Creamy Raw "Risotto" with Dill & Bacon and Spinach Quinoa Pilaf

I've been finding it hard the last couple of weeks to feel motivated to come up with some interesting things to say, recipes and pics for you. I've had this vicious cold which seems to be going around and it really knocked me about - time for me to get high-raw again methinks - and its hard to feel energetic about anything when your head feels like its full of cotton-wool, your nose won't stop running, and your cough could be mistaken for a vicious dog barking!

HOWEVER! I did manage to snap a pic of those Kale Chips I made a while back, so here's the final product: (They were so yummy I'm amazed they lasted me two days - what restraint I showed! hehehe)

They are a PERFECT on-the-go snack for raw foodies - I just threw these in a ziploc bag and there you go, instant delicious and healthy snack to take with you! (The recipe is here btw)

I also made my very first attempt at a mock rice/rissotto type dish, which I've been wanting to try out for a while - I've seen a few recipes around and had a think about how I'd do it in the TMX and it turned out pretty well.

Creamy Raw "Rissotto" with Dill (Raw Vegan, Dairy-Free)

1. First make the "Dilled Sour Cream": Soak 3/4 cup of sunflower seeds in water at room temperature for 2-4 hours. Rinse then drain. Add seeds to TMX along with small handful of fresh dill, (or 1-2TBSP dried dill), 1-2 tsp sea salt, 1/2 TBSP Apple Cider Vinegar, 10g Cold Pressed Extra Virgin Olive Oil, and 100g water. Blend all ingredients for 1 minute on Speed 9. Scrape down the sides of bowl and blend for a further 1-2 minutes on Speed 9 or until a smooth, creamy texture is reached.

2. Quarter two medium carrots and chop in TMX for 5 seconds on Speed 5.


3. Add 1/2 a head of cauliflower (broken into florets) and 1/8 red onion (optional) and chop for 10 seconds on Speed 4. This should result in a rice-like consistency.

4. Add the Dilled Sour Cream (should be approx 220-250g) and blend for 15 seconds on reverse and Speed 3, scrape down sides of bowl and blend another 10secs if needed. Serves 1-2 ppl.

The use of the sunflower seeds to make the sour cream, and the carrot makes this a really affordable dish, and it tasted pretty great too! :D

I've also been whipping up some fabulous Green Smoothie's (as per usual, for me the day isn't off to a good start until I've had my green smoothie!). Recently I've been enjoying a lot of watermelon in mine, and I've also added two organic raw powders that I alternate between - one is a green powder of Spirulina, Chlorella, Wheat Grass and Barley Grass, the other is a power berry one (pomegranate, acai berries, goji berries etc). I just add a tsp of one of these to my smoothies for the extra nutrients, and the green powder especially seems to make a big difference to my energy! Here's Jon after enjoying some of my Kale/Pineapple/Fresh Mint/Green Powder smoothie which was breakfast yesterday: (Aren't they just the bluest eyes you've ever seen??? Perhaps I'm biased......so sue me! :P)

Another experiment I had which turned out to be delicious was also Risotto-related - I wanted to make a savoury dinner risotto type dish which was gluten free. I'm a HUGE fan of risotto in general - its always so delicious and super easy in the TMX, but regular risotto can often leave me feeling bloated and heavy in the tummy, whereas a gluten free version doesn't give you that heavy feeling. So I made a pilaf using Quinoa instead of rice, which came out just great:


Bacon & Spinach Quinoa Pilaf:


1. Cut 50g parmesan or pecorino cheese into small cubes and grate in TMX for 10 seconds on Speed 9. Remove from bowl and set aside.

2. Rinse TMX bowl, then weigh 200g of Quinoa into the rice basket, sit into TMX and pour 1200g of water over. Cook for 17 minutes  on 100°C on Speed 3. Remove rice basket using spatula and set aside the cooked quinoa in your Thermoserver or other bowl.

3. In TMX bowl dice 2 shallots, 2 cloves of garlic, and a handful of parsley for 3 seconds on Speed 7. Add 150g chopped silverbeet (including stalks) or spinach, 150g bacon pieces, and 30g Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Saute at 100°C for 5 minutes on Reverse & Speed 1 with MC Off (to allow it to sweat).

