Chickpea Flour Flatbread Veggie Salad Pizza with Miso-Tahini sauce

 Getting over the notoriously infectious omicron variant of the Covid-19 virus, I made this gluten-free chickpea flour flatbread pizza with veggie salad on top it. Although I was tempted to go grocery shopping for more ingredients, I managed to make up stuff with what I had at home. I didn’t want to catch another Covid virus on my recovery from it. 

Ingredients:

Crust - Chickpea flour (1 cup), himalayan salt (1/2 tsp), black pepper (1/4 tsp), dried rosemary and dill, and filtered water (1 cup).

Toppings - thinly sliced steamed rainbow carrots, thinly diced celery hearts (raw) and thinly cut red leaf lettuce.

Sauce - Tahini, almond butter powder, white miso, extra virgin olive oil, apple cider vinegar and filtered water. Sprinkles of hemp seeds and Atlantic dulce on top of everything on the pizza.

Direction:

1. Mix the crust ingredients, steamed the rainbow carrot slices, mix the sauce ingredients and set aside.

2. Preheat the oven at 450°F and stick the liberally greased (with extra virgin olive oil) cast iron skillet in the oven (while preheating). Then pour the crust mix into the skillet, and bake for 15 minutes.

It'll come out like this.

3. Place the toppings mixed with the sauce on top of the baked crust.

Red leaf lettuce first.

All toppings with sprinkles of hemp seeds and Atlantic dulce flakes.

4. Slice the pizza and serve.

It's gluten free, dairy free, egg free, sugarless, nutritious and good for you. The sliced and steamed carrots had a texture of a thinly sliced ham especially with the rich miso-tahini sauce. FYI. Of course, you don't need to think like that. It's just my impression of it. I thought about getting a firm tofu from a store, but I think this itself has chickpea, tahini, hemp seeds, etc. so it's fine for the day.  I'd make it again. 

Allergen-Free Vegan Donuts

 The other day, I made allergen-free vegan donuts (gluten and dairy free) for the first time. To my surprise, it tasted really good!! 😋

These are baked donuts. Not raw donuts, although I generally prefer raw food desserts. I just like to experiment. Since it was my first time baking vegan donuts, I was a bit nervous about binding the dough, so I kind of used a few different binders in the mix. As usual, a banana (for both as a sweetener and binder), flax egg and xanthan gum. Also used a bit of baking powder for fluffing the dough. BUT, after the experiment, I would just use the banana, and skip the rest. Not necessary. If you want to fluff it up, perhaps, the use of baking powder and baking soda, but I would prefer sticking to a banana only. I'm assuming that you could get the ideal consistency of the dough by adjusting the grams of the banana when mixing it.

Ingredients:

Oat flour --- about 1 cup

Almond flour --- about 1/4 cup

Coconut flour --- about 1/4 cup

(The ratio of almond flour and coconut flour, to my liking, is usually more almond flour and less coconut flour.)

1 Ripe banana

Flax egg (Optional) --- 1 tbsp Ground flax seeds mixed in 1.5 tbsp filtered water. Mix and let it sit for a few min. 

Xanthan Gum (Optional) --- 2/3 tsp.

Orange zest --- I used 3 organic mandarin orange peels, and grated them.

Cacao Powder --- 2 tbsp.

Vanila Extract (non-alcohol) --- 3/4 tsp

Cinnamon powder --- sprinkles

Dark chocolate bar --- I used the Lindt 90% cocoa (for glazing and drizzling the donuts). This one has 2g added sugar which is a small amount, so it's not too bad. I usually make my own chocolate sauce with no added sugar, but this time I skipped that process. I'm wondering where the 4g protein comes from, though.

Hemp milk (unsweetened) --- 1/4 + cup.

Baking powder --- 1/4 tsp

Coconut oil --- 1.5 tbsp (melted)

Cooking gear:

Silicon donut molds and a baking pan.

DIRECTION:

Grate the orange peels (organic orange)

Make flax egg (optional)

Melt coconut oil

Blend the ingredients (Oat flour, Coconut flour, Almond flour, 1 ripe banana, sprinkles of cinnamon powder, vanilla extract, hemp milk, flax egg-optional, xanthan gum-optional, baking powder-optional, Cacao powder and orange zest).

Fill the silicone molds with the donut dough. I filled just 2/3 of the way into the molds, but next time I'd just fill the molds all the way, since I wouldn't be using baking powder. If you use baking powder (or any fluffing agent), you'd probably need a little space for the donut to fluff up.

After baking for 15-20 minutes at 350 °F

Since I used very little amount of baking powder, the dough didn't expand much. Banana made it a bit moist and chewy. That's OK for me. Fluffing agents can interfere with a detox diet, so I try to use less of them. 

Tasted delicious💗 Texture worked for me.👍

Baked. Cool off. (Easy to removed the donuts from the silicone molds.)

Melt dark chocolate bar in boiling hot water saucepan. 

(Some coconut oil was left in the measuring cup, so I mixed it with the chocolate.)

I also don't like to use a microwave, and it's better for the chocolate to gradually melt in the hot water rather than heating it up directly in the pan. 

This is the chocolate bar I used this time. Lindt brand. Next time, I hope I'll have the time to make from scratch, but in a pinch, I use something like this. 

Delicious dark chocolate-drizzled vegan donuts! 🌱

Dark chocolate-dipped donuts tasted yummy, too!

LOVE the bitter-sweet taste!! 😋

Just like life.

