The Heath Benefits of Orange Foods

A SAVOURY Grain-Nut-Dairy-Sugar-Eggwhite-free MUFFIN (Breathe In here) that offers satiety and high gustative pleasure? 

I found a recipe, which also provides the marvellous health benefits of Orange Foods.
  

Not a Recipe ! All about The Paleo Diet ... Part 1

2013! A New Year is a chance to make a fresh start, isn't it? 

If your resolution is to make Health & Wellbeing your priorities, why not educate yourself about the Paleo Diet ? More than a diet, it's a tailored approach, which may help you to stay lean without counting calories, feel healthier and teach you to be in tune with yourself. 

MY VIEW ON THE "PALEO GRANOLA" BY THE PALEO MOM

First, to get the original recipe (it's not mine but the one of Sarah Ballantyne!) , go to http://www.thepaleomom.com/2012/03/recipe-paleo-granola.html.

I LOVE this website! Sarah Ballantyne is just awesome. I have been learning so much since I read her posts and listen to her podcasts. She shares her recipes and post about the whys behind of a Paleo Diet.

What's great with This Paleo Granola : 

• Treat yourself with low-processed foods and natural ingredients.
• Bring some change in your habits (breakfast or snack)
• Get quick satiation (perception of Fullness) and satiety (the feeling of being well-nourished)
• It is suitable for those who can’t tolerate eggs, those who are lactose and casein intolerant, or who don’t like dairy.
• Can be eaten on it’s own

Ingredients:

• 2 cups Sliced Almonds
• 2 cups Unsweetend Coconut Flakes
• 1 cup Raw Sunflower Seeds
• 1 cup Raw Pepitas (Shelled Pumpkin Seeds)
• ¼ cup Honey
• 1/3 cup Extra Virgin Coconut Oil
• 2 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 1 tsp Ground Cinnamon
• 1 tsp Ground Nutmeg 

1.    Preheat oven to 300F.  Line a large baking pan with parchment paper.
2.    Mix coconut, nuts and seeds in a big bowl.  Add cinnamon and nutmeg and stir to coat.
3.    Melt coconut oil and honey on low heat on the stovetop or in the microwave.  Add vanilla.
4.    Pour coconut oil mixture over nuts and seeds.  Stir to coat.  Pour out onto prepared baking sheet and spread out evenly.
5.    Bake for 30 minutes, until golden brown. Let cool completely in pan (for larger chunks), then pour into a plastic container or bag for storage.  Extra tasty served with berries and milk alternative of your choice

WARM BANANA MILK - without milk

I've recently been diagnosed with Crohn's Disease, which is one of the Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IBD)

I can not eat any fruit at the moment, except bananas. I know and I feel that they are easily digestible. I still have to do a bit of research about their properties regarding our digestive system... 

This recipe is very simple. It is nice and soothing, when you need something warming, comforting, nourishing and above all liquid if your gut can not tolerate any solid or irritating food. 

If you don't have any issue, it is nice too ! 

You will need a blender.

Ingredients

- 1 banana (ripe like on the picture)

- 1 cup 1/2 of filtered water 

- 1 vanilla pod

- 2 desert spoons of coconut cream ( I like the brand Niulife, it comes in a glass jar)

Instructions

- Peel the skin off the banana and slice it into small pieces

- Put the pieces into a pan filled with 1 cup 1/2 of filtered water 

- Add the vanilla pod

- Heat up the pan ( low heat) for 5 minutes. It should not boil. 

- The banana should look softer 

- Remove the vanilla pod and pour the content of the pan into your blender

- Add the coconut cream

- Blend for 15 seconds

Enjoy ! 

If you've got a small appetite, just chill and appreciate it either cold or warm ( reheat it). 

Another tip : I have used the leftover into cooked white rice, to make a warm rice porridge. Yummy! 

Easy Unique Banana Pancake with Raw Cacao Sauce

Last week, I had the flu, and oddly I had no appetite at all in the morning, till 12 PM. It never happens to me!

The idea of eating a savoury meal was not attractive to me. 

However, the idea of eating a pancake was great to stimulate hunger! 

This recipe is super easy. You only need 15 minutes to prepare it, including the cooking time.

Ingredients (for one person only, that' s why it is UNIQUE!)

- One ripe banana

- 1 teaspoon of creamed coconut 

- 1  or 2 Eggs (Pastured Organic)

- 10 grams of Butter (I found one brand of Grass Fed Butter at Woolworth: Westgold, and it is one the cheapest on the shelves!)

