I never used passion fruit before, and I must admit we ended up with some hard seeds in the mix, but noone seemed to mind. The freezies were delicious. The recipe? Well, it couldn’t be simpler. I got it from Karen Knowler, the Raw Food Coach simply by signing up for her new free eZine. Karen is launching a new website, and she is giving away great things for free. (I especially like her free teleseminars.) The recipe comes from Karen’s “Go Raw for a Day” e-book, complete with shopping lists and recipes for two days “in a raw”. I followed menu 1 and it was amazing. Not only is everything on the menu easy to make, but my two little munchkins, my husband, and my mother-in-law (who is visiting with us) loved each and every one of my creations. I call that success! I’ll just give you an idea of what else from Karen’s e-book and was un-cooking in my kitchen, and then I’ll get to the recipe for the Raspberry Passion Freezies.
Mango and spinach smoothie
Veggie-nut burgers and salad (My burgers ended up as veggie nut balls, somehow it seemed easier to serve, and I had no dehydrator yet at the time – now I do. I got an Excalibur, more on that later.)
Marinated veggies with nut cheese
and last but not least the Raspberry Passion Pudding (Which in my case ended up as Raspberry Passion Freezies, same recipe though)
Now that you have read this far you deserve the recipe (and if I was able to awaken your curiosity, sign up for Karen’s eZine and get the free e-book! Just click on this link: The 7 Steps to Going and Staying Raw and then go to the Free Resources section on the left hand side.)
Raspberry Passion Freezies
Ingredients:
3 cups frozen raspberries
1 passion fruit (cut in half and squeeze out seeds, discard shell)
1 mango, peeled and pitted (or use frozen mango, if you cannot find fresh ones)
Preparation:
Place the prepared fresh fruit in the blender first, then add frozen raspberries. (If you are using frozen mangos as well, it is a good idea to let them defrost just a bit, otherwise you may have to add some water to get things blending – unless of course you own a Vitamix, which I unfortunately don’t at the moment.)
Pour into freezie moulds, making sure you leave about 12 mm empty form the top. As the mixture freezes it will expand.
Magazine Mondays! I found this idea on Ivonne’s blog Cream Puffs in Vencie and I immediately took to the idea. I too have lots of magazines, with recipes patiently waiting to be made… See if I can make this a habit? For my first Magazine Monday recipe I chose a quick and easy one from Viva (Vol. 6, no. 2), and here is what happened…
The original recipe is as follows (but I did end up changing it around a bit):
Ingredients:
3 small and ripe Italian tomatoes
1/2 cup (125ml) olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp (5ml) orange juice
1 spring coriander
1 spring wild purple sage
2 wild camomille leaves
1 spring parsley leaves
1 spring wild thyme
3 tbsp (45ml) soft goat cheese
rind of 1/4 orange
Preparation:
Cut the top off the tomatoes and empty them with a melon baller.
Place them in a medium-size oven-safe pan and pour the oil over them. Preheat oven to 340°F (170°C) and bake for 10 minutes.
In a mixing bowl, combine the remaining ingredients, except the orange rind.
Remove tomatoes and allow to cool for 10 minutes. With a pastry pouch stuff the tomatoes with the cheese and herb mix. Top with the orange rind.
So what’s wrong with this recipe? Well, for one thing they forgot to mention that you have to put the tomatoes back into the oven once you filled them with the goat cheese for another 10-15 minutes. I also find the olive oil way too much! Then Gerard, my friend from IHN( an executive chef from France by the way) would say, the list of ingredients should be in order of importance, with goat cheese right after the tomatoes on top of the list – but that’s just a minor detail.
I found it a bit impractical to get one spring or leaf of each herb. I do grow some of my own herbs in pots, so I just picked some of what I had and used it instead of the ones in the recipe. I figured parsley, chives, oregano and sage would be a good combination to try. I used lots of parsley and chives, and just a bit of oregano and sage, and the result was quite tasty. So I encourage everyone to experiment with their combination of herbs.
I used goat feta, and I needed more orange juice to make it creamier.
