Stuffed Sweet Potato.

The Holiday Season is coming and I already started experimenting with different recipes to be ready in time. It is so much easier to try different recipes before and pick your favorite ones for the holiday table.

Last week we have been to the Apple Farm and brought home 5 pounds of apples. This was one of the reasons to make something with apples.

The recipe I am sharing today is surprisingly good and delicious. It has all the fall holiday flavors and during the cooking your kitchen will smell like the fall harvest for a long time.

Just a little note. My potatoes were a little dry, so next time I might need to use more coconut oil, or apple sauce.

This dish will definitely work for Thanksgiving Dinner, as a side dish.

Stuffed Sweet Potato.

5 sweet potatoes

2 tablespoons coconut oil

2 tablespoons applesauce

2 tablespoons maple syrup

1/4 cup chopped pecans

1/4 cup dried cranberries

1/4 cup peeled and finely diced apple

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 pinch salt

Preheat oven to 400

Wash and peel the sweet potatoes 3/4 of the way, leaving some peel on the bottom of the potato.

 Slice potato as thinly as you can.

Rub them with a little coconut oil.

Oil a baking dish or line it with parchment paper.

In a small bowl, mix together the rest of the ingredients.

Carefully try to push some of the stuffing mixture between the slices.

Pile the remaining stuffing on top of each potato.

Drizzle any remaining liquid over the potatoes.

Cover the dish with foil and bake for 40 minutes.

Remove the foil and bake for another 10 – 15 minutes, being careful not to burn the topping.

Allow to cool for 5 minutes before serving.

Apple Pie.

I was waiting for this moment the whole summer: to make an apple pie. Apple season started early this year, but I didn’t crave for apple pie until last week. It happened one afternoon, it was chilly outside and I just wanted to have a bite of warm cinnamon apple pie. I didn’t want to make the regular apple pie, it should have been healthy version of my favorite fall dessert.

So I took all the ingredients out and found out that we have only 2 apples left. I didn’t want to wait till the next day, to go and get more apples, so I used some pears in my pie too, and it worked great, and helped me not to use sugar in the filling at all.

The crust turned out really good, and you couldn’t say it was made of oat and coconut flour and coconut butter.

It tasted like the regular apple pie, but I knew, it was made the healthy way, and to my surprise it was finished in 1 hour. Looks like I am not the only fan of apple pies here.

The recipe is gluten free. I used eggs for the crust but feel free to use the egg replacement to make the recipe completely vegan.

Healthy Apple Pie ( Gluten Free).

Ingredients:

1 cup oat flour

1/2 cup coconut flour

2 tsp. baking powder

3 tbsp. coconut sugar

pinch of sea salt

2 eggs

1/2 cup coconut butter.

Filling:

2 sliced apples

2 sliced pears

1/2 cup water

1 tsp arrowroot powder

1tsp cinnamon

1.Combine the first 6 ingredients in a food processor. It will be pretty dry.  Then start to add coconut butter until the mixture forms into a dough.  Roll out the dough and place it in pie pan.

2. For the filling combine all the ingredients and simmer it on the pan on the low heat, stirring every once in a while. It should be ready in 10 minutes.

3. Preheat oven to 170C [340F]. Fill  the crust with apple mixture – making sure to spread fruit evenly and fill any gaps.

4. Bake for 50-60 minutes on a middle rack until golden and bubbly.

5. Let it cool for 10-15 minutes. Enjoy!!!!

Vegetarian Tom Kah Thai Coconut Soup.

This is a delicious, vegan version of Thai coconut soup.

I love making soup, because it doesn’t take a lot of time to cook and you can save leftovers for the next day.

My journey with Thai food started in US, and I can say it ended up pretty fast, because I am not a big fan of it. The only dish that I like is coconut soup. They usually use animal or seafood products in their dishes, but this recipe is completely vegan and all the ingredients would be familiar for you and easy to find. The ethic sections of most supermarkets now carry green curry paste.

By adding the lime last, you preserve its vitamins and prevent the soup from turning sour.

Vegetarian Tom Kah Coconut Soup.

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cup coconut milk

3 cups low-sodium vegetable broth

3tbs green curry paste

2tbs Tamari

1 cup sliced Baby Bella mushrooms

3 cups broccoli florets

3/4 cup chopped scallion

1tsp. powdered stevia

3 tbs fresh lime juice

1tbs lime zest

1. Heat the coconut milk and vegetable broth in a large pot, along with the green curry paste and tamari. Bring to a boil, then quickly reduce heat to a simmer. Add the mushrooms, broccoli and scallions, and cook gently for 2-3 minutes, or until they are just slightly cooked, but retain most of their crispness.

