Author Archives: Janna Boulat

Cauliflower and Almond Soup

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How versatile cauliflower is! It is a pack of vitamins and fibre. Cauliflower belongs to the same family as cabbage, broccoli, and most of green leaf vegetables.

Its taste is mild, creamy and slightly sweet, that makes it a perfect candidate to be partnered with delicate almond flavours. I am delighted with this combination, this is why my soup doesn’t have many ingredients and it has two simple steps to cook. A perfect soup for spring or autumn, hope you will enjoy it too.

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Cauliflower and Almond Soup

Ingredients:

1 L filtered water
1 L almond milk
1 Kg fresh cauliflower
1 leek white (about 20 cm)
Seasoning
Optional: 0.5 g saffron

Method:

1. Separate all the cauliflower florets and finely slice the leek. If using saffron soak it in little water.
2. Cook the vegetables in the water with seasoning until soft, then add the saffron.
3. Process the soup until smooth and serve warm by gradually adding the almond milk. Serve warm.

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Cashew Feta Vegan Cheese

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Cheese lovers might not approve my post.

I consider myself lucky as I am well with goat or sheep dairy products whereas cow milk products don’t agree with me. A friend of mine, who is vegan, introduced me to an almond feta cheese and I loved it.

After a few experiments, I found that a texture of cashews are more to my liking for the vegan feta cheese option. I have other recipes with cashew as an ingredient and you can find more information on this product there, for example lemon and cashew dessert .

Here I am, publishing the final version of my new recipe, please enjoy!

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Vegan Cashew Feta Cheese.

Ingredients:

2 cups raw cashews
1/2 teaspoon table salt
lemon juice

Dressing:
3/4 cup virgin olive oil
3 cloves garlic, finely sliced
2 soft rosemary, chopped
a few dill, chopped
1/4 lemon, juice separated and put aside.
1 teaspoon pepper corns

*a glass jar min 400ml; a tray or a container about 30cm x 40cm.

Method:

1. Overnight, soak the cashews in the filtered water, also infuse the oil with all the dressing ingredients.
2. On the next day, rinse and process cashews in the food processor with salt and the lemon juice saved from last night until smooth and fine.
3. Place baking paper on the tray or container, transfer processed cashews and make an even layer about 1.5-2 cm thick, cover airtight and refrigerate for a few hours.
4. Cut the whole cashew layer into the cubes or ‘fingers’.
5. Place the herbs from the infused oil into a glass jar and stack the cashew feta pieces on top, then pour the oil over it. Refrigerate for 2- 3 days before consuming.

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Pumpkin and Chia Jam

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Yet another Pumpkin recipe!

If you’ve managed to quit the sugar or trying to, but craving for a jam, try this recipe. You will love it!

Maybe you have some baked pumpkin left from Pumpkin Bread recipe, then this will be a great use for it.

This recipe also contains chia seeds; such a good source of calcium, protein, magnesium and phosphorus. Enjoy and stay healthy.

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Pumpkin and Chia Jam

Ingredients:

500 g ripe sweet pumpkin, alternatively roasted ready-to-use pumpkin
2 tablespoon black Chia seeds
3 tablespoon honey, for diabetic version use 1 teaspoon of Stevia sugar or add no sweetener at all

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 185C. If using ready-to-use pumpkin go to step 3.
2. Remove the pumpkin seeds, cover and bake for 50 minutes or until soft.
3. Transfer all the soft pumpkin including any liquid collected in the pumpkin into a food processor, add chia seeds and honey. Process until smooth and put into a glass jar to refrigerate.

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Cloudy Spinach Soup

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Spinach is very versatile and it is easy to incorporate spinach into a diet. That is great because spinach has so many health benefits. Vitamin C, or ascorbate, is chemically the simplest vitamin. Unlike humans, plants can synthesise ascorbate, accumulating it up to 10% of the total water-soluble ‘carbohydrates’, according to research findings. The washing process of pre-packaged spinach, which uses circulating water with chlorine-based sanitiser, “can be a potential source of ascorbate loss and younger plant tissues often have higher ascorbate concentrations than older ones, e.g. in spinach.” (Food Chemistry 233 (2017) 237–246) So, if you are buying spinach for a salad, try the baby spinach that is sold unpacked and wash it yourself.
The following is very interesting too:
“Dark green leafy vegetables are primary food sources for lutein and b-carotene, however these bioactives have low bioavailability… Lutein liberation and in vitro accessibility were three-fold higher from spinach puree compared to whole leaves. Results for b-carotene liberation were similar, whereas that of b-carotene accessibility was only about two-fold.” (Food Chemistry 224 (2017) 407–413) This is good to know, well supports my recipe for Tabouleh. They call lutein ‘eye vitamin’.

Spinach can be added to many savoury dishes, raw or cooked. I prefer cooked spinach in winter and raw in summer. We are in the middle of the winter right now in Australia. And, here I am again with a new soup recipe. Please enjoy!

Cloudy Spinach Soup

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Millet bread

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Millet is an ancient grain that is gluten free and has less starch than wheat and rice. Millet has a high anti-oxidant activity and it contains multiple vitamins and minerals, also contains higher levels of protein.

In eastern Europe, they make porridge from millet, in central and west Asia they fry the grain and use them in the tea or consume as a cereal.

My great-grandmother used to make a millet bread for my mother when she was a child during the hungry post-war years. She remembers that bread as one of the most delicious treats of her childhood. So I decided to make a millet bread of my own and share with you.

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Millet Bread Recipe

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cup warm milk (cow, goat, almond, cashew, soya, any)
1 egg
1/4 cup oil
2 tablespoon honey
1 cup millet flour or 3/4 cup dry yellow millet
1/4 cup white rice flour
1/4 cup almond flour
1/2 teaspoon Himalayan salt
1 teaspoon Bi-Carb soda
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
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Zucchini Roulade

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Food allergies. People have different approach to handling their food allergies. Some are proactive and want to change their diet. In Australia, Clinical Labs have a remarkable blood test called Food Sensitivity Test that checks 93 products. Others prefer to enjoy their current lifestyle and diet. In any case, everyone can enjoy this recipe below, this roulade is divine.

My Zucchini Roulade recipe is ideal for someone who is on gluten free diet. Especially, it will be perfect for those who have discovered that they are allergic to cow milk. I guess, I created this for myself 🙂

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Zucchini Roulade

Ingredients:

Base:
5oog small zucchini
1/2 cup goat milk
1 egg
1/4 cup oil
1/4 cup amaranth flour
1/2 cup white rice flour
seasoning as desired
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Cherrie Clafoutis

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I agree, cherries are superfood, especially Morello cherries. They are also called sour cherries, and in US they are tart cherries.

Lately, I hear that Morello cherries contain melatonin. This is a very unique quality, as melatonin hormone is naturally produced in the body but many suffer from a low levels of it and, hence, lack of sleep. Then synthetic melatonin is used for adjusting the body’s internal clock for changing time zones or insomnia. Sour cherry is a natural source for melatonin, however they are very seasonal. So, I found that they are excellent berries for freezing.

Other outstanding qualities of cherries are powerful antioxidants like anthocyanins and cyanidin. Scientific experiments demonstrated that Morello cherry diet inhibited tumor development, and the ‘results suggest that tart cherry anthocyanins and cyanidin may reduce the risk of colon cancer.’

This Clafoutis recipe below does not contain cane sugar and dairy proteins. For my family, it is a perfect dish for brunch celebrations.

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Cherry Clafoutis

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