by Linn Thorstensson | Dec 31, 2015 | Recipes, Soup, Vegan, Vegetarian
Let’s finish the year off with a bang! Following on from the last post about the FLOW, and the winter theme AND the soup theme, here is one filling spicy Dahl to keep you warm. Hopefully you’ve had enough of Christmas cake, minced pies, mulled wine, ham, turkey, nut roast and / or rice pudding at this stage. My body always calls me back to fresh, wholesome food if I stray to far. Whether it is by choice or because my healthy food intake has been due to limited option, which can easily happens when we either travel, eat out or are away from home for any other reason.
It’s like when you’ve lived on mostly fresh unprocessed foods for a long time your body is so use to it and you will notice how different you feel when you don’t. These days I don’t tend to stress too much about if I have to eat something, I’d rather not because I have no other option. I either try to plan to eat well as much as I can before or after, or make the best choice I can. Stressing about the food itself can bring its own problems as the body cannot distinguish what is registered as stress by the hypothalamus. The physiological response is the same. So I try to be gentle with myself instead.
Thing is though, my tastebuds have become rather snobbish (!) And I no longer enjoy eating certain things, especially if any negative physical reactions may follow and I don’t even get to have a fully satisfactory eating experience to make it worth my while! Have you noticed anything similar? I remember a client of mine who used to have a diet high in sugar, especially a lot of soft drinks, telling me that once she cut them out and reduced sugar elsewhere she started to taste food so much better. This is really interesting and may be due to a number of reasons. One for starters may because sugar is such a dominating flavour and we have many taste receptors for sugar on our tongue. So if we eat a lot of sugar on a regular basis our tastebuds kind of become “flattened”. Same goes for if you cut down or even out refined sugar for a few weeks. All of a sudden everything is so much more sweet tasting. Less becomes more.
Even when I didn’t eat a predominately wholefoods diet, red lentils was always part of it. I think it’s because I grew up with a mum who was a vegetarian so I was introduced to them at an early age. I know not everybody tolerate legumes and lentil well, but if you do, keeping red lentils as a cupboard staple in your house is seriously handy as it means you can whip something nourishing and filling in a short space of time. This favourite ingredient of mine has featured in two soups here already. Like this Swedish Lentil Soup. And this Classic Lentil Soup (which I often make when I’m seriously stuck for time and / or ingredients!)
Though not technically a soup, I’ve decided to still include this Dahl in my soup series. Sure why not? It fits with the winter and the orange theme at least 😉
One of my New Year’s resolutions for 2015 was to cook more from the cookbooks I already have. And I already have a lot of them… So even though I have my eyes set on a few which are coming out next year, I still need to get back to using some of the ones already gracing my shelves. This Winter Spiced Dahl is an inspiration from the beautiful cookbook A Modern Way to Cook, by Anna Jones. It’s a great vegetarian cookbook which will also work well for those who do eat meat but are looking for tasty ways to increase their vegetable intake. What I really love about this book is not only that the recipe are varied but also that Anna has included some really great charts on how to make up your own combinations with vegetables, nuts, grain, pulses and spices. I LOVE that way of cooking and sometimes when you’re not feeling all that kind of imaginative a chart like that is just what you need. Or when you have a fairly well stocked pantry but are left with some random fresh ingredients and you don’t know how to make them match… Kind of like a wardrobe malfunction. Then it’s so handy to have someone with way more insight than you suggesting some great pairings.
I’ve pretty much stuck to Anna’s recipe except for the addition of red lentils and the substitute of butternut squash for carrots, so it’s a full on orange theme going on here. Perfect for FLOW 🙂 This Dahl also contain a plethora of warming spices, perfect for this time of the year. I particularly like the addition of cardamom, which I love in almost anything. Sweet or savory or in tea. It’s almost borderline obsession. Hmm, maybe my body is trying to tell me something? Anyway, here is the recipe.
Wishing you a Beautiful and Loving New Year. Let’s start 2016 with a beautiful winter warmer!
