Raw Vegan Red Pepper Soup & Cucumber & Zucchini Noodles with Spicy Almond Sauce
Posted by | Categories: Blender Recipes, Paleo, Raw Food, Recipes, Vegetarian
I have a tendency to brag about Perth’s balmy weather but the reality of it is that by having great weather for most of the year many of us Perthites are poorly acclimatised for any remote resemblance of winter. We are notorious for being winter whingers when the reality of it is our winters are comparatively short and mild and we really have nothing to complain about. The Boy and I have been sticking to our Raw Food Meatless Monday for over four weeks now and both of us are feeling vibrant and our skin is glowing. Or maybe that’s still some post wedding bliss?!
However waking up in the morning when it is still dark outside and the temperature is in the single digits drinking a cold smoothie isn’t that enjoyable, no matter how tasty and nutritious it is. So prompted by this cold snap, I decided this week our Raw Food breakfast would be a raw vegan red pepper soup instead; warmed in just minutes by using my blender on high speed which then gently heats the soup with friction.
- 1 cup roughly chopped red bell capsicum (approx. 1 medium pepper)
- ½ cup of cashew cream
- ½ teaspoon celtic sea salt
- ½ cup more diced red capsicum (reserve for garnish - do not blend)
- ½ tbsp. parsley
- Add ingredients (except for the garnish) into the blender on low speed until smooth, then blend on medium to high until warmed.
Adapted from www.therawtarian.com
Cucumber & Zucchini Noodles with Spicy Almond Sauce recipe has been moved. Click here for the recipe.
The Boy’s review of the Raw Vegan Red Pepper Soup & Cucumber & Zucchini Noodles with Spicy Almond Sauce:
With the “cold” of winter making its brief appearance in Perth these last couple of weeks Chomp decided that it was time to make a nice warm raw soup for breakfast rather than the usual cold smoothie. Her choice of a raw Red Capsicum Soup was spot on for a cold winter’s morning and was absolutely delicious without being too heavy or filling. Being only lightly warm it needs to be eaten quickly as it loses some of its appeal once it cools down to room temperature.
Our dinner that night was one of my favourite raw, vegan dishes – Raw Zucchini Noodles – which we first had at the Raw Kitchen in Fremantle last year. Chomp’s interpretation of the dish was a Cucumber & Zucchini Noodles with Spicy Almond Sauce and without a doubt it was a winner. There is something about Zucchini noodles that just really appeals to me and I actually prefer them over the real pasta. This dish was beautifully prepared with the almond sauce, pumpkin seeds and goji berries complementing the cucumber and zucchini perfectly.
Both of the dishes were fantastic this week and it is going to be a shame that it ends next week as I am quite enjoying having all these new, interesting meals cooked for me!
Over the next coming weeks I will be publishing some blender recipes that I have created with my OmniBlend. The concept is for each Monday to not only stick with Meatless Monday and eat only vegetarian but to take it to the next level and make it a Raw Food Meatless Monday. For the whole day we will only eat raw, vegan, gluten free, dairy free and fructose friendly.
● Tropical Green Smoothie (Week One)
● Curried Raw Butternut Pumpkin Soup (Week One)
● Pineapple Beet Smoothie (Week Two)
● Thai Chilli Coconut Zucchini Noodles (Week Two)
● Pineapple Kale Coconut Smoothie (Week Three)
● Creamy Garden Chowder (Week Three)
● Savoury Green Smoothie (Week Four)
● Fruit & Cinnamon Chia Pudding (Week Four)
● Raw Vegan Red Capsicum Soup recipe (Week Five)
● Cucumber & Zucchini Noodles with Spicy Almond Sauce (Week Five)
● Sweet Treat Smoothie (Week Six)
● Holiday Medley and Sweet Potato Mash (Week Six)
Omniblend Australia provided me with an free Omniblend V machine to use to develop these recipes. Read my review for more information.
Gluten Free Raspberry and Almond Chocolate Kisses: Sweet Swap 2013
Posted by | Categories: Baking, Desserts, Featured, Recipes, Vegetarian
I have a tendency to often bite off more than I can chew. This habit applies not only to my constant overeating but to many other aspects in my life. Working under pressure seems to bring out the best in me however this can sometimes lead to being in the position where there is so much to do that it’s almost overwhelming. Being a persistent and determined person I always seem to get through it all, often with success which only serves to drive me to do it all again. Earlier this year the rambunctious Amanda from Chew Town told me all about her project of The Sweet Swap over an oversized second breakfast at Miss Kitty’s Saloon. It sounded like such a great idea to me. The best way to describe The Sweet Swap is it’s kind of like a food bloggers Kris Cringle but not at Christmas and the presents are all edible.
The basic idea is this: make three batches of some sort of sweet treat that could survive a journey through Australia Post. Send a batch to each of your three nominated bloggers. Wait for your anonymous parcel to arrive from a different blogger. All proceeds go towards The Child Fund charity.
Now I’m not a fancy chef. My recipes have never been the main focus of my blog but more an expression of my interest in food while to meet all my intolerance criteria without sacrificing flavour. So here’s my offering. You won’t be able to stop at just one: Gluten Free Raspberry and Almond Chocolate Kisses.
- 460 g milk or dark chocolate chips
- 2-3 teaspoon coconut oil
- ½ cup almond butter
- 1 tablespoon powdered/confectioner ‘s sugar
- ¼ cup of raspberry jam
- Line a mini muffin tin with paper liners and set aside.
- Melt the chocolate in a double boiler, saucepan or microwave. Once it’s melted down, add coconut oil to thin out. Add more, if needed.
- Add about 1 teaspoon of melted chocolate to the bottom of each paper cup. Tilt the liners so the chocolate evenly coats the bottom and slightly up the sides. Another option is to take a pastry brush or even a small knife to spread the chocolate.
- Place the cupcake tin in the freezer for 15-20 minutes to let set.
- Meanwhile, mix together almond butter and powdered sugar – this makes it less sticky and easier to handle. Place almond butter mixture in the fridge for 10 minutes.
