This Raw Chocolate Mousse is lusicous, creamy and a ‘guilt-free’ treat (though I don’t think any treats should induce guilt!). It doesn’t contain any sugar (other than those naturally present in the coconut ‘meat’) but is still really delicious!

Recipe: 2 Ingredient Raw Chocolate Mousse

Allergen info/recipe info: This recipe is dairy-free, gluten-free, egg-free and sugar-free.

I found the mousse was sweet enough for my taste without any sugar added in it, as coconut cream I find naturally as a sweet taste. However if you find that is isn’t sweet enough for you, try adding

Makes: 1 serve

Ingredients:

•  1/2 – 1 C. coconut cream from a young coconut (Click here to learn how to make it)
• 1/2 – 1 Tbsp. cacao powder (or carob powder), sifted (I found about 1/2 Tbsp was good for me, but you may like a much stronger chocolately taste so feel free to increase it to your linking) or for those who are sensitive to caffeine try using carob powder
• optional extras: dried shredded coconut, cacao nibs, walnuts, pitted cherries, sliced strawberries etc.

How to:

1. Make the coconut cream (or use store bought coconut cream).
2. Mix in the cacao powder into the coconut cream until smooth and creamy (you can can blend it in a blender or food processor for a really creamy consistency).
3. Pour into a container and chill in the fridge until firm.
4. Add any optional extras on top of the mousse.
5. Enjoy!

Variations:

Raw Cherry Chocolate Mousse: At step 2 add in a few pitted cherries along with the cacao powder and coconut cream and blend in until smooth and creamy.

Raw Peppermint Chocolate Mousse: At step 2 add 2 or 3 fresh mint leaves along with the cacao powder and coconut cream and blend in until smooth and creamy. You might like to use Chocolate Mint leaves instead of regular mint varieties.

Raw Dark Chocolate Mousse: At step 2 add an extra tablespoon of cacao powder and follow the rest of the instructions above.

Raw Carob Mousse: Follow the directions as above and use carob powder instead of cacao powder.

Michelle

© Copyright: 2009-2012 Michelle Robson-Garth. Please ask permission first when using any text or images on healthfoodlover.com. See the disclaimer here. Have a look at the recipe index for more health food lovin’ recipes. Join the Facebook page & follow Health Food Lover on twitter.

Here is a delicious and fresh thai beef salad recipe.

Recipe: Coconut-Water Marinated Thai Beef Salad on Cabbage Leaves

Allergen info/recipe info: This recipe is dairy-free and gluten free.

Vegan/Vegetarian Options: This recipe can exclude animal products if you use tempeh instead of beef.

Serves: 1 or 2 as an entrée.

Ingredients:

The Coconut Marinade:

• 1 porterhouse steak, cut into chunks or long strips (depending on what you like) OR use tempeh instead
• 1/2 lime, juiced
• a dash of tamari* (tamari is a wheat-free soy sauce)
• a dash of toasted sesame seed oil
• a dash of fish sauce
• 3 Tbs. fresh coconut water (from a young coconut)
• 1/2 tsp. mashed ginger
• fresh coriander leaves
• fresh mint leaves
• fresh red or green chilli, finely sliced  to taste
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• freshly ground pepper
• coconut oil

To make the salad:

• 1 or 2 cabbage leaves
• 1/2-1/2 fresh red onion, peeled and finely sliced
• 1/2 cucumber, cut into cubes
• 1 carrot, sliced into matchsticks
• extra mint leaves
• extra coriander leaves
• 2 spring onions, finely sliced (white part only)
• sesame seeds
• a bit of extra virgin olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste

*If you prefer not to include tamari (a kind of soy sauce) that is fine, just add some extra coconut water.

