Thursday, May 12, 2011

Quinoa Mango Maki Rolls

I've heard countless times how healthy sushi is. While the fish actually have some health benefits (I don't eat fish personally), the rice is packed with sugar. This sushi is 100% vegan and is based on protein-rich Quinoa instead of white rice.


These maki rolls are fresh, tasty and packed with protein and nutrition.

Ingredients
2.5 dl Cooked Quinoa (let it cool)
2 tbsp Rice Vinegar
2 tsp Brown Sugar
1 Avocado in strips
1/3 Cucumber in long strips
1 Mango in strips
0.5 dl Vegan Mayonnaise
1 tsp Sambal Olek
Wasabi
3 Nori Sheets

This is how it's done and you need a Sushi Kit to make these rolls.
  1. Cook the Quinoa and let it cool. Mix with the vinegar and brown sugar.
  2. Mix the Vegan Mayonnaise with the Sambal Olek
  3. Spread a 1 cm thick layer of Quinoa over the Nori Sheets and save 1.5 cm at the ends of the sheet
  4. Add the Avocado, Mango and Cucumber strips and by using your finger add Wasabi on top of the Cucumber
  5. Add some of the Mayonnaise/Sambal Olek mix.
  6. Moist the uncovered layer at the end of the Nori Sheet.
  7. Make a thick roll.
  8. Cut into 2 cm pieces.
  9. Serve with Ginger of your choice, Tamari and Wasabi.


Red Lentil Cucumber Salad with Hemp and Pumpkin Seeds

My wife is one of the greatest chefs I know and she has the amazing ability of turning the fewest amounts of ingredients into great meals. This salad is easy and the dressing is making in excel into a great lunch or dinner.


Ingredients
2 Carrots cut into pasta with a vegetable cutter
1/2 Cucumber cut into pasta with a vegetable cutter
1.5 dl Cherry Tomatoes diced
2 dl Red Lentils
2 tbsp Pumpkin Seeds
2 tbsp Hemp Seeds
2 tbsp Flaxseeds

For the dressing
1.5 dl Basil
2 tsp Champagne Vinegar
2 Garlic Cloves
2 tbsp Agave Nectar
2 tbsp Olive Oil

Mix all ingredients of the dressing and mix with the salad. Top with the seeds.

Sunday, May 8, 2011

Flaxseed-Pumpkinseed Breakfast Pudding

Flaxseeds and Pumpkinseeds are fantastic, so why not make a breakfast pudding out of them. As an option I have added Vega Whole Foods Optimizer, but as it's close to impossible unless you have a source in the US or Canada, it's hard to ship over to Sweden.


This breakfast pudding is based on Flaxseeds, Flaxseed Oil, Pumpkin seeds and Cashews.

Ingredients
2 tbsp ground Flaxseeds
1 tbsp Flaxseed Oil
1 tbsp Pumpkinseeds
1 tbsp Hemp seeds
1 tbsp Cashews
1 Apple
1 Banana
0,5 - 1 dl Almond Milk (depending on how thick you want the yoghurt to be)
1 tbsp Vega Whole Foods Optimizer (optional and you can also add Hemp Protein instead)

Blend everything until smooth and top with whole Flaxseeds and Pumpkinseeds. This is a super energy source and a great start of the day and I need this today as I've got a day of gardening in front of me.

Friday, May 6, 2011

Buckwheat Crunch with Flaxseeds and Fruit

The Excalibur Dehydrator is a wonderful invention as it allows me to make my own Buckwheat Crunch, which is one of my favorite breakfasts. Renee Voltaire's Buckwheat Crunch, which is available in any supermarket is great of course, but nothing beats home-made. In fact, you don't need a dehydrator to make Buckwheat Crunch if you have an oven that can be heated to as low as around 50-60 degrees.


Ingredients
Buckwheat Crunch
2 tbsp of ground Flaxseeds
1 tbsp of Agave Nectar
0,5 dl of Almonds or Walnuts (chopped to size of your choice)
1 Banana (in slices)
1 Apple (in pieces)

Combine the ingredients and top with Hemp or Almond milk.