- Once both timers have gone off, roll [in your hands] about ½ teaspoon of the almond butter mixture and place in the centre of each chocolate cup. Place tin back in the freezer for about 10 minutes.
- Remove and add ¼ teaspoon of jam on top of the peanut butter.
- With the remaining chocolate, cover each cup until covered. Top with sea salt – optional.
- Place muffin tin back into the freezer, last time I promise, for about 20 minutes.
- These can be left out at room temperature or in the fridge.
Adapted with thanks from With Style and Grace.
Savoury Green Smoothie & Fruit & Cinnamon Chia Pudding
Posted by | Categories: Blender Recipes, Featured, Paleo, Raw Food, Recipes, Vegetarian
A number of you dear readers who have been following my Raw Food Meatless Monday Man Challenge have suggested to me that I make some raw food desserts. I wanted a raw dessert to serve us for our Monday night dinner that could actually pass off as our main meal. It needed to be nutritious, filling and not too sweet. To complicate my requirements furthermore, it had to comply with my fructose malabsorption (FM) restrictions. Many raw food desserts contain dried fruit which are completely off the menu for a FM so I had to delve a bit deeper for something more interesting.
To kick start our day, I created a savoury green smoothie which is low in calories yet full of nutrients. Unlike last week’s smoothie, this one is light on the stomach and easier to drink. For dinner I have made use of some organic chia seeds I recently received from the generous guys at Cheap Superfoods. The chia seeds are raw and unprocessed meaning that all their antioxidant and essential fatty acid content remains undamaged. The berry cinnamon chia pudding is dairy free, gluten free, raw, fructose friendly AND it tastes AMAZING!
- 1 cup water
- 4 stalks of celery with leaves, chopped
- 1 avocado
- 1 medium cucumber, with skin, chopped
- 1 lemon, peeled and seeded
- 1 handful of parsley
- 2 cloves of garlic
- ¼ teaspoon Himalayan salt
- Place all ingredients into the blender and blend on high for one minute or until smooth. Drink immediately.
- 2 cups cashews, soaked overnight in the refrigerator
- 2 cups water, filtered
- 1¾ cups cashew cream
- ½ cup chia seeds
- ¼ to ½ cup maple syrup depending on desired sweetness
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 cup strawberries, sliced
- 1 cup blueberries
- Drain and rinse cashews.
- Combine with filtered water in the OmniBlend and blend until smooth.
- Mix together cashew cream, chia seeds, maple syrup, vanilla and cinnamon. Set aside.
- Slice strawberries.
- When chia pudding has thickened up (about 5-10 minutes) stir in sliced strawberries and blueberries.
- When serving sprinkle some freshly grated nutmeg on top.
The Boy’s review of the Savoury Green Smoothie & Fruit & Cinnamon Chia Pudding:
“When deciding to switch to a plant based diet I knew the one thing I would really miss would be Dairy and in particular cheeses and desserts. While I am more than happy to eat more berries and other fresh fruits, I have a real weakness when it comes to Ice Cream and knew that this was the one thing that I would really miss. When Chomp told me that she was making us a raw desert I must say I was highly sceptical but at the same time hopeful that she could come up with something that would be a reasonable substitute. The delicious Fruit and Cinnamon Chia Pudding that she prepared was a pleasant surprise and made for both a great dessert alternative and a filling breakfast again the following morning. A thoroughly enjoyable treat it is easy to see that this dish could be modified into many different alternatives simply by changing the fruits and level of sweetness. The Savoury Green Smoothie is a simple, basic smoothie that was easy to drink and tasted great. Being so simple to make and nutritious this one has now been added to my morning breakfast routine and replaced the store bought smoothie I was previously having.”
Over the next coming weeks I will be publishing some blender recipes that I have created with my OmniBlend. The concept is for each Monday to not only stick with Meatless Monday and eat only vegetarian but to take it to the next level and make it a Raw Food Meatless Monday. For the whole day we will only eat raw, vegan, gluten free, dairy free and fructose friendly.
● Tropical Green Smoothie (Week One)
● Curried Raw Butternut Pumpkin Soup (Week One)
● Pineapple Beet Smoothie (Week Two)
● Thai Chilli Coconut Zucchini Noodles (Week Two)
● Pineapple Kale Coconut Smoothie (Week Three)
● Creamy Garden Chowder (Week Three)
● Savoury Green Smoothie (Week Four)
● Fruit & Cinnamon Chia Pudding (Week Four)
● Raw Red Capsicum Soup recipe (Week Five)
● Cucumber & Zucchini Noodles with Spicy Almond Sauce (Week Five)
● Sweet Treat Smoothie (Week Six)
● Holiday Medley and Sweet Potato Mash (Week Six)
Omniblend Australia provided me with an free Omniblend V machine to use to develop these recipes. Read my review for more information. Super Foods provided the organic chia seeds free of charge for me to use in this recipe.
Pineapple Kale Smoothie & Creamy Garden Chowder
Posted by | Categories: Blender Recipes, Featured, Paleo, Raw Food, Recipes, Vegetarian
They say it takes us on average around 21-28 days to form a habit. The Boy and I are only entering into the beginning of Week Three of our Raw and Meatless Mondays and I am finding that our vegetarianism stretches to encompass most of the week. Last night we ordered some take out from our local Thai restaurant Little Ying and the Boy insisted that I only order vegetarian dishes. He has embraced this new approach to eating with much more gusto than I anticipated. I ordered some Tom Yum Goong for us and I even saw him scoop out the prawns and plop them into my bowl.
With memories of Thailand still fresh in my mind I was inspired to create this highly addictive green smoothie for our Monday morning breakfast.
Pineapple Kale Coconut Smoothie
- 2 Cups Fresh Pineapple
- 2-3 Frozen Ripe Bananas
- 1 Cup LIght Coconut Milk (you may need a bit more if you want a thinner consistency)
- 2 Tbsp Shredded Coconut
- 1 Cup Kale
- Place all ingredients into the blender and blend on high for one minute or until smooth. Drink immediately.
