Carob Fudge

I have just made my last batch of Raw Shortbread. While I have enjoyed eating these sweet balls, I am not sure that I’ll buy any more lucuma powder after paying more than $20 for 250 grams in 2009. So it’s just as well that I have some carob powder languishing in my pantry which has combined with the leftover almond meal to make balls tasting just like fudge.Since making the raw shortbread was such a breeze, I used a similar approach for the carob fudge. 

Recipe ingredients:
1/2 cup almond meal
2 tbsp carob powder heaped
2 tbsp honey

Instructions:
Blend in the Thermomix on speed 6 for 30 seconds.

As the time reached the 30 second mark there was a distinct change in the sound of the blades processing the mix which indicated that the mixture was close to being ready. The sound comes from the mix starting to clump together. To test the mix I tried forming a ball from a small handful which worked perfectly.   

In the past I have ground up any nuts required for sweet treat recipes. While I am still happy to do this, I was able to buy some ground almond meal at my local Flannery’s and have enjoyed making both the raw shortbread and almond fudge with fewer steps.

I have always had a sweet tooth which is sometimes satisfied by purchased health bars. In the past week reaching into the fridge for a raw shortbread ball a few times during the day has hit the mark. Each ball has a rich enough taste for me to only want one at each sitting. I’m hoping this new habit will stick around.

Raw and Beyond

I remain interested in raw food even though I probably only eat half of my food raw. There are some foods that are so much easier to digest in their cooked form, including potatoes and some of the crunchier vegetables like broccoli and cabbage.

Hence my interest when I found the book Raw & Beyond by Victoria Boutenko, Elaina Love and Chad Sarno. They initially discuss their experiences with raw food which led them to adopt a high raw approach to their meals by including some cooked foods.

I can understand how they have arrived at this position. In my brief foray into playing with raw gourmet recipes, I found some of the resulting creations were a little too strong or sweet for my taste buds.  While I enjoyed a subsequent dalliance with the 80/10/10 diet, feeling great after multiple high fruit meals, I found it difficult to continue with the diet although I still enjoy a moderate fruit intake.

So it has been fascinating to touch base with where these raw foodists are at now. Of particular interest has been the extensive range of recipes which support their high raw approach.

Early in the recipes section, I noticed instructions for making Merlot Pickled Onions which I prepared and have been enjoying over the last couple of days. Out of curiousity, I googled the recipe name and found it on this web site with the note that the recipe has been reprinted by permission of the publisher. This is appreciated as the recipe provides a simple approach to a task that can sometimes feel a little complex.

I am looking forward to checking through the rest of the recipes in this book in my search for little gems. Finding this book has sparked my interest in playing with alternative approaches to raw foods. It will be interesting to see where this leads.

Rhubarb!

I had a new dilemma to solve when some rhubarb arrived in my Food Connect box as I haven’t had any contact with rhubarb apart from possibly eating some in a restaurant dessert.

But first I wanted to know what I could call it – a fruit or a vegetable - and it appears that I’m not alone in my confusion. Wikipedia tells me that rhubarb is normally considered to be a vegetable, except in the United States which counts it as a fruit for regulation and duties purposes.

Next I wondered if it could be eaten raw and an online search brought up the perfect solution. I varied the recipe a little to suit the Thermomix.

Recipe ingredients:
275g rhubarb
100g honey
50g sultanas

Instructions:
Mix all ingredients in the Thermomix on speed 5 for a few seconds.

The tart flavour came through in my taste test just after making it. However the taste mellowed as I sampled the mix and after two days it was delicious. I’ll certainly repeat this performance next time some rhubarb arrives in my home.

Fairy Floss?

No, not really. But it was pretty enough for me to think of that delicious sweet treat that I missed this year by not going to the Ekka. I understand it was definitely there at the I Love Fairy Floss stand, or so Google tells me.

Well, my little treat might be a different colour but it has the right consistency and even better lacks the sugar. After a hearty lunch today, it was just the right meal to finish the day, and so I got to eat my sweet treat!

Recipe ingredients:
200g cabbage
110g apple peeled
200g water

Instructions:
Blend all ingredients in the Thermomix on speed 8 for 20 seconds. 

PS And for anyone wondering...  This soup provided 100 calories, which was fortunate considering the meal that preceded it.

Chia Seed Gel

Sprouted seeds or legumes are often recommended as a healthy item on our plates. Soaking removes the enzyme inhibitors that would otherwise nullify some of the enzymes produced in our bodies. 

An alternative to sprouting is to make chia seed gel. Chia seeds are touted as a superfood which can be cooked, sprouted or made up into a gel. I like making the gel because it's easy to prepare and can last in my fridge for a week or more.

Recipe ingredients:
1 tbsp chia seeds
3/4 cup water

Instructions:
Mix the chia seeds and water in a container. 
The mix needs to be stirred for a few minutes to ensure the seeds don't clump together. 
Then the lid goes on and into the fridge.