- 1 teaspoon  of coconut flour (or not at all will be even more delicate!)
- 1 heaped desert spoon of dessicated coconut

- 2 pinches of Baking Soda Powder

- One good teaspoon of coconut oil 

For the Raw Cacao Sauce

- 1 heaped desert spoon of Raw Cacao Powder

- 1 teaspoon of Raw Honey

- One pinch of Cardamom Power (my touch!)

- 5 grams of Butter

Instructions:

- Melt the butter in a double boiler or in the microwave

- Mash the banana and add it to the butter melted. Stir well.

- Add the creamed coconut and 4 desert spoons of water, or the equivalent in coconut milk.

- Add the whole egg amd mix. 

- Put the coconut flour and the baking soda powder. 

- Preheat a pan over medium heat
- Grease the pan with coconut oil

- Pour the whole amount of batter into the pan
- Put a lid on and cook for 2-3 minutes



- Flip and cook for an additional 2-3 minutes (tricky step as there is no gluten ...) It is not easy to get a well shaped pancake !)
- Add a little bit of coconut oil on your pancake, it s gonna be delicious !

Then for the Cacao Sauce:

- Heat some water

- In a bowl pour the cacao,the butter, the honey

- Pour the hot water onto the previous mixture, stirring well.

- Add the honey and the cardamom powder

Well ... A Table ! Bon Appetit !

Salmon Tartare à la française

As you probably know, for the last 12 months, I have been avoiding grains, dairy and legumes (Paleo diet)  This lifestyle suits me very well, as: 

- It has healed my body from a very rare condition called Scleritis, and it probably slows down another issue I have - I've just discovered the name of it, even if I have been in pain for the last 15 years!  As it is not common, I don't know much about it ( Idiopathic Condylar Resorption in the Temporo Mandibular Joint) I can only share my experience and would be happy to know other people who have it. 

- The other benefit is that eating that way has awaken my passion for cooking. I thrive when I cook! To be honest, on my days off, I spend at least 3 hours cooking and 2 hours shopping or just strolling round the organic shops and greengrocers! 

As I am a very curious person, I  looked for french paleo dieters on the Internet and I realised the Paleo diet is far to be known in France. Over there, they know the "Seignalet" diet , (http://www.seignalet.fr), which is meant to be an ancestral way of eating. It seems to be quite different to the Paleo diet though. One of the features of the Seignalet diet is to eat fish, meat and eggs in a RAW state. 

That's why today, I made an experience. I tried to find a way to eat RAW and PALEO*

Bone broth : a youth serum ! Great article by Soulla

I've just bought some Bone Broth from Soulla, creator of Star Anise Organic Wholefoods.  http://mystaranise.wordpress.com/about/

And straight away I put it into my Lamb Casserole. 

Soulla has written a great post about the use of Bone Broth into your meals. I want to share it with you: 

http://mystaranise.wordpress.com/2012/03/31/liquid-gold-how-to-incorporate-bone-broths-into-meals/

It's gonna be my new youth serum ! 

Nathalie 

Green Soup

Serves 4-6 


Ingredients
  

• 2 broccoli heads and stems roughly chopped OR 2 bunches of leeks, chopped
• 3 celery stalks, diced
• 1/2 bunch silverbeet, stalks trimmed and leaves coarsely shredded
• 1 onion chopped

• 1 handful of coconut flakes
• ¼ cup coconut milk 
• 1 garlic clove
• 2 TBSP coconut oil OR guee melted 
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1 pinch of caraway seeds

Instructions


Your attention please ! The following recipe is made with leeks, celery and silvebeets. If you prefer broccolis instead of leeks, add them with the Silverbeet (step 6)

1. In a large heavy bottom saucepan, place the oil or guee.
2. Heat (medium-low heat)then add garlic and onion and cook until translucent
3. Boil 1 Litre of pure water
4. Put the chopped leek and celery into the saucepan, stirring the whole mixture
5. Pour the boiled water into the saucepan
6. Add the silverbeet
7. Throw in coconut flakes 
8. Add the herbs
9. Simmer for 15 minutes and stir in coconut milk
10. Optional: place in blender then blend together until smooth and return to pan if it needs reheating

Bon Appétit !  

