Every good post comes with a good story. This post has been waiting for a few weeks for its story but it never happened. I started writing it now and again, just to delete and start over again. Maybe my inspiration for writing has left me. Or maybe after all some posts just come without a story and all the glory goes to the recipe!
And this is a truly glorious recipe – so seasonal, tasty, nutritious, veggies-packed, that I couldn’t wait any longer to share it with you. At least not taking the chance of baby spinach and fresh asparagus getting out of season!
So, cutting the short story shorter, get a basket of seasonal green veggies and enjoy this balanced and nutritious tart with a bowl of fresh spring salad. And before leaving you with the recipe, I’d just love to share that tomorrow morning I’m off on an exciting journey that hopefully will bring my inspiration for writing back and I’ll come back with new exciting stories and fresh ideas!
Green Spring Tart
For the crust:
- 1 1/2 cups blanched almond flour
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 tbs mixed Italian herbs
- 1/4 cup ghee flour with the salt and thee
- 1 tbs water
For the filling:
- 1 cup packed with baby spinach
- 7-8 fresh asparagus, cleaned and chopped
- 2 organic eggs
- 2-3 tbs fresh whey or coconut milk
- 1/4 tsp salt
Preparation:
Preheat the oven to 180C.
Mix the flour with the salt and the herbs in the bowl of the kitchen robot. Add the ghee and pulse to combine. Add the water and pulse until dough is formed. Press the dough into a 9′inch tart (23 cm).
Whisk the eggs, add the milk and the salt. Fold in the veggies and pour the mixture over the tart.
Bake for 25-30 minutes until the top of the filling is firm and golden brown.
In my previous post I promised to share with you the recipe of the milk soup that can be prepared with the whey of home-made ricotta. This is our favourite soup of the season and I keep cooking it every week! Not only it is easy to prepare, but is also so delicious and packed with nutrients!
Before the soup, however, I want to tell you about a breath-taking place that I visited this weekend … and wanted to remain there for at least a month!
This is a small village high in the gorge of the longest Bulgarian river Iskar. The small village looks like time there has stopped long ago – little houses nested on the hill, overlooking the gorge, huddled in lavish greenness… Nature has generously flowed its charms in the area – shadowy groves, sun-bathed meadows, mounting hills, intriguing paths, an impressive waterfall and small mountain creeks – all you can ever need to fully enjoy nature and relax.
We walked in the area of the waterfall seeing it from different perspectives, enjoying the sun and the panoramic view from the natural terraces of the slope and then diving into the soggy, jungle-like tunnels of foliage close to the waterfall, occasionally getting sprinkled with refreshing drops of falling mountain water.
I was only sorry for not having my tripod with me because taking good pictures of the waterfall with a hand-held camera is quite of a challenge. I was a funny sight at times creeping through bushes and slippery paths, taking awkward postures and propping the camera on rocks, trees and backpacks – all in pursue of the perfect picture.
And I had a few nice pictures in the end but next time I go there, I’ll make sure to be properly equipped with a tripod, filter and the rest. A girl can go a way for her hobbies!
After the walk beside the waterfall, we made another one in the village and came across a picturesque family hotel where we enjoyed the most delicious lunch in the open, on a terrace overlooking the gorge! The family running the hotel were really nice and the lady has true cooking skills! The dock soup and nettle patties that I tired were simple bliss! All was preapred with local produce – fresh herbs, organic eggs and milk from cows freely-grazing in the open mountian meadows.
I simply didn’t want to go and keep thinking about that place ever since, planning my next trip which will be for longer this time!
…Read more
I come from a nation where diary products were staple food for centuries. My pre-ancestors were a steppe people coming to Europe from Central Asia in 7th century on horse-back. They used to drink fermented mare-milk called “kummus”. Later on, after settling down, they started domesticating animals and producing at home a variety of diary products – milk, youghurt, butter, cheese, etc.
Today many grown-up people have difficulties digesting diary products. One of the explanations the nutrition science gives is that our bodies stop producing the enzyme that coagulates milk at the age 6-8 and milk digestion after this age becomes difficult.
