Cinnamon Banana Icecream

Now that bananas are coming down to a somewhat affordable price here in Australia I can get back into making icecream! As long as you have some bananas in your freezer it only takes a few minutes to whip up this tasty soft icecream. You can really add any other flavours you like to the frozen bananas to create you own frosty treat. Try it with some cacao powder, lucuma or some berries. And a tip for freezing bananas: Wait until they are spotty then peel them, break into chunks and store them in a container in the freezer. That way you won’t get frostbite fingers trying to peel the skins off!

Cinnamon Banana Icecream

One Serving

3 Frozen Bananas

2 Medjool Dates

1 tsp Cinnamon

1/4 Avocado (Optional)

Either blend all ingredients in a vitamix blender using the tamper or use a food processor. If you have a twin gear juicer like the Greenstar or a single auger juicer you can push the ingredients through using a blank plate or to the manufacturers instructions for nut butters.

You’ll need to eat this right after blending unlike dairy based icecream it will become solid and icy if you store it in the freezer.

Oh, and this is perfectly acceptable to eat for breakfast on a hot summers day. Icecream for breakfast!

Vegetable Noodles with Currants & Mandarins

This meal was so delicious I had it two nights in a row. Salads don’t have to be just lettuce and tomatoes. Fruits and seeds make a salad shine! So don’t be afraid to use them.

Another key to creating variety in salads is texture. It can make all the difference to a vegetable. Think of a carrot stick versus some finely grated carrot. They’re almost two different flavours. So for this dish I used one of my favourite kitchen tools, a Spiralizer. It’s a must have in the raw food kitchen. It turns any solid vegetable into long curly noodles. Which makes food so much more fun!

Just use the quantities that you feel like. Lots of noodles, with the extras as garnishing. For the sauce just play around with the quantities to have it as sweet or as spicy as you like.

red cabbage
carrot
daikon radish
zucchini
pumpkin seeds
sunflower seeds
mandarins
currants
avocado

For the dressing
lemon juice
raw honey
toasted sesame oil
cayenne pepper
sea salt

1. Soak the seeds in water for a few hours. Drain and rinse. If you have a dehydrator you can dehydrate the seeds for a crunchy texture, but they will still work fine as is.
2. Spiralize or grate the carrot, daikon and zucchini
3. Use a mandoline to finely slice the red cabbage, if you don’t have a mandolin, just use a large knife.
4. Peel the mandarins and divide into segments. Dice segments into thirds.
5. Dice the avocado and mix with the currants and the rest of the ingredients.
6. Whisk the dressing ingredients together and drizzle over the salad. If you have time, let the dish sit for an hour or more to marinade. This will intensify the flavor and soften the vegetables.

The Lunch Bunch: Raw Sandwich

Today I made a super easy raw sandwich to bring for my lunch. I was inspired by Megan Elizabeth’s Hoagie Recipe which you can view here.

All you do is take a romaine/cos lettuce heart, leave it intact and stuff in all of your favourite veges with some avocado or raw tahini or dates. Today I used grated carrot, cucumber, tomato and avocado. It stays together pretty well which is what makes it a great lunch to take to work or out for a picnic.

So easy!

The Lunch Bunch: Asparagus Nori Rolls

This was part of my delicious lunch today. I keep a packet of nori sheets in the cupboard at work so I can stuff them with whatever greens and veges I bring with me or grab from the supermarket. Sprouts make a great stuffing for nori rolls as they are nice and compact allowing you to roll it up nicely. Almost any vegetable works in a nori roll,  zucchini or cucumber, grated carrot, tomatoes, olives, herbs, the combinations are endless. Asparagus is right in season now and it’s the perfect shape for a nori roll.

Asparagus Nori Rolls

Ingredients

Untoasted Nori
Lettuce
Alfalfa Sprouts
Asparagus
Avocado
Lemon Juice
Tamari

Assembly

Lay your nori sheet flat on a board or a bamboo sushi mat and cover with the lettuce leaves first to prevent the nori getting soggy. Leave about 2cm clear on one side.

Then add your remaining fillings lengthways along the centre of the lettuce.

Squeeze a few drops of lemon juice on the fillings and on the clear edge to help it all stick together once you have rolled it up. You could also use water for this.

Now using your sushi mat or just your hands roll up from the opposite side the the clear edge. Press the roll tightly in on itself as you roll it up.

Cut in thirds or in half and use a little tamari & lemon juice as a dipping sauce if you wish. It also tastes great without it.

