Black Bean Soup

I thought this might be a little boring but it's pretty good and easy as well. We had steamed asparagus with a weird flaxseed oil "mayonnaise" on it. It's really just cottage cheese blended with flax oil, bit of mustard and a few little pickles. Good way to get your flax. I also made some homemade oven chips (fries) with chopped potatoes tossed with a little olive oil and sea salt baked in a hot oven.

For the soup...

1 tin or heaping cup of black beans
1/2 small red onion
2 garlic cloves chopped
1/2 red bell pepper
about 4 med tomatoes
1 tsp cumin seeds
some chili powder and cayenne
sea salt and pepper
fresh flat leaf parsley

Drain your beans. Heat a sauce pan on med and put a bit of olive oil in it. Cook onions and garlic until soft. Add your chopped red bell pepper, cumin seeds and spices. Cook for a few min. Add the beans and a bit of water depending on how thick you want it. You can add a veggie stock cube if you want fuller flavor. I just put sea salt and pepper in it. Put two roughly chopped tomatoes in it. I blended it a bit with a hand stick blender so it was still chunky. Let it simmer for a bit and then before serving add the last two chopped tomatoes and a dollop of greek yogurt, sour creme, or the flax oil mayonnaise. Oh and chop some flat leaf parsley and add on top. Or coriander (cilantro). Lots of options for this dish. Like you could add sweet potato in it and serve with avocado as well.

Spinach and Quorn Curry

I made this up tonight and it turned out really really good. I used inspiration from some Sag Aloo recipes. Eat it with some red onion chutney or lime and pickle chutney. yummmm.

for 2 people who like to eat a lot
a big bunch of fresh spinach or a bag of it
1 small onion
2 cloves of garlic
1 inch piece of ginger
1 green Birdseye chili
4 med tomatoes
1 tbsp lemon juice
quorn or tofu or mushrooms
4 mushrooms
ground coriander
ground cumin
garam masala

Cut the onion, garlic and ginger and chili in big chunks and blend with some water using a wand/stick type mixer or food processor. You only need enough water to make sure it blends down to a paste. Heat a pan with some olive oil and add this paste to it. Cook for a bit and then add your 1/2 tomatoes that have been cut up into chunks. Add the lemon juice. Throw in sliced mushrooms and quorn. Chop up your fresh spinach and add that too with some sea salt. Season with the spices. I used about a 1/2 - 1 teaspoon each of coriander and cumin. Simmer for a bit and then add the rest of the tomatoes and the garam masala at the end and just cook a little bit more. Garam Masala tastes so good and you can add as much as you like. You can add a bit of plain yogurt as well for more creamy texture. Serve with brown rice.

easy salsa

salsa is so easy and yummy and good for you. don't buy crappy refrigerated stuff. it's so easy.

-4 med tomatoes
-1/2 or more of onion
-1 lime
- sea salt
-handful of coriander (cilantro)
-2 birds eye chilies

I chop all of it really big and then throw it in a cool little food processor i have. I used to chop it by hand but man I don't have time right now! Taste it and see if you need more lime or more salt as these are the key to good salsa. Home grown tomatoes make the best salsa ever.
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raspberries rule

raspberries are so good. we have just like 4 plants growing outside along a fence and they provide us with raspberries all summer and into the fall. the are called perpetual raspberries as they keep on cropping. if you are thinking about growing some i highly recommend perpetual as we get berries into november!

Kidney Bean and Sweet Potato Spelt Chapati Burrito sorta things

I forgot to take a photo of this one as it looked so damn good when I was finished I ate it all up but I did had a left over chapati and a few bits that i wrapped up in the fridge so I took a photo of that so you can see my pretty chapatis. These turned out so well I was stoked as I am trying not to eat too much wheat and spelt is much better for you.

What is spelt you ask. It's a closely related species to wheat but has good minerals, vitamins and fiber. It was used a lot in the medieval times but getting popular again as people who are wheat intolerant can usually eat it. It does have gluten in it so you can bake it or make lovely chapatis.

The chapatis are so easy to make I was amazed the first time I made them. You will need though a good iron skillet (a must have really in the kitchen!) for a perfect chapati. I used about a cup and a half of spelt flour for 5 chapatis. I an not sure how much water I used. Maybe 3/4 cup. You want to make sure it's wet enough to kneed properly. If it crumbles a bit add just a touch of water and see how you get on. Add water VERY slowly as you work. You want to kneed it for like 8 minutes or so until it's a bit elastic. Wrap it in a wet kitchen towel and leave it to rest for 15 minutes.