Greenie goodness
Our soup for this evening requires a little extra time in the blender in order to slightly warm it before serving. You can only do this with the more durable makes of blender so check beforehand so you don’t burn your machine out. The OmniBlend is designed to be able to heat soups without damaging the motor. I used my meat thermometer to heat it to about 50 degrees.
- 1 stalk of celery (include the leaves)
- 1 cup of carrots
- 1 small zucchini, chopped
- ½ red capsicum, chopped
- 5 cups water
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 tsp sea salt
- Blend all ingredients in blender until warm.
- Drizzle with olive oil and garnish with chopped red bell peppers.
This recipe is adapted from www.rawfoodrecipes.com
Creamy Garden Chowder
The Boy’s review of the Pineapple Kale Smoothie & Creamy Garden Chowder:
“Three weeks into this diet experiment and it is rapidly becoming second nature with all my routine meals now replaced by healthy vegetarian alternatives. The health benefits have already started to show as I have lost a few kilograms of weight and my energy levels are continuing to increase. This week’s smoothie was a rich blend of Banana, Pineapple and Kale blended with Coconut and it was difficult to tell that it wasn’t a standard dairy based smoothie. The Banana and Coconut are an excellent combination and made for a very delicious drink. While very refreshing it was quite heavy and I was left wondering how many calories it contained. The Creamy Garden Chowder was a nice enjoyable dish with a slightly unusual taste which grew on me as I ate it. While satisfying it was not overly filling and makes a good dish for a day when you don’t want a big meal. If you struggle eating cold soups perhaps this style of warmed soup offers a potential alternative to the standard cooked and very hot traditional soup.”Over the next coming weeks I will be publishing some blender recipes that I have created with my OmniBlend. The concept is for each Monday to not only stick with Meatless Monday and eat only vegetarian but to take it to the next level and make it a Raw Food Meatless Monday. For the whole day we will only eat raw, vegan, gluten free, dairy free and fructose friendly.
● Tropical Green Smoothie (Week One)
● Curried Raw Butternut Pumpkin Soup (Week One)
● Pineapple Beet Smoothie (Week Two)
● Thai Chilli Coconut Zucchini Noodles (Week Two)
● Pineapple Kale Coconut Smoothie (Week Three)
● Creamy Garden Chowder (Week Three)
● Savoury Green Smoothie (Week Four)
● Fruit & Cinnamon Chia Pudding (Week Four)
● Raw Red Capsicum Soup recipe (Week Five)
● Cucumber & Zucchini Noodles with Spicy Almond Sauce (Week Five)
● Sweet Treat Smoothie (Week Six)
● Holiday Medley and Sweet Potato Mash (Week Six)
Omniblend Australia provided me with an free Omniblend V machine to use to develop these recipes. Read my review for more information.
Pineapple Beet Smoothie & Thai Style Raw Noodles
Posted by | Categories: Blender Recipes, Paleo, Raw Food, Recipes, Vegetarian
I admit sometimes I completely underestimate my dear husband. I thought that after the first week of our Raw Food Meatless Monday Man Challenge his enthusiasm levels would start to wane. This is a man who used to eat a whole roast chicken in one sitting. I’m not saying that I don’t have faith in him changing his eating habits, but I didn’t think it would happen easily.
The following Monday arrived and to my astonishment he bounced out of bed all excited and ready for his next smoothie to try. He is not a morning person and seeing him with this much energy first thing in the morning was a little out of the ordinary. Knowing how much he loves his pink drinks it was logical that this would be the colour of his next smoothie to taste test.
Pineapple beet smoothie
- ½ pineapple
- ½ medium beet
- 1 carrot
- 1 cup strawberries
- cup of cooled green tea
- water, as needed
- Place all ingredients into the blender and blend on high for one minute or until smooth. Drink immediately.
Raw Thai Style Zucchini Noodles
- ½ cup young coconut meat
- 2 tbsp raw coconut butter
- 1 red chilli
- 2 tbsp raw peanut or almond butter
- Coconut water as needed
- ½ small ½ inch piece of ginger
- 1 clove garlic
- Sea salt to taste
- Juice of 1 lime with ½ of zest
- 4 small zucchini cut julienne or spiralised
- 1 bell pepper, cut julienne
- 1 medium carrot, cut julienne
- ¼ cup finely shredded dried coconut plus more for garnishing
- In a blender combine the sauce ingredients and process until smooth.
- In a large bowl combine the sauce with the zucchini and bell pepper and carrot and ¼ cup of coconut and toss to coat.
- Place on plates and sprinkle with additional coconut.
Over the next coming weeks I will be publishing some blender recipes that I have created with my OmniBlend. The concept is for each Monday to not only stick with Meatless Monday and eat only vegetarian but to take it to the next level and make it a Raw Food Meatless Monday. For the whole day we will only eat raw, vegan, gluten free, dairy free and fructose friendly.
● Tropical Green Smoothie (Week One)
● Curried Raw Butternut Pumpkin Soup (Week One)
● Pineapple Beet Smoothie (Week Two)
● Thai Chilli Coconut Zucchini Noodles (Week Two)
● Pineapple Kale Coconut Smoothie (Week Three)
● Creamy Garden Chowder (Week Three)
● Savoury Green Smoothie (Week Four)
● Fruit & Cinnamon Chia Pudding (Week Four)
● Raw Red Capsicum Soup recipe (Week Five)
● Cucumber & Zucchini Noodles with Spicy Almond Sauce (Week Five)
● Sweet Treat Smoothie (Week Six)
● Holiday Medley and Sweet Potato Mash (Week Six)
Omniblend Australia provided me with an free Omniblend V machine to use to develop these recipes. Read my review for more information.
Tropical Green Smoothie & Raw Curried Pumpkin Soup
Posted by | Categories: Blender Recipes, Perth, Raw Food, Recipes, Vegetarian
Over the past few years, the Boy and I have made a natural progression to eating a more vegetarian based diet. Whilst not completely giving up eating meat all together, our intake has been dramatically reduced such that our initial goal of a Meatless Monday has now extended into several days a week.
Our reasons for vegetarianism are twofold.
