Tag: Protein

Purple Carrot Powerhouse Juice

Here’s the final juice recipe in my mini series on the health benefits of Purple Carrots.

Full of antioxidants, anthocyanins – the memory boosters that give blueberries their superfood status – soluble fibre, vitamins and minerals, this juice is a nutritional powerhouse.

The carrot greens contain protein, calcium, magnesium and potassium, the broccoli contains calcium and folate – a mood enhancer – while the sweet potato also has essential fatty acids, B vitamins and Vitamin A.

Purple carrot greens have 6 times more Vitamin C than orange ones!

See Ever Had Purple Carrots? (Juice Recipe Included) for a full nutritional breakdown and the health benefits of eating purple carrots and purple foods in general.

Perfect for an energy booster and pick-me-up!

Ingredients

4 Purple Carrots, scrubbed

1 Sweet Potato, scrubbed

1 Apple

1 Pear (the harder the better)

Small Handful Carrot Greens, washed thoroughly and chopped

1/2 Small Wax-free Lemon, scrubbed, peel left on

3″ Broccoli Stem

Begin with carrots and sweet potato, then the lemon and broccoli, lastly put the carrot greens through between pear and apple to get the most juice from them and help prevent the greens clogging the juicer.

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PS If you like the Grip and Go Glass Bottle, here’s the link (can’t help you with the flowers, though!):

http://www.gripandgo.co.uk/

Copyright: Chris McGowan

Banana Plum Smoothie with a Warming Dash of Cinnamon

imageThis is a mineral-rich smoothie with protein, fibre and omega fatty acids and a little warming cinnamon spice added now that Autumn is creeping in. Cinnamon has many health benefits including reducing spikes in blood sugar and lowering insulin resistance, as well as helping to balance your metabolism. Yellow plums are reputed to improve iron absorption, possibly due to their vitamin C content. Those with nut allergies can substitute the almond milk with tiger nut milk or any other non-dairy alternative.

All ingredients are organic, vegan and gluten-free, all measurements approximate.

Ingredients

1 Banana

1 Yellow Plum

2 Tbsps Golden Linseeds (lightly ground)

1 Heaped Tbsp Raw Hemp Seeds*

Glass of chilled Almond Milk (see here for how to make your own, it really is very easy and tastes much better than bought)

1 Medjool Date, pitted and chopped

A Dash of Cinnamon + another on top

 Blend and enjoy.

http://youtu.be/hmNNkzZip1M

*from http://www.therawchocolatecompany.com/

Copyright: Chris McGowan

Zoodles with Garlic Mushrooms, Beansprouts & Lemon Avocado & Pine Nut Dressing

The title pretty much describes the recipe. This is a light, quick meal conjured up when I wasn’t feeling very hungry but knew I needed to eat something or I would be hungry during the night. As usual, once I began eating I was glad I had made the effort to come up with something to stimulate my appetite.

First, we spiralised a small Courgette (zucchini) and arranged it on the plate. (see Spiralising: A Great Way to Get Your Kids to Eat Their Greens, Reds, Yellows …)

Next, the avocado dressing was prepared in a small chopper: we had no fresh avocado so we used some from the freezer – did you know you can freeze stoned and peeled avocado? We use it to blend with freshly extracted juices.

For one person, blend 1/4 – 1/2 Avocado, a good squeeze of Lemon Juice, a little Water, some Pine Kernels and Black Pepper. Season with a little Pink Himalayan Salt if liked.

I love Chestnut Mushrooms and we seemed to have rather a lot that needed using. So about 7 or 8 were washed, stalked and chopped in quarters before the whole lot was tossed in a teaspoon of Coconut Oil with some crushed Garlic and lightly stir-fried with Tamari.

The mushrooms were placed on the top of the zoodles. The avocado dressing in the middle, a reserved mushroom on top. We had some Mung Beans sprouting and we scattered some over the rest of the food. (See Sprouting for Health, Energy and the Environment!)