How to:

Make the marinade by combining all the marinade ingredients. Then add the meat to the marinade, cover it and leave it in the fridge for a few hours. After it’s marinated cook the beef. While it’s cooking, prepare the salad by putting the cabbage leaves on a plate, add the red onion, cucumber, carrot, mint, coriander leaves and sesame seeds. When the meat is cooked add it to the salad and drizzle it with a bit of extra virgin olive oil and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Michelle

© Copyright: 2009-2012 Michelle Robson-Garth. Please ask permission first when using any text or images on healthfoodlover.com. See the disclaimer here. Have a look at the recipe index for more health food lovin’ recipes. Join the Facebook page & follow Health Food Lover on twitter.

Even though animal products can be beneficial in the diet, it can be good to vary ones diet by having some vegetable-based dishes every now and again. Here is recipe for a vegetable curry that I made last week which I’m sure you’re going to love!

Recipe: Slow-Cooked Eggplant, Mushroom and Swiss Chard Curry

Allergen info/Recipe info: This recipe is vegan-friendly, vegetarian-friendly, dairy-free, egg-free and gluten-free.  

Ingredients:

• 1 Tbsp. coconut oil or butter
• 2 onions
• 3 small cloves of garlic
• 1 tsp. fresh grated ginger
• 1.5 tsp. turmeric root powder
• 1/2 tsp. coriander seed powder
• 1/2 tsp. cumin seed powder
• 1/2 lemon grass (the lighter part only)
• 1 large eggplant, chopped into large chunks
• 1/4 pumpkin, peeled and chopped
• 100g cup mushrooms, washed and cut into quaters or half
• fresh coriander/cilantro stems, washed and chopped
• 2.5 C. water or vegetable stock or bone broth
• 1 bunch swiss chard, leaves torn off the stems
• 400ml coconut milk
• fresh coriander leaves
• 1/2 a lime
• salt and pepper

How to:

1. Heat a large pot and add the coconut oil. Chop the onions into small pieces, crush the garlic and cook both of these together until the onions are translucent.
2. Add the turmeric powder, coriander powder and cumin powder and fresh ginger. Stir it to prevent it burning and saute it for a few minutes. Turn off the heat.
3. Chop off the top part of the lemongrass and discard it. Finely slice the lemongrass and then put it in a mortar and crush it with the pestle until you get a paste-like texture. Add this to your pot.
4. Prepare the eggplant by chopping it into chunks. Peel and chop the pumpkin into chunks. And wash and cut the mushrooms in quaters. Add these three ingredients to the pot to and cook for a few minutes.
5. Add the water or bone broth along with the fresh coriander stems. Leave this to simmer on medium for 4 hours or low  for 6 hours (I cooked it for on low for 6 hours) or until all the veggies are soft, but not mushy.
6. In the last 15 minutes of cooking pour in the coconut milk into the curry and add the torn swiss chard leaves. Simmer for 5 or 10 minutes more or until the swiss chard has wilted. Add fresh coriander leaves, a sprinkle of lime juice and season the curry with salt and pepper to taste.
7. Enjoy!

Variations:

This curry is a low-protein meal so you if you would like to increase the protein content you can try the following:

• Try cooking this with a cup of soaked or sprouted lentils. The lentils need to be added around the same time as the eggplant.
• Try adding (around 500g-1kg) of beef to the recipe, again adding it at the same as the eggplant.

Looking for other eggplant recipes? Try these Baked Eggplant Chips with Tahini, Lemon and Honey Dip.

What are you favourite ways to cook eggplant?

Michelle

© Copyright: 2009-2012 Michelle Robson-Garth. Please ask permission first when using any text or images on healthfoodlover.com. See the disclaimer here. Have a look at the recipe index for more health food lovin’ recipes. Join the Facebook page & follow Health Food Lover on twitter.

Here is another fresh summery salsa recipe! The last salsa recipe I posted was a Jalapeno, Mango and Tomato Salsa with Chilli and Lime Prawns. With this recipe, instead of a raw salsa (like the previous recipe)- this salsa is a cooked one. The benefit of a cooked salsa is that you will get the nutritional benefit from the tomatoes being sauteed which allows you to have improved absorption of the Lycopene (an antioxidant). It also makes it taste delicious! Eating the capsicum bowl (which will be explained below) allows you to get some heat-sensitive nutrients as well, such as vitamin C.

