Health Recipes

RECIPES FOR HEALTH

Mary-Ann Shearer prepares a host of fresh and quick recipes, simple dishes for healthy eating. Wonderful pick me ups, light lunches, snacks and fresh fruity desserts.

JUICE IDEAS

There are many wonderful combinations for fruit and vegetable juices.
* Freshly extracted carrot and apple, made by combining ½ a glass of each
* Add a stick of celery (this gives it a salty taste)
* Add 1 bulb of raw beetroot (great colour!)
*Add an equal quantity of fresh pineapple juice if you prefer something
sweeter
* For a healthy pre-dinner juice, try a combination of fresh ripe tomato,
celery and carrot

NUT SHAKE

¼ cup raw almonds (or cashews
or sesame paste) per person
½ cup chopped pineapple (or
strawberries or other acid fruit)
fresh apple juice

Blend nuts until very fine and smooth. Add fresh fruit and blend well until creamy, thinning down with fresh juice and a few ice cubes.

Ring the changes by adding granadilla or passion fruit pulp.

FRUIT SALAD WITH CASHEW CUSTARD

1 pineapple
3 apples
3 naartjies or mandarins
3 kiwi fruit
2 pears
2 cups cashew nuts
1 small pineapple
½ cup fresh orange or apple juice

Peel fruit (but not the apples and pears!) and dice into a serving bowl. To make the custard, blend cashews to a fine powder. Add pineapple, blend until smooth and dilute with juice until you achieve the desired consistency. Spoon custard over the fruit salad and serve.

AVOCADO SPROUT SALAD

1 lettuce or a packet
of mixed salad leaves
4 avocados, skinned and diced
1 cup alfalfa sprouts
1 punnet snap peas

Red Pepper & Olive Dressing:

1 teaspoon herb salt
2 medium red peppers, seeded and chopped
1 tablespoon flaxseed or olive oil
1 cup pitted black olives

Arrange salad leaves on a platter and top with avocado, sprouts and peas. To prepare dressing, purée ingredients in a blender until smooth, and serve with salad.

ROASTED BRINJAL SALAD

2 brinjals (eggplants)
4 baby marrows
1 spring onion, finely chopped
4 – 6 fresh ripe tomatoes, cubed
1 – 2 red peppers, diced
½ teaspoon herb salt
3 tablespoons olive oil
½ teaspoon dried basil (or 1 tablespoon fresh)
Lemon juice to taste

Cube brinjals and marrows and dry roast in a hot oven until just cooked. Combine with the other vegetables in a serving bowl. Make a dressing by blending herb salt, olive oil, basil and lemon juice, and stir into the salad. You can also make a delicious pâté by blending all the ingredients in a food processor until smooth. Serve with crackers. (There is a delicious recipe for savoury rye crackers in The Natural Way Recipe Book 1.)

Avocado Dip: 1 large avocado fresh lemon juice herb salt	Mash avocado with some lemon juice (depends on how tangy you like it) and herb salt to taste. Serve with raw vegetable strips.
Sesame Seed Dip: 1 cup sesame seed paste (Tahini) juice of one lemon garlic & herb salt to taste a pinch of cumin fresh herb, chopped (parsley, chives or coriander)	Blend ingredients well and add a little water if the dip is too stiff. Serve with raw vegetable strips (like carrots, cucumber, marrow and celery) or raw cauliflower florets, baby tomatoes or baby corn.

MUSHROOM BURGER

1 large brown mushroom
herb salt to taste
1 wholewheat or olive bread roll
cold pressed olive oil or uncoloured butter
Mary-Ann’s Tomato Pesto
ripe tomato slices
lettuce leaves
spring onion, chopped
(per person)

Place mushrooms on a baking tray and sprinkle with a little herb salt. (This really lifts the taste of the mushroom.) Dry roast or grill in the oven for 10 - 15 minutes (the mushrooms should be the size of an average meat patty). Cut the bread roll and drizzle with a little olive oil or spread with butter. (Instead of the bread roll you could have two slices of wholewheat bread or, if you are gluten intolerant, you could try some polenta slices. I even had rice cakes in desperation once or twice and it is still delicious.) Place a mushroom on each roll, spread with tomato pesto, and top with some tomato slices, lettuce and spring onion. These burgers are also delicious served with Homemade Tomato Sauce or Pink Dressing (Recipes for both are in The Natural Way Recipe Book 2 – make sure you use cold-pressed oil when making these sauces.) Serve with baked chips.

Baked Guilt-free Chips: Slice 6 - 10 potatoes into chips or wedges (leaving the skins on, as it is more nutritious) and place on a baking sheet. Bake in a hot oven (at least 200ºC) for 45 to 60 minutes, or until golden brown and soft when squeezed, and season with a natural MSG-free herb salt. I prefer my chips with extra virgin olive oil, so I add a few drops and toss the chips lightly before serving. These are a firm favourite with everyone and a great way to eat hot potato chips without guilt!