Winter Spiced Lentil Dahl
Serves 4
4 large carrots, washed, peeled & finely chopped
1 red onion or one leek, peeled (wash the leek) & finely chopped
1 inch fresh ginger, peeled & finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, peeled, smashed & finely chopped
1/4 cup dried red lentil, well rinsed
1 small or 1/2 large sweet potato, washed, peeled & chopped into cubes
2 star anise
6 cardamom pods, shell discarded & seeds ground – Or use 1/2 tsp ground cardamom
1 tsp coriander seeds, finely ground
1 tsp turmeric
Sea salt & Black pepper to season
500 ml vegetable stock + more if too thick
Start with adding a bit of olive oil to a warm saucepan (heating the pan first prevents the oil from getting too hot and going rancid) Add the chopped onion / leek, garlic and ginger and saute for a few minutes and till soft and transparent. Then add in the spices (except the star anise) and continue to stir for a few minutes over low heat until fragrant.
Add in the carrots, sweet potato and lentils and coat in the spice-onion mix. Add in the vegetable stock and the star anise. Bring to a boil and thereafter reduce to a simmer. Simmer for 35-40 min until lentils are falling apart and the carrot and sweet potato is soft. Add more stock if necessary, but remember this is a Dahl so you want it to be thick.
Once the all the vegetables and lentil are cooked through remove from the heat and when the Dahl has cooled a little give it a whizz with your hand blender. Feel free to leave it a little chunky if you wish and prefer that type texture.
Serve with cooked rice, a few fresh coriander leaves and sprinkle some seeds on top. I’ve used black sesame seeds here.
Recipe inspired by Anna Jones’ book A Modern Way to Cook.
What is your favourite way to enjoy red lentils? Please share below 🙂
by Linn Thorstensson | Dec 21, 2015 | Aspect of Health, Aspect of Self, blog, Food & Spirit
This month I will talk about the Aspect of FLOW. This Aspect of Health as according to the concept of Food & Spirit™ is the second Aspect and is represented by the colour Orange, (my least favourite colour) it’s connected to the reproductive organs and thus it involves fertility, sexuality and partnerships of two.
The FLOW is where we tie in the emotional and the creativity parts of ourselves.
From a physiological perspective, this Aspect covers the bladder, the kidneys and our pelvis area (which holds all these vital organs as well as the reproductive organs). The large intestine is also included here. In fact constipation can be considered a FLOW complaint. Thing are “stuck” and not moving through. Often people who experience constipation may be holding on to some underlying unresolved emotional issues too.
When we talk about foods to nourish the FLOW we talk about water, healthy fats, fish (water), nuts and seeds (healthy fat), orange coloured foods and tropical foods (which usually have a high water content).
Out of all the 7 Aspects this one is very symbolic (well they all are really, but this one more than some others, I think) and perhaps looking at it in this light makes it easier to remember. Fats, and oils in particular are fluid. Water is fluid and flowing. Our kidneys and bladder is in control of the water regulation in our bodies, and we need healthy fats for healthy cells, healthy reproductive organs and of course essential fatty acids can have a positive impact on our emotions too. Our brain is made up of fat so we certainly need it!
Let’s talk about emotions. Or perhaps calling them e-motions would be better. Well at least it would be better for us if we could just let them flow through rather than getting stuck in them. Easier said than done though… Have you ever had someone say something to you which made you all upset, only to have the scenario playing on repeat in your head, over and over afterwards? I know I have.
Or like how we are often taught or perhaps even told as kids that showing our emotions makes us vulnerable. So rather than letting our tears flow, we try to keep it all in, putting on a brave face trying to get on with things. This may work for sometime but it usually comes back and bites us in another way, sometimes in form of dis-ease and other times as cravings or even outburst of anger if one feels like it’s all over-flowing. And if we don’t let it out in one way or another and instead shut it all off, try to bury it we will also close the door on all the positive emotions to flow through too. This is something Brené Brown talks a lot about in her books. She says ” You cannot selectively numb one emotion. If you shut off one, you shut them all off.”
I think we all have our own “numbing tools” for some it may be drugs or alcohol, for others it’s food, whereas others use busyness, shopping or perhaps even excessive exercising. Anything to take that edge of feeling, when it’s too painful to feel. And sometimes we need to do that, just to survive. The problem is when this becomes something we do all the time. We’re feeling sad, mad, bad or angry upset or any other kind of negative emotion that hurts. It’s not a nice place to be. So we use whatever seems appropriate to take the edge off.