The raw food movement recommends eating "live" food because the enzymes in the food are more readily available. Including chia seed gel in our meals is an easy way to get this benefit.

Raw Hummus

 

Hummus is always a pleasant addition to a nibble or a meal. This raw version based on a recipe from the book “12 Steps to Raw Foods” by Victoria Boutenko can make a nice side dish or stand as a meal on its own. It is deceptively simple to make and perfect as summer takes hold.

My first attempts to sprout chick peas always ended in failure. But then I was set straight at a demonstration by  Roar Food. Instead of rinsing twice a day as I have always done for other legumes, I needed to rinse at least 3 or 4 times a day. Just to be on the safe side, I rinse whenever I notice the jar on my sink.

Making the hummus is easy once the chick peas have been sprouted. Here is a Thermomix version of the recipe.

Recipe ingredients:
Chick peas sprouted for 1 to 2 days
Tomato
Basil and other available greens
Condiments to taste - garlic, salt, lemon juice

Instructions:

Blend all ingredients in the Thermomix on speed 4 for 15 to 30 seconds.

Food Matters

I’ve been travelling along comfortably for a while now, enjoying my breakfast of fruit with some cooked brown rice or quinoa, a large salad at lunch time with some cooked beans or chick peas, and a cooked dinner. I enjoy eating bananas as a snack, and have a vague memory of mentioning that I also enjoy a cappuccino – be it cow’s milk or alternatives such as rice or oat milk – just about every morning.

My Mum and I saw the movie Food, Inc. recently which reminded me of all the reasons that I avoid processed food, minimise the amount of animal protein in my meals, and endeavour to grow some greens and tomatoes to contribute to what I eat. There were parts of Food, Inc. that were somewhat confronting, but as I had previously watched the Fast Food Nation dvd which had similar themes, I knew what I was in for.

Then I noticed the Food Matters dvd at Wrays Organics and on the spur of the moment decided to buy it. I could be forgiven for expecting something similar to Food, Inc. or Fast Food Nation as both movies look at the food that we eat and what happens to that food before it reaches our plates.

But Food Matters is different in that it looks at how the food we eat affects our health. The dvd indicates this with the subtitle being a quote from Hippocrates: “Let thy Food be thy Medicine”. A significant part of the movie is taken up by discussing the importance of raw food, which I was more than happy to listen to after having spent a few months towards the end of last year romping through most of the recipes in Thermomix’s Rawlicious booklet.

I’ve had a lot of input since I first started playing with this little booklet. I’ve dabbled with what could be the standard raw food diet which includes nuts and seeds and even tried sprouting grains unsuccessfully. Then I moved on to the 80/10/10 diet with a high fruit focus and one meal each day including a large salad. Now I’m seeing members of my family following the Paleo diet which advocates a significant amount of animal protein along with fruit and vegetables (excluding root vegetables). I can see benefits in all these ways of eating and have started to incorporate more fish or organic meat into my diet to see if this makes any difference to my overall well-being.

I can’t help wondering why this isn’t easier. My grandmother lived till she was 90. She cooked most meals and had a few processed foods along the way in the form of shop-bought biscuits and cakes, but these foods didn’t form the major component of what she ate. It’s also possible that the ingredients in these products back when she was eating them might have been a bit more natural than what they are now.

The most significant advice I’ve heard from the FoodMatters dvd is to have 51% or more raw food at each meal. I’ve easily been doing this for my breakfast and lunch over the past six months, but have definitely failed the test at dinner time as I’ve recently become accustomed to eating my dinner cooked.

Actually, I should probably ask 51% of what! Is that 51% of the weight of the food I’m eating, or 51% of the calories? I could use this as a delaying tactic but have decided to go with the recommendation provided with the 80/10/10/diet which looks at the percentage of calories.

Most of what I have for dinner comes from the Food Connect box that I pick up each Tuesday. I believe that potatoes are the only item from Food Connect that can’t be eaten raw, so have good reason to think that it wouldn’t be that hard to meet this 51% criterion. It’s just my dinners that I need to reconsider and my cooked dinners that might be the hardest habit to change. The phrase “What to eat” has never been more pertinent.

Kale Pesto

I scored a huge bunch of kale in my Food Connect box today. Rather than risk not getting to it quickly enough and thus wasting it, I made some kale pesto from a recipe on the internet which I basically followed.

Recipe ingredients:
Clove of garlic chopped
2 cups of kale
½ cup of macadamia nuts
½ teaspoon of Himalayan Salt
2 tablespoons of olive oil

Instructions:
Process all ingredients in the Thermomix on speed 6 for 10 seconds. 

Half of this mix will supplement my lunch over the next couple of days while I have placed the other half into the freezer.

