In this vegan smoothie, I combined good protein and fat from almonds and chia seeds with the amazing health benefits of raw cacao. Did you know that unprocessed raw cacao has more than 300 nutritional compounds and is one of the richest sources of antioxidants of any food on the planet? This superfood can help keep you energized, healthy, and happy! This smoothie for breakfast is so rich that it will keep you satisfied until lunch time.
After the holidays, we’ve adjusted our diet to eat less meat and fish. We were eating vegetarian dishes throughout the week, and fish or meat only about once per week. As a result of this, we already felt better a few days into this. At the time, I was reading “How Not to Die: Discover the Foods Scientifically Proven to Prevent and Reverse Disease” by Michael Greger, the founder of Nutritionfacts. Based on this book, I wanted to find out how our body reacts to a strict plant-based diet over a period of time, and I’m glad my husband was joining me on this experiment. I still couldn’t imagine giving up meat or fish completely, but I believe in the healing ability of food, and the right balance will help us to live a long and happy life.
While visiting Barcelona recently, I enjoyed my very first Crema Catalana. It is the Spanish version of the French Crème Brulée. The original Crema Catalana is lighter than Crème Brulée and the lemon or orange zest adds a beautiful fruity flavor. In my recipe, I went a bit further and made the fruity part with mandarins and rooibos tea from South Africa, my second home. “Crème a la South Afrique” could have been another name for this 😉
These days I’ve been creating light dishes that are full of flavor. I had a nice jar of yellow tomato puree, and I wanted to build on its fine and delicate taste, full of Umami. I had several ideas and started cooking in my head – as I always do – while shopping, exercising, or picking up the kids. In fact, most of my recipes start in my head way before I start anything in the kitchen. Once in the kitchen, all these ideas come together and it’s not unusual for a recipe to be created in one session. In this dish, the combination of ginger, herbs, homemade stock, and yellow tomato sauce is so flavorful, you can eat it with any kind of fish or vegetable that you like. I steamed broccoli, spring onions, and carrots alongside oven baked codfish.
I’m always trying new ways to prepare carb-free crackers, and I’d like to share the following recipe with you. The ground sunflower seeds and the eggs create a slightly denser texture, and the cumin and paprika powder add a nice flavor. Feel free to add or replace different spices as you prefer, for example, rosemary or thyme. You can get really creative – perhaps I’ll try tomato powder next.