Above: Jalapeno, Mango and Tomato Salsa with Chilli and Lime Prawns

Below: Lime Flavoured (Cooked) Tomato, Avocado and Capsicum Salsa

Recipe: Lime Flavoured (Cooked) Tomato, Avocado and Capsicum Salsa

Allergen info/recipe info: This recipe can be dairy free, and is gluten-free and sugar-free. It can also be made vegetarian or vegan (depending on whether or not you use butter in the recipe).

Serves: 2

Ingredients:

• 1 red capsicum (bell pepper) (see directions below)
• 1 C. cherry tomatoes, quatered
• 1 tsp. butter or coconut oil
• 1/2 tsp. coriander seed powder
• 1 avocado, peeled, pitted and cut into chunks
• ~ 2 Tbsp. fresh coriander leaves
• a few wild olives, pitted and sliced
• salt and pepper
• extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4-1/2 fresh lime juice (depending on taste preference)

How to:

1. Cut the capsicum into three so you have two ‘cup-like’ pieces and one middle ring. Remove the seeds from the capsicum. Set the two ‘cup’ pieces aside.
2. Take the middle capsicum ring and chop it into small pieces. Cut the cherry tomatoes into quaters.
3. In a hot pan, add the butter or coconut oil and cook the coriander powder, capsicum and cherry tomatoes until just soft. Turn the heat off.
4. Stir in the cut up avoacdo, coriander leaves and the olives. Season with salt and pepper. 
5. Now spoon the salsa mixture into the two capscium ‘cups’ and drizzle with a bit of extra virgin olive oil and fresh lime juice.
6. Enjoy!

 Michelle

© Copyright: 2009-2012 Michelle Robson-Garth. Please ask permission first when using any text or images on healthfoodlover.com. See the disclaimer here. Have a look at the recipe index for more health food lovin’ recipes. Join the Facebook page & follow Health Food Lover on twitter.

Are you eating bitter foods?

Eating bitter vegetables such as dandelion leaf and root, kale, rocket, amaranth and swiss chard can have a great digestion-enhancing effect! These bitter foods help to improve our digestion by increasing bile flow, increasing gastric acid and improving our overall digestive function which improves our nutritional status. It’s the bitter flavour of these foods (which sometimes we need to take a time to a bit of time to get used to) which we need to taste to get these benefits. Bitter foods also play an important role in our immune system due to the increased gastric acid from eating bitter foods; it helps to create a more inhospitable environment for pathogens (as part of our first line of defense), as well as improving how well we break down food which is important for our overall health as well.

There are so many ways to get bitter veggies in our diet!

Massaged Kale, Apple, Cinnamon and Sultana Salad

Kale, Strawberry and  Goat’s Feta Salad

BBQ Kale Chips

Green Spinach Pancakes

Curried Amaranth Greens and Veggies

Kale Salad with Feta, Walnuts, Mandarin and Olives & Blood Orange Dressing

And if you need more ideas read this post: 10 ways to get more dark leafy greens in your diet other than salad.

Recipe: Homemade Dandelion Chai Recipe

Dandelion root (Taraxacum officinale) is a traditional liver tonic which can also be used as a coffee or black tea substitute.  Dandelion is a bitter herb, choleretic (meaning it is a substance that increases production of bile by the liver), diuretic, mild laxative and anti-rheumatic. I like to make it into a chai mix instead of using black tea which normally is used in chai.

Caution to/contraindicated with: Those on any medications, those with bile duct obstructions, cholecystitis, intestinal obstruction, those who may not want to increase their HCL i.e. gastric acid (e.g. those with reflux) and a known allergy (dandelion is from the compositae/asteraceae family) and those who are pregnant.

Recipe: Homemade Dandelion Chai Recipe

If you can get good quality organic grass-fed milk that is not a UHT (ulta-high treatment) milk then you may use it in this recipe; otherwise the next best would be organic grass-fed milk that is pasteurized or you may like to try an alternative milk such as Macadamia milk or you can just make this as a tea if you would not like to add any milk.