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Thrive Walnut Burger and Spicy Bean Salsa

I'm on my third day on Thrive now and I feel great, maybe now just because of the fact that I'm so excited finally trying it out. I feel super-motivated! I'm traveling again tomorrow (I'm on cross-Atlantic trips monthly, but not this time) so I will miss home the second I leave, but it'll also be a great test how to find great food in London combined with business meetings. My bag is packed with Energy Bars, which I hope I can smuggle through customs.


Today I've started with Banana Pear Ginger Cereal with Hemp Milk for breakfast, Blueberry Rooibos Antioxidant Smoothie for snack, big green avocado salad for lunch, Pomegranate Amaranth Energy bar for afternoon snack and this awesome Raw Walnut Burger with Spicy Bean Salsa, Green Salad and shredded Carrots. I did 20km on my bike as I got home from work today so I now feel more energized than ever, yet a little hungry.

Now off to bed and the latest episode of The Killing!



Kids love Wheatgrass!

She might not like a happy camper in this picture, but I can assure you there's a battle between me and my youngest daughter over my breakfast and smoothies every morning and they are 98.6% all GREEN.


Raw food fruit yoghurt like my Cashew Cream Fruit Yoghurt is exceptional for kids and you can mix in any fruit you would find in any dairy, over-dosed with sugar yoghurt. I can assure you they'll love it.

Wheatgrass juices are also a popular addition to the breakfast table. A teaspoon mixed with fresh Pineapple or Orange (or mixed) juice is awesome and gives them a great start of the day.

Sunday, May 1, 2011

Meat Lover's Pizza on the Weber - Junk food alert!

Junk-food alert! I can't say enough how unhealthy this pizza is, but it's so damn tasty. My pizza philosophy is that we should not pretend that there is something like a healthy pizza and the pizzas that are called healthy tastes like something else, not pizza. As a matter of fact, an American-Italian friend of mine shakes his head every time I post a picture of my pizzas with Spelt-dough and Soy meat on them.

This pizza has got it all; Soy, fat, gluten, you name it - so don't eat this too often or too much of it. One slice is enough for me, so you can feed your whole family on this one. It's a great pizza to serve when you're having a boys-only evening with loud music and beers.


I call this pizza "Meat Lover's Pizza" as it's a vegan version of the classic pizza. I'll start with the pizza dough.

Pizza Dough - Ingredients
  • 2,25 dl of water
  • 1/4 package of Yeast
  • 1 tsp Agave Nectar
  • 1 tbsp Olive Oil
  • 5 dl Spelt Flour (If you want to try to pretend this is healthy mix 50/50 whole-grain flour)
  • salt
  1. Mix the Yeast with the water
  2. Mix in the Agave Nectar and Olive Oil
  3. Mix in the Spelt flour and knead into a smooth, yet firm dough.
  4. Let it rise for about 30 minutes (in the meantime, make the tomato sauce)
Tomato Sauce - Ingredients
  • 4 dl of Organic Crushed Tomatoes
  • 1 tbsp Agave Nectar
  • 1 Garlic clove
  • 1 tbsp of Basil
  • 1 tbsp of Vegetable Stock (I use Renee Voltaires)
  • 1 tsp of Chili Powder
  • 1 tsp of Bio Food's Energy Spice Mix (optional)
Blend everything until smooth.

The Pizza Toppings
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees or fire up your Weber with a pizza stone.
  • 1 Vegan "Chorizo" or other spicy sausage (I use "Chorizo" from Astrid & Aporna) - Sliced
  • 1 Vegan Steak (I use Bonanza Steaks from Viana) - Sliced into thin slices.
  • 1,5 dl of Vegan Smoked "Ham" (I use Carbonara strips from Astrid & Aporna)
  • 0,5 dl Minced Red Onion
  • Vegan Mozzarella Cheese (Grated)
Spread the Tomato Sauce over the pizza and add the toppings.

Bake for about 15-20 minutes in the oven or 10 minutes on the Weber with direct medium heat. Check often so it doesn't burn. I used foil this time, but as I was out of paper I had to use foil. It's not recommended.

Enjoy and again, this is junk-food at it's best so be careful.