2. Remove the pot from the heat and stir in the rest of the ingredients.

3. Ladle the soup into bowl.

Optional: Garnish with chopped cilantro.

Enjoy.

Hazelnut Chocolate Peach Ice Cream Cake.

The peaches season is coming to the end. I want to enjoy them as long as possible, because it is impossible to find the ripe, juicy, real peaches by the next summer in our area.

Nutrition in peaches has health benefits for antioxidants, even its content not as much as other fruits such bananas. Calories in raw peach every 100 gr is 39 calories.

Peach has anti-aging properties, increase immunity and is detoxification or help remove toxins from the body. Peach is also rich in fiber, vitamins A, B, C, and E and has a high antioxidant content.

When I use peaches at the recipe I always try to keep them as fresh as possible, with all juice and moist in them.

This time I made Raw Hazelnut Chocolate Peach Ice Cream Cake. To my surprise, peaches work great with chocolate, and make a great combination in the cold desserts.

This is a very easy and delicious frozen cake. It will take you about 20 minutes to make and after a couple hours in the freezer you will get the fancy, healthy, delicious summer desert.

Raw Hazelnut Chocolate Peach Ice Cream Cake.

Ingredients:

Cake Base:

1 1/2 cups raw hazelnuts, soaked
1 cup coconut flakes
3/4 cup raw cacao powder
1 cup date paste

Cream Layer:
5 peaches
1 banana
1/4 tsp ground vanilla bean

Process hazelnuts until they are fine crumbs. In a large bowl, combine hazelnuts, date paste, coconut and cacao powder until it is combined like a dough. Press into a pie pan and prepare the filling.

In a blender, blend the peaches with the banana and vanilla bean until completely smooth and creamy.

Pour the filling over the crust and freeze for 4 hours or until the topping is solid.

Enjoy frozen !

Red Curry Coconut Lentils.

My recipes with lentils improve day by day. I like to eat it, when it’s being cooked the right way, looks good and tastes delicious.

The benefits of lentils never end. This is one of the best plant based protein source, and to my surprise my daughter loves it.

Unfortunately, when I made this dish, she couldn’t try it, because it was too spicy. Next time, I just need to change it a little bit, to let her enjoy this delicious dish with us.

I already said that I like to make something very easy, but at the same time the food should be healthy, delicious and takes the least time to make.

This recipe has it all, and its leftovers are even better than fresh cooked one.

Don’t forget about the best combination for lentil: rice. You definitely need to eat your lentil with grains. Pairing two incomplete protein foods together, such as lentils and whole grain rice, will form a complete protein. This is important if you happen to be a vegan or strict vegetarian. Even if you were to eat lentils and brown rice at different times of day, they still help build protein in the body. The key is to consume them within a 24-hour time frame.

I served it with brown rice, but you can use any kind of rice.

Red Curry Coconut Lentils.

Ingredients:

• 1½ cups lentils, rinsed and picked over
• ½ large onion, diced
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons red curry paste
• ½ tablespoon garam masala
• 1 teaspoon curry powder
• ½ teaspoon turmeric
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon minced ginger
• a few good shakes of cayenne pepper
• 1 14 ounce can tomato puree
• ¼ cup coconut milk or cream
• cilantro for garnishing
• rice for serving

Instructions:

1. Cook the lentils according to directions. Drain and set aside.
2. Pour the oil in a large saucepan over medium high heat. Add the onion and saute for a few minutes until fragrant and golden. Add all the spices (curry paste, garam masala, curry powder, turmeric, cayenne, sugar, garlic, ginger) and stir fry for 1-2 minutes. Add the tomato sauce; stir and simmer until smooth.
3. Add the lentils and the cream. Stir to combine and simmer for another 15-20 minutes (the longer, the better)! Serve over rice and garnish with cilantro.

Raw Banana Strawberry Cream Cake.

My experiments with raw desserts never end. I try a lot of recipes during the week, and pick my favorite ones to share with you.

The raw treats taste different from the cooked ones. They have deep flavors. They are juicy and naturally sweet. They are REAL, because they are made of real food.

I made couple of cakes recently, and my 2 years old daughter thinks it’s somebody’s birthday all the time. As soon as she sees the new cake, she starts singing “Happy Birthday!” song. So we have pretending birthday parties almost every day.

