Further to the Cocobanana recipe

I've tweaked it a little. The banana tends to oxidise and the resulting ice-cream has a greyish tinge. So, I tried dicing and tossing banana in orange juice before I froze the pieces. This resulted in a lovely creamy colour and hint of tutti-fruity flavour in the ice cream. I liked it. I'll be doing it again - remind me to post a photo of it.

I'm also intending to try a version with pears as I've got a big bag full of 'em and they are really delicious. I think they'd make a nice Pear coconut ice cream. Stay tuned.

ALSO, I noticed that I put cashew & parmesan dip on a post about Vegan dips. Doh! I am fully aware that vegan is dairy-free so please forgive my slip-up. I think all the other dips are a great idea for a vegan fast and I'll be posting recipes very very soon.

Just started the Daniel Fast today. I'm hoping to last the full ten days and beyond. Prayers, please?

OMG Ice Cream!!!!!! Cocobanana flavour.

Let's cut up a nice sweet freshing treat that can be made ahead of time and frozen until it's time to eat.

Take one largish banana, peel it, dice it and throw the dice into a freezer bag. Freeze over night.

Then take the frozen banana cubes out of the freezer and throw them into a blender or a deep bowl so that you can blitz it with a bamix. Add a couple of tablespoons of coconut cream to the banana and blitz. Blitz. Bliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiittttzzzz like you can do it!!!!!

Once the lumps are all gone and the cream is beaten in, return the bowl to the freezer for an hour or so. Then it will be ready to eat. Delish. Natural. No additives or preservatives.

If you don't like coconut flavours, as some people don't, try a little ordinary milk or soy milk,... even a little water. This recipe was designed during my vegan fast so I didn't want to use diary products and I thought banana and coconut would be delicious together. I was right. They are. Yum-mee. Try it.

Vegan Dips to have with veggie sticks

Have you given this idea some thought for morning tea / afternoon tea or even for lunch?

Chop up baby carrots, cucumber, beetroot - any veggie you know you will actually eat. Then enjoy them for morning tea or lunch with one of the following dips:

Hommus (Stay tuned for my awesome recipe)
Salsa
Baba Ganoush
Guacomole
Pesto
Any of the fresh supermarket dips with cashews and parmesan cheese.

Mmmmm. Tasty.

A Lesson I'm learning,...

If you can't resist a particular food, then you're placing too much value on it. You think it will give you more pleasure than it actually does, you think it will taste better than it actually will. You think it will give you more comfort than it actually can.

That's what I'm learning when it comes to food temptations.

Psalm 34:10 (New International Version)

"The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing."

The Snacking Hour - Roast Cauliflower

Here's a healthy idea to help cope with that snacky feeling we sometimes get:

Roast Cauliflower
(Serves 2 - 3 people)

• Wash and chop half a cauliflower into florets
• Preheat your oven to 400F degrees (200C).
• Combine 1 - 2 tablespoons of lemon juice, 1 - 2 teaspoons of olive oil and around 1/4 teaspoon of salt in a bowl.
• Toss the cauliflower florets into the lemon mixture until all are well coated.
• Spread them in a single layer on a baking tray and roast for approximately 30 minutes.
• The cauliflower florets will be well browned, some smaller pieces will even be almost black. Don't panic about that, just keep your eye on them so they don't burn. The dark bits are absolutely delish, tasty and crunchy.

These little treats are almost as good as hot chips for the VLCD dieter. I'd make these even if I wasn't on a diet.

Snack away, my pretty. Snack away.

Stir-Fry Sesame Veggies

(Serves 2 people)

Ingredients:
1 cup shredded cabbage
1 cup shredded carrot
1 small zucchini finely sliced
4 medium mushrooms finely sliced
4 shallot stems finely sliced
2 teaspoons oil
< 1/4 teaspoon sesame oil
1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon soy sauce (to taste)

1. Heat your oil in a wok until very hot. Traditionally, an oil that can handle high temperatures is best eg. peanut oil.
   
2. Add the mushrooms and the white/pale green sections of the shallots to the wok. Stir-fry for one minute. Set aside the darker green parts to be added at the end of cooking.
3. Add remaining vegetables (except shallots) and stir-fry.
4. Add soy sauce and sesame oil. Toss through veggies for another 1 - 2 minutes. The veggies don't take much cooking.
5. Add the green shallots, toss through and serve. Mmmmm.
   

VARIATIONS:

1. Serve the vegetables in a deep bowl and top witha scoop of packet soup. Make the soup mix according to directions and pour it over the top of cooked vegies to create a tasty Asian-style soup.
2. Add a little finely chopped garlic or fresh red chilli to the wok at step 2 along with the mushrooms.
3. Add a little Ayam Light Sweet Chilli Sauce to your dish at the table.
4. Use Asian greens and mung beans for a more true Asian-style soup.
5. If you can't deal with the thought of eating a stir-fry without rice then finely chop 1/2 cup of cauliflower per person and microwave it for approximately 2 minutes until tender. Use this "virtual rice" as a bed for the stir-fried veggies.

A note about sesame oil:
The sesame oil gives this dish a really nice full-bodied flavour. The amount of fat added to the dish from sesame oil is negligible and yet the flavour really pays out big. Also, keep your sesame oil bottle in the fridge as the oil goes rancid very easily if left out in warm weather.