With half of the kale still waiting to be used, I will buy some pine nuts tomorrow and then make some more pesto. This time I will freeze the pesto in an ice cube tray as I have done in the past with lemon juice. Then I can pull one or two pesto cubes out at a time which will make things much easier.

If I am really on the ball tomorrow night, I’ll remember to make the pesto first and then make my dinner in the Thermomix so that my dinner will get some pesto flavour. I love getting multiple meals out of my Thermomix. It makes washing it afterwards so much more worthwhile!

Pineapple Salad

Yummm. It might seem like an unusual dinner but I had some pineapple, carrot and sweet potato that I wanted to use up before picking up my Food Connect box tomorrow.
Pineapples are very juicy. I had enjoyed half of the pineapple chopped up with my lunch and as a mid-afternoon snack. The remainder formed the basis of a chunky souped up salad comprising just three ingredients.

Recipe ingredients:
320g pineapple
210g carrot
120g sweet potato

Instructions:
Process the ingredients together in the Thermomix on speed 6 for 6 seconds.

Naturally there was some chewing involved but the sweetness and liquid nature of the pineapple made it very easy to eat. I added some chick peas just to make sure I was getting enough calories.
After having eaten almost a whole pineapple over two consecutive meals I couldn't finish off the last of the mix as the amount of pineapple I had eaten was affecting my tongue and gums. So the remainder will make it on to my lunch plate tomorrow.
Trying this combination has reminded me that I can mix just about anything together into a soup or salad. This combination would make a great side salad option in a buffet.

Raw Cauliflower and Carrot Soup

I visited the Thermomix Forum and noticed a comment about the Cream of Cauliflower soup recipe in the Rawlicious recipe booklet. I had been thinking about steaming some cauliflower for my dinner but decided instead to make a raw cauliflower and carrot soup with avocado.

 








Recipe ingredients:

160g cauliflower

100g carrot

20g olive oil

20g lemon juice – half a lemon

Dash or two of shoyu sauce

Dribble of honey

375g water

Avocado chunks

Shallots chopped

Instructions:
Add the cauliflower, carrot, olive oil, lemon juice, shoyu sauce, honey and water into the Thermomix bowl. Process for 20 seconds on speed 8.
Warm the mix at 37 degs C for 4 minutes on speed 1.
Add avocado and shallots into serving bowls and pour the mix over the top.

I tasted the mix before adding the shoyu sauce and honey and felt that the lemon had contributed too much, but after adding these extra ingredients enjoyed this soup enough to eat the second bowl that the quantities provided. 
I might leave out the lemon juice, shoyu sauce and honey next time as carrot has such a sweet taste that I don’t need these additions. It turned out to be a slightly chunky soup as I had processed the mix on speed 8 rather than 10 which I was happy with.

I’m pleased that I made this soup as I have been mulling about eating more of my food raw. After trawling through the Rawlicious recipe booklet and moving on to playing with aspects of the 80/10/10 diet, I had gone back to cooking my dinners while including a cooked grain in my breakfast and a cooked legume in my lunch.

I recently watched the “Food Matters” dvd which includes a focus on raw food. One of the speakers recommends 51% or more raw food each day saying that this quantity of raw food will mean that the body won’t react to the remaining amount of cooked food. I might already be at or above this percentage as I eat a fair amount of fruit earlier in the day. However the final comment that I noted from the dvd was that an 80% raw food diet is healthy.

Another comment that I was interested to hear was that two handfuls of raw cashews would give me the therapeutic equivalent of a dose of Prozac. I’ve never considered taking Prozac and prefer to stay away from taking heavy duty drugs. But the next time I’m feeling stressed, as I’m prone to be occasionally, I’ll dig into the cashew supply to check out this theory. Much better to eat nuts than go nuts!

Simplified Raw Soup

I’ve just had a raw meal in the form of a beetroot, corn and pumpkin raw soup. It feels like such a long time since I’ve dabbled with raw soups but I’m so pleased I have.

I know I’ve pretty much discussed raw soups in the past but I couldn’t help putting up my prescription for a pleasant tasting raw soup. It’s so simple that it could well be my shortest post. 

Recipe Ingredients: 
300g vegies/fruit
200g orange juice and/or water

Instructions:

Blend vegies/fruit with the orange juice and/or water in the Thermomix for 30 seconds on speed 8.

I think I’m right! It is my shortest post even including my non-Thermomix conversion – well, up to this point at least! I’ve often thought that a quick meeting is a good meeting and I know my brother influenced me in this thought so I’m all for providing a post that is a quick read!

But wait! I’m sure you won’t mind if I post the photo of my dinner tonight. I made it just as I mentioned above with a couple of variations...Just to be really precise which I suspect is embedded in my nature, here are the ingredients that I used.