How to make the Dandelion Chai Powder:

Ingredients:

• 2 tsp. roasted dandelion root powder
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 3 tsp. cinnamon powder
• 1/8. tsp fennel seeds
• 3 cardamon pods- split and crushed
• 1 star anise, crushed
• 6 cloves, crushed
• 1 black peppercorn

How to:

First make the dandelion chai powder:

In a dry saucepan add the roasted dandelion powder, the cinnamon stick, cinnamon powder, fennel seeds, cardamon pods, star anise, 6 cloves  and 1 peppercorn. Dry roast for a few minutes or until it smells aromatic. Add this all to a coffee grinder and grind until it becomes a fine powder. Leave to cool and store away from light, heat and moisture.

How to make a cup of Raw Milk Dandelion Chai:

Makes: 4 cups.

Ingredients:

• 3 tsp. dandelion chai powder
• 3 tsp. dandelion power, extra
• 1 Tbsp. vanilla extract or 1 vanilla bean, split open (optional)
• 1 tsp. fresh ginger, grated
• 1 bay leaf
• 4 C. filtered water
• milk, to taste (as above) (or add the same quantity of water instead of milk)
• a small amount of raw local honey, to taste (optional)

How to:

Add all ingredients into a pan and simmer on high until the milk and water are infused with the chai dandelion mix. Add honey if using and allow it to melt in the tea. Strain the tea through a strainer and the pour in tea cups.

Reference: A Clinical Guide to Blending Liquid Herbs by Kerry Bone (2003).

[Posted to: FBFJan27th12]

Michelle

© Copyright: 2012 Michelle Robson-Garth. Please ask permission first when using any text or images on healthfoodlover.com. See the disclaimer here. Have a look at the recipe index for more health food lovin’ recipes. Join the Facebook page & follow Health Food Lover on twitter.

Here is another delicious green leafy recipe to get you eating more greens and loving them too! There are so many ways to enjoy kale and other green leafy veggies. Kale chips are really crunchy and delicious and are a healthier alternative to potato chips. Try them and be amazed!

Here are some of my other Kale Chip recipes:

Kale Chips: Crispy Crunchy Greens

Spicy Kale Chips

Recipe: Barbeque Kale Chips

Ingredients:

• 1 big bunch of organic kale (or calvero nero)
• 1/2 red capsicum/bell pepper
• 2 roma tomatoes, sliced in half
• 3 garlic cloves, unpeeled
• 1 onion, cut in half and peel removed
• a dash of olive oil
• 2 tsp. sweet paprika powder
• a dash of Worcester sauce
• 1/2 small red chilli (optional)
• 1 tsp. sea salt

How to:

1. Prepare the kale: Wash the kale and pat it dry. Then rip the leaves into chip-sized pieces away from the stem until you have ripped up the whole bunch of kale. Set the leaves aside.
2. Make the BBQ Sauce: Slice open the red capsicum and remove the seeds. Place half of the capsicum facing down in a baking tray along with the sliced roma tomatoes, onion and garlic cloves. Drizzle with a bit of olive oil. Bake in the oven for 20-30 minutes at around 180 degrees C or until they have roasted. After they are roasted, take all of these ingredients out of the baking tray, discarding any water that has come out of the veggies. Add the roasted capsicum, tomatoes and onions to a blender. Peel the garlic and add it to the blender along with the  sweet paprika powder, Worcester sauce and red chilli if using. Blend these ingredients until you have a smooth paste. Leave the paste to cool.
3. Make the BBQ Kale Chips: When the paste is cool, Pour it over the kale pieces. Make sure each kale piece is covered by the roasted veggie paste. Bake or dehydrate the kale (see instructions below).

To bake in an oven: Place the kale chips on a coconut oil greased baking tray. Bake at 180 degrees C (fan-forced) or until crispy and crunchy.

To dehydrate in a dehydrator: Place the kale chips on a dehydrator tray and dehydrate at 45 degrees C/115 degrees F for 6 hours or until crispy and crunchy.

