What.......a Vegan Fish Sauce!

I seem to have a real Yum Yum desire for more Asian inspired meals these
days. I just love the ginger, garlic, coriander, chili, lime combo with noodles
( can spiralise your zucchinis to make fresh noodles if you wish) & all that
freshness of flavours & veg. Many traditional Asian recipes demand that dreaded
Fish Sauce as the total answer in acquiring the perfect result, & I have often
played around tweaking a recipe trying to achieve the desired result without
the Fish Sauce.
Well I have finally come across someone else who has come up with a real
solution, although I am not able to credit the person as she or he remain
anonymous.
Here is the Recipe with thanks to the mystery person for solving my dilemma!

1/2 cup of shredded wakame (sea weed)
2 cups water
2 large cloves of garlic
1 tea whole peppercorns
1/3 cup mushroom soy sauce
1 tea dark miso
Combine Wakame, garlic, peppercorns & water in a saucepan & bring
 to the boil & simmer for 20 mins Strain
Return the liquid to the saucepan, add the soy sauce & lightly boil until
reduced. Take off the stove & stir in the miso.

Decant into a glass bottle, seal & keep in the refrigerator for use.
Trust me....using this does add another layer of flavour to Asian Dishes,
so I can only recommend you might like to try it!

Has this Happened to You?

I have always loved fruits, salads & raw snacks & although not entirely Raw in my food choices, I can not remember ever being faced with digestive issues; a number of people have recently expressed to me their personal experiences & discomfort in trying to embrace more Raw Food into their Diet. I am told that digestive upsets can be an issue many people deal with on a regular basis and no one seems to want to talk about it, but it’s obviously very important. Digestion isn’t something any of us should be embarrassed about, nor is it apparently an uncommon issue. It’s essentially how our bodies turn food into fuel and how efficiently they do so. Digestive problems are apparently one of the top health problems in our society today with IBS being the number one gastrointestinal complaint.                                                                                                                       It would seem that a fair number of people deal with digestive struggles while transitioning to a plant-based diet, though most of the time these issues get better within a few weeks or months. Some people also transition perfectly and don’t struggle at all; everyone’s body is different & our emotions can play a vital role as well. As a sideline & perhaps "food for thought"....ask ourselves some poignant questions if we are having problems......one question could be..... what in our life are we having trouble accepting or in other words, digesting?                                                                       Gas and bloating may be due to eating too much fiber, while frequent bathroom trips are likely when the body is adapting to eating more fiber-rich, cleansing, natural foods versus animal foods. If you have bloating all the time, you may need to consider laying off the beans, legumes, and the fruits at first or simply minimise the amount of these foods you are eating at any given time.You may also consider eating more pseudograins (quinoa, amaranth, buckwheat or millet) versus typical grains. Although these foods are healthy, they can cause some bloating or fermentation in the digestive tract for many people, so see how they work for you. Smaller meals more frequently works for some so it may initially require some experimentation. Raw foods require more chewing & eating too quickly without adequate chewing can also add an extra burden for our digestive process. .
Be willing to make changes when necessary and give your body the support it needs. And remember that as the body is a cleaning house, it will take a little time to adjust. So allow yourself to find what foods work best for you initially and implement whatever you need. Emphasize easier-to-digest foods like lightly cooked vegetables and greens if necessary at first, smoothies, porridge, rice, coconut & avocado, root veggies & soups, and be sure you give your body enough healthy & natural fats, vitamins, and minerals. Probiotics & fermented foods are important for our digestive tract as they give the gut extra support, & I am aware that enzyme enriched green papaya has helped many with digestive issues. These challenges are fixable I believe, & need not be the excuse for returning to processed foods, meat & dairy.

Sauces for Flavour

I just love Sauces & I find any meal can be turned into something delectable with the simple addition of a really flavoursome sauce or dressing. Collecting a repertoire of assorted recipes opens the doorway for a favourite to be whipped up at a moments notice, a few simple ingredients come together in the blender & Voila! .....the whole meal can actually become a mini extravaganza.
Here are 3 wonderful Sauces to get you started

Mock Peanut Sauce, makes about a cup
1/2 cup almond butter
1/4 cup water
1 Tab freshly squeezed lemon or lime juice
2 teas maple syrup
2 teas tamari
1 clove garlic
1/4 inch of peeled ginger root
Dash of cayenne or Red curry paste
salt to taste
Blend all the ingredients well, keeps for 5 days in a sealed container in the refrigerator
I especially love this sauce as a salad dressing on an Asian inspired salad, as a dip with crudités, or as a sauce on a Thai rice bowl, which might include brown rice, steamed broccoli, shredded red cabbage & carrots & perhaps some sauerkraut. It also goes well with zucchini noodles or pasta

