The perfect hot weather treat

Watermelon is in season and is very inexpensive at least here in San Diego. For a dollar you can get a giant melon that will serve many. Water melon is great treat for a hot day like the ones we're having this weekend. My favorite thing to do it slice it and place a few pieces in the freezer for fun froze treat. 

Chanterelle soup

Chanterelles has a special place in my heart since when I grew up I would go out with my mom and pick them right outside our house. Here you have be lucky and pick them at Whole Foods for a cost of Russian caviar. Well I like chanterelles way more than caviar so it was an easy choice when I saw them today. I only bought a handful to enjoy in this soup I had with lunch. They have a buttery taste so they taste wonderful just like they are slightly fried with little bit of salt on a nice piece of dark bread. 

Chanterelle soup for one

2/3 cup chanterelles, cut into smaller pieces

1 large carrot, peeled and cut into coins

1 celery stalk, cut into smaller pieces

1/4 cup green onion, chopped

1 tsp olive oil

1 1/2 cup water

salt, pepper and paprika to taste

Heat olive oil in frying pan and fry chanterelles for 1 minute, put a side.  Place remaining ingredients in a medium pot and bring to a boil. Lower heat to low and let soup simmer for about 10 minutes or until vegetables are soft. Add chanterelles and enjoy with a nice piece of french bread.

Balsamic beets

Beets are one of my favorite vegetables, and beets cooked perfectly is like Christmas for me. This is my families favorite way to eat beets and the best part is it's super easy to make. I used red beets for this meal but you can easy use yellow beets and use white vinegar instead. Beets are rich in  in natural sugar, sodium, sulphur, chlorine, iodine, copper and vitamin B1, B2, C and bioflavonoids. Some holistic practitioners believe that beet juice combined with other juices like carrot and cucumber are excellent for cleansing the kidneys and gallbladder and for restoring health to these organs. Additionally, beet, being a fibrous root, is excellent for aiding in and eliminating constipation. The fiber adds bulk to the diet and therefore helps to improve peristalsis activity in the large intestine.

We ate our beets today with marinated portobello mushrooms, saffron basmati rice and...off course broccoli. We can't have a dinner without them.

Balsamic beets serving 2

2 cup red beets, peeled and cubed

2 tsp olive oil

1 cup balsamic vinegar

salt & pepper to taste

Pre-heat oven for F350

Place everything in  a oven pyrex and blend well. Place middle of oven and stir once in a while, coating each beet piece. Cook for about 20 minutes depending on the size of the beets or until the beets are nicely soft. 

Vegan pizza

James has been into Amy's vegan pizza for years and unfortunately the only time I ever tried it was when I was pregnant and very, very nauseous so it did not appeal to me at all.  Now I gave it another chance and I'm so happy I did, it's yummy. It's full of flavour and it's cheese less so it does not contain any soy so I can eat it. Amy's has great organic and healthy products such as pizzas, pot pies, soups, pasta, rice dishes etc. It's great to have some in the freezer for emergencies. 

Curry potato salad

We're back from a weekend on Catalina Island. We left on Friday afternoon on a ferry from Dana Points and after little bit more than one hour we arrived in Avalon. We had rented a condo with plans to eat out a couple of times and cook in the condo rest of the time. We'll we ended up enjoying the Catalina cuisine so much but only cooked twice. There were just so much to do so we ran out of time. I was very impressed when on this tiny island I found a very good and well equipped Eco store selling most things we usually eat. But now we're home and had a dinner in our garden. I made a potato salad and I put own special spin to it by making it with curry flavor for my curry loving family.  We ate it with black currant marinated seitan and green beans. 

Creamy curry potato salad, serving 2

1 1/2 cup boiled potato of your choice, cut into smaller pieces

3 tbs non-dairy creamer (eg. soy, mimiccream oatly etc)

1 tbs mayo

1 tsp yellow curry powder (or more if you like strong curry flavor)

1 tsp capers

salt & pepper

Blend creamer, mayo and curry in a bowl. Add capers and potatoes, and blend carefully not to break potatoes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Enjoy!!!