Michelle

© Copyright: 2012 Michelle Robson-Garth. Please ask permission first when using any text or images on healthfoodlover.com. See the disclaimer here. Have a look at the recipe index for more health food lovin’ recipes. Join the Facebook page & follow Health Food Lover on twitter.

Here is another way to get some delicious veg in your diet.

Recipe: Balsamic Roasted Veggies Salad with Fennel Seeds, Feta and Wild Olives

Ingredients:

• 4 large beetroot, raw
• 4 carrots, raw
• 1 red onion
• a dash of red balsamic vinegar
• 1 bit of olive oil
• 1 tsp. fennel seeds, toasted
• full-fat feta cheese, crumbled
• wild olives, sliced and pitted*
• fresh parsley
• salt and pepper

How to:

Boil the beetroots until soft. Cool them down, them peel them and cut into 8ths. Add them to a baking tray along with the carrots, red onion. Add a bit of red balsamic vinegar and olive oil to coat. Cover the baking tray with tin foil. Bake for until the carrots and onions are soft (the beetroot will already be soft because it was boiled earlier). When the vegetables are ready, add the feta cheese, wild olives and fresh parsley in amounts that you like. Season with salt and pepper.

*The olives I used were quite small so I didn’t pit or slice them open. If you do the same, just be sure to let your guests know there are pips in them.

Enjoy!

Michelle

© Copyright: 2012 Michelle Robson-Garth. Please ask permission first when using any text or images on healthfoodlover.com. See the disclaimer here. Have a look at the recipe index for more health food lovin’ recipes. Join the Facebook page & follow Health Food Lover on twitter.

Recipe: Healthier Homemade Cherry Ripe

Adapted from this recipe for my homemade bounty bars.

Recipe info/allergen info: This recipe is gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free and refined sugar free.

Ingredients:

• 1 C. fresh cherries, washed, chopped and pits removed
• 1 C. macadamia nuts
• 1 C. medjool dates, chopped & pits removed
• 5 Tbs. shredded coconut (preservative-free)
• 3 Tbs. coconut oil, melted
• 300-400g dark chocolate* (you can look  for brands such as Cocolo which use rapadura sugar in their chocolate)

How to:

1. Slice each cherry open and discard the pips.
2. Put the cherries in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Add the macadamia nuts and blend/process until you have a paste. It doesn’t have to be completely smooth.
3. Add the dates and blend until the dates have broken down. Stir in the shredded coconut and melted coconut oil until it has all mixed together.
4. Pour into a baking paper lined & coconut oil greased tin. Put the mixture into the fridge to chill until set. When they seem like they have set, cut them into small squares and place them in the freezer to harden.
5. When the squares have hardened, begin tempering the chocolate as below.

*you may need more or less depending on how small or big you make the squares: the smaller they are the more chocolate you will need; if they’re larger you’ll need less chocolate (as you will have less surface to cover).

Tempering Chocolate:

These steps are taken from my homemade bounty bar recipe. 

You Will Need:

• a metal bowl (wider than the saucepan)
• a smaller bowl, filled with water and ice
• a saucepan, filled with 3 cm of water
• a metal or plastic spoon (not wooden)
• a digital cooking thermometer (optional, but very helpful)
• the amount of chocolate you have decided to use (as in the main ingredient section)
• baking paper
• a flat board (to rest the chocolates on)

How to temper the chocolate:

1. In a small sauce pan place a few cms of water in the bottom. Get it to a boil and then turn down the heat to a simmer.
2. Place your metal bowl over the now hot water (and heat turned down to low) and add the dark chocolate. Stir the chocolate with your metal spoon until it melts. Put your thermometer in and make sure it doesn’t go above 48 degrees Celsius (118 F).
3. When it reaches 48 take it off the hot saucepan and put it in your ice water bowl. Keep stirring. Wait till it cools down to 26 degrees.
4. When it has cooled down, turn your saucepan on again and place your metal bowl over the saucepan, now with the heat on. Put the thermometer into the chocolate and wait till the temperature of the chocolate reaches 48. When it’s at that temperature, turn off the heat. Your chocolate is now ready to use!
5. Simply place your cherry squares into the chocolate with a fork and completely cover it. Tap your fork with the covered cherry square against the side of the bowl so excess chocolate comes off. Then place your chocolates on a lined tray until the chocolates harden!
6. Once they have hardened keep in the freezer to stay firm. Enjoy these treats!

