GreenChefs is the modern “G” Food Network. The new Organic Food Lifestyle featuring luscious organic and seasonal based recipes from the top Green Chefs around the world.
I wanted to make a whole grain pizza, which by the way, I never have done successfully before. So, I decided to go straight to the source. The man! One of the most popular Italian chefs in the world… Mr. Mario Batali. And of course viola, he hooked me up and oh yeah, it turned out oh so yummy.
I’m giving full props to the man because I just substituted spelt flour for the all purpose he uses. The consistency of your crust will depend on how thick or thin you wanna shape it. The thicker you go the more bread like it will actually be.
Paloma loves to eat. In that way, we are very fortunate. It’s quite a rarity for her to turn down food, and she’s always eager to try anything I put in front of her. I’ll never forget an impossibly bitter dandelion smoothie that I made. No one could drink it, except for Paloma, who joyfully slurped down a whole glass. I dearly love to cook and feed people, especially family and friends, and her approval makes me one happy mama.
Our days usually start with me cooking breakfast and impatient Paloma sitting at the kitchen table, spoon in hand, narrating my preparations and hurrying me on. It’s quite humorous. She is not the calmest of children (a little tornado to be exact) and becomes very excited when food is in sight.
This is where the idea for the edible puzzle stemmed from. I imagined a game that would occupy Paloma, and, since she puts everything in her mouth, be safe and tasty to eat. I thought about the obvious educational qualities of puzzles such as teaching about shape, colour, size, structure, and included two more – flavour and nutritional value.
Life has been quite hectic around here lately. I’m sure you know what I mean, we get caught up in the whirlwind of time and soon enough it’s been entirely too long since our last post. I often find myself missing this little nook in the world-wide web and sharing all that’s delicious and healthy with you, Golubka’s lovely readers.
This time it’s a simple savoury meal, one that we find ourselves coming back to this winter due to its satisfying, earthy flavours. Falafel and tabouleh. My love affair with falafel started years ago, when my Middle Eastern cuisine loving husband took me out for a falafel pocket with tabouleh, hot peppers and yogurt sauce. I was, of course, hooked. Since then I’ve made my own falafel the traditional way and, more recently, this much healthier and very delicious version.
As for Paloma, she is often the first one to wipe her plate clean, busily switching between eating with a fork, spoon, and her hands. We often have to remind her to chew her food. She takes after her parents. We’ll be back with more elaborate meals soon, as well as a few stories. But for now, I hope you enjoy this flavourful meal and have a tranquil weekend.
Summer is officially over – And yes, I’m just now getting the memo. Ok, that’s not true, I got the memo when then blogoshpere blew up with pumpkin-everything – however, I just chose to ignore. Why? Because as I get older, I realize the start of fall means one month closer to the beginning of winter – and that, makes me extremely sad.
Celebrating the end of my most beloved favorite season, I was gifted a large bag of basil from a good friend last week. While most of the basil will be used to make pesto for the winter months (it freezes beautifully), the rest I wanted to use in a more special and unique format. After all, I’m sure no one wants to come to my blog and see a recipe for pesto, right? Right. So instead, I came up with this carrot and basil ice cream concoction.
Carrots are beautiful for a few reasons: they’re easily accessible, they’re affordable, and they transition wonderfully between sweet and savory dishes. Moreover, they also have the ability to take on flavor profiles such as pumpkin, which is exemplified in this recipe. I swear, if you close your eyes and take a bite, you’ll think you are eating a pumpkin-based ice cream. And the best part is, you didn’t have to prep a pumpkin — Ohhh, the angst.
So – put the pumpkin down, step away, and instead, give this much-simpler-to-use veggie a try!
Thanks again to Mike and Stephanie for providing me with such wonderfully fresh and tasty basil this summer – I look forward to next year! (you’ve created a monster
It’s still cold here. And I don’t mean kinda cold. I mean freaking cold. Like snow is still in the forecast. It’s almost April?! I don’t think I am the only one having trouble accepting this very out of control weather pattern. So, this (chilly!) afternoon I am gonna do what any full blooded California girl does when it snows….pretend that spring has sprung and make a Spring Sweet (frozen) organic pea soup!! And it worked. Well, that is until I went outside…brrrrrr… :)
I’ve decided that it’s time for a few recipes. I’ve been sitting on these for a while now. In fact, I made the pudding in the summer, as you’ll see by the green plants in the background of the picture – the ground is now covered in snow. The second recipe is a wintery ice cream. It’s very different from the ice creams I’m used to making, and more in keeping in line with my latest dietary needs. In both cases I’ve used young coconut as a base. I love its versatility!