Dinner ingredients:
60g beetroot
110g corn niblets
170g pumpkin
190g orange juice
30g water

Final instructions:
Blend all ingredients in the Thermomix bowl on speed 8 for 20 seconds.
I added a further 60g water as the soup was too thick for me and blended again on speed 8 for 10 seconds and the consistency felt right.
After plating up, I scattered some chopped shallots for taste as well as aesthetics.

Naturally the beetroot made its presence visually felt and past experience indicates that this presence will be kinaesthetically felt over the next day or two as it moves through my body. But I don’t mind as beetroot has long been recommended to me as a good source of iron which I was sometimes lacking during my earlier years.

This soup had a lovely light taste and I really enjoyed eating it, and I certainly plan on returning to raw soups in the not too distant future.

So much for the short post! I do try to write short and sweet to reduce writing and reading time. After all, reducing is the first step in that all important mantra – Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.

Sleeping Patterns; Food Enzymes

As I was still emptying my fridge of 80/10/10 non-compliant foods, I decided to conduct an experiment. With a tin of sustainably fished tuna and another of similarly fished salmon, I wanted to know if eating this fish might affect my sleep.

I decided to conduct this experiment after I had enjoyed the best sleep that I’ve had for I can’t remember how long – from 10.30pm to 6.30am where I stirred briefly but went straight back to sleep – which just happened to be the night following my last post.

The next day I ate similar food to what I had posted including some quinoa for breakfast and a cappuccino, except that my night-time salad comprised lettuce and tomatoes from my Food Connect box along with the tin of tuna. I had a fitful night’s sleep waking just after midnight and again at regular intervals after that.

The following day I ate similar food including the quinoa for breakfast and the cappuccino, but this time my night-time salad included some extra ingredients from my patio including basil, mint and parsley along with the tin of salmon. And I had a similar night’s sleep waking just after midnight and a few times afterwards.

To be fair, in the past I always enjoyed a half or a third of such tins on a meal, so perhaps what I ate each dinner was really too much for my system. But what I ate was no more than what I would have eaten if I had gone out for dinner.

Anyway, the following day I ate again in a similar way but with no fish at dinner time. My sleeping pattern that night was from 10.30pm to 4.30am and then 5.30am to 6.30am, and since then I have enjoyed a couple of nights sleep going through to 6.30am – but only after days with no animal protein. So I’m reaching the position that eating fish at night-time might affect my sleep that night. But I still need to check how eating fish earlier in the day might affect me. 

The timing of meals and eating has become another item to investigate. I have read on the internet that it’s best to finish eating by 7pm at night, but there are some people who finish by 2pm in the afternoon. As I trawl the web right now, I’m reading that 5pm is a good time too. 

I rather like the idea of finishing eating earlier in the day. I understand the concept of food needing time to move through the stomach and also that we need to finish eating at least a few hours before bedtime. So I’m working towards making my last meal for the day as early as possible and in the meantime ensure that it is earlier than 7pm.

This afternoon I’ll be collecting two boxes from Food Connect – a Family Fruit box along with a Mini Mixed box. My first order from Food Connect was the Mini Mixed box which was enough for me at the time. Since I’m now predominantly on the 80/10/10 program with its fruit focus, I believe I can handle both boxes but will use up some of the vegetables in the mixed box by making soup for my Mum. However I do wonder whether eating all this fruit is sustainable. If we all decided we wanted to eat this way then I’m sure the farmers wouldn’t be able to cope, or perhaps over time their focus would move away from other crops onto fruit. So I am mulling about how I’ll proceed into the future.

Just to make things more complicated, I’ve become fascinated with Food Enzymes. As I keep trawling the internet and the local library for information on raw food, the word “enzymes” keeps appearing, and finally I’ve found a fascinating book that can explain it all to me.

"Food enzymes for health and longevity" by Edward Howell, published in 1994 and based on a book by the same author first published in 1946, is recognised as a classic and provides ample evidence of how important the enzymes are that we are either endowed with at birth or that we assimilate when we eat raw food or take enzyme tablets.

The part that I’ve appreciated reading the most is that eating raw food is very helpful to us because after we’ve eaten some raw food the enzymes are still intact in the food and help to predigest it, thus leaving our body’s enzymes free to do other important work. However cooking food at a significant temperature destroys the food’s enzymes.

I’ve been reading the book while helping to see my Mum through withdrawal symptoms from the heavy duty drugs that she has been on for shingles. Note to self: in the future, if I am experiencing significant pain and believe I can handle the pain, don’t take heavy duty drugs as withdrawal from them can be challenging. 

My Mum went through a fasting phase because she didn’t feel like eating anything, and then she started feeling so nauseous that she needed to go into hospital. It just so happens that a section in the Food Enzymes book explains what she might have been going through. 

