Winter Kale Salad

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winter kale saladIt is quite challenging to have raw food in chilly season and all you want is a bowl of soup. Both raw and cooked meals are good, but I think you have more options to make winter salads interesting with raw veggies and fruits in season. Not only that, more living enzymes, pectin and fibre from fresh raw salads are great help for your digestion. Adding satisfying sweet fruits also helps to cut down cravings for sweets, thanks to the natural sweetness. So how do I do it? I mix shredded raw winter greens with crispy apple and sweet persimmon. I used massaged kale today. All you have to do is wash, shred the kale leaves and give a little love with a sprinkle of salt and vinegar – massage gently until soft and tender. This fresh & nutritious bowl of delicious is jazzed up with a handful of toasted pepitas and sprouts and rounded with maple-mustard-maple dressing. Viola. Your newest favorite winter salad done!
winter kale salad1Ingredients

1 cup of kale leaves
1 persimmon
1/2 granny smith apple
a handful of roasted pepitas
a handful of mixed sprouts
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp maple syrup
1 tsp white wine vinegar
1 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Chop the kale leaves into bite sizes and gently massage with a sprinkle of salt and a dash of vinegar. Mix massaged kale with sliced apple and persimmon, pepitas and mixed sprouts. To make a dressing, whisk Dijon mustard, maple syrup, vinegar, oil, salt and pepper in a bowl. Use half of the dressing to toss the salad and the rest to drizzle on top before serve.

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

Raw Zucchini Seaweed Noodles

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Zucchini Noodles1Noodles are often extremely refined and stripped of nutrients compared to their whole-grain counterparts. Zucchini, carrot, sweet potato and squash can be transformed to noodles and can be eaten raw, steamed or lightly sautéed. By eating a diet that dominates in raw food you maximise the possible nutrients you absorb as heat can destroy many nutrients. Raw fruits and veggies also contain enzymes and helps to keep proper Ph level, giving you alkalising and detoxifying effect. Try to include more raw foods in your diet. It will give you more energy and clear mind 🙂 Here is some tips on what you need to focus on in your diet at different ages. Hope it helps x

  • 20’s: Make sure you have some good quality protein such as fish, eggs, cheese, tofu or meat with each meal. Protein keeps your blood sugar levels stable and prevents dips in energy.
  • 30’s: Eat more broccoli, cauliflower & kale. They contain constituents known as glucosinolates, which are a group a class of phytochemicals that many believe may reduce the risk of breast, lung and colorectal cancer.
  • 40’s: Eat some fresh berries. Berries are rich in antioxidants that help to protect against the damaging effects of free radicals that accelerate ageing.
  • 50’s and more: Pre & post menopause make sure you include lots of calcium rich foods in your diet to help prevent bone loss due to declining levels of oestrogen in the body. Make sure that as well as dairy you do include other calcium rich foods such as almonds, dark green leafy veggies, tinned salmon, sardines and tahini.

Zucchini NoodlesIngredients

1 zucchini
1 cup of dried seaweed
a bunch of coriander

For dressing
1/2 tsp of turmeric
1 tsp of cardamom
1/2 tsp of cayenne pepper
1 tsp of apple cider vinegar
a squeeze of lemon
1 tsp of maple syrup
1 tsp of e.v.o.o
salt and pepper to taste

Wash the zucchini and make the pasta using spiral vegetable cutter or a vegetable peeler. Place in a large mixing bowl. – See more at: http://passionaltelyraw.blogspot.com.au/2013/09/raw-zucchini-pasta-with-cilantro-cedar.html#sthash.tskAxg7c.dpuf

Wash the zucchini and make noodles with a vegetable peeler or spiraliser. Soak the dried seaweed in warm water for 30 minutes, rinse, drain and roughly chop. Wash the coriander and roughly chop. For dressing, mix all dressing ingredients in a small bowl and stir well. Add all ingredients into a large mixing bowl and toss in a dressing. I find it is best to make this salad an hour before serve so that the resting time allows to develop more flavour. I like my dressing to be refreshing and simple here, but if you feel like something creamy, you can use cashew cream, avocado or tahini dressing.

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

Raw Green Tea Balls

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Raw Green Tea BallsI’m sure we all get cravings time to time. There are a few factors that cause food cravings such as hormones, stress, boredom, nutrition deficiency, etc. The foods we eat also affect a massive effect on our system. So it could easily go wrong and cause a vicious cycle if we don’t control food cravings. For example, you feel like something sweet. You reach for chocolate or ice cream. You feel good while eating it. Your body releases serotonin, happy hormones, and also your blood sugar level pikes. Then half an hour later, you feel guilty of eating and more stressed. Serotonin wears out and blood sugar level drops, too. You get more cravings. Sounds familiar? Deficiency in the vitamins and minerals can also trigger cravings. For example, you feel like chocolate again. Craving for sweets like chocolate means your body needs magnesium which is abundant in nuts, seeds and legumes. So eating those instead chocolate actually helps to keep the cravings under control. I will list of what your body tells you and actually needs.

  • Salty food: Chloride e.g. fish, celery, kelp
  • Sweets: chromium, phosphorus, sulphur, tryptophan e.g. broccoli, chicken, liver, turkey, collard, green veggies, nuts, fruits
  • Chocolate: magnesium e.g. nuts, seeds, legumes
  • Fatty food: calcium e.g. dairy, sesame seeds, kale, broccoli
  • Carbs: protein e.g. fish, beans, meet, nuts, eggs
  • Tea or coffee: phosphorous and iron e.g. green tea
  • Fizzy drinks: calcium e.g. milk, green veggies, sesame seeds, cheese
  • Curry: zinc e.g. seafood, yogurt, milk, cheese

So next time, when you get cravings, listen to what your body tells you and needs. Also have a glass of water to see if you are really hungry and have healthy snacks between the meals so that your blood sugar level is stable throughout the day. When you have a piece of chocolate, don’t stress. Choose a good quality dark chocolate and enjoy every mouthful and flavour. Be happy. Life is too short to blame yourself eating a piece of chocolate!