POLENTA PIZZA SLICES

1 loaf polenta (either buy this or make by letting polenta set in a loaf dish – not metal as this will colour the polenta)
tomato pesto
fresh tomato slices
olives
asparagus
mushrooms
red peppers

Slice polenta and spread with tomato pesto. Top with the rest of the ingredients or any selection of vegetables that you enjoy, and season to taste. Bake in a very hot oven (over 200ºC) until sizzling and juicy, and serve with a fresh salad.

CHICKPEA AND VEGETABLE MASALA

1 small cauliflower, cut into florets
Mary-Ann’s Seasoning Salt, to taste
2 teaspoons Mary-Ann’s Curry Powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
¼ tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp ground coriander
5 medium potatoes, cut into chunks and pre-cooked
1 can chickpeas, drained
3 cups coarsely shredded spinach
1½ cups filtered water
2 - 4 teaspoons vegetable stock powder
cold-pressed olive oil

Dry stir-fry cauliflower with salt and spices. Add the other vegetables and stir well. Mix stock powder into water, add to the pot and heat through. Remove from the stove and stir in some olive oil. Serve with pancakes, pita bread or poppadums, and don’t forget that large raw salad!

HOMEMADE ICE CREAM

1 litre fresh organic cream or soy milk
1 tin (400g) coconut cream or milk (preservative-free)
1cup raw honey
1 teaspoon vanilla powder

Whisk ingredients together and pour into an ice cream machine or a freezer dish. Once mixture has frozen, blend in a food processor until smooth and refreeze (this helps to break up the ice crystals and ensures a creamier ice cream). Do this twice more before serving. This ice cream should be viewed as an occasional treat, but if you want it more often make with soy milk rather than cream. Make sure that the soy milk you buy is 100% pure and additive-free. Instead of vanilla powder, you can use fresh vanilla pod. The most convenient way is to push a pod into a jar of honey and then use this deliciously scented honey whenever you need to sweeten your food.

POLENTA WAFFLES

1 polenta loaf (make this and set in a loaf dish or buy ready made)
raw honey or dried fruit jam
fresh organic cream
Mary-Ann’s Malted Carob powder
ground cinnamon

Cut polenta into slices and grill in a hot oven until slightly crisp. Spread with honey, top with cream whipped with a few teaspoons of Malted Carob powder. Sprinkle with cinnamon and serve. Instead of honey you can use dried fruit jam, which can be made by soaking in filtered water over night and blending until spreadable. These waffles should also be viewed as an occasional treat and if you still have a fair amount of weight to lose, you would be better off without cream, or try Raema’s tofu cream* instead.

RAEMA'S CREAMY VANILLA TOFU SAUCE

½ -1 cup cashew nuts
300 g soft tofu
¼ cup soy milk
2 teaspoon vanilla powder
3 tablespoons raw honey
1 teaspoon ground cardamom

Grind nuts finely to form paste. Add remaining ingredients and blend until smooth. Serve in place of fresh cream or use as icing on cakes and biscuits. Raema runs our cookery demonstrations in Randburg and comes up with some very original dishes and ideas!

GLUTEN-FREE WAFFLES

3 cups cooked brown rice
1 - 1½ cups gluten-free baking mix (or wholewheat flour can be used)
1 ½ - 2 cups filtered water
½ cup apple or grape juice
2 tablespoons cold-pressed olive oil
1 - 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
½ - 1 cup non-oiled raisins, currants or sultanas
½ cup pecan or macadamia nuts (optional)

Combine all ingredients (except nuts) to form a stiff batter and, using a waffle iron, toast until firm and cooked through. Serve with dried fruit jam (see previous recipe) or honey and with either fresh cream or Raema’s tofu cream. These waffles may be topped with chopped pecan or macadamia nut as they are low in protein and can be eaten comfortably with starch.

GLUWEIN OR SANGRIA

500 ml prune juice
1 litre grape juice
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
zest of 1 lemon and 1 orange

Make prune juice by soaking 500 g prunes in 1 litre filtered water for at least 24 hours (longer if thicker syrup required). Drain syrup and set aside, (eat prunes with sweet fruit as a meal). Mix prune juice with grape juice, spices and citrus zest. For an extra tang, you could add the citrus juice too if you like. Heat through in a heavy-bottomed pot and serve as Gluwein on a cold winter’s night. Alternatively, for a refreshing summer time Sangria, combine all the ingredients and serve with ice and sparkling spring water. These drinks are great for social occasions when you want to avoid alcohol – don’t forget that the consumption of alcohol can slow your metabolism down by a third!

Many people fear that a change to a healthier way of eating will result in dull, tasteless meals. These recipes are really just a small sample of what you can expect on the Natural Way lifestyle. There are many more recipes in The Natural Way Recipe Book 1 & 2. Subscribe to a fortnightly email newsletter, register on www.mary-anns.com

See PERFECT WEIGHT THE NATURAL WAY, Mary-Ann tells us how to get off the merry-go-round of constant dieting and how you can achieve a real and permanent change to weight and health.

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