Wholemeal Bread

If you have a bread machine there is no excuse to not make your own homemade bread. It’s easy, and if you follow this recipe, you’ll end up with a beautiful light-textured wholemeal loaf that’s also a great source of fiber.

You may have to slice it yourself, but you can’t find anything in the stores like this. It’s great for sandwiches or toasted.

It keeps well too, even without the preservatives that most store-bought bread has. I’ve left mine out for 3 days, and it’s still moist and delicious.

Ingredients:
3 teas dry active yeast
1-1/2 cup warm water
2 teas brown, raw or rapadura sugar
1 teas salt
1 T oil
2 T gluten flour
3 cups wholemeal flour
1/4 cup oat bran (if you don’t have oat bran use wholemeal flour instead)

Instructions:
Measure all the ingredients into the bread maker, in the order listed or according to your bread maker’s instructions.

Set the bread maker to the whole wheat cycle, with a medium crust and press start. Note the time in the display window and just make sure you are there to take the bread out when it’s finished.

Baker’s Notes:
My favorite way to eat this is toasted, with butter and honey, or homemade plum jam with apple and cinnamon. As an accompaniment to soups it’s beautiful just toasted with butter or avocado.

Rainbow Cole Slaw

I love cabbage, and this really hit the spot. So much so that I ate nearly the entire bowl myself. Using heirloom red cabbage and yellow carrots and fresh herbs from our garden the colors were intense. This photo doesn’t really do it justice. The taste was just divine, and the raw energy packed into this quick-to-prepare meal was just what I needed.

If you don’t like the taste of apple cider vinegar tonics, this is a good way to get the health benefits of ACV without really noticing it. You can also add whatever fresh herbs you like, I used cilantro, parsley and wild mint.

Ingredients:

1/2 small red cabbage

1 large carrot

2 T sunflower seeds

2 T pumpkin seeds

1/4 cup roughly chopped hazelnuts or almonds

fresh herbs (such as coriander, parsley, mint)

2 T extra virgin olive oil, or hemp seed oil

1 teas umeboshi vinegar

3 teas apple cider vinegar, or kombucha vinegar

1 teas rapadura sugar or agave nectar (optional)

Himalayan or celtic sea salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:
Grate the carrot and finely slice the cabbage. Chop the fresh herbs and toss with the cabbage and carrot.

Add the vinegar, oil, salt and pepper and toss gently until the vegetables are evenly coated.

Add seeds and nuts and serve.

World In My Hands

I just found out about a survey the Federated Farmers of New Zealand (pro GM) are doing to gauge the public reaction to introducing GM foods into ‘clean, green’ New Zealand. Then only about an hour later I stumbled across this article, aptly named Just Another Reason to Grow Your Own Food

Most of us who care about our health know that GM food have to be bad news, but until now I didn’t know that any studies had been done into exactly what effect they can have. Here’s what one study has found.

Then, a week later, the American Academy of Environmental Medicine dropped a bombshell study which states, “GM foods pose a serious health risk.”

The AAEM paper also notes, “Multiple animal studies have shown that GM foods cause damage to various organ systems in the body.”

“Physicians are probably seeing the effects in their patients, but need to know how to ask the right questions,” the study suggested. Because GM foods are not identified it is impossible to match a person’s consumption to any symptoms of illness.

Although many organic food manufacturers source non-GM foods and say so on their labeling, in most countries there are no laws making food manufacturers, or even produce growers for that matter, label their food as being genetically modified. Yet it’s clear that GM foods do present a serious health risk. So what’s the difference between smoking cigarettes (which may also cause organ damage, specifically lung damage) and eating GM food? Cigarette packages are plastered with warnings pointing out the health risk, yet GM foods don’t even have to be labeled as such. That’s just crazy.

Smoking cigarettes is optional (even though it may not feel that way to those addicted), but eating food is not. We have to eat. We can choose what type of food we eat, but how can we avoid GM food if we don’t even know what has been modified?

We know that soya and corn are ‘popular’ crops to genetically modify, but now they are trying to introduce GM wheat as well. Have you ever noticed how almost every packaged food these days seems to have a warning on the label that it may have been processed on equipment that also processes peanuts, shellfish, soy, wheat, etc even though the food item itself doesn’t contain any of those ingredients? That warning is to protect the manufacturers in the event that someone with an extreme allergy to any of those products going into anaphalitic shock and dying after eating a packaged food product that in itself doesn’t actually contain any of those ingredients but may have picked up traces of these other foods.

This implies that food manufacturers either can’t or don’t clean their equipment well enough to ensure that there is no cross contamination of ingredients. So the same would apply to GM foods. Packaged foods that don’t themselves contain GM food could end up being contaminated by GM foods processed on the same machinery.