Strawberries going twice...

Yesterday I forgot to post the other strawberries meal we had on Sunday. Strawberries is an excellent base for dessert, especially in the summer. I made strawberry short cake and served it with soy cream and off course sliced strawberries.  I used half white flour and half spelt flour to add more nutrition but it did not take away at all from the flavor. 

Strawberry short cake, serves 4

1/2 cup white flour

3/4 cup spelt flour

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp cream of tartar

4 tbs canola oil

1/2 cup vanilla hemp, soy or oat milk

3/4 tbs lemon juice

1 tbs brown sugar

Preheat oven for F450

Blend milk and lemon juice and let sit for 5 minutes.  Blend all dry ingredients and blend all wet. Mix them together and blend well until and nice dough that is not too sticky.  Divide dough into four pieces and roll them round and place on oiled cookie sheet, use your hand to flatten little.  Sprinkle sugar atop each roll and place in middle of oven for about 10-13 minutes.  Let cool before filling them. 

Filling:

Soy whipped cream or cream cheese

1 cup sliced strawberries

1/2 tbs agave nectar

While rolls are cooling, blend agave and strawberries and let sit for 10 minutes. Cut each roll in half and spread whipped cream or cream cheese and place strawberries on top and them the lid. Enjoy with hot tea immediately.

My day in pictures

So many ask me what I eat in one day so here I decided to document one day of my meals. Now I did forget to take a picture of my snack but it was blueberries, tea latte made with oat milk and nuts.

Breakfast is my biggest meal and this morning contained oatmeal, sandwich with tartex and cucumbers, chai tea latte with oat milk and one apple

Dandelion greens with barely, pumpkin seeds, carrots and one banana

Mustard marinaded tofu, mashed potatoes and broccoli which we eat A LOT in our house

Strawberries, going once....

Whoohooo the sweet strawberry season is here and it's red, red, red all over farmers market. I went crazy and bought a lot of them just to realize James is going out of town so it's only me and Bella eating at home. She eats a lot but not that much.  So yesterday we had strawberries 3 ways, as a snack, with dinner and dessert. As a snack we just ate them like like are but with dinner I got creative and made seitan with a savory strawberry sauce. 

Savory strawberry and seitan for 3

1 package traditional seitan, drained and divided

2 tsp canola oil

1 cup strawberries, sliced

1 cup balsamic vinegar

one pinch of chili pepper

salt & pepper to taste

 Heat oil in frying pan on medium heat and fry seitan quickly just to brown it. Remove from pan and add strawberries and fry for 1 minute. Remove from pan and add balsamic vinegar and bring to boil, scraping up pieces from the bottom of pan. Let it simmer until reduced to syrupy consistency. Add seitan and strawberries and let it get warm. Eat with oven roasted potatoes or rice. 

Rhubarb chutney

Rhubarb's are in season now and they are very inexpensive. My family loves anything with a rhubarb so thought I might be good making chutney out of it. The result is great and it was so easy to make. It taste great with anything BBQ, in our case tofu, seitan and portabello mushrooms.

I small jar of Rhubarb chutney

2 cup rhubarb, peeled and but into small pieces

1 cup water

1/4 cup agave nectar

1 tsp ginger

1/2 cup raisins

1 tbs raw apple cider vinegar

1 tbs corn or potato starch

Place rhubarb, agave, ginger, raising, vinegar and water in a pot and bring to a boil on high heat. Reduce heat to low and let simmer for about 20 minutes.  Blend starch with 1 tbs water and let completely dissolve. Add to chutney and bring to a boil and boil for one minute while stirring. Remove from heat and let cool to finger warm before placing in a clean glass jar. It will stay fresh in fridge for a couple of weeks.

Chai ice cream

Mmmmmmm this one was soooo god and it even got thumbs up from the queen of dessert, my mother-in law. She is lactose intolerant so a dairy free ice cream I believe is match made in heaven. I personally think it taste more like ginger breads but either way I'm happy with it. I used mimic cream again and it makes cooking so easy. There is no boiling and cooling the ice mix down with this cream. All I did was blend everything and swoooosh into the ice cream maker. The other swooosh thing that happened was that we ate it before I got a chance to take a picture.