4. Return Quinoa to TMX bowl, add 1tsp-1dssp TM Vegetable Stock Concentrate (depending on how salty you want it) and 150g boiling water and cook for 4 minutes at 100°C on Reverse & Speed 1½.

5. Pour pilaf into Thermoserver and stir through most of the Parmesan/pecorino cheese leaving some aside. Serve out and garnish each bowl with a little parmesan and chopped parsley like so:

* For a vegetarian or vegan option, I would substitute some mushrooms instead of the bacon, and perhaps use Nutritional Yeast Flakes (2-3tbsp) instead of the cheese. You would also need to increase the stock to compensate for the saltiness of the bacon.

This recipe makes enough for 3 main serves or 6 side-serves.

I hope you enjoy the recipes, and as usual, if you have any feedback or questions, please don't hesitate to leave a comment here or on my Facebook Page.

Love and Health, B xxx

Just a Quickie!

Hi Everyone!

I'm apologising in advance as I don't have a huge amount to discuss tonight so this one will be brief, stay tuned over the next day or two though for more taste-sensations that are good for you!

Over the weekend I had a few really awesome smoothies: watermelon, frozen raspberries, baby spinach and a big bunch of ice, this turned out to be amazingly delish!

Another one (which was so good I had it twice) was 2 bananas, 1/4 cup homemade nut butter (from Jo's recipe at Quirky Cooking, find it here), 2 fresh pitted dates, a little water and a lot of ice. This one was totally divine! I drank it so quickly I forgot to even take a snap of it - TWICE! LOL! I also had plain orange and spinach juice for breakfast this morning. It was awesome as well. :D

In other news I had some fantastic Raw Burritos (inspired by a recipe from Eva from Uncooking101, she's so fabulous, any of you who are interested in veganism, raw foods, whole foods, or just eating even a bit healthier should definitely check out her site www.uncooking101.com), some veggie sticks with mushroom and walnut pate and dairy free sour cream and some dairy free raw slice.

Tomorrow I'm going to try making some dairy free, spelt, choc-chip Anzac Biscuits, so stay tuned for how that turns out!

Again sorry for the short (and not so exciting) post! I'll be back with more zip and zazz tomorrow! Love and Health! B xxx

My Microwave is Annoying me......and other assorted musings

So, I know, two posts in one day is a bit much, but I've just had so much rattling around in this head of mine today and yesterday, and I feel like I'm learning and growing and changing at such a rate of knots lately that one post today just won't do it!

Firstly, my microwave is sitting there on the bench in the kitchen, taking up a big chunk of my bench space and its just.....annoying the heck outta me!!! I'll explain more (and ask for advice) about this later.

For now more of the yummies I made (with my daughters help) yesterday, and what was on the menu in the casa of "going raw" today! LOL

I mentioned in my last post that yesterday afternoon my daughter and I made this awesome chocolate chip cookie dough from Chocolate Covered Katie, all I did was mix it up in the Thermomix instead of a food processor, and for a FIRST, my daughter LOVED it!!! Hurrah!

It's really gooey and just totally scrummy, the first "healthy" snack I've turned out since starting on this journey that my daughter hasn't turned up her nose at.

So, today's breakfast was another green smoothie-juice (I've decided to use the term "smoothie" if its a thicker type, and "smoothie-juice" if its still the whole fruit and veg rather than actually juicing, but is a thinner juice-like consistency). It was kind of a "what have i got in my fruit bowl that might go together" smoothie-juice and you know what? It turned out so awesome its going into regular rotation!

I think I'll call this one "Monster Green Slime" just for fun and cause its sooooooo darn green! LOL

Ingredients:
2 Green Apples, quartered (no need to remove seeds or skins if using a TMX or other powerful blender)
1 Cup Green Grapes
2 Cups Baby Spinach
8 Large Ice Cubes
1/2 to 1 cup water (as always, to your desired consistency)

Method:
Combine all ingredients in TMX on Speed 6 for about 10 seconds then scrape down the sides with spatula, then whiz up on speed 9  for another 30 seconds until nice and juicey.