This recipe is from one amazing girl’s blog, who follows raw food diet. Her recipes and ideas are amazing. I changed the recipe a little bit, but this raw cake tastes delicious.

If any of you likes frozen dessert treats, this recipe is for you. This is the healthy and delicious version of ice-cream cake.

Banana Strawberry Cream Cake.

Pink filling:

3 bananas

2 cups frozen strawberries (or other berries)

1-3 tablespoons coconut oil (optional but it will make it creamier)

Cream exterior:

2 cups macadamia nuts

2 cup dates

2 peeled orange

2 tablespoons melted coconut oil

Water, as needed

Put the bananas in your blender, followed by the frozen berries and blend until smooth. Spread evenly into a spring form pan.

Freeze until solid.

To make the cream layer: soak macadamia nuts in the water for 4 hours.

Rinse the water from the nuts.

Blend all ingredients until smooth, adding as LITTLE water possible, if you need any at all. The less water you use, the creamier it will be. Spread the macadamia cream layer on the top of the pink one.

Freeze until solid and then garnish with strawberries.

Slice and enjoy!

Store in the freezer.

Recomendations: I will use a little macadamia nuts in the pink layer next time, to make it more creamier.

I will use cashews next time instead of macadamia nuts.

The Best Homemade Baby Food On The Planet

I remember myself deciding what should I feed my baby. Do I make baby food by myself or just go to the store and buy organic baby food there?

My choice was obvious. I decided to do it by myself.

The baby food is very easy to make, but you need some ideas and recipes for it. You can search the internet, find the recipes, but it might take you more time as you expect.

I got the baby food book that helped me a lot: The Best Homemade Baby Food On The Planet.

The Best Homemade Baby Food on the Planet is the single most comprehensive baby food book available today.Written by two highly-respected experts, the book contains more than 200 delicious, wholesome and natural baby food recipes along with guidance that takes the guesswork out of cooking for baby. It’s a must-have for moms, dads and grandparents alike!

Each recipe is simple to make and doesn’t require complicated steps or expensive ingredients. Most recipes can be made in 10 minutes or less! The book also provides information about what foods are safe to introduce to baby from weaning to two years of age.

Praised by pediatricians, The Best Homemade Baby Food on the Planet features:

• Nutrition analysis for every recipe
• Beautiful full-color photographs
• An easy-to-spot snowflake  symbol next to recipes that are perfect for freezing
• Valuable information about infant nutrition and oral care, allergies and optimal development
• A fun recipe evaluation chart, so you can rate what meals your little one likes best

From baby’s first purées to meals for the active toddler, the recipes and suggestions in The Best Homemade Baby Food on the Planet pave the way for your child to enjoy a lifetime of good health!

I tried many recipes from the book and they worked great.

I really liked the chapter about the Best early Nutrition for you little ones at the end of the book. The guide to Vitamins is fantastic. It explains every vitamin in details, what it does, source of it for every age.

If you are deciding what to feed your baby now, I would highly recommend to read this book.

Rosemary Cauliflower “Mashed Potatoes”.

Potatoes are very popular in Ukraine. I remember from my childhood, we ate potatoes almost every day. My favorite dish was mashed potatoes with piece of chicken. I could eat mashed potatoes for breakfast, lunch and dinner. To tell you the truth, I still love it, but don’t cook it very often.

Because it is not recommended to mix the starchy vegetables with the animal protein, I kept looking for some recipe that will work and taste as good as my favorite dish from the past.

When I found Cauliflower ” mashed potatoes” idea, I wasn’t sure if it tastes good. It might taste good as a cauliflower, but not as good as mashed potatoes.

Anyway, I got the huge head of cauliflower and tried to cook it at home.

This cauliflower-based version is the same texture to enjoy as mashed potato, but sans the butter, whole milk and table salt that make mashed potatoes a beauty-busting food.

It turned out so delicious for me, and tasted like REAL mashed potato. My husband still doesn’t know, how I made it, because he called it mashed potatoes:)

Rosemary Cauliflower “Mashed Potatoes”

1 head cauliflower, broken into florets, stem and leaves removed

1 small garlic clove, minced

1/2 cup almond or coconut milk

1tbs olive oil

Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Sea salt, to taste

1tsp. dried rosemary

Bring water to a boil and steam cauliflower in a steamer for about 6-7 minutes, until softens.

Put the cauliflower florets in a food processor with the blade in place. Add garlic, almond milk, olive oil, black pepper, sea salt and rosemary. Pulse long enough to achieve the desired consistency.

Adjust seasonings to taste.

I served it with baked salmon and fresh veggies salad.