Chai ice cream, serves 4 

I carton of sweetened mimic cream

2 TBS coconut butter, melted

3 TBS dark corn syrup or maple syrup

1/2 tsp grounded ginger

1/2 tsp all-spice

1/2 tsp cinnamon

Place everything in a blender or food processor and blend for 3 minutes. Place in a ice cream maker. If the ice cream feels to soft place it in the fridge for 1 hour. 

UPDATED! Healthy spring rolls

I had cravings for spring rolls but not the fat that comes with it so I was determine to make my own and healthy spring rolls. I baked them instead of deep frying them. I truly believe the only thing that should be deep fried is french fries and I don't even like them as much.  They where very easy to make and we used a sweet chili sauce to dip them in. The left over I froze for another day. I don't have a picture of them yet because Isabella took our camera cable and now we can't find it and therefore can't download any pictures. Unfortunately when we ask her what she did with it she says "mmmmm, let's look for it later". 

12 spring rolls

6 filo dough sheets

2 garlic cloves, grated

2 carrots, grated

2 cups bean sprouts

1 large green zucchini, grated

1 tbs mirin

1 tbs canola oil + more to brush the spring rolls

salt and chili powder to taste

Preheat oven for F450  Heat 1 tbs oil in frying pan on medium heat and add garlic. Fry for one minutes, add carrots. Fry one minute, add bean sprouts and zucchini and fry for another minute. Add mirin and spices. Let cool for a few minutes. Thaw filo according to instruction. Cut the sheets in half with a scissor.  Place a small amount of filling on one end of filo sheet. fold sheet edge over filling and begin rolling and half way stop and fold in sides to "lock" in the filling. Place roll with edge down on a oiled cookie sheet. Repeat with remaining filo's. Brush oil over all spring rolls and bake until they are brown and crispy, about 

Goji berries and chocolate haystacks

I think pretty much everyone knows about the health benefits of goji berries by now. They are loaded with powerful antioxidants which can help repair cell damage from free radicals. They also include a good amount of vitamin A and much much more. I love them and eat  a lot of them. My favorite is chocolate covered goji berries but all of them includes usually milk and always soy which I have to avoid because of my thyroid. I decided to make my own chocolate covered ones but using dark chocolate since it's vegan but also it's has health benefits as well.  It contains flavonoids and antioxidants as well. Dark chocolate is good for your heart. I added coconut butter to get the creaminess.  They came out well and now  I can enjoy them with good faith.

Maybe they will not win a beauty award but they sure taste good

Goji berries haystacks

1/2 cup dark chocolate chips

2 tbs coconut butter

1 tbs agava nectar

1/2 cup goji berries

Place everything except the berries in a pot and melt while stirring on medium heat until completely melted. Add berries to the chocolate ad blend well.  Use a teaspoon , drop spoonful of chocolate mix on wax paper laying in a large plate. Place in fridge for at least 1 hour. 

creamy tomato soup

Today was a crazy day and I've been all over town. my lunch ended up being at Whole Foods. There I had a very nice tomato soup. Good tomato soups are hard to come by. Usually I find them way to acidic or have no tomato flavor at all. I was talking to my friend Jessica while out and about and I told her about one of my favorite tomato soups and I promised her a recipe. So here it is but without a picture. It's made with mascapone cheese to help cut the acid but can easily be made vegan by adding silk tofu instead and will not change the flavor at all. 

Creamy tomato soup, serves 4

1 garlic clove

1 yellow onion, chopped

1 tbs olive oil

3 cups wine ripe tomatoes, copped

1 1/2 cup vegetable stock

2 bay leafs

salt & chili pepper to taste

1/2 cup mascapone cheese or silk tofu

1/2 cup fresh basil, chopped

Heat oil in large pot on high heat and fry garlic and onion for 2 minutes, add tomatoes and bay leaf and fry for another 2 minutes. Add stock and bring to a boil  Let simmer on low heat for 5 minutes.  Take soup of heat and remove bay leafs and add to food processor with mascapone cheese. Processor 1 minute or until completely creamy. Place in pot again and add spices as well as basil to taste. Enjoy with some nice fresh bread. 

