Raw Pear and Bean Sprouts Salad

Wonderful lunch :-)
This salad turned out quite nice... It was very easy to put together and had a re-freshing zesty flavor.

How to sprout beans

Sprout People has some good info on sprouting.

It took me close to 4 days to sprout the mung beans. I prefer them when the tails are very small, if you want them to be longer it will take you more than 4 days - I don't know how many because I haven't really tried that :-)

I had no special tools for sprouting I simply soaked them overnight  in plenty of water and then drained them. I then spread the beans in a colander and put them in a warm place for 2 days. I chose my oven because its cold here, otherwise your counter-top would be fine. Twice or thrice a day I sprinkled them with water. And then after a couple of days they just sprouted :-)

They had no bad coloring, no funky smells or any kind of bitter flavor.
They tasted wonderful. Light and crunchy!

It is quite a commitment to start prepping for lunch 4 days in advance :-) just skip them if you don't want to trouble yourself too much.

(prep time 10 mins)
(serves 1)
Ingredients

Bosc Pear 1 large (a little over 3/4 cup chopped)
Mung sprouts 1/3 cup
Red peppers 1/2 medium sized (1/2 cup chopped)
Salad greens 2 cups *I used Organic Girl's I heart baby Kale!
(baby kale, tango, baby spinach, baby green chard, green romaine, baby green oakleaf lettuce)

Vinaigrette

Red onions 1/2 Tbs - minced very fine
Garlic 1/4 Tbs - minced very fine
Macadamia nut oil 1 Tbs *I used Brookfarm Natural Macadamia Nut Oil
(I tend to consider most cold press nut oils as raw... I know some might not agree. So please don't use this if you have concerns)
Fresh lime juice 1 Tbs
Lime zest  1/4 tsp
Pink Himalayan salt 1/3 tsp
Fresh ground coarse pepper 1/8 tsp

Whisk together all the ingredients in a large bowl and keep aside.
You can use olive oil instead but macadamia oil was wonderful... very buttery and delicious. I highly recommend it.

Method

Simply chop the pear and red pepper into chunky pieces.
Toss these in the vinaigrette along with the mung sprouts and pour over the greens.
Enjoy.

 



 

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Butter Bean Salad

A lovely refreshing salad that I had with some herb roasted chicken breast.

I took this picture on day 3 so the colors of the vegetables are less vibrant but the salad itself still tasted great if not better :-)

 

(serves 3-4)
(prep time 15 mins)
Ingredients

Butter beans 2 14 oz cans
Cucumber 1/2 cup (diced small and seeds removed)
White onion 2 Tbs (diced small)
Red pepper 1/2 cup (diced small)
Green beans 1/3 cup (blanched and cut into small pieces)
Roma tomato 1 (diced small and seeds removed)
Celery 1/2 cup (diced small)

You can play around with the amounts.
Just make sure all the veggies are cut into a similar size.
Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl and pour the vinaigrette on top.
Toss well.

Vinaigrette

Olive oil 2 Tbs
Fresh lime juice 3 Tbs
Red wine vinegar 1/2 Tbs
Minced garlic 1/2 tsp
Salt 1/4 tsp
Pepper 1/8 tsp
Chili flakes 1/8 tsp

Whisk everything together with a fork for a few seconds and it's ready.

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Raw Juice Pulp Crackers

I have been eating raw vegan foods a couple of times a week now. I absolutely love the flavors and I am very surprised about the creativeness that goes into preparing some of these foods.

As tasty as this diet can be I don't think - at least not yet - that I'll ever fully convert because I don't necessarily agree with the all claims in health benefits and feel adequate research and proof is lacking. But I hope to maintain being 15-20% raw. Primarily because raw vegan foods feel light, refreshing and healthy plus I do agree with some of the health claims :-) and because I love the challenge of learning new techniques and coming up with or trying out new recipes.

I have been juicing for about two years now. I was instantly inspired from this movie which you can watch free on netflix and on hulu. I immediately got a juicer from Amazon the very next day. This particular Breville juicer is very compact, powerful, affordable and therefore suits me very well. I have a small kitchen, a ton of cooking related stuff and a looong wish list of stuff that I want. Anyway back to the juicer, its awesome! I LOVE all the juices I can make and am very much in love with it. On the flip side I am very unhappy about the pulp that I have to throw away. I don't have a need to compost so I make patties or add the pulp into soups but mostly it goes down the garbage disposal.

So basically the concept behind these crackers is something that I borrowed from the net while searching for ways to utilize leftover juice pulp. These seem good because you can store them for a long time.

I am making these raw and the guidelines tell me to "cook" them under 118 degrees to preserve all the nutrients. You will need a dehydrator for that. However, if you don't care about the whole raw deal then you can bake them in your oven at the lowest setting (170 or 180 for most people) until they feel crispy.