It was finished off with more black pepper.

It doesn’t look very exciting, but it tasted good and was surprisingly satisfying. Raw food is more filling than cooked, with plenty of fibre and nutrients to keep you healthy. Avocado is the ultimate in healthy convenience food with its protein, healthy fats, vitamins, minerals and fibre. (See Raw Energy).

Copyright: Chris McGowan

Nutty Bean & Beetroot Veggie Burgers with Quinoa & Redcurrants

These are the third in a series of attempts to find a tasty home-made veggie burger that holds together well and I think in the latter category, these are the best! I think the key might be in using chia egg (chia seeds soaked in water to form a gel) rather than just the chia seeds on their own. In the other recipes, we had assumed that the seeds would soak up any excess moisture in the mix and combined with the chickpea flour, would hold it together. They worked well, but these worked even better.

Don’t be put off by the beetroot, they are peeled and grated and the burgers don’t taste earthy at all. Beetroot are heart healthy, a good source of potassium and good for the circulation. (Read Make Beetroot Your New Veg Friend! for the full benefits of eating/juicing beetroot).

I had a couple of burgers warm with some quinoa and a red- and whitecurrant dressing, with a green salad. The rest were put in the freezer and I had a couple when we had a picnic on a sunny day and they were even better! They held together and tasted amazing – I ate them with my fingers, like a biscuit, and they didn’t break up.

Quinoa is a complete protein and also gluten-free. It can be a little bland unless you add some spices, lime juice or dried fruit for example, here we’ve made a dressing using fresh red and white currants, but you could use defrosted frozen berries or dried cranberries.

Apart from being very tasty, redcurrants are a rich source of dietary fibre, potassium, Vitamin C and Vitamin K – necessary for blood-clotting and for good bone health.

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Ingredients – Burgers

1/2 Tin Black Beans, drained & rinsed

1/2 Medium Beetroot, grated

1 Small Onion, chopped

1 Clove of Garlic, crushed

1 Cup Ground Walnuts (you could substitute for seeds or other nuts, but they would give a different texture and flavour)

2″ Slice Marrow, chopped or 1/2 Courgette (Zucchini)

2 Chestnut Mushrooms, chopped

1 Tbsp Chia Seeds soaked in 3 Tbsps Water, stirred vigorously, to form a gel

1 1/2 Cups Chickpea Flour (garbanzo or gram)

A Squeeze of Tomato Purée

1 Tsp Vegetable Bouillon Powder

1/2 Tbsp Cumin Seeds

Handful Fresh Coriander, chopped

Splash of Tamari

Pink Himalayan Salt & Black Pepper

A little coconut oil for frying.

Method

Put everything in the food processor and pulse/slow process until it starts to come together but is still coarse, you don’t want it too smooth & mushy. Scrape it down between each blast.

With floured hands take handfuls of mix and form into burgers on a floured board using a flat spatula to help it come together if necessary. Sprinkle with a little flour before cooking. We made 5.

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Melt a little coconut oil in a frying pan, but not to smoking point, and gently cook the burgers. You might prefer to cook them in the oven.

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Quinoa

Just before you cook the burgers, put on some quinoa to cook as per instructions, keep the lid on until cooked, about 10-12 minutes – you want the moisture evaporated but the quinoa still keeping its shape, not broken up and mushy. If there is still some moisture, leave the lid off and turn the heat off but keep the pan on the warm plate, or turn it out into a hot dish and fluff it gently with a fork to allow the moisture to escape.

Red and White Currant Dressing

I adapted this from an Able & Cole recipe.

Place about 125g fresh Red and White Currants in a saucepan, add approximately 2 Tbsps water, 1 Tsp Maple Syrup, 1 Tsp Cumin Seeds. Heat slowly until the currants burst slightly. Remove from heat.

Pour half into the quinoa and lightly mix. Check seasoning.