For me, my drug of choice was food. Looking back I’m not sure that when it all started, it was something that I was even aware of that I was doing. I was stuck in a situation which left me feeling sad, hopeless and stuck. And as I couldn’t see a way out at the time, I used food as a way to numb things. I actually think it started off as a subconscious act. To take the edge off.
The thing is though, that if we keep numbing ourselves we are also shutting off the ability to let the light in. To be able to feel happiness and joy. And the other side of the coin is that usually the drugs of choice; food and alcohol at least, also effects our nervous system so from a biochemical perspective we become even more susceptible to feelings of low mood and even depression. A vicious cycle in other words.
Let’s talk about cravings. So many times we eat for other reasons than physical hunger. Many times we eat for purely emotional reasons. I know, because I spent a long time doing just that. It took a long time to wean myself off the impulse of eating just because I was feeling. And I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one having had this experience either… I’ve seen so many women, but also men, doing the same thing in my clinical practice. It can be an utterly debilitating experience. Stuck in this stuffing-our-emotions-down-with-food cycle.
So what did I do to finally break the cycle and to step off the merry-go-around? I wish I could tell you that I met someone who just waved their magic wand and it was all easy peasy ever after… Not really. But I am here to tell you that it can be done. I’ve done it myself and I’ve coached others to the path of doing the same.
For me the first step was to decide that I no longer wanted to be where I was at. I finally had enough. Let’s call this part acknowledgement. After that, I bought a day-to-day diary and started to write down everything I ate and drank every day, with a few notes to how I was feeling, on occasion. When I started my food diary, I didn’t actually change anything I was doing. In the beginning I simply just wrote. And with my best ability I tried to be as non-judgmental as I could towards myself too. If you’ve never done a seriously to-the-core honest food diary, then I urge you to try it. There are so many things and so many times we eat without paying attention. At. All.
This became my first step to cultivate awareness. I believe that without this kind of insight into what was truly going on, there would have been no possibility of longterm, sustainable change. After all I had already tried numerous diet plans and systems, which I could never stick to. From my new found awareness I finally had a place from where I could start making conscious decisions. This is true power, or empowerment. Once you are aware, every single choice you make is your own. No more driving on autopilot! Perhaps this seems like a scary place to be. But this is where trust comes in. Trust to know that you are capable of making the best food choices for you. Trust that even if you make a choice that you think you may regret later, (and even if you do regret it) you just put trust in that it was a great learning opportunity.
Trust that with this kind of empowerment comes freedom.
Then there’s the emotion and feeling side to the equation of course. If we are to be able to let our feelings flow through, we need to trust that they will do just so. I love reminding myself of the saying “this too shall pass”. Or what the renowned father of Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) John Kabat-Zinn says “Breath and let be”. It serves as a reminder that we don’t need to act or re-act to everything we experience. Sometime the best thing to do is to just stay with the uncomfortableness rather than trying to fix it. And when you stay there, you will realise that just like after rain, sunshine always follows. But we must trust that it does, even if in the beginning we don’t necessarily believe that it is so.
So how can we express our emotions in a more healthy way, so that they don’t become stuck and stagnant causing issues in our body and with our health? Creativity! “But I’m not an artist or very artistic”, I hear you say. Something the majority of us will say in fact. Followed by “I don’t have time for that.” Taking time out of our busy, hectic life for some creativity is a bit like schedule in exercise, it is necessary for our health and it serves as a way of refueling the tank, which give you more energy to do all your “must-dos”. Have you noticed all the adult colouring books that seems to be on display everywhere? Someone somewhere is obviously on to something…
And don’t limit your thinking to that being creative is just about writing, painting / drawing or singing and dancing. If none of those are calling your name, then why not get creative in the kitchen, or in the garden? Or go build something with your hands. I was pondering this the other day and though of my dad and brother. They may not being good at drawing or “art” but they are certainly creative as they both love making and building things. They have already built a house and is on to the second one!
In my book, anything that you do which will take you to a state of bliss, to a place where you forget time and space and where you exist solely in the here and NOW, a state of utter FLOW – use that as your creativity.
This month I invite you to take some time to nourish your FLOW. Here are three ways you can do it:
1. Food – Focus on incorporating healthy fats into your daily diet in form of avocado, nuts, seeds, olive oil, coconut oil or any other coconut product. Eat some fish (oily fish will give you a two-in-one), if you eat fish. And of course try to get as wide a variety of orange coloured foods as you can in too!
