There is something about mixing fruits and herbs – Apple & Thyme – Strawberry & Basil – Peaches & Rosemary – it creates such wonderful flavor combinations. Here, while the autumn rain is pouring down outside my window, I still recall the Strawberry/ Lime/ Basil popsicles we made this summer.
Today’s delicious green smoothie is made with apples and thyme and it is scrumptious!
September is one of my favorite months. It’s the month where we bask in the lasts days of summer, dwell on them like we trying to make them last forever, soaking up the sunshine, treasuring the fruits and berries. I really don’t want it to end – on the other hand what is better than a crisp, fresh autumn day with a clear blue sky and the trees turning orange?
This salad is a real September treat and it is easy to make. It tastes wonderful and is full of intense flavor combinations – sweet, salty, sour and zesty. Make sure you eat it wearing a big bib or even better your bathing suit – the juices go everywhere!
Kale,beet salad with peaches, cranberries, creamy goats cheese and orange, honey dressing
A big bunch of red kale
one bunch of beets – 5-6 beets ( keep the tops and use them later for juicing or in smoothies)
one handful of pumpkin seeds
goat cheese
one handful of dried cranberries
olive oil
one peach
dressing
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
juice of one orange
2 tbsp honey
sea salt
1 clove of garlic
1 tbsp olive oil
Wash and rinse the kale, remove the stems and cut the kale finely. Add it in to a bowl and drizzle a bit of olive oil on top, and then “massage” the kale to tenderise it. Peel the beets and either grate them or run them through the food processor. Add to the kale. Add a handful of dried cranberries and a handful of pumpkin seeds.
In a small bowl add the balsamic vinegar, the orange juice, olive oil, honey, sea salt and freshly squeezed garlic. Mix it all well and add it to the salad, mixing well. Arrange the salad in a dish or on plates, Cut slices of peach and arrange it on top of the salad, add a bit of crumbled creamy goats cheese on the top and a few more pumpkin seeds.
Enjoy!
This salad can of course be eaten without the goats cheese for a vegan version, like this.
Day 4 – This morning I went for an early morning run along the beach while the sun was rising, thinking, I can do another day of this! Another day eating greens, vegetables, fruits, nuts, grains – everything that supports my body and fills me with this zippy wonderful energy!
Breakfast
Rawfood musli with blueberries
This has become a breakfast stable in our family – we eat it almost every day. It is so tasty and creamy. I came up with this recipe because I wanted to make a healthy version of an old favorite that had both full fat yoghurt and cream in it!! This tastes just as good and just as creamy and sweet as the original, but without the guilt!
In the blender/food processor add:
1 cup of raw oats,
2 good handfuls of raw almonds
1 big apple cut into chunks
6-8 Medjool dates ( more or less depending on how sweet your tooth is)
1 cup of filtered water
Blend it all – not too much because it is nice if it keeps it’s crunchiness
Enjoy with either fresh berries, banana or dried fruit in the winter – today I served it with fresh blueberries from the garden.
The Good-Morning Smoothie is made from fresh raspberries and pineapple today.
Variations.
You can add a little less water and add an orange – orange and dates are a perfect match. You can also add a bit of cinnamon or cardamom
Morning snack
A delicious green smoothie made from fresh kale out of the garden, peaches, pineapple, lemon, ice and 2 cups of water
Lunch
Delicious vegetable wraps with garlic/ginger dipping sauce
Rice paper
1 avocado
1 red pepper
fresh spinach
2 carrots
1 zucchini
1/2 cucumber
3 spring onions
Fresh basil
fresh coriander
fresh basil
fresh mint
Rinse and cut everything into strips of julienne.
Prepare the rice paper – one at a time. Take a clean tea towel and make it wet, place one rice paper on the wet tea towel and fold so it is completely covered with the wet cloth. Leave for about a min. Over the sink, wring out the water and carefully place the soft rice paper so you can fill it and roll it. Fill it with spinach leaves, a little avocado, carrot, red pepper, zucchini, spring onions and alfalfa sprouts, add some fresh basil leaves, some coriander leaves and some fresh mint. Roll them together and cut them in halves and arrange them on a plate along with the garlic/ginger dipping sauce.
Dipping sauce
juice of 1/2 lime
4 small lime leaves
thin slice of fresh ginger
1 clove of garlic
2 spoons of hoisin
1//3 cup olive oil
1/3 cup water
4 spoons of braggs
Blend it all together and serve with the vegetable rolls
Dinner
Baked zucchini and eggplants- served with new potatoes and green salad with fennel
I found these gorgeous looking green and yellow zucchini and some beautiful eggplants. I decided to make a really tasty dish that i think is perfect for summer with ripe tomatoes, fresh herbs and all you need to make this dish amazing. So this is my take on the Turkish specialty, Imam Bayildi – baked zucchini and eggplant topped with a spicy fresh tomato sauce, served with little new potatoes gently baked with herbs and garlic and a green salad with fennel.
2 eggplants
2 zucchini
600 g fresh ripe and chopped fresh tomatoes
4 cloves of garlic
4 shallots
1 teaspoon of ground cumin
2 tablespoon of chopped fresh oregano
2 tablespoon of chopped fresh thyme
3 table spoons of chopped big leaved parsley
1 tablespoon of tomato paste
1/2 cup of water
Finely chop the shallots and the garlic, gently saute them in oil til they are soft, add tomato paste,the herbs and the cumin. Add the tomatoes and the water. Cook for about 15 min. Season with sea salt and pepper, set aside. Add the parsley.
Cut the zucchini and the eggplant in halves on the length wise. Gently brown them in a bit of olive oil – on the inside. Place them in a baking dish on some baking paper and add the sauce on top.