I never run out of these little snack balls in my fridge. I’ve been experimenting with flavour combinations. Banana-coconut, avocado-cacao, prune-carob, pumpkin-chai, apricot-coconut. They are all yum, but this one! I loved subtle green tea flavour when you put it in your mouth and then you get a chewy, dark, chocolatey and nutty goodness. They look so pretty in green, too. Let me warn you, it is so addictive!

Ingredients

1 cup of mixed nuts, soaked
5 Medjool dates
1 tsp of cacao or carob powder
1 tbsp coconut oil, melted
1/4 cup maple syrup or honey
1 tbsp chia seeds
a pinch of Himalayan salt
1 tsp of vanilla bean powder
1 tbsp of matcha powder to roll

Put all ingredients except matcha powder in a food processor. Blend until you get a dough consistency. If the mixture is too dry, add more dates or a bit of water. If too wet, add a teaspoon of almond meal or flaxseed meal. Chill the mixture in the fridge for about an hour. Once it is set, shape into little balls and roll on match powder. Keep them in an air-tight container in the fridge or freezer.

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

GF Pumpkin Gnocchi with Sage and Feta

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Pumpkin GnocchiI’ve tried to make gnocchi a number of times. It is one of those dishes that can easily go wrong. When you cook them in a boiling water, it can go mushy and clumpy – disaster! I asked Daniel to make gnocchi for Valentine’s day a few years ago. I didn’t even go close to the kitchen that day, giving him a full responsibility. Yep, he used self-raising flour and gnocchi pillows blew up in a boiling water. Massive failure! We didn’t end up eating gnocchi that day. It made me laugh and that’s probably his last time he cooked for me. Kitchen is my area now.

Pumpkin Gnocchi1Ingredients

70g pumpkin pureed
100g buckwheat flour
50g rice flour
1/2 tsp of nutmeg
1 egg
a pinch of salt
1 tbsp of olive oil
1 tsp of butter
1/2 tsp of garlic
a bunch of sage
100g feta cheese
salt and pepper to taste

Puree cooked pumpkin until there is no lumps. Add egg, flour, nutmeg and salt into the pumpkin puree, stir to combine gently, cover it up and rest for 10-15 minutes. Then place the mixture on a floured surface and roll the dough into a long sausage and cut into bite sizes. Gently press each gnocchi with the back of the fork. Cook gnocchi in a boiling salted water until they rise to the surface and then quickly transfer them to cool water. Heat garlic, olive oil and butter in a large pan over medium heat and add drained gnocchi and sage into a pan and cook until golden brown. Season with salt and pepper. Deglaze the pan with a squeeze of lemon and transfer to a serving plate. Garnish with crispy sage leaves and crumbled feta cheese.

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

Raw Caulisotto with Asparagus

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On the road to good health, we are bombarded by so much information and way too many choices these days – Mediterranean diet, Atkins diet, blood type diet, cavemen diet, paleo diet, south beach diet, GI diet, juice cleansing diet, etc. Oh my god. Do you even know what exactly each one is? People seem to just follow each other or media as if you feel better in yourself when you belong to “something” diet group. Sure, I understand you are trying to lose weight or get healthy, then you can exchange some information and get support from each other to get you going. But is it the right information? are you sure it works for your body? It makes me upset when I see people go through fad diets for a short time which put so much pressure on our body and soul. It is exhausting. Please stop comparing each other. Focus on yourself more and listen to your body. Your body knows exactly what you need. For example, if you are too tired and lack of energy on a vegetarian diet, you don’t have to push yourself. It is okay to eat meat or dairy. On my blog, I put raw and vegetarian recipes, but I’m not telling you to cook what I cook, eat what I eat and do what I do here. I hope I’m not sending wrong messages to you. Choice is all yours. Find what really works for you and feel comfortable with so that you can stick to it for a long time (or lifetime). I’m not a 100% raw foodie. I eat cooked food too about 10-20% of the time, but cooked in a right way – steaming, grilling, lightly stir-frying and pan-frying to not lose nutrition. I think you get benefits from both worlds by eating both the raw and cooked foods.
caulisottoNow, this recipe! I’ve been on a cauliflower kick recently. Why not making a risotto with cauliflower “rice”? Good thing about this recipe is that not only do you get better nutrition from raw cauliflower than from arborio (risotto) rice but also it is a fail proof. There is no stirring or standing next to the stove for half an hour here, like conventional risotto recipe. It leaves you feel light, healthy and satisfied after eating, not heavy and groggy. Don’t worry, yogurt and nutritional yeast replicates a nice creamy and cheesy flavour. Give it a go and tell me what you think x
caulisotto1Ingredients (serves 2)

2 cups of grated cauliflower florets
1 bunch of asparagus
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp minced garlic
1/2 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tbsp thick Greek yogurt
2 tbsp nutritional yeast
zest and juice of 1/2 lemon
a pinch of Himalayan salt
pepper to taste
1 tsp olive oil
parsley for garnish

Add grated cauliflower and chopped asparagus in a large bowl. To make dressing, mix all the other ingredients in a separate bowl. Pour the dressing into the bowl and stir to combine. Spread evenly on a baking paper. Put it in the 100 degree oven for about 1 hour, stirring about halfway. Take it out of the even, stir well and transfer to a serving bowl. Season with pepper, drizzle olive oil and garnish with parsley.

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