Vegetarian recipes & information to help you eat healthier

Red Cabbage Braised with Olive Oil and Garlic

Red cabbage is a superfood, and this has to be one of the simplest, yet tastiest ways to eat lots of it. I love cabbage, maybe it’s the Irish in me, but I can make a meal of this. Properly cooked cabbage has a slightly sweet taste which is complemented by the garlic. If you don’t like cabbage, you’ve probably never had it cooked properly. I’ve met many a person who thought they didn’t like cabbage until they tried one of my cabbage dishes. They’ve always asked for more. So if you imagine over-cooked, mushy cabbage with rotten-egg smell permeating the house give this recipe a try and see if cabbage doesn’t become one of your favorite vegetables too.

Cabbage contains phytochemicals called indoles which are thought to be responsible for reducing the risk of cancer. It’s also high in fiber, and contains a good amount of vitamins C, K, beta-carotene and the carotenoids lutein and zeaxanthin which promote good eye health as well as calcium, magnesium, and potassium. And it’s one of the lowest calorie foods in existence.

Red cabbage (also called purple cabbage) gets it color from a substance known as anthocyanins, the same thing that makes blueberries blue, and gives them their super-antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Anthocyanins’ powerful antioxidant properties allow them to fight damaging free radicals, protect us from the damage of toxins, and fight cardiovascular disease. Read more »

Barley Bread

This dense, rustic flat bread has a satisfying nutty taste and crunchy texture around the edges. It’s great served with soups and stews, or salads. It’s also nice on it’s own, spread with honey or avocado as a snack or light meal. Best served warm, right from the oven.

Because it’s wheat-free, this bread doesn’t contain the amount of gluten that a wheat-based loaf would, so therefore it doesn’t puff up and create a light, airy bread like wheat-based loaves. It’s more a cross between a flat-bread and a cracker, crunchy around the edges. But I love the texture, it feels much more substantial than a typical airy loaf. It’s chewy in the middle, crunchy around the edges and much more flavorful than wheat flour. Oh, and it’s vegan as well.

This is one of the easiest and quickest bread recipes I’ve ever used. No bread maker or mixer required, it’s easy enough to do it all manually. You don’t need to wait until the dough rises (proofs), so it’s a great option for whipping up some bread at the last minute to go with your meal. Read more »

How To Cook Lentils

Lentils are a healthy and versatile food. They are also inexpensive, making them a great staple for anyone interested in healthy, frugal living. They are probably the fastest cooking of all the legume family, and they don’t require soaking making their preparation faster still. They are nutritious too. Rich in antioxidants, selenium, and B vitamins, all of  which boost the immune system. Like the other pulses, they contain anti-carcinogenic phytochemicals. They are also packed with protein, high in iron and folate and very high in fiber, which is good for your digestive and heart health.

Lentils come in a variety of types, usually described by the color. Red lentils are by far the fastest cooking and are often used in Indian cuisine. However the green and brown varieties of lentils are more nutritious than than red variety. Read more »

Apricot Goji Gelato

I often get sweet cravings at night, when I really shouldn’t be eating at all. We were lucky enough to find apricots at a local orchard just a couple days before. So I made this as a way to satisfy my sweet tooth while making sure I wasn’t taxing my digestive system before I went to bed. This scrumptious, fruity, slightly tart gelato is so incredibly nutritious you can indulge all you want without feeling guilty.

Apricots are very high in beta-carotene, which your body needs in order to produce vitamin A. They are also a good source of vitamin C and vitamins B2, B3, and 5. They provide nutrients that help support your immune system, are a great source of anti-oxidants, as well as fiber. They also provide calcium, iron and zinc.

Goji berries are a nutritionally-dense superfood. Among other things they contain more protein than any other fruit. You can read more about the health benefits of goji berries here.

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Raw Sesame Halva

I love halva, the Middle Eastern dessert made from sesame seeds. I’m not even sure how they make it but I decided to make my own healthy, raw version. Actually I was going to see if I could make raw tahini with my blender because I’ve not been able to find a raw tahini here in NZ. My blender ground the sesame seeds really well, but I was having a bit of a sweet craving and I ended up abandoning my tahini experiment in favor of raw halva. I didn’t regret it, it really hit that sweet spot!