Coconut Sweet Potato Cake

Ingredients 


- 8 heaped table spoons of Dessicated Coconut 
- 2 eggs
- 3/4 cup of Coconut Flour
- 1/2 teaspoon of Baking Soda Powder
- 20 g butter (soft) 
- 2 Heaped Table Spoon of Coconut oil (or 5 Table Spoons if its in a liquid state) 

- One medium size sweet potato ( 250 - 300 g) steamed till soft

Instructions 

1. Preheat the oven at 180°C
2. Mix the butter with the melted coconut oil. 
3. Add the Dessicated Coconut 
4. Peel off the skin of the Sweet Potato. Leave it to cool down, then add it into your coconut mixture and stir. 
5. Whip the eggs in a separate bowl until they get foamy, then put them into the other mixture. 
6. Stir the coconut flour and the baking soda powder. 
7. Add the vanilla extract. 
8. Get a baking pan. Pour the cake mixture into it. And bake it for 40 minutes. 

Cabbage Pumpkin Chicken Salad with Macadamia Oil Dressing

Happy New Year ! I haven't written any recipe for a while. 

I have created this one yesterday at 10 PM, when I came back home after work. 

The mix of Cabbage and Pumpkin is absolutely delicious ! ( Yes ... for those who use these words only for a cake or for a brownie, it could be surprising. As I quit sugar and grains 6 months ago, my palate has changed a lot and I honestly love the taste of real food and veggies !) 

So .. 

 You need : 

- 1/4 Cabbage (1 Cup per person when raw and chopped)

Organic Veggies are always my preference, as my body doesn't eliminate toxins and pesticides properly

-  1/8 Pumpkin (Half a Cup) 

- 150  Grams of Chicken ( Use the Leftovers !) 

- Macadamia Oil, roughly 1 and 1/2 desert spoon 

- Apple Cide Vinegar, 1 teaspoon per person ( more if you like bitter taste) 

- Tahini (Half of a teaspoon per person) 

- Fresh Lime (A few drops) 

- Pepper

Instructions : 

1. Cut roughly the pumpkin into 2 or 3 large pieces (skin on) 
2. Chop the cabbage as you want it to be in your salad ( you need a sharp knife) 
3. Steam your veggies separately : Pumpkin ( skin on) then Cabbage. It will takes 30 minutes. You can always cook the veggies before, so they are ready to use for your salad.  
4. Cut the chicken into small pieces. 
5. Mix the macadamia oil, apple cider vinegar and tahini in a large bowl
6. Toss the veggies (even slighlty warm) and chicken into the bowl
7. Top with Fresh Lime and Pepper

Bon Appétit ! 

Chicken or Beef Thai Style

Hello Everybody ! 

I found an amazing stuff to wake up your tastebuds ! 

It's a leave, called Kaffir Lime Leave. 

And the smell is really nice guys. I cooked a delicious meal with those leaves. Actually I had no idea of how it would taste. 

I realized when I ate my meal that it was exactly what's in most of Thai Curries ! If you like Thai Food, you will just LOVE it. Otherwise ... Give it a go, once more, and keep me posted. 

You WON'T NEED ANY SALT. I guarantee you won't even think about it! 

You need : 

- Chicken Tenderloin or Beef Mince, 500 Grams for 3 or 4 meals (depending if you are a small or a big person ! ) 

- 1 desert spoon of Guee (clarified butter) or Virgin Coconut Oil

- Ginger root, 2 or 3 cubes 

- Garlic, 2 cloves

- 2 littles red chilis 

- 2 teaspoons of Cayenne Chili Powder

- 1 or 2 teaspoons of Ginger Powder

- 6 Kaffir Lime Leaves 

- 1 Red Capcicum
- 250 ML of Natural Coconut Cream/ Milk

- Green Beans to serve with

So ... Here we go ! 

1. Peel the garlic cloves, the cubes of ginger and the red chilis (remove the seeds so it won't be too spicy). Use a mortar to mix them together or cut very thin pieces. Heat your pan to medium. 
2. Once the pan is ready, put a good chuck of your chosen fat and let it melt while making sure to coat the whole pan with it.
3. The mix (ginger, garlic and chili) goes in first BUT TAKE OFF THE LEAVES !  Stir and wait a few minutes. Check that the mix is almost soft. 
4. Cut the capcicum into small pieces. Add it into the pan. 
5. Then put the meat.  
6. Stir and sprinkle the Cayenne Chili Powder and the Ginger Powder 
7. Stir again. Pour the coconut milk. A little bit of water if you like. 
8. Add the Kaffir Lime Leaves now. Stir once more and put the lid on. 
9. Leave it without stirring for 10 minutes. 
10. Steam your green beans. 
11. Mix Chicken and Beans together in a bowl. 
12. Mindful Eating. Enjoy !  

Nathalie