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Making your life greener - one bite at a time.

  How can you relax and make a healthy food feast at the same time?

1. Keep it artful and simple.
2. Or for a splendid New Years Eve Feast, plan to cook with friends.
3. Have fun with being different.

Coordinate a New Years Eve mezze feast or a simple burrito party or New Years Day breakfast – plan with a friend, decide on the mood and menu you want. Then ask each guest to bring a specific dish that fits your theme.

Or, cook together, prepare special ingredients ahead of time (such as soaked cashew nuts, cooked grain, chick peas).

Invite a crowd to meet early, and cook together in teams.

Greet your guests with tools and ingredients laid out artfully as if you were setting the table. This makes cooking much more enjoyable! Ask for dishwashing volunteers!

Chances are you’ll make it so intriguing to cook together that your family and friends may volunteer to help you organize another celebration feast.

The following favourite recipes are from many happy celebrations.

I hope you enjoy them and a happy and healthy New Year!

New Year Mezze

If you have visited Greece or the Middle East, you will have come across mezze, a mixture of many small tasty dishes, which are bought to the table a few at a time to tempt the palate.

A mezze always begins with a selection of dips which, together with some organic olives and nuts, and a selection of the best seasonal organic fresh salad vegetables makes the perfect first course to a celebration meal. Passing the dishes, tasting and dipping, is guaranteed to break the ice amongst the guests, who will be the best of friends by the time the last dish is empty.

Dips

Choose a healthy dip to suit your tastes from our large database...click here.

 Rice Wraps

1 packet of organic spring roll rice sheets

1 carrot + 1 zucchini + 1 avocado + 1 red capsicum (cut into thin strips)

Tamari in a dipping bowl with ginger

Place all ingredients into separate dishes on the table along with a soup size bowl of hot water.

Take a rice sheet and dip into hot water and place on plate.

Take a few pieces of each ingredient and place in the centre of the rice sheet, wrap and fold the sheet tightly.

Serve with tamari dipping sauce.

Lettuce Roll-Ups

1 cup soaked raw cashew nuts (soak overnight in water)

½ cup water

2 tablespoons lemon juice

¼ cup chopped red capsicum

1 small clove of garlic

sprinkle of celtic salt

¼ teaspoon spice blend (if desired)

Drain the cashews and process with the rest of the ingredients, until thick.

Serve by thickly spreading on cos or iceberg lettuce leaves.

Roll up into parcels.

 Nori Rolls

Gently toast a sheet of nori (follow packet directions)

Lay out and top with filling along one edge.

Try – mashed avocado, cooked rice /quinoa/millet, grated carrot, capsicum and cucumber straws, sprouts, marinated tofu cubes, pickles etc.

Roll up and seal the edges with wet fingers.

Cut into rounds with a sharp wet knife.

Brie With Salsa

6 firm tomatoes, deseeded and finely diced

100ml best-quality organic coconut oil / olive oil

1 clove of garlic, crushed

20 black olives, stoned and very finely chopped, coarsely ground in a blender for a few seconds

1 teaspoon white wine vinegar

1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley + chopped fresh chives

50g can anchovy fillets, drained and chopped (optional)

celtic salt

225g organic brie cheese

Mix together ingredients, except brie. Spoon some of the salsa in the middle of the serving plate.

Slice the brie as finely as you can without breaking it, then arrange the slices on top of the salsa like the petals of a flower. Sprinkle the remaining salsa around the plate.

Serve with warm fresh bread.

Gado – Gado

This dish is a colourful array of salad greens and raw and lightly steamed vegetables served with boiled potato pieces (or whole small ones) and slices of hard boiled eggs.

The idea is to get a nice mix of hot and cold – crunchy and soft.

Choose from

Lettuce, beans, asparagus, cucumber, capsicum, sprouts, celery, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, herbs, etc.

Top with toasted sesame seeds, serve with peanut sauce to dip.

It’s easy to increase the sauce recipe – just add more water and peanut paste.

Peanut Sauce

2 tablespoons peanut paste

1 tablespoon tamari

juice of 1 small lemon

¼ teaspoon chilli paste

1 small onion

1 tablespoon coconut oil

2/3 cup water

Gently fry the finely chopped onion in oil until soft, add chilli paste and stir through. Add water and peanut paste and keep stirring until smooth. Add lemon juice and tamari, then cook a little longer.

