Stuffed Avocado With Quinoa | Summer Fresh Recipe

Stuffed avocado with quinoa | Summer fresh recipe

How do you start the beginning of a new week?

I have welcomed this Monday with a fruit extract, a cup of coffee and the purrs of my cat Noir. I left home early to have a walk in Victoria Park and relaxing for a while, before dealing with work commitments. I am walking along the pathways, loving and hating the grey skies of London.

I consider Monday lunch one of the most important of the whole week: it should be healthy, simple yet tastier than usual, because it should give a proper energy to face a tough week. I enter a supermarket, I stop at my favorite department (fruits and vegetables, of course) and with caution and patience I choose the best pieces. Choosing vegetables is very important to prepare healthy and tasty dishes.

Avocado, for example, should be neither too hard nor too soft, but react to the pressure of the hands without can dent. Will be the avocado the protagonist of today’s recipe: a fruit antioxidant, antitumor, anti-inflammatory, which helps weight loss and skin beauty, lowers cholesterol and blood pressure is good and versatile. In short, it is the perfect ally to fight boredom on Monday!

The avocado fruit, for example, should not be neither too hard nor too soft, but it should react to the pressure of the hands without warping itself. The avocado will be the protagonist of today’s recipe: an antioxidant, antitumor, anti-inflammatory fruit, which helps weighting loss and helps skin beauty, it lowers cholesterol and blood pressure and it is even good and versatile. In short, it is the perfect ally to fight boredom on Monday!

Ingredients for 4 portions:

  • 4-5 avocados
  • 100 g quinoa
  • ½  red onion
  • ½ cucumber
  • 50 g pre-cooked peas
  • 50 g cherry tomatoes
  • 20 ml extra virgin olive oil
  • ½ lemon juice
  • Some fresh coriander or parsley leaves
  • A pinch of salt

 Method:

For the quinoa:

  1. Wash quinoa to remove saponines (which makes it bitter);
  2. Heat a pan with a little olive oil and toast quinoa for about a minute;
  3. Add twice as much water than quinoa;
  4. Simmer until water is completely absorbed;
  5. Peel and chop onion, then add it to quinoa;
  6. Wash cucumbers, cut into chops and add them to quinoa.
  7. Add chopped tomatoes and peas to the mixture.
  8. Season it with oil, lemon juice and a pinch of salt.

 For the avocado:

  1. Cut the avocados in half, remove the pit and brush with olive oil and lemon;
  2. Grill the avocados on a burner for a few minutes. (until grill marks appear.);
  3. With the help of a spoon, fill the avocados with quinoa;
  4. Serve them cold.

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Raw and Sugar Free Chocolate Tart

Raw and Sugar Free Chocolate Tart

What we need to be happy are emotions and sharing our feelings with people we love, but also being alone is important. Be lonely does not mean to be melancholy, but learn to appreciate the essence of small things: the company of a good book, music, a cup of tea and a slice of cake.

I frequently have breaks; I like to get off the bus a few stops before my house and walk in silence. Today, I was on Stoke Newington and I stopped at Abney Park Cemetery: one of the most beautiful monumental cemeteries and nature reserve in London, where you can have long walks between trees and dense vegetation. One of the things I love about this city is the pure and innocent relationship it has with death: the tombs are placed safely in the parks since they are not considered something dark and inviolable.

After my spiritual break, I stopped shopping at Whole Foods Market, which is located on the same street. I purchased dates, coconut oil (strictly cold squeezed) and nuts: have you no desire of something fresh, healthy and sweet?

Dates are anti-inflammatory, energizers, and they are good for ones brain, intestine and bones. Coconut oil has antibacterial properties, it is easy to digest and accelerates metabolism. Walnuts are good for ones heart, they have a high energy value, they are great for healthy skin and hair. Moreover, they are anticancer and nourishing. These three ingredients are the basis for sugar free chocolate raw pies: try them and remember that being in love with oneself also means eating healthy foods!

The recipe (for 5-6 people)

Ingredients:

For the cake base:

  • 180 g dates
  • 120 g gluten free oat
  • 30 g walnuts

For the cream:

  • 100 g dates
  • 200 g cashew nuts
  • 20 g bitter powder chocolate
  • 20 g coconut flour
  • 120 ml water
  • 30 ml coconut oil
  • 30 g agave syrup
  • 10 ml vanilla extract

For garnishing:

  • Fresh fruit at your choice.