This was so refreshing (not to mention completely delicious) I was ready to BOUND out the door about 2 minutes after drinking it, what a BRILLIANT way to start the day!

My mid-morning smoothie was another variation on my berry/nut/banana smoothie. This morning I wanted to try some Maca powder as I just finished watching the DVD's from Uncooking101's "Home Study Course - An Introduction to Raw Food Made Easy" and Eva mentioned that Maca, in addition to its other benefits outlined here, has quite a nice malt-type flavour. So I thought the combination of Maca and Cacao would not only give my power smoothie a nice energy boost, but would also taste pretty great, and oh I was SO right! LOL

Mid Morning Power Smoothie:
Ingredients:
1-2 Bananas
1/2 to 1 Cup Frozen Mixed Berries of your choice
1/3 cup raw cashews or almonds (soaked preferably, but if you don't have time its pretty good with just raw nuts)
2 huge handfuls of baby spinach or other greens
8 large cubes of ice
Water to your desired consistency
Today's added ingredients:
1 tsp Raw Cacao powder
1/2 tsp Maca powder
2 fresh pitted Dates (I only use the dates if i'm putting Cacao in as they're not necessary to sweeten the smoothie ordinarily, only to counteract the slight bitterness of the Cacao)

Method:
Blend on Speed 6 for 10 seconds then scrape down sides of bowl and blend on Speed 9 for about 1 minute. Serve and garnish with a berry or two as desired and enjoy! :)

Then for lunch today I had another awesome Slaw (the reason I'm having Slaw type salads is I can't honestly be bothered chopping up veggies the traditional way most days, and I haven't got my spiraliser to turn the veggies into nice noodles yet!) made with the dairy free sour cream from yesterday's post, mixed with a Raw Mushroom and Walnut Pate based on this recipe but modified to my personal tastes:

Ingredients:
2 Cloves fresh Garlic
200-230g soaked Walnuts (soaked for 4-8 hours)
200-230g raw Mushrooms
2 TBSP or 20g Tamari/Nama Shoyu/G.F Soy Sauce
2 tsp fresh or dried Thyme
Black Pepper to taste
20g Olive Oil
1/4 to 1/2 shallot
Handful fresh parsley

Method:
1. Mince garlic in TMX on Speed 7 for 2-3 seconds.
2. Add remaining ingredients to bowl and combine on Speed 7 for approximately 10-15 seconds or until your desired pate-like consistency is reached (some people probably prefer larger pieces, others would prefer a creamier consistency with smaller pieces).

Then for the slaw I just threw one carrot and one quite large zucchini into the Thermomix (quartered first) and chopped them for around 5 seconds on speed 4, then scraped down the sides and did another 5 seconds on speed 4.

Then I made a well in the slaw mix, scooped some of the Pate into it and drizzled some dairy free sour cream over the top, mixed it all together and chowed down! Yummo!

So that was the raw part of my day - dinner was a lovely steamed stuffed chicken breast and steamed vegetables with my family, but the way things are going, soon dinner will be something raw and veggie TOO - more on that in future!

So back to my microwave annoying me! I don't know why but suddenly its really bugging me, probably because of this new consciousness of what I'm putting in my body, i just don't see the need to nuke or deadify things anymore! So it's annoying me that its sitting there on the bench taking up space where I could have nice clear bench space for prepping all my lovely fresh foods, and also tempting me to use it.....So, does anyone have any suggestions as to what I should do with it? I'm not quite ready to completely get rid of it because I think hubby might have a heart attack if i just dropped that bomb on him all at once, so an alternative???? Til next time!! XXX

Sooooo Much to Say, So little TIME!!!

Well today I'm feeling like I don't know where to start!! We had a huge weekend with my Mum's surprise 60th Birthday party on Saturday night (I made those fabulous dips for it, and also made up a Beetroot Salad, some Coleslaw, and a lovely tart Broccoli salad which everyone loved). Mum was super surprised and had a really great time so it was all worth it!