Oh, and don’t worry if you don’t have a melon baller, or a pastry pouch – just use a spoon.
Overall, I am glad I found this recipe, with a few changes it makes for a nice vegetarian appetizer.
Not too long ago I was reading Sarah Britton’s post “Totally Wild Leek Pesto”, envying her for the chance to forage for her own food. Sarah’s blog, My New Roots, by the way is one of my favourite food blogs. I wish I could do what she is doing, I thought – but I have no idea how to tell wild leeks apart from the rest of the vegetation, and I don’t even know if they grow here in Ontario.
However my wish for foraging was granted. I was riding my bike home after teaching my What’s for Dinner Cooking Class at Loblaws when I noticed a wild blackberry patch. My first thought was: The kids will love this! And they did. After school I asked them if they wanted to go berry picking. Getting them to hop onto their bikes (and get their exercise) has never been easier. They were ready in minutes. We had a fun-filled afternoon picking berries, and then I extended the fun by making crepes for our after dinner treat. “Yummy!” said the boys.
Here is how to make the Crêpes:
Ingredients:
1 cup buckwheat
1 cup quinoa
1 ripe banana
4-6 T shredded coconut
3 cups water
Preparation:
Soak grains separately for a couple of hours (or overnight if you are so inclined)
Discard soaking water and wash.
Place all ingredients in a blender.
Blend until you get a smooth batter. If it is too thick add more water.
Bake slowly on a dry surface (for this I use my titanium frying pan).
Before you roll them up add some flax-maple syrup (equal portions of flax oil and maple syrup), wild blackberries (or any other berries), and sprinkle some hemp hearts on top.
As a nutritionist and a mother of a 6 and a 4 year old I was thrilled to find out about Real Food for Real Kids, a catering company providing healthy meals to daycare centres and schools in the GTA. Pizza days are a constant issue for me. How do I make sure my kids don’t feel left out, yet get something healthier than average? How do I provide a gluten and dairy free pizza for Bence, who has allergies? You can imagine my excitement when I read an article in the Booster form the Mississauga News (June 10, 2010) praising an initiative taken by about 25 Mississauga daycares to bring farm-fresh foods to toddlers, preschoolers, and kindergarten students. The company providing the meals is called Real Food for Real Kids. I immediately checked out their website, here it is, check it out: www.rfrk.com. I definitely liked what I saw. They make most of their meals form fresh ingredients, no artificial colouring, no chemical preservatives, no synthetic ingredients on their menu. No factory farmed anything. They make sure that the quality of the few things they outsource is as high as their standards. That is exactly what I want for my kids. The more I kept looking the more I was sold on their services. They have a “Real Food Lunch Club” for elementary schools, and it is not just about serving healthy food. Educating the children to make good food choices is part of the deal, and the children are asked to bring their own reusable plates, so teaching them to preserve the environment is also on the agenda. They have vegetarian options, but if you are not vegetarian rest assured, the beef they use comes form pasture fed cattle with no antibiotics – truly that is the best that is out there. Now for Bence, I found out that they also provide gluten-free goods. I’m not sure about the dairy-free bit, I’ll have to dig a little deeper still to find out, but I had the impression that was possible too. What’s more, their prices are excellent. So if you are thinking what I’m thinking, contact Kristen Schroeder at Real Food for Real Kids to find out how to bring truly nutritious and delicious food to your kids’ school.
For light sauteing, baking, may want to add a bit of water for steam sauteing
For higer heat and longer cooking
Buy organic, cold-pressed, unrefined oils and store them properly.
Coconut oil, ghee, olive oil can be stored in a dark, cool cupboard. (Not too close to the stove.)
Store all other oils in the fridge. Flaxseed oil can be stored in the freezer to preserve its freshness for a longer time.
When buying butter (as with anything else) read the label. If it contains anything other than milk ingredients do not buy it.
Rancid oils have a scratchy, bitter, fishy or paint-like taste, and may have an unpleasant odour. When oils turn rancid the byproducts are toxic, so throw them out.
Avoid highly refined and processed oils usually sold in supermarkets in plastic bottles (such as canola, and corn oils).
