Globe Artichokes with Summer Green Dip

Delicious? Absolutely! This recipe makes for the perfect starter dish for lovers of good food and it is also really easy to create.
This being the first time I had tried these little beauties from Riverford, I was well impressed with the outcome, such a delicate and graceful way to enjoy veg, just sorry I didn’t get to it sooner!
Nice one Guy 🙂
If you haven’t tried these yet, it’s time to get your veg box on and enjoy the wonders of nature!

Ingredients:
2x Organic Globe Artichokes
1x Small plant of Summer Greens
1x Vine Tomato
Approx 75ml Homemade Almond Milk
Dash of Olive Oil
Salt
Pepper

Method:
Wash and shake the artichokes, cut away the stalk and remove all the rough, outer leaves.
Boil in a pan for approx 35 minutes.
When the artichokes are ready use the same pan and boil the cabbage and tomato for approx 3 minutes.
Add them to a blender, add all other ingredients and blend for 1 minute.
Serve immediately and enjoy the divine 🙂

The best way to eat this vegetable is to pull off a leaf at a time, dip it in the sauce then gently glide your teeth from the top of the leaf to the bottom and slide out the ‘meaty’ bit! I loved trying them without the sauce first to appreciate both ways. Once you have finished each leaf pile them up and repeat until you get down to the flowery part. Satisfyingly delightful and very tasty!

Congratulations Riverford Organic Farms Veg Box

Well done to Riverford’s Veg Box and all the team for winning The Observer Ethical Award of the Decade 2015!!

Totally deserved. Thank You for providing the UK with such a fabulous service!

We Love You 🙂

http://www.riverford.co.uk/blog/2015/07/03/riverford-veg-boxes-ethical-product-of-the-decade/

Saying No!

 

BYE BYE MONSANTO!

The Spicy Friday Smoothie

Lately, I’ve been changing things up to see how it effects me.
Tonight I enjoyed an organic smoothie for dinner! This is a great recipe if you like a thick and creamy smoothie and if you love to spice things up a little 🙂

Ingredients:

1/4 tsp Cayenne Pepper

1 tsp of each of the seeds below:
Shelled Hemp
Chia
Dessicated Coconut

1 tsp of each of the powders below:
Moringa Leaf
Mulberry Leaf
Boabab

2 stalks full of Kohl Rabi leaves
7 Blueberries

250ml Almond & Coconut Milk
50ml Cold Saffron Tea

Method:

Wash, chop and then steam the Khol Rabi for 1-3 minutes.
Add all ingredients apart from the Tea into a high speed blender.
Blend very well for approximately 2 minutes, you may need to give the blender a rest after 2 minutes, check the smoothie and then re-blend.
Fill a glass up and consume.
After that, add 50ml saffron tea and shake the blender jug making a lighter, very tasty and very frugal second drink.
I always love to do this after making my smoothies as it makes the most of the ingredients used and can be stored in the fridge for later too.

I really hope you love this creamy smoothie, morning, noon or night, as much as I did!

Enjoy!

The Fun Food Files – Fact #11

Mulberry Leaf Powder works as a fantastic thickener in smoothies, not a banana or avocado in sight 🙂

Vegan Baked Potatoes with Roasted Buckwheat and Veg Filling

My boys are very particular about what they eat and how they eat it, leaning towards not wanting anything that is healthy for them i.e. veggies. Therefore, being the persistent Mum that I am, I am always devising some sort of cunning plan to get my children to eat what is good for them!

This weekend’s attempt was baked potatoes with a twist. They love homemade chips, and will eat baked potatoes with no filling but honestly a baked potato alone for nutrition isn’t going to sit happily with me so I was mulling over just how could I get the veg in them…again! Ah ha creative moment, add buckwheat on top! They will eat anything if it has buckwheat in! Easy & Al absolutely love whole buckwheat and would happily eat it every day for breakfast.
We used to buy it roasted but then I got freaked out as I didn’t know the roasting method used so now we just get unroasted. I took a plunge in a wild hope they may not notice the veg mash if it was covered in seeds and it worked 🙂

To make a wonderful recipe:

Ingredients:

4x large Potatoes
2x vine Tomatoes
A bunch of Spinach leaves
2 small cloves of Garlic
1/2 an Onion
4 tbsp unroasted whole Buckwheat
40ml Almond Milk
Olive Oil
Himalayan Pink Sea Salt

Method:

Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 6.
Add a baking tray to the oven.
Wash the vegetables.
Prick the potatoes a few times and coat with oil and salt.
Add the potatoes to the oven for 1-1 1/2 hours depending on the size. Turning half way and re-coating in the oil.
Whilst the potatoes cook, gently steam the vegetables and blend them into a mash with the almond milk.
When the potatoes are cooked, allow to cool slightly then slice off the tops and remove most of the insides being careful not to split the skin.
Mash the potato and blended veg together with a fork and fill the potatoes with the mixture.
Top with buckwheat and place back to cook in the oven for a further 10-15 minutes.
Remove when the buckwheat is slightly roasted.
Leave for about 15-20 minutes to cool and then serve.

ENJOY!

Vegan Breakfast Minis

 

This is an absolutely adorable breakfast and after much fuss was an absolute hit with the kids!