It seems that most people who fast go through what could be called a healing crisis where they feel nausea and vomiting. Because we eat so much cooked food, the enzymes in our bodies spend most of their time helping to digest the food we eat. When we fast, the body’s enzymes can now work on healing our body by repairing and removing diseased tissues through the various elimination means.

The book appears to me to be more oriented to medical practitioners as it discusses research conducted in the same or similar fields. However, there are sections at the beginning and end including two interview dialogues along with a summary of the salient points that helps to explain the reasoning in the book. So I’m very pleased that I borrowed the book from the library.

However it didn’t give me the definitive guide for a healthy way of eating that I’m looking for, despite being very happy on the 80/10/10 diet program, as the main recommendation for people on cooked food seems to be taking enzyme capsules. So I’ll continue trolling the web to see what other ideas might come up about what appears to be a very important topic. 

From week to week, I never quite know what little snippets of information might catch my attention and influence what and how I eat. I feel like I’m on a treasure hunt, with good health as the prize.

To be 80/10/10 or not...

Have you ever seen something that you know is really good and would provide wonderful benefits but when you looked at it some more you wonder whether it’s the best fit for you…

I’m starting to feel that way about the 80/10/10 diet. Actually, I feel funny when I write the word “diet” because this feels more like a lifestyle than a diet. While listening to the Raw Healing Patch radio show on Blog Talk Radio, I also heard them mention the word “lifestyle” as well in relation to “80/10/10”, so I’m not alone.

I’m not playing with this way of eating to lose weight as I’m slightly underweight and while some people who might be following the 80/10/10 diet aspire to be or are super-fit athletes, I don’t fit into that category either. I’ve just had a fascination with food for some time now.

What concerns me most is the amount of fruit that I need to buy to sustain this lifestyle option, and also the amount of fruit/vegetable waste going out through the general rubbish bin.

I’m eating 1.5 to 2 kgs of fruit a day along with a significant quantity of greens where I’ll blend a whole cos lettuce or some silverbeet leaves with other ingredients to make up a green juice. I’m buying extra fruit every second day if not daily just to keep myself going.

I’ve completely stymied my worm farm by feeding them way too much fruit and vegetable scraps that are taking them longer than a week to get through, so now I’m putting out my general rubbish bin much more often.

But on the positive side, I do feel really good when I am predominantly 80/10/10. Over the weekend I planted out 4 punnets of lettuce seedlings and then went back to get the same number of celery seedlings and didn’t have a problem with getting them out onto my patio in one day even though I needed to wash out 4 trays and the accompanying perlite pebbles. And then I weeded part of my backyard as well. I was a bit surprised at how much energy I had on the day.

It’s not that I can’t handle the way the diet works. I’ve always liked numbers so it’s no surprise that three weeks after I started dabbling with the 80/10/10 diet, I’m still logging my progress on the Nutridiary website.

Seven days out of the past ten, I’ve met the 80/10/10 requirement and on those days have been 79% raw or better. The remaining three days were weekend days when I was with family or friends, so perhaps this was no surprise also.

While I’m considering whether/how I’ll continue with the 80/10/10 diet, I’ve started reading another book. What feels like many years ago, I read about Food Combining and found the concept very interesting. I even had a food combining chart on my wall that my sister had given to me. But I never really took the principles on board.

Since the 80/10/10 book recommends following the food combining rules, I’ve borrowed the book “Food Combining for Health: Get Fit with Foods that Don't Fight” from the library and all of a sudden I’m starting to understand what it’s telling me, particularly since I’m going through it. This book helps to explain what happens when I break the rules, which I tend to do.

I really thought that I had given the chart away but I’ve just checked in my store room and it’s still there! This is great news as I suspect that I’ll end up with what I consider are the best bits of the 80/10/10 diet along with some concepts from the China Study book while ensuring that I follow food combining rules. This feels like I’m making it a little complex right now but I’m sure I’ll end up with something that suits me and my worm farm while being able to minimise how often my general rubbish bin goes out. I can’t wait!

The 80/10/10 Diet

I’ve almost finished reading the book “The 80/10/10 Diet” by Douglas Graham and have trialed the diet today by eating according to the 80% carbohydrate, 10% fat and 10% protein rule.

I like this way of eating. I’ve had a sweet tooth since I was a young child and I’m finding that I have no noticeable sweet cravings when I eat a significant amount of fruit. Who would have thought it would be so easy to fix that problem!

If there’s any downside it is the huge volume of food that needs to be eaten from fruit and vegetable groups in order to fulfill the 80% carbohydrate requirement. Fortunately, it makes it easier that foods that we call vegetables such as tomatoes and cucumbers are actually fruits so they and others like zucchini and squash can be eaten as often as preferred. Greens are also very important for their mineral content and I need to ensure that I have a significant amount of greens each day.