Our first reason comes back to being compassionate human beings. Can we truly justify the way we farm production animals? Housed in completely unnatural environments with cramped stocking densities and fed highly processed foods such as pellets and other animal proteins? Worst still, how can we know that every animal that is slaughtered for our consumption didn’t suffer in the process? Many of you may have seen Animals Australia’s shocking footage of our live export cattle in Indonesia abattoirs last year. We were all left outraged and distraught at the horrific treatment of these innocent beasts. But these events are by no means isolated and happen all around the world every day. While I understand that sometimes brutal death is a part of life in the natural world, I am certain a lion hunting a gazelle in Africa doesn’t stop to consider her prey’s welfare before she kills it. But unlike these majestic big cats, we humans choose to slaughter animals to eat on a much larger scale than is necessary for our own survival.
Our second reason for changing our diet is purely selfish. It is a well-known fact that the more vegetables you include in your diet the healthier you will be. Eating a predominantly vegetarian diet has been proven to help prevent cancer, diabetes and heart disease, lower blood pressure and slow the aging process. In fact a study on a group of 70,000 participants recently published in the medical journal JAMA Internal Medicine showed that vegetarians even live longer. And who doesn’t want to live a long and healthy life? These are all wins in my humble opinion.
A logical progression from vegetarianism has been to consider taking it one step further and going raw. Back in late 2011 the Boy and I shared a very enjoyable lunch at The Raw Kitchen in Fremantle. This was my first experience with raw food and I was fascinated to learn that you can make dairy-free cheese, cream and even cheese cake made purely from nuts.
Back in the week before our wedding I received a blender from OmniBlend to review and I thought this was a perfectly timed gift for me to start trying out some raw recipes. The Boy proposed that I try and create some more manly raw dishes for him so he could switch our regular Meatless Monday into a Raw Food Meatless Monday instead! We called it the Raw Food Meatless Monday Man Challenge!
So here it is….Week One of the Raw Food Meatless Monday Man Challenge!
Tropical Green Smoothie
- 1 cup of water
- ½ banana (frozen or fresh)
- ¼ cup pineapple pieces
- ¼ cup kale, chopped or minced
- 1 tbsp maple syrup
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- Place all ingredients into the blender and blend on high for one minute or until smooth. Drink immediately.
Curried Butternut Pumpkin Soup
- ½ butternut pumpkin chopped into small cubes
- ½ to 1 tbsp curry powder (to you preference)
- ½ tsp real cinnamon
- ⅓ tsp pink Himalayan salt
- One young coconut (for both the water and the meat)
- Black pepper, parsley, shredded dried coconut to garnish
- Gradually add pumpkin and coconut water into the blender on low speed until smooth. Add remaining ingredients and then blend on medium to high until a smooth consistency. Season with cracked black pepper and parsley and/or some grated dried coconut
The Boy’s review of the Tropical Green Smoothie and Curried Raw Butternut Pumpkin Soup:
“While I have struggled with the idea of giving up meat I have come to realise over the last few years the catastrophic damage that the meat industry has had on the environment. Added to that is the fact I can no longer justify to myself the suffering of another animal purely for my selfish enjoyment of the taste of their flesh. Therefore over the last year in what has at times been a difficult process we have gradually removed animal flesh from our diet. With this in mind I thought it would be a good idea to take advantage of the OmniBlend Whole Food Blender review that Chomp had been asked to do and get her to make some Raw Vegan dishes for us to try. The first of what will be five weeks of what will be known as Raw Food Meatless Monday was a dish of raw Curried Butternut Pumpkin Soup along with a Tropical Green Smoothie. Now I must say the idea of cold pumpkin soup doesn’t sound entirely appealing however the dish turned out to be a very satisfying meal with the coconut nicely accenting the pumpkin and curry flavours. The fact it was cold wasn’t even noticed as the meal was quickly devoured… this soup would make a great meal on a hot summer’s day. The Tropical Green Smoothie was very refreshing and is definitely best served fresh and cold. A very filling drink that could easily be a meal on it’s own… I wonder what it would be like with a little vodka and crushed ice on a hot day?”
Over the next coming weeks I will be publishing some blender recipes that I have created with my OmniBlend. The concept is for each Monday to not only stick with Meatless Monday and eat only vegetarian but to take it to the next level and make it a Raw Food Meatless Monday. For the whole day we will only eat raw, vegan, gluten free, dairy free and fructose friendly.
● Tropical Green Smoothie (Week One)
● Curried Raw Butternut Pumpkin Soup (Week One)
● Pineapple Beet Smoothie (Week Two)
● Thai Chilli Coconut Zucchini Noodles (Week Two)
● Pineapple Kale Coconut Smoothie (Week Three)
● Creamy Garden Chowder (Week Three)
● Savoury Green Smoothie (Week Four)
● Fruit & Cinnamon Chia Pudding (Week Four)
● Raw Red Capsicum Soup recipe (Week Five)
● Cucumber & Zucchini Noodles with Spicy Almond Sauce (Week Five)
● Sweet Treat Smoothie (Week Six)
● Holiday Medley and Sweet Potato Mash (Week Six)
Omniblend Australia provided me with an free Omniblend V machine to use to develop these recipes. Read my review for more information.
OmniBlend V blender review
Posted by | Categories: Blender Recipes, Paleo, Raw Food, Recipes, Vegetarian
The Boy and I initially got into juicing back in late 2011 as a result of watching Joe Cross’s documentary Fat Sick and Nearly Dead. This period marked the beginning of a long overdue quest for finding better health by dramatically increasing our vegetable and fruit intake. We have slowly gravitated away from eating meat as the predominant ingredient in our meals to it being a small component if at all. The Boy bought us the latest whizz-bang juicer and was so enthusiastic with his juicing that he managed to burn the first one out in just a week. He stuck to his guns however and returned to the shops to get a replacement juicer. Over the following nine months he lost over 20 kg in body weight. He was well on his way to become a picture of health and this was all just in time for our wedding.
With every batch of green smoothies we made, we would end up with massive amounts of fibrous pulp left over. A juicer only extracts juice and discards the pulp from the fruit and veggies into its waste jug. In the early days, I determinedly saved the pulp and would make it into a variety of different vegetable soups that looked more like swamp water than food. Some even tasted good. After a while I tired of this messy business and tossed the pulp onto the garden for compost instead. What a waste. I hate throwing food away!