When liquid fats are turned into solid (margarine, vegetable shortening) trans-fats are produced. Trans-fats are also present in restaurant fried foods, junk food, packaged baked goods, some crackers and most processed foods. Avoid all of these.
If you are attempting to reverse a serious health condition by natural means frying and deep-frying should be completely avoided.
* Unless you are certain that grapeseed oil comes form an organic source, and is not refined, do not use it. Commercially grown grapes are heavily sprayed with chemicals, which concentrate in the seeds.
For more information on what makes oils healthy or unhealthy, and how to use them in your cooking see these great books:
Here I am concocting something new again. I love the result, but it got thumbs down form my two little taste testers (if you haven’t met them yet, let me introduce Kristof and Bence, my little chef helpers), and even my husband, who by now is used to getting served greens in every imaginable way, found this soup too green. So if you are not a watercress lover (perhaps you have never tried it) I recommend decreasing the amount in the following recipe. You could use 1/2 cup or even less until you acquire a taste for this peppery tasting leafy green. And if you cannot get your significant other to eat it, maybe this little tidbit will help: Watercress is considered to be an aphrodisiac by many. In Crete ancient recipes are handed down from generation to generation, and folklore form Hempshire, England also confirms this belief.
If you are a lover of watercress, try growing it yourself. It is really simple. Just buy a bunch, pick the healthiest ones, and carefully plant them in a glass bowl or jar filled with pebbles and water. Keep watering it with spring water and you’ll have plenty of watercress for the next couple of months (or so they say, I myself am just starting to experiment with this). Do not allow the plant to flower! If it does the leaves become bitter. Another way of growing watercress is to plant it in a pot and to place the pot in a container that is half filled with water. I’m going to try both methods.
In Praise of Watercress
Watercress is a sharp and peppery tasting cruciferous vegetable. By weight it contains more vitamin C than oranges, more calcium than milk and more absorbable iron than spinach. You may come across many “Top 10 Superfoods” lists, with different items on each. My top ten definitely includes watercress. Its health benefits are many:
provides protection for the eyes (contains lutein and zeaxanthine, two antioxidants needed for the lens and retina)
provides nutrients for strong, healthy hair and nails (iron, zinc, vitamin A)
contains vitamins that help keep the skin supple and smooth (vitamins A and C)
helps thyroid function (contains iodine)
helps build strong, healthy bones (contains Calcium, Magnesium, Manganese, and vitamins A, C, and K)
helps boost the immunesystem (contains Vitamin B6, needed for antibodies; vitamins C and E, which are antioxidants that provide protection form free radical damage; and vitamin A, which enhances white blood cell function and the resistance to infections and carcinogens; glucosinolates, which are anti-carcinogens)
boosts the detoxification function of the liver (thanks to the already mentioned glucosinolates)
helps eliminate anaemia by helping to make healthy red blood cells (contains iron, folic acid, and vitamin B6; its vitamin C content helps absorb its non-haem (plant source) iron)
helps eliminate bleeding gums (chew on raw watercress)
Tidbits about Mushrooms
Mushrooms are low in fats and carbohydrates, have no cholesterol and are a good source of vitamins, minerals and anti-oxidants, with no additives.
There are more than 100 mushroom farms in Canada. 50% of mushrooms produced come form Ontario, 35% form British Columbia, the rest from the Praries, Quebec and the Maritimes.
Careful with canned/processed mushrooms though – there is a good chance that they are not local. (I would use fresh anyway, so much better for you!) Canada exports 36,300 tonnes of fresh mushrooms to the United States, and imports 20,600 tonnes of canned/processed mushrooms, mostly form China. (Do you see the discrepancy here?)
To clean mushrooms just wipe with a damp cloth or soft brush. The specks on the mushroom come form peat moss from the growing beds, and are absolutely harmless.
Crimini mushrooms make a great substitute for white mushrooms, with higher nutrient content. They can be eaten raw or cooked. Great in salads, soups and entrées. They have a meaty and earthy flavour, more intense than that of white mushrooms.
Oyster mushrooms are also suitable for both raw and cooked dishes. They have a delicate, mild flavour with a velvety texture.