So here is what I’ve had today:-

Breakfast

5 prunes

300g pears with 105g bananas

Morning tea

Rice Milk Cappuccino

Lunch

190g pineapple, 75g tomato, 320g pears

Snack

100g bananas

Dinner

170g pineapple and 180g grapes

135g pineapple, 180g cos lettuce, 150g tomatoes and 150g capsicum

This amounts to over 2kg of food which is a phenomenal amount for me, however, I must remember that this volume is replacing the bread, cooked grains, beans and chick peas that I have been eating.

I have tallied all of this on the Nutridiary web site which tells me that that the foods that I have eaten today fall within the 80/10/10 guidelines, even including the rice milk cappuccino. However, drinking the cappuccino has meant that what I have eaten today hasn’t been entirely raw.

I do wonder how I’ll go eating this way into the longer term. This week I ordered a fruit box from Food Connect rather than a combined vegetable and fruit box, and I placed additional orders for some lettuce and tomatoes. Next week I’ll do the same again and also request some celery and cucumber. But what I receive from Food Connect won’t keep me going the whole week so either I’ll need to buy extras from organic food stores or else increase the size of the fruit box. There will be heaps more food scraps going into my worm farm and I’m wondering whether it will get swamped.

But overall I feel pretty good after a day of following the 80/10/10 diet. And being 91% raw – it’s a pity about the cappuccino! It will be interesting to see if I lose interest in this daily habit of cappuccinos as I continue playing with eating this way.

I’m having lunch with friends tomorrow and will aim to have a salad but won’t be too worried about whatever I end up eating. I still consider that I’m transitioning into this way of eating and even if I adopt it as my preferred eating regime there will always be times when I lapse. However from what I’m reading, my body will let me know what it thinks about the lapse, so perhaps it won’t happen too often.

Basil Pesto

I really enjoy getting my Food Connect box. With the vagaries of weather and other conditions on the farms, one can never be sure that the items in the box will match up with the list published on their web site. But even when it does, I still get surprised as I pull the goodies out.

Basil was on the list today and I was delighted when I saw the lovely big bunch even though I’ve been growing it on my patio over summer. You see, I’ve become so used to the cut-and-come-again approach that I’m always just cutting off leaves.

A few years back I planted basil and tomato in the same pot and then completely forgot that the basil was there. One day I noticed how prolifically it had grown but when I tried to make pesto in the Vita Mix that I had at the time, it just didn’t work. So I haven’t really bothered trying again until now.

This time around the Thermomix has helped me to produce a credible basil pesto based on a recipe from a brand new raw book I received today called “Raw Food Made Easy – for 1 or 2 people” by Jennifer Cornbleet. I didn’t have any pine nuts so I replaced it with sunflower seeds which didn’t break down as easily as the pine nuts would have. But I really enjoyed this pesto and was still licking my lips after I had washed the dishes.

I also received the book “The 80/10/10 Diet” by Dr. Douglas N. Graham and have checked to confirm my recollection that his book recommends a low-fat diet and weaning oneself off salt amongst other things including garlic. He very kindly includes an FAQ section on his website that explains his reasoning.

So three of the five ingredients of this pesto are not recommended which is really sad because it tastes so nice. I think that’s a big part of why we eat the way we do, as items like salt, garlic and oil merge together so well into an almost addictive taste. It will be interesting to see where I head as I read through the 80/10/10 book – or as some people call it, the 811 diet.

I believe I need to change what I’m doing as I have sore knuckles on my fingers and a ring that used to fit onto the middle finger has now been relegated to the index finger. This could be considered a precursor to arthritis which won’t happen to me as I’m quite happy to change what I’m doing if I need to.

I’ve decided that I’ll move towards the recommendation in the book “The China Study” to follow a whole food, low-fat, plant-based diet as a stepping stone to the 811 diet. A whole food diet excludes meat, poultry, dairy and eggs, so I am now having cappuccinos made from soy, rice or oat milk instead of cows’ milk. I still have some eggs in my fridge so once I’ve used them up then I won’t buy any more. This will only be difficult when I want to make muffins or bread but I have read about egg substitutes and will experiment with incorporating them.

In the meantime, I’ll take my time to read and consider what I’ll do about the 811 diet. The good part about all of this is that there is no timeline for change which means that I can feel my way along this path and enjoy the journey.

Raw sweet potato and apple soup

I reckon apple goes with most things in the same way that avocado merges in very nicely with soups or salads.So tonight I have made a raw sweet potato and apple soup.

Recipe Ingredients:
160g peeled sweet potato
60g apple
50g tomato
210g water 

Instructions:
Blend sweet potato, apple, tomato and water in the Thermomix on speed 8 for 30 seconds.
Dish out with a sprinkle of sesame seeds.

Later I remembered some cooked chick peas and they merged easily into the mix. The sweet potatoes contributed to a very pleasant tasting dish while the apple gave the soup a nice sweet slant. All in all, I was very happy to eat this for my dinner.