Blessings🍀

Hina-Musubi (Girls' Day Rice Balls)

 March 3rd, 2022, was Hina-matsuri (Girls' Day) in Japan.  So, I made Hina-musubi (Girls' Day Rice Balls) for the occasion. The anticipation of the spring and the Sakura-color of the ceremony inspired me. Made my heart flutter. 💓

As you can see, it's pretty easy to figure out what ingredients I used to make this cute couple. Just in case, here are the ingredients:

- Sushi rice

- Atlantic Dulce (seaweed)

- Umeboshi (pickled plum)

- Dried NORI seaweed 

- English Cucumber

- Carrot

- Sea salt

Just cook the rice, separate the rice for the parts, make them into rice balls (for heads and bodies) and flatten them. For the Odairi-sama (Emperor)'s body, I used a kind of purplish Atlantic Dulce and sea salt. For his face, just cut Nori and made tiny eyes and smiley mouth. The accessories are made of an English cucumber. For the Ohina-sama (Empress)'s body, I mixed the sweet (honey) Umeboshi with the rice. For her face, Nori and Umeboshi (the lips are the skin part of Ume, and the cheek blush is the meat part of Ume.) For her accessories, I used the carrot. Background decoration is thinly-cut Nori and peeled skin of the English Cucumber.

Then, I placed the Hina-Musubi to my little sister's and lost cat's alter as the food offering. 🙏

May the force be with you. May the seasonal celebrations warm your heart. May you be able to share each precious moment with your loved ones. Peace.

Blessings 🍀 3.5.2022

Christmas Tree Dessert recipe with 2+ ingredients

 

Christmas Day, 2021

Yesterday, I made these Christmas tree cookies, inspired by the occasion. It's been a while since I felt like it. Grateful for the Spirit of Christmas.  

I would like to share the 2 super-easy recipes today. 

First Christmas Tree is made from just bananas and coconut flour.  Whatever portion should work. I used the 2 ripe bananas that I wanted to use up, and added 1 cup of coconut flour. Blend them to a consistency which the dough would form a shape of a Christmas tree when using an icing tip with a pastry bag. Bake at 350°F for 15-20 minutes or more, as needed. Actually, I added Matcha powder in an attempt to make the tree green. But the organic Matcha powder I used was a cheap kind which is the lightest green, and the banana's yellow color made the tree color light brown when blended. And, you know what that means... The trees looked more like...poops! On top of that, when the cookies were baked, the banana made the color turn dark brown.  So, unless it's for the flavor you're going for, it is not necessary to add the Matcha powder. Then, in order to hide the poopy shape, I decided to cover up the trees with snow. The arrow root powder was what I used, since I did not have coconut flakes handy.  I did whip a small can of coconut cream (refrigerated in advance) and put a tiny dot on top of the trees. 

(Before baking)

(After baking)

The other Christmas Tree is made from a ripe pear and gluten-free oat flour/almond flour mix. BUT, I recommend using just coconut flour like the first recipe for better taste. The oat flour made the taste too bland. I don't use sugar, so I rely on the sweetness of the ingredients. Blend the ingredients, adding Matcha powder also. With a ripe pear, the Matcha color was slightly recognizable even after baking.  Bake at 350°F for 15 minutes or so. The pear cookies baked faster than the banana ones. Again, I sprinkled the arrow root powder for the snow effect, and added a lemon peel stars on top of each tree.

(Before baking)

(After baking)

I could add more ingredients to enrich the flavor and texture in both versions. But, I am reluctant to use some of the enhancing ingredients for baking, since I'm on detox diet most of the time. 

May the Christmas Spirit be in your heart...always!

Blessings,

Mariko

Summer Greetings and Update with Watermelon Juice

 🍹 Summer Greetings 🖖 暑中お見舞い申し上げます🎐

How’s everyone? I have been out of commission since last September when suddenly my left arm started aching sharply, and then the pain got worse and spread all over my body and organs. I’m still working on my health, but I do feel a lot better than before. Been back to juicing mostly. Pictured here is my morning watermelon 🍉 juice with lime and mint. (from June 26) It’s not covid. My pcr tests came out negative three times when I was in hospital, and my recent anti-body test also came out negative. I’m pretty sure it’s hormonal and immune-based. I’ll share my journey to health with you little by little. 

昨年の9月から急に左腕に激痛が走り、瞬く間に体全体と臓器にも障害が出て、ずーっと闘病中でした。だいぶ良くなりましたが、今尚、旅路は続いています。又ジューシング主体のダイエットに戻り、写真は朝のスイカ🍉ジュースです。ライムとミントも入れて。(6/26撮影) コロナでは無いです。3回病院のお世話になりましたが、pcr検査は陰性、最近受けた抗体検査も陰性。多分ホルモンの激減と免疫低下によるものだと思います。この10ヶ月間で自分で試みた対策等を又少しずつシェアしていきたいと思います。

#juicing #juicingforhealth #detox #health #journeytohealth

Regrow: leeks in 2.5 weeks

7/7/20

Regrowing leek scraps took only a couple hours at start, and then in 2.5 weeks, they were ready to be chopped for a nice dinner!

6/25/20

6/25/20

6/28/20

7/1/20

7/1/20

7/7/20

7/14/20

Eaten with celery 

Blueberry Kombucha in second fermentation

Here’s a few photos of my blueberry kombucha in second fermentation. (June 1, 2020) I usually add fruits, and this time, blueberries! The color came out bright red. I think it’s because I made a small cut into each blueberry, so more color will come out, and its red!! Second fermentation is usually 2-3 days. Kombucha balances my digestive system. Works for me! :)