Bake in an 350F oven for about 45 min
You can eat them right out of the oven but they taste amazing at room temperature too.
Potatoes
It is season for new and delicious potatoes – I love new potatoes!!
I prepared them like this
I washed them and cut them in to quarters and put them onto a piece of baking paper, drizzled with olive oil, sea salt and pepper, added some fresh thyme and some fresh rosemary – packed them in to little parcels and baked them in the 350F oven for about 45 min. They tasted so good!!
I served everything with a green salad with some fresh fennel
The dressing is a classic that has been in my family forever – we use it, let me just say, a lot
The trick is to use the best ingredients – the better the ingredients the better the dressing. So in other words don’t use the cheapest hot dog mustard.
2 spoons of good balsamic vinegar
a teaspoon of good Dijon Mustard
a pinch of sea salt
one clove of freshly squeezed garlic
Mix this – then add a little olive oil while you constantly stir, add more olive oil while stirring – continue doing this till you have a thick, dark yummy dressing. You can add a little maple syrup for a sweetness if you like. This salad dressing is so good and so easy to make.
I’m well into this adventure and feeling amazing, vibrant and full of energy – it does make a difference, whether I fill myself or nourish myself. I run better on plants than on spareribs and ice cream!
Another thing I think is really cool, is that it is so easy to go shopping, I just head for the vegetable section of the grocery store, stock up on veggies and fruits, and away I go.
Okay, so last night’s dinner had some bread dough left over – which I had covered with a very wet cloth and left on the kitchen counter for the night. This morning I turned on the oven to 415 F, and before having my shower I scooped out the dough onto a baking sheet and put it in the oven. When I finished the shower, the bread was ready – about 20-25 min later – hot yummy bread.
Today’s breakfast- slices of bread served with coconut butter, honey, walnuts and fresh blueberries – and a glass of smoothie made from fresh blueberries, raspberries, a good chunk of fresh juicy pineapple, some frozen summer berries and a handful of almonds. The almonds make the smoothie creamy and filling, the berries makes it irresistibly delicious.
Snack
Green juice and fresh peach
One bunch of collard greens
5 sweet apples
a slice of fresh ginger
1 lemon
Run it through the juicer and serve on ice with slices of fresh peach.
Lunch
Warm kale Salad with tahini, lemon/garlic dressing, pine nuts and red pepper
Ingredients
2 big bunches of kale
one red pepper
2 spoons of pine nuts
For the dressing:
2 small tablespoons of apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons of tahini
1 clove of garlic
2 teaspoons of agave sirup/maple sirup
2 teaspoons tamari
4 tablespoons of olive oil
1/3 cup water
a good squeeze of lemon
sea salt
Put everything into the blender and blend it into a creamy tasty dressing.
Wash the kale and take the leaves off of the stem. Roll up a couple of leaves at a time and cut thinly. Slice the red pepper into strips. In a frying pan, add some olive oil and saute the red pepper, add the kale – saute for a couple of minutes and add sea salt. Serve warm with the tahini dressing, pine nuts on top and some extra lemon for those who like.
Dinner
Summer Paella with vegetable served with baked cherry tomatoes on the wine
One favorite recipe in our family is paella with seafood, chicken and with intense flavors of fresh herbs, saffron,tomatoes, garlic and wine. Today I have left out the seafood and the chicken and made a delicious version with only vegetables. I was anticipating that there would be some complaints, about the missing seafood and chicken, but no, everyone ate and enjoyed.
I served it with a simple green salad with a oil/vinaigrette dressing
I used:
4 shallots
3 cloves of garlic
1 tablespoon of tomato pure
200g of fresh ripe tomatoes
200g of sweet cherry tomatoes on the vine
300g of green beans
1 bunch of green asparagus
1 red pepper
lemon
1 teaspoon of paprika
fresh oregano
fresh thyme
1 1/2 cup of long grained rice
1 l. of vegetable stock
a dash of white wine
Prepare the vegetable so that they are ready to go in the paella. Wash and cut the red pepper into bite size, wash the asparagus and green beans and cut into smaller pieces,
Finely chop the shallots – (Shallots have a more intense flavor than regular onions, the limo of onions), garlic, fresh thyme and oregano. In a saute pan add some olive oil and gently saute the shallots, garlic, fresh herbs, add a spoon full of tomato paste and the paprika, add the rice and mix it with all the ingredients, add a good pinch of saffron, stir, add a dash of wine – let it reduce, while stirring.
Now add the vegetable stock and cook gently with a lid, stir the dish every now and them. Depending on how you like your vegetables done you can start adding them in at this time. I like my vegetables just crunchy so I put in the green beans already when the rice has cooked about 3/4 of it time and then wait a couple of minutes before putting in the red pepper. In the meantime, put the cherry tomatoes in the oven – see below. Stir the rice dish again and again to prevent it from sticking and burning on the bottom, and now add the red peppers, wait a couple of minutes and finally add the asparagus, put the lid back on and cook another 3-4 min.
Cherry tomatoes – Turn the oven on at 350F. Place the sweet cherry tomatoes on a baking tray, drizzle with a little olive oil and sea salt, bake and keep and eye on them – for about 15 min keep them warm.
When the dish is ready and the vegetables are done to your liking – season with sea-salt, fresh pepper and freshly squeezed lemon juice. Serve the dish with the baked cherry tomatoes on top!
I must admit I was dreaming of seafood while I was making this dish – but it tasted so good I completely forgot all about the seafood and thouroughly enjoyed every bite!
Anne Sture Tucker 