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!

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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

Candied Ginger

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Candied Ginger

I remember I disliked my grand parents’ lollies when I was little. They used to have ginseng candies, candied ginger, herb drops, all these non-kids-friendly flavours. I couldn’t stand the smell of them. But now I’ve all grown up. Obviously my taste buds have changed (matured rather) and I really enjoy bitter, earthy, tart and astringent taste.

I had a little bag of dark ginger chocolate from Coco Black, a famous chocolate place in Melbourne, a couple of weeks ago. My obsession starts – when I like something from the restaurants or cafes or shops, I tend to find a healthier way of making it and trialing at home. I tempted to replicate those chocolate balls at home though using candied ginger bought from the supermarket seems to have heaps of sugar and preservatives in them >.< After searching online and visiting a couple of blogs I discovered it is not that hard to make sugar-free and healthy candied ginger at home. Yay! I went down to the shop this morning and got a beautiful young ginger root as big as my hand. I had a big grin on my face, so glad to find it since they sometimes have dry and tough ginger at the shops. It was so soft and juicy inside. I didn’t even have to peel the skin. So I just used the back of the knife to scrap off dirt a little and sliced them up. Put slices of ginger, water and honey (1:1 ratio) in the pot and boil for about 40 minutes. Strained them, coated with coconut flour, baked on the rack for about 20 minutes to dehydrate them. The result is amazing! mmm..the whole house smells like ginger while cooking. Little bites are chewy, gingery and  has subtle sweetness from honey. No sickening sugar taste! Awesome! Only one thing that I’m not happy about? I bought a huge ginger (about 250g) and it ended up a small handful of candied ginger as they shrink a lot. I want more!!!!

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

Grilled Eggplant

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Eggplants are very popular ingredients in Korean food. Mum used to make this little side dish – cooked strips of eggplants in soy garlic sauce. It is so simple but delicious!

Following the previous post on having colourful foods, eggplant is obviously PURPLE – powerful antioxidants. Essential phyto nutrients in eggplants improve your blood circulation and nourish your brain. On top of that, it is low in calories and high in dietary fibre. It fills you up for long and is great for your digestive tract. Ah remember, all these goodness is concentrated in the skin, so do not peel and throw it away! I never really peel my vegetables unless I absolutely have to. You can use any sorts of cooking methods with eggplants – grill, bake, roast, stew, steam.

I sliced the middle section of eggplant about 1 cm thick. I made a crisscross pattern cut on one side, smeared a teaspoon of miso paste and grilled until it’s golden brown. Then garnished with cottage cheese, pink pepper corns and fresh thyme leaves. You will fall in love with this robust grilled eggplant flavour:)

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