2. Eating – Try paying attention to if you are eating out of physical hunger or if you are eating for emotional reasons. A great question you can ask yourself everytime you reach for food is “Why do I want it?”. Some of the answers that come up may surprise you!
3. Lifestyle – Get creative! What does creativity mean to you? How can you get some more FLOW and creativity in your everyday life? Put your hands in the dirt, bring out a paint brush, try a new recipe, use your camera, or perhaps buy one of those mandala colouring books. Do whatever it take so get those creative juices flowing! You will be duly rewarded – it comes in the form of joy 🙂
Oh and if you don’t believe me or want to take my word for how important it is to bring some creativity back into our lives (for those of us who may have gotten sidetracked on this one) then have a listen to THIS AMAZING podcast.
HOW ARE YOU GOING TO CREATE SOME MORE FLOW IN YOUR LIFE? PLEASE SHARE WITH ME BELOW!
I’d love to know 🙂
If you are curious to see how balanced the Seven different Aspects of You are, Sign up below and take the Questionnaire!
by Linn Thorstensson | Dec 13, 2015 | Dairy free, Gluten free, Healthy Treats, Raw food, Recipes, snack
Can you have sweet treats that are actually beneficial to your health and body? I, for one, would like to think so.
It can be so confusing knowing what to eat these days… However if you stick to the “wholefood principle” you can’t go too far wrong. The overall message coming through from research done in the field of nutrition and health still seem to echo that food which are close to nature IS the most beneficial kind of food for our health. This is also probably the one thing everybody in the field of nutrition and health agrees on, regardless of what food camp they belong to.
I really like simple when it comes to cooking. If you have beautiful fresh ingredients to hand, usually this is the best way to allow them to bask in their own glory. That said, I truly appreciate people who have the skills of Culinary Art, and the ability to create wonderful dishes full of complexity and flavour. If you’ve ever watched Master Chef (the Australian version is my favourite), then you know what I mean! Impressive attention to detail, dedication and passion. My life is often complicated and busy enough on most days though, to be able to cook like that. And if you are like most people, I’m guessing that yours might be too. So how about we just stick with simple for now?
I’ve had a couple of recipes using raw cacao here before. Like this one with peanut butter and coconut oil. It’s actually quiet easy to make your own. Here I’ve used some silicon molds that I bought a few months ago. I think using them, gives a slight creative edge… 😉 And they are certainly vital if you want to make chocolate with fillings!
From some trial and testing I’ve found maple syrup to my preferred type of sweetener for raw chocolate making. It seems to be the one which blends the easiest with the raw cacao butter and the cacao powder. It is a completely natural sweetener made from the sap of the maple tree. Yes it is a sugar, yes too much sugar isn’t all that great for our health and can contribute a whole host of chronic disease, but remember what I said earlier about “wholefoods” and “close to nature”? And I don’t know about where you live, but over here it is a fairly expensive product so I for one don’t tend to consume it in any larger quantities. Most over-consumption of sugar (usually in the form of High Fructose Syrup) comes from an over-consumption of processed food… Just saying.
Sesame seeds, used here in the form of Tahini has several health promoting benefits like being good for the skin due to its content of the antioxidant Vitamin E. Some studies has also shown sesame seeds to be strengthening to the heart and protective of the liver. It’s also worth nothing that sesame seeds are a high in calcium, which may alone be a good reason to include them in your diet, just to make sure you have a variety of calcium sources to keep “them bones” healthy.
Tahini can be a little bitter. To be honest, it’s taken me some time to become a fan, but I really like it now. I haven’t included any maple syrup here in the filling as I think the juice from the orange has enough sweetness and breaks through that bitterness. Taste it and if you want the filling a little sweeter then add a drop of maple syrup.
If you are still stuck for some Christmas present ideas and want to give a gift with a difference this year, then why not make a batch (or two) of these? Place them in a cute box wrapped with pretty paper – done!
