Mostly Raw Kelp Noodle Salad

I've been taking a little break from food this week, doing my partial juice cleanse. Although I haven't exactly indulged lately, it feels good to kind of re-calibrate your body and your relationship to food every now and then. I think it's also important to realise what kind of cleansing suits you best - I am trying to be kind to my body and I don't want to deprive it from all the energy, hence I prefer having one light meal every day during my cleanse. Some people might find it easier to stick to all juices, whilst some others might not find juice cleansing suitable at all. In all dietary preferences, I think it's important to remember bio-individuality - since we are all so different, no one diet can work for everyone.

This mostly raw kelp noodle salad is a perfect light meal to fit in to your cleansing routine or enjoyed even off the cleanse! Kelp noodles are literally only made of kelp (a sea vegetable) and can be eaten raw in salads, stir-fries, hot soups, etc. I've used kelp noodles previously in this recipe. Since the noodles are very mild in taste on their own, they are perfect paired with stronger flavours. Here, I've used red cabbage, peppery white radish, cucumber and green onions and seasoned the dish with some toasted sesame seeds and Bragg's All-Purpose Seasoning and some chilli flakes. You could use any seasonal vegetables instead - carrots, broccoli (preferably raw or very lightly steamed), zucchini or leafy greens would be great. My suggestion is to keep it mostly raw and light, especially if you are cleansing. 

Enjoy! 

Mostly Raw Kelp Noodle Salad

(serves 2)

340g kelp noodles*

small 1/4 red cabbage

10 cm piece white radish

1 cucumber

2 green onions

2 tablespoons sesame seeds

2 tablespoons Bragg's all-purpose seasoning (or 1 tablespoon tamari)

1/2 lime, juiced

pinch of chilli flakes

freshly ground black pepper

* kelp noodles are available at health food stores

 1. Rinse the noodles under warm water and place in a large mixing bowl. 

2. Thinly slice red cabbage, peel and thinly slice white radish. Remove the seeds from the cucumber and thinly slice that too. Chop the green onions finely. 

3. Toast the sesame seeds on a small pan until just browned. Combine all ingredients with the noodles and season the salad with Bragg's, chilli and pepper.

 

21-Day Sugar-free Vegan Challenge - Week 1

You know I like a bit of a challenge, yes? Well, this time I’m asking you to join me – so, are you in?? Let’s do a 21-day sugar-free vegan challenge together!

Since quitting sugar, meat and dairy off my diet, people kept asking me "what can you eat then?". This challenge is hopefully proving the point that vegan food can be versatile, nutritious and tasty. Vegan food is not a sacrifice, but enjoyable, energising and inspiring way to eat.

What is veganism and why should you go vegan?

Vegans avoid consumption of all animal products, including food, clothing, accessories and beauty products. (See a list of food items commonly mistaken as vegan here).

Although a vegan diet may seem somewhat radical and even extreme, it can actually have some great health and environmental benefits. For many people, a vegan diet is also an ethical choice and more than just a way of eating. Veganism as a lifestyle reaches across all areas of daily life.

How the challenge works?

You can start the challenge whenever you feel ready. I have provided you with a list of recipes for the first week of the challenge (see the links below) and I will post more recipes again next week.  Most of these recipes will be from my own archives, but I will also share some brand new vegan recipes during the challenge. There will also be some repeat of recipes (like breakfasts), but I've tried to provide a wide range to suit all climates and tastes. I’ve included recipes across the seasons so if you can’t find all the ingredients, try mixing and matching the recipes to suit the produce available in your region. 

If you do decide to take the challenge, I would love to hear your feedback! Email me, leave a comment below or message me on Twitter to let me know how you’re going. 

Let’s go! 

WEEK 1

Day 1. 

Breakfast: Sugar-free granola

Lunch: Pea and avocado soup with watercress and snow pea sprouts

Dinner:  Beetroot Orzotto

Day 2. 

Breakfast: Green Smoothie

Lunch: Beetroot and licorice soup with quinoa flat bread

Dinner: Amaranth and quinoa stuffed capsicums (can be made with quinoa only)

Day 3. 

Breakfast: Oats, quinoa or buckwheat porridge with ground cinnamon and almond milk

Lunch: Cashew cream cheese with quinoa flat bread and raw veggies (carrot, celery, cucumber)

Dinner: Black-eyed pea stir-fry

Day 4. 

Breakfast: Sugar-free granola

Lunch: Kelp noodles (or dairy-free, egg-free noodles) with broccoli pesto

Dinner: Tempeh with beluga lentils

Day 5.  

Breakfast: Scrambled tofu made with firm tofu, nutritional yeast, tamari, olive oil and some ground black pepper. Cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes.

