Beetroot Hummus with crudité Veggies.

March 19, 2016March 19, 2016 thelittlebluegardenLeave a comment

This bright like concoction was no accident. I have it on a Tartine in one of my favourite Bakerys with Roast veggies on. It’s sooo good with literally everything. I had to get home and create myself a version. So after roasting a few too many Beetroot the other night , this seemed like a good time to try it out !

Hummus is so versatile, you can serve it with all sorts. It’s a good source of fats , and protein. It’s naturally creamy and you can flavor it any way you like. Keeps great in the fridge for a few days too.

The weather is getting HOT here. 85° in March? But luckily for me the pool is nice and cool and a nice outdoor lunch is an excellent way to break up the day. So with some cool fresh veggies and a good scoop of Hummus. Everyone seems be pretty happy. Hoping this pink deal goes down well ….wish me luck.

Recipe :
1 Large Roasted Beetroot
1 Carton Chickpeas drained and rinsed
I Lemon – juice and zest
1 Clove Garlic
2 Tsp Ground Cumin
2 Tbs Tahini

Salt
Olive oil

If you haven’t already roasted your Beetroot , give it a good hour in a hot oven (400°). Leave it to cool.

Put the Beetroot , Chick peas , Salt , Garlic, Cumin and Lemony bits in a food processor. Blitz till they’re looking fine and crumbly then add the Tahini.
Once you’ve given that another whizz add a bit of water to loosen things a little and scrape down the sides of your processor. Then put it on a drizzle in the oil until it’s a consistency you like. If you don’t want to add too much oil feel free to replace it all with water.

Give everything a taste and add more salt if necessary.

A couple of serving suggestions :

With Fresh veggies.
On a Tartine.
In wraps.
With Chips (fries).
I love it in a jacket sweet potato.
On a salad.
With some Roasted veggies.
Stirred through some Grains.
It’s excellent for a meal on the go !

Hope you enjoy.

PB&J Flap Jacks- Valentines style !

February 13, 2016March 14, 2016 thelittlebluegardenLeave a comment

Confession. Peanut Butter and jelly was my first American love affair. I was 6 and in Disney and I had always loved peanut butter. I took the plunge and ordered the sandwich. At the time being perturbed as Jelly is Jello in the UK. I remember it arriving, it had the crusts removed which was the first thing my 6yr old self fell for. But after that first bite, there was no going back to plain old Peanut Butter on toast. I’m sorry…

Anyway fast forward 20 year and recently one of my girls has given up gluten and is missing her PB&J. And so a new challenge was put forward. Hope she likes them !

Happy Valentines , or in the case “Galentines” (still not too sure how I feel about this word…).

Recipe :

2 Bananas
1/4 cup Oil ( I used Avacado)
Heaped 1/2 Cup of your favorite PB.
1/2 Cup liquid sweetener (I used agave )
Salt
1/2 Cup Peanuts -chopped
2 1/2 Cup Oats
1 Cup of your favourite Jam/Jelly.
Spray oil

Preheat the oven to 375°.

I made these in little heart moulds to make them cute but I usually make Flap Jacks as one whole square. Oil your mould or line your baking pan 🙂

Pop the Bananas in a food processor , add your oil, sweetner and PB. ***tip here: spray your measuring cup with the spray oil so your sweetner and Peanut Butter doesn’t stick ***

Give everything a whizz so it’s nice and smooth and combined. Pop your Oats into a large mixing bowl and pour your Banana mix on top add the your peanuts with a few left over to decorate. I add a fair amount of salt at this point too . Give everything a good mix.

Spoon your mix to fill your mould just under half way. Then do a big scoop of Jam/Jelly. Then top with the remaining mix, just like a sandwhich!

Once all your moulds are full add a few little dots of Jam ontop and a sprinkle of your remaining Peanuts.

Bake for 12-15 minutes.

Leave to cool in the mould before plating and enjoy !

Dinner · Picnic

Empanada Night ! Sweet Potato and Pea Jerk Empanandas.

January 27, 2016February 9, 2016 thelittlebluegardenLeave a comment

Guess who got a new toy?? Shopping around when I find this unbelievably cute little set of three baby pie moulds. Well naturally it was love at first sight. (I mean who wouldn’t fall in love with me …) So off I went to the till already brimming with sweet and savory filling ideas. But one idea I had in mind that had managed to fail with filo dough , leapt in my head and voila a mission was set.

And taddaaaa! Baby empanandas! I was beyond excited at how cute and easy this was. My empanadas sway from tradition as I used a pie pastry and baked them. Me and a pot of boiling oil would just be a disaster waiting to happen ..

I had some vegan ready made pie crust from a store online too. So it made the whole thing very easy! The filling can be made in advance also this could be a good make ahead recipe .

Recipe :
Pie crust (I used a vegan organic one from online )
1 Large sweet potato
1tbs Oil of choice ( I used olive )
1 Cup of Peas (I used frozen defrosted )
1 tbs Jerk seasoning
1 tbs Tamarind puree
1 tbs fresh Thyme
Salt

(If you want to buy your own Jerk marinade I won’t judge)

Preheat the oven too 400° whist you chop the sweet potato into 1cm ish cubes. Throw them into a bowl with the oil and a good sprinkling of salt. When the ovens ready roast these for 25 minutes ish. While they’re cooking defrost the peas.

