Chickpea, Sweet Potato and Green Bean Salad

Cheeky Chickpea, Sweet Potato and Green Bean Salad

This salad is cheeky because it is not entirely Gawler friendly. I prepared a dressing using the oil from marinated feta as to have the flavour of the feta without as much of the cheese and forbidden fats that interfere with our healing process ... I know, I'm a bad ass!

Of course if you are healthy you are essentially required to smother your salad in the most expensive marinated feta you can get your hands on and make yummy noises, reminiscent of the best orgasm you have ever had whist enjoying every bite...Just not in front of a Gawler patient!


Ingredients: The amounts below are all guesses as I just whipped this salad up and enjoyed it so much I thought it needed to be shared! Just put in as much of whatever you desire. You know what you like!

Serves 4-6ish (depends if side dish or main)

1-2 large sweet potato - peeled, cubed and steamed until soft
1 can chickpeas - either soaked overnight if using dried or from a tin, drained and rinsed.
1/2 - 2/3 red capsicum - sliced
200g Green beans, topped and tailed, halved and steamed
3-5 scallions, green onion - finely sliced
2 Tbls dill, finely sliced (more if you are like me and can't get enough of the stuff!)

Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl to combine. Stir gently as to not break up the sweet potato.

Dressing:

60ml (1/4 cup) fresh lemon juice
2 Tbls oil from marinated feta (if you are stronger willed than me use flax oil for Gawler friendly option).
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 small garlic clove, crushed
Salt (or yeast flakes) & freshly ground black pepper to taste.

Pour all dressing ingredients, but salt and pepper, into a small jar and shake to combine. Taste and adjust salt and pepper as needed.

Enjoy lovelies!

Vegan Strawberry Ice Cream

Easy as! Vegan Strawberry Ice Cream

OMG I found a recipe for vegan ice cream!? Best. Day. EVER!!!

Makes: 1 litre

Requires an ice cream maker.

Ingredients:

300g frozen strawberries
2 cups non dairy milk (I use almond milk).
1/2 cup honey
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
pinch of salt

Method:

Place all ingredients together in a blender or processor. Blend until smooth. It should taste like a delicious smoothy at this stage!

Freeze the mixture in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's directions. Usually churns for approximately 20 mins. At this stage it may still be a little too soft (although it should look like ice cream) so transfer to a container and store in freezer until ready to eat!

YUM YUM YUM!

Vegan Chocolate Avocado Mousse...they'll never know!

Serves: 4-6 (6 is pretty modest but it is very rich so it's hard to eat a lot!)

Ingredients:
1 avocados
1/2 banana
5ml vanilla extract
70g cocoa powder (adjust as necessary for your taste).
60ml maple syrup

Method:
Place all ingredients into a food processor, blend until smooth. Spoon into glasses.
Eat and dissolve into a chocolate covered bliss!

Creamy without cream Pumpkin Soup?! YES PLEASE!

Creamy and DeliciousPumpkin and Red Lentil Soup!!!

Serves 4

It's December and "summer" here in Melbourne but the weather is so freakin' unpredictable I am still eating soup!! Lucky I have the recipe for the best pumpkin soup ever in the world...or I would actually cry.

NOTE: From now on I will try to include options for those of us following Ian Gawler's "healing" diet. This diet was originally designed to assist cancer patients on the path to good health but will benefit anyone suffering a chronic illness. Personally, I am using it to prepare my body for spinal surgery (to remove this pesky arse tumor) and prevent it from ever coming back!

Ingredients:
1 Tbls olive oil (Gawler option: just saute in water)
1 long red chilli
1 onion, finely chopped
850g butternut pumpkin, chopped
1.5 litres vegetable stock (Gawler: use water or salt reduced stock)
125g (1/2 cup) red lentils
1 Tbls tahini (Gawler: omit)
extra red chilli and cold pressed olive oil to garnish.

Method:
Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat, add the chilli and onion and cook for 2-3 minutes, or until translucent. Reduce the heat to low, add the pumpkin and cook, covered for 8 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Increase the heat to high, add the stock and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer, covered, for 10 minutes. Add the red lentils and cook, covered, for 7 minutes, or until tender.

Process the soup in batches in a blender or with a hand blender, add tahini and blend until smooth. Transfer to serving bowls and garnish with chilli and a drizzle of olive oil.

Silverbeet is more than Spinach's dorky cousin!

Almost vegan...Silverbeet and Potato Pie

It's difficult changing up your diet in such a dramatic way but friends and family have been amazing (although dubious at times) at accepting my new found vegan experimentation. Recently I was handed a gigantic pile of silverbeet. A vegetable I have never really had too much to do with. It always seemed to me like spinach's dorky cousin but I took the challenge of cooking something palatable head on! I wasn't aiming for a giant success, just something that could make it down the gullet, but I was VERY pleasantly surprised with this recipe.


Ingredients:
200 g young silverbeet or rainbow chard
Sea Salt
150 g Potatoes
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 finely chopped Onion
2 tablespoons finely chopped Parsley
1 cup roughly chopped Walnuts (OR for a non vegan version you might like to add your favorite cheese; ricotta, feta and mozzarella are all great options!)
1 tsp nutmeg
Freshly ground Pepper
1 large Egg (for a completely vegan meal use equivalent egg replacer)
Approx. 6 sheets filo pastry, thawed

Method:

1. Wash silverbeet. Separate silverbeet stems from the leaves, then roll up the leaves and slice finely. Trim stems, chop finely then cover with 1 Tbls salt and set aside in a colander. Set aside.

