Pomegranate Pumpkin Quinoa Salad

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Another antioxidant rich food – Pomegranate! It’s loaded with vitamins and potassium. Researches show this power fruit buffers the effects of free radical damage, increase oxygen levels to your heart and reduce the redness of arthritis. It also reduces risk of cancers, especially prostate and breast cancer.

These juicy little guys are a great snack as it is – so yummy popping in your mouth. You can also make juice. Pomegranates are one of the few fruits where juice is as beneficial as the fruit or seeds. I recommend using on salads like me, which not only gives a lovely presentation but also provides a beautiful sweet and acidic flavour. I warn you, though, when you cut open pomegranates and take all these seeds out it will stain your fingers, clothes and kitchen bench. I was so excited about cutting and squeezing the fruit, and next thing I realised was it’s a little late to wear my apron. Oh well.. it’s fun cleaning all up after cooking too, isn’t it? >.<  To prevent all this mess, you can soak pomegranates in the bowl of water and work in the bowl, removing seeds from the flesh. All seeds will sink to the bottom of the bowl, so you need to drain well afterwards.

pomegranate salad

I used butternut pumpkin, quinoa, shredded green and purple cabbage, red onions and green salad today. It looks so vibrant and colourful!

Examples of other salads that go well with pomegranates? Think about 3 things – colours, flavour and texture.

I think it goes well with…
– roasted sweet potato, pine nuts and green salad
– prosciutto, caramelised pear, blue cheese, roasted pecan
– Mediterranean cous cous salad
– shaved fennel and orange salad
– wild rice, feta cheese and green salad
– apple, walnut and kale salad

Need protein? Try with…
– duck
– chicken
– prawns
– cheese, especially pan-fried halloumi cheese

There you are.. there is plenty to try if you didn’t know how to use pomegranates in your food. Personally I don’t think you need salad dressing here. Just season and drizzle a good quality of e.v.o.o. I’m going to add Moroccan spiced chicken breast to that salad for dinner tonight. What is your choice? x

 

Posted in: Dinner, Gluten Free, Lunch, My recipes, salads, Vegetarian

Purple Carrot Salad

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I felt like something sweet and spicy salad today and came up with this little sexy salad made of beautiful dark purple carrots. I just love the colour of purple carrots. We already know carrots are high in vitamins, especially vitamin A for your eyes, plus a good source of dietary fibre. Purple carrots have extra antioxidant power because of unique anthocyanins, which combat free radicals in our body. It tastes earthy when eaten raw but cooking them creates amazingly sweet flavour. Well steaming and quick stir-frying minimises losing all the goodness in them, but if you choose to boil, make sure cooking the whole carrots without slicing them. As I mentioned before, try different colours of foods on your plate. Why not trying purple carrots instead of their orange cousins today for extra antioxidant boost:)

I sliced 3 carrots and caramelised in a pan with a table spoon of coconut oil. Then cooked further with a knob of  grated ginger, a teaspoon of cumin, fresh thyme, sage leaves, maple syrup and a little bit of cayenne pepper for a kick. It’s so delish with tahini dressing. When you make tahini dressing, keep checking until you have a right consistency and a balance of sweet and sour flavour. I used tahini paste, apple cider vinegar and maple syrup here. It goes quite well with carrot salad.

tahini and carrots

 

Posted in: Gluten Free, Lunch, My recipes, salads, Vegetarian

Breakfast Parfait

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I am an early morning person and therefore breakfast is a must to get me going. Well believe or not, I do eat two breakfasts plus morning snack until lunch time – I know I eat a lot >.< Normally I have a big glass of lemon ginger tea with apple cider vinegar and eat a home-made GF muffin in about half an hour. I then go for a walk – love the stillness and quietness in the early morning. When I get home I take a shower and have my second breakfast, which is usually a parfait or another breakfast muffin with tea. I know our breakfast rituals are evolving nowadays. There is so much to choose from – porridge, granola, omelet, frittata, fruit salad, smoothie, eggs on toast, etc. There is a whole world of breakfast to explore. I don’t understand some people who skip breakfast because breakfast can be darn delicious and doesn’t take much time to prepare.

My latest breakfast love affair is this parfait. Be creative and have fun making tasty and lovely looking breakfast! If you are not a morning person, make it a night before and keep it in the fridge. You wouldn’t be able to wait to dig in:) For me, I put soy kefir at the bottom layer, sprinkle a teaspoon of spirulina powder, spread pureed fruit (any of your choice – kiwi, berries, banana, mango, passion fruit, etc) and top with something crunchy like buckwheat (it’s gluten free, hooray!), carob nibs and goji berries. There you are, you have yourself a perfect breakfast with no time at all. If you add honey or maple syrup on top it could also become the perfect dessert. I don’t have to go through nutritional values here. You know already it is good for you!