I am very pleased to share with you my very first raw recipe :-)
You can find hundreds of very creative recipes out on the net :-)
I hope to get better at these and will gladly share my experiments with you. These were pretty good with or without dip. I added no salt or extra spices but surely the addition of those will make for even tastier crackers.

Method

Pulp from:
2 small granny smith apples
1 whole bunch of celery

I added to this pulp:
1 Tbs of flax seed (I didn't soak them)
1/4 cup thinly sliced red onions
2 green chilies thinly sliced

I pretty much mixed every thing up, spread the dough very thin on a tray and dried them on my Nesco 700 Watt dehydrator set at 115 degrees. After about 8 hours they were still a little soft (perfect texture for breads and wraps!) I flipped them and continued to dry them for another 6 hours to make them perfectly crunchy.
Total of 14 hours :-)

 

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Lite Apricot Swiss Roll

♥ healthy

I used fat-free whipping cream and did not use cinnamon.

Used unsweetened apricot preserves.

And I used almond flakes inside with the jam.

I dusted it with some cocoa powder.

 

From http://tastycooking.wordpress.com/2009/02/17/swiss-roll-with-egg-whites/

Posting the recipe here for sake of completion:

Ingredients:

4 egg whites

85 g sugar

juice of a half a lemon

1 tbsp cornstarch or corn flour

jam of your liking (I used apricot jam)

200 ml whipping cream

1 tsp vanilla sugar

mix of cinnamon and sugar and slices of roasted almonds or nuts to decorate

Method:

Whip egg whites and sugar until soft peaks form. Add lemon juice and carefully fold in corn starch or corn flour.
Spread the batter thinly to baking parchment (note that the batter will rise a bit) and bake at 175 C for 15 minutes.
In the mean time, place another piece of baking parchment on table and sprinkle some mix of cinnamon and sugar and almonds or nuts over it.
Place the baked sponge carefully over the paper covered with cinnamon-sugar-almonds-or-nuts mix and let cool until you whip the whipping cream into soft peaks with sugar.
Spread jam over the sponge. Then do the same with whipping cream.
Roll into a tight spiral and place into a fridge for a couple of hours (the roll will be perfectly set in 6 hours, but I ate it already after 3 hours and it was still delicious).
It is a very delicate and moist roll, every bite literally melts in your mouth and leaves you wanting some more. The texture was perfect – I couldn’t have asked for a better one. I think the cinnamon is an important thing to add – do use it, otherwise the end result might lack the necessary kick.

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Amaretti Fini

♥ healthy

These were VERY DELICIOUS the picture above is quite horrible and doesn't do them justice!
Basically followed Chef Mary Anne's recipe with some small variations.
I used half ground almonds and half fresh ground hazelnuts.
Used 1/3 cup less sugar and added an extra tablespoon of orange rind and did not use the almond extract at all.

Posting the original recipe from her website here:

Ingredients

3/4 cup blanched almonds
3/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons grated orange zest
Pinch salt
2 large egg whites at room temperature
1/4 teaspoon almond extract

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Line two or more baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
Grind the almonds in a food processor until they are almost the consistency of flour. Transfer to a bowl and stir in the sugar, orange zest and salt. Set aside.
In a separate bowl beat the whites and almond extract together until soft peaks form. Do not over beat or the egg whites will be too dry. They should look soft and shiny and be able to hang off a rubber spatula without falling off.
With a rubber spatula, fold the whites into the almond mixture; do this gently so as not to deflate the batter.
Use a teaspoon to spoon the batter onto the baking sheets, leaving 1 inch between.
Bake for 15 minutes or until the edges are slightly browned. Remove from the oven and transfer the parchment sheet with the cookies to a cooling rack. Do not attempt to remove them immediately or they will crumble. When they are cool, use a butter knife to remove them from the parchment and cool completely on a wire rack

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Lite Carrot Cake

♥ healthy

 

This was aweome!

Happy birthday mom, love you very much.

Posting the recipe here just in case:

From http://www.food.com/recipe/heart-healthy-carrot-cake-161215

 

Ingredients

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
6 egg whites (best if room temp)
1 1/3 cups sugar
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 (8 ounce) can crushed pineapple , undrained
2 cups shredded carrots
2/3 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup raisins

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Spray 13" X 9" baking pan with non-stick spray. Set aside.
In a large bowl, stir together the flours, cinnamon, baking soda, nutmeg and cloves, set aside.
In another large bowl, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form.

Slowly beat in the sugar.

Then slowly beat in the applesauce, buttermilk and vanilla.
Using a spoon, stir in the flour mixture just until combined.
Then stir in, one ingredient at a time, the crushed pineapple, carrots, walnuts and raisins.
Spread mixture in prepared pan.