Tips for tempering chocolate:

• Make sure you don’t get any water or steam in your chocolate at any stage while tempering. Water= chocolate death!
• Use only metal or plastic spoons to stir the chocolate.
• If you let your chocolate go over 48 degrees C then its gone- you can’t use it any more.
• It’s a good idea if you have one to use a thermometer to test the temperature when you’re heating a cooling the chocolate. I used a digital thermometer.
• Having said all that, you don’t really need to temper the chocolate- but it does help to coat the cherry ripe squares properly.

Michelle

© Copyright: 2012 Michelle Robson-Garth. Please ask permission first when using any text or images on healthfoodlover.com. See the disclaimer here. Have a look at the recipe index for more health food lovin’ recipes. Join the Facebook page & follow Health Food Lover on twitter.

This bolognese is really very delicious and is worth the wait to cook it! This is actually the second time I’ve made it. The first time I used organic beef, while this time around I used kangaroo mince. Both were great. The first time I served the bolognese on some steamed veggies which is another great alternative to refined pasta (see below).

I’ve tried to simplify the recipe a bit so I hope that helps, because I know the recipe is really long! Note: If you have a crock pot it makes it all that easier to cook. This takes a little while to prepare, so it’s best to cook on a day when you have more free time.

Inspired by Head Plant Health and her kanga lovin’ ways.

If you try this let me know how it goes.

Recipe: Slow-Cooked Kangaroo Bolognese with Zucchini Spaghetti

Adapted from Kok Robin’s Adaptation of Heston Blumenthal’s Perfect Bolognese

Ingredients- Part 1: Caramelized Onions

• 510g onions, peeled and finely sliced
• 1 star anise
• 25 ml extra virgin olive oil

Ingredients- Part 2: Soffrito

• 4 cloves of garlic
• 475g onion, peeled and diced
• 390g carrot, diced
• 300g celery stalk, diced and discarding leaves
• 50 ml extra virgin olive oil

Ingredients- Part 3: Meat Sauce

• 50ml extra virgin olive oil
• 1 kg kangaroo meat, minced
• 650 ml Oaked Chardonnay (I just used Sauv Blanc and it seemed fine)
• 500 ml full cream milk

Ingredients- Part 4: Tomato Compote

• 800g diced tomatoes (I used canned, but fresh would be better)
• 1 tsp. salt
• 200ml extra virgin olive oil
• 6 large cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped finely
• 2 onions, peeled and finely sliced
• 1 tsp. coriander powder
• 2 star anise
• 6 cloves
• 8-10 drops Tabasco
• 8-10 drops Thai fish sauce
• 3 tsps Worcestershire sauce
• 2 heaped tbsp tomato ketchup (I didn’t use this)
• 60ml sherry vinegar (..nor this)
• 1 bouquet garni= consisting of 7 sprigs of fresh thyme & 1 fresh bay leaf

Plus:

• Zucchinis for the Zucchini “spaghetti”
• Parmesan cheese, to serve
• salt and pepper, to taste

Before you chop any ingredients, first pre-heat your crock pot.

How to- Part 1: Caramelized Onions

1. After you have peeled and finely sliced the onions, sauté the onions in a big pot along with the star anise and extra virgin olive oil. If you have a muslin bag you can put the star anise in it, I just use a few pieces of 1 star anise instead of crushing it.
2. Cook this for around 20 minutes or until the onions have softened and caramelised. Don’t let them burn. When they’re done, tip them out of the pot and put them in the crockpot.

How to- Part 2: Soffrito

1. Finely dice the onions, carrots and celery. Chop or mince the garlic.
2. In the same big pot, add the oil and then cook the onions, carrot, celery and garlic for around 20 minutes or until the raw onion smell is no longer detectable.  Add these ingredients into the preheated crock pot. Take the star anise pieces out of the caramelized onions in the crock pot (see part 1).

