Roasted Sweet Potato, Rosemary & Orange

Roasted Sweet Potato with Rosemary & Orange

Roasting sweet potatoes really brings out their natural sweetness and almost caramelizes them and the addition of orange juice, mandarin slices and fresh rosemary works with the flavor of the sweet potatoes to create a subtle but very tasty dish. It’s great served warm or cold the next day. It’s really filling too, I’ll often have just this and a big salad. In New Zealand, sweet potatoes are commonly called kumara, and they were brought here by the first settlers, the Maori for whom they were an important staple crop. They come in a variety of different colors, which all have slightly different flavors, but any kind can be used for this recipe. Read more »

Rosemary, Garlic and Walnut Kefir Cheese

Rosemary, garlic, walnut kefir cheese on a flax cracker

This is a beautiful, tangy, silky-soft cheese perfect for spreads and dips. With just a few simple ingredients, it’s very quick to make up if you have already strained the kefir through cheesecloth to make the cheese. Since it’s made from milk kefir, it has all the healthy probiotic benefits of kefir, but the cream cheese-like consistency makes it so much more versatile. It would be a great dish to bring to potlucks and picnics. It’s a delicious and refreshing addition to sandwiches, on crackers or as a dip for vegetable sticks. Read more »

Sunflower Walnut Pate – TuNo

Sunflower Walnut Pate on flax crackers with sprouts and arugula

I love this pate, it's so tasty, nutritious and versatile. It can be used in sandwiches and wraps, as a spread or dip or simply drop a scoop on top of a green salad. It's also called TuNo because it tastes and looks very similar to tuna salad, but it's vegan, in fact it's a super-healthy raw vegan dish. Now if you're one of those vegetarians or vegans who hates the taste and smell of tuna, you'll still love this no fishy taste or smell. I suspect what most people really love about tuna salad is more to do with the added ingredients than with the tuna itself. But the tuna provides a vehicle and texture that holds it all together and gives you that high-protein full feeling. Well, the walnuts and sunflower seeds do the same in this case, and the taste really comes from the spices and other added ingredients.

Great dish to serve to your non-vegan friends - see how many of them can guess that it's not actually tuna. Read more »

Raw Granola and Almond Milk

Raw Granola & Almond Milk

Raw food is so quick and easy to make, it’s the perfect thing for people who “don’t have the time to cook”. Well, here’s the perfect solution – don’t cook! Jennifer Cornbleet demonstrates how to make both Almond Milk and Raw Granola in under 8 minutes, real time. Okay, so she had to soak the nuts overnight, but that’s just being organized and takes maybe 2 minutes. And of course you have to wash up afterwards, but it’s not like you have to scrub a baking tray with cooked on granola! Have a look at this video and see how easy it is. Read more »