All posts filed under: Lunch

Grounding Root Veg with Mint, Orange and Za’atar

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If you haven’t heard of za’atar before, fear not – it is not an exclusive fruit, vegetable, grain or seed that is super expensive and hard to find. It’s a spice blend, which you can make yourself very easily! It has a nutty texture and a sweet yet sour lemony taste. This is actually one of the simplest recipes I have posted on this blog, and the prep is simply some peeling, chopping and sprinkling and then bam – the oven does the rest of the work. It’s the type of meal you can make lots of and keep for a few days and doesn’t require much brain nor body, yet it’s incredibly healing. I’ve made this dinner to be a grounding, nurturing, comforting yang meal, with uplifting herbs and spices to bring balance. As potatoes are a complex carbohydrate, they are incredibly calming – they bring that full, warm, comforted feeling. Beetroot is full of iron, which will help prevent that exhausted, achy, weak fatigue. Carrots are full of anti-oxidant vitamin A which will keep …

Mushroom, Clove and Black Bean Healing Chili

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I made this for my lovely partner Matt when he was suffering from a bout of what he was calling “pathetic – itus”. You know  after you exert yourself in ALL OF THE WAYS, and then suddenly have time to relax, and in that time you fall ill? I think he was fully deserving of the time and space to go through the inevitable bout of pathetic-itus, as he had just finished a Masters degree WHILST being my rock in a long-distance relationship whilst I am grieving (if that isn’t one-in-a-million, I’m not sure what is). I put in here what I know to be extremely healing for your body when you’re not quite at your peak: anti-fungal garlic, anti-oxidant rich mushrooms, stimulating cayenne, anti-microbial cloves and anti-bacterial red onion. ALL of the anti’s, in one hearty, delicious dish, with black beans and rice. Mmmm. Garlic really is incredible. It’s a ‘diaphoretic’, which means it increases perspiration. When infections like colds and flu (or pathetic-itus) rise in the body, diaphoretics are invaluable as they promote the eliminations …

Eat Rainbows – Cooling Yin Bounty Bowl

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After I eat one of these bowls I feel high! The mixture of the stone fruit in with the spicy red onion, creamy avocado, cooling cucumber and spicy dukkah mixed carrot.. good lord. This isn’t your average salad bowl. The mix of the spices, tastes and textures are heavenly. Nope, no soggy tomato or lettuce here. This is a taste sensation. Also, you’ll be tucking into a bowl that has all of the colours of the rainbow. It’s one thing knowing that the food you have just prepared is going to do you some good – the other is feeling good as you eat it. I feel that this is exclusive to wholefoods as I never to experience it with fast food. I think you know that too! This is a cooling bowl, made in appreciation of yin energy. I am entirely new to even taking a step to understand the wisdom of yin and yang, but as I grasp it, yin and yang are relative terms and not absolutes. Interpreted, yin means ‘shady’ and yang …

Dukkah Massaged Raw Mango Salsa Wraps

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You may not have heard of Dukkah before, and the word may scare you into thinking ‘oh my lord this recipe looks lovely but it’s impossible because what on earth is dukkah aaah’. That was my thought process when I first saw a recipe for potato chips with dukkah. I could do potato chips, but WHAT ON EARTH IS DUKKAH.? Fear not, avid readers, soon you will be so clued up on the tasty world of dukkah you won’t remember your life without it. Dukkah is an Egyptian condiment which is generally a mix of toasted nuts, spices and herbs. It tastes incredible; an earthy, toasty, warm, spicy, aromatic mixture. I like to dip pitta bread in hummus then dukkah. You can add it to your sauces, salads, have it on toast or with your baked potatoes. As it’s made with nuts it’s full of essential minerals and omega 3. I love to use toasted hazelnuts as I love the hearty and slightly-reminiscent-of-chocolate taste. I make my own dukkah, and I will provide the recipe …

Seaweed Wraps with Tahini-Ginger-Soy Dipping Sauce

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These are not for the faint hearted. And by that I mean, if you have never made these before, put some time aside. Like, half an hour (I know, good god). I’m not even being sarcastic. When I was experimenting with this recipe, can you imagine me getting frustrated with the wraps not sticking together, faffing over toasting the seaweed and over burning it, then to only taste the first recipe to find it totally dull?! Many, many facepalms and ‘FFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU’s, that’s what. But I got there. Four tries later, we have these beautiful things to make life simpler for you, with the tastiest dipping sauce I have ever tasted. I prefer it to anything I have tried in sushi bars or supermarkets before. This is nori seaweed. If you’ve eaten sushi before, it’s the same seaweed that’s wrapped around it. It has an extremely high mineral content – tons of magnesium, potassium, iodine and iron (source). That’s good news for us as magnesium is essential for keeping our nervous system in check, keeping us …