How to- Part 3: Meat Sauce

1. In the same big pot, heat it again add the 50ml of olive oil and wait until the pot is very hot to add the meat. Stir the meat until it has all completely gone brown. If all the meat does not touch the bottom of the pan you may need to cook the meat in batches). When it’s cooked, add this meat to the Soffrtio in the crock pot.
2. Deglaze the pan by putting a bit of the wine in the pan and then bringing it to a boil to scrape the base of the pan to collect what is left on the bottom. When the wine has reduced by half, add it to the crock pot with the meat.
3. Add the hot milk and enough water to cover the meat and veggies. Simmer this in the crock pot on low with the lid half on for around 6-8 hours. The ingredients need to be always covered with water so you may need to check every now and again and top it up with water and/or milk.

How to- Part 4: The Tomato Compote

1. With the same pot, heat the oil and add the garlic and onion. Cook until soft (but not browned).
2. Add the coriander powder, star anise and cloves.
3. Add the diced tomatoes including juice. Add the tabasco, fish sauce, Worcestershire sauce, tomato sauce (if using), sherry vinegar and bouquet garni. I cooked this for about an hour (though the recipe suggests to cook it for 2 hours- I wasn’t willing to wait too much longer at this point). After an hour remove the bouqet garni, star anise and cloves.

How to: Putting it all together:

1. Stir the compote into the meat sauce in the crock pot. The recipe says to cook this for a further 2 hours, while this would be a good idea flavour-wise, I just wasn’t that patient! Season the meat sauce-compote mixture, if need be.
2. Make your zucchini spaghetti like this or this or this. Then boil the zucchini spaghetti till soft with boiling water and a pinch or so of salt.
3. Add the zucchini spaghetti to bowls to serve, top with the bolognese sauce and with parmesan cheese if desired.

Enjoy!

Michelle

For more healthy recipes have a look at the recipe index.

© Copyright: 2011 Michelle Robson-Garth. Please ask permission first when using any text or images on healthfoodlover.com . See the disclaimer here. Have a look at the recipe index for more health food lovin’ recipes. Join the Facebook page & follow Health Food Lover on twitter.

I hope you enjoy this bright, summery dessert!

Recipe: Chamomile, Ginger and Mango Sorbet

Allergen info/recipe info: This recipe is dairy-free, gluten-free, wheat-free and refined-sugar free (the mango gives the sorbet some sweetness).

Ingredients:

• flesh of 1 mango (pip and skin removed), chopped
• 1 cup of chamomile (Matricaria recutita) tea, chilled
• 1/2 tsp. fresh ginger (skin peeled off)
• water

How to:

In a jug add the mango, chamomile tea, fresh ginger and enough water for the whole mixture to equal a litre. Pour this into a blender or food processor and blend until completely smooth. Pour this into a ice cream maker and follow the manufactures directions.

or

You can pour this whole mixture into a shallow container (that will fit in your freezer). Put a lid on the container and every 40 minutes scrape the mixture to break down the ice crystals and keep doing this until the mixture freezes. Then scoop out and enjoy when frozen.

Caution: This recipe is not suitable for those who are allergic to chamomile or the Asteraceae family. Chamomile can reduce absorption of iron (so have iron supplements away from Chamomile). Ginger also may not be safe for those on medication and those who have reflux, peptic ulcers, gall stones and blood thinning medication. If you are unsure whether Chamomile or ginger is okay for you it’s best to seek advice from your qualified health professional and an experienced Naturopath or herbalist. When in doubt you can just take out the ginger and chamomile tea and replace it with the same amount of water.

Michelle

For more dessert recipes have a look at the recipe index.

© Copyright: 2011 Michelle Robson-Garth. Please ask permission first when using any text or images on healthfoodlover.com . See the disclaimer here. Have a look at the recipe index for more health food lovin’ recipes. Join the Facebook page & follow Health Food Lover on twitter.