Raw Broccoli Salad with Beetroot Dip

Sometimes I feel like I’m in an episode of Ready Steady Cook. I had some broccoli, a beetroot, a tomato and some lemongrass along with other ingredients that I keep in my fridge and pantry.

Fortunately I found a Raw Broccoli Salad recipe that would fit the bill along with some raw beetroot dip made along the same lines as the beetroot hummus from earlier this month.

Recipe Ingredients:
30g pumpkin seeds
Lemon grass stalks
Small piece of ginger
Clove of garlic peeled
Sprigs of parsley and basil
2 cups broccoli florets
1 tsp cumin seeds
2 tbsp olive oil
2 lemon ice cubes from freezer 
1/2 tsp salt (optional as the salad ended up tasting too salty)
65g peeled beetroot
60g tomato
 
Instructions:
Cover pumpkin seeds with water in a sprouting jar and set it aside.

To make the broccoli salad:-
Mill the lemon grass, ginger and garlic for 15 seconds on speed 9.
Add parsley and basil and chop for 2 seconds on speed 6.

Add broccoli florets, cumin seeds, olive oil, 1 lemon ice cube and 1/2 tsp salt and chop for 4 seconds on speed 4.
Place the mix in the fridge to allow the combined ingredients to soften the broccoli.

After an hour - to make the beetroot dip:-
Rinse the pumpkin seeds and place them along with 65g peeled beetroot, 60g tomato and the second lemon juice ice cube into the Thermomix bowl and process on speed 4 for 5 to 10 seconds. 
Blend again at speed 5 or 6 if it is too chunky.

I noticed the difference between chick peas and pumpkin seeds as the pumpkin seeds kept their shape while previously the chick peas had gracefully merged into the hummus. Perhaps I need to soak the pumpkin seeds overnight rather than just for 1 hour… After tasting the dip I knew that I was quite happy with the taste of it but blending again at speed 5 and then 6 gave me what I thought was a better looking dip.

When I tasted the broccoli salad I decided that it was too salty so I combined the salad and dip together very nicely for my lunch which didn’t end up being entirely raw as I added some cooked chick peas.

I think I could safely say I’m having difficulties in letting cooked grains, beans and chick peas go. I’d like to say I’m working on it, but in the meantime would you believe I have weighed what I eat over an average day which comes in roughly at 1 kg of food, and have worked out that I can safely call myself a raw foodist – who is someone that eats 75% or more raw food - if the only cooked items in my day are the cooked grain (100g) with my breakfast, 2 mini muffins (35g) for morning tea, some cooked beans or chick peas (50g) with my lunch, and some more of the cooked beans or chick peas (50g) with my dinner. I can’t see myself managing this when I’m out for lunch or dinner, or visiting family or friends, but this is certainly do-able for the much of the time. I suppose time will tell…

Buckwheat Tabouleh and Chia Seed Gel

I already regularly sprout seeds and beans along with chick peas and I have recently become interested in soaking and sprouting grains after attending the Brisbane Organic Growers meeting earlier this month. Graham Sait from Nutri-Tech Solutions spoke on the decline in human nutrition over the past three generations. My ears perked up when he mentioned raw food and after subscribing to his newsletter read that we were supposed to eat a large percentage of raw food. It seems earlier cultures soaked or sprouted grains and he suggested we do the same to get rid of phytates and enzyme inhibitors.

So being curious about how well grains sprout, I decided to try the Buckwheat Tabouleh recipe from Thermomix’s A Taste of Vegetarian cookbook which includes buckwheat soaked overnight with tomato, cucumber, some herbs and a few extras. And then I noticed on the web that buckwheat is not a grain. But I soldiered on and after chopping for 3 seconds on speed 4 in the Thermomix and then spreading over a bed of alfalfa and lentil sprouts, the mix provided a nice light raw lunch.

The consistency of buckwheat after soaking was quite pleasant and edible and has now become a breakfast option that can be combined with some fruit. And so it made me wonder which of the other grains or rather grain equivalents might be suitable for soaking or sprouting. I have tried sprouting the occasional grain in the past and found the result to be too chewy but I’m willing to try the alternatives particularly considering my interest in raw foods.

But as I mentioned buckwheat is not a grain. Wikipedia tells me that “despite the common name and the grain-like use of the crop, buckwheat is not a cereal or grass. It is called a pseudocereal to emphasize that it is not related to wheat. ” and I have italicised this and other Wikipedia quotes in this post.

Quinoa is the same, being a grain-like crop grown primarily for its edible seeds. I currently cook quinoa to enjoy with fruit for my breakfast, but just out of curiousity I have tried soaking it to see how it turns out. What I particularly like about quinoa is that it contains a balanced set of essential amino acids for humans, making it an unusually complete protein source...unlike wheat or rice (which are low in lysine).