Serve the burgers with the quinoa and a green salad and drizzle over the rest of the dressing.

See Vegan Tiger Nut & Peanut Chilli-Burger (you can use substitutes for Tiger Nuts) and Vegan Black Bean & Walnut Veggie Burger for the other recipes.

Copyright: Chris McGowan

Rocket (Arugula) Salad with Sweetcorn, Walnut Slaw, Crisp Red Apple & Lemon Tahini Dressing

This is quite possibly the final salad photo I’ll be posting for a while – not that I stop eating salads as soon as Autumn appears, far from it, but I don’t think you’ll be wanting to read about them when the central heating’s on! (I realise of course some of you will be in the summer season, but no doubt you’ll be off to the beach for a barbie or spending your time in the pool or by the river, playing with children, partners or pets, or reading a book in the garden, so again won’t want to be reading about salads – no envy at all in those words, honest!)

I don’t eat mayonnaise which is often the default dressing for cole slaw, this one has a lemon and tahini dressing.

If you have a nut allergy and want to avoid the walnuts, you could use alternatives to give a bit of a crunch, perhaps roasted chickpeas – see Crunchy & Spicy Roasted Chickpea Nibbles

I love adding crisp or tart fruit to a green salad, sometimes red grapes, or slices of kiwi, this time slices of a crisp red apple. The fruit not only adds a contrasting flavour but also extra nutrients and can often tempt a child for instance to try a salad they would otherwise turn their noses up at.

There is protein in the walnuts, tahini, sweetcorn and leaves, while rocket (arugula) is believed to have cancer cell-inhibiting properties and along with spinach is rich in B vitamins, Vitamin K (essential for bone health), Vitamin C, and minerals.

Ingredients

Rocket (Arugula) and Spinach Leaves to line the plate, washed even if prepacked.

Thinly sliced Cucumber, washed and peel left on, layered on the leaves.

Sweetcorn arranged around the outside.

Slaw

Finely shred washed light green crisp Cabbage and Carrot into a bowl.

Finely chop a Spring Onion and add to the bowl.

Mix some Tahini with a little Lemon Juice, depending on your taste, and water to the desired consistency.

Mix into the slaw, reserving some to drizzle over the finished salad.

Add Walnut pieces, Pink Himalayan Salt and Freshly Ground Black Pepper

Place the slaw in the middle of the leaves.

Thinly slice the Apple and sprinkle with Lemon Juice.

Arrange around the salad.

Drizzle more Tahini Dressing over the salad.

Copyright: Chris McGowan

Lemony Avo Pine Nut Spread

This arose out of necessity: there was a mini avocado in the bowl with the bananas that had been there all week and I fancied avocado salad, surely it must be useable by now? The avocado had other ideas. It was so hard, we could have played cricket with it! So, not to be completely outwitted, it was peeled, stoned and chopped and placed in the Braun grinder/chopper with some chopped spring onion, a good squeeze of lemon, some pine nuts, a splash of virgin olive oil, some pink Himalayan salt and some ground black pepper. (All the ingredients were organic).

It was lush! It really worked. I had some with the salad and the rest on some Nairn’s Gluten-Free Oatcakes. Loved every bite.

Avocados are such a versatile fruit and it has been said that you could practically live off them (with water), they have so many essential nutrients for the human body. They are good for your skin, heart, and brain too, with Vitamin E, protein and essential fats. I have avocado in some form every day, often blended into a juice.

(If you want it a bit thinner just add a little more oil and lemon – or persuade your avocado to get a wriggle on with its ripening timetable!)

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Copyright: Chris McGowan

Vegan Black Bean & Walnut Veggie Burger

Greg over at Pleasant Peasant Cuisine, is a lifelong vegetarian and is on a quest to find the perfect veggie burger. He has several great recipes on his blog. We too hanker after a good, tasty burger, but ours is even more difficult to find as it has to be vegan, gluten-free and nightshade-free, so no egg, wheatflour or tomato. We also need it to be simple, quick and uncomplicated!

