Monday, February 15, 2010

Shrove Tuesday

Pancakes is the name of today, so lets get straight to it, could these possibly be the worlds best pancakes, both raw and cooked...give them a go

COOKED PANCAKE MIX

Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl, whisk, set aside:
2 cups organic flour
2 tbsp organic raw sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp himalayan fine salt
Combine the wet ingredients in a second bowl, whisk:
2 cups buttermilk
4 tbsp organic melted butter
1 tsp organic vanilla extract
2 organic free range beaten eggs
Add the wet ingredients to the dry and whisk until just combined. Fry in a pan with butter. Top with organic maple syrup and devour. Sensational.....


RAW PANCAKE MIX , this recipe was taken from Ani's Raw Food Kitchen" by Ani Phyo

COCONUT BREAKFAST CAKES
2 cups organic whole flax seeds or 3 cups flax seed meal
2 Tbsp. organic liquid coconut oil
1/2 cup organic agave or maple syrup
1/2 tsp. himalayan sea salt
1/4 cup water
Combine flax, oil, agave, salt and water in a large bowl and mix well. Form 4 balls and flatten into a pancake shape, about 1/4 to 1/2" thick. Top with sliced fruit (bananas) and/or chopped nuts like walnuts or almonds. Drizzle with syrup
Optional: Mix blueberries or walnuts into cake batter. Batter will last 4-5 days in the fridge.

Pear and Rocket Salad


1organic pear of choice, finely sliced
2 cups rocket lettuce
Parmesan cheese, shaved

DRESSING
1 clove garlic
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup walnuts
Salt and pepper
METHOD
Crush garlic in a bowl, add balsamic, oil, walnuts and salt and pepper. Stir to combine.Pour dressing over pears, rocket and Parmesan and toss to combine.YUMMO

NUTRITION IN PEARS



High in complex carbohydrates, vitamin A, B1, B2, B3, C, folic acid, calcium, Chlorine,copper, Iron, magnesium, sodium, sulphur and pectin.


Packed with antioxidants protecting the body from free radical damage, they are also a hypoallergenic fruit (one that's not likely to cause an allergic reaction) and they are generally one of the the best fruit to give infants when they are starting out on solids.

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Varieties of Pears

Pears are a member of the Rose family, they generally have a round bottom and taper at the top. Seasonally they are available from late February till October.

There are so many varieties of pears, around 3000. So to make it easier, let's look at the ones that are coming off the tree now.


Buerre Bosc: They have a cinnamon brown colour. They have a honey-sweet flesh with a smooth texture. Great to eat fresh as well as cooking


Howell: it's a large fruit; the skin is yellow on one side and red on the other. A heirloom variety with a delicious sweet taste


Williams: also known as a Bartlett pear has a traditional pear shape, and the green skin turns yellow when it's ripe. Sweet taste


Nashi: Super juicy pear, shaped like an apple. A refreshing pear.


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Apple and pear juice

If you going to drink juice, why not try making it yourself? The juice that you purchase in the supermarket has been pasteruised, which means that it's been heated. In this process the oxygen is stripped off in a process called Deaeration, they do this so it doesn't oxidize. This means that it can be stored for extended periods of time, this destroys most of the nutritional properties in the juice and leaves us with some sweet carbohydrate drink, which the producers then add vitamin C to; this gives it a nutritional property.

Juice is meant to be pressed and drunk fresh, so get to it, the new season apples and pears mean that it's a great time to make some fresh juice for the morning, a nutrient blast in a glass.

2 apples

1 pear

And juice, it doesn't get much easier than that, if you have excess apples and pears at the end of the week, press them and freeze them in icy pole containers and give them to the kids as a treat on a warm day. Easy peesy.

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