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LET FOOD BE THY MEDICINE AND MEDICINE BE THY FOOD

My wish for you is to Live Better, Strive Harder, Be Bolder, Dream Bigger, Climb Higher and Seek Greater.
My vision is to help people create food that is delicious, easy to make and high in nutrition,
so that food once more becomes a vehicle to fuel your body, mind and soul.

Watermelon radish, orange and goats cheese salad (7 minute meal)

By , December 3, 2016

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The picture you take of this will be as vibrant as the combination of flavors.

I love watermelon radishes and you would have seen them featured on the blog before. They are electrifying to the eye, and whilst there retain that vibrant peppery taste that all radishes do, they are a little more subtle than your usual pink variety.

I love this salad as it is quick, and you have a great variety of tastes and textures. The goats cheese gives you your protein element and is nice and creamy, punctuated by the piercing sweet citrus from the juicy oranges and contrasted by the crunch from the radishes and toasted walnuts.

Ingredients

  • 2 watermelon radishes
  • 2 oranges
  • A handful of walnuts, toasted and chopped
  • 2 tbsp. goat cheese
  • 10 chives (minced)
  • Sea salt to taste

Method

  • Wash and top and tail the radishes
  • Use a mandolin to thinly slice the radishes or use a sharp knife if you don’t have one
  • Place them in a bowl of water with a little lemon juice to keep the colour bright and stop them from drying out
  • Top and tail the oranges, cutting the segments out and disregarding the white membrane
  • Drain the radishes, laying them on a plate with the orange segments on top, reserve some of the orange juice from the chopping board and sprinkle over the top
  • Toast the walnuts in a dry frying pan for 2 minutes
  • Add the goats cheese and toasted walnuts
  • Sprinkle the salt and minced chives liberally over the top

Vegan Banana-Mango Ice Cream

By , November 26, 2016

Processed with MOLDIV

This must be the easiest recipe yet. Its super sweet and creamy and feels indulgent when all you are eating is a bowl of fruit, making this ice cream suitable as a desert but also a breakfast (and a good way of fooling your kids into eating something healthy…).

Once you have tried this once and seen how easy it is, you can have some fruity fun as you can interchange pretty much any fruit for the mango, as long as you keep the banana as the base. Other recipes, such as matcha and lavender can also be made but need a few more ingredients, so watch this space.

Easy, sweet and healthy, it doesn’t get better than that!

Ingredients

  • 2 bananas (ripe works best)
  • 1 mango

Method

  • Peel the bananas, slice them, and place slices in a freezer bag. Freeze for at least two hours
  • Repeat with the mango
  • Place bananas in a blender or food processor with the frozen mango
  • Blend until smooth
  • Enjoy immediately or place in a tub to enjoy for weeks

Old-fashioned pumpkin pie

By , November 24, 2016

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This recipe has gluten, dairy and a lot of love.

It is a deviation from my normal recipes, purely because the local supermarket had run out of pumpkin pie the night before thanksgiving and Mr B really loves pumpkin pie. We could have gone to the supermarket on thanksgiving, but it has been our mini protest not to, in the hope of showing the supermarkets that people are more important than produce.

The great thing about making home made pumpkin pie is that the house ends up smelling amazing and really gets you in the mood for the festivities. So in the name of thanksgiving, I’d like to say thank you to every one that follows Tasha.Kitchen, thank you for the support, the encouragement and for the many comments and likes. I hope you have an amazing day! I’ll be back this weekend with a healthy recipe for those who can’t partake in pie.

Stay safe, stay happy and stay thankful!