I believe that another reason for people to develop milk allergies and milk intolerance is the manner in which modern industrial cows are raised. The ruminant animals are fed on grains instead of grass, kept confined and seeing no sunshine, treated with a variety of chemicals, enzymes and antibiotics to give more milk and stay healthy despite the unhealthy conditions they live in. As a result, the milk of these cows contains chemicals and dangerous pathogens and needs to be pasteurized for safety. Pasteurization however, makes it even more difficult to digest, not to mention the fact that it does not kill the bacteria for Johne’s disease (with which most confined cows are infected) suspected of causing Crohn’s disease in humans.
However, soured products including buttermilk, kefir, youghurt, cottage cheese and ricotta are already predigested by the bacterial action of the souring process and are digested much better by the majority of people. Other properties of the milk are also transformed by the souring: lactose is converted to lactic acid and casein is partially broken down.
I consume diary products quite rarely because I do not have access to organically produced diaries and I would rather not buy industrially produced ones. But in the last two weeks a friend of mine whose husband has a small farm for naturally raised sheep and goats, has given me fresh and raw sheep milk which was absolutely amazing!
So, I made my own yoghurt and we enjoyed it with the first seasonal strawberries. The home-made yoghurt is nothing to compare with the commercial one – it is thick, velvety and packed-full with the friendly bacteria that our bodies need in the digestion process.
But I also made my own ricotta, using Sarah B’s recipe that you can see here. These home-made cheese is so fresh and inviting, an absolute indulgence for our senses and so easy to prepare once you get your hands on a good-quality raw milk. The whey which you get as a side-product in preparing ricotta can be used as a base for a delicious and nutritious soup, and I promise to share a recipe next time!
We enjoyed the ricotta by itself, in the company of a big green salad, but I also made these lovely tartalettes that I served with fresh home-made ricotta and topped with fresh strawberries!
…Read more
In the latest issue of the Bulgarian magazine “The Woman Today” I am writing about the healthy nutrition of women in their 40s and women after the menopause.
The feature in the magazine offers also two healthy-cooking recipes ( a baked omelet and a coconut mousse with pineapple), and the story of the healthiest cooking fat – ghee!
As the magazine is only available in Bulgarian, I will here share with you the recipe for the coconut mousse as it makes a wonderful light, guilt-free dessert to enjoy while waiting for the summer!
Coconut mousse with pineapples
Ingredients: (serves 2)
- 1 can of full-fat organic coconut milk
- 2 slices of pineapple
- 1/2 cup coconut shreds
- 2 tbs honey or agave syrup
- 2 tbs raw nuts (I used pistachio)
Preparation:
Leave the coconut milk can in the fridge overnight. Upon opening it, the solid part will have floated on the top. Spoon it out and use it for the mouse, saving the liquid for smoothies. Beat the coconut with the honey in a homogenous creamy mixture. You may use the blnder or do it by hand.
Chop the pineapple into tiny pieces and mix with the coconut mixture. Divide into 2 glasses and top with the nuts.
Keep in the fridge until serving.
A Monday afternoon like no other – slowly-drawling, relaxed, fresh, green, bathed in the spring-shine, the last Monday of the Easter holidays.
The city is welcomingly empty – everyone has left. Deserted streets, empty parking lots, closed shops. Such a pleasure to walk in a city without cars! We stop by for a lunch in one of our favourite restaurant that usually requires advance booking but not today.
We sit at a garden table. The sun tenderly caresses us. My thoughts float like soup balloons in the air. No one talks. No words are needed in such moments.
Still in silence we leave the restaurant and stroll for a walk in the nearby park. Walking slowly, quenching our eyes’ thirst for the unfolding spring beauty – the first milk-green leaves, the bright blossoms, the trees in their tender-lace wedding dresses.
I am trying to catch this beauty with my camera. Each bud ready to spring into life is a catch that draws me irresistibly.
Later I will read and have tea in a very special place I am soon to tell you about, and much later I will prepare a light dinner of fresh greens, quail eggs and tofu with sweet red pepper.
A Monday morning like no other…
But before I leave you with the recipe for this salad, let me tell you more about the great nutritional and healing qualities of the quail eggs.
Quail eggs – nutritional pearls
Quail eggs are indeed little speckled pearls rendered by nature for our health! For centuries they were referred to as both healing and dietary food, and for a reason! The tiny eggs are packed full of useful nutritious substances, trace elements and vitamins that we need for our health. The nutritional value of quail eggs exceeds by three to four times that of chicken eggs. Quail eggs are richer in protein (13% to 11% in chicken eggs), in vitamin B1 (140 µg to 50 µg in chicken eggs), have twice as much vitamin A and 5 times as much iron.