All the more reason to eat organic, natural foods that you prepare yourself, preferrably that you GROW yourself. For a lot of city dwellers it may be impossible to grow everything you eat. It may be a good strategy to buy local as much as possible from farmer’s markets where you can actually talk directly to the growers. Form relationships with them and ask them outright if they grow genetically modified seeds or plants. Try to find an organic Community Supported Agriculture project in your area. Consider growing your own herbs and salad greens in containers. If you do grow your own, be sure to use heirloom seeds which, by definition, will not be genetically modified or artificially hybridized.

For heirloom seeds, try Heirloom Organics. I’ll be putting together a list of more resources for growing your own and buying organic foods and I’ll update this page when I do.

Image: World In My Hands by bucielo

Banana Mocha Non-Milk Shake

I created this as a non-dairy alternative to my former favorite, espresso milkshakes. Now, I may be biased, but I’d say espresso milkshakes pale in comparison to this baby! This is a favorite afternoon pick-up drink in my house.

I also find this satisfies my sweet cravings, and is a lot healthier than having a chocolate bar.

Ingredients

1 cup brewed espresso
1 cup rice milk, soy milk, or nut milk
4 medium frozen bananas
1 T cacao nibs, cacao powder, carob powder
1 teaspoon raw agave syrup
1/2 teaspoon natural vanilla essence
generous shake of ground cinnamon

Instructions:

Brew the espresso ahead of time and allow it to cool down. I usually make it in the morning and put it in the fridge until afternoon when I make my shake.

Break or cut the frozen bananas into several pieces. You may have to experiment to see just what size your blender can handle.

Put the banana pieces into the blender and add all the other ingredients. Blend until smooth. Serve.

Makes 4 servings

Banana Mocha Non-Milk Shake

Where to Find High Quality Ingredients:

Marinated Chickpea Salad

One of the most popular legumes in the world, chickpeas (also known as garbanzo beans) were one of the first crops to be cultivated. They are one of the tastiest and most versatile of the pulses. Chickpeas are also high in fiber and contain the phytonutrient isoflavone, which may help to prevent cancer. Chickpeas belong to the family of legumes, also known as pulses. A study of 10,000 men and women in the USA found that those who ate pulses at least four times a week had a significantly lower risk of coronary heart disease.

This tasty marinated chickpea salad can be put together quickly, stored overnight in the fridge and eaten for lunch the next day.

Ingredients:
2 cups cooked chickpeas, drained
2 T extra virgin olive oil or hempseed oil
1 teas toasted sesame oil
1 T wheat-free tamari
lemon juice to taste
1 teas agave syrup (optional)
1/2 cup red, orange or yellow bell pepper (capsicum)
1 med carrot
9 baby spinach leaves
couple sprigs each fresh parsley and mint

Instructions:
Add the chickpeas to a plastic container with a tight-fitting lid. Pour the oils, tamari, lemon juice and agave syrup over the chickpeas.

Finely slice the bell pepper and spinach leaves. Grate the carrot. Finely dice the fresh herbs. Add to the container and toss everything until thoroughly mixed.

Put on the lid, and turn the container upside down until the oil mixture reaches the lid. Refrigerate for at least one hour. Shake and invert the container occasionally to coat all the ingredients with marinade.

Serve chilled or warm.

Where to Find High Quality Oils and Agave Syrup

How to Cook Brown Rice

The secret to cooking perfect brown rice lies in getting the water to brown rice ratio correct. Once you get that correct, it’s only a matter of turning off the heat when the rice is done.

The method I use to cook perfect brown rice every time is called the absorption method. I find it’s the easiest and most consistent way to cook brown rice, and it eliminates the guesswork.So, what’s the water to brown rice cooking ratio?

1 cup of brown rice to 2 cups of water.

Instructions:

1. Put 1 cup brown rice and 2 cups water in a saucepan with lid.
2. When water starts to boil, turn heat down to a simmer, and cover. Simmer for 30 minutes or until all the water has been absorbed and there is no water standing at the bottom of the pan.
3. Remove from heat, cover and let stand for 5-10 minutes.
4. Serve.

Banana Blueberry Ice Dream

Ingredients:
1 ripe banana
3 frozen bananas
1-2 handfuls of blueberries (fresh or frozen)
1/2 teas natural vanilla essence
Raw Agave syrup to drizzle on top (optional)

Instructions:

1. Break the un-frozen banana into roughly quarters and put into blender.
2. Break or cut the frozen bananas into roughly quarters (smaller chunks if you have a whimpy blender) and put into blender.
3. Add blueberries and vanilla essence to blender.
4. Blend on the lowest speed until creamy. If you have a ‘pulse’ function you can use that until the frozen banana chunks have been broken up.
5. Spoon into serving bowls and drizzle with agave syrup to taste.