2. Meanwhile, boil potatoes in lightly salted water for 15-20 minutes until tender, then drain, and dice into 1cm cubes.

3. Preheat oven to 180°C and lightly oil a medium casserole or tart dish.

4. Combine silverbeet with potato, onion, parsley, walnuts and nutmeg, then add salt and pepper to taste. Note: add cheese now if using. Whisk egg with 1 tablespoon oil and add to silverbeet mixture.

5. Line baking dish with 5 sheets of filo pastry, let overhang from the dish a lot and brush every second layer with olive oil. Spoon in the filling. Fold the overhanging edges of filo pastry back over the top of the dish to cover. If it doesn't quite cover it all you may use an extra sheet or two on top, brushing with oil as you go. Brush the top with olive oil and sprinkle lightly with salt.

6. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until golden brown. Allow to rest for 10 minutes before cutting.

This recipe is delicious on its own or serve with a fresh tomato salad.

Fuck carrot juice, eat cake!

So since the juicing we have kilo upon kilo of carrots in the basement just piling up, ready for me to drink. But after a week of carrot juice 5 times daily, one kinda gets to realize that carrot juice is the worst thing ever known to man and that carrots should all die!! So I am looking for new and interesting ways to use carrots. I am maintaining the vegan diet (as animal protein is shown to promote cancer and disease growth) but the juices made me feel really sick and bloated so I am not sure they are the best method for me. This is a trial and error process after all and I need to fully tune in with my body and listen to what it needs...right now? It needs cake!!!


This recipe is taken from the Blossoming Lotus-Vegan World Fusion Cuisine cookbook that has been collecting dust in my shelves for years.

Cosmic Curl Girl's Carrot Cake:

Dry
3 1/4 c Spelt Flour
2c Sucanat (Abbreviation for sugar cane natural. I used maple syrup to taste. About 3/4 c.)
1 1/2 c Raisins
1 Tbls Baking Soda
3/4 tsp Cinnamon powder
1/4 tsp Sea salt
1/4 tsp Allspice

Wet
1 3/4 c carrot juice, fresh
1/2 c filtered water
1/3 c ginger juice (or 1/2 tsp ground ginger and equivalent filtered water)
3/8 c Safflower oil
2 Tbl Apple cider vinegar
1 tsp Vanilla extract

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 180 degree C
2. Place all dry ingredients in a bowl and stir to combine.
3. In a separate bowl combine wet ingredients and whisk together.
4. Pour wet mix into dry and stir to combine. Pour into a well oiled 29cm spring form pan and bake for 60 min or until a toothpick comes out dry.
5. Allow to cool completely before icing if desired.

Icing: This will be awesome with your typical cream cheese icing but if you are going the whole hog with the vegan thing try this with me!

Cashew Creme Frosting

1 c cashews
2/3 c coconut milk, or more to reach desired consistency.
1/3 c dates
1/2 tsp vanilla (or the zest and rind of half a lemon for a fresher taste)

Preparation

Place cashews, dates and vanilla a food processor or blender with 1/2 c coconut milk and process until smooth, adding coconut milk as necessary until mixture is smooth and still thick.

Refrigerate for 20 mins before frosting the cake.

Rustic Greek Panzanella

This is one of the sexiest salads I have ever seen. Admittedly (and shamefully) I am not a huge fan of tomatoes...or cucumber for that matter (yikes!) BUT I appreciate the magic that a salad of colours so vibrant they could rival the rainbow, can provide. It can make the fussiest of salad eaters' jump in with amazing gusto. It helps that it also includes the most delicious rustic bread soaked in oil and to-die-for feta cheese!

Let me know if this one is good enough for the upcoming TV appearance!

Adapted from Barefoot Contessa-How easy is that? By Ina Garten

Serves 4

Ingredients:
¼ cup good quality olive oil
3 cups, roughly torn rustic bread (great for using up day-old bread!)
Salt
½ Lebanese cucumber, halved lengthwise and sliced 1cm thick
1 yellow capsicum, seeded and large-diced
½ punnet cherry tomatoes, halved
½ small red onion, thinly sliced in half rounds
100g Greek Feta cheese (or your favorite, but this is just gorgeous!)
Approx. 15 olives, pitted

Dressing:
½ cup good olive oil
¼ cup red wine vinegar
2 cloves minced garlic
1 tsp. dried oregano
½ tsp. Dijon mustard
Salt and pepper

Method:

Heat ¼ cup olive oil in a large saucepan. Add the bread, sprinkle with salt and toss to coat with the oil. Cook over medium heat for several minutes, stirring occasionally, until browned and crisp. Set aside.

Place the vegetables in a large bowl and toss together.

For the vinaigrette, combine vinegar, garlic, oregano, mustard, 1 tsp. salt and ½ tsp. pepper in a small bowl and whisk together. Whisking constantly, slowly add the ½ cup olive oil.

Add the bread, feta and olives into the vegetable mix and pour over the vinaigrette, toss lightly. Set aside for 30 minutes for the flavours to develop. Season to taste and serve at room temperature.

Note: This is to-die as a side with lamb or beef skewers with some Greek yogurt or on its own as a main.