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

Deep Breath, Push Reset!

I've been facing some challenges just on a personal level this week......

Firstly everyone in our family got sick, Jon, myself and my husband with a cold, then Saana (my 6 year old girl) had a bout of gastro so we were up all night Sunday night with her being sick, poor thing! I've had KILLER hayfever every day all day this week :(, and Jon had his immunisations this week which made him a little grouchy and have a slight fever also! Here's a pic of him looking not so impressed with the world LOL!

He's still super-cute though! (I suppose I could be a little biased, hehehe)

So, with all that, I felt tired and lousy most of the week, so I didn't get out walking, and I ate comfort food (bread and risotto and pasta etc), and then I didn't have any energy, so i didn't go out walking, and I ate comfort food.....etc etc etc - you get the picture!

Are there any of you (women in particular) out there who get into these sorts of cycles as well? Or is it just me who falls into these bad habits and finds it hard to kick back into gear again? If you DO get into these kinds of ruts, have you discovered any tricks or ways of motivating yourself that really WORK to get you back into the groove of eating right and exercising? Cause as I've said before I KNOW I'll feel so much better if I make that extra effort to go for a walk, and to resist those cravings, but knowing and doing are very different things!

Okay, now for the fun and positive stuff! :D

This week my TMX has been busy cooking up all sorts of delicious things as per usual! I've had some wonderful smoothies this week as always. I have a lot of apples so they've been featuring heavily in my smoothies, and I also had a few nectarines. One smoothie I made turned into a kind of sorbet as I put some banana, nectarine and a date in the freezer ready to take out with me, and then forgot them, so in the afternoon I blended those up with some baby spinach and it turned into this rather lush ice-cream treat:

There was heaps of this so I had one bowl then and there and froze the other, and I'm just having that with my breakfast smoothie now! :)

A few nights ago I experimented with the standard thermomix risotto and made up a Bacon, Chicken and Leek Risotto that turned out so delicious I just had to share this photo on FB, so as promised here is the recipe:

Ingredients:
1 medium leek roughly chopped
1-2 cloves garlic
1/2 onion (cut in half)
2 shallots with bases and tips trimmed, quartered
Handful Parsley
2 rashers of bacon with rind removed
200g chicken
40g Olive Oil
300g Arborio Rice
2 TBSP TMX Chicken Stock Concentrate
1100g Water
*Salt, Pepper and Parmesan to taste if desired

Method:
Place leek, garlic, onion, shallots, and parsley into the TM bowl and mince for 2-3 seconds on speed 7.
Add Bacon rashers and chicken and chop for 5 seconds on speed 4-5.
Add Olive Oil and saute for 3 minutes on reverse and speed 1 & 1/2.
Add remaining ingredients and season with salt and pepper, then cook for 17 minutes on reverse and speed 1 & 1/2.
Pour into Thermoserver or large bowl, mix through about 50g of grated parmesan cheese (grate your own in the TMX) and leave to sit for 5 minutes, then serve and enjoy! :)

Thursday afternoon Saana and I felt like whipping up a sweet treat so we made the Torte Caprese (flourless chocolate almond cake) from the TMX Everyday Cooking for Every Family Cookbook. This time I made it exactly as the book said and it turned out really nice, although a tiny bit dry, so next time I will cook it slightly less on a slightly higher temp. Also the topping in the book is delicious, but I found it a little too rich, so next time I will just whip about 100g of cream until its nice and thick, and grate some chocolate in the tmx, and just top it with the cream and sprinkle with the grated choc. Warning: this pic is soooo delicious you will probably want to make this cake right away! ;)

A note on 30-in-30 - we have just a few days left and we're still only at 22 people who've joined me, so if you've been doing it and you didn't tell me, or you can just get a friend or two to join in before the 6th of March, that would be great! I'd really like to reach the target of 30 people!

My smoothie this morning was Pink Perfection! 2 S-M Red Delicious apples, approx 100g of watermelon, ice and water:

Lastly I discovered some things about my TMX this week that I hadn't even THOUGHT of in regards to baby stuff! So next post will be all about baby food and bottles etc, you can't say you haven't been warned! ;)

Until next time, Love and Health! B xxx