Monday, February 24, 2014

The raw foodie in me, and a sneak peek...

Back in 2006/7 I was a vegetarian, and I can honestly say I never felt better than I did during those two years. 
Born with a tricky digestive system and having always needed to monitor what I eat (or reap the consequences) it seems that the older I get the more issues I have. Now in my 50's it's become difficult for me to digest meat, grains, certain fruits, beans and eggs - and I adore eggs.
For a while pre-soaking the grains helped, and it still does with rice, but apart from that I'm even finding gluten free baking to be a problem that causes great discomfort for a few days afterwards. 
Mr E and Blossom, on the other hand, are thriving on my gluten free baking so I'll still continue playing with sweet recipes for them.

But me?
Well, I have also drifted through some seasons of being a 80% raw foodie, and again, my body really responded well to that lifestyle.
I do have a couple of good raw recipe books, but with Mr E on board my healthy living wagon these days (hallelujah!) I felt the need to look deeper into meals that could be prepared quickly, easily, and used a minimum of ingredients. In the past I was pretty weighed down with making my own dehydrated foods which he never really took to and which took days to prepare a lot of the time. Pretty disappointing when you're buying ingredients from all over the country, sprouting, and dehydrating - to be told it's yuk.

But then I found Kemi, and a simple, fresh and quick raw menu fell into my lap.

On Saturday I made a few things that were absolutely delicious and Mr E agreed.
 I began with a simple quinoa salad for dinner. After cooking the quinoa I just added lots of raw vegetables and some fresh herbs...


..then dressed it with this incredible Orange & Mustard dressing I found HERE on Kemi's website.


Our main meal finished, I began on dessert. Mango & Lime Mousse with strawberries...


 ...which I found HERE. I also decided to make Coconut Cream to pour over the mousse before serving...


 The Coconut Cream will last in the fridge for a few days, but it's so yum I always find ways to finish it much sooner! The recipe is from the Trim Healthy Mama book and is very easy. 

Pour into your blender -
one, 400ml can coconut milk
one, free range egg
three heaped tablespoons of extra virgin coconut oil (coconut butter)
2 teaspoons vanilla essence, or the seeds from one vanilla pod
Blend for one minute, and place in the fridge for an hour or two to thicken.

Sunday morning I made up a bowl of blueberries, strawberries and passionfruit for breakfast...


...and poured some of the coconut cream over the top.


Sunday night I added 1/3 cup of chia seeds, and some extra vanilla to the remaining coconut cream. Within a few hours it looked like a tapioca pudding as the little chia seeds become gelatinous pearls suspended in the vanilla coconut cream. I pureed strawberries and the rest of my passionfruit to pour over the top. Again, yum!

Mr E and I went for a long ride on the motorbike Sunday morning as the skies were overcast and a bit breezy - such relief after the last couple of weeks of rain and high humidity. You build up an appetite after 3 hours on the bike, so I thought I'd try Kemi's "Sunny Zucchini Hummus" with sweet potato crackers for a healthy pick me up.


It's made with just zucchini, tahini, garlic, lemon, sunflower seeds, salt and cumin powder. No chick peas at all! You can watch Kemi make it on THIS video.
I was surprised to see that she served it with raw rounds of sweet potato, but thought I'd best not judge until I'd tasted it. I enlisted Mr E and Blossom to give it a try too...


YUMMO!!!
The crunch of the sweet potato and the smooth creamy hummus is amazing together. 
It's so good that Blossom insisted on taking it to work for her lunch today.
I've just ordered Kemi's dvd and can't wait till it arrives, but I may have to delay experimenting with it as next week I'm off to Melbourne for 5 days for Let's Get Stitched.

In fact, here's a tiny sneak peek at one of the projects I'll be sharing on the Sunday...


Just the hand quilting and the binding to finish and I can write the patterns and print them up. 
Glad I've got healthy food to keep my brain on track!

I hope your week is a good one!
hugs



12 comments:

Ju said...

Olá Jenny,
Tudo parece muito delicioso!
Beijo do Brasil
Ju

Melody said...

All that goodness is bound to make you feel great

creations.1 said...

Getting older has whiskers on it I am finding. I have had to look at my diet also for the same reasons as you. Have fun in Melbourne - it is going to be a great week!!

Tammy said...

Maybe I need to change my diet too. Nothing seems to work with my system these days.

Anonymous said...

Your food looks yum, thank you for sharing, it is a challenge with digestive issues, seems many of us could probably benefit from diet changes at times, get back on track . Disappointing too to find what we love to eat doesn't agree but you seem to find great alternatives. I recently purchased Dr Sue Shepherd's Low Fodmap Diet book which also has recipes and covers a wide area of digestive problems and disorders, could help identify the foods responsible for discomfort etc. I also found information and food lists online that are helpful. I hope you find your changes beneficial to your health and wellbeing Jenny, have a wonderful week, Melbourne will be creative fun. Judithann

Jeanette said...

I need to change my diet & what you've posted looks along the lines of what i'm want to try out. Thanks for the link. Hugs,xx

Thoeria said...

Oh dear.....all that yummy goodness is making me feel like I need lunch ...too early tho! IThanks for the links too....whoever said that healthy eating was boring!! Those look scrumptious and full of flavour!
Sneak peak...urghhhh.....when do we see please :-D

Wendyb said...

looks great Jen.....can't wait to see the finished project!!! I know it will be just beautiful! xox

Dolores said...

They look like wonderful recipes. I may try one or two. Thank you.

Carrie P. said...

yum! my hubby likes to eat raw sweet potatoes. he says it is just like eating raw carrots.

Angie in SoCal said...

You made me hungry with this post. Everything did look yummy. Looking forward to seeing your latest project, Jenny. Blessings from SoCal

cheryl said...

Hi - looking forward to reading things on your site. Tricky digestive system caught my eye. Me, too.