Vegetable Flower-Tarte

The sun is bright shining and hopefully a day to enjoy to be outside. I desperately need to work in the garden, but......
I don't wont to lay too much work on my back as I am, after being sick for two weeks, a little weak on my legs. So I postponed garden work for later on. 

Still I wasn't lazy and I have been standing in the kitchen (as we didn't want to suffer from hungry ;)

According to the sun I decided to make a tarte like the sun - bright and colorful. I was hesitating how to arrange the vegetables I ended up to arrange them in a circle. Well, it's quite a little bit timetaking but worth it. And with the right music in the back, work always goes easier......

No go ahead and make your own Flower-Tarte and enjoy it with your best part and a glass of good wine!

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Vegetable-Flower-Tarte

4 Persons
2h 30min

Cake pan (Springform) 24cm diameter

Ingedients:
200 g wheatflour
40 g margarine
1/2 tsp. salt
11 Tbsp. water
180 -200 g cashew cheese (recipe below)
320 gr. Zucchini
220 gr. eggplant
210 gr. carrots (carrots and zucchini should be about same thick)
salt, pepper and herbs
Oil

Preparation:
For the dought put flour, margarine, water, 0,5 tsp. salt in a bowl and knead till smooth. Cover and give in the refrigerator for about 1 hour. 

Prepare the cashew cheese and keep cool till use. 

Peel the carrots and slice with vegetable planed lenghtwise in thin streaks. Do the same with the zucchini and keep them seperatly in two bowls.

Cut eggplant in half, place cuted side down and with a sharp knife cut lenghtwise into thin slices. The slices should have about the same size as carrots and zucchini (don't worry if they are a little bit bigger ;)

Take the dought out of the refrigerator and roll bigger than the from. Lightly grease the springform and layer it with the dought, on the side up about 2-3 cm. 
On the bottom disturb the prepared cashew cheese.

Now arrange the slices from outside to inside in a circle. Make sure that the halved eggplant slices lays with dark color up. 

Brush the arranged vegetables on the upper edges with oil and sprinkle with salt, pepper and some herbs

Put the cakepan (springform) for 45 min in the not preheated oven at 200 °C. 


Before serving dizzle with some tomato-balsamic vinegar and walnut oil. (or another balsamic vinegar). 

Enjoy your piece of vegetable-flower-tarte!

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Classic Cashew Cheese
  
Makes 1 1/2 cups
1 cup raw cashews
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons white wine
2 cloves garlic
1/2 -1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

Soak cashews in 1/4 cup of water for about 20 minutes to 1 hour.
Add all ingredients to a high speed blender or food processor.

Blend until thick and creamy.

Use at room temperature or chill for at least 20 minutes.

Store in an airtight mason jar or container for up to 1 week.
Enjoy!

Detox-Water-Drinks

Detox means nothing else as detoxification the body. The aim is to excrete metabolic products from the body through sweating cures, raw food, drinking cures or fasting.

Well it isn't really the season for detoxification, but still I desperately need it right now. Cause since about over a week I'm sick, first with suffering stomach-digest-problems and now with tiredness and fever. Now I'm at home curing myself and I have been drinking so much teas the last days, that I was looking for something else liquid to help my body. 

The simplest way was water with flavour. To bring the flavour to the water I had to be patient for at least one day. 

I dried different flavours and the day after were my Detox-Water-Drinks finished. 

Now, I just hope they will help my body curing from sickness. 

Here we go with the drinks I made. All with fresh tap water!!!

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Sparkling energy kick

Citrus fruits are basic and assist in a acidified body happend when consumed too much fat meat, sugar and alcohol. (Even vegan meat can be made to fat)....

Ingredients:
Cucumber
lemon
lime
ginger
water

What you need: a big glass or bottle

Preparation:

In each glass fill in a few slices of cucumber, lemon, lime and ginger. Pour water over it and finished is it for the moment. Close the glass or bottle and give it over night in the refrigerator. 

The day after take the glass/bottle out of the refrigerator, either let stand till room temperatur or drink it right away. (with the fruits; vegetable in or taken out - that's up to you how you like it). I've taken them out.

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Berry vitamin bomb 

The Blueberries helds valuable substances that prevent many deseases, as well as inhibits inflammation. 

Ingredients:

Blueberries

orange slices

water

Preparation:

Give a handful of blueberries into the glass (fresh or frozen), some orange slices, fill up with fresh water, close and give in the refrigerator. 

The water will look amazing the next day, deep blue. And so good.

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Healthy Strawberry Cocktail 

Looks almost a bit like a beery Mojito - but the healthy variant thereof. 

Well, I made this drink with last few strawberries from the market.

Ingredients:

Strawberries

lemon

mint leaves

water

Preparation:

Cut a handful of strawberries into quarters, give in the glass and add a few slices of lemon. 

Wash a few fresh mint leaves, place on the hand and once (only once!) clap with the other hand on it. In no time the flavors releases from the leaves. Now give into the glass and fill up with water. Put in the refrigerator and enjoy your flavoured water the next day. 