Makes 2-3 servings

Tip:
To freeze bananas, peel firm but ripe bananas and put them whole into a plastic ziplock bag. Seal the bag most of the way, then squeeze as much air out of the bag as you can and finish sealing the bag. This helps to prevent ice crystals from forming. Pop them in the freezer and that’s it. Once frozen they are ready to use when you want and besides making a delicious, guilt-free ice dreamy dessert they are great for adding to smoothies.

Slow Cooker Baked Chocolate Zucchini Cake

We’ve still got an overabundance of zucchini from the garden and while trying to come up with new ways to use it all I stumbled upon baking… in a crock pot. I never would have thought this would work, but I’m so glad it does. With a slow cooker (a.k.a. crock pot) you don’t have to keep an eye on it like you do with an oven. You just pour the batter in, go off to do something else and come back 2 hours later – ideal! The cake is moist and divine… well, what dish with chocolate is not divine?

If you have a really large crockpot, just double this recipe.

Ingredients:
1/4 cup oil
1/2 cup soft brown sugar (if you can find rapadura sugar it’s the best)
2 small eggs
1/2 teas natural vanilla essence
4 T yogurt
1-1/4 cup wholewheat flour
2 T cocoa
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp mixed spice (or nutmeg)
2 cups grated zucchini
2 T dried cranberries (optional)

Instructions:
Mix oil and sugar in a bowl until the sugar is dissolved. Add the eggs beat until creamy looking. Mix in the vanilla and yogurt.

Sift the flour, cocoa, baking soda & salt into the mixing bowl, then add spices. Mix just enough to combine the wet and dry ingredients. Add the grated zucchini and cranberries and mix it through the batter. I find it easiest to do by hand.

Turn the crockpot on high and spray the inside with spray on oil, then line it with non-stick baking paper. The baking paper will stick to the sprayed on oil.

Slow Cooker Chocolate Zucchini Cake Is Done!

Pour the batter into the prepared slow cooker, cover and cook on HIGH for 2 hours or until a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean. Depending on your crockpot it may take anywhere from 90 minutes to 2-1/2 hours to cook. Once you learn how long your slow cooker takes you can just leave it to cook and come back after that time to remove it. No need to keep checking like you need to with a conventional oven.

When the cake is cooked, remove the lid and lift out the crock. Be careful it will be hot. Leave it to cool for 20-30 minutes, by that time you should be able to touch the crock without burning yourself. Turn the crock upside down over a wire cooling rack and the cake should easily fall out. After the cake cools completely you can store it in the fridge for a few days – if it lasts that long! It’s nice eaten warm, but the flavor improves after a day in the fridge.

COOK’S TIP:
To line the slow cooker with baking paper…
Take a sheet of baking paper and lid on it. Using the lid of the slow cooker as a guide, trace a line all the way around the lid and trace another line about 2 inches away from the lid all the way around. Use scissors to cut the paper at the OUTER circle. Then make lots of cuts from the outside edge toward the center, stopping at the inner circle. Spray the inside of the crock (bowl) with oil. Now place this cut paper into the crock (bowl) and smooth it out over the bottom and up the sides. If necessary, cut a strip of paper to fit upright against the sides to cover the cut strips and make a smoother surface. You can reuse this paper for several batches of cakes.

Here are some photos, which might help to explain it a bit better:

Step 1: Trace the lid. Trace all around the lid, then draw another line about 2 inches outside of the lid.

Step 2: Make the cuts. Make the cuts from the outside edge, toward the center. Make the cut from the outer line to the inner line.

Then just cut a strip of paper to stand upright and wrap around the inside of the bowl, covering the cut strips. This way it’s really easy to re-use the baking paper for another cake.

Ingredients:
3 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup soft brown sugar
3 cups grated zucchini
2 teas vanilla
1-1/2 cup wholemeal flour
1-1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 teas salt
1 teas baking soda
1 teas baking powder
1 T ground cinnamon
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)

Instructions:
Beat eggs until light and foamy; add vegetable oil, sugar, zucchini and vanilla. Mix lightly but blend thoroughly.

Mix together the remaining dry ingredients, except nuts until they are thoroughly blended.

Add the dry ingredients to the first mixture, stir just enough to blend everything together. Stir in walnuts.

Spoon the batter into lightly oiled muffin tins, filling 3/4 of the muffin cup. Bake at 175C (325F) for about 20 minutes or until done. To check if they are done, insert a clean toothpick, skewer or wooden matchstick into the center of a muffin. If it comes out clean, they’re done.

Healthy Zucchini Muffin Recipe

Cool and serve. Can be refrigerated for a few days (the flavor seems even nicer the next day), eaten warm from the oven, or wrap and freeze them.

Makes 24 small muffins.