Method:

For the cake base:

  • In a kitchen mixer mince nuts, dates and oat;
  • Blend until mixture is stew and can be worked by hands;
  • Pour the mixture into 6 tart moulds;
  • Let them stand in the freezer while you are preparing the cream.

For the cream:

  • Blend the cashew nuts, dates, coconut flour and cocoa powder all together;
  • Mix water and coconut oil;
  • Add agave syrup and vanilla extract, blending until you get a smooth and homogeneous mixture;
  • Distribute the cream on pies;
  • Garnish the cake base with fresh fruits and serve.

 My advices:

  • This dessert can be directly served (it will have a very creamy consistency), but if you prefer a more solid cream you can stuff the pies and let them stand overnight in the refrigerator;
  • You can use the same doses to make a cake, instead of pies;
  • This cream is great if accompanied with strawberries and raspberries;
  • If you like this recipe I recommend you to try the Raw cake recipe. You find recipes here

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Raw Coconut Cake

Raw Coconut Cake 

Always more frequently we hear about the toxicity of certain food and the damage they cause to our health. Overcooked food high in fat and low in nutrients leads to very bad consequences on human physical condition and bad mood. However, the question is: how could we overcome these issues, in a society that offers always less adequate education to food? It’s simple: we have learnt how to live in good health.

A vegan diet is surely one of the most appropriate choices to keep away from these problems, but it is fair to know that there are more radical and healthy methods: for example, the raw foods diet.                         

Raw food is a way of feeding that excludes cooking food and involves religious, environmental and healthy choices. A raw foods diet is made up of fresh, whole, rough, plant-based foods: it is considered an healthy diet, because it preserves most of food nutrients, avoiding cooking methods.

There are various types of raw foods diets: the omnivore raw food diet (which includes the consumption of all foods that can be eaten raw); the carnivore raw food diet (which includes the consumption of raw meat and raw animal products and low consumption of vegetables); the vegetarian raw food diet (which includes the only consumption of raw vegetables, that do not include the killing of animals); the fruitarian raw food diet (which includes the consumption of only raw fruits), the vegan raw food diet (which includes the consumption only raw vegetables).

Among these type of diets the best is definitely that of raw and fruitarian vegan food. So, why do we need to start a raw food diet?

Why raw food is good for you…

When cooking on the stove you lose the real food taste, the real texture and most of the its quality. A raw food diet is not only easy and fast, but also healthy and low cost: it increases body energy level and gives a healthy weight, it improves brain functions, it helps keeping the body hydrated and younger, and clean skin, it keeps the body constantly purified and healthy, it is detoxifying. Moreover, this diet helps our bodies assuming all the food nutrients, it reduces environmental impacts and it brings many other benefits that you will discover yourself. It is not a simple choice and it must be addressed gradually. If you’re not ready to make a raw food diet, you should follow a similar regime for short periods (for example, for a week when you need it), to try keeping your body as healthy as possible.                                                   

With the arrival of the warm season, a raw meal may be much more appreciated. Today, I will prepare a raw coconut cake: I am sure you won’t do without it!

INGREDIENTS FOR 10 PORTIONS:

For the cake base:

  • 200 g mix nuts
  • 100 g dates
  • 30g sunflower seeds
  • 30 g cocoa powder
  • 30 g coconut flour
  • 30 ml coconut oil
  • 130 ml maple syrup
  • A pinch of salt

For the cream stuffing:

  • 2 avocados
  • 100 g dates
  • 100 ml almond milk
  • 200 ml maple syrup
  • 30g cocoa powder
  • 20g mix nuts

To garnish:

  • Coconut flour
  • Roasted almonds (for a 100% raw cake use raw almonds).

Method

For the cake base:

  • Blend with a kitchen mixer some nuts until you reduce them to a mush.
  • Add dates, sunflower seeds, cocoa, coconut flour, coconut oil, maple syrup and salt and blend until mixture becomes smooth and moist; you can work with your hands.
  • Transfer the mixture into a round cake baking pan and flatten on the basis, to form a homogeneous layer.
  • Let it sit in the freezer meanwhile you prepare the cream.

For the cream:

  • Blend avocados and dates with a kitchen blender.
  • Blend with almond milk and maple syrup together.
  • Add cocoa powder and mix nuts.
  • Pour the cream on the cake base.
  • Garnish the cake base with coconut flour and almonds.
  • Let it sit in the freezer for about 2 hours.

My advices:

  • If the mixture seems too dry (the base and the cream), add more milk or maple syrup. It all depends on nuts you used.

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