Olive Beet & Nut Tapenade

I'm in love with Olive Tapenade, so decided to make my own. Once again no recipe because anything goes!!

Olives, Almonds, Walnuts, Beets are the ingredients.

Rough Olive Beet & Nut Tapenade Recipe:


2 or 3 Tbsp Olives (Black & Green) pitted
1 Tbsp Raw Almonds
1 Tbsp Raw Walnuts
1 Tbsp Cooked Beet
2 small cloves Garlic
1 fresh Tabasco pepper
1 tsp soaked Fava Beans
1 tsp soaked Chickpeas
2 Tbsp Turmeric Infused Olive Oil & Kalunji Oil
1 tsp Apple Cider Vinegar

Thanks to The Bullet, I blended them all to make a paste consistency.

Please note:  Avoid adding - the deadly white - Salt.  The olives are usually soaked or preserved in salt water, so they provide the dish with enough salt.

All the Curried Nuts a Chicken Can Get

 

Raisin and Nut Crumble with Coconut Curried Chicken, Radicchio & Red Peppers

All within a few days of each other, I ended up with the same ingredients. But I wanted to do a different recipe. So SPICES to the rescue!

Curry it was! 

which means more Turmeric 

I prepared the Nut & Raisin Crumble the same way as I prepared it in the Nuts, Fig & Raisin Crust Chicken Pizza minus the eggs and the zaatar. The dough didn't hold too well due to the lack of a binder (the egg) - so I crumbled it. I also added a tsp of curry powder to the mix.

On the side I had marinated the chicken in the curry powder & cooked it with garlic & onions. Unlike the Pizza recipe, I decided to slightly cook the available vegetables by adding them to the cooked chicken right before I took it off the stove. 

Red Bell Peppers

Radicchio

Lettuce

Raisins

1 tsp shredded Coconut

Lastly I needed a sauce, so went with a Coconut Curry sauce. 

¼ cup light coconut milk

1 tsp soy sauce

½ tsp toasted sesame oil

1 tbsp shredded Coconut

½ tsp curry powder

1 clove garlic, minced

½ tsp Sriracha hot chili sauce

1 tsp cornstarch

Whisk all ingredients in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce heat and let the mixture simmer for about 2-3 minutes until glossy and thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.

With pretty much the same ingredients, I was able to make 2 different recipes with different tastes. The options are endless!

Leafy Greens & Chicken Crêpe with Beet Béchamel Sauce

So I decided to attempt the crepe. And I flipped it too!

I had some defrosted chicken and a bunch of random greens in the fridge. Beets were simmering in pot on the stove & almonds were soaking in water overnight.

Chopped the chicken into pieces and marinated them with mashed garlic, half a lemon and beet juice. Pinch of salt, pinch of  pepper and a squeeze of mustard.

As for the leafy's, I had Dandelion greens, Brussels sprouts, and Radicchio (red in colour), which i roughly chopped. As I also did with the soaked almonds.






On the side, I had the batter for the Crêpes prepared
½ cup water 
½ cup milk
1 cup flour
2 eggs
2 tbsp butter
¼ tsp salt


Beet Béchamel Sauce
1 tbsp oil
1 tbsp flour
Stir flour into hot oil , slowly add
1 cup milk
Avoiding adding it quickly, so sauce may clump
Add a pinch of salt and white pepper to taste (White pepper gets disguised, whereas black pepper can be seen) as well as mashed garlic.

For added flavor, you can add herbs or cheese or even spices.

Here, I added beet juice to the sauce to give it a pinkish colour,
 
Then got a little excited and added my turmeric infused Olive-Kalunji Oil for a health kick, the colour went from pinch to peach, but still tasted good.


- I sauteed the chicken, then added the greens and the nuts and slightly sauteed. 
- Crêpes batter, was poured in pan & swirled around.

Plating time:
Placed sauteed chicken & green mix into crêpe, folded it & poured beet béchamel sauce over it.

Wholy Wheat & Nuts

Whole Wheat & Nuts


Great as a snack or a breakfast. This dish is filled with nutrients, vitamins and dietary fibres. It consists of boiled whole wheat (which unlike porridge - keeps it's shape due to the outer layer of the 'whole' wheat)  it's this skin in whole wheat that provides us with the whole wheat health benefits. As for the nuts, a mix of natural raw almonds, raw pistachios, and raw walnuts are added. Take note that they are raw, this is the best way to get all the benefits and nutrients from nuts. 


