Pure Love Juice


When you make juices, always combine fruits that are in season and I assure you that the results will be tasty. Nature knows best, and same seasoned fruits are meant to be together. This juice is simple, but tastes like pure love and the vibrant color makes it even better!

Do not underestimate the power of two organic fruits blended together…

Ingredients

-6 blood oranges/6 κόκκινα σαγκουϊνια

-10 strawberries, with leaves on/10 φράουλες με τα φυλλαράκια τους

Juice the blood oranges and pour the juice in your blender. Add the strawberries whole, with the green leaves and blend until smooth. Serve chilled!

Κάνουμε χυμό τα σαγκουϊνια και βάζουμε το χυμό στο blender με τις φράουλες ολόκληρες με τα φύλλα τους. Χτυπάμε μέχρι να διαλυθούν οι φράουλες. Σερβίρουμε κρύο!

Enjoy and be well

Do you like to drink your juice in a beer glass?

Herbal Quinoa Stuffed Vine Leaves

Stuffed vine leaves (dolmadakia) is a traditional and much loved appetizer in Greece.The leaves are usually stuffed with herbs and white rice and some recipes use meat as well. I have never tried the meat version, but the only dolmadakia I ever like was the ones that use very little rice and a lot of herbs and lemon juice. I decided to make my recipe with quinoa instead of rice to make it more nutrient dense and protein rich! So if you are serving any vegans, make this quinoa version of dolmadakia!

-1 jar (500gr) wine leaves
-250 gr uncooked quinoa
-1 bunch dill
-3/4 of a spearmint bunch
-1/2 a bunch parsley
-1 small bunch
-6 spring onions
-1 spring garlic
-salt&pepper to taste
-1/3 cup olive oil
-3/4 cup lemon juice

Wash and chop all the herbs finely. Chop up the onions and garlic as well. Mix all the herbs in a bowl and add the quinoa, lemon juice and olive oil. Season with salt and pepper and toss to mix well. Open the jar with the grape leaves and wash them well under running cold water.

Separate the leaves and set aside the leaves that are torn.

Take one grape leaf and lay it on your working surface with the stem pointing towards you. Place a teaspoon or two of the filling in the middle of the leaf and fold the bottom and the sides over the filling, like an envelope, then tightly roll it and place it with the seam down. Continue like this until you use up all the filling.

Tip : Do not over stuff the leaves, as quinoa expands a lot while cooking!

To cook the stuffed leaves, place some of the torn unused leaves on the bottom of a pot, to protect your dolmadakia from burning during cooking. Now arrange all the dolmadakia in the pot with the seam facing down. Make sure that you have them tightly packed next to each other so that they won’t unfold during cooking. Pour in some water to cover the dolmadakia, around 2 cups. Drizzle with some olive oil and place a plate on top-this will stop any movement from the boiling water to ruin the stuffed leaves. Cook on medium-low heat for 20-30 minutes or until the water is all gone and they are cooked through!
Serve warm or cold with lemon and some strained soy yogurt (optional but recommended!)

Coconut Dusted Carrot Cake

I can’t really say that my specialty is baked cakes, since I always try to make them so healthy that they end up not being cakes anymore! But I do make really good (and healthy) carrot cake and banana cake. Since these cakes have been approved by a wide number of testers, I decided to share the carrot cake recipe with you! This carrot cake is really moist and fluffy, with a caramelized top dusted with coconut milk powder, perfect to serve with a cup of tea.

Ingredients
Cake Batter
-2 cups whole wheat spelt flour/ 2 κούπες αλεύρι ντίνκελ ολικής
-2 cups grated carrots/ 2 κούπες τριμμένα καρότα
-1 1/2 cups evaporated cane juice/1 1/2 κούπες αποξηραμενο χυμό ζαχαροκάλαμου
-1 cup coconut flakes/ 1 κούπα τριμμένη καρύδα
-3/4 cup orange juice or water + 1tsp apple cider vinegar/ 3/4 κούπας χυμό πορτοκάλι ή νερό+ 1κ.γ. μηλόξυδο
-3/4 cup golden raisins/ 3/4 κούπας ξανθές σταφίδες
-1/4 cup virgin coconut oil/ 1/4 κούπας παρθένο λάδι καρύδας
-2 tsp baking powder/ 2 κ.γ. μαγειρική σκόνη
-1 tsp baking soda/ 1 κ.γ. μαγειρική σόδα
-2 tsp cinnamon/ 2 κ.γ. σκόνη καννέλα
-1 tsp vanilla extract/ 1 κ.γ. εκχύλισμα βανίλιας
-pinch of salt/ μια πρέζα αλάτι