Then I had to rush back from Cairns to Atherton Sunday for my very first Thermomix demonstration! It went really well despite my nerves and a few beginners jitters and hiccups and the hostess really loved it! So not bad for a complete newbie!

So onto the raw food "thing" that I keep going on about lately. I have to tell you it's EXTREMELY addictive, the more raw fruits, veggies, nuts etc that I eat, the more my body seems to be craving it. After splurging a bit at Mum's party on Saturday night (I had quite a lot of dips with cream cheese in them and a bunch of cooked canape's, plus a bit of steak and some mudcake!) and then having cooked breakfast, lunch and dinner Sunday (circumstances dictated, although I DID manage to sneak in some salad at lunch time and a fresh squeezed OJ at breakfast), I felt like rubbish yesterday and also this morning to a lesser extent! I woke up yesterday with red itchy eyes and a runny sneezy nose and it lasted until mid-morning. Today I was a little better, a little headache and a runny nose but it cleared up after only an hour this morning.

Yesterday morning I had a green juice of a huge bunch of baby spinach, 3 fresh oranges and some ice, it was so light and refreshing, just what I needed when I was feeling all sinus-y! Morning tea was my usual banana/nut/berry power smoothie followed by this totally delish Creamy Pesto Carrot Slaw for lunch:

Now this one was a little complicated, I have to fess up, but I was in the mood for something creamy and pesto-y and I just wouldn't be denied so I put the extra effort in.

So first I made up a dairy free sour cream based on a combination of Jo's from Quirky Cooking found here and Eva's from Uncooking101 here. Here is my Thermomixed take on it:

Ingredients:
50g raw cashews
50g sunflower seeds
100g pine nuts
(Soak these seeds and nuts overnight to make them softer, for an even creamier texture and to activate the enzymes in the nuts, I hadn't planned that far ahead so I put them in unsoaked)
1 tsp sea salt
2 tsp onion powder
1 clove garlic
Juice of 2-3 lemons (to taste, I like mine really tart)
250 g water

Method:
I'm lazy so whilst some ppl might mince the garlic first I didn't!
Combine all ingredients in your Thermomix, food processor or blender. Blend on Speed 9 for 1 minute, scrape down the sides of the bowl and blend again on Speed 9 until a nice smooth creamy consistency is reached. This does keep in the fridge for a few days so I made up quite a large batch.

Next I threw in some leftover Pesto Dip from the Thermomix cookbook Everyday Cooking for Every Family, slightly modified (I prefer a stronger basil flavour, and a slightly wetter consistency, and I love the pine-nut flavour so I added some in, cause for me if there are no pine-nuts its not really pesto!):

Ingredients:
1 clove garlic
100g basil leaves
Handful of fresh parsley
100g Cashews
40g Pine Nuts
100g Olive Oil
Juice of 1/2 a lemon
2-4 TBSP of Parmesan if you eat dairy, or substitue 2-4 TBSP of Nutritional Yeast or Savoury Yeast for a dairy free alternative.

Method:
Combine ingredients in your Thermomix or blender and pulse on Turbo for 4-6 pulses depending on the consistency you like.

Next I threw together a Carrot and Zucchini "Slaw" which was just 1 carrot, 1 zucchini, 1/2 a stick of celery with leaves, 1/2 a shallot and 1/4 of a red capsicum all quartered and thrown in the Thermomix and chopped on speed 4 for about 10 seconds, then scraped down and chopped on speed 4 for another 5 seconds.

I then threw all three elements together in a nice big bowl, mixed it up and VOILA, a creamy pesto salad! It was totally delicious and by halfway through the bowl I was so full I had to leave the rest for dinner!

I have more pics and recipes to share (my daughter and I also made some of Choclate Covered Katies Raw Cookie Dough - for the sweetener I used 2/3 cup of Rapadura. And we made some peanut butter, plus there's my awesome juice from this morning, my power smoothie and today's gorgeous lunch!) but I don't want to overwhelm you all in one post so I'll save those for later tonight or tomorrow (depending on when I have time). As always please leave me comments and/or requests for recipes and I'll do my best! Stay happy and healthy! xx