Sweet Caponata di verdure.

This is a quite easy and very tasty recipe, it is called "Caponata di verdure" and I learnt it in Southern Italy. I like to use sweet root vegetables like carrot or sweet potato and sweet round vegetables like pumpkin...The natural sweetness in the ingredients will penetrate deep in your soul!  It makes a nice side dish.

Ingredients:

-2 Courgettes
-2 big carrots
-2 onions
-1/2 small pumpkin
-2 sweet potato
-3 medium potato
-Fresh herbs (parsley, rosemary, SAGE, mint...)
-5 tablespoon of extra-virgin olive oil
-Salt


Process:

Preheat the oven 200ºC.
Wash the vegetables thoroughly and chop them in medium squares. If they are organic, which I recommend, do not pell them, keep the skin even in the pumpkin.
Use a baking paper to cover the bottom of the oven tray and place the vegetables in. Use olive oil to coat the mix of veggies, using your hands mixing everything softly. Add salt and place them in the oven at 180ºC. 40-45 mins approx.
Take all the herbs you have and chop them together. set aside. Take out the oven tray when the vegetables are roasted and mix them with the fresh herbs using a wooden spoon and adding more salt if necessary.

 Enjoy!!

Almond milk.

Milk and dairy products are often subject to controversy. As an European raised in the 80's, I have been exposed to the mainstream idea of getting your daily amount of calcium from cows milk. Nowadays a great number of people have realized that they are intolerant to dairy or have understand that their kids are sensitive too. Whether you consume milk or not, there are a few facts that I consider important to be known:

As a mammal, Human Being is the only animal that consumes milk after it has been raised, in this case, taking the milk from another mammal. This fact shows up that WE DO NOT NEED MILK TO GET OUR DAILY AMOUNT OF CALCIUM. In Europe, as well as in other places in the world, we have been consuming milk & dairy products for thousands of years and in some cases, we have developed digestive enzymes that break down lactose helping milk assimilation. However, in most part of dairy-consumers food traditions, there are ways to eat or drink dairy products in form of fermented or as probiotics, making milk a easier-to-digest food. Today we buy yoghurt and milk in a box or cheese in a plastic tray from the supermarket, and that, somehow denatures the product itself. Also, we have to bare in mind that a few generations ago, industrial farming wasn't a reality as it is today, animals were not subject to exploitation, antibiotic vaccination and use to live in a more healthy environment, grazing pesticides-free grass. 

If you like to consume milk, yoghurt or cheese I would recommend to buy ORGANIC. You can make your own yoghurt  from organic fresh milk and using goats milk could be a great option too. Also, there are plenty of vegan milks made out from cereals or nuts and the can be a healthier option. 

Today I will share a very easy recipe as a healthy alternative to dairy milk. 

Natural almond milk.

The processes for making almond milk is so easy. All you need is a blender, a fine-mesh nut bag or cheese cloth, a strainer and some bowls. 

Ingredients:

-1 cup of almonds, preferably organic and peeled.

-2 cups of water plus more for soaking.

-Sweetener like cinnamon, honey, agave, etc...

Process:

Soak the almonds overnight or up to two days. The longer you soak them, the creamier results.

Drain and rinse the almonds under cool running water and place them in the blender or food processor with the two cups of water. Blend them for 2 minutes in the higher speed.

Place the nut bag into a bowl and pour the mix into the nut bag. Use your clean hands to squeeze and press the mix so the milk separates from the meal.

Sweeten the milk and use it or keep it in a glass container into the fridge for a maximum of 2 days.

You can use the almond meal and your own creativity as an ingredient for your cakes or as a base for a vegan cheese. For vegan cheese, mix the meal with some raw garlic, salt, pepper and fresh herbs and make little round shaped chesses. Coat them with dry herbs or spices like smoked paprika or black pepper. 

Enjoy!

Jo's Curry Dip.

 Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands,  is one of the most amazing places I have ever lived. I consider it to be quite "extreme" from many perspectives. It is a volcanic desert island surrounded by a powerful Atlantic ocean with strong winds and a stunning sunlight almost all the year-round . The Four elements of Earth, Water, Fire and Air are present everywhere and you will feel their presence no matter what. If I have to describe the energy of this place in one word, I would use INTENSITY.

 Those who enjoy wilderness, sun light and surf will probably enjoy this unique paradise. I hope to go back one day and pay a visit to my friends and the places that I loved.