  Felafel

1 cup dried chick peas

¼ cup burghel / quinoa/ millet

2 small onions, finely chopped

1 stalk celery, finely chopped

2 cloves crushed garlic

¼ cup flour

celtic salt to taste

1 teaspoon ground cumin + coriander

juice of ½ lemon

¼ cup chopped parsley

1 beaten egg

Wash the chick peas and soak overnight. Drain well and grind in a food processor or blender. Soak the burghel for 1 hour in cold water. Drain and squeeze dry. Combine all ingredients and mix thoroughly by hand (get the children to help with this one!). Form into small balls and fry in coconut oil a few at a time.

Serve with masses of salad, yoghurt, pickles, olives, fetta, cherry tomatoes, herbs, sprouts, pocket bread triangles.

  Stuffed Vine Leaves

½ cup ground almonds

2 tablespoons tomato puree

1 tablespoon grated cheese

½ cup sesame seeds

1 clove crushed garlic

1 tablespoon chopped mint

1 cup chopped organic apricots / dates

½ cup lemon juice

medium size grape vine leaves / young tender cabbage leaves

Combine the nuts, tomato puree, cheese, sesame seeds, garlic and mint. Mix to a smooth paste. Spread the vine leaves with the green side up, and place a heaped teaspoon of the filling on each. Fold over the stem end first, then the two sides and roll up gently. Arrange the rolls in a heavy based pan with the dried fruit over the top. Add 1 cup of water and simmer gently with the lid on for about half an hour. Check occasionally to see there is enough liquid. Pour lemon juice over the rolls before serving.

  Dessert

There’s no better way to end a mezze with a serving of fresh organic seasonal fruit + fruit and nut balls.

Serve a fruit platter with 2008 spelt out in strawberries or grapes.

New Year Dessert Pie

Crust

½ cup almonds

½ cup rolled oats / quinoa flakes

1 cup organic dates

1 teaspoon honey

2 tablespoons coconut

½ teaspoon cinnamon

Grind the almonds and dates in a processor / blender. Add remaining ingredients, then slowly add a little water as needed to bind well. Press into a pie dish and chill.

Fill with fresh fruit, or fruit that has been frozen, then blended to a cream. Decorate.

New Year Burritos

To unite family and friends with widely differing tastes, have a serve-yourself Mexican Feast!....Cook beans ahead.

Warm organic tortillas, taco shells, mountain bread in the oven. And ask everybody to help lay out a spread of tasty fixins:

Beans: Pinto, black beans, lentils or adukis

Veggies: Shredded lettuce, shallots, capscium, cucumber, sprouts, carrot, avocado etc

The Beef: Chopped olives, rice etc, or for beef lovers, sauteed range-fed ground beef with tomato and onion

Cheese: Low-salt raw milk cheese or tofu cheese or vegetarian grated cheese

On Top: Homemade Mayo, yoghurt, sour cream

Zest: Salsa, sauerkraut, or choice of dressings, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds etc

Why not start 2008 with a candle lit breakfast?

Candles, fresh flowers, ribbons, and handwritten, heartfelt messages.

These are the magic ingredients to make a celebration...

Along with a breakfast feast of freshly squeezed fruit juice, brewed chamomile tea, seasonal organic fruit platter, bircher muesli, fresh yoghurt, hot muffins with organic jam.

 Bircher Muesli

Approx. 2 serves

2 heaped tablespoons rolled oats / quinoa flakes

3 tablespoons milk / water

2-3 tablespoons Greek-style yoghurt or fromage frais

1 tablespoon clear honey (optional)

1 apple, grated

fresh fruit ( peach, / banana, / blackberries / strawberries / raspberries, etc)

Soak the oats in the milk or water for at least 20 minutes. Mix in the yoghurt, honey and grated apple. Serve with fresh fruit.

Muffins

½ cup organic coconut oil

1 egg

1 cup coconut milk

1 cup flour (½ orgran SR flour + ½ organic coconut flour)

1 banana, mashed

1 grated apple

50g chopped organic dates

A drop of pure vanilla and a pinch of cinnamon

Whisk together oil and egg, gradually whisk in the coconut milk.

Add the mashed banana, grated apple, chopped dates, vanilla and cinnamon.

Finally, gently stir in sifted (put through blender / processor) flours until just combined in a batter

Oil some muffin tins and pour batter to just fill the tins

Bake at 200C for 10 – 15 minutes

Serve straight from the oven.