The Lunch Bunch: Red Cabbage Tacos

Red cabbage is one of my favourite leaves to use as a wrap. It looks amazing, it’s crunchy and you can fit a lot into one leaf. It’s really one of the things we raw foodies use as a bread substitute. The ingredients below are pretty much what I had in the fridge today. You could just as easily use things like cucumbers, tomatoes, sprouts or leftover salad. Whatever takes your fancy.

Red Cabbage Tacos

Makes 5

 

Ingredients

5 smallish red cabbage leaves

2 medium sized carrots

1/4 avocado

1-2 tsp lemon juice

about 8 stalks of fresh chives

Greens of your choice  (I used a mix of spinach, chard and lettuces)

Dulse flakes (Karengo Seaweed) for saltiness

 

Preparation

Finely grate the carrot. If you have a fine grater like one usually used for parmesean you will get more juicy flavour from the carrot.

Mash in the avocado, lemon juice and finely chopped chives. Add a little himalayan or sea salt if you wish.

Take a red cabbage leaf and fill with a few green leaves of your choice and top with some of the carrot avocado mixture.

Top with some dulse (karengo) and a few chopped chives.

 

Double Dip

These are a couple of Turkish inspired dips that you can use with almost anything. Perfect with celery sticks, cucumber slices or flax crackers, delicious with salad stuffed into a large leaf of romaine and great on their own as a soup if you add a little extra water.

 

Zucchini & Avocado Dip

The flavour of this dip reminds me of Mucver (pronounced MOOSH-vair), the zucchini fritters often served in a mixed vegetarian kebab or as an entree in Turkish restaurants.

1 Large Zucchini

1 Medium Avocado

1 Tsp Sea Salt or Himalayan Salt

Juice of 1/2 a Lemon

1 Tsp Cumin

1 Tsp Tumeric

1/2 Tsp Cayenne Pepper

1 Large Clove Garlic

Chop up the zucchini, avocado and garlic into smaller pieces.
Add with the remaining ingredients to your food processor or high speed blender and blend until smooth.
You can add a little water if the dip seems too thick.

 

Beetroot Dip

This was once a favourite of mine in vege kebabs. The traditional version sometimes has yoghurt which I have substituted here with brazil nuts although you could easily use cashews or macadamias or omit them all together if you are looking for a nut free version.

1 large beetroot

20 soaked brazil nuts

Juice of 1 Lemon

1 Large Clove Garlic

1 Tsp Sea Salt or Himalayan Salt

Chop up the beetroot and garlic into smaller pieces.
Add with the remaining ingredients to your food processor or high speed blender and blend until smooth.
You can add a little water if the dip seems too thick.

 

Both of these dips should keep for a week in an airtight container in the fridge.

Florence Fennel & Strawberry Salad

Strawberries have just arrived at Commonsense Organics! To celebrate the onset of summer produce I threw these few ingredients together for lunch today and it turned out great. It just tastes like summer. And because all the ingredients are really juicy you don’t even need a dressing. I found it perfect just as is.

3-4 Large Strawberries

1/2 a Lebanese Cucumber

1 Small Fennel Bulb

A Handful of Fennel Fronds

2 Cups Chopped Lettuce

1/2 Avocado

Slice the strawberries, cucumber and fennel bulb with a mandoline. Finely chop the lettuce and the fennel fronds and dice the avocado into thin pieces. Combine everything in a bowl to serve. Easy.

Strawberries are the one of the most popular berries in the world. Not only do they taste and look great but they are also full of anti-oxidants. They are also heart-protective, anti-cancer fruit, and anti-inflammatory.

Nutrient-wise, strawberries are an excellent source of vitamin C and manganese. They’re also pretty high in fibre and a good organic source of iodine.

You can read more about the big red berries here

Blueberry & Banana Icecream

This is a delicious alternative to the heavy nut based raw icecreams and it’s super quick and easy to make if you keep some bananas on hand in the freezer. The riper the bananas the sweeter it will be.

Ingredients

1/2 cup frozen organic blueberries

1 frozen organic banana

1/2 organic avocado

1 tbsp organic raw agave nectar

a splash of filtered or spring water

Method

Put everything apart from the water into a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. If it’s not moving just add a little water to get it going.

Either eat it right away for soft serve or if you are patient enough freeze for about hour then whisk with a fork before serving. Yum!

TIP: Peeling and chopping your bananas before freezing makes life much easier. Peeling frozen bananas is a surefire way to get a bad case of finger frostbite.