Make Good Food an Everyday Thing!
11 Nov 2010 2 Comments
Gorgeous fresh fruit ready for eating or juicing!
It’s no secret that I love food, good food, as unprocessed as possible, as fresh as possible and as organic as can be. In my small urban garden I have as many fruit trees as I can fit in: apples, plums even figs and you can see some of them in the photo above, chopped and ready to be placed on some puff pastry and sprinkled with freshly ground spices and maple syrup. Into the oven at 190 fan bake for 15-20 mins and hey presto – scrummy dessert for all.
I have been doing lots of cooking courses in the past year in London and locally. Macrobiotic cooking, Fragrant Lebanese, Classic French bread-making with Maria - www.bakewithmaria.com and this week a Raw SuperFoods course in Amsterdam – www.rawfoodworks.org
We tried a raw foods restaurant in London called Saf which you are all probably sick of hearing me talk about but it was (and is) STUNNING. We – even the kids- loved it although there were the usual quips from Mike. “Do we have to pay for it, if they don’t cook it” and so on. Boy, did he change his tune when he tasted their Laksa and Blue-berry cashew nut cheesecake!!!! Not to mention their super fresh energy juice and mocktails!
Many of the other participants on the course – Diabetics (type 2 who had cured themselves) raw fooders who raved about their fabulous immune systems (no colds for years) and those who just loved the fresh clean taste of herbs, juices, oils, nuts and veggies blended – were already converts. I am pretty convinced that there is much merit in having green juices and eating as many green, orange and yellow leafy type things as possible, but I also love cooked foods, particularly at this time of the year. On a day like this, with rain, huge gusts of wind and a cold that seeps into your bones, I like a French onion soup with crusty bread and melted cheese and something piping hot and warming. But I am going to give juicing and Diana’s Raw Food Lasagna made with courgettes instead of pasta a go. As an asthma sufferer I am keen to boost my immune system and I am keen to get the whole family eating more raw food. I tried out my first green juice on my kids yesterday. “It has a kind of after taste,” said my fussiest child. Yes, I said that’s called vegetables honey! I am going to have to do some serious experimenting to get the kids on board which brings me to Bill Granger who is a cook I really do admire!
Bill Granger, a top Australian chef has some top advice for parents in this months Vegetarian..”If everyone else is eating it then kids will eventually try it too. You need to make good food a normal thing – if you eat badly then your kids will eat badly too. Be unrelenting too, if they don’t eat it, don’t give them something else!”
I also made ANZAC cookies today, experimenting with Lemon Curd in the mixture as it is Armistice Day when we think of all of those who fought or perished in the many wars of the world, and in particular the Great War. Our ANZAC cookie recipe is in our old blog http://thelunchbox.blog.com where many of our recipes are archived. Served with a fresh green juice made with apples from our garden, spinach, parsley, lemon, ginger and mandarin I felt that adding in an ANZAC cookie was almost a healthy combination!
foodforum
Jan 31, 2012 @ 13:01:42
Please, folks, be aware: processing fruit and vegetables by cutting it into small pieces and arranging it nicely on plates might be a pleasure for your eyes, but it seriously cuts down the content of vitamins (the known reaction with ozon in the air). Recently scientists found, that sliced Salat leafs loose 80% of their vitamin C content within 1 minute ! In this view it is a waste and shame to buy expensive organic stuff and make it more or less worthless that way…
Listen to nature… or have you ever seen an animal cutting/arranging its food ?
Feb 20, 2012 @ 17:20:32
Actually, I do believe that food must look attractive and be arranged nicely otherwise you lose people very quickly – My feeling is that most of us are not eating enough fresh food at all so anything we can do to encourage it, the better it is!