Not all smoothies are green! Pineapple Beet smoothie
Soon I realised that there is a much better way to make smoothies without having to eat swamp slime soup; with a blender not a juicer. Blending means you are eating the whole food, not just the juice and the fibre content is retained. Furthermore, high-powered blenders break down all the cell walls of the fruits and vegetables releasing all the phytonutrients locked inside the pulp, skin and seeds. This makes it easier to digest and allows the nutrients to absorb much more efficiently. After having this epiphany we discussed about getting a blender to replace our relatively new and fancy juicer. But talking was as far as we got because come mid-2012 we found ourselves knee deep in wedding planning and before we knew it time had flown away from us and we completely forgot about it.
So you can imagine my gratitude when earlier this year two weeks before our big day I received an email from the marketing director from a company called OmniBlend Australia who are manufacturers of heavy duty commercial blenders. He was keen to send me their popular blender; the OmniBlend V to review on the blog. In return for my review, the machine would be mine for keeps. No more pulp and swamp soup….woot!
OmniBlend blender
The OmniBlend V Low Down:
● Price:
$280-390 AUD. Excellent value for money compared to similar machines on the market such as the Vitamix.
● Motor:
A powerful 3HP motor which can deliver a blade speed of 38,000 rpm. It is very energy efficient at only 950W (not bad considering it produces 3HP!). I am told that this blender is sturdy enough to withstand heavy duty commercial use in restaurants and juice bars.
● Blades:
The 6-blade cutting assembly is made from highest quality, Japanese precision stainless steel. Replacement blades are available for purchase. The blades and jug are designed for both wet and dry ingredients and can make a hot soup in minutes heating with just friction. I gave this method a try for some of my soup recipes for the Raw Meatless Monday Man Challenge, more on this in the weeks to come.
● Blending:
Without much effort or preparation this blender made light work of blending my soups and smoothies into creamy, smooth consistencies. It even coped with me churning harder raw vegetables into it like pumpkin. Because the Omniblend is a more heavy-duty machine, it has enough oomph to do more than just make smoothies. It can puree, mix, chop, grind and whip all sorts of foods including mill grains into flour, grind coffee, puree baby food, churn ice cream, make nut butters and nut milks, knead bread dough and it can even crush ice.
● Cleaning :
The OmniBlend is really easy to clean which is a big win in my books. One thing that used to annoy me about juicing (in addition to the pulp waste of course) was that every time I made a smoothie I would be left with a hundred and one parts to clean. If the Boy that made himself juice it was even worse. There would be bits of pulp everywhere.
With this blender there is only a lid and a jug to wash and because there is no pulp, the jug rinses clean in minutes.
I did notice that the black rubber feet on the body of the unit left little marks on my white laminate bench top but they wiped off easily with a damp cloth.
● Noise:
It has very quiet operation when compared to many of its competitors (e.g. Vitamix).
Noise level = 83.8 dB
● Programs:
It has timed, cycled and repeatable blending programs.
● The Jug:
The 2 litre jug is made of unbreakable food-grade polycarbonate jug and is heat resistant to over 120 degrees Celsius which means you can blend hot soups straight off the stove top. It is suitable for both wet and dry ingredients unlike some blenders like the Vitamix that need separate wet and dry jugs/blade. The jug has quite a wide base compared to other blenders I have used in the past. This ensures that food particles don’t seem to get stuck under the blades when in use. They also offer a BPA-free 1.5 litre jug.
● Intelligent Overload Protection:
A built in sensor automatically turns off the motor when it detects excess usage. This prolongs the motors operating life and pre-empts breakdowns.
● Recipes:
OmniBlend are happy to send their customers a bunch of free recipes or better still stay tuned on the blog over the next six weeks for my Raw Food Meatless Monday Man Challenge!
● Warranty:
The OmniBlend comes with a standard 5 year warranty on the motor and 3 years on parts, or alternatively you can pay extra for a 7 Year extended warranty on the full machine. They offer free shipping anywhere in Australia.
How does the OmniBlend size up to its competitors?
Froothie Optimum 9200:
Price: $430-500
● 3 HP motor delivering a blade speed of 44,000 rpm
● 6 stainless steel Japanese made blades
● Low noise level at around 80 dB
● High, Med, Low and Pulse functions
● Comes with a 2 L unbreakable polycarbonate wet/dry jug
● Intelligent overload protection
● 5 year warranty or optional 10 year warranty
Verdict: Very similar to OmniBlend in its specs yet it costs $120-150 more
Vitamix:
Price: $700-1300 depending on model and options.
● 2-3 HP motor depending on model
● 4 stainless steel blades
● Noisy at around 110 dB (Vitamix 5200)
● Variable speed functions
● Separate wet and dry blades/jugs. Comes with 2L unbreakable jugs
● Thermal protection to prevent overload and burnout
● 7 year warranty or optional 10 year warranty
Verdict: Very expensive by comparison to OmniBlend, it’s only a smidge more powerful but twice the price!
Amazon: Vitamix 5200s, Vitamix Professional Series 300 and Vitamix Professional Series 750
Breville BJB840 Juice & Blend
Price: $350-499
● Dual purpose machine with a juicer & a blender, 1000W motor on the juicer and a 1200W motor on the blender, not very energy efficient
● Surgical grade stainless steel blades
● Variable speed functions
● 1.5 L jug
● 5 year warranty on motor/2 year repair warranty
Verdict: Couldn’t find many online reviews for this one but I don’t believe this is a high powered, durable machine. I don’t really see the point in a dual use machine either.
Amazon: Breville BJB840XL Dual-Purpose Juice and Blend
Thermomix TM 31
Price: $1800
● 500W motor which revs its two blades at speeds of 10,200 rpm
Verdict: This kitchen dream machine does much more than a blender; it can also do chopping, beating, mixing, emulsifying, milling, kneading, cooking, stirring, steaming, weighing and melting. Although at nearly 10 times the price of the OmniBlend so it bloody well should!
