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VeganEtcetera

~ Eating healthily easily

VeganEtcetera

Monthly Archives: June 2014

How’s the Ferment?

05 Thursday Jun 2014

Posted by Aissa in Fermentation, Gluten Free, Natural Health, Superfoods, Traditional, Vegan

≈ 2 Comments

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Fermentation, Gluten free, Natural Health, Sauerkraut recipe, Superfoods, Traditional, Vegan, water kefir

About a month ago I posted my Sauerkraut recipe. Any one join me at the time? Here is what mine looks like now. The water is nice and clear. No floating scumminess. Nothing on the glass above the water line. This is a sign all is well. It has a good strong vinegary smell too. Fermented foods are sadly missing from many of our diets, and they are so good for us!

The backlighting is flattering!

The backlighting is flattering!

 

I also keep Water Kefir and Kombucha. The water kefir is very active in the current warm weather. I changed mine last night. I thought it would be nice to add extra flavour. The orange colour comes from the rapadura sugar I feed it, i always put in a little ginger too. After straining it I added organic parsley and mint. It is a lovely drink for these warm long evenings. Filled with billions of good live bacteria and yeasts, fantastic for keeping your gut happy and healthy. I hope the summer will continue in this form and in another month I will be sitting in the sun having my sauerkraut with a big organic salad! 🙂

Xs Aissa

Veg-extravaganza Juice!

03 Tuesday Jun 2014

Posted by Aissa in juice, Superfoods, Vegan

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Juice, Superfoods, Vegan

A typical Irish day, warm and sunny with a light breeze to start. It got a bit dull, still and humid, has completely clouded over and is now lashing rain. It’s irregularity is dependable. Not as dependable as my daily juice routine! Was that a segway? Did a clumsily commit segway-ness?

Veg-tastic Juice pre juicing

Veg-tastic Juice pre juicing

We have beautiful fresh organic herbs in the health shop I work in. So delighted to be able to add these nutrient packed refreshing goodies to my juice.  All the ingredients I use are organic. I know that not everyone has easy access to organic foods, but I would esp. try to get organic ginger as it can have been irradiated otherwise.

Veg-extravaganza Juice!

  • A an inch in diameter bunch of wheatgrass
  • A GIANT pak choi leaf/ two average ones
  • Five catalogna leaves
  • A three inch piece of cucumber
  • Half a purple kohl rabi
  • Four small red cabbage leaves
  • A stalk of celery
  • One medium unwaxed green apple
  • A couple of dessertspoons of peas! ( I had some defrosted organic marrowfat so threw them in!)
  • Half an unwaxed lemon
  • Five sprigs and stems of parsley
  • A sprig of mint (had about 6 leaves on it)
  • A slice of turmeric root (1/4 inch)
  • A slice of ginger ( about the same )

Packed full of nutrients, antioxidants and flavour. The lemon parsley and mint prevent the bitter green leaves from being over powering. The mint particularly lifts the flavour. You could use rocket instead of the catalogna leaves. You could have oak leaf lettuce instead of pak choi. Lime would be lovely instead lemon! Play around make your know Veg-tastic version!

Veg-tastic Juice! I shared mine :-)

Veg-extravaganza Juice! I shared mine 🙂

Xs Aissa

Fluffy Red Velvet Aduki Truffles

02 Monday Jun 2014

Posted by Aissa in Chocolate, Gluten Free, No bake/ Raw, Superfoods, Sweets, Vegan

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Gluten free, No bake, Superfoods, Sweets, Vegan

These are fluffy with a gentle sweetness; as a result they are easy to eat. Don’t be deceived by their soft melty-ness they are super filling. The aduki beans and almonds mean one are two are more than enough at a time. I store them in the fridge or freezer to keep them firm.

You will need a cup for measuring, a plate, a bowl and some sort of blender. I use a hand held one which works fine.

Fluffly Aduki Cocoa truffles or Red velvet Aduki Truffles?

Fluffly Aduki Cocoa truffles or Red velvet Aduki Truffles?

Fluffy Red Velvet Aduki Truffles 

    • Nine unsulphered dried apricots
    • Optional: A spoon of dried mulberries

Soak these in a some water for at least an hour and then chop them.

    • A generous mug of cooked aduki beans roughly 240g. If you used canned ones make sure they are well drained.
    • Two dessertspoons of date syrup. If you are more used to normal sweets you may want to add a spoon of agave/maple syrup too!
Adukis and syrup

Adukis and syrup

Mash these together with a fork, you will be blending it so don’t worry about squashing every bean.

Dry Stuff

    • Half a cup of ground almonds
    • A quarter cup of cocoa or raw cacao
    • A dessertspoon of raw carob
    • A teaspoon of vanilla powder/ scraped insides of two vanilla pods*
    • A pinch of salt about a quarter of a teaspoon
    • Optional: Half a teaspoon of maca powder
    • Optional lovely extra: Orange zest

*If you want to use vanilla essence don’t! Vanilla bean paste in sugar would be fine but alcohol based extracts aren’t so good in raw sweets.
Mix the dry ingredients together, pressing out any lumps.