Creamy Red Pepper Sauce, makes about a cup
3/4 cup cashews well soaked
3/4 cup water
1/2 chopped red pepper
2 tabs of lemon juice
1 clove garlic
1tea onion powder
1/2 tea Dijon mustard
1/2 tea salt
2 tab minced parsley after blending
Blend everything well & finally pulse in the parsley to mix. Keeps for 5 days in the refrigerator in a sealed jar. I love Creamy Red Pepper Sauce as a salad dressing, but it is also wonderful with some quinoa, lightly steamed kale, ( can keep it raw by massaging with salt & a little olive oil if you prefer) shredded red cabbage & carrots with some chopped hazelnuts sprinkled on top

Creamy Avocado Lime Sauce, makes about a cup
1 mashed avocado
1/2 cup water
1 tab lime juice
1/4 tea salt
Blend & will keep for a couple of days in the refrigerator. Once again great over a crispy salad or with rice & veggies with coriander sprinkled on top

I suggest you try these 3 Sauces, & then try experimenting further; once you have a repertoire of 5-10 different sauces that you love, you will never again buy dressings & sauces from the Supermarket & you will always have a flavoursome meal that is absolutely delicious. You will notice that each of these have the added bonus of including healthy fats in the recipe & transform salads into a hearty meal.

Lentils

Lentils were not a food that was included in my diet as a child, so it has taken me sometime to really appreciate their versatility & utter deliciousness in many recipes. They are so easy as they don't require soaking & cook much faster than many grains & legumes. They are also very easy to sprout which adds extra nutritional value if the recipe is a Raw one.
For most households, clever ways to include healthy but cheaper foods & added protein as part of the weekly menu, can be of value, so recognise how marvellous those little lentils can be in stretching the budget when it is called for!
Lentils work wonderfully in soups & veggie casseroles; they are low in calories & fat & add bulk with good fibre & additional protein to any recipe; they are high in magnesium as well as having a list of other beneficial nutrients for heart health & combine deliciously into a yummy lentil salad or even a side dish.
 Lentils are readily available to purchase in bulk, but it can be a good idea to store them in jars in your pantry with a label stating the variety & cooking instructions, to avoid having to look up how to cook them each time you use them.
There are many varieties of lentils, ( green, brown, black & red are the most common) the French Green Lentils, Lentilles du Puy, are actually my personal favourite. I love their tasty slightly peppery flavour but all varieties offer similar health benefits & can be cooked & enjoyed in any number of ways.  The Black or Beluga Lentils are the smallest ones with a delicious nutty, earthy flavour which are perfect for whole grain recipes & salads, whereas the Red Lentils whilst the sweetest, are often transformed into a golden puree & added to soups, curries & casseroles.
I like to rinse my lentils first in a colander, picking out anything that may not be lentil & gathered up in the harvest! I then pop 1 cup of lentils to about 1 1/2 cups of veggie broth or water in a saucepan & bring to the boil, then simmering gently until they are al dante, so checking regularly; if they are overcooked they become mushy which of course is not an issue if you intend blending the recipe, but I find them more enjoyable when they are just a little chewy. Some people remove the saucepan from the stove once the lentils come to the boil, pop a lid on  & let them then sit for 5-10 minutes before serving or adding to a recipe.
I prefer to sprout them whenever I can, as they then become an excellent addition in many Raw Food Recipes, especially salads; they can also be used sprouted in crackers & breads in a most delightful way, remembering of course that sprouted foods are especially high in nutrients & I believe better than cooked, when you can manage to eat them this way !

Some Basic Ideas.
Lentils encourage home cooking, sprouting & creativity & it is very easy to invent your own favourite way of including them in the menu.
One idea is to add some veggies to the simmering lentils no more than 5 mins before they are cooked or keep a veggie portion of choice, raw, & just add to the lightly cooked or sprouted lentils.