When the potatoes are ready leave them to cool. Once cooled to touch throw in with the peas, Jerk seasoning , tamarind puree and fresh Thyme. Give another sprinkle of salt and taste for seasoning. Leave them to once side for the flavors to mingle while we start the fun stuff.

Roll the dough to about 5 mm. And start cutting in circles at the size you want. Remeber these are being folded around a filling so not too small. Mine were 4″ and I could use the back of the cutter. But you can make these without my little toy too so don’t worry. Once I had all my circles cut I turned my press over and got filling. The filling should be pretty cool now , you don’t want it warm or the pastry won’t crisp up.

I put about 1 heaped tbs of filling per pastry and squished them together.

If you haven’t got one of these little presses , put you’re filling on one side of the circle and fold. Then crimp the edge with a fork .

Once they were all done I put them on a non stick baking sheet and popped them in the fridge till I was ready to cook then later that evening.

When I was ready I preheated the oven to 400° and threw them in for about 15-18 minutes till they were golden brown all over.

These went down pretty well. I can see my new toy being a regular in kitchen from now on !

Lunch · Picnic

Cucumber noodle Salad !

January 12, 2016February 9, 2016 thelittlebluegardenLeave a comment

After alot of rich foods over the Holidays my body is asking for some TLC. So today, sat in cold wet London I was dreaming of sunshine and Farmers markets back home in Florida.
Thinking of refreshing raw veggies and fresh juices. When one of my favorite salads came to mind. The combination of the cool noodles with the sweet and spicy dressing (love anything hot and sweet)..probably less said the better. Can’t wait to get home and make a huge bowl!

Cucumber Noodle Salad with quick Sweet chilli sauce !

Recipe :

Salad
1 Large Cucumber
1/ 2 Red Pepper
2 Spring onions
Handful of Peas (I use frozen – defrosted )
Fresh Basil
Pumpkin seeds (optional )

I pop the Cucumber on the spiralizer , but of you don’t have one you can use a Julienne slicer (or a veggie peeler to make larger ribbons ).
I love my Spiralizer. They’re pretty inexpensive too and versatile (raw pad Thai any one ??) Toss these noodles in the quick sweet chilli sauce, then the rest is pretty simple , chopped the Pepper and Spring Onion and sprinkle on the other toppings as desired.

Now if you want to buy your own Sweet Chilli , that’s fine , there are some great options avaliable , even fresh ones these days ! But as I have my own Chili plant , I tend to make my own !

Recipe :

1 Chilli
1 Clove of Garlic
Oil of choice
1/4 cup Honey or Maple syrup
Salt
Lime juice ( depending on how juicey they are you may need one or two)

Dice the chilli and garlic , I remove the seeds from the chilli but if you like it firey be my guest … Pop these into a pan with a little oil just to cook them a little – I’m not a fan of raw garlic ! It doesn’t take long , as you don’t want to burn the garlic which happens quickly ! Once they’re no longer raw , stick them in a jar or bowl , and add the rest of the ingredients! Give everything a good mix and taste , adjust seasoning according to your own preference !

Lunch · Picnic

Sprouting Salad .

December 12, 2015February 9, 2016 thelittlebluegardenLeave a comment

Ok so I’m very new to Sprouting, like today new and I’m not sure why I have never tried it before. But after a recent Plant based Food festival trip and trying sprouted Lentils and Quinoa , I figured it was time to try it . After all I do it in my Garden all the time , why not try it in my kitchen ?

So having read a billion articles online about how best to sprout. Off I went , Lentils were the legume of choice.

I have to admit I wasn’t sold that it would work. How could something that’s been dormant so long actually begin to “live”. But I’m pleased to admit I was completely wrong (and this is probably the first time in my life I’ll ever admit that… so shh).

So I started off with 3/4 Cup of Green Lentils in large jar and soaked them over night.
Next day I popped a coffee filter over the jar and drained the water out. Put fresh water in and gave every thing a good shake to rinse them. Drained this out also. I read it’s best to rinse them 2-3 times a day so I followed this process a few more times during the day , just a good rinse and strained through a coffee filter.

The next day I was greeted by this:

My little babies were growing already !!! I was so proud. This followed another day of rinsing a few times and by the evening they had all sprouted !!

Have to admit I was feeling pretty full of myself by this point. And also a little annoyed that it had taken me so long to give this a try !
The benefits from sprouting things like grains and seeds include making them easier to digest , increasing more absorbable B vitamin contents on certain seeds and it also makes them more alkalizing to the body which we now know is oh so important.
One last note , that the Sprouts should be left out to dry at least 8hrs after your last rinse before popping in the fridge. I’d advise you use these up quickly as I’d assume they will spoil fast.

So now that I had created my little sprouted babies , what should I do with them?
Well I was definetly wanting to keep it in with the Raw theme , I decided Salad was the way to rock with this one.

Plus it turned out pretty !

Recipe :
Sprouted Lentils (or seed or grain of choice )
1 Carrot , grated
1 Beetroot , grated
1 Cup of Peas , defrosted or fresh
4 Tangerines (two juiced , two sliced )
1tsp Maple Syrup
1/2 tsp grated Fresh Ginger
Salt and Pepper.
Sunflower seeds (optional )

This one really is just a matter of assembly. Give all of the veggies and Lentils a toss together.
Then add the Maple Syrup to the Tangerine juice and stir in the Ginger , Salt and Pepper. Dress the Salad and topped with slices of Tangerine. Add the sunflower seeds last to stop them getting soggy.

Enjoy !