vegan

 MISO SEAWEED POWER BREAKFAST 

| Liz Thomas

Beat breakfast boredom and start your day with a nutritional boost in an instant.


It takes no time to prepare just put some bean-thread noodles in a bowl with some dried mushrooms (I used cloud-ear and sliced shiitake) with some cut wakame seaweed, pour over boiling water and stir in a tablespoon of miso. Cover for 10mins while you get ready and Shazam! A delicious, healthy breakfast. 

Support your immune function, reduce inflammation, cultivate good gut bacteria, improve circulation and blood pressure and so much more. I recommend reading more if you are a nutrition nut like mwah. 

Miso: high in antioxidants, protein and fibre.

Bean thread vermicelli: lower gi than other noodles, mineral inch for cell health, I love these things they are fabulous in a Thai salad too.

Seaweed: adds Unami flavour and slippery texture a swell as protein, many vitamins and minerals.

Mushrooms: cloud-ear’s and shiitake are both used in traditional Chinese medicine and have anti everything: antimicrobial, antiviral, antitumour, antibacterial  and antioxidant qualities …………and promote general wellbeing! But I like them for the firm texture of the shiitake and the slippery texture of the cloud-ears. 

Get your mushrooms, noodles, non-Gm miso and wakame in your Asian supermarket. You can get most of these ingredients in your local large corporate supermarket however you might make a great discovery in the Asian store. Last time I found purple rice imagine the antioxidants in that! 

I get about 4-5hours of belly satisfaction from this if it’s got to get you through something really physical or a longer timeframe add some silken tofu or egg drizzled in at the preparation stage. 

Enjoy x

Namaste ❤️🙏 Liz 

Vego San Choi Bao

| Liz Thomas

  
 We shared a deliciously healthy treat tonight after yoga, giving one of my favourite Aussie-Chinese restaurant entrees the vegetarian treatment. We all agreed this one was better than usual pork or chicken version! Try it 🙂 I think you’ll love it too.

Namaste Liz 
Ingredients 

Sesasme oil

Coconut oil 

1-2 tablespoons Hoisin sauce 

1-2 tablespoons Sweet chilli sauce

Optional finely chopped chilli

1-2 garlic grated

2.5cm ginger grated

Half red capsicum, finely chopped

Small can water chesnuts, finely chopped

5 small cup mushrooms, finely chopped

Enoki mushrooms 

1large carrot, finely chopped

Bunch a of Spring onions, finely chopped

Bunch coriander, finely chopped leaves, root and stems

1 iceberg lettuce leaves whole,refreshed in cold water

3 tablespoons mung beans or other sprouts 

3 tablespoons chopped cashews
Method

Separate lettuce leaves and place in ice water or in a cold water in the fridge til ready to serve.

Fry in oils over a medium heat, white part of onions, coriander root and carrots for 5mins

Add garlic and ginger, stirring.

Add capsicum, chesnuts, coriander stems and cup mushrooms.

Add sauces.

Cover and cook for 5mins.

Stir through enoki, coriander leaves, green part spring onion, mung beans and nuts.

Serve warm mixture in cold lettuce cups.

All your Veg Asian Slaw with Cashews and Crunchy Noodles

| Liz Thomas

 

 
The most delicious way to get your veg is to make a dressing that is hot, salty, sweet and sour. Fresh lime, chilli and ginger are the champs in this salad: chop it all up and stir it through the salad veg and voila! It tastes like a cross between a Thai and Vietnamese salad.

Clean out the crisper with this one. You can use any crunchy veg sliced up fine in any combination. Make up a huge container it stays crunchy for days without the dressing. You will look forward to your lunch everyday.

I used the leftovers of this salad to make a delicious kimchi-like wild ferment mmmm

Inspired by the recipe on the back of the noodle packet, this version is punked right up with big flavours. Enjoy making your own versions with whatever you have on hand. The most important part is to get the balance to your liking in the dressing which depend on the sweetness in your lime and the heat in your chilli, so taste it before you dress it.

lovely on its own or even better with some tofu marinated in soy, fivespice powder and seasame oil.

Salmon grilled, sliced steak, prawns or chicken also make this into a wonderful meal. Even a can of tuna, for a work lunch, is a good match.