I decided to test Wikipedia’s suggestion that only 2–4 hours resting in a glass of clean water is enough to make quinoa sprout and release gases. I tried some soaked quinoa after 4 hours and I’m pleased to report that I could see sprouted tails on the quinoa – and I realise that it’s probably hard to see the same on the photo below after adding some chopped banana. I added some honey after taking the photo and was more than happy to finish off the dish.

Since I’ve moved off talking about grains, I can mention that I regularly make Chia Seed Gel.

Chia Seed Gel Recipe Instructions:
Mix 1 tbsp of Chia seeds with ¾ cup of water and stir for a minute or two to make sure the seeds have separated properly before storing the mix in the refrigerator.

I then use a few teaspoons of this mix each morning in my grain and fruit breakfast. I found the idea on the web and unfortunately didn’t keep the link. However, I have found a new link that explains the process here under the heading of How To Make Chia Seed Gel. I’ve also ground chia seed occasionally and have noticed that chia seed can also be sprouted.

After all of this I haven’t forgotten about my interest in working out how to successfully soak or sprout grains. I have found another web page supporting the soaking or sprouting of nuts, seeds and grains. It seems that this softens them, removes harmful enzyme inhibitors, and enhances their nutritional value prior to eating so now nuts will go into my list of things to play with.

Raw Strawberry and Cabbage Soup

This really hit the spot - a lovely cool soup at the end of a particularly hot day. It’s the night before I pick up my next Food Connect box and I had some cabbage in the fridge and a punnet of strawberries in the freezer. What better way to use them than to combine into a summer soup!

Recipe Ingredients:
200g strawberries
100g cabbage
20g mint and basil
200g water

Instructions:
Blend all ingredients together in the Thermomix on speed 8 for 20 seconds.
Sprinkle mint leaves to adorn the top.

Snake Beans; Raw Beetroot and Chocolate Pudding; Beetroot Hummus

You know, I’ve been growing beans for the past few years and while I’ve heard of snake beans, I had never seen a photo of them. So when they appeared in my Food Connect box this week I was completely bamboozled. These things looked like beans but were unlike any beans I’d ever grown or seen. So I rang Food Connect and they quickly filled me in. Now that I know what I’m working with, some sliced snake beans have contributed very nicely to my lunch-time salads.

Another item in my box this week has been a beetroot. Considering my interest in becoming more raw, I just couldn’t see my way clear to cook it. So I googled beetroot and found a recipe for raw beetroot dip that looked really nice but had a long list of ingredients. Perhaps there really is something to the popularity of the “4 Ingredients” books.

Then I remembered that I had soaked some chick peas overnight with the thought of enjoying them on my salads. Perhaps a beetroot hummus would work. I knew I had already made a raw hummus some time back and figured that it would be easy to add some beetroot to it.

But dessert was tugging at my brain cells and I kept thinking of the beetroot and chocolate puddings that I had made. So I decided to experiment but not with all of the beetroot so I sliced off a small section of the beetroot for later inclusion in the hummus. It probably goes without saying that a little bit of beetroot goes a long way.

It had been a while since I had bought chocolate, but I just happened to this morning. Even better it was Rawganic chocolate so my experiment would be completely raw.

I also knew that I needed some sort of binding agent as the beetroot and chocolate on their own would probably be too crumbly. Banana or avocado seemed like possibilities and I decided to go with banana. 

Raw Beetroot and Chocolate Pudding Recipe Ingredients:
100g peeled beetroot
30g raw chocolate
Half a banana

Instructions:
Grate beetroot in the Thermomix on speed 8 for 5 seconds, scrape down the sides and then repeat the step. 

Add raw chocolate and grate the mix on speed 8 for about 10 seconds.

Add the banana and blend it on speed 7 for 20 seconds. 
Use the remaining banana to decorate the dish.

I really enjoyed this. The texture of the beetroot and chocolate mix wasn’t smooth but quickly melted in the mouth. This will be a quick way to satisfy dessert cravings in the future and certainly goes into my list of how I can use beetroot when I receive it in the box.

So I still had the small piece of beetroot to use up in the hummus.

Beetroot Hummus Recipe Ingredients:
65g chick peas sprouted for 1 day
35g peeled beetroot
75g tomato
1 lemon juice ice cube 

Instructions:


Place the chick peas, beetroot, tomato and lemon juice ice cube into the Thermomix bowl and process on speed 4 for 5 to 10 seconds.

This all went down very well. Well, to be really honest, it wasn’t as good as the beetroot and chocolate dessert from earlier in the day but for a dinner option it certainly presented well. I tossed up adding some basil but thought that the beetroot would overshadow anything I tried to add so stayed with these basic ingredients.

I sampled the beetroot hummus on bread and with zucchini sticks, and then finished it off with some tinned fish and avocado from the fridge, enjoying it right up to the last bite.