Lunch: Quick summer gazpacho

Dinner: Cauliflower curry

Day 6. 

Breakfast: Green Smoothie

Lunch: Pea, herb and almond crush on vegan bread or wraps

Dinner: Protein Salad with tofu mayonnaise

Day 7. 

Breakfast: Soy barley porridge (leave out the umeboshi for a sugar-free version)

Lunch: Zucchini rolls with almond stuffing (serve with fresh salad and whole grains)

Dinner: Quinoa-Mung Bean Patties (served with quinoa, rice or other whole grain of your choice. Leave out the orange in the avocado dip for a sugar-free version)

In addition, every day, eat fresh salads (with avocado, flaxseed oil, sunflower seeds) and nuts. 

Snack ideas: Sugar-free power balls, rosemary roasted almonds, activated spiced nuts

Plant milk recipes: brown rice milk, quinoa milk, oat milk, almond (or any other nut) milk, soy milk

Shopping List

This list may seem extensive at first, but if you don’t want to stock up on everything, just repeat some of the dishes you find suitable. I keep most of these items stocked up at all times. They are a good basis for a healthy and versatile vegan kitchen.

*Vegetables and Fruit: fresh or frozen garden peas, watercress, snow pea sprouts, snow peas, green beans, yellow squashes, avocados, lemons, beetroot, cauliflower, garlic, fresh herbs (chives, mint, basil, oregano, rosemary), celeries, ginger, cucumbers, spinach, frozen edamame beans, carrots, red capsicums, zucchinis, spring onions, broccoli

* I've left out most fruit to keep this challenge sugar-free

(Raw) pulses, grains and flour: Quinoa flour, quinoa flakes, quinoa (seeds), rolled oats, buckwheat kernels, pearl barley, amaranth (optional), mung beans, chickpeas, black-eyed peas, black beans, red lentils, beluga (or French) lentils, Non-GMO soy beans

Nuts and Seeds: walnuts, almonds, cashews, chia seeds, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, hemp seeds (optional)

Oils and vinegars: virgin coconut oil, flaxseed oil, extra-virgin olive oil, walnut oil (optional), brown rice vinegar, apple cider vinegar

Spices: ground cinnamon, ground cumin, ground cardamom, ground turmeric, ground ginger, black pepper, good quality salt, ground licorice, pink peppercorns

Others: Good-quality organic vegetable stock (preferably home-made), non-GMO tofu, non-GMO tempeh, unsweetened coconut flakes, coconut cream, kelp noodles (or dairy-free, eggless noodles), miso (without dashi), tamari or Bragg's liquid aminos or all purpose seasoning, nutritional yeast, vitamin B12 supplement

Please note that I am not a qualified nutritionist and all the recipes are my personal suggestions only.

Vegan Books and Links:

Moskowitz, I. S. and Romero, T. H. Veganomicon The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook (2007)

Davis, B. and Melina, V. Becoming Vegan: The Complete Guide to Adopting a Healthy Plant-Based  Diet (2000)

The Vegan Society

http://www.onegreenplanet.org/

www.veganyumyum.com

On conscious, mindful eating + A recipe for Power Balls!

In my New Year’s post I talked about the changes I had made during the previous year - quitting sugar and dairy and returning to vegetarianism.  All these choices were pushed by a strong will for a healthier life and a growing awareness of my surroundings.  I have always been very conscientious, so it feels like a natural, ethical decision to not eat meat and instead eat foods that I feel provide me with the best nourishment and lead me towards a better health and wellbeing.

Conscious eating is more than just making the right ethical choices. It is about getting in tune with your body, knowing what it needs and what it can’t tolerate and how it reacts to the foods you are consuming. Practising this kind of awareness takes time and patience and I cannot claim to have mastered it fully myself. Experimenting with dietary changes, like the ones I mentioned above, can give you a better understanding of what it is that your body acquires.  

Along with the right ethical and nutritional choices, conscious eating is also about appreciating the food and fully embracing all meals. Caroline Dupont, the author of ‘Enlightened Eating’, recommends practising conscious eating by avoiding all distractions at meal time, appreciating the food with all your senses (the smell, the colours, the taste and texture) and making eating a complete experience.  

In today's busy world, it is easy to see why this is so hard to put in practise. A lot of people eat most of their meals on the run – grabbing breakfast on their way to work, eating lunch at their desks and finishing the day with a meal in front of the tv or a computer. Convenience conjoined with multitasking is everything and people have lost part of their intuition when it comes to consuming food. That intuition, amongst other things, should tell you when you're hungry and what foods you should eat/avoid for optimum health. If eating is always secondary and distractions are present, it is impossible to follow that intuition.