It was rather early in the morning and it was an impulsive breakfast idea so the quantities aren’t very professional here but you get the idea 🙂 I know it looks like a lot of fruit but eaten with the peanut butter will slow down the release of fructose into the system so no hyper go go kiddies after this one!

To make these wonderful breakfast minis:

Ingredients:

Approx 1x tsp  CAROB
Approx 1x tsp MORINGA LEAF POWDER
Approx 3 tbsp PEANUT BUTTER
4x BANANAS
SMALL BUNCH OF GRAPES
A DASH OF WATER (you could use a cold herbal tea or a nut milk)

A SQUEEZE OF LEMON

HUNGRY BUBS!

 

Method:

In a bowl mix together thoroughly the peanut butter and the powders, adding tiny amounts of water at a time if it is too stodgy you want the consistency of dough.
Slice the banana into disks, try and make them as even as possible.
Wash the grapes and then slice them into either eights, quarters or halves depending on the size of them. You want them to be smaller than the banana.
Roll the dough mixture into little balls and top each banana.
Add the grape pieces to the tops.
Bless with love and serve!

Hopefully your children will love them as much as mine did.

If you have any left over, to stop the bananas from browning spritz a little fresh lemon juice over them (it really works!)  and pop them in the fridge for later, they are yummy cold too!

Please feel free to link to this recipe if you try it, I would love to hear what your kids thought and maybe see some pics?

Have a fabulously delicious day. Peace.

Baby Al digging in

to save for later

Cardoon & Squash ‘Hungry Gap’ Spring Wraps

Fresh Cardoons from Riverford

Spring Wraps

 

It is indeed Riverford on the menu again…as ever! Well You just can’t beat perfection and they’ve got exactly what I need. Nowhere else can bring it quite like these guys. Every ingredient bar the salt comes from them on a normal week and I always try to keep it this way. It is just the healthiest way I know. Organic rocks.

If you haven’t heard of them yet, check them out >>Riverford Organic Farms<< Their food is so fresh, so organic and is absolutely bursting with natural flavours! Never did I think I could enjoy vegetables as much as I do now, being an organic vegan. Buying from Riverford has changed my life and I can really feel the difference in my diet and overall well-being. It’s great!

Recently I discovered Cardoons, one of Guy’s projects. Car-what? Yes I know, quite a bizarre name they have isn’t it?! I had never heard of them either, until this year and oh how fabulous they are.

They look like a Grandpa version of celery but definitely do not taste like it, more like artichoke! As described to me, they are indeed very bitter, they must be good for us then, right?

Accompanied by butternut squash they sure sweetened up a treat and they helped make a very impulsive decision turn into a quick and delicious meal. Inspired by this Rutabaga Wrap recipe, this is the cardoon re-vamp.

Make my Squash & Cardoon Spring Wraps:

Main Ingredients:

4″ medium Butternut Squash
3 stems Cardoons
1 Spring Onion
3 large Pointed Cabbage Leaves
5 small Beetroot Green Leaves

Dressing:

4 tsp Olive Oil
1 small clove raw Garlic
1/4 tsp Cayenne Pepper
Pinch of Pepper
Pinch of Salt

Method:

Wash all the vegetables and leaves
Chop away the fluffy leaves and peel away the fibrous ribs using a knife or peeler (this mainly applies to the very outer stems, I felt the inside ones were fine unpeeled)
Chop the cardoons and spring onion
Thinly slice the squash
Crush the garlic (do not cook)
Lightly steam all the veg for 5 minutes
Lay out the cabbage leaves and place the squash onto them, share out the cardoons and spring onions equally, sprinkling on top.
Add the beetroot leaves for a vibrant touch and for extra goodness

Mix all the dressing ingredients together and slowly drizzle over the inside of the wraps
Fold over the leaves
Maybe drizzle a little more dressing over, whatever works for you.

Take a deep breath.

Enjoy!

I cooked a bunch of cardoons, with this recipe and I had a few chopped pieces on the side of the plate as well as in the wraps. A few were left over so I kept them in the remains of the dressing and popped them in the fridge overnight. Upon returning to the situation I was amazed at the way they had soaked up the flavour…yum. Goodness me – awesome veggies! They seriously owned that sauce!

Try something new

 

Recipe: Hemp & Almond Dip

So good!

Bud-Hearts

Ingredients:

3 tsp Hemp Hearts
3/4 Avocado
10ml Almond Milk
1 tsp Olive Oil
1/4 tsp Cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp Black Pepper
1/4 tsp Turmeric
1/4 tsp Salt

Method:

Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl with a fork.
Transfer into a clean bowl and serve.
Dip in!

View original post

Recipe: Hemp Hearts Avocado Quartz

Yum!

Bud-Hearts

Ingredients:

3tsp Hemp Hearts
1x Avocado
1tsp Olive Oil
1/4 tsp Cayenne
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp Turmeric
1/4 tsp Salt

Method:

Slice an Avocado into quarters and peel away the skin.
Mix all the other ingredients together thoroughly in a bowl.
In the indents of the Avocado add small spoonfuls of the mixture.
Serve and enjoy!

View original post