I saw this video a couple of months ago and have been looking for it ever since. This is important information!

A while ago I showed you the trailer for the movie “Food Matters”. The full 80 minute movie has now been released on DVD for $29.95 and can also be viewed online for $4.95. I strongly recommend this movie!

Sage Mommy is boycotting Subway for their exclusion of home-schooled children from their competitions. There is a link to a petition on her blog. As someone who believes in homeschooling, I support this petition with all my heart.

I know, I know! I’ve been a bad blogger this week! Who knows, I may do better next week, although I don’t think I’ll be online much this weekend. My friend Lizana is visiting and we’ve got a stack of American Idol videos to get through (she doesn’t get the channel it was on). Just the ticket for a rainy weekend! As is this soup I’m making for tomorrow night.

Hearty Winter Soup

1 leek, finely sliced

2 carrots, coarsely grated

1 turnip, coarsely grated

2 smallish potatoes, coarsely grated

4-6 spinach leaves, coarsely shredded

1 cup cauliflower or broccoli florets

2 celery sticks, chopped (including leaves)

2-4 tsp herb salt

½ cup barley

1 ½-2 liters of water

1 tin tomato puree

Dry stir fry the vegetables and salt until light golden in color.  Add the barley and water and simmer gently for 40-50 minutes.  Stir in the tomato puree and serve.

Have a great weekend!

I love mushrooms!  This is my third mushroom recipe in a row, although I haven’t eaten the other two in a long, long time.  But I’m definitely going to eat this tonight!

 We were warned earlier in the week that winter in Cape Town would start today.  Well, it looks as if they were right.  It’s been raining since last night and it’s definitely cooler.  I don’t know if I’d call it cold yet, but I may put something long sleeved on when I go out.  This weather is just right for some soup though, so this is what Craig will be getting for supper tonight, after having something raw of course!

Quick Mushroom Soup

1 leek

1 ripe tomato

1-2 medium potatoes

1-2 turnips

1-2 carrots

1 tbs fresh chopped parsley

2 packets mushrooms, sliced

1 tsp dried oregano (or 1 tbsp fresh oregano)

2-4 tsp vegetable stock powder

pinch of nutmeg

Dice the vegetables and place in a large pot with 2 liters (quarts) water.  Add the stock, herbs, salt and nutmeg, bring to boil and then simmer for 30 minutes.

Blend until smooth or serve as a chunky soup if you prefer.  Garnish with parsley and serve.

Craig wanted some cooked food today (for a change), so I made this recipe and then I thought I’d share it with you!

Stuffed Mushrooms

4 large flat mushrooms, peeled and with stalks removed

1 large onion

1 sweet potato

2 carrots

3 tablespoons bread crumbs

½ teaspoon tomato pesto

1 teaspoon vegetable stock powder dissolved in 50 ml (almost 2 ounces) water

¼ teaspoon mixed herbs

Place the mushrooms, gill side up on a baking tray.  Coarsely chop the other vegetables in a food processor.  Heat a little butter and gently sauté the vegetables, adding the breadcrumbs, stock, tomato pesto, herbs and Worcestershire sauce.  Pile stuffing onto the mushrooms and bake in a preheated oven at 190°C (375°F) for 20 minutes until golden.

It was quite cold this morning, which made me crave a bowl of hearty bean soup.  I won’t have any, but I thought I’d share the recipe with you, since it’s so easy to make.

Five Bean Soup

1 tbsp olive oil

1 clove garlic, minced

1 small onion, diced

1 stalk celery, diced

1 medium carrot, diced

1 tbsp barley, rinsed

2 cups boiling water

4 tbsp vegetable stock powder

1 tin pinto beans, drained

1 tin black beans, drained

1 tin kidney beans, drained

1 tin navy beans, drained

1 tin chick peas, drained

1 cup tomatoes, diced

1 bay leaf

¼ tsp chopped basil

sea salt to taste

In a medium saucepan, heat oil over medium heat.  Saute garlic and onion until translucent.  Add remaining ingredients, cover and simmer for about 30 minutes. 

We love salad!  It’s a great way of ensuring that we consume lots of raw, alkalizing food and that we get some greens into our diet.  We have salad for dinner at least five nights a week.Here’s how to build a great, nutritious salad that will satisfy your hunger:

1.  Use as few or as many of the following RAW ingredients as you wish:

The greens: 

• pretty much any lettuce - but preferably the darker ones like cos lettuce (romaine), Asian baby leaf lettuce, tatsoi 
• baby spinach,
• rocket,
• watercress,
• chopped spinach,
• chopped Swiss Chard,
• radicchio
• celery
• basil
• cucumber
• sugar snap peas
• mange-tout
• zucchini
• avocado  (when in season - fortunately about 8 months of the year - no salad leaves my kitchen without avocado!)
• broccoli florets

The reds: 

• tomato (I try to use truss tomatoes, plum tomotoes and cherry tomatoes most of the time)
• radish
• red bell pepper
• grated or cubed beetroot
• strawberries

The Yellows:

• carrots (sliced, grated, julienned, or stripped)
• yellow bell pepper
• baby corn
• corn cut off the cob
• grated butternut squash
• ruby grapefruit

The Extras:

• capers
• olives (preferably in olive oil, not brine)
• sliced baby leeks
• sliced spring onion
• mushrooms
• kelp and other sea vegetables
• chives
• sprouts (we love sprouts!)
• pink ginger
• grated cabbage
• cauliflower florets