This isn’t an exact recipe, but it’s such a simple recipe with so few ingredients that if you just let your taste buds guide you and you can’t go wrong.

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Our Online Store is Open!

Our New Zealand online store is now open!

Kombucha Starter Kits are now on sale. This ancient health tonic is so easy and inexpensive to make, but you need to find a kombucha culture to get started. Nearly everyone who’s bought one from me has told me that it’s very hard to find them. So, with that as my inspiration, I’ve opened this store. Currently the Kombucha cultures can only be shipped within New Zealand.

These Kombucha SCOBYs (as the kombucha culture is called) are grown in organic green tea and organic, fair-trade sugar. So if you want to start making your own tasty and healthy kombucha tea, visit the store and grab one now. Read more »

Garden Vegetable Soup

Since I haven’t gotten around to making any raw soups yet, I thought I’d go in search of a video recipe, and I found a good one. Garden Vegetable Soup, by Jennifer Cornbleet. It looks and sounds delicious. I actually have enough of the ingredients to try one myself tomorrow. They are not so different than a green smoothie, except in the seasonings. Jennifer talks about the 6 basic components of a raw soup in the video, I love the way she breaks it down so simply, it gives me a much better foundation to work from when I create my own. I’m really good at creating delicious cooked soups, but raw soups seemed a bit daunting. Not any more Read more »

Listen in on The Women’s International Health Summit, free

Today is International Women’s day, and in celebration of women, and how far we have come, there’s a very special event that starts tonight at 8pm Eastern time. It’s called W.I.S.H. – Women’s International Summit for Health. It happens online, and you’re invited to attend. For free. Even if you’re a guy

This is an amazing opportunity to listen to some of the top speakers and thought leaders in the fields of health, fitness, spirituality, relationships, abundance (Law of Attraction) and more. In all there are 40 speakers, spread over 10 days. So every day you’ll have 24 hours to listen to that days speakers.

The thing I really like about this one is that the range of speakers presents a truly diverse, and holistic approach to health. I’ve signed up already! I hope you take the opportunity to as well. I attend a few of these events.

So who’s on the agenda? Well, you could just go see for yourself, click on anyone’s photo to find out a bit more about them. But there are lots of the top advocates in the field of food/nutrition, health as well as spirituality, fitness, relationships, money, beauty, family and more. Here are some of the speakers just in the area of food and health:

• David “Avocado” Wolfe: one of the world’s leading authorities on nutrition, raw food advocate, author and founder of the non-profit Fruit Tree Planting Foundation (www.ftpf.org) whose goal is to plant 18 billion fruit trees on planet Earth.
• Victoria Boutenko: author, inventor of green smoothies, raw food advocate who healed her family of diabetes, asthma and other serious health problems.
• Donna Gates: nutritional consultant, author and lecturer who has helped thousands of people overcome candidiasis and other immune system disorders, probiotics advocate.
• Rory Freedman: author of the bestseller Skinny Bitch and vegan animal rights activist.
• Jules Dervaes: founder of the modern urban homestead movement, educating and inspiring millions of people to pursue a more sustainable way of life.
• Dr Joseph Mercola: bestselling author, founder of the massively popular mercola.com founder of world-renowned Natural Health Center where tens of thousands have come to be treated with his multi-disciplinary natural approach to health.

Read more »

Marinated Portobello Mushrooms

I absolutely love mushrooms cooked, but can’t stand them raw. So when I decided to start eating more raw food, I was missing my mushrooms! Or having to eat them cooked. I’ve tried a few different raw vegan recipes featuring mushrooms, like stuffed mushrooms, and while it was better than eating them plain (yuck), I still didn’t really love them. I figured my best chance for creating a raw mushroom dish that I loved was to use my dehydrator.

If you want to eat a raw vegan diet, but you still love the taste of cooked food, a dehydrator will save you. Keep the temperature setting at 115 degrees F or below, and you won’t destroy any of the important enzymes in raw food, but the warmth is enough to change the texture and taste of the food, similar to cooking at higher temperatures. In the case of mushrooms, these are every bit as delicious as sauteed mushrooms. Read more »

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