Ingredients

  • 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 1/2 tsp. ground ginger
  • 1/4 tsp. Nutmeg
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 can (15 oz.) Pumpkin puree
  • 1 can (12 fl. oz.) Evaporated milk
  • 1 unbaked 9-inch (4-cup volume) deep-dish pie shell

Method

  • Preheat oven to 180c/350f
  • Beat the eggs in a large mixing bowl
  • Add the spices to it (if you buy pumpkin puree with spice mix already added, then omit this step)
  • Add in the evaporated milk and mix to combine
  • Pour the mixture into a pie shell, leave 1 cm of space at the top, so as not to spill the mixture when moving it to the oven (I always buy a large pie shell and a few small ones to make sure I use up any extra filling)
  • Bake for 50-60 minutes or until you can put a toothpick through the middle and it comes out clean
  • The pies will leave your home smelling wonderful and you ready to sit back with a cup of Joe and be thankful for the food you are about to eat!

Happy thanksgiving from Tasha.Kitchen

 

Buffalo Cauliflower Hot Wings

By , November 18, 2016

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I’ve seen these delightful morsels all over instagram and wondered if you could really get the same moreish taste into a cauliflower as a you can a bowl of chicken wings. The answer is categorically yes and with a lot fewer calories.

The trick is to make sure you get the same crispy finish and a finger licking sauce on top. To accomplish this you need to bake them twice and use a great sauce. I use Sriracha mixed with vegan mayo here but you could go with any hot sauce or buffalo sauce.

I also cut up celery and made a tofu cream cheese and chive dip (https://tasha.kitchen/2016/05/28/cream-cheese-and-chive-dip-without-the-cream-cheese), so that you have a cooling element, in a similar way to classic game day chicken wings.

Mr. B hates eating with his fingers, but even he had too admit that this cauliflower was finger licking good!

Ingredients

  • 1 head cauliflower; chopped into bite size piece
  • ½ cup brown rice flour (or other gluten-free equivalent)
  • ½ cup water
  • ½ tsp. sea salt
  • ½ tsp. garlic powder
  • 1 tsp. coconut oil
  • 1 tbsp. vegan mayo or 1 tsp. olive oil
  • 1 tbsp. sriracha sauce (hot sauce)

Method

  • Pre-heat the oven to 350f/180c
  • In a small bowl, combine brown rice flour, water, garlic powder and salt. Mix thoroughly with a fork
  • Dip cauliflower pieces in the batter until coated evenly, then place on a lightly greased, non-stick baking sheet.
  • Bake for about 10 minutes or until the batter hardens, then flip with a spatula and bake for another 5 minutes.
  • Whisk together Sriracha/ Hot sauce and the vegan mayo in a small bowl
  • When the cauliflower is finished, take a pastry brush and evenly brush each piece with the hot sauce mixture.
  • Bake coated cauliflower for an additional 8-10 minutes, or until cauliflower is crispy, and sauce looks absorbed.
  • Remove from oven.
  • Let cauliflower bites set out for at least 20 minutes before serving
  • Enjoy!

Photo: Stage one of the double-bake, once cooked, brush on the hot sauce and bake again.

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A tale of two salads

By , November 12, 2016

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When thinking about what to prepare for lunch during the week, my top priorities are something quick and light that i can eat at my desk if needed and that will keep me full for the rest of the afternoon. That is why normally reach for the quinoa as my staple as it is protein dense and takes on flavor easily, turning your every day salad into something more interesting and substantial. These first recipe is my own combination and the second is an adaption of a recipe i found in the New York Times.

Quinoa, Edamame, Pea and Mint Salad

This is a wonderful dish and can be used as a side or a main. The mint and lemon brings a freshness and zest, contrasting nicely with the base of protein dense Quinoa.

Ingredients

  • 170g (1 cup) quinoa
  • 1 organic stock cube
  • 250g (1 cup) Edamame
  • 250g (1 cup) Peas
  • 25g (1 cup) roughly torn mint leaves
  • Juice of half a lemon
  • 2 tsp. extra virgin olive oil
  • Salt and pepper to season

Method

  • Cook the Quinoa, one cup of Quinoa to 1.5-2 cups of water. Bring to the boil and then simmer until cooked (15-20 minutes). Transfer to a large bowl and allow to cool
  • Blanch Edamame and peas together until tender, allow to cool
  • Combine Quinoa with the Edamame, peas and mint leaves
  • Dress with lemon juice and olive oil, season to taste

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Rainbow Quinoa Salad

This is a beautiful and colorful salad, invoking the tastes and smells of the mediterranean. The cinnamon and pomegranate molasses bring a richness to the dish, making it taste as indulgent as it does healthy.

