So it’s official – my daughter is sensitive to gluten – my spelt berries are packed away for a while, hopeful that this will just be a short- lived allergy. Goodbye  chocolate spelt cake (for now) and hello all things gluten free. I saved my almond meal today from my almond milk and decided to try my hand at quinoa flour. Here goes:

Cardamom Quinoa Pumpkin  Muffins

1 cup quinoa flour or Bob’s Redmill Cake Flour

½ cup almond meal (from almond milk) or almond flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking flour

1 tsp cardamom

freshly ground nutmeg

2 eggs

1 can organic pumpkin

1/3 cup avocado oil (or any oil)

½ cup coconut palm sugar

¼ cup maple syrip

1 tsp vanilla extract

Mix wet ingredients and add dry.  Cover mixture for 5 min till a little fluffy. Pour into greased muffin tins (I used coconut oil) and bake for approx. 12 min at 350 degrees.

Top with orange cashew cream if you like!

Violet Soup

The purple carrots at the Green City Farmers market were irresistible and vibrant - this carrot/ potato soup turned out violet and yummy.
Recipe:
4 large carrots - 1 purple
3 yellow potatoes
8 cups water
2 vegetable bouillon cubes
1 onion
sage
sea salt

Preparation:
Saute onion in a little olive oil
Boil water and add veggie bouillon cubes
Add chopped carrots and potatoes
cook until soft
puree in Vita mix till smooth in batches
add sea salt and sage
            

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/25/opinion/sunday/is-junk-food-really-cheaper.html?pagewanted=2&tntemail1=y&_r=2&emc=tnt

The cultural lies in celebrating Real Food!

http://youtu.be/O2iBla_VAg8

Want Live water? Choose Spring Water!

http://www.takepart.com/article/2011/09/23/government-subsidizes-junk-food-more-produce

Great little blurb on how the government is subsidizing corn syrup over fresh produce.

Mint Lemonade in Bethleham!

Natasha's Fruit Salad

While I was in Jerusalem, my old buddy Natasha (we have known each since we were 12 and attended the Vienna International School, where we sat next to each other for 3 years in middle school home-room - but that's another story) whipped up this amazing salad, the secret ingredient - tahini! I have been home 10 days now and have eaten it daily.

Fruit of choice - strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, banana, plum, peach - chopped into bite size pieces

favorite plain yogurt (I use goat yogurt)

a few spoonfuls of tahini (I but it raw, not toasted)

raw honey - mine came straight from the honeycomb)

nuts of choice

The combination of the yogurt with the tahini makes an amazingly delicious sauce!

A note on tahini - it's a powerhouse seed, packed with vitamin B, E and A - it's also 20% complete protein and thus a better source of protein than milk, soy and most nuts. It also has a high level of methionine, an essential amino acid as well as lecithin which helps to reduce fat levels in the blood. It is an excellent source of calcium - claimed by some to be the best source of calcium, even over milk - and, it's not mucus forming. Eat up!