2.  Any combination of the above will give you a delicious salad which you can also put in a wrap or pita pocket OR you can add ONE of the following:

• roast vegetables (including potatoes and sweet potatoes)
• steamed asparagus
• steamed butternut squash
• steamed broccoli
• steamed cauliflower
• chick peas (a favourite in our house)
• corn off the cob  (cooked)
• sauteed mushrooms
• cous-cous
• rice
• quinoa
• peas
• boiled egg
• roast chicken (one portion per person)
• stir-fried beef cubes
• feta cheese
• blue cheese
• cheese of your choice
• smoked salmon
• flaked white fish
• tuna
• bacon (if you must!)
• smoked chicken
• seeds
• nuts
• tofu
• beans
• soya

Ok, I’m running out of ideas now… but you can use your imagination, as long as you follow the golden rule - only one cooked (processed) ingredient per salad! 

When you have your salad assembled and you just need to dress it.  Or do you?

I like to simply drizzle some freshly squeezed lemon juice and good quality cold pressed extra virgin olive oil over my salad.

But here’s a recipe for a great dressing:

Italian Dressing

½ cup extra virgin olive oil

¼ cup lemon juice

2 cloves garlic

2 tsp wholegrain mustard

½ cup filtered water

1 spring onion

1 tsp honey

dash cayenne pepper to taste

1 tbs fresh oregano

1 tbs fresh basil

Puree all the ingredients in a blender until smooth.  Keep in a sealed glass jar in the fridge for up to a week.

Enjoy!  I’m not a great cook, but anyone can make a great salad!

It is so gratifying to see that many of my blogging buddies are taking positive steps towards a healthier, more plant-based diet. Chanda has asked for some recipes, so I will post one every Friday.

Hanlie’s Favourite Tomato Soup 

• 1-2 tbsp vegetable stock
• 4 leeks, sliced very finely
• 2 tins Italian Tomato Puree
• 2 tins Italian Crushed Tomatoes
• 10-12 ripe tomatoes, diced
• 6 sweet carrots, grated
• 1-2 large sweet potatoes (yams), grated
• 1 liter (~ 1 quart) water
• 1-2 tsp herbal salt
• freshly ground black pepper

Simmer gently until the vegetables are well cooked.  Serve with a dash of olive oil and some chopped fresh basil.

This soup freezes well and if blended, makes an amazing pasta sauce!

This is truly one of my favourite recipes.  The carrots and the sweet potatoes tone down the sourness of the tomatoes, so you don’t need to add any sugar or other sweeteners.  The reason I use the Italian brands of tinned tomatoes is that they are naturally sweeter.  As always, read the labels and buy the ones without added sugar, salt, preservatives, colourants, stabilizers, etc. 

This recipe is based on one formulated by Mary-Ann Shearer, founder of The Natural Way.

I want to share this recipe with you.  I found it on Karen Knowler’s website quite some time ago, adapted it slightly and have loved it ever since. 

This is what Juicefeasting.com had to say about pineapple juice:

The hallmark of this delicious tropical fruit is the presence of its anti-inflammatory enzyme, bromelain. Bromelain is great for reducing inflammation anywhere in your body, and this enzyme will also serve to digest animal and plant proteins in your intestinal tract. Pineapple juice is also antagonistic to parasites, and is good at breaking down liver and gallstones. Finally, pineapple is great to mix with Green Vegetable Juice. A warning, however. The bromelain in the pineapple digests proteins, and your Green Vegetable Juice is loaded with protein. That means that combining the two and leaving them sitting for hours will find you returning to a glass of partially digested Green Juice. Better to drink this right away, or make the two juices separately and combine just before drinking!

The lemon is thrown into the juicer unpeeled, provided that it’s organic.  It gives quite a sharp tang to this juice, which I find quite refreshing.  We have a lemon tree in our garden, and we don’t use any fertilizers or poisons, so I just wash my lemons well and toss them in!

Green Goddess Elixir

* 1 medium RIPE pineapple
* 2 apples
* 1 lemon including its peel
* 2 bags of spinach (approx. 400g)
* 5 sticks celery
* 1 whole cucumber including peel

Simply juice the whole lot, pour into a jug, stir well. Pour, drink, pour, drink!

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I’d like to share some of my favourite recipes with you from time to time.

Tonight we will be having pita pockets filled with salad (asian baby leaf, cherry tomatoes, pitted olives, red bell pepper, mange-tout, English cucumber, carrot strips) and rosemary hummus.  It’s a delicious and filling meal and I love the rosemary flavour. 

Rosemary is one of the few herbs tough enough to survive my ministrations, or more often, lack thereof, so I have lots of it in my garden.  It’s absolutely delicious in a banana smoothie!   I always have chickpeas (garbanzo beans) in my cupboard; it’s one of the few tinned foods I buy. 

Rosemary Hummus

1 cup chopped green onions

2 cans chickpeas, rinsed and drained

1½ tsp chopped fresh rosemary

½ teaspoon salt

2 tbs fresh lemon juice

½ cup vegetable broth

Heat a little olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat.  Add onions and sauté 3 minutes until tender.  Add beans, sauté for 1 minute.  Place bean mixture and remaining ingredients in food processor and blend until smooth.