Over the next coming weeks I will be publishing some blender recipes that I have created with my OmniBlend. The concept is for each Monday to not only stick with Meatless Monday and eat only vegetarian but to take it to the next level and make it a Raw Food Meatless Monday. For the whole day we will only eat raw, vegan, gluten free, dairy free and fructose friendly.
● Tropical Green Smoothie (Week One)
● Curried Raw Butternut Pumpkin Soup (Week One)
● Pineapple Beet Smoothie (Week Two)
● Thai Chilli Coconut Zucchini Noodles (Week Two)
● Pineapple Kale Coconut Smoothie (Week Three)
● Creamy Garden Chowder (Week Three)
● Savoury Green Smoothie (Week Four)
● Fruit & Cinnamon Chia Pudding (Week Four)
● Raw Red Capsicum soup recipe (Week Five)
● Cucumber & Zucchini Noodles with Spicy Almond Sauce (Week Five)
● Sweet Treat Smoothie (Week Six)
● Holiday Medley and Sweet Potato Mash (Week Six)
Chompchomp received an Omniblend V blender complimentary in return for writing this review. For more information head to www.omniblendaustralia.com.au. Six months after the publishing of this review Omniblend Australia contacted me with an offer to provide my readers with a discount when purchasing their new Omniblend blender. Using the coupon code below you can buy the Omniblend at a discounted price.
Coconut flour Paleo Anzac Biscuits (gluten free)
Posted by | Categories: Baking, Featured, Paleo, Recipes
Anzac Day is the national day of remembrance in Australia and New Zealand where we cast our hearts and minds to those who have fought for our country at war. The day is a national public holiday and across the country there are numerous dawn services that are held attracting both the young and old in the wee hours of the morning. Anzac Day wouldn’t be complete without Anzac biscuits which history claims they were apparently made by soldier’s wives to send to them abroad. After spending the last three months with my days off being filled with wedding planning, it is such a treat to have these days returned to me to indulge in whatever activities I please. It has been a while since I have made any effort in the kitchen so with both the fur children supervising from their cat scratch post I scanned my pantry for some inspiration. With Anzac Day approaching us this week, I have attempted to adapt the classic Anzac biscuit recipe to create Coconut flour Paleo Anzac Biscuits that are dairy free, gluten free and fructose friendly yet still remain delicious!! Is it possible?
- 1 & ¾ cup almond meal
- 1 cup flaked almonds
- 1 cup dessicated coconut
- ⅓ cup coconut flour
- ¼ cup maple syrup
- ½ cup coconut oil, softened
- ½ teaspoon bicarb soda
- 1 tablespoon water
- Preheat over to 130 degrees C.
- Combine the almond meal, flaked almonds, coconut and coconut flour in a large mixing bowl.
- Combine maple syrup and coconut oil in a small saucepan and heat very gently.
- Mix the bicarb and water together then add to the maple syrup mix, stir until mixed.
- Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix thoroughly until combined. Add a small amount of water to help mixture stick together.
- Squeeze firmly into small balls to stick mixture together then flatten slightly and place on a baking try lined with baking paper.
- Bake for about 40 minutes until golden.
- Allow to cool on a rack before serving.
Adapted from the website The Healthy Chef by Theresa Cutter the author of The 80/20 Diet and 101 ways to lose weight.
(photos updated April 2014)
(photos updated April 2014)
Coconut Flour Banana Bread (gluten free)
Posted by | Categories: Desserts, Featured, Recipes
I have been eyeing off the bananas in our fruit bowl that have been slowing ripening over the week from a lovely golden-yellow into a patchy dark black. As no one seems to be tucking into them any time soon I figured the logical thing to do was to bake myself some banana bread. I had a bag of organic coconut flour that had been sitting in my pantry for quite some time as I had been waiting for the inspiration to start experimenting with it. Well here it was, I was inspired. Coconut flour is an interesting flour to work with, it is very high in fibre so you don’t need to use as much as you would with conventional flours. The high fibre content makes this banana bread very filling which was ideal for my bridal diet as I couldn't binge out on it like I normally would!
- 1 cup coconut flour
- 1½ cup very ripe bananas (about 3 bananas)
- 4 free range eggs
- 60 grams melted butter or 75 grams coconut oil
- 3 tablespoons of raw honey or vanilla honey (if preferred, note honey is not suitable for fructose malabsorbers)
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- ½ tablespoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon gluten free baking powder
- 1 tablespoon vanilla essence
- Preheat your oven to 145 C
- Oil or butter a loaf pan and line with baking paper.
- Mash bananas and mix in butter, vanilla essence, eggs +/- honey if desired.
- In a separate bowl mix the dry ingredients: coconut flour, baking powder, sea salt and ground cinnamon.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir to combine.
- Spoon into your lined loaf pan and bake for 1 hour and 15 mins or until golden brown. Allow to cool in pan for 15 mins.
- Serve with butter or even a dollop of jam!
- Enjoy!!
Adapted from Gutsy‘s recipe.
July 2014 Addendum: It’s over a year since I posted this recipe and thought I might share with you some adaptations I have made . I reduce the amount of coconut flour by half and add 1/4 of a cup of chia seed. I’ve beefed it up and use 6 eggs and a good 400 grams of bananas. The rest of the ingredients stay pretty much the same. I found the addition of chia seed improved the texture without compromising on taste. For the full recipe head over to my post.
Couldn’t wait for it to cool! Ooops!
Low sugar, low carb and pseudo healthy!
Gluten free potato cake with smoked salmon
Posted by | Categories: Modern Australian, Recipes, Seafood
These gluten free potato cakes with smoked salmon make the perfect alternative to the traditional blinis. They take only minutes to prepare yet still taste fabulous.
- 3 Yukon gold potatoes (about 450 grams), peeled and grated on the large holes of a box grater
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill, plus sprigs for garnish
- ½ teaspoon salt
- Pinch of freshly ground black pepper
- 1 large egg white
- 120 grams smoked salmon
- ¼ cup reduced-fat sour cream
- Olive-oil, cooking spray
- Preheat oven to 230 degrees Celsius. Combine potatoes, chopped dill, salt, pepper, and egg white in a medium bowl, and stir to combine.
