you slice it.

Filed Under: All, Breads & Wraps · Tagged: ,

Raw ‘Rice’ & Kelp Noodle Salad

June 2, 2013 · by · Leave a Comment

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Raw 'Rice' & Kelp Noodle Salad
Very easy recipe, if you don't have a food processor but want the cauliflower to be rice like, you could grate it. Nice thing is that the cauliflower actually becomes a bit juicy.
Prepared by:
Cuisine: vegan
Recipe type: main
Serves: 2
Prep time: 
Total time: 
You need
  • a handful of kelp noodles, cut up in length you prefer
  • about ¼ of a cauliflower
  • half an avocado
  • half an orange
  • a few tbsps of peanuts (the reddish things in the picture, they are raw and still have the skin on, but your normal peanuts are fine too)
  • a few tbsps of chopped red onion
  • a tomato
  • a small or half a medium carrot
  • a little bit of toasted sesame oil
  • coriander, as much as you like
  • mint, ditto
  • salt & pepper
  • olive oil
  • any spice or herb you like
  • anything else you like, I mean, it's a salad, add what you fancy.
To do
  1. whizz chunks of the cauliflower in the food processor, until fine (or grate). It then sort of resembles rice, hence 'raw rice salad'.
  2. chop up all the other ingredients
  3. mix the whole lot
  4. eat

 

Filed Under: All, Light meals, Main Dishes, Raw & Almost Raw, Salads · Tagged: , , , , , , , , , ,

Pineapple Ginger Pancake w Sweet Peanut Sauce, Coconut & Mint

June 1, 2013 · by · Leave a Comment
Pineapple Ginger Pancake w Sweet Peanut Sauce, Coconut & Mint

Pineapple Ginger Pancake w Sweet Peanut Sauce, Coconut & Mint

 

I used a prefab pancake mix for this one (Orgran gluten free mix w apple & cinnamon, it is lovely). Apart from that you need:

♣   pineapple
♣   peanut butter
♣   molasses (or another fluid sweetener)
♣   dessicated coconut
♣   non-dairy milk
♣   citrus zest (lemon, orange, or both)
♣   mint
♣   coconut oil for cooking

To do:
– make your pancakes (I don’t need to explain, do I?)
– stir fry the pineapple cubes w the ginger & zest (or you can add them later, up to you)
– mix a few table spoons of peanut butter with some non dairy milk, and add as much sweetener as you like.
– sprinkle pancake with coconut, place pineapple on top, pour sauce on top and garnish with mint.

If you use a dry sweetener, just add more milk.

All done 🙂

Pineapple Ginger Pancake w Sweet Peanut Sauce, Coconut & Mint

Pineapple Ginger Pancake w Sweet Peanut Sauce, Coconut & Mint

Filed Under: All, Breakfast, Fruit dishes, Gluten free, Light meals · Tagged: , , , , , ,

Tarragon & Chives Cheeze

May 30, 2013 · by · Leave a Comment

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Tarragon & Chives Cheeze
What I love about nut cheeze, is that you can easily make it at home, flavour it any way you like, and of course that there were no cows involved 🙂 This cheeze isn't as oily as real cheese, but it tastes good and it is pretty healthy.
Prepared by:
Cuisine: vegan
Recipe type: cheeze
Prep time: 
Total time: 
You need
  • ½ cup raw cashews
  • 2 table spoons of pine nuts (you can also stick with cashew nuts)
  • ¼ cup nutritional yeast
  • 3 tspns onion powder
  • 1 teaspoon Himalayan rock salt
  • 4 tspns garlic powder
  • 1+3/4 cups plain unsweetened oat or other non dairy milk
  • ½ cup agar flakes (or 8 teaspoons agar powder)
  • ¼ cup rice bran oil
  • 2 tbsp yellow or white miso
  • 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
  • Chopped chives - lots
  • Dried or fresh tarragon - lots (otherwise the flavour won't get through), I put in least 3 tbsp of dried tarragon, but you can start with less and taste the mixture
  • Curry powder, as much as you like (again, taste the mixture)
To do
  1. lightly oil a suitable container or ramekin (I use plastic containers and don't need to oil)
  2. finely grind the cashews in a food processor
  3. add the nutritional yeast, onion powder, salt and garlic powder. Pulse a few more times to blend in the spices.
  4. combine the soy milk, agar, and oil in a heavy medium saucepan. Bring to a simmer over high heat. Decrease the heat to medium-low. Cover and simmer for a few minutes, stirring occasionally, until the agar is dissolved.
  5. with the food processor running, gradually pour the milk mixture through the feed tube and into the nut mixture. Blend for 2 minutes, or until the mixture is very smooth and creamy. Blend in the miso, lemon juice, and truffle oil and chopped chives (if using).
  6. transfer the mixture to a container; cover and refrigerate until it is very firm, about 4 hours. Once it is firm, use a knife to gently remove the cheese from the ramekin, or wriggle your container.

 

Filed Under: Agar Agar, All, Gluten free, Snacks & Entrées, Vegan 101 & Alternatives · Tagged: , , , , , ,
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