Mint and vanilla are one of my favorite flavor combinations. They don’t necessarily appear to be a match, but there is just something about these ingredients that works well together. It’s my favorite Moonie Pie flavor too – you’ll see that the mint filling is actually filled with both vanilla and mint.
Speaking of moonie pies, a funny thing happened today. Philip is in England right now and while he was dining at Saf Restaurant, he saw a moonie pie on their dessert menu (he even snapped a pic of it written on the menu, for me, hehe). He never tried it or saw the actual dessert, but we found it interesting. I’ll take it as a compliment.
This recipe is fairly low glycemic, with coconut and stevia as the sweeteners. I like to use both fresh mint and it’s essential oil to balance the flavors and make them come to life. If you don’t have the essential oil use a natural extract, but the oil is superior in quality and taste. Like the mint, I use two kinds of vanilla (the seeds of the fresh bean, and a natural extract) to achieve a more multi dimensional taste.
The other day, we were taking a walk on the beach and recollecting our many summers spent on the Black Sea shore. Sochi (where the 2014 winter Olympics will be held) was where we usually stayed with family, in a charming old house. Whole days were spent on the beach, bathing in the gentle water and soaking up the sun, completely content. Summer in Sochi is truly magical, with warm windless days, chilly evenings, fireflies, and water temperatures that are refreshing yet welcoming. And that is where we got our yearly dose of figs. In our hometown, figs were a rarity – expensive and shipped from afar. But Sochi was a different story. Come the “velvet season”, at the end of August, and the many fig trees in the streets and backyards exhibited the plump fruit. For some unknown reason, the locals did not care for them. So we became fruit thieves in neighbor’s yards, justified by the fact that the figs would go to waste without our rescue. It’s a known fact that the less the time between harvesting and eating, the better the flavour. And freshly picked, those figs tasted like honey, and their sweetness lingered on our lips all season long.
The other true jewel of those times in Sochi was hazelnut. Hazelnut trees were abundant and beautiful with their trios of ready to pick nuts hidden in green cocoons. We would take bags of freshly harvested hazelnuts to the beach and crack the nuts with smooth sea rocks. They made for an unforgettably tasty snack. Folk medicine is rich with tales of the nut’s healing powers. In fact, one such remedy calls for the mixture of figs and hazelnuts to be taken at the end of the meal to aid digestion.
Now that figs have come into season, we decided to build this pizza around them with the addition of hazelnuts, caramelized onion, and basil sauce.
When I was in Italy over the summer I had lemon pasta for the first time and was in heaven. You see, lemons are one of my most favorite fruits. I use them probably everyday, but I never had it in a pasta before! YUM! A lovely brightness to add to your winter meal…
Lately I’ve been gaga over mulberries and wanted to find a recipe I could incorporate them into. What better way to use them than in a sweet and nutty high protein granola. Mulberries are kind of new to the superfood scene but have been used for centuries in traditional Chinese medicine as a tonic herb for the blood, liver and kidneys. They’re high in vitamin C and contain resveratrol, the same cancer fighting antioxidant found in grapes and red wine. They have been used to help relieve fatigue, weakness, constipation, anemia and in reversing gray hair. If you can’t find mulberries in your area feel free to substitute with your favorite dried fruit like raisins, cranberries or goldenberries. I also included some other superfoods like goji berries, chia seeds, and hemp seeds along with some high protein buckwheat and rolled oats.
Eating black eye peas on New Year’s Day is thought to bring prosperity for the new year so… eat this yummy stuff UP and have a very very happy successful delicious new year!! And don’t forget your greens!
This is one of my favorite comforting gluten free winter desserts. Your house will smell divinely festive too! Any firm apple works well here: Gala, Fuji, Jonagold, Rome, Winesap, Mutsu. If you use soft apples such as Macintosh or Red delicious you will get more of an apple sauce texture. Hey, could be good too! Try it all I say!! Oh and I like to leave the apple skins on, being that much of the nutrients are in the skin, but if you prefer them without, by all means peel away. Also any seasonal fruit works wonderfully so have fun experimenting with your favorites. You can make this with or without nuts, use any dried fruit, substitute rolled oats for the quinoa flakes and another all purpose whole grain flour for the quinoa flour. Serve warm with a scoop of Nutmeg Ice Cream. Mmmm Mmmmm
I love making vegetable soups. They can be very nourishing and are for the most part very easy to create. And since we got such a wonderful response for my Cauliflower soup, I figured I’d share my Broccoli Leek soup with you all. See which one you like betta…
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