- Coat two baking sheets with olive-oil cooking spray. Form pancakes by dropping about 1 tablespoon mixture on tray for each and flattening into disks. Bake until golden brown on bottom, about 10 minutes, rotating trays once during cooking. Remove from oven, and turn pancakes over. Return to oven, and bake until brown on both sides, about 7 minutes more.
- Serve pancakes topped with salmon and a dab of reduced-fat sour cream. Garnish with dill sprigs.
Recipe adapted from www.marthastewart.com/food
Prosciutto Wrapped Beef Fillet with Pesto
Posted by | Categories: Featured, Recipes, Steakhouse
Have you ever cooked a whole beef eye fillet? If you have you will understand what little effort it takes to produce a sumptuous meal. For those who haven’t this prosciutto wrapped beef fillet with pesto will convert you. Just make sure you buy ethically sourced meat!
It was hard not to eat some of this before wrapping the fillet!
- 14 slices of prosciutto (about 120 gm)
- 1 jar of pesto (I used a complementary jar of Roza’s Dairy Free Pesto)
- ½ cup raw cashews, chopped finely
- 1.5 kg piece of beef eye fillet
- Fresh basil to serve
- Preheat the oven to 200°C. Preheat oven to 200°C. Place 7 prosciutto slices in a row, side-by-side and slightly overlapping, to create a rectangle. Repeat with the remaining prosciutto slices, slightly overlapping, at the long side of the first rectangle.
- Mix the cashews and pesto together in a small bowl. Spread the pesto mix over the beef. Place the beef, dip-side down, on the prosciutto. Roll up to enclose the beef. Place the beef, seam-side down, in a roasting pan. Roast for 45 minutes for medium or until cooked to your liking. Transfer to a plate. Cover with foil. Set aside for 10 minutes to rest. Top with basil.
Note: the original recipe can be found on www.taste.com.au and used Wattle Valley Baby Spinach with Cashew and Parmesan Chunky Dip
Prosciutto wrapped pesto beef fillet (in my rush to serve I forgot the basil garnish!)
The Pesto used in this recipe was given free of charge by Roza’s Gourmet Sauces.
Wasabi Devilled Eggs
Posted by | Categories: Breakfast/Brunch, Recipes
- 8 large eggs
- ⅓ cup mayonnaise
- 1½ teaspoons gluten free wasabi paste
- 2 teaspoons unseasoned rice-wine vinegar
- 2 large scallions (3 tablespoons), minced (I OMITTED THIS INGREDIENT TO MAKE IT FRUCTOSE FRIENDLY)
- Coarse salt
- Pea shoots or sprouts, for garnish
- Prepare an ice-water bath. Place eggs in a medium saucepan. Add enough cold water to cover eggs by about 1 inch. Bring to a boil. Cover, and remove from heat. Let stand 13 minutes.
- Drain, and transfer eggs to ice-water bath until cold. Peel eggs, and halve lengthwise.
- Transfer yolks to a medium bowl, and mash with a fork until smooth. Stir in mayonnaise, wasabi, vinegar, and scallions. Season with salt. Pipe or spoon filling into whites.
- Garnish with pea shoots or sprouts.
Recipe with much thanks from www.marthastewart.com/food
Coffee Pecan Bundt cake, Gluten free
Posted by | Categories: Desserts, Perth, Recipes
Coffee Pecan Bundt cake, Gluten free
I made this cake for my first participation in Perth’s Clandestine Cake Club. Each monthly meet up has a theme and for July it was “gluten free”. Lucky me…this time I could eat all the cakes!
- 120 g butter
- ¾ cup (165g) sugar
- 1 tsp. vanilla essence
- 3 eggs
- 2 tbsp. instant coffee, dissolved in 2 tbsp. hot water
- 1 cup (170g) rice flour
- ½ cup (80g) gluten free cornflour
- ½ cup (80g) potato flour
- 1 tsp bicarb soda
- 2 tsp. gluten free baking powder
- 1 tsp xanthan gum (optional)
- 1 cup (250g) sour cream
- Filling
- 40 g butter, cubed at room temperature
- ⅓ cup (90g) firmly packed brown sugar
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- 2 tsp instant coffee powder
- ½ cup (65g) pecans roughly chopped
- Cream cheese icing
- 250 g reduced fat cream cheese
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- ½ cup (85g) pure icing sugar
- ⅓ cup (40 g) pecans, chopped
- Pre-heat oven to 180°C. Grease a ring cake pan.
- Cream butter, sugar and vanilla together in a large bowl with electric beaters.
- Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
- Sift together flours, bicarb soda, baking powder and xanthan gum three times or whisk with an egg beater to thoroughly mix together.
- Add to egg mixture, alternating with sour cream.
- Spread half batter into greased pan.
- Spoon prepared filling on top of cake batter being careful not to touch the sides of the pan.
- Top with remaining cake batter.
- Bake in pre-heated oven for 30-35 minutes or when firm to touch.
- When cooled remove from pan and top with cream cheese icing.
- Filling:
- Cream butter, brown sugar, cinnamon and instant coffee.
- Add chopped pecans and mix well.
- Cream cheese icing:
- Combine cream cheese, juice and icing sugar in a bowl and mix well.
Adapted from Sue Shepherd’s “Irresistibles for the Irritable” cookbook available through her website
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Clandestine Cake Club Perth
Posted by | Categories: Desserts, Featured, Perth, Recipes
Via my fellow bloggers on Twitter I recently became aware of a brilliant phenomenon called the Clandestine Cake Club. The CCC was created two years ago by cake lover Lynn Hill in Leeds, UK with the aim to be able to get people together in a relaxed social environment so they could “Bake, Eat and Talk about Cake”.
The concept was to strictly only include cakes; no cupcakes, brownies, pies or tarts are allowed and since its inception it has grown to over 133 groups around the world including Switzerland, Spain, France and Finland.