What you need now for the insides!
-1 tin or heaping cup of cooked red kidney beans
-2 cloves of garlic
-1 peeled and chopped sweet potato or yam
mushrooms cooked lightly in oleolux or olive oil
-ground cumin
sea salt
grated cheese
lettuce
olives
home made salsa (see salsa post)

So basically you just boil up the sweet potato until it's soft and mash it up with a bit of oleolux or butter. Heat some oil in a pan on med and add the whole garlic cloves and cook them for a bit. Then add the drained kidney beans and some cumin and salt. Any cayenne as well if you want it a bit spicy. Throw a bit of water in the beans and cook them a bit and mash them up with a fork.

Get your iron skillet on med high heat and get it to full temp. Takes like 5 min or so. Grab a chunk of dough and roll into a ball. Roll out flat as you can with a rolling pin and some more spelt to keep it from sticking. Put it in the hot pan dry with no oils. Try not to burn it as it cooks quick. Flip and add a little oleolux. Put the cooked chapati on a plate and put another plate turned upside down on top to keep the moisture in and they will stay soft that way. Cook up the rest.

Now put spoonfuls of sweet potato and kidney beans in the chapati and add cheese, salsa, lettuce, red onions, olives ect. What ever takes your fancy. Or cabbage instead of lettuce which is awesome. Oh and the mushrooms as well. I love mushrooms. That's it. A really great take on the burrito but different and super healthy.

Thai Butternut Squash Soup with Corinader (cilantro to Americans!) Pesto

This soup is so good. Super filling and not to hard. I made it for some friends the other day. It's from a recipe I have altered to fit my tastes and diet. I forgot to take a photo of it which is a shame because it looks very pretty when you add the green pesto in swirls on top of the orange soup. I used to cook prawns to add to this or tofu. You need...

1 butternut squash or pumpkin works good too
1 onion
2 cloves of garlic minced
1 big tablespoon of Thai red or green curry paste (I found some good stuff with no sugar!)
1 can of coconut milk
sugar snap peas or green beans
dried mushroom or fresh
julienned carrot
chili power or cayenne
ground cumin
ground coriander
sliced red onion

for the pesto
hand full of fresh coriander
2 cloves of garlic
olive oil or flaxseed oil
lemon juice and zest

Preheat your oven to 180C and get a oven tray or cookie sheet. Chop the butternut squash into 4 pieces and put them face down on the lightly oiled tray. Bake until soft.

Get a good pan and fry the onion in a bit of olive oil, add the garlic and cook for a little bit longer. Throw in the curry paste and some salt. Add about a cup or two of water and turn it down. Scoop out the squash and add to the pan. Cook for a little bit and then use a mixer to blend it up. A hand wand type will work or a blender. Or a fork if you have none. Be careful at this stage and make sure you turn the heat down as the thick squash soup will boil and shoot hot blasts of soup up in the air! Add the can of coconut milk and more water if it's too thick. Add your veggies of any kind you like really or none at all. While this is simmering away on a low heat make the pesto.

Throw all of the pesto ingredients into a blender or use a hand mixer and your done.

Serve up in bowls and add the ground coriander and cumin on top along with some thin sliced red onion. Oh and a bit of chili powder as well. Then pour the pesto on top in a swirl and serve. Make sure you save a bit of pesto to add halfway through eating as it's so good!

rose petal eatin catipillar!

this amazing looking little bugger is eating roses. what fine tastes you have!

lunch

this is a goodie made from some straggler veg hanging out needing to be eaten. I am still tasting the dressing now. GARLIC!

salad with mushroom and asparagus
-some leafy greens
-few mushrooms
-some stalks of asparagus
-handful of walnuts
-tomato
-goat cheese
-nutritional yeast

dressing
bit of olive oil (cold pressed type is great!)
bit of fresh squeezed lemon
1 clove of garlic (squashed or chopped)
1 tbsp flaxseed oil
salt and pepper
bit of fresh basil leaves (chopped or torn)

Heat a pan and put a bit of olive oil. Keep the temp just med. Don't smoke any oil ever! Throw in the mushrooms and asparagus to cook them just a bit. Add some oleolux (budwig thing) to the pan to coat for flavor.

Throw all together nicely and add the dressing and some chunks of goats cheese.

first time blogger!

This is the first time I have ever blogged and am not sure how much time i will have to do this but I hope to keep a food diary as well as just a basic diary of my life. I was diagnosed with cancer (angiosarcoma primary breast) in July 09. I am following the Budwig diet which I will go more into later. I want to share with people my love for food and my new exploration of cooking within a sort of guideline.

I am a horrible writer and speller so don't bother pointing this out. I know it.

The food rules are....
no meat
no fish
no sugar
no processed food
no fats other than flaxseed oil, pumpkin seed oil, coconut oil (I do use quality olive oil and sesame oil now and again)
a bit of dairy is ok
everything is organic as possible
everything whole /raw as possible

That's a lot of rules but they are rules for me personally as I may not follow the Budwig diet as closely as others do but it's my own interpretation of it and what I think is best for ME and only me.

Any foodie comments much appreciate and any recipe ideas for me would be fantastic.
-natalie