- 3 tbsp coconut milk powder for dusting/ 3 κ.σ. σκόνη από γάλα καρύδας για πασπάλισμα

To make this cake, I used the whisk attachment of food processor ( I always use the whisk to make fluffy egg-free cakes!), but you can also use a hand whisk or a stand mixer. Combine the juice with the sugar and the coconut oil and beat well. Add in vanilla extract, cinnamon, salt, baking powder and baking soda, raisins, coconut flakes and grated carrots. Stir well. Shift the flour in the mixture and beat to incorporate.Pour into a baking cake pan and bake 30-50 minutes ( depending on the pan you use) in a preheated oven at 180C. Let the cake cool completely before dusting with coconut milk powder for a powdered sugar look and extra coconut kick!

Για να φτιάξω αυτό το κεϊκ χρησιμοποίησα το food processor με το εξάρτημα που είναι σα σύρμα για μίξερ, αλλά μπορείτε να χρησιμοποιήσετε μίξερ ή ακόμη και σύρμα χειρός. Ανακατεύουμε πρώτα τη ζάχαρη με το χυμό και το λάδι καρύδας. Προσθέτουμε το εκχύλισμα βανίλιας, την καννέλα, το αλάτι, τη μαγειρική σκόνη και τη σόδα, τις σταφίδες, την καρύδα και τα τριμέννα καρότα. Ανακατεύουμε καλά. Προσθέτουμε το αλεύρι κοσκινίζοντας το και χτυπάμε μέχρι να αναμειχθεί με τα υπόλοιπα υλικά. Μεταφέρουμε το μείγμα σε φόρμα για κεΙκ και ψήνουμε σε προθερμασμένο φούρνο για 30-50 λεπτά ( ανάλογα το μέγεθος της φόρμας) στους 180C.Αφήνουμε το κεΙκ να κρυώσει εντελώς πριν πασπαλίσουμε με τη σκόνη καρύδας!

Ultimate Gluten Free Bread

Even though I have no problems digesting gluten, I love baking gluten free.Why? Because our lives are filled with gluten : bread, pasta, couscous, cracked wheat, cakes, cookies, scones, pastries, seitan-you get the drill. So why not eating something that tastes familiar, but completely different?

I was never a wheat-enthusiast anyway. I don’t like pasta, I rarely eat bread, cakes and cookies. So I figured that if they were made with different grains (not necessarily gluten free) maybe I would be more interested in eating something bread-y.

Gluten-free baking is especially challenging when it’s also vegan. You will notice a lot of gluten free recipes uses eggs-a lot of them- to substitute the gluten. 15 egg cake anyone?? No? Thought so…
Other gluten substitutes can be xanthan gum and psyllium husks! Psyllium is very promising since it makes gluten free dough rise like regular dough!

This bread had very good results texture-wise and taste wise, thought the texture is also a bit stickier than regular wheat bread. Its something like a moist brioche bread or bread pudding-Did I just make vegan brioche??

In that case, make a vegan brioche panini and enjoy!

-2 cups whole meal rice flour
-1 cup fine yellow cornmeal flour (non-gmo)
-1/2 cup potato starch
-1/4 cup psyllium husks
-3 tbsp agave syrup
-2 tbsp nutritional yeast (optional)
-1 tsp dry active yeast
-1 tsp xanthan gum
-1 tsp salt (optional)
-1 tsp garlic powder ( optional)
-2 1/2 cups lukewarm water

Combine all the flours and powders (cornmeal flour, rice flour,potato starch, nutritional yeast, xanthan gum, guar gum, salt, garlic powder) together and mix. In a separate bowl mix lukewarm water with agave and active yeast.
Pour the water in the dry ingredients and mix until you a batter is formed. Leave in a warm place to rise for 2 hours and bake for 35 minutes in a preheated oven at 230C.

Let it stand until is cools down before cutting.

Enjoy!