Quail eggs are considered a diet food. They do not contain the so called “bad cholesterol” (LDL), but are abundant in the “good cholesterol” (HDL). Not only that quail eggs do not cause allergies but help fight allergy symptoms due to a special protein (ovomucoid) contained in quail eggs and even used in the production of some antiallergic drugs.
…Read more
The Orthodox world is celebrating Easter. I experience the festivity by simply relishing the colours. So many wonderful colours that remind me how beautiful and enjoyable this world is! Every day.
Happy Easter! Be happy and healthy, and find colours and joy in every single day!
We are just a 3 days away from the Orthodox Easter when everything becomes colourful. I guess that my favourite part about Easter are the colours – the moment when we finally get out of the the winter’s grey monotony and stroll into the sunshine.
But just before the colours, comes the white! The first tender tree blossoms – white, crisp and delicate, so fragile yet so lush!
Inspired by the first tree blossoms, I wanted to create a recipe that is delicate yet overwhelming. That is how I came with these raw lemon cookies – white, crisp, juice and fragile. Made of almond pulp (left from almond milk), full of goodies and so tasty!
Try them while waiting for the Easter colours!
Raw Lemon Cookies
Ingredients (for 13-15 cookies)
- 1 cup almond pulp
- 3 tbs lemon juice
- 2 tbs honey
- 2 tbs coconut оil, melted
- 1 tbs poppy seeds
- coconut shreds
Preparation:
Add all ingredients (without the coconut shreds) in a bowl and mix well. Take a spoonful and roll into a ball with wet hands. Roll the ball in the shreds and arrange on a tray. Store in the fridge.
Did you try the home-made almond milk? Did you like it? It is so easy to prepare, isn’t it!
Now, you may be wondering what to do with the left-over nut pulp. As I promised, I will give you a few ideas. For a certain time, I used to make raw dzadziki with the pulp. That is mixing the pulp with grated cucumber, fennel, garlic, lemon juice and olive oil. Although this is absolutely delicious and I recommend you that you try it, I am recently in love with the amazing raw hummus recipe of the lovely Sarah Britton from My New Roots.
Her raw hummus is so lovely that I can’t stop making it over and over again! Of course, I adjusted the recipe as per my own taste, lowering the quantity of the tahini, adding some olive oil and fresh green herbs. You can check Sarah’s recipe here. Mine version is given below, but you can always make up your own version by e.g. adding fresh parsley or cilantro, chopped green onion, a pinch of cinnamon or nutmeg.
As for the health profile of the hummus, you should not doubt that it is abundant in healthy and nutritious staff like monounsaturated fats and vitamin E from the nuts, calcium form the tahini, vitamin C from the lemon juice. Just give it a try and let me know what is your combination!
Raw Nut Hummus
Ingredients:
- 1 cup raw nuts pulp (left from your last nut milk prepration)
- 2-3 tbs sesame tahini
- 2-3 tbs lemon juice
- 2 tbs olive oil
- ½ bunch fresh fennel
- 1 tsp cummin
- ¼ tsp chili pepper
- ¼ tsp Himalayan salt
Preparation:
Place all ingredients but the pulp in the kitchen robot and process into a fine mixture. Start adding the pulp spoon by spoon through the robot tube. When finishing the pulp, stop the robot and try the hummus. If too dry, add some more olive oil or lemon juice. Adjust the seasoning.
Store in an air-tight container in the fridge for 4-5 days.
You might have noticed that I often use nut milk in my recipes – in smoothies, bakings and even in soups. I sometimes buy commercial nut milk from a healthy-food store but most of the time I prepare it myself.
A nut-milk recipe is available on almost any healthy-food blog and although mine is by no means unique, I decided to publish it for the means of reference. Also I still encounter people who ask me what is nut milk and have no idea about its health benefits.
So this post is intended to answer all nut-milk questions :)
Why nut milk?
Animal milk (especially cow’s milk) contains a complex sugar called lactose. Its digestion requires an enzyme called lactase. As we age our body stop producing the enzyme and digestion becomes difficult. Some people even develop lactose intolerance and should avoid any milk-congaing products as they trigger allergic symptoms. Raw milk naturally contains lactase and is not such a challenge for the digestion but not everyone has access to good quality raw milk (if at all).