Ingredients

  • 170g (1 cup) quinoa
  • 5-2 cups of water
  • 1 organic stock cube
  • 10 cherry tomatoes, halved
  • ½ cup cucumber, chopped
  • 2 tbsp. chopped cilantro
  • 4 tbsp. chopped fresh mint
  • 4 tbsp. chopped fresh parsley
  • 1 cup lightly toasted pistachios
  • 2 teaspoons lemon zest
  • Juice of half a lemon
  • 1 small garlic clove, minced
  • A pinch of ground cinnamon
  • A pinch of salt
  • 1 teaspoon pomegranate molasses (you can use a light honey if you prefer)
  • 2 tsp. extra virgin olive oil

Method

  • Cook the Quinoa, one cup of Quinoa to 1.5-2 cups of water. Bring to the boil and then simmer until cooked (15-20 minutes). Transfer to a large bowl and allow to cool
  • Meanwhile, whisk together lemon juice, olive oil, salt, garlic, cinnamon, and pomegranate molasses to form a dressing
  • Add the dressing to the quinoa and mix. Add remaining ingredients, apart from the lemon zest, gently mixed till evenly distributed
  • Sprinkle the lemon zest over the top for some extra freshness and serve

Alain Passard inspired, individual Apple Roses

By , November 5, 2016

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Food is my meditation, my art, my relaxation and inspiration. I watch food documentaries, read food magazines and leaf through pages of a cookbook as if a Bronte novel. I feel real joy in the discovery of a new recipe, something that may bring joy to the taster and discovery to the palette.

This recipe is one of those, that fulfils all of the criteria of a foodie and blogger, it takes something complicated and makes it easy and as an added bonus the resulting dish looks like a piece of art. In fact when I served these, I was told they looked like they were from ‘one of those fancy, expensive patisseries’! This is for a dish that takes 20 minutes prep and only has a handful of ingredients, most of which you would have in your fridge already!

The original dish that inspired this recipe was Alain Passard’s ‘bouquet de roses’. Passard is a Parisian chef who after gaining the accolade of three Michelin stars, removed meat from the menu, bought a biodynamic farm and changed the menu to an entirely vegetarian feast. If you are wondering, yes, he did retain the three stars and is currently also rated number nineteen in the worlds best restaurants (www.theworlds50best.com/list/1-50-winners/Arpege)

Needless to say, you shouldn’t be surprised if you see more Passard inspired dishes on this blog in the future.

Ingredients (6 roses)

  • 1 sheet of puff pastry, thawed
  • 2 red apples
  • Juice of half lemon
  • 1 tablespoon of coconut flour, to sprinkle the counter
  • 3 tablespoons of preserve (I used papaya, apricot is good)
  • 1 tsp. cinnamon

Method

  • Thaw the puff pastry at room temperature if you haven’t done so yet. It should take about 20-30 minutes.
  • Prepare a bowl half filled with water and the lemon juice.
  • Cut the apples in half, remove the core and cut the apples in paper-thin slices (keep the peel so it will give the red color to your roses)
  • Right away, place the sliced apples in the bowl so that they won’t go brown (oxidize)
  • Microwave the apples in the bowl for about 3 minutes, to make them slightly softer and easy to roll.
  • The apple slices should be cooked just enough to bend without breaking. If they break, you need to cook them a little more.
  • Unwrap the puff pastry over a clean and lightly floured counter.
  • Using a rolling pin stretch the dough into a rectangular shape of about 12 x 9 inch
  • Cut the dough in 6 strips, each about 2 x 9 inch
  • In a bowl, place three tablespoons of preserve with two tablespoons of water.
  • Spread a thin layer of preserve on each strip of dough.
  • Preheat the oven to 375f (190c).
  • Drain the apples.
  • Arrange the apple slices on the dough, overlapping one another.
  • Make sure the top (skin side) of the slices sticks a little out of the strip. Sprinkle with cinnamon
  • Fold up the bottom part of the dough.
  • Starting from one end, carefully roll the dough, keeping the apple slices in place. Seal the edge at the end, pressing with your finger, and place in a regular muffin cup. No need to grease the muffin mold if it’s silicone. Otherwise, make sure to grease with coconut oil.
  • Do the same for all 6 roses. Bake at 375f (190c) for about 40-45 minutes, until fully cooked.
  • Wait for the them to cool a little before taking out of the case and serving to the sound of ooh and ahh.