Tahini – Orange Filled Raw Chocolates
Makes about 10 – depending on type of mold you use
For Chocolate:
90 g raw cacao butter
20 g raw cacao powder
4 tbsp maple syrup
For Filling:
2 tbsp Tahini
1 tbsp freshly squeezed orange juice
finely grated zest of 1/2 organic orange
Melt the cacao butter in a bowl over a saucepan of boiling water. Once the cacao butter is fully melted remove the saucepan from the heat but keep your bowl with the cacao butter on top. Add the cacao powder and mix with a spoon or small whisk until smooth. Then add in the maple syrup and stir again until it’s nice and smooth.
Carefully remove the bowl with the chocolate mixture. If possible, take care to not get steam into the mixture as this will cause the chocolate to split. Take out your mold and fill each section to just under half. Place the mold in the fridge to harden.
In the meantime mix tahini, orange juice and orange zest together in a small bowl or glass. Taste is and if you think it’s too bitter then feel free to add a little maple syrup to taste.
After about 30 min, when your chocolate in the fridge has hardened, take out the mold and carefully spoon a little tahini mix on to each of your chocolates. Then fill up the rest of each mold with more chocolate. Place back into the fridge and allow to set completely.
*Note to keep the chocolate mixture fluid for your second addition, simply place your bowl over the saucepan with the hot water from before. If it starts to set, reheat the water some more.
Once the chocolates are fully set, usually after 2-3h in the fridge, pop them out of the mold and store in a container.
The chocolates are best stored in the fridge and eaten within a week.
I almost forgot to mention that this post will also count as a celebration of this blog turning two! Well technically it is a month too late, but I never found time to write about it last month…
by Linn Thorstensson | Apr 5, 2015 | breakfast, Drinks, Recipes, snack, Vegan
I’m going to continue on with the smoothie them for a little longer. Because I like smoothies. And I also have a nutribullet which I love using on a regular basis. I know, I know, smoothies are for the summer you say or for at least when the weather get warmer. Fair enough. But I happen to like having them all year round…
Since citrus season is almost over, I think I bough myself the last blood oranges for some time to come the other day. It’s kind of funny as I love eating oranges during the colder months but I very rarely buy them at other times of the year. Same with red cabbage for example.
So if you have a few oranges still knocking around in your fruit basket then here’s a cool way to use them up!
In this recipe I’ve paired my orange smoothie part with some sesame milk. As you can see I didn’t blend them together but went for a marble effect instead. Doesn’t it look cool? Making your own nut or seed milk is actually ridiculously easy. Every time I do make some I ask myself why I don’t do it more often. One thing to remember though is that since your own homemade milk, will contain no preservatives or emulsifiers it will separate and also it will only keep for 2-3 days so make sure you don’t make to much each time.
As a change from the usual nut milk, here you have a seed milk. This dairy free alternative is suitable for those who cannot tolerate nuts. Sesame seeds are also a great source of calcium so it makes a good substitute. Though the flavour is very different to cow’s milk. Obviously.
I’m a little bit behind on the blogging at the moment, but trust me it’s not for the lack of inspiration. I have lots of recipes and ideas I would like to share with you all. It’s just time… There’s been a couple of projects taking up some time recently and that’s why I didn’t manage to get this post out to last week.
One of them was the recent release of my Smoothie Ebook and if you haven’t grabbed your copy yet then feel free to do so now! It will be a nice follow on from this recipe and the lovely sunshine smoothie Agnes shared with us last month too. The other think, which you may have noticed it the addition of a video and a subtle change in layout, banner & footers. I hope you like it as much as I do. It was necessary as my business growing and evolving.
I hope you are enjoying your Easter weekend so far and if you feel like you need to balance your chocolate intake a little, then here’s a simple way to do it.
Citrus Sesame Smoothie
Serves 1
1 cup sesame milk (see recipe below)
1/2 banana – fresh or frozen (frozen will give you a creamier texture)
1/2 fresh mango, peeled & chopped
1 blood orange, peeled – or use a normal one if you can’t get any blood oranges.
First blend the sesame milk with the banana. Once you have a creamy mixture, pour it into your serving glass. Rinse your blender and then blend mango and orange until you have a smooth puree.
Add the orange-mango mix to the sesame part and watch the marble effect unfold.
Enjoy immediately.
Sesame “Milk”
Makes approx 4 cups ( 1000 ml)
2 cups sesame seeds, soaked for minimum of 4h & then rinsed
4 cups of filtered water
2 tbs raw honey or maple syrup
pinch of salt
Soak your sesame seeds in plenty of water, preferably overnight. Once the soaking time is up, drain & rinse them again. Discard the soaking water.