Raw Watercress Mushroom Soup – the Recipe
Ingredients
2 cups cashew milk
2 cloves of garlic
3 cups of mushrooms, diced (try crimini or oyster mushrooms)
2 cups watercress
1 tbsp Tamari
1/3 cup lemon juice
sea salt to taste
fresh oregano (or your herb of choice)
pinch of cayenne pepper
extra mushrooms diced, and green onions chopped for garnish
Preparation
To make cashew milk, soak cashews for minimum one hour. Drain, rinse, and place in blender. Add 2 cups of water and blend until smooth. (Required time will vary depending on the kind of blender you have.)
Add all other ingredients to blender with the exception of the garnish.
Blend until creamy.
At this point you could lightly worm up the soup in a pot or double boiler, but in order to preserve nutrients and enzymes make sure it does not go above 118°F.
Serve, top with garnish, and enjoy!
web references:
www.watercress.co.uk
www.mushrooms.ca
Kristof and Bence made these super delicious, super easy raw walnut raisin cookies for Mother’s Day. I had to help them of course. It was a lot of fun, and we made a video too. (They were so sweet, trying to do everything right for the video! But when I turned it off at the end, they ate half of the cookies before offering me any!) I am just having technical difficulties uploading it. And now the boys want to have their own cooking class, just like mommy. So watch out, I might just let them go ahead with their project, and include them on my next cooking class schedule! Maybe a 45 minute parent and tot class. Wouldn’t that be a great way to have fun with your child, and teach them a bit about nutrition as well? What do you think?
Once upon a time, not so long ago we have been told by respectable nutritionists that agave nectar is a healthy sweetener, and it even has the advantage of being low on the glycemic index. Then there was a controversy, and we no longer trusted agave, but we did not quite know why. I did my research on the Internet, and some of the sources I consider reliable, still contradict each other. (If you want to do your own research I provided some web references at the end of this post.) So what is it that we need to know, to make an informed decision:
According to David Wolfe, who probably does not need to be introduced, but just in case you don’t happen to know him, he is considered one of the world’s top authorities on natural health, beauty nutrition, herbalism, chocolate, and organic superfoods, author of many books such as Superfoods: The Food and Medicine of the Future and The Raw Transformation: Energizing Your Life with Living Foods…. so as I was saying, according to David Wolfe agave is processed at about 140 degrees (raw foods are not heated above 118 degrees). Therefore agave is not raw, as labels often claim. Dr Mercola on the other hand says that many varieties are processed under 118 degrees. Dr Mercola is another name that you must know, an osteopathic physician whose passion is to transform the traditional medical paradigm in the United States, and whose website is among the top 10 sites on health… David Wolfe and Dr Mercola both agree that most agave nectars are chemically processed.
Agave nectar is very high in fructose, and several sources, including David Wofle refer to tests by Dr Gabriel Cousens showing that agave nectar raises blood sugar just like any other sugar does. (I was unable to find any references as to where Dr Cousens’ findings are published, it may be in one of his books. (Oh, and in case Dr Cousens’ name does not ring a bell, he is a holistic physician, medical researcher, world-recognized live-food nutritionist, psychiatrist, family therapist, homeopath, Rabbi, acupuncturist, Ayurvedic practitioner, expert on green juice spiritual fasting and detoxification fasting, ecological leader, Reiki master. Some of his books include:There Is a Cure for Diabetes: The Tree of Life 21-Day+ Program
and Rainbow Green Live-Food Cuisine) Dr Mercola and David Wolfe agree on the detrimental effects of free fructose on health (free fructose is the kind found in most agave nectars and in high fructose corn syrup). Just like glucose and sucrose, fructose feeds candida and cancer cells. (Natural fructose in fruits and honey is bound to other sugars and is therefore less glycemic and more natural than free fructose.) Here is a quote on fructose from Andreas Moritz the author of Timeless Secrets of Health and Rejuvenation: “Since the fructose in corn syrup does neither stimulate insulin secretion nor reduce the hunger hormone ghrelin, you will continue to feel hungry while the body converts the fructose into fat. The resulting obesity increases the risk of diabetes and other diseases.