Cooking with Manuela, a great food blog inspired this recipe, with a YouTube video in this case too if you are interested. http://cookingwithmanuela.blogspot.com

 

 

 

Halloween Pumpkin Peppers stuffed with spooky spicy Quinoa

By , November 1, 2016

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Since Halloween is such a big occasion in the USA, I felt I had to be a good citizen and join in.

This dish will delight kids and adults alike and provide a little heat as you try to keep warm after a little trick or treating. It only takes 7 minutes in total, quicker than it will take for your kids to eat all their candy!

Happy Healthy Halloween, from Tasha.Kitchen

Ingredients

  • 2 orange peppers
  • 1 tsp. coconut oil
  • 1 clove garlic (crushed)
  • 1 cup mushrooms (chopped)
  • ½ tsp. red pepper
  • Salt and pepper to season
  • 1 cup chopped black olives
  • 1 cup quinoa (cooked)

Method

  • Heat the coconut oil on a low heat
  • Add the garlic and crushed red pepper, stir for 30 seconds
  • Add the mushrooms
  • Cook until they start to brown, 2 minutes
  • Add the olives and stir for 30 seconds
  • Add in the Quinoa
  • Mix together, switch off the heat and leave to cool for a few minutes
  • During those 2 minutes, cut the head of the peppers off, cut out the eyes and a crocked smile
  • Fill with the Quinoa and serve for a ‘happy healthy halloween’!

 

 

 

Vegan Scrambled Eggs

By , October 30, 2016

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Contrary to popular belief, I am not a vegan, I just like high quality, healthy food and as much variety as possible.

When I can’t get the quality I need, I try to adapt and find other options and since being in the city of Boston, that has translated into more vegan options due to an inability in easily finding a high standard of meat.

You may think that is odd, and I was frankly surprised, especially by my local wholefoods who do you the favour of ranking the welfare standards, but don’t carry any meat products higher than a 2 rating. (The 1 rating, isn’t factory farmed, but rather a bare minimum of what the Global Animal Partnership standards agency considers tolerable.)

Some of the products are a revelation, I actually prefer them to the non-vegan ones. Vegan sausages are one those, they have a nicer texture; they are completely natural and are extremely high in protein. The vegan scrambled eggs I made to go with them are a nice complement with a savory smoky undertone from the turmeric and mustard.

I wish I had discovered some of these recipes and products when my vegan grandma was alive, it would have been lovely to have served her this for breakfast. I would like to think she would have been pleasantly surprised.

*A minute on nutritional yeast, as this ingredient gets a bad reputation from its name. It has a strong flavor that can be described as nutty, cheesy, or creamy, which makes it popular as an ingredient in cheese substitutes. On average, two tablespoons provides 60 calories with 5g of carbohydrates (4 grams of which is fiber). A serving also provides 9 g of protein and is a complete protein, providing all nine amino acids the human body cannot produce.

With the tofu and nutritional yeast in the ‘scrambled eggs’  in addition to the vegan sausages, you get a triple source of protein.