There is currently only one group in Australia and luckily for us it’s here in Perth! The Perth branch is coordinated by Carolanne from Carolanne’s Kitchen and Jackie from Where the wind blows me. Recent awareness of this group has surged thanks to some awesome publicity in Scoop magazine, on Great about Perth and Agenda City.
I was so excited to hear that the theme for the July meet was to be gluten free and signed up to come along. As I am by no means a talented baker by anyones stretch of the imagination I began madly flipping through a number of my food stained cookbooks. I eventually decided to make a Coffee Bundt cake adapted from one of Sue Shepherd’s books.
For those who don’t know who Dr Sue Shepherd is; she is one of Australia’s leading clinical nutritionists specialising in patients with gluten intolerance and fructose malabsorption. Being a sufferer of both these conditions myself, I have all her cookbooks on my shelf every single one is worn and well used. (For the recipe for my Coffee cake please click here.)
Knowing what a sweet tooth my bestie is, I wasn’t surprised when she agreed to join me as my guest and off we headed to our first Cake Club meet! We were greeted with a warm welcome and were both blown away by the wonderful collection of cakes that had been made for the occasion. Everyone had experimented with a wide range different types of flours and ingredients to create a decadent selection that would make any gluten eater jealous.
Carolanne made a scrumptious coconut and berry cake using coconut flour. She taught me something new; apparently coconut flour has such a high fibre content that it expands dramatically once you add your wet ingredients meaning you only need to use a third of what you would use with normal flours. I have a bag of coconut flour sitting unused in my pantry, I am best to remember this expansion effect when I first use it!
My favourite cake of the day was Red Hot Spatula’s Kuihs – little Asian style cakes made from rice flour, green bean flour and tapioca flour. It was interesting to find out that traditionally in Asian cultures they do not usually bake large cakes like what we are accustomed in Western society. Instead they tend to make small single serve cute little cakes. These cakes were steamed not baked and I loved them so much that I ordered some more from her to be delivered to my work the following fortnight! She was kind enough to share the recipe with us all as a guest post on Where the Wind Blow Me.
My bestie’s favourite cake for the day was the white chocolate, macadamia nut and honeycomb cake. This cake was subtle flavoured with all three elements and had a very moist, almost syrupy texture without being too gooey.
As well as being the welcoming hostess, Liv from Col Panna baked the “Best Cake full stop”; which was a hazelnut cake with Frangelico ganache. This deliciousness was nothing sort of incredible and was made even more spectacular in that the outer layer of the cake was the best part, not the centre like many standard cakes. My bride diet went completely out the window with this one. She was also kind enough to share her recipe for us all to try for ourselves.
A final cake of note was the raw chocolate avocado cake made by Bri from East Meets West. Unfortunately I didn’t try this one as it contained dates which are chock full of fructose. I figured after the sugar and dairy overload, I didn’t need to add a fructose blow out to deal with as well. It looked almost succulent and I watched enviously as the rest of the group devoured it.
One of the great things about these cake meets is that once we are all finished at the end, we all get to fill our own plates with slices of everyone else cakes to take home to share and enjoy. As much as I dreamed of eating cake for breakfast, the Boy tucked into the container as soon as I got home and there were only slim pickings by the following morning! I guess this is a good sign on how good the cakes were as he isn’t really a sweet tooth.
The next meet’s theme is Scandinavian style cakes and is on the 4th of August from 3-5 pm. If you are interested in joining this brilliant phenomenon click the link for details how to register.
Perth Clandestine Cake Club: http://clandestinecakeclub.co.uk/groups/perth-australia/
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Roasted Field mushrooms with Porcini Polenta
Posted by | Categories: Recipes, Vegetarian
After picking our own fabulous Field mushrooms on our visit to Millbrook Winery I decided to cook them up with a few extras in the fridge for our Meatless Monday meal. I had a packet of polenta with dried porcini that I purchased from Providore during our recent trip down to Margaret River and thought this traditional Italian dish would make a perfect and filling accompaniment to our roasted mushrooms. Better still I enjoyed it with one of the lovely wines I purchased from Millbrook! (You can read my review on our gorgeous lunch here.)
- 4-6 large field mushrooms
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- 1 garlic clove minced
- 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- Soft goats cheese
- Truffle oil to serve
- Preheat oven to 180°C.
- Place mushrooms in a heavy-based, non-stick roasting pan. Sprinkle thyme and crushed garlic over mushrooms and then drizzle with olive oil and vinegar. Season with salt and pepper and toss to combine.
- Cover the mushrooms with foil and cook in oven for 10 minutes.
- After 10 minutes remove the foil and bake for another 10-15 minutes until mushrooms are tender.
- Remove from oven and top with crumbled goats cheese and truffle oil.
- 1 cup dry white wine
- 1 cup rice milk (can use normal milk if not lactose intolerant)
- 2.5 cups gluten free chicken stock (I use Massels 7’s as they are also fructose friendly)
- 1 cup Providore Polenta with Porcini mushrooms (or use instant polenta and add your own dried porcini)
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- Freshly grated parmesan
- Bring the water and wine to the boil in a large heavy-based saucepan over high heat. Use a wire balloon whisk to stir the water. Gradually add the polenta in a thin steady stream, whisking constantly until all the polenta is incorporated into the water (whisking ensures the polenta is dispersed through the liquid as quickly as possible). Don’t add the polenta too quickly or it will turn lumpy.
- Reduce heat to low (cook the polenta over low heat otherwise it will cook too quickly and you will need to add extra water). Gradually add in the rice milk while simmering, while ensuring to stir constantly with a wooden spoon for 10 minutes or until the mixture thickens and the polenta is soft.
- Remove from heat. Add the parmesan and stir until well combined. Taste and season with salt and pepper. Serve immediately.
The recipe was inspired by Mushroom Mania which is happening all across Australia for the month of July 2012. There are over 2000 participating restaurants including many all over Western Australia who will be serving up delicious mushroomy dishes for us all to enjoy. The website also contains some delicious mushroom recipes so make sure you check it out.
You don’t have to be a blogger to win either! Just write a short review on a mushroom dish you enjoyed during the Mushroom Mania Month of July and you could win a $150 Best Restaurants of Australia Gift Card.
Click here for details.
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