Super easy curry

I had a complete mental block when I came to cooking dinner so I opted for an easy way out and simply make curry for dinner. It's a super fast and easy curry to make and can be made on the fly (or at least 10 minutes). We enjoyed it with rice and broccoli.

Curry dinner for 4

1 bag of frozen quorn chicken pieces

1 can coconut milk

2 tbs curry powder

1 tbs olive oil

2 garlic cloves, grated 

Salt to taste

In a woke heat olive oil on medium and fry garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add quorn and brown for a minute or two. Sprinkle curry powder on top and add coconut milk and stir and let simmer for 2 minute. 

Coconut yogurt

Me and Bella went for an early hike this morning, well I hiked and Bella hung out in the stroller eating breakfast. It felt good to be out early in the morning and working out. But when I got home boy was I hungry. Luckily I had homemade coconut yogurt waiting for me in the fridge.

I love yogurt but since I'm not suppose to eat dairy or soy it makes it difficult to find a substitute. I have tried rice and coconut yogurt from the store and they taste awful. But I read in a raw food cook book about making yogurt form almonds and decided to try it on young coconuts instead. It came out so well I love the fact that it's very good for you. Off course you do need to have a yogurt maker to do this one.

Coconut water is a natural electrolytes and the meat is very nutritional. We're so lucky to live where we can buy these little bundle of joy.I buy them already open since opening them can be a challenge.  The yogurt came out with a slight coco sweetness flavor. I mixed in raspberry puree (raspberries mashed up) and topped it with bee pollen. It was very satisfying.

Vanilla coconut yogurt

Meat from one young coconut

juice from 1/2 young coconut

1 tbs agave nectar

1 tbs coconut butter, soften

1 tsp raw apple cider vinegar or lemon juice

2 tsp non-dairy probiotic powder

Seeds scraped out from 1/2 vanilla bean

Place everything in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Place in yogurt maker and let it ferment for at least 5 hours. Place in fridge to cool it down before eating it. Eat it like it is or add fruit. 

Dahl

Dahl is one of my favorite Indian dishes and we also had Indian dahl the other night and it's so easy to make but takes a while to cook. It's perfect protein for a little one since it's very easily digestible. 

Dahl for 3

1 cup yellow split peas, rinsed and soak for at least one hour

1 tbs canola oil or ghee

1 cup warm water

 2 tsp brown mustard seeds

1 tsp turmeric

salt & pepper to taste

1 tbs mango powder (can also use 1 tbs of mango chutney)

Heat oil in pot and place turmeric and mustard seeds and let them sizzle for 2 minutes on high heat. Add lentils and water and simmer under lid for 1 hour or until lentil are soft. Add more water if needed. Add salt, pepper and mango powder and stir. Enjoy with basmati rice, vegetables and naan bread. 

India night

I already told you about how we had a doula names Aparna helping us out when Isabella was born and one thing she did for us was cooking and my mouth is filled with saliva just thinking about the food. It was so good, spicy and colorful, just like I like it. It did help nurse and give me the energy to care for Bella. Aparna is now long gone and actually she has moved to Santa Barbara and is a great success but once in a while I crave her food and make up some of the things she use to cook.  Last night was cold and rainy so what's better than some warming Indian food? I actually even made naan bread which I BBQ and they came out great. I used this recipe and it came out great. One of my favorite dishes she use to cook was a beet root dish. 

Indian beet roots

2 large beet roots, peeled and sliced thinly

1 tbs canola oil

2 tsp cumin

1/2 hot water

Lots of fresh black pepper

salt to taste

1 tbs fresh dill, chopped

Heat oil in a pot and place cumin in and  let it sizzle for 1 minute. Add beet root and stir while frying for 2 minutes. Add water and place a lit on a let simmer until beets are soft. Add more water if needed. Add pepper, salt and dill and serve.