While I was living there I heard several times that  living in this part of the world, could make your karmic wheel to run faster than usual. From my own experience I feel this is true as there was always "something going on"  in terms of facing life challenges. 

The period that I lived in Fuerteventura, I realized and understood an important lesson: To acknowledge fierce emotions within myself and to recognise and embrace my dark side. 

Like it or not, we all have a dark side, a shadow that we were taught to run away from. We are taught that emotions like fear, anger, sadness, envy, rage...were "negative emotions" and we learn to suppress or to hide them not providing a space for that part of ourselves that was trying to manifest itself. We tend to bury those feelings in the belief that they are terrible and, thinking that this is the best thing we can do, completely unaware that sooner or latter we will face. They will find a way to manifest through our physical/mental/energetic/emotional body, perhaps in the form of a disease.

Asana practice or meditation are greats tools for facing/embracing our dark side on a daily basis. If they are well understood, they can be a sophisticated instrument for spiritual growth. Sadly enough, it is common to come across "spiritual teachers" who wont admit this dark side of the human personality and will claim that there is not space for it in spiritual evolution.

Emotions were created to be felt as they are part of our inner wisdom.

My feeling is that  there cannot be light without darkness and, in order to find our light, we must first give a place to our darkness, acknowledge it, honour it and finally overcome it.  

Today's recipe is a curry dip, I learned it from my dear friend and workmate Jo Dombernowsy, She is an amazing cook and working with her was a very inspirational experience. She wrote a great cook book which contains recipes that I often use. This is one of my favourites:

 Ingredients:

-100 ml. sunflower seeds
-100ml. extra virgin olive oil
-1 teaspoon of apple vinegar
-1 tablespoon lemon juice
-4 teaspoon of mild or soft curry
-1 teaspoon of turmeric
-1 apple peeled and cut into chunks
-Sea salt for seasoning

Process:

Blend all the ingredients together until it gets a soft consistency and serve it with bread, raw veggies or crackers.

ENJOY!!

Seitan: Making your own vegetarian meat.

 One of the things I get more inspiration from is going out to nature. It makes me feel connected and sometimes it gives me insights. As I was having an early walk this morning, I thought about the purpose of life, Why am I here? What is my purpose in this life...? I know it may sound cliché but I think everyone of us has come to this kind of question at some point.

 I raised my gaze to the sky and suddenly, something beautiful happened: a magnificent falcon flew few meters right above my head crossing like an arrow in the morning winter sky. I felt overwhelmed with awe by this beautiful event and some tears came out from my eyes. That made me think that perhaps my purpose in this life has to do with nature...but maybe this is just an idea, who knows?

I like to think that the ultimate purpose of life is just to live this life, nothing else...Just do the things that make us feel connected, happy and peaceful. I believe that if we want to align our personal purpose with a Higher purpose, then the most direct way must begin from our heart.

Vegetarianism and yoga are very related nowadays. I love vegetarian food and I personally believe in the benefits of practising yoga and having a healthy life style which may include adding more veggies to your diet. However, I do not agree with fanaticism of any kind and, when it comes to diet, I believe the more important thing to do is listening to your own body. Sometimes we may decide to be a vegetarian or a vegan from an idealistic position, following this without listening what the body is trying to say. Our guts are just like another brain and any decision about our eating habits should come from down there more than our head. Having a healthy lifestyle will surely help you to connect with that inner wisdom that will orient you towards being capable of feeling and understanding what is good or bad for you.

 Sometimes we may think we are more on the spiritual path by practising yoga or eating just vegetarian food, but that is just our own ego talking. In the end I think Life itself is the ultimate and absolute spiritual experience and practice, and the rest are just tools that sooner or later we must transcend in order to advance our evolution as human beings. Respect, starting from what I feel, is one of the things at which I am aiming.

Today's recipe is seitan. It is a popular mock meat made from wheat. It is a well known product among vegetarians and it is high in protein. You can find it in almost every healthy store, sometimes as the base ingredient for other commercial meat substitutes like sausages, etc.

Seitan is highly versatile as an ingredient and it taste so good, if you are planning to cut off some animal products from your diet, you can use it as your "meat-substitute" as it has a very similar texture to meat and it  is a vegetarian quality protein.

 If you like seitan and you have some spare time to invest in your kitchen, then probably it is worth for you to learn this recipe.

Seitan with "papas arrugadas" on a pumpkin-cream bed. 

