Food to help you detox

Check out this cool picture on the different foods that help detox the different parts of the body.

Source: Live Love Fruit



Roast Vegetables with Tahini Sauce

Vegetables are already packed full of flavour this recipe adds a bit of extra pizzazz to the vegetables.

Tahini is a paste made from ground, hulled sesame seeds and is popular in middle eastern cooking. Tahini is an excellent source of copper, manganese and the amino acid methionine.Tahini is a source of the healthy fatty acids omega-3 and omega-6. Tahini's relatively high levels of calcium and protein make it a useful addition to vegetarian and vegan diets, as well as to raw food diets when eaten in its unroasted form. Compared to peanut butter, tahini has higher levels of fiber and calcium and lower levels of sugar and saturated fats

Ingredients

• A selection of fresh vegetables. Some good choices are potato, pumpkin, sweet potato, cauliflower, capsicum, mushrooms, zucchini and carrots. Chop up into bite size pieces.
• 1-2 tablespoons cooking oil
• 1-2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1-2 teaspoons paprika
• 3 tablespoons tahini
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice
• 3 tablespoons boiling water
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Preparation
Preheat oven to 180'C. Toss vegetables, oil, cumin and paprika in a baking pan. Place in oven and bake until vegetables are tender.
In another bowl mix tahini, lemon juice, water and salt, until a smooth paste is formed.
Remove vegetables from oven place on serving plate and drizzle with tahini sauce.

How you can eat more Parsley

My previous blog explained the benefits of consuming parsley. This is a cheap and easy salad that goes well with just about any meat or seafood. It even tastes great on its own. My version of Tabouli is definitely not traditional.

Ingredients

Large handful Parsley, chopped

Half handful Mint, chopped

1 Tomato, diced

1/4 Spanish Onion, diced

1 spring onion, diced

1/4 cup couscous, prepared as on packet

Juice of one Lime

2 tablespoons Olive Oil

Pinch Salt and Pepper

 

Ingredients for Tabouli

Directions

Mix all solid ingredients in bowl. Add lime and olive just before serving.

 

Finished Product

Why you should eat more Parsley

Parsley has a great combination of vitamins, flavonoids and nutrients. It contains chlorophyll which has the power to help purify the liver, blood and kidneys. It also has anti-inflammatory properties that aid everything from the urinary tract infections to swollen gums.  It is an antioxidant and has anti bacterial properties. Forget about it as a garnish, whip up a tabouli now.

Parsley has three times the Vitamin C of Oranges!

What's in Season April

Want to know what's in season this month in NZ check out the list below.

Apples

Avocado

Beans

Beetroot

Brussel Sprouts

Buttercup Squash

Butternut Pumpkin

Capsicums

Chillis

Zucchini

Eggplant

Feijoa

Fennel

Kiwi Fruits

Leeks

Limes

Mango

Parsnips

Passionfruit

Pears

Plums

Pumpkins

Snow Peas

Swedes

Sweet Corn

Turnips

Tomatoes and Roasted Tomato Soup

Following Last weeks blog entry, here is are some ideas on how to include tomatoes in your diet as well as a healthy soup to help the body get some of those great benefits from tomatoes.

• Add sliced tomatoes to sandwiches—from tuna to turkey
• Chop tomatoes in salad (leave them at room temperature, if possible)
• Use tomato sauces (canned, cooked, or homemade) on pasta; this can be big kilojoule savings when you swap out creamy sauces for tomato-based sauces
• Drink tomato juice or vegetable juice with tomatoes
• Tomatoes for breakfast? Top scrambled eggs with coarsely chopped tomatoes or add them to toast
• Eat tomatoes as a mid-afternoon snack
• Make a tomato sandwich
• Add canned or stewed tomatoes to soups and stews, like vegetable soup or beef stew
• Serve stewed tomatoes over a baked potato (also great on mashed potatoes)
• Make your own salsa with lots of fresh tomato—salsa is a great replacement for high-fat salad dressings as well as being tasty on meats, fish, and eggs

Roasted Tomato Soup
Ingredients

• 800g ripe tomatoes
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• Salt
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1 Spanish onion, chopped
• 3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 bunch basil, leaves torn

Method

Preheat oven to 220C. Pick green tops off tomatoes and put in a roasting pan with 1 tablespoon olive oil, a sprinkling of salt and garlic cloves, unpeeled. Toss everything together and cook on the top shelf of the oven for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, cook onion in a large saucepan over a low heat with the remaining olive oil for 10 minutes, until soft and translucent. Add balsamic vinegar to the onions, stir and reduce for 5 minutes.

Remove tomatoes from oven and carefully skin the garlic, using two forks to extract the flesh. Add tomatoes and garlic to onions. Pour mixture into a food processor. Add basil and whiz, leaving the soup quite chunky. Pour soup into bowls and drizzle with olive oil.