Ingredients

Fried Noodles, handful

Cashews, dry roasted in a warm pan for a few minutes

Zest of two limes

1/4- 1/2 wombok, chinese cabbage or any cabbage, finely sliced

10 cavalo nero, black cabbage, stripped from the stem, very finely sliced

1 red capsicum/pepper finely sliced

1 green capsicum/pepper finely sliced

1-2 cucumbers cut into strips

1-2 carrots sliced with a vegetable peeler nd cut on diagonal

1 cup coriander or vietnamese mint or lemon basil or combo, roughly chopped

optional red chilli finely sliced

Dressing

1 tespoon seasame oil

2cm knob of fresh ginger, if you keep your ginger in the freezer its easier to grate

1 clove of garlic finely grated

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1-2 tablespoons sweet chilli sauce or fresh chilli & 1-3 teaspoons sugar

optional fish sauce

2 limes squeezed, plus lime wedges to serve

Method

  1. Mix all the veg and lime zest together and refrigerate until ready to serve.
  2. Put all dressing ingredients in a jar and shake, taste and adjust to your liking so the flavours are balanced.
  3. When your ready to serve assemble all ingedients in a bowl reserving some nuts and noodles for the top, mix thouroughly and taste and adjust for balance.
  4. Serve with lime wedges, nuts, noodles and any additional protein of your choice. MIX!

There you go Yogis! This is one of our recipes from Monday Munchies, a little sharing of food love after class, this one was requested by Julia. Love my yoga friends.

namaste 

Liz


Fennel and Apple Salad

| Liz Thomas

A refreshing salad treat, ideal with fish.
This is the easiest recipe without doubt. If you have a mandolin it takes about a minute to prepare. I don’t really recommend making this more than a couple of hours ahead because both the fennel and apple will brown after a day even with the lemon juice on it.

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Ingredients
Fennel with its tops
Sweet apple like a pink lady
lemon juice
option parmesan cheese
Method
Finely slice fennel bulb and apple
dress with lemon juice and sprinkle the finer fronds from the fennel tops over the top
Option grate parmesan cheese with a potato peeler and sprinkle on top
eat

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Quinoa Tabouli made gluten free and turned superfood

| Liz Thomas

In Australia, we may have got our taste for tabouli from the late night kebab shop after a night on the tiles, but its favour endures way past our extended adolescence.
The trick is to do all the chopping and then fridge it till your ready to eat and dress at the last minute.
This is a beautiful salad to eat with falafel (chickpea fritters) or grilled fish and meats, maybe with a little tahini sauce. Its so good for you with all the parsley and mint but the quinoa pumps up the nutrients with its complete amino acid profile.
Play around with the ingredient ratios, they are approximate and made to my taste. Enjoy getting it right for you.

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Ingredients

2 cups finely chopped parsley
1 cup finely chopped mint
1 cup spring onions finely sliced
1 cup tomatoes, seeds removed and finely diced
1 cup cooked quinoa, you cook it like rice with the absorption method. Boil two cups of water,add thrice rinsed quinoa, simmer on low for 10mins ,rinse again under cold water.Drain.Makes more than you need for this recipe, use leftovers in soup, patties or as a as rice substitute.
S&P
1 teaspoon of ground cumin
Drizzle of Olive oil and juice of half a lemon juice
Method

Combine and serve!

Make a tahini sauce for spooning over meat/falafel by mixing 1 tablespoon of lemon juice with one teaspoon of tahini in a small bowl with the back of a spoon, add salt and grated garlic if you wish. Thin with a few drops of water to your liking. mmmmmm
And before you ask can Yogis eat meat? Yes they can! Vegetarianism is a personal choice.
Namaste Liz

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Middle eastern Rice & Lentils- with optional lamb or goat

| Liz Thomas

The spices in this dish are the heroes. Dont skimp and try to freshly grind them if you can.
Great for using up leftover roast meat or utilising mince. This feeds alot of people, double the ingredients and easily feed a party.

From a yoga perspective it has more vegetable content than meat so it is quite balanced. However it will be really yummy without the meat!