Ingredients

  • 250g/1 cup firm tofu
  • 1 finely chopped small onion
  • 3 tsp. nutritional yeast flakes*
  • 1 tsp. turmeric
  • 1-2 tsp. mustard
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Optional:

  • Add in some green/red peppers or any leftover vegetables you need to use up (chopped) for extra taste and a little color

Method

  • Crumble the tofu into small pieces and allow to drain in a sieve to take out some of the water
  • Heat on a medium heat for c. 4 minutes
  • Add the remaining ingredients and continue to stir for another 3 minutes
  • Serve with some vegan sausages to fool your kids, I recommend Field Roast apple maple vegan sausages at 10g of protein per serving of two sausages it’s a healthy and taste switch and no one will even taste the difference!

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Pad Thai Salad

By , October 25, 2016

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Having spent a lot of time traveling across Asia; I love Thai, Vietnamese, Japanese and Malaysian food and whilst a lot of the menu in Asian cuisine is gluten and dairy free, in the USA it still doesn’t taste particularly clean.

In lieu of putting on a lot of weight seeking out the most authentic Asian restaurants on the East Coast, I have decided to recreate my favorite dishes, making them as clean as possible, taking Asian food from a weekend treat to a week day staple.

This dish is taken from ‘the Londoner’ (http://www.thelondoner.me), which is a great lifestyle blog with some amazing recipes thrown in. The recipe takes salads from simple to sinful!

I like making the recipe with prawns, but you can make it with tempeh to create a vegan version.

Ingredients

  • 1 Cucumber
  • 2 Large carrots
  • 2 Spring onions (chopped)
  • 1 Handful of fresh coriander
  • 1 Handful of fresh mint
  • 1 Handful of peanuts (roughly chopped/smashed)
  • A few wild tiger prawns

Dressing:

  • Juice of 1 lime
  • 3tbsp Sesame oil
  • 3tbsp Soy sauce
  • 1tbsp Fish sauce
  • 1tbsp chili flakes
  • 1tbsp honey
  • 1 Clove of garlic

Optional:

  • Change the prawns for tempeh and leave out the fish sauce if you want to make this vegan
  • Substitute water for stock to add a little extra flavor to your shrimp

Method

  • Spirilize the cucumber and carrot, or use a peeler to create ribbons
  • Add the chopped spring onions, fresh coriander and mint
  • De-vein the shrimp and blanch in hot water. I added a little organic clear spring mushroom broth for a subtle flavour.
  • Take the prawns out and place to the side once they turn pink
  • Mix the dressing ingredients and pour over the salad
  • Add the prawns and sprinkle over the crushed peanuts

 

 

 

Clean, Vegan Bircher Muesli

By , October 14, 2016

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Bircher Muesli is one of those fantastic combinations of amazingly fresh and healthy ingredients that tastes too wonderful to be good for you.

It was invented by a Swiss doctor and nutritionist, who developed it for patients at his Zurich sanatorium at the turn of the last century as a way of shoehorning yet more raw fruit into their diets.

Bircher believed apples had cured him of jaundice as a young man, leaving him unfashionably evangelical, for his time, on the powers of fruit and vegetables. I can see his creation would be excellent fuel for a day yomping in the Swiss countryside (or indeed soaking up the sun in one’s underwear, as seems to have been popular in such establishments).

It is also a sound choice for anyone, hoping to see off the mid-morning munchies. Fresher and fruitier than the more familiar dry variety, Bircher muesli is the perfect way to start the day, especially now, at the height of the apple season.

I edited an Ottolenghi recipe I found in the Guardian to make it dairy free/vegan.

Ingredients

  • 100g oats
  • 2 tbsp. raisins
  • 1 tbsp. sunflower seeds
  • 1 tsp. ground cardamom/cinnamon
  • ½ tsp. salt
  • 1 green apple
  • 150ml almond milk
  • 150ml apple juice
  • 1 tbsp. grated coconut

Method

  • Mix together the oats, raisins, sunflower seeds, cardamom and salt in a large bowl
  • Leaving the peel on, core an apple and coarsely grate into the dry mixture
  • Add the milk and apple juice
  • Stir well, cover with cling film and leave in the fridge to soak overnight
  • Grab in the morning for breakfast or in the evening for desert