Food blog17

Posted in: Breakfast, Gluten Free, My recipes, Snack, Vegetarian \ Tagged: ,

Raw Vegan Berry Cheesecake

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I’m a huge fan of berries. They are such a delicious little treat and also full of antioxidants. Antioxidants neutralise free radicals, slow oxidation process and prevent the free radical damage. Free radicals are nasty guys that come from both metabolism and environment such as pollution, radiation and cigarette smoke. These free radicals are very unstable attacking normal cells in our body, which have been linked to heart disease and certain cancers. The damage also accumulates with age. A little scary? Don’t worry! Our body has a defense system of antioxidants to prevent free radical damage. Plant foods are rich sources of antioxidants, most abundant in fruits and vegetables as well as other foods including nuts and whole grains. There is a huge range of antioxidants supplements out there, but not as good as naturally occurring antioxidants in foods. So whole foods, fruits and vegetables do the trick!

Just in case you are wondering, examples of dietary antioxidants are
– orange or yellow pigmented fruits and vegetables: carrots, sweet potatoes, apricot, rock melon
– dark coloured fruits and berries- citrus fruits
– garlic and onions
– broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts
– soy products and other legumes
– tea and red wine

My favorite on the list is berries. I don’t know if you’ve heard of Maqui berries. It’s a dark purple berry wild harvested in Southern Chile and considered the highest oxidant fruit on the planet. You can purchase certified organic freeze dried Maqui berry at the local health food store or on-line. If you don’t have powder, just use any berries either fresh or frozen. I know “Superfood” is a big trend at the moment, but I believe that as long as you have a well-balanced diet including whole foods, fruits and vegetables, you don’t need to spend fortune on supplements just because everyone does it.

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It has been so hot in Perth. Almost 40 degrees everyday this week! I know we all feel like a bowl of cool ice cream or something naughty for dessert in this heat. I think I’ve found a perfect hot weather dessert to substitute that. Simple ingredients, no oven required and very little time to put together! Perfect!

To make two little raw berry cheesecakes

50g soaked raw cashew nuts
half block of tofu
sweetener of your choice – agave syrup, honey, maple syrup, etc anything you have in your pantry
a teaspoon of vanilla extract
a table spoon of coconut oil
a teaspoon of Maqui berry powder – use fresh or frozen berries if you don’t have it
blanched almonds and handful of dates to make a base
two food rings to mold the cakes

Blend blanched almonds and dates until it becomes a paste (it might take about 5-10 minutes, natural fat comes out of almonds and it gets nut butter texture). Press down firmly at the bottom of food rings to make a base. To make filling, blend all ingredients until it gets soft. Put the mixture on the almond base. Keep in the fridge for a few hours to set. Take the cakes out of the rings, garnish with berries on top and enjoy every mouthful:)

Posted in: Dessert, Gluten Free, My recipes, Snack, Vegetarian \ Tagged: , ,

A Bowl of Goodness

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It’s January. Everyone is talking about New Year’s resolutions, which of course include words like “diet”, “cleansing”, “getting into size6”. As a salad person, it is a shame to see people associate it with “skinny” food. Well I think it deserves more culinary attention than that. Vegetables are satisfying super healthy food that offers us a variety of nutrition, texture and flavour. Of course, just eating veggies without sufficient protein and fat will cause an imbalance in nutrition and make you feel hungry later. You don’t have to starve yourself and chew on celery to lose weight. It’s all about making little changes without killing the enjoyment. The key to health is home cooking, moderation and regular physical activities/ exercise. Enjoy your life and don’t be too harsh on yourselves:)

You need to make your food interesting for our every day enjoyment of eating. Nourish your senses! Think about flavour when savouring a mouthful (sweet, sour, salty), texture (crunchy, creamy, crisp, juicy), and nutrition (a balance of carbs, protein and fat). Add nuts and seeds to your salad for crunchiness. Need protein? Add any kind of meat, fish or tofu to your bowl. Sweet tooth? No problem. Add candied nuts, chopped dried fruits or roasted root vegetables, which has natural sweetness in them. See they can satisfy you as well as give you the requisite health benefits. Still not sure? Do your research or even ask me:) I get so excited just talking about it.

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My lunch is usually in a bowl. It is easy to prepare for a single person and means no dishes 🙂

To make this quinoa and veggie salad, I just take out whatever leftover I have in the fridge – butternut pumpkin, eggplant, sage, basil and quinoa. Simply cook them up and put in a bowl. A trick is to cook quinoa in a pot and add veggies towards the end. Then they get beautifully steamed and again no additional dishes. I add a miso dressing for extra flavour and healthy fat.

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Another example of salad bowl is Salad Niçoise with tuna. I think it is a great emergency meal when you don’t have time to go down to the shops or have no time to cook. There is not much cooking process involved in this dish except boiling egg and potato. Put together semi boiled egg, fresh or canned tuna, boiled potato, olives, anchovies and green beans on a bed of green salad. Dress with mustard vinaigrette.

Posted in: Dinner, Gluten Free, My recipes, salads, Vegetarian