Kale, Avocado and Blueberry Salad

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Surprise…. a pink dressing!! You’d never believe that vegan food is boring, right? I tell you, you could turn any salad hater into a salad scoffer by just adding toasted nuts. It makes it taste less ‘healthy’. Do you know what I mean? More of a toasty, smoked, carbohydrate-y taste. Lovely. If you’re like me and not much of a raw kale fan, I recommend rinsing the kale under the hot tap for 1-2 minutes and then massaging it with lemon juice and tahini and a bit of salt (1 squeeze of lemon, 1 tsp tahini, a sprinkle of salt) and then massage and squeeze the kale in your hands until it wilts). This takes the edge off of it completely, and allows me to enjoy the taste without blanching at the texture. 1 cup of kale equals lots of fibre, 30 something calories and 0g of fat. It’s great for your digestion, helping everything to pass through and improving that horrible bloated feeling. It’s full of vitamins A, C and K – vitamin K thins …

Roasted Beetroot and Lentil Bounty Bowl

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Sometimes I stand in front of the fridge buzzing with ideas with my mind whirring like an old Acer laptop with a million tabs open. Other days I will look at my wilting veg box with an empty tummy and an even emptier mind. When I created this recipe, I had some pretty old green onions, some sad looking beetroots and a sweet potato going soft on me. I hadn’t thought of anything new for this blog for a while and to be honest, the sorry sight of my veg box didn’t fill me with excitement and joy. Something clicked, though – imagine a camera close up to my eyes looking at the beetroot, darting to the right and looking at the nuts and seeds, then a close up of the lentils and suddenly – ping! Eyes widen and a lightbulb appears above my head. Beetroot and lentils and toasted nuts and green things!!! Enter your new favorite abundance bowl – Roasted  beetroots, parsley, green onions, lentils, toasted nuts, with a ginger and lime dressing. It’s …

Parsley, Walnut and Garlic Millet Bowl

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This is one of those dishes that can be eaten as a healthy, nourishing, filling lunch, as a side dish, or with added salad as a dinner. I love the kick of garlic and pepper, the nutty crunch of the walnut and the zing of parsley. The fluffy millet is toasted in coconut oil before boiling to give it it’s classic nutty, popcorn-y taste. Arrhgrhgrh – cue Homer Simpson drool. The yoghurt just works. There really is no other way to describe it. Some things are just meant to be. And that is this delicious millet bowl paired with creamy ripe avocado and sweet yoghurt. Depending on how you cook millet, you can make it lovely and fluffy, like white rice, or creamy, like a bowl of porridge. It’s an alkaline food, making it easy to digest. It’s high in fibre and low in simple sugars, which means it will keep you satisfied for longer, and you won’t have that post-meal slump 2-3 hours after eating from a sugar crash. It’s high magnesium content (around 20% …

Waves of Calm avocado & spinach red pepper boats

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Waves of Calm – red pepper boats? Geddit?! Har di har har har… I’m pretty sure I heard a collective facepalm just then. THESE ARE AMAZING. Some foods just make you feel refreshed and healthy instantly after eating them, and these red pepper boats do just that. The filling is a mixture of 1 mushed avocado, blanched chopped almonds, chopped spinach, salt, pepper and lemon juice. Avocados are a source of tryptophan, a compound that is a precursor to serotonin, the happy chemical. You get about 4g of protein per avocado, and as the intake of protein releases dopamine, another happy chemical, you’re onto a winner here. Finally, the Omega 3 oils in here will improve your symptoms of depression. Spinach: More magnesium, yay!! Magnesium is a fantastic calmer of anxiety. You’ve got lots of vitamin A and C (free radical fighting anti-oxidants) and K (great for blood, strong bones and reducing appearance of dark circles) in here, lots of fibre for your digestive system and lots of iron for those dizzy spells and lethargy. …

Inner Sunshine crackers: two ways (vegan, refined sugar free, gluten free)

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I have named these ‘Inner Sunshine crackers’ as not only do they look so utterly bright, summery and beautiful, I feel refreshed, bright and content after eating them, and as if I’m doing myself a favor in doing so. I’ve only recently learnt that the way food looks has an effect on how I feel whilst I’m eating it.  I have always been a bit of a “it doesn’t matter what it looks like, it’s still going to taste good” person. Whilst this is true, I certainly feel a bigger sense of accomplishment when I’m digging into something pretty. I used to scroll through Pinterest and Instagram, blanching at how much effort the pictures of food seemingly required in order to make them all look so badass, yet when I began to try it myself, I found that it was a simple tweak here and there, a few additions of toppings, or simply the way I layer it onto the plate. Take an extra 1-2 minutes a day to make your food look instagram-worthy: I promise that even …