Not all agave syrups are created equal. If you want to continue using agave David Wolfe recommends certified organic clear agave form Ultimate Superfoods. They claim that their agave syrup contains only 48-49% fructose and between 4.9 and 8.4% glucose. (Fructose content of many other agave nectars can be as high as 70 to 97%.)
“Right now, I can confidently say there is a lot of fraud in the agave industry” – says Mike Adams, the Health Ranger (who is a holistic nutritionist by the way). Several sources, including David Wolfe say that some companies add high fructose corn syrup to their agave products to decrease cost (but they forget to mention this on the label).
So what is my conclusion. Just the fact that a product label may be misleading is enough to turn me off, and the potential risks associated with agave cannot be overlooked. I don’t need more chemicals in my diet, I am trying hard enough to avoid them in this insane world of ours. There are better alternatives to agave, and frankly, I did quite well without it for most of my life. So I am not going to buy agave any more. As to the little bit still left in my bottle, I will most likely pour it down the drain.
I often need a quick and easy recipe, but I also have to know that it is not only delicious, but also nutritious. Here is one that meets all of the above criteria. Hope you’ll like it as much as I do.
Ingredients
3 cups fresh or frozen green beans
1 cup sliced fennel bulb
1 bunch of scallions, chopped
2 cups of cherry tomatoes
2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil or flax oil
Salt to taste (I use Herbamare, an aromatic sea salt with a blend of organic celery, leek, watercress, onions, chives, parsley, lovage, garlic, basil, marjoram, rosemary, thyme, and kelp)
A handful of chopped parsley or cilantro
Preparation
Slice fennel.
Bring water to a boil in a steamer with a tight fitting lid.
Steam beans for 5 minutes, than add fennel and steam together for another 5 minutes, or until beans are tender.
Meanwhile chop scallions, parsley and cut cherry tomatoes in half.
When beans and the fennel are ready drain well so that any excess water does not dilute taste.
Let cool, then add scallions and cherry tomatoes.
Toss with rest of ingredients, and enjoy!
Served with quinoa on the side this makes a perfect light meal for the spring.
I never used passion fruit before, and I must admit we ended up with some hard seeds in the mix, but noone seemed to mind. The freezies were delicious. The recipe? Well, it couldn’t be simpler. I got it from Karen Knowler, the Raw Food Coach simply by signing up for her new free eZine. Karen is launching a new website, and she is giving away great things for free. (I especially like her free teleseminars.) The recipe comes from Karen’s “Go Raw for a Day” e-book, complete with shopping lists and recipes for two days “in a raw”. I followed menu 1 and it was amazing. Not only is everything on the menu easy to make, but my two little munchkins, my husband, and my mother-in-law (who is visiting with us) loved each and every one of my creations. I call that success! I’ll just give you an idea of what else from Karen’s e-book and was un-cooking in my kitchen, and then I’ll get to the recipe for the Raspberry Passion Freezies.
and 
…. so as I was saying, according to David Wolfe agave is processed at about 140 degrees (raw foods are not heated above 118 degrees). Therefore agave is not raw, as labels often claim. Dr Mercola on the other hand says that many varieties are processed under 118 degrees. Dr Mercola is another name that you must know, an osteopathic physician whose passion is to transform the traditional medical paradigm in the United States, and whose website is among the top 10 sites on health… David Wolfe and Dr Mercola both agree that most agave nectars are chemically processed.
) Dr Mercola and David Wolfe agree on the detrimental effects of free fructose on health (free fructose is the kind found in most agave nectars and in high fructose corn syrup). Just like glucose and sucrose, fructose feeds candida and cancer cells. (Natural fructose in fruits and honey is bound to other sugars and is therefore less glycemic and more natural than free fructose.) Here is a quote on fructose from Andreas Moritz the author of 
: “Since the fructose in corn syrup does neither stimulate insulin secretion nor reduce the hunger hormone ghrelin, you will continue to feel hungry while the body converts the fructose into fat. The resulting obesity increases the risk of diabetes and other diseases.