Ingredients:

(For 250gr. approx.)
-1/2 kg of wheat flour.
-1/2 onion.
-2 garlic cloves.
-2 cm ginger root chopped.
-8 tablespoon of soya sauce.
-1 teaspoon of dry oregano.
-A piece of Kombu or another seaweed.
-1/2 teaspoon of dry ground garlic.
-A pinch of cumin.
-A pinch of smoked paprika.

Process:

Seitan is pure gluten (the main protein found in wheat). It is made primarily with wheat flour and in the process, we basically are going to separate the starch from the gluten, and we will aim to keep the last one.

The first thing we need to make is a dough by mixing and kneading wheat flour and water. Once the dough is done, place it in a bowl and cover it with water.

After the dough has been under water for at least two hours, we are going to start working it in the sink. Here start the process of separating the starch and the gluten. Place the bowl in the sink under the water tap and knead the dough into the bowl, letting all the starch (which will colour the water in white) come out. You must try to knead "compressing" the dough, this will allow the gluten to stick together while the starch dissolves and goes away. Change the water in the bowl a few times while you are working the dough, it will take some time until you clearly see that most part of the starch is gone and the remaining is a chew-gum-like sweet little monster.

This is the remaining gluten, our sweet little monster.


Next step is doing a broth where we are going to cook the gluten. This will give some consistence and flavour to our seitan.
 In a litter of boiling water add 4 tablespoon of soya sauce, the onion, the garlic cloves, ginger, oregano and seaweed. Feel free to be creative here and add whatever you think will give a nice flavour. 
Place the gluten inside and cook in a medium flame for 45 mins.

And there it is: your home-made seitan. Cut it in chunks or slices and marinate with 4 tablespoon of soya sauce, the spices and the dry garlic before you use and cook as you would do with  meat.


Enjoy!!

Winter Potage.

There is nothing better than a winter potage for a cold and damp weather. It is a very consistent dish that warms you up deeply and re-mineralizes your body.

For this recipe we will use sweet root vegetables that will ground us, seaweed for mineralizing, tofu and chickpea for a quality protein and much, much love.

Ingredients:

-One cup of chickpea soak overnight in 5 cups of water.
-Two onions Chopped.
-Two carrots cut in slices.
-A sweet potato cut into little-size cubes.
-About 100gr. of pumpkin cut into medium-size cubes.
-A grated big ripe tomato.
-Two smashed cloves of garlic.
-Tofu 200gr. cut into little cubes.
-15gr of dry seaweed hydrated or 50gr of fresh, preferably Nori, Kombu or Wakame.
-1 tablespoon of miso.
-Olive oil.
-Sea salt.

Process:

Place the chickpea in a pressure cooker and cover them with cold water. Cook for about 60/70 mins. and keep the broth.
In another cooking pot, hit some olive oil in a low flame and add the chopped onion and the smashed garlic, cook them stirring until they are golden.
Add the tomato and stir for about 5-8 mins. more. Add the other vegetables, the chickpea with the broth , the tofu and the seaweed. Season with salt and let it cook for about 30 mins.
Dissolve the miso in a cup with some of the broth and add it to the pot at the end of the process, once the potage is cooked. Stir and let it rest for 3-5 mins before you serve, perhaps accompanying a whole grain like wheat or rice.

¡ Que aproveche !

Vegan Holy Cake!

With coconut sugar, ginger, cinnamon and lemon zest.

I learnt this recipe from my dear friend Francesca and I have made so many versions of it. I like Holy cake because you can use your creativity by changing the ingredients and it always comes out good.
It is a great cake for breakfast or snack for the whole family and it is a very simple and healthy recipe. I recommend to use organic ingredients.

Base ingredients:

-5 cups of flour of any kind, you could also mix different varieties.
-2 cups of brown sugar (Coconut, cane...).
-1+1/4 cups of sunflower, extra-virgin olive oil or coconut oil...
-2 cups of a cold liquid (water, juice, vegetable milk,...).
-2 teaspoon of soda bicarbonate.
-A pinch of salt.

Optional ingredients:

-Grated lemon zest.
-Chocolate.
-Cinnamon.
-Ginger.
-Turmeric.
-Apple.
-Grated carrot.
-Grated courgettes.
-Nuts.
-Coconut flakes.
-Orange/lemon juice.
-Etc., etc., etc...