IMG_0845.JPGIngredients

300g       lamb/goat mince or chopped left-over roast
1-2cups  white (I use basmati for its higher GI) rice
400g       cooked lentils, canned or simmer dry brown or french lentils with garlic, half an onion and cinnamon stick for 10-15 mins till tender

3                red or brown onions caramelised: slice and fry in olive oil or butter and 1-2 tablespoons of butter for 1/2 hour on medium, add 1 teaspoon of brown sugar/honey and 1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar and fry for 10 mins till reduced.
1                clove garlic
1/4 cup   chopped, roasted almonds and/or cashews
1-2 cups  stock
1 teaspoon each cinnamon, allspice, and cumin
S & P

Method

1. If using mince fry in olive oil till brown and finely broken up
2. Add garlic and spices fry for 1-2 mins
3. Stir in rice and fry for 2 mins
4. Add stock, cook covered on low heat for 10-15 mins and rice is tender.
5. Add onions, lentils, nuts, S & P. Stir well.
6. Garnish with parsley and/or coriander.

Namaste Liz

Yummiest Raw Muesli x 2 Cherry Choc & Mango Pistachio

| Liz Thomas

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70% Oats: whole rolled oats is cheap and yummy, not mention a superfood, in fact this recipe is all super-foods!
10% Raw Nuts: Pistachio, macadamias, almonds, cashews
1% Chia seeds
9% Dried Coconut, flaked or shredded
10 %Dried Fruit: Sultanas, chopped mango, currants, cherries
2-3 tablespoons Cinnamon or Raw Cacao/Coco powder

The fun of making muesli is that there are no rules however I have found that these combos work really well. All my airbnb guest love em too. I have had requests for the recipe so here are two.

Combine the above ingredients in roughly the described quantities in a very large jar and shake.

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For a Cherry Ripe flavour profile dominate with dried Cherries and Cacao.
For a Tropical Treat use plenty of mango and pistachio.
ITS THAT EASY!

You can just eat it with milk, but, there is an art to eating raw muesli that minimises the feeling that you may need to chew all morning. Just pour boiling water over your muesli and let stand for about 10mins, it will soak up the water and soften the ingredients, helping with digestion and chewability.
I stir through some plain, unsweetened yoghurt. I find that its sweet enough for me with all the dried fruit, but you may wish to add fresh fruit or a drizzle of honey.

 

 

 

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Namaste and Bright Blessings Liz

 

Mushroom, Potato and Leek soup……… starring Chervil

| Liz Thomas

Simple yet special with Chervil

I love my Farmers Market in Moruya (voted no#1 in Australia!) and this week there was a lovely new stall holder with homebaked goodies and home grown herbage. I just think its fabulous that our farmers market allows the home gardener to bring in their excess produce to share with the community.

Chervil, is not commonly available in regular retail outlets and I haven’t grown it. It has a beautiful, delicate anise flavour with fern-like foliage that is very pretty. Apparently it had traditional medicinal properties for memory and wellbeing. The origins of its name come from Greek and means to enjoy! This recipe certainly fits the bill.

I like to try something new from the market, this week its Chervil is my challenge ingredient. I am no “Iron Chef” however when our beautiful spring weather turned a little blustery I was keen to put on the fire, probably for the last time for the year and get a soup happening.

EAT MORE VEG! is my mantra of the moment so here we have a simple lovely warmer for a cool day in Spring or Autumn/Fall if you are in the northern hemisphere 🙂

The result is a bit special so go ahead and grow your own or find a friend with some, of course it would be great with parsley too.

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Mushroom Potato and Leek Soup

INGREDIENTS
500g peeled potato
6 roughly chopped mushrooms
3 medium leek whites, finely sliced
1 small garlic clove roughly chopped
1 litre stock, I think mine was chicken, who knows in my freezer! powdered is fine.
butter or olive oil
nutmeg
chervil roughly chopped

METHOD

1. Sweat leeks in frying medium on low, add mushies and garlic and cook for a further 5mins.
2. Add potato and stock, simmer for 15mins.
3. Grate half a whole nutmeg or half a tsp of ground nutmeg, season with S & P.
4. Wizz in the blender and serve for a healthy version or add cream for an indulgent one.
5. Serve with abundant chervil and perhaps some homemade bread.
6. ENJOY!

Namaste Liz