Yet, if you love drinking milk, you don’t have to give up this pleasure just because you age! Nut milk is an excellent alternative to regular animal milk. It is great tasting and packed with nutrients. It has less calories and lower glycemic index than ordinary milk which makes it suitable for those wanting to lose weight. Those suffering from a heart disease should definitely substitute ordinary milk to nut milk as it contains no cholesterol while in the same time offers a combination of vitamin E (antioxidant), magnesium and monounsaturated fats that promote heart health. Last but not least, the ratio of vitamin D and calcium in nut milk is in the perfect proportion for effective absorption which means that nut milk is also good for our bone health.
Why home-made?
Food stores offer a variety of ready-made nut milks. Although some of them taste really good, I am concerned that everything that comes in a box contains preserving chemicals for longer shelf-life. My other reasons for preparing my own home-made nut milk (whenever possible) are that it is less expensive and that I can flavor it in accordance with my own preference.
Home-made nut milk is prepared extremely easy. The only downside is that requires some planning because nuts need to be soaked for a few hours in water.
How to prepare my own nut milk?
Everything you need for preparing your own nut milk is nuts, a blender and a strainer. Additional flavours are optional. The nuts I use more often are raw almonds but other nuts (cashew, hazelnuts, macadamia) and seeds (hemp seeds, pumpkin seeds) or a combination thereof will also do perfectly.
All you need to do is to soak a cup of nuts for a few hours (preferably for a night) and then to rinse them well. Put the rinsed nuts in a blinder and add 3 cups of spring or filtered water. At this moment I love to add ¼ tsp vanilla seeds. Other option is to sweeten the milk by adding 1tbs of honey or agave or a couple of pitted dates. Turn on the blender and blend for 2-3 minutes. Strain through a nut-milk bag or cheese-cloth and keep your nut milk in the fridge. It lasts for 2 to 3 days.
How to use it?
Nut milk can be used as a full substitute to ordinary animal milk. It can go into your smoothies, tea, coffee, soups, bakings, cocoa drink or can be enjoyed by itself.
What to do with the pulp?
The pulp left after straining the milk can be used for preparing nut cheese, added in dough for muffins or cookies or mixed in a raw nuts hummus (recipe will follow soon).
And now I’m leaving you with my almond-milk cocoa drink recipe – a great-tasting and energizing drink – the perfect alternative to tea and coffee.
Almond-milk cocoa drink
Ingredients (serves 2):
- 2 cups almond milk
- 2 tbs raw cacao
- 1 tbs honey
- 2 cubes ice
Preparation:
Place all ingredients in the blender , process for 30 sec and enjoy! You will love it!
Shhht. Close your eyes! Do you feel her? She is almost here. Do you hear the excited voices of the birds? One more night and we will wake to her full splendor: shining beams of sunlight pouring over streets, soft green grass carpeting the lawns, trees bursting in a pink-white explosion, small creatures leaving their dens, filling the air with fluttering, whizzing and humming.
One more night…
I am hungry for spring! My body craves to crawl out of the winter clothes cocoon and to soak into the sunlight. My hair longs for the caress of the soft spring wind and for a jewellery crown of spring flowers. I am hungry for spring, for spring fragrances, for spring tastes.
And I decided to allure her into my kitchen by making these lavender infused muffins. You know that every woman is a witch hiding her secrets? One of my secrets is a big jar of dried lavender hidden at the bottom of an old cupboard that once opened caries you to a freshly mowed lawn at the magic hour of sunset…
Why gluten-free? Not because it is recently fashionable to label healthy staff gluten-free. Not at all!
Despite being infamous, gluten is not the wrong guy. It is a protein contained in grains like wheat, rye, kamut, barley, etc. And grains contain protein, fiber, B vitamins, folate, calcium, selenium, iron, and zinc. When properly stored and prepared (not over-procesed!), they are both healthy and nutritious.
The problem is that some people have a form of autoimmune gluten intolerance called Celiac disease that does not allow them to digest it. These people should eat gluten-free diet.
As for the rest, it is totally optional. But it is a fact that by decreasing the gluten content in your diet, your are decreasing the intake of a number of foods that are not beneficial for your health like white bread, cakes, croissants, overly-processed oats, etc. Your body will thank you for that and will show its gratitude by giving you more energy and weighing less on the scale.
Last but not least, you will have the chance to try a whole host of new foods like quinoa, millet, amaranth, almond and coconut flour, finding out that eating with restrictions is by far not that restricting!
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