Greg has used kidney beans, tofu and seitan, but we decided to try and devise our own version using black beans, which we’d never had before. We enhanced the protein content of the beans with organic chickpea flour to hold it together, chia seeds instead of egg, and walnuts to give it some bite and texture, as well as sweetcorn for a little colour.

Everything was thrown into the food processor and pulsed to bring it together, then shaped and cooked in a little coconut oil in a frying pan.

Black beans are often used in cajun and creole cooking and are good for vegetarians and vegans alike as they are high in protein and fibre:

1 Cup of cooked black beans provides 1/3 of a day’s protein requirement + 15g of fibre – US dietary guidelines recommend 21-25g per day for women and 30-38g per day for men.

They are also a good source of Vitamin B1 (thiamine) which, along with the other B vitamins, helps convert carbohydrates to glucose for fuel to provide energy and also helps metabolise fats and protein.

Black beans contain magnesium – important for relaxing muscles, good quality sleep and elevating mood – as well as iron.

So, on to the burgers – you thought I’d never get there, didn’t you?!

As always, the measurements are appoximate, it was a case of let’s try this and see how it goes and if it’s not enough add a bit more! Everything was organic and gluten-free. If you want a bit more colour or spice, you can add chilli powder or flakes or paprika or different herbs.

Ingredients

1 Cup Cooked Organic Black Beans (we used tinned, strained and rinsed)

1/2 Cup Walnut Pieces

1 Tbsp Chia Seeds* in 1 Tbsp Water

1 Cup Frozen Sweetcorn, defrosted

1 Onion, chopped

1/2 Stick Celery + leaves, chopped

1/2 Small Carrot, shaved

1 Clove Garlic, pressed

A good splash of Tamari

1 Tbsp Cumin Seeds

Pinch of Pink Himalayan Salt + Black Pepper

1 Tbsp Dried Miso Soup

2-3 Tbsps Chickpea Flour + extra for shaping & frying

imagePut everything in the food processor and pulse a few times to  bring it together, don’t overdo it  you want some texture not a purée! Test to see if you can squeeze it together. If it’s too wet, add a little more flour.

Dust a board with some flour and shape the mix into burgers.

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We managed 4 good-sized ones and a smaller one.

They are quite soft, so handle gently and use a fish slice to lift them into the pan and flip them over.

Melt a little coconut oil in a large frying pan, but not smoking.

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Cook on a medium heat turning a couple of times until done.

imageServed with a watercress or babyleaf and rocket salad, we added sprouted mung beans (more protein), and cumin spiced sweet potato oven chips (fries) with a piquant cashew ‘cheese’ sauce (see here for recipe),

*

Do visit Greg, his blog is full of improvised, unusual and colourful recipes and beautiful photos (click on the link at the top of this post).

*http://www.therawchocolatecompany.com/

Copyright: Chris McGowan

Blended Purple Carrot Memory Juice*

As promised in Ever Had Purple Carrots?  here is a recipe using purple carrots and carrot greens.  I’ve called it the Memory Juice because the anthocyanins that make fruit and veg purple are believed to help with improved memory, among many other benefits. Click the link to find out all about why you should not turn your nose up at differently coloured vegetables or discard your greens.

All ingredients are organic, so the peel is left on. If using non-organic or waxed lemons, peel them thinly so that you retain the pith where the micronutrients lie.

If you’re new to beetroot and not sure, you can peel them so they won’t be as earthy but you’ll lose a lot of nutrients.

Ingredients

2 Purple Carrots, washed, peel left on

1 Small Beetroot, ditto

2 Apples

A Small Handful of Carrot Greens, washed and cut up (they contain protein and are rich in magnesium, potassium and calcium)

1/2 Lemon

1″ Ginger (anti-inflammatory)

3″ Broccoli Stem (also a good plant source of calcium and B vitamins)

1/2 Celery Stalk

Juice all the ingredients, placing the greens, lemon and ginger in between carrots and apple to help them through, put the celery through last so it doesn’t block up your juicer.

