I overheard these chicks in a cute little cafe chatting about how to break into one of these coconuts. They were sharing one that the cafe had graciously cracked for them. One chick commented to the other what a dream these are for the dreaded hangover. “But how do you open it?”, one asked. “Guess you just have to come here.”

Truly, no need to go there — just read here.

Jail-breaking Young Coconuts

So we use a vegetable cleaver and a rubber mallet. It’s fairly obvious at this point — cleaver in, smash with mallet. It’s really quite cathartic.

Make another chop to form an “X”.

It should look like this.                   

After you’ve made the slice you want to wedge a knife into the “X” — do this over a bowl.

Now get out your little strainer from 1978 and pour into a glass.

This drink is so easy, refreshing and delicious! It’s even toddler approved!

There are still more things that can be done with the meat inside the coconut — next post.

This soup is so delicious! Red Lentils with Roasted Red Pepper and hints of curry and basal, yum! Even more delicious if you add a couple slices of Avocado to the top!

The health benefits of lentils are extensive and listed in the first lentil soup recipe. Red Peppers are another great source of all kinds of nutrients and antioxidants.

In terms of conventional nutrients, the bell pepper is an excellent source of vitamin C at 175 milligrams per cup. (That’s more than twice the amount of vitamin C found in a typical orange.) Bell peppers are also a good source vitamin E at 630 milligrams per cup. In addition to these conventional antioxidant vitamins, bell peppers are also a very good source of the antioxidant mineral manganese. Bell peppers also contain many phytonutrients, including:

• Flavonoids
  • luteolin
  • quercetin
  • hesperidin
• Carotenoids
  • alpha-carotene
  • beta-carotene
  • cryptoxanthin
  • lutein
  • zeaxanthin
• Hydroxycinnamic Acids
  • ferulic acid
  • cinnamic acid

Red Lenti & Roasted Red Pepper Soup

2 Onions — Chopped fine
4 Celery Stalks — Chopped fine
1/2 of one clove of Garlic
2 Carrots shredded finely
1 1/2 Cups of Red Lentils
Saute in a little water with the lid on until the onions are translucent.

Add:
7 cups of Water
2.5-3 cups of your preferred Spaghetti sauce (we like Prego!)
2 rounded teaspoons of Chicken Style Seasoning
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of salt (to taste)
Pepper to taste
1/2 teaspoon of curry powder
1/2 cup fresh, chopped basil (packed in) OR 1 rounded tablespoon dried
4 red bell peppers
Cut the peppers into large chunks. Rub in 1 teaspoon of melted coconut oil. Put the     peppers on a cookie sheet and broil until the juice starts running out and the tips begin to char. Put the peppers in a food processor and process until they appear diced — NOT pureed! They should still be chunky — tiny diced bits. Add them to the soup!

Optional:
Add 8 drops smoke flavour — so good!
1/2 jalapeno, seeds removed — roasted and processed with the peppers. Adds a nice bite!

This soup can last up to 5 or 6 days in the fridge and freezes well!

This Cabbage & Dill Borscht is one of our family favourites! Cabbage is something worth adding to your diet. Along with broccoli and other brassica vegetables, cabbage is a source of indole-3-carbinol, a chemical which boosts DNA repair in cells and appears to block the growth of cancer cells. The base of this (traditionally cream) soup is Almond Milk — which we discussed the health benefits of in the Alomond Milk recipe post. All round delicious and healthy!

Cabbage & Dill Borscht

Saute in 2 tablespoons of coconut oil:
2 Onions
4 Celery sticks
2 large Carrots, shredded on large
2 small Potatoes cubed
1/2 of one small Cabbage shredded finely

Add:
7 cups Almond Milk (see earlier post)
4 cups Veggie Broth
1-28oz can of diced tomato’s (with juice)
1 bunch fresh dill, chopped
1 tablespoon Garlic Plus (a Club House seasoning)
2 1/2 large stirring spoons of spaghetti sauce
Salt and Pepper to taste.
1 can garbanzo beans (added at the end)

This soup will stay in the fridge for up to 5 days. It’s a delicious fall favourite!

What we love: This salad is healthy, delicious and filling! It doesn’t take very long to make yet is fabuous!

What we love less: nothing unhealthy about this one! However you do have to make the correct amount as it doesn’t keep well.