Blend the soaked seeds with the filtered water. You may have to do it in batches if you have a small blender like me. Once blended, strain your seed-water mix through a piece if muslin / cheese cloth or use a nut milk bag if you have one. Discard the pulp. Ideally in a compost.
Blend your “milk” with some honey and a pinch of salt. Done! Store in a glass container in the fridge. As I mentioned above, it will separate so give it a shake before every time you use it. Your sesame milk will keep about three days in the fridge. You’ll now when it’s gone off as it will be sour.
by Linn Thorstensson | Mar 1, 2015 | breakfast, Drinks, Gluten free, Guest Post, Healthy Foods, Healthy Treats, Immune System, Raw food, Recipes, Super Food, Vegetarian
I’m so delighted to have the opportunity to share this beautiful immune boosting and vibrant smoothie recipe. Just what is needed as we slowly transition into the next season. I’m sure we can all do with a little more colour and sunshine in our lives. And if the Sun prevails, you just have to get a little more inventive in the kitchen instead.
This week I have invited the beautifully talented lady Agnes who blogs about food and stuff over on Cashew-Kitchen. If you are not following Agnes on Instagram or reading her blog, you should. It’s worth it for the photos alone 🙂
But I’ll let you Agnes tell you all a little more about herself.
Hi Agnes! Can you tell us something about yourself and your work? 
Sure! My name is Agnes and I live in a small apartment in central Stockholm (Sweden) which is also my hometown. I recently moved back here after spending a couple of years on the west coast studying. Since september last year I’m running the food & photography blog Cashew Kitchen, although I’ve been food blogging since the spring of 2013. I also do some photography and recipe development on a freelancing basis. But my main occupation is my studies in Human Ecology in which I’m currently writing my bachelor thesis. I started my studies in Human Ecology and my food blogging about the same time, so initially it was an interest in sustainable food and lifestyles that pushed me. I’ve been hanging out in the kitchen experimenting since I first became a vegetarian when I was 14, so the interest in wholesome, nourshing food has always been there I guess, I just never thought about blogging about it before 🙂
I have a background in Fine Arts, so when starting blogging about food I quickly noticed that working with the aesthetic aspects came pretty natural to me. Using colorful ingredients and spending a lot of effort on the styling and photography is very important to me, so when I launched Cashew Kitchen I simply decided to call it ”a foodie photography blog”. Although the sustainable aspects are still there: I only post vegetarian recipes and I mostly use seasonal, whole and organic ingredients.
No wonder you can great the most magical of images!
I’m curious about that education of your: what is Human Ecology? And how do you wish to use that education in the future?
Well, you could say it is environmental science from a social sciences’ perspective. In Human Ecology we study the relationship between social, ecological and economic factors and how those interact with for example issues of power, resource management, poverty, urban development, climate change, population growth and social dynamics. It’s everything from city planning and food production to eco philosophy or complex adaptive systems.
In my thesis I study possibilities and limitations for citizen participation and co-management in city planning to help build social resilience in society. When I decided on the topic I think I was a bit tired of food haha. It was in the aftermath of the Swedish election and the increased social unstability we see here in Sweden (and out in the world too) worried me. In the future I want to work with sustainable food in some way. It could be inspiring people to make sustainable food choices, which I kind of already do through my blog (I hope!) hehe. It could also be working for a food or agriculture company with sustainable development issues. The possibilities are endless, really! I just know my passion is food, happy people and a healthy planet 🙂
How would you describe your food philosophy?
I want it to be simple! My aim is to inspire as many people as I can to incorporate more vegetarian or vegan food into their diets and cook more from scratch using seasonal ingredients, and thereby bringing us one step closer to living environmentally friendly lifestyles. Therefore I don’t believe in using too many obscure and expensive ingredients, or create difficult or fancy recipes. My recipes often consist of just a few, simple ingredients and are usually quick to assemble. I want to show that it can be both wholesome, fun and easy to eat seasonal and vegetarian. Also fresh produce or a lovingly cooked meal can really make my heart melt! It’s everything I need to be happy. That simplicity and appreciation of food is something I want to share with others.