Blend the juice with 1/4 Ripe Avocado to make a thicker, more satisfying juice and add more protein and essential fatty acids, good for the skin, good for the brain.

Look at the rich colour – your friends could be forgiven for suspecting you’re stocking up for the next vampire convention!

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*Disclaimer: it’s not really purple but the carrots are!

Copyright: Chris McGowan

Green on Green: A Blended Juice (not a smoothie!)

Has anyone tried to tell you that if you blend a juice with some avocado you are either ‘cheating’ or you’re really having a smoothie. I have read this so often. A blended juice is neither ‘cheating’ (cheating whom or what?) nor a smoothie. It is a means of adding some essential fats and protein to freshly extracted juice in order to create a more nutritionally balanced meal-in-a-glass, if doing a prolonged juicing programme, or to make a juice more satisfying and keep you fuller longer. Either way, it will help prevent drops in blood sugar levels and also help keep you from reaching for processed sugary or fatty snacks during those mid-morning or mid-afternoon slumps.

Ripe avocados are easily digested and so versatile. I love them blended into cold-pressed juices, made into guacamole or a salad dressing or with lemon and black pepper on toast or crackers.

They are so good for your skin and are said to help prevent loose skin if you are losing weight. They provide essential fats for opimum brain function. They are also hydrating, as are cucumber and celery. Fennel is a good digestive aid and adds a touch of aniseed flavour to the juice.

All ingredients are organic and therefore have their peel left on (except the avocado!)

Always wash thoroughly whether organic or not.

Ingredients

2 Small Gala Apples

3″ Cucumber

Thick Slice of Wax-free Lemon

1″ Marrow (large zucchini)

2″ Broccoli Stalk

1/2 Stick of Celery

Small Handful of Baby Spinach

1″ Fennel

1/4 Ripe Avocado

Method

Start with an apple then juice all the ingredients except the avocado, finishing with the second apple.

Blend the juice with the avocado.

If you are new to juicing or this is just too green for you, add another apple or a slice of pineapple, but try it first.

If you sip slowly through a (preferably) metal straw it will protect your teeth, aid digestion and help the environment by using straws that are reusable, chemical-free and don’t end up in landfill or the water supply.

Copyright: Chris McGowan

Red Lettuce & Black Bean Protein Salad

imageA short post of a quick salad lunch that was made up of leftover items the day before shopping. These are often the most interesting and unusual meals made up of ingredients you wouldn’t normally put together.

This isn’t too outlandish though, it’s very plain and simple but looks more posh than it is due to the presentation, which often tempts a reluctant eater into trying something they would instantly refuse if you suggested it.

This salad has black beans left over from making veggie burgers (recipe here for Vegan Black Bean & Walnut Veggie Burger ) – an excellent source of vegan protein – in a tamari and olive oil dressing with more protein in the shelled hemp seeds and walnut pieces scattered on top. You could add more colour with tiny tomatoes and red and yellow peppers, but I don’t eat them due to them being nightshade foods, which can exacerbate skin and joint problems.

Ingredients (all organic)

Cover the plate with washed Red Lettuce Leaves

Make an inner circle of thinly sliced Cucumber (Washed and peel on)

Place julienne sticks of Carrot (washed but peel on) on top of the cucumber

Halve some Red Grapes (washed well, especially if not organic as they are usually sprayed many times during their production) and lay on top of the carrot.

Mix 1/2 Tin of rinsed Black Beans and some chopped up Spring Onion in a dressing of Tamari, Black Pepper and Raw Virgin Olive Oil

Tip into the middle of the salad

Scatter Raw Shelled Hemp Seeds over the salad and top it off with a scattering of Walnut pieces.

Drizzle more dressng over the salad.

Copyright: Chris McGowan