Process:

Preheat the oven 200ºC

Lets start by combining all the dry ingredients in a bowl (including any optional ingredient of your choice), except for the soda bicarbonate. Stir.
Add the oil and keep stirring until it is well mix.
Add the cold liquid and stir very gently, from the bottom to the top of the bowl.
When everything is well mix, add the soda bicarbonate (right before placing into the oven!) and mix it well. Place in the baking tray and cook 180ºC for 45 mins.
Let it cool down and enjoy!

With beetroot and carob. 

Pizzi, my favourite souther-Italian-style bread.

Today I have a recipe from an amazing land I have lived in for almost three years. This place is called Apuglia, and it is located in the deep south of Italy. Apuglia is one of those places in the world where you can notice the riches of  a blend of cultures that have populated this area since ancient times. It is a magic place and when you live there, sometimes you have the feeling of travelling back in time, in the best sense of the word. 

I have incredible memories from the period I lived in "The boot's heel", it is the mother-land of some good friends of mine and I took many influences from it's traditional cooking in exchange of a piece of my heart. I  learnt a great deal about food when I lived in Lecce and I will share one little treasure with you today. You can notice Italian's good taste through the traditional food, it is just so genuine, rich and tasty but in many cases not suitable for wheat/gluten avoiders. 

The "Little treasure" I am going to share with you is a kind of bread called Pizzi. When it comes about bread, I have to say that this is one of my favourite recipes. It is easy to make and taste so delicious. You will probably find this kind bread only in this part of the world and you have a few versions of it, depending on the village or the bakery.

Ingredients:

-Wholegrain wheat flour 500gr
-Water
-Cherry tomato 100gr
- One zucchini
- One onion
- A handful of black olives (preferably with the "stone")
- Four table spoon of olive oil 
-Half a cube of fresh yeast
- Four teaspoon of  sea salt

Process:

In a bowl, mix and dissolve the yeast with some warm water, the oil and the salt. 
Chopped the onion, zucchini and cut the cherry on half. Add this vegetables and the olives to the mix and start adding flour to make a dough, using a wooden spoon or your hands kneading the mix until it takes a solid and elastic consistence.

Leave the dough in the bowl and cover it with a cloth for at least three or four hours until it rises. 

Turn on the oven 180ºC and preheat for ten minutes.

Make fist-size buns and place them in a oven tray with baking paper on the bottom. Bake them for 30-35 mins.

Buon appetito!

Aubergine or Eggplant dip.

Here is a nice dip recipe. It's a Aubergine or Eggplant dip, also known as Baba Ganoush or caviar d'aubergines. 
It's a tasty spread very easy to make and I like it with toasted bread or pita triangles.

Ingredients:


-3 medium size Aubergines.
-130 gr. of sesame paste (Tahini).
-1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil.
-3 tablespoon of freshly-squeezed lemon juice.
-2 garlic cloves peeled and smashed.
-A few leafs of parsley.
-1 teaspoon of sea salt.
-A pinch of chili, cumin and smoked paprika.

Process:

Preheat the oven 190-200ºC.
Prick the Aubergines a few times and place them into the oven tray with baking paper on the bottom. Let them cook for at least 20-30 minutes until they are completely soft. Let them cool down.

Once they are cold, split  the skin, take the pulp and blend it with the rest of the ingredients. Taste and add more salt, lemon or spices if necessary. Serve drizzle with some olive oil or herbs and some nice toast bread or pita triangles. It is also a nice spreadable for sandwiches. It can be made and refrigerated up to 4-5 days prior to serving.

Enjoy!

Raw Coconut & Lemon Bliss Truffles.

Today's recipe is one of the easiest, healthiest and nicest dessert you can delight your guests with: Raw dates,walnuts, coconut and lemon truffles, just this four ingredients...isn't that amazing?

I have seen and done so many versions of this recipe but I will post here my favourite and most people favourite. It's as simple as tasty and it keeps well for a few days in the fridge, even though they won last for long once you try them!

Ingredients:

(For 25-30 truffles approx)

-Dates (preferably organic) soaked over night-250 gr.

-One small lemon (preferably organic) juice and grated zest.

-One handful of walnuts soaked over night.

-Coconut flakes-120 gr.

Process:

Soak dates and walnuts in mineral water separately and over night. Soaking dates will make them softer and easier to work with. Soaking walnuts will break up enzymes inhibitors on the fruit's skin. Strain and rinse them.

Blend the dates along with the lemon juice, the lemon zest and most part of the coconut flakes (90 gr. approx).

When all looks like a paste, chop the walnuts and add them. Mix all well with a spoon and make the truffles using your hands. Coat them with the remaining coconut flakes and that is all.