Dressing
½ cup balsamic vinegar (or slightly less)
½ cup olive oil
¾ teaspoon salt
2 or 3 turns of the pepper grinder

Grill (or under the broiler)
½ red or orange pepper
½ green pepper
½ yellow pepper
(if you like zucchini slice into ovals and grill 1 zucchini as well)

Cut these into large chunks and put them in a bowl. Pour some olive oil over them and season with salt and Garlic Plus seasoning or your favourite seasoning. (Garlic Plus can be found at Costco in the ClubHouse seasoning section)

Place baby spinach on a platter with a sprinkling of baby greens and pour half of the dressing over the salad. Place the grilled veggies on top as well as:

2 sliced tomatoes or half a package of cherry or grape tomatoes (better if you slice them)
Pickled artichoke hearts cut in half (as many as you like)
A handful of green and black olives (each, whatever kinds you prefer — Mediterranean being an obvious choice!)

Pour the rest of the dressing or some Little Creek dressing over the top of the veggies and serve! To take this salad up a level, add some lightly steamed asparagus with a little Garlic Plus on them. Delicious!

What we love: The combined health benefits of Parsley, Lemons, and Quinoa leave you with a nutritionally rich salad, providing more of your B vitamins (B1, 2, 3, 5, 6, and 9) than can be found in most dishes.This salad is fresh, filling and full of complex textures and flavours. It keeps for 2-3 days in the fridge so make extra!

What we love less: This salad is traditionally made with cous cous which is a pasta. Not the best health choice. However, made with Quinoa there is nothing not to love!

Quinoa Taboleh

1.5 to 2 cups cooked Quinoa
1 bunch parsley chopped
1 bunch green onions
3 celery stalks
1 green pepper
1/2 red pepper
3/4 of 398 ml can of black olives
1 large tomato
1 long english cucumber

Put the cooked Quinoa into a large salad bowl. Dice all of the veggies and add them to the bowl. Add the dressing — you can either pour each dressing ingredient over the salad and mix or mix them all beforehand and pour them on.

Try adding a touch of chopped fresh mint or cilantro for a more complex flavour.

Dressing

1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 cup olive oil
add pepper to taste.

Key: keep in mind that great Tabouleh means that the amount of veggies exceed the amount of grain!

This cake is delicious and almost healthy enough to eat for breakfast! Well, not quite — but vegan, almost completely raw and gluten free!

What we love: it is fast and easy and freezes really well! As with most of my mom’s recipes, it is also gluten free!

What we love less: It is made with soy which is not the best health choice. My mom has in fact just reinvented this recipe using homemade cashew ‘tofu’. That recipe will be complete and featured in her new cookbook coming out in the fall!

Chocolate Ganauche Cake

Crust:  In a bowl combine, mix well and press into a 9 inch spring form pan.  Place in the freezer to set while you make the filling.

½ cup cocoa powder
½ cup ground almonds
¼ cup palm sugar; or coconut sugar; or fine sucanat sugar
¼ tsp. salt
Scant ¼ cup melted coconut oil
Generous 1/3 cup of lightly toasted shredded unsweetened coconut
Generous 1/3 cup of lightly toasted and slightly chopped sliced almonds

In a food processor blend:

1 tsp. vanilla flavouring
½ tsp. salt
1 ½ packages of Mori-Nu X-firm Silken Tofu (must be this brand)
¼ cup smooth natural peanut butter (opt.)

Melt on top of the stove constantly stirring:

4 cups semi sweet chocolate chips
½ cup decaf coffee or water
1/3 cup maple syrup or agave syrup

Once blended, add the chocolate mixture into the food processor until well blended and smooth, scraping down the sides as needed.  Pour into the pre-prepared crust.  Set in the fridge (covered) overnight or for at least 6 hours.  Serve with thickened berries and whipped coconut cream!  This cake will last 5-7 days in the fridge and can be frozen at any point.

It is a fabulously refreshing beverage and great hot summer days. And it’s so healthy you want your kids to drink it!

Iced Lemon Rooibos Tea

6 tablespoons loose-leaf rooibos tea
2 lemons
1 teaspoon agave nectar (optional)

Boil 8 cups of water. Put the tea into an 8 cup french press. Add the boiled water and let it sit for 5 minutes. Plunge the press. Cut one lemon into rounds squeeze the juice from the other lemon. You can either let the tea chill in the fridge or immediately add ice and lemons and serve. Add the lemons and lemon juice when you are ready to serve. If you like tea sweetened add a teaspoon of agave nectar. If you prefer a stronger tea flavour add 2 more tablespoons of the loose-leaf tea and let it steep for 10 minutes.