Bake for approximately 40 minutes, or until toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.

Cool completely.

Frost with Cream Cheese Frosting.

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Salmon With Grilled Fruit And Acerola Vinaigrette

♥ healthy

(serves 1)
(prep time 30 mins)
How it's done

Alaskan king salmon fillet slightly less than a pound
Rub some olive oil on all sides.
Season with some salt, coarse pepper, thyme and some chili flakes.
Cook on a medium grill for about 5-6 mins each side.

Grilled fruit salad

Nectarine 1 - cut into quarters
Plum 1 - cut into quarters
Fresh pineapple 2 wedges

Rub some olive oil on the fruits and grill on high heat for about 3-4 mins each side.
Allow to cool and chop them into smaller pieces.

I also added these veggies to the salad

Celery 1 Tbs - very finely diced
Red onions 1 Tbs - very finely diced
Green bell pepper 1 Tbs - very finely diced
Red bell Pepper 1 Tbs - very finely diced
Raw beet root 1 Tbs - very finely diced
Radicchio 3 Tbs - cut into strips
Romaine lettuce 1/4 cup - cut into strips
Fresh parsley 1/2 Tbs - chopped finely

Toss the fruits and the veggies together in a bowl with about 1 Tbs of acerola vinaigrette.
Serve along side the salmon. I used about 1/2 the amount of salad that was made.

Acerola Vinaigrette

Olive oil 4 Tbs
White wine vinegar 1 1/2 Tbs
Acerola jam 1 Tbs
Fresh ginger 1/4 tsp *optional
Garlic clove 1/2 tsp
Salt
Pepper

Emulsify all the ingredients with a hand blender.
The result will be a rich creamy white dressing.

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Grilled Halibut Steak

♥ healthy

(prep time less than 10 mins)
(cook time 20 mins)
(serves 3-4)
Ingredients

Halibut steak 2 pieces ( a little over 1 lbs each)
Juice of 1 large lime
Olive oil 2 Tbs
Sweet paprika 1/2 tsp
Oregano 1/2 tsp
Thyme 1/2 tsp
Pepper
Salt

I lighted up my hibachi stlye gas grill on high and let it heat up while I prepared the steaks.
Rub some olive oil on the fish steaks and then sprinkle salt, pepper, paprika and the herbs on one side.
Reduce the heat to low and place the steak on the grill herbed side down and then season the other side.
Cook covered for about 8-10 mins per side.
Squeeze lime juice on top.
I served this along side some oven roasted veggies.
Enjoy.

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Baked Trout in Banana Leaves

♥ healthy

(prep time 15 mins)
(cook time 40 mins)
(serves 6 ppl)
Ingredients

Fresh whole rainbow trout 6 med sized (scales, heads and tails removed)
Stewed tomatoes 1 16oz can
Garlic 4 cloves chopped fine (about 2 Tbs)
Yellow onion sliced thin 1/2 cup
Green chilies 2 med (sliced thin) *optional
Pepper 1/2 tsp
Roasted cumin powder 2/3 tsp
(Dry roast some cumin in a single layer in a frying pan on med high heat., stir occasionally to ensure even browning. Remove from the heat when the cumin turns a very dark almost blackish color. Allow this to cool and then grind)
Salt
Banana leaves 6 pieces each roughly a 10 inch square * use aluminum foil instead
(I was able to get frozen leaves from Uwajimaya however you can get them fresh from Viet Wah sometimes)

Method

Combine the salt, pepper and cumin in a small bowl.
Sprinkle the fish on both sides with this blend, also season inside the belly cavity.
Stuff the cavity of the fish with slices of onions. garlic and chilies.
Close the fish and spoon some tomatoes along with the juice over the fish.
Wrap in banana leaves.
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees
Bake the wrapped fish for about 40-50 mins or until done.

Corn Salsa

Corn kernels sliced off from 3 cobs
(Each cob was wrapped in a moist towel and then microwaved  on high for 4 mins , you could of course grill it for a better flavor)
Black olives chopped 4-5 Tbs (I used black cerignola olives)
Red onions chopped fine 3-4 Tbs
Red bell pepper chopped 2/3 cups
Pear 1/2 chopped fine
Flat leaf Italian parsley 4 Tbs (chopped fine)

Toss all the chopped vegetables in a large bowl and drizzle with the dressing.
Refrigerate for a few hours for the flavors to develop.

Dressing

Olive oil 2 Tbs
Pineapple juice 3 Tbs
Apple cider or white wine vinegar 3 Tbs
Garlic clove 1 whole
Sugar 3/4 Tbs
Pepper 1/4 tsp
Salt 1/3 tsp

Combine all the ingredients in a blender and blend for about 30 seconds.

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