Banana Oat Tahini Smoothie

I have tahini to use up and I'm trying to find interesting ways to use it other than in hummus, so I put it in a smoothie.  I think it's alright and adds a slightly nutty flavour to the smoothie.

2 bananas
1 cup rice milk
1/4 cup water
4 tbs ground raw oats
3 tbs ground flaxseeds
3 tbs tahini

Blend it all together.  Add more rice milk if you don't like it too thick.  Makes about 2 medium servings.  I added some acai berry powder to mine, which is why it's purple.

Toasted Wrap with Hummus Dip & Salsa

I was in the mood to try something different today, so I made some hummus and a simple salsa as dips for a wrap that I cut into pieces and toasted in the oven.  It was tasty and filling. :)

I cut up a wrap and toasted the pieces in the oven for 5 mins at 180 C (could have gone a bit longer to make them crispier though --- next time!)

See my hummus recipe HERE.

And the salsa...it's just a really simple one - finely chopped tomato & red onion, salted with Himalayan crystal salt. 

(There's some pesto in the background which I got as a gift and never knew what to do with, so I finally opened it today and it actually smells yummy.  So I used it as a dip for the wrap chips too.)

 It was good, and more than enough left over for my lunch tomorrow too. :D

Hummus

I decided to try make my own hummus recipe today - well, it's not much different from the standard hummus recipe, but I like this one 'cause I added ingredients in proportions that I like, plus I added some turmeric . . . haven't seen that in a hummus yet.  Anyway, here it is!

1 can chickpeas, drained & rinsed
6 tbs tahini
juice of 1/2 a lemon
salt to taste
pinch of fine black pepper
3 tbs ground flaxseed
2 tbs olive oil
1/2 cup water
1/4 tsp cumin powder
1/4 tsp turmeric powder

Throw it all in a food processor and blend until smooth.

What I also like about this one is that it's nice and thick.

Turmeric Sour Cream Dip

I made some air-fried potatoes last night, AND I had some sour cream that I needed to finish, so I thought I'd try to make a dip for the 'tatoes.  All I did was mix in some turmeric powder with the sour cream, and kept adding some until it tasted to my liking.   I'm really happy with my newest invention.  :D

I think it may make a nice chip dip too if you maybe add some plain smooth cottage cheese to make it thicker...and more turmeric of course.  Mmmmmm.....  :)

Rice Pudding

This rice pudding uses coconut milk instead of evaporated milk, and it's soooooo good. :D

I had to add a whole lot more milk than the recipe called for though, but I'll put that bit in brackets:

250 ml rice (any rice it says, so I used basmati rice)
400 ml coconut milk
300 ml full cream milk (I ended up using 5 3/4 cups in total)
125 ml sugar
2 star anise pods
1 stick cinnamon
5 cardamom pods

• place rice, coconut milk, milk and sugar in pot and bring to the boil
• add star anise, cinnamon & cardamom
• turn down heat and simmer until rice is cooked, stirring occasionally

I couldn't find star anise pods ANYWHERE, so I had to do without.  Boo.

Since I had no idea how long to cook this for, I set the timer for 5 minute intervals and checked up on it and stirred it.  When I saw the rice got too dry and it was still not cooked, I kept adding 1/4 cup or 1/2 cup milk.  I cooked it in total for 75 minutes! (on medium heat).  Adding all that extra milk actually made it taste much better . . . before that the sugar was too overpowering.

Yum yum yummmmm.  :D

Only thing is, it's not as soft & "poury" as I thought it should be, so when I had some rice later after it had cooled down, I added a little bit of milk to it before I heated it up in the microwave, and it was perfect.

Oh yes, sprinkle with some cinnamon powder before serving...and be generous, it's yummy when mixed in, and it's healthy too! (I ended up  adding a lot more cinnamon after the pic was taken).  :)

Curried Bean Wrap

This is good for lunch or dinner really.  Usually I use canned curried beans for this but I couldn't find it lately so I made my own curried beans.

Curried beans:
1 can red kidney beans
2 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp cumin powder
salt to taste

Put everything in a food processor and blend until smooth.  You could use whatever spices you like, but I like this combination for wraps.

Rest of the wrap:
1 wrap
1 tsp sesame seeds
1 tomato, finely chopped
1 leaf of lettuce, finely chopped
sour cream  (or mashed avocado)

Plop some bean paste onto the wrap, sprinkle over the sesame seeds, add the lettuce and tomato and fold up the wrap.  If my avocados were ripe, I would have added some of that in the wrap too, OR if I had cheese, I would have added some grated cheese as the last ingredient and microwaved it for a few seconds to melt the cheese (this also helps to hold the wrap together, almost like a glue).  But alas, I had neither of these ingredients, but it was still good!  Add sour cream as desired.

I just added the sesame seeds for some extra nutritional benefit - you don't taste them in here.

If you can find a vegan wrap, you can make this meal vegan if you substitute the sour cream with mashed avocado...yummy..... :)

Carrot & Beetroot Juice

Freshly juiced raw veggies and fruits are a great way to assist your body in detoxing, and besides that, it's so healthy too, since juicing the food makes it more easily assimilated by your body.  Plus it's refreshing and tasty. :)

This morning I added beetroot to the mix and it turned out really well - it's sweet and tasty and the beetroot gives it a slightly earthy flavour too.   And the colour is gorgeous! :D

For this one I used 5 medium carrots and 3 medium beetroot - all peeled and then juiced (in a juicer, not blender) - here's what it looked like:

Then I mixed it before pouring into glasses - makes 2 medium servings:

How pretty is that? Yummmmmm.....

Ginger Honey Lemon Ice Tea

This is nice and refreshing, and best of all it's sugar-free and it's actually a healthy treat. :)

Ginger honey syrup:
1/3 cup honey
2 cups water
1/2 inch roughly chopped, peeled fresh ginger

Add all 3 to a pot, bring to a boil, turn down the heat and let simmer for 5 mins on low heat.  Remove from heat.

To finish the tea:
6 "white tea" tea bags (* see below)
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
6 cups water

Throw the tea bags into the "syrup" immediately after removing pot from heat, and let steep for 30 mins.
Strain the syrup, add lemon juice & 6 cups of water & stir to combine.

*  If you can't find white tea, just use ordinary green tea - according to google, white tea is a milder flavour of green tea, so I thought green tea would make a suitable substitute - I used green tea (jasmine green tea actually, just has a more pleasant flavour for me), and because it has a stronger flavour than white tea, I only used 5 tea bags.

Serve over ice and with some mint leaves (I didn't have mint available, booo).

The first time I tasted it I thought it's a little too lemony and a little not-honey-y enough, but then I got used to it and I wouldn't change the recipe now, I like it as is.  If you do want to add more honey though, I think do it in the beginning, maybe increase it to 1/2 cup, or use less lemon juice instead.