I suggest as another example, you could do this;

Chop up & lightly fry these veggies & add to the lentils
1 cup  onion,
2 cloves garlic
1 cup mushrooms
1 cup celery
1 cup  carrot
1cup frozen or fresh corn
1 cup red pepper
1 cup kale or spinach
1 cup fennel

Once added to the lentils fold through a sauce of your choice

This could be something along these lines

Mix together testing for personal flavour before folding through warm veggie lentil mix,

1 tea salt, more may be required
1 tab tamari
1 tea garlic powder
1 tea ground cumin
1-2 tab balsalmic vinegar
1-2 tab olive oil
1-2 tab rice vinegar
1 tea curry powder
1 tea dried mustard
1/2 tea smoked paprika

Cooked lentils also go beautifully with buckwheat soba noodles, just add some lightly steamed broccoli florets & leeks or veggies of your choice & dress with olive oil, garlic & ginger for a quick & easy meal.

ENJOY!

 

 

 

The Wonders of Tumeric

 Photo from the Internet



If you are new to the wonders of Tumeric then there is more to this healing herb than meets the palate.
You've probably heard of this exotic sounding spice, found mostly in Eastern recipes, so perhaps you have not had the chance to try it.
Aside from its growing popularity as a cooking herb world wide these days, Tumeric is also known to be one of Nature's most powerful healing herbs. The root of the plant is somewhat similar in appearance to ginger although well recognised by its bright yellow root; it is typically dried & used as a seasoning, most commonly in Indian dishes, but it can now be more readily found in selected Supermarkets & Health Food shops in its fresh form. Internally ingested or outwardly absorbed, Tumeric is a benefit packed wonder herb & can help keep you healthy inside & out. This savoury herb contains a bevy of health benefits including reducing inflammation in the body & assisting the brain to continue functioning efficiently well into old age.
The bright yellow colour has been known to put some people off using Tumeric as it is well known to stain clothes mercilessly with the slightest drip or splash! An Indian lady once told me to wash the clothing item as usual & lie on the grass to dry & the stain will disappear.......well she is right, it does work brilliantly, so there is no need to be concerned about possible unsightly stains.
My constant reminder continues however......I strongly believe, through personal experience, that including emotional work in any desire for an extraordinary & healthy life is a vital component & swallowing all the herbs, pills & even great food that God provides for our wellbeing in Nature, is only part of any solution. Honouring the sacredness & gift of life through keeping our bodies healthy & nutritionally supplied with natural whole foods is part of this challenge, but as an example, will not help too much if we are angry, resentful, non forgiving & without compassion, gratitude & love.
In our household, I add a little Tumeric to some soups & stir fries, dips, curries & veggie dishes. I find it does not have a particularly strong flavour if used in moderation so there is an opportunity to add it to many recipes as an additional part of any diet. I think it would be fair to say however, that I tend to leave it out of recipes when entertaining guests, but this is really not necessary & purely a personal choice I make. I find it does turn the dish yellow without too much encouragement, so in some instances this may need to be considered if presentation is taken into account!



!

Cherie Soria's Healthy Tips

I am one of Cherie's greatest admirers; she owns the Living Light Culinary Institute where I trained some years ago as a Raw Food Chef & she always breaks knowledge down so simply, so anyone can understand at a glance how best to look after our bodies; I thought you might like to consider some of her dietary suggestions, those healthy choices to include in your diet, and those, when regularly consumed, are more likely to lead to health issues as time goes by. Each & every mouthful is creating & maintaining our bodies, so wisdom is called for if we wish to stay away from Doctors & live a long & healthy life.
Here are Cherie's guidelines.






There are of course additional factors, other than food, affecting our health, stress being one of them along with unhealed & suppressed emotions; the latter plays a big role & we see this with childhood damage being carried into adulthood & affecting lives in many ways when not addressed.

Close your Eyes & Imagine

This Blog is somewhat out of the ordinary for me, as I don't usually write so much about any subject, but I hope you will bear with me as I feel it is so important to share some recent revelations.
Jesus & Mary recently pointed out to our family some very alarming & confronting insights about how we have used animals to support our livelihood & accumulate wealth, whilst at the same time being quite happy to have them eventually mercilessly slaughtered or sold on to other farmers perpetuating the meat industry. Some of our family members are actually Vegans whilst others are Vegetarians, so there is definitely something hypocritical & very wrong here! This confrontational conversation has brought about a number of things including emotional mayhem and delving further into our acceptance in the past of how animals are treated once they leave our farm. "Why would we want to be part of such a atrocious industry" has lead us down a dark tunnel of shame & remorse.