Couldn’t agree with you more.
How did you come up with the name Cashew Kitchen?
Um, I was just playing around with different names that sounded ”catchy” haha. I always have cashew nuts at home and love to use them in raw desserts, granola, smoothies etc. so it felt suitable with a name steaming from one of my favorite ingredients 🙂
How does your process from idea to finished recipe and blog post look like?
Sometimes a get an idea from surfing around the food blogosphere or pinterest that I write down on my little list. It can be anything really that triggers the idea to a recipe – a combination of colors, a long forgotten ingredient, a memory. But more often I find myself standing in front of an half empty fridge trying to think of something I can make out of the little I have. Honestly that’s where the best recipes come from! If I just happened to create something utterly delicious I try to photograph it right away if I have the time, but mostly I plan to cook/prepare the night before and then style & shoot the next day. Quite often I have tried the recipe a couple of times by then. Editing photos I do on my spare time in the evenings. I never plan what I’m gonna write about on the blog, I just write what pops up in my head that particular day.
I love your creativity!!
Which 5 ingredients will one find in your pantry?
Hehe my pantry is smacked with stuff… In the back you’ll probably find some rarely used superfood powders, but what I always need to have at home (besides cashews) are almonds, rolled oats, coconut milk, tahini and bananas. And a thousand more things. Gosh I’m so spoiled with having good food around.
Do you have an all time favorite recipe you keep coming back to? 🙂
I have different favorite recipes in different periods of my life. Right now the only thing I wanna have for breakfast is my Coconut & Vanilla Oatmeal. During weekdays I eat similar salads every day, at the moment with a millet base, random veggies and a honey & dijon mustard dressing I’ve made countless times!
Tell us something about the recipe you are sharing today! Why this particular recipe?
This recipe is a perfect example of how I roll 😉 It happened the day before pay day and contains literally everything I had left in my fridge that day. I can tell you my expectations for this smoothie wasn’t that high, but oh how surprised I was when I tasted it!
I love the creativity that comes from restrictions. You don’t really need to have a perfectly stocked pantry to make delicious food. I hate to throw away food and always save the little bits and pieces left to use for something else. Smoothies is a great way to use up that last squeeze in the yoghurt package or half a frozen banana from the freezer.
I make smoothies almost every day to drink in between meals, and I especially like to add some seeds or grains and something fat like coconut milk or yoghurt to make it more filling and long lasting.
Despite citruses typically are winter ingredients, to me this is a recipe flirting with spring 🙂 I even added birch straws, see! As if the weather gods heard my plea when photographing this recipe, the sun came out from the clouds just long enough for me to catch it.
For this recipe I used yoghurt, but you can easily make a vegan version using coconut milk + a little extra lemon juice.
Sunny Buckwheat Smoothie
Serves one
Preparations:
2 tbsp raw buckwheat groats
water to cover
***soak for minimum 1 hour***
To mix:
1 large orange or 2 small
1 small banana
1/4 lemon
1 inch piece of fresh ginger
1/2 cup natural yoghurt
2 small pitted dates or 1 medjool date
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
water until desired consistency
+ the soaked and rinsed buckwheat
Prepare by soaking the buckwheat in lukewarm water for minimum one hour. This can be done the night before or in the morning. You soak the groats to get rid of harmful enzymes and start a sprouting process for optimal digestion and nutritional content.
Rinse buckwheat thoroughly. Drain and set aside.
Peel orange and lemon with a knife. Try to get rid of as much of the white parts as possible (it’s bitter). Remove any seeds. Peel ginger and coarsely chop.
Put orange, a quarter of the lemon, banana, ginger, buckwheat, yoghurt, dates and turmeric powder in a high speed blender and mix until completely smooth. Add water if nessecary. If you have a not so strong mixer or an immersion blender you might wanna squeeze out the juice of the orange and lemon beforehand, grate the ginger and perhaps soak the dates if they’re dried.
Serve right away with seeds, berries, granola or simply with a (birch) straw!
Thank you so much Agnes for sharing this beautiful recipe with us here at Straightforward Nutrition! I sure know what I’ll have for breakfast next week 🙂
If you want to check out the Millet & Linseeds Porridge which I shared on Cashew-Kitchen click here
*All photographs on this post is by Cashew-Kitchen.