This dish is beneficial for Digestive Health, Heart health & Mental Health.

 
HOW TO:

This recipe is trés simple.
Portion size: 2

½ cup Whole Wheat
2 ½ cup Boiled Water

¼ cup Mixed Raw Nuts (Walnuts, Whole Almonds, Green Pistachios)
½ tsp Honey



You could also add:
2 tbsps of Shredded Coconut (powder)
2 tbsps Dried fruits (Raisins, prunes, apricots, figs, dates)
OR
2 tbsps Pomegranate Arils

 


 DIRECTIONS:

• It's best if the nuts are soaked in water over night, or less - but if you are making it on the spot you can use non-soaked nuts.
• In a pot boil the whole wheat for about 30 minutes.
• Drain whole wheat of water, and let cool slightly
• Mix in nuts (coconut) & Honey
• Enjoy

I have to admit, I sometimes cheat with this recipe, and add sugar instead of honey - Against what I preach since I think sugar is one of the "deadly whites", but I sometimes prefer the taste that sugar adds to this recipe. So since your tastes buds may not be familiar to this recipe, I suggest you train them with a healthier option for sweetening.

Note: With the addition of dried fruits, you could avoid addition of sugar or sweetening agents since they'd provide with the 'sugars'

Wild Purple & Yellow Breakfast

 
Today I woke up with the thought of making breakfast. Initial thought was eggs, but I needed more oomph to the dish. Not having an idea as to what's in the fridge, I opened it to notice some boiled beets, & boiled quinoa.  I felt like I needed more ingredients, so I opened the vegetable drawer to find some yams and orange bell peppers.  All ingredients out of the fridge, now I needed to figure out what to make.



Ingredient List:

Eggs - Quinoa - Beets - Wild Rice - Flax Seed - Raw Almonds - Yam - Orange Bell Peppers - Garlic - Cayenne - Black Pepper - Olive Oil    AND    Blackberries


Wild Purple Quinoa 
I decided to mix the quinoa with the beets and add some fibre to it. I boiled some wild rice, and also ground flax seed and ground raw almond nuts.

Yam & Pepper Medley
For this, I chopped the yam and peppers, (boiled the yams) and then quickly stir fried the with some cayenne and black pepper & garlic. I had accidentally made too much wild rice for the quinoa, so I used the rest here.

Egg
Simple easy sunny side up egg, with a sprinkle of cayenne, blackpepper and salt.

Blackberry Beet juice
to top this all off I made a juice to drink later on as a mini snack. I say snack, because along with the beets and blackberries & orange juice, I added ground flax seed and ground raw almonds. These provide you with the nutrients, without altering the taste of the juice. Please note NO SUGAR was added. Blackberries alone give the sweet taste, and Beets are usually a source of sugar.. so don't add the sugar if you don't need it.

Base-ically Nuts!

Mini Nut Crackers with Spicy Chicken & Tomato Topping

Nuts are a wonderful addition to foods, when in search of a healthy diet. Fiber full - nuts can clean your digestive system, help in losing weight & add plenty of nutrients to the body

To prepare this recipe, you'll need a Handful each of walnuts, almonds, pinenuts, coconut powder, and dried figs. A tablespoon of Kalonji and 2 tablespoons of Flax seed all mixed together and ground into a powder.


I added some turmeric to the mix and a drop or 2 of water. Now u have a dough like paste.

Flatten in to crackers and bake until golden.




The crackers taste wonderful as is! Very similar to a nut filled granola bar. You can add a little bit of natural sweetener and you've got yourself a nut filled cookie. I didn't find the need for sugar (maybe because I added dried figs to the mix, which probably gave it it sweetness.)  You can change the recipe to your liking, add more of what you like, or eliminate what you don't like. Plus there are plenty of other nuts that weren't included here, that you can include if you like.




Or you can add any toppings you'd like.

Here I have stir fried chicken, with fresh tomatoes, fresh purple cabbage and fresh hot peppers. My spices for the chicken consisted of cayenne of course, and Cajun spices.