Spicing It Up

I made two Smoothies today, one fruity, one veggy. Here they are:

Sweet Fruity

1 melon (peeled and seeds removed)

1 large handful strawberries.

Juice and drink – easy!

I call this one "Pink Champagne"

Savoury Vegetable

8 carrots

1 beetroot (small, peeled)

4 sticks celery

2 tomatoes

Juice all the above and transfer to blender.

Add 2 handfuls spinach

Blend until smooth.

Mr H enjoying his "Fake Guinness"

I was craving cooked food today. None of the snacks were satisfying me, so I knew I needed to prepare a “proper” meal. What I really fancied was curry... ooohhh....

Ok, so I haven't worked out how to make a raw curry yet (Brain Cogs turning..) but I did find a lovely Chilli recipe in Naked Chocolate. I've had this book for years and to my shame I've never made anything out of it.

Here's the recipe, slightly adjusted for the ingredients I had available (I've halved the quantities for 2 people!)

Chilli con Cacao

1 clove garlic

1 large sprig rosemary

1 ripe tomato

1 large sprig basil

3 sun-dried tomatoes

Squeeze of lemon

Half teaspoon cayenne pepper (I'll use fresh next time.)

2 Olives

1 tablespoon raw cacao powder

Half a red Romano pepper

3 mushrooms

Half a cup of hemp seed oil (or olive oil)

2 Courgettes.

Chop the garlic and herbs.

Dice the tomatoes, pepper and mushrooms.

Chop the olives into quarters.

Place all the ingredients in a food processor and chop roughly (I used a hand-held blender and it worked fine.) Mix in the oil.

Leave to stand while you peel the courgettes (I used a potato peeler to get some nice thin strips of skin) and grate the flesh.

Place the sliced peel on the plates, pile some grated courgette on top and add a generous dolop of Chilli con Cacao onto the top.

It was so delicious. Mr H said he found it "energising" - result! =)