My journey to conscious eating begins when I buy the produce. There is nothing I love more than going to my local farmers' markets every week to pick up fresh ingredients to cook with. Chatting to the growers who picked their produce for the market just the previous night gives me a real connection to the food and a much deeper appreciation for it. I cannot claim to be perfect, however, as just like many others, I sometimes do eat meals in front of my laptop, working and typing away. I have made a conscious effort, however, to be more aware and make conscious eating a habitual choice. These are the first steps towards a more mindful eating.

Tips on how to get started

1. Be aware of the origins of your food. Shop at farmers' markets, if you can. Select products that have less food miles. 
2. If you do eat meat (or other animal products), make sure you know the source and be sure the animals have been treated and killed as humanely as possible. 
3. Eat more raw foods and choose a variety of colours, flavours, textures and shapes – this will accentuate the whole eating experience.  
4. Experiment with different dietary changes. Try a week without gluten and dairy and see if you feel different. Try eating more vegetables and less fruit, try cutting out all sugar. Note down the feelings you experience during the experiment.
5. Make meal times a priority – no tv, no computer, no magazines or books. Set the table (even if you’re eating alone), light up a candle and savour the meal.

With these thoughts, I’ll switch off my laptop, pour myself a cup of tea and savour one or two of these delicious, gooey, spiced sweet potato and cacao power balls. Enjoy!

Power Balls

(makes 10)

450g cooked and mashed sweet potato

2 heaped tablespoons almond butter (made with 1/2 cup raw almonds, recipe here)

1 tablespoon chia seeds

2 teaspoons pure, raw cacao powder (unsweetened)

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom

1/4 teaspoon ground licorice

virgin coconut oil, for rolling

unsweetened desiccated coconut, for rolling (optional)

1. Combine the sweet potato, almond butter and chia seeds in a bowl.

2. Mix together the cacao and the spices and stir into the mixture. You should have a gooey, sticky mixture. Rub your hands lightly with coconut oil and roll the dough into about 10 balls. 

3. Chill the balls in the fridge (20-30 minutes), then roll the balls in desiccated coconut before serving. These will keep in the fridge for 2-3 days.

Inspired by Raw

It may not always seem like it, but I actually eat most of my daily meals raw. I love starting my day with a green smoothie and prefer salads and other raw meals for both lunch and dinner. This is not just a summer thing either, but I enjoy raw meals throughout the year. Obviously the abundance of fresh produce in summer makes it much easier to stick to all raw foods and during the cooler months your body is asking for something warm. Listening and responding to these needs is an important part of mindful eating.

I'm a strong believer in the benefits of raw food. It has been said to raise energy levels, improve your skin and even aid physical illnesses. I also find raw food incredibly inspiring - it's amazing how much you can create by using fresh ingredients, like vegetables and fresh herbs, and seeds, nuts, sprouts, etc. The choices are endless!

Even if you're not keen to go all raw, consider replacing even one meal a day with a fully raw alternative. Green smoothies, soups like the ones below and salads are a great way to get your raw groove on.

”The food you eat can be either 

the safest and most powerful form of medicine or the slowest form of poison.” 

Ann Wigmore

Raw Carrot Soup*

(Recipe adapted from here)

(serves 1-2)

2 small carrots

1 tomato

1/2 avocado 

fresh ginger, to taste

juice of 1/4 lemon or to taste

pinch of good quality salt

freshly ground black pepper

water

* Preferably use all organic ingredients.

1. Chop the carrots, tomato and avocado in small pieces. Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Add enough water to reach desired texture.

Raw Creamy Green Soup*

(Recipe inspired by Enlightened Eating)

(serves 1-2)

4 cups loosely packed baby spinach

1/2 avocado

1 celery stalk

4 tablespoons chopped green beans

1/2 bunch or about 5 tablespoons chopped parsley

2 tablespoons chopped shallots/green onions

juice of 1/4 lemon

pinch of good quality salt

1 cup water

* Preferably use all organic ingredients.

 

1. Chop the avocado and celery stalks. Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.

Ingredients for raw kitchen:

• nut and hemp milks (see recipe for almond milk)

• nut or seed butters (almond butter recipe here, leave out the roasting bit for a raw version)

• nuts (raw or soaked)

• Seeds (raw, soaked or sprouted  - sunflower, pepitas, hemp, chia, quinoa)

• grains (soaked) and legumes (sprouted)

• sprouts (see my sprouting guide here)

• dehydrated vegetables, seed crackers and breads, etc. (preferably made using a dehydrator) 

• fermented and pickled foods

Books & Links

Davis, B. and Melina, V. Becoming Raw - The Essential Guide to Raw Vegan Diets (2010)

Russell James

Ani Phyo 

David Wolfe

http://www.rawmazing.com