If you happen to live in the Okanagan Valley I can also recommend a great place to purchase organic loose-leaf Rooibos tea — so fresh and fabulous!

Even though it’s almost June, it has been a little cold here and it seems that a soup recipe might be in order. Great flavour and hearty ingredients make this a classic in our house. Lentils are a great food for vegetarians to embrace. They are very high in protein, vitamin B and folate. Cilantro is full of antioxidants

Studies have shown a direct relationship between soup consumption and successful weight loss.  As a weight loss strategy eating soup helps by slowing your rate of intake and reducing your appetite by filling your stomach. (This is from Dr. Joel Fuhrman author of Eat to Live)

What we love: Lentils are so healthy and this is a great way to eat them. Especially when you choose the French lentils — delicious!

What we love less: So this is not a raw dish … but lentils are best not consumed raw so really this soup is pretty perfect!

Homemade Lentil Cilantro Soup

2 medium sized onions
4 stalks of celery
4 large carrots
1/2 of one green pepper
1 bulb of garlic
1 cup french green or blue lentils
2 liters of water

Finlely chop the two onions and the celery. Grate the carrots very finly so that the carrots become part of the broth. Put all of these ingredients into a dutch oven and add the water. Let it cook until the lentils are done (about 30 minutes). French lentils do not need to be soaked and never turn mushy like other varieties of lentils (bonus!).

1-28oz can of large diced tomatoes
2 liters of vegetable broth
2 cups tomato sauce (we use Prego)
1 bunch parsley
1 bunch cilantro
1 rounded teaspoon curry powder
1 rounded tablespoon dried basal
3 turns of fresh ground pepper

Add all of this to the original pot. Finely chop the parsley and cilantro. Let it cook for another 30-40 minutes and serve! Keep in mind that soup can always be frozen or refrigerated for up to 5 days and that each day it tastes better as the flavours merge.

This parfait tastes great with any fresh, sweet fruit and it is topped with whipped coconut cream. It has a similar texture to tapioca pudding and it will take on the flavour of what ever you add to it. Add a little vanilla or chocolate and you have a whole new breakfast!

What we love: So quick and easy! Lasts for about 5 days in the fridge. And it can be delicious (and so healthy) to just add a couple tablespoons to hot cereal in the morning.

What we love less: There is nothing not to love! All healthy, all great tasting!

Coconut Chia Parfait

1 cup Chia seeds
4 cups Fresh Almond Milk
1 large tablespoon Agave Syrup
1 teaspoon Vanilla flavouring
a dash of salt

Pour everything into a mixing bowl. Stir and cover. Let it sit for 20 minutes, stirring frequently. Fini.

Tastes best served with whipped coconut cream and fruit and a sprinkling of Raw Granola (recipe coming soon!).

What we love: It is so easy to make and really delicious on granola or cereal. It lasts for around 5 days so you can make it in large batches.

What we love less: It’s all good!

Fresh Almond Milk

1 cups raw unsalted almonds
4 cups of water

2 tablespoons Agave Syrup
1 teaspoon Vanilla flavouring

Though not necessary, it’s best to soak the almonds overnight, covering them completely with water. Soaking them amplifies their nutritional value. Take the one cup of almonds and 1 cups of water and put it in the blender. Blend on high for 1-2 minutes. Gradually add the next 3 cups of water. The Agave and Vanilla are optional, add them at anytime if so desired. If you want the milk to be creamier add 3 cups of water instead of 4.

Optional: Straining the almond milk through a cheese cloth or nut milk bag brings out the smooth, creaminess of the milk. Strained milk will be much more similar to what people typically expect milk to be like. You can take the “pulp” and put it in your dehydrator and it becomes almond flour which has all of the nutritional value and benefits mentioned above.  Great option for people with a gluten intolerance. Alternately you can use it in smoothies and you won’t have to dehydrate it. If you are pressed for time you can put it into a ziplock and put it immediately into the freezer, until you have time to dehydrate it.

You can also dehydrate it in your oven. Turn the oven to 175 or whatever the lowest temperature is. Put it on a tray and keep it in for an hour or until it is completely dry. Put it in your blender, just enough to cover the blades. It will become a fine powder. You can store it in your freezer.