    • Two thirds of a cup of desiccated (shredded) coconut
    • Twenty four organic almonds, finely chopped

Put these on a dinner plate. You will be rolling the mixture in them.

almonds etc

Put your chopped fruit into the adukis. Give things a mix. Stir in your dry ingredients.

Grab your hand blender and start blending! Use a low setting at first, it is better for your blender. The ingredients will get quite fluffy and a pinky chocolate colour. Should have called them Red Velvet Aduki Truffles 🙂 You know I will, they were called fluffy aduki cocoa truffles.

Rinse your hands in cold water. If your hands are too warm handling the concoction you may find it all melting to goo. By the dessertspoonful gently roll the aduki truffles into the nuts and or the coconut. It was a warm day here and I found everything going a bit squashy. So work quick if you are having good weather!

Put them in the fridge or freezer to set for half an hour. I store mine in the fridge as they are lovely cold and it keeps them firm. I am a messy chef so while they are setting I try and get the mix off my hands, the cupboards and every surface. Works up the appetite anyway!

Xs Aissa

 

 

Tomato sauce again?!

02 Monday Jun 2014

Posted by Aissa in Gluten Free, Savoury, Vegan

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Gluten, Savoury, Vegan

Tomato sauces are my fall back dinner. If I can’t think what to have … it is what I have. It changes based on what organic vegetables I happen to be available (and in my kitchen). There are so many computations that work it seems like an ever versatile dish! It is simple,fast, healthy and tasty. Beans taste so much better if bought dried, soaked overnight and cooked for forty five minutes before adding them to the tomato sauce. I was not organised so went for my organic cans in the press!!From start to finish it should take under an hour.

Tomato Sauce Again! 

  • A dessertspoon of coconut oil
  • Half a teaspoon of nigella seeds
  • Half a teaspoon of chilli flakes
  • Black pepper to taste
  • A pinch of sea salt
  • Five cloves of finally (ha! meant finely) chopped garlic
  • One carrot finely sliced
  • One 400g (240g drained) can of organic chopped tomatoes
  • A teaspoon of paprika
  • A dessertspoon of dried oregano
  • One 400g (240g drained) can of organic pinto beans
  • Third of a cup of organic frozen peas
  • !00g of organic baby spinach leaves
  • A third of a cup of ground almonds
  • Ten fresh basil leaves- torn

Get your saucepan and put it on a medium heat. Add your coconut oil and let it melt. Add your nigella seeds, chilli flakes and black pepper. Let them sizzle for a half a minute.  Add your garlic and after another minute add your carrot. Give things a stir. Add your tomatoes and paprika. Let this cook for a five minutes. Add your pinto beans and peas. Let these cook through so the peas are warmed through. Add the spinach, stir it into the tomatoes. Let it all cook for ten/ fifteen minutes at a simmer. The spinach releases a lot of water so it needs to reduce. Add the ground almonds, this thickens the sauce and adds a richness to it. Throw in the basil leaves. It will prob need to cook for another few minutes.

Colourful food

Colourful food

I had mine with kelp noodles but clearly it would go with any kind of pasta you like!

Xs Aissa

Image

Intense Juice

01 Sunday Jun 2014

Tags

Fermentation, Juice, Natural Health, Superfoods, Vegan

Intense Juice

Still having my juice a day, for that extra nutrient blast! Wanted to go for bitters and fabulous organic stuff that is good for the digestion.

I have been juicing for a while and I have built up the intensity of greens I can take. If you have just pulled your new juicer out of the box do not start with this one! Have a look at my other lighter recipes and certainly do not juice garlic. I would even recommend diluting this with some water kefir or natural mineral water if it is your first green veg juice. Also sip the juice, take your time enjoy.

Intensity of colour, intensity of flavour, intensity of nutrients!

Intensity of colour, intensity of flavour, intensity of nutrients!

Intense Juice packed with flavour!

  • Two large pak choi leaves
  • Four or five kale leaves and stalks
  • Four catalogna leaves
  • Three red cabbage leaves
  • Half a pointed red pepper
  • Two stalks of celery
  • One green apple
  • A nub of turmeric (as thick as tip of your baby finger)
  • Half a lemon
  • A slice of ginger ( half cm thick)
  • Optional: one small clove of garlic
  • Optional: A dash of water kefir

As I said this is Intense! If you think your palette or your system is not ready for it yet you can A: reduce the green leaves by half  B: Dilute the juice. C: Come back to it another time 🙂

The catalogna are bitter green leaves, “bitters” stimulate the digestion. All the greens are filled with energising chlorophyll. The cabbage’s red colouring is an antioxidant. Along with the greens it is a massive source of vitamin K. This juice gives an intense hit of B vitamins, vitamin C, glutamine,potassium, the enzyme superoxide dismutase with a massive etc. The addition of the lemon, turmeric, ginger and garlic gives it anti-inflammatory,antibacterial and extra anti-oxidant properties. It also does taste lovely!

Xs Aissa

P.S. Even the pulp is amazing looking!

Rainbow pulp!

Rainbow pulp!

 

 

Posted by Aissa | Filed under Fermentation, juice, Natural Health, Superfoods, Vegan

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