Pumpkin Columns with Apple Vinaigrette

Yes Pumpkin season had started. It's not that I have waited for it nervously, but glazing at the shelf in the supermarket I couldn't stop myself and got one. Especially after I've been sick for at least one week with stomach-digest-problems and worst such horribly stomachpain. 

First pumpkin for this year..... and probably not the last one. Pumpkins are healthy and with lots of vitamins and not much calories. 

My first "normal" dish since a week. (The past week I've only eaten rusk dipping in vegetable broth and rice slime. Breakfast helds millet gruel lightly sweetend). 

So you see I've been graving for normal food and VEGETABLES AND FRUITS. But I wanted to keep it low, not overstressing my stomach too much for first. 

Anyway, guess you never appreciate a dish in from of you more than being after sick. And everytime I remind myself that there are so many people out there in the world not having the opportunity to choose what to eat. So be allways gracefull what you got in front of you on your plate......

LOVE, PEACE AND HAPPINESS TO EVERONE

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Pumpkin Columns with Apple Vinaigrette



4 Portions

Ingredients:
1 Hokkaido-Kürbis (1 kg)
1 El Öl
rough Seasalt
some grounded pepper
1  red  Apple
4 Tbsp. Lemonjuice
2 Tbsp. Agavesauce
Salt
3  spring onions
2 Tbsp. Pumpkin seed oil or normal oil

Direction:

Halve the pumpkin, core, and cut into 8-10 columns. Brush the columns with oil, place on a baking tray with baking paper and season with sea salt and pepper. Put in the preheated oven up to 200 C° on the 2nd track from the bottom and bake 25 to 30 minutes.

From the Apple remove core housing, cut into slices, then into cubes. Mix 4 tbsp lemon juice, Apple juice, water, salt, pepper. Brush spring onion, and cut white and light green in discs and stir in.

When done remove the Pumpkin columns out of the oven. Into the vinaigrette stir in pumpkin seed oil and serve with the pumpkin columns. Or sprinkle the vinaigrette right over the columns and serve it then.

Veganmania Street festival and Raw Avocado Chocolate Mousse

Last saturday I was taking part at the "Veganmania"-Streetfestival in Winterthur. As it is pretty far away from my home it was the first time I was up there. The weather was perfect and I had a great day. 

I'm standing on the right under the red lamp in the tent -beside the woman with blond hair - (I'm looking down)

If you're expecting a huge festival - no it was small all situated on a marketplace with lots of exhibitor selling their products. 



While passing through it - already fully loaded with stuff - came by "the green fairy"  a sweet vegan producing shop with selfmades cakes, ice cream, muffins and so on. For today they seld ice cream and raw chocolate mousse. Hesitating weather trying the ice cream or mousse I decided for the ice cream curious about made from provational persons as I've haven't aten a lot good made vegan ice cream. 
All I can say - delicious!!!

All in all I ate a lot on that day - snacking a lot and having lunch (a great vegan dürüm wrap) I went home full with great impressions and stuff. I even met two persons I've been on the boat with in Croatia.

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A few days later I tried a recipe I got from "the green fairy"-Cookbook. A raw avocado chocolate mousse - haven heard that made with avocado it tastes great and so started and I can prove it - it tastes great. 

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Raw Avocado Chocolate Mousse 

Mousse 
ingredients 
2 ripe avocados 
1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon raw cacao powder 
1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon raw agave nectar (or to taste) 
1/2 tablespoon vanilla 
1 tablespoon coconut oil (optional) gives the dish after cooling more stability 

Preparation 
Place everything in a blender and mix well. 

Thereafter, the mousse is immediately enjoyable. Even better it tastes when the mousse was for 1 hour in the refrigerator. 

Serve and garnish with seasonal fruit, such as raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, banana, mint, coconut, etc. .. 

Zucchini Corn Fritters

Lately I really do love corn cobbs, marinated on the grill - too good, not be eaten. But there got to be another - an little more exquisite way - to eat them. I've eaten them in such a lot of ways, in stews, chili, salads, grilled and so one, but not often in Fritters.

Good things about Fritters are, that you can prepare them with almost every kind of vegetable. 
The other vegetable ingredient I don't had to think about, cause there was waiting my last zucchini from my garden down in the backyard. 

The cornflour gives the fritters an extra taste of corn and perfect crust. 

Served plain with a salad and maybe with a mild or garlicy-herb-pesto. 

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Zucchini Corn Fritters

makes about 16 fritters

Ingredients:
1 1/3 cups soy or rice milk
1 tbsp. cider vinegar
1 cup cornmeal
1/4 cup chickpea flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda or soda water
1/2 tsp. salt
1 medium zucchini
1 cup fresh, frozer or canned corn
Preparation:
Combine soy or ricemilk and vinegar and set aside. 

In a mixing bowl combin cornmeal, chickpea flour, baking soda and salt.

Wash the zucchini and chop or grate them (should be about 1 cup), then add the cornmeal mixtur, add the milk mixture and the corn. Mix well together till you got homogen batter. 

Put oil in a frying pan and heat up. Pour in small amounts of batter and cook until edges are dry about 2 min. Carefuly turn them with a spatula and cook until golden brown, about 1 min. 


Immediatly serve them with mixed green-vegetable salad.