Asian Chickpea Salad & Curry Chickpea

On any given day I am making a whole lot of food. Raw food and cooked food. My family is very willing to eat raw foods, but they don't eat as much as me. They try a lot of the things that I make, but they still have a vegan style meal a lot of the time. Their food is healthy and contains some of the best ingredient, so I thought that I would share a typical night for us. I make my raw meal and their cooked meal often by using the same theme.

I made myself this chickpeas dish which is not all raw, but still very good.


Salad Ingredients
Chickpeas
1/8 Cup Dulse
1/4 Cup Scallions
1/2 Cup Celery
Few Raisins (yes this is a weird idea with the dulse but it worked well)

Dressing
miso
apple cider vinegar
olive and algae oil
salt (this will depend on what type of seaweed you use-you made not need any)


For mine I scooped some onto some mixed greens and added a few sprouts. My daughter actually really liked this and took it to school for her lunch the next day.

Then....

I made a Curry Chickpea dish for my husband. This is a really tasty vegan dish that you can make for your family. It is so quick that I can make it in about 30 minutes and it is healthy for you. There is barely any oil, and the oil we use is good for you.


You will need:
Chickpeas (soaked and boiled or or canned)
I tbs curry powder
I medium sized onion
1tbs coconut oil ( Organic Extra Virgin Coconut Oil by Nutiva)
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 bay leaf & 1 sprig of thyme
1/4-1/2 Cup shredded cabbage
1 carrot slice or shredded
1/2 Cup Coconut Milk (Organic)
1/2 cup water
hot pepper to your liking ( I used about 1/4 green chili)
pinch of Himalayan salt or sea salt

Heat the coconut oil and lightly saute the curry, onion, bay leaf, thyme and garlic. Add in chickpeas, carrot, cabbage and stir to get all veggies coated with the curry powder. Add your water and coconut milk. Allow to come to a slight boil and then simmer for about 10 minutes. Add hot pepper, salt and pepper to your liking. If it is too thick add water, if it is too runny mash a couple of the chick peas and the curry will get thicker. Enjoy.

I like it when the vegetables are just slightly cooked and still crunchy. I have made this many ways and you can change the vegetables that you use. You can use kale or spinach and add it to the mixture just before serving.




You can serve this over steamed brown rice. Or even quinoa or millet. This is so quick that it a great meal to have in your recipe file. There is usually lots left over for lunch.

Now my favourite part. Use the left over coconut milk for a treat for all of your hard work in the kitchen. I use mine in my Matcha Green Tea.

I hope you ENJOY!. Does you family require different meals? How do you incorporate new foods into your family meals? I would love to hear from you on what works for your family.

Avocado Dressing & Curry Chickpeas

Fresh papaya, a sprout salad with avocado dressing and a curry chickpea dish. That is what you will get here today. Oh yes and a few pictures of products that I bought today at the health food store. Love sharing new finds and old goodies too.

I had a busy day running around doing errands so I wanted to make sure that my diet supports me as much as possible. Sometimes it's hard as last night I had about 4 hours of sleep. So I really needed to pack in some nutrient rich foods.(hence the shopping trip)

Shopping at the health food store's is one of my favorite things to do. That why I used to work for one. I can spend hours there if time permitted. I just love looking at all the new products and picking up fresh produce. Today I got to go with my sister, who is also a health foodie who you will surely see here guest blogging.

This is what we picked up.

Pack of mixed sprouts, organic Thai coconut, coco-loco chocolate coconut spread, bag of sprouted buckwheat, kombucha tea and pea sprouts. I also picked up a small bottle of freshly made kale, carrot ginger juice. (oops drank that on the way home...yummy)

and this.....


Organic papaya. Let me tell you it was AMAZING. I was going to do a smoothie but just decided to cut it up and well all ate it. Don't you just love papaya? It is so good for you and your digestive system.

Then for our evening meal I was in a big rush so I threw together some pea sprouts and some of the mixed sprouts. The mixed sprouts had clover, alfalfa, broccoli and kamut sprouts. I shredded some daikon and cut up some red peppers. Then I used this great avocado dressing that I made last night. It is taken from Raw Glow which is a great raw food book. It has a lot of amazing pictures and great recipes. I adapted mine a little bit.

Ingredients
1 Avocado
1 cup of fresh orange juice
1 tbs red onion
lime juice
honey or agave
salt
pepper
and additional hot peppers if you like

Blend it all up and that is it. Oh yes you can add olive oil or flax oil which will cut the lime if you want. To be honest I forgot the olive oil and made it without and didn't really miss it.


Pour over salad and enjoy. This keeps in the fridge for a couple of days.

I also made an easy curry chickpeas with rice.

Ingredients

chick peas
1/2 can of organic coconut milk
2-3 spoons of curry
3 sprigs of thyme
3 cloves of garlic
some water.
1 tbs coconut oil
1 scallion
2 chili's (optional but a must for me)

Heat all of the above ingredients in a dutch pot if you have one or a just a regular pot. Heat slightly and then that is it. You can use this on top of brown rice if you like or on it's own. Very quick and easy meal. Sometimes I add raw kale on top.



Lastly some herbal tea and time to reflect....


I will be talking about making tea and what your tea can do for you as far as your health in the next little bit. Stay tuned for some very exciting things to come.

I also signed up for a yoga class today so I am really excited about this. I think it is so important to nurture your mind, body and soul. Tell me how are you nurturing yourself these days ?

PS. If you are interested in taking the yoga class with us just let me know.