Please forgive me if I appear to be standing on a podium right now, but this alarming realisation led me further to read Will Tuttle's insightful yet horrifying book "The World Peace Diet" & I must say it has had a profound & sickening affect on me.....anyone still Eating Meat or lingering between being a Vegan or a Vegetarian (not Eating Meat or Fish but still eating Dairy & Eggs) might care to take a look at this book if they desire to be a true Environmentalist & make a real difference in the World.
I first must make it very clear, that I have been part of a farming family all of my life, I ate meat 3 times a day as a child, & have been regrettably responsible for propagating & earning a living from animals & the meat industry most of my life in some form or other. I do not wish to now become an enraged Vegan, judging others & the atrocities going on in the animal world, as I feel this would be nothing short of hypocritical in my case, but I do believe it is only through education & wanting to know the dark secrets held in Animal Agriculture, that real change can begin to take place. "Wanting to Know & getting out of Denial" is only the 1st step as Jesus pointed out, understanding the whole picture over & above including the choices we place on our dinner plate, will all contribute towards many taking action, emotionally, ethically & morally as well as for better health, a peaceful Planet & a more joyful World honouring & supporting all of Creation.
I have been Vegetarian on & off for many years, 15 years back in the 90's & 5 years recently, but I have still eaten eggs & dairy when the recipe includes them & I am a "dinner guest", or when emotions kick in & I wish to stuff them down with a dairy delight or a milk coffee as an example! Giving up dairy has been particularly hard, I have found it is totally addictive & is closely related to perceived childhood nurturing for me....I have failed over & over in my efforts as I have been unwilling to engage the process emotionally. I have thought of every reason why it was & wasn't that important in the scheme of things....it's like when you are looking for a green car, all you see are green cars, & all I wanted to see was information supporting my choices! "My body needs the protein when I'm not eating meat" , "it makes it impossible to go out to dinner" " I will be judged as a loony",  "vegan choices are so limiting & I don't know what to cook"  etc etc, has kept me in my addiction & fear of being judged by others.
After so many conversational revelations & then reading Will's book I can see how blind I have wanted to be to my chosen actions, both on & off the farm & how much I have not wanted to address my emotional baggage, grief & shame or even look at the far reaching ramifications of my actions & why I convinced myself it was all OK. My pride & arrogance in believing I loved animals & the Planet & thought I was an environmentalist having saved water, planted trees, switched off lights, recycled home commodities etc, has finally caught up with me & I have needed not only some deep reflection, but also many emotional realisations. The interconnectedness between how we treat animals by eating them & stealing their eggs & the milk from their babies, is totally reflected back to us in humanity & yet so few are willing to see the connection.
I will not go into further detail but I hope you will see the connection between this blog & my passion for food, what we choose to put on our plates, & how we treat animals.
The current state of the World & Humanity is a total reflection & result of our past & current actions. Our dismay at the ongoing wars & terrorist activities, the rage & unloving behaviour that is so prevalent in many of us, the horror of how many women & children are treated so appallingly, the deteriorating health of Nations, the materialism & consumerism particularly of the West, the starvation & homelessness of many, the loss of our rainforests, water resources & animal species, & endless other issues that flood our World, do offer an opportunity for immediate action. The right action will eventually bring about solutions when enough of the World's population says "enough is enough"; by changing our false beliefs & demands & emotional disconnectedness from all life including one another, we can contribute towards the challenge in one small way as an example,  "one bite at a time" through what we purchase and what we put on our plate. People Power is worth remembering & keeping in mind that "As we sow, so we Reap".
I do hope some of you may be drawn to read Will's book, " The World Peace Diet" ( available from Amazon & most outlets) and that you are perhaps drawn to share it with others.

"Seeing our eating habits for what they are, and answering the call of our spirit to understand the consequences of our actions, we become open to compassion, intelligence, freedom, and to living the truth of our interconnectedness with all life. There is an enormously positive revolution implicit in this, a spiritual transformation that can potentially launch our culture into a quantum evolutionary leap, from emphasizing consumption, domination, and self-preoccupation to nurturing creativity, liberation, inclusion, and cooperation.”

~ The World Peace Diet, Dr. Will Tuttle

Point of View

By Shel Silverstein

Thanksgiving dinner’s sad and thankless,

Christmas dinner’s dark and blue,

When you stop and try to see it

From the turkey’s point of view.

Sunday dinner isn’t sunny

Easter feasts are just bad luck,

When you see it from the viewpoint

Of the chicken or the duck.

Oh, how I once loved tuna salad,

Pork and lobster, lamb chops, too,

Till I stopped and looked at dinner

 From this other point of view.

Jesus & Mary's teachings can be viewed and explored on www.divinetruth.com