Pesto: Roasted sunflower seed and red pepper

I think most people these days keep a jar of pesto sauce in the fridge to be able to fall back on for so many recipes. There are lots of great pesto sauces available in the supermarkets and I usually have a couple of varieties in the fridge (a jar of original basil pesto and another of tomato and chili pesto at the moment). 
 

If I want to make a quick plate of pasta for just me, it is so easy to have pesto on stand-by and add a few spoonfuls to the pasta with some freshly grated cheese, chopped herbs, slithers of olives and sun-dried tomatoes. I use pesto as the base for heaps of salad dressings, you can use it to whip up a quick dip with yogurt and mayo, add it to mashed potato and I love using it as a sandwich spread to bring an extra hit of flavor to my lunch.

Perfect quick meal: pasta with roasted sunflower seed and red-pepper pesto, olives, tomatoes, fresh herbs and cheese.

That being said it is so easy to make your own pesto and I love creating flavor combinations that I can’t find on the supermarket shelves. This week I created a roasted sunflower seed and red pepper pesto that is easy to make, tasty and heart-healthy. 

 

Traditional basil pesto sauce contains pine nuts but they are so expensive here in Bali (and back in the UK) that I often use sunflower seeds as a great alternative. This time I had roasted sunflower seeds in the cupboard which gave an extra depth to the pesto. If you can’t find roasted sunflower seeds then roast or toast some yourself first. Don’t be scared by the addition of chilies. Large red chilies are not very spicy and combined with the other flavors they bring warmth rather than spice.

Roasted sunflower seeds, a delicious alternative to pine nuts.

Be inventive, try your own flavor combinations of pesto. I’m going to experiment with a zucchini pesto next time, and if it is any good I’ll post the recipe soon!

Nutritional benefits

Red peppers are a great source of vitamins A and C, and are packed full of anti-oxidants. They even feature in the top 25 heart-healthy foods (see my “Heart-healthy foods” blog from 25^th May 2013).

Sunflower seeds contain vitamin E and essential fatty acids. They are amongst the most nutrient dense nuts and seeds and contain no cholesterol.

Basil is one of the most nutritionally-rich herbs. It is a great source of vitamin K, iron, potassium, magnesium and calcium. It also has disease preventing and health promoting qualities.

All the main ingredients for the pesto.

Ingredients (makes a half pint jar)

2 red peppers, de-seeded & cut into large wedges

2 large red chilies, de-seeded & cut in half lengthways

2-3 cloves of garlic, peeled & halved

Seasoning

Olive oil

1 cup of basil leaves

75g roasted sunflower seeds

¾ cup Pecorino Romano cheese, grated

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 180. In a baking dish place the red peppers, chilies, and garlic then season and drizzle with olive oil. Roast in the oven for approximately 20 mins. Once cooked allow to cool.

Red peppers, chilies and garlic ready to be roasted.

In a blender place the basil leaves, roasted sunflower seeds, Pecorino cheese, some seasoning and 1/3 cup of olive oil and blend. Then add the cooled peppers, chilies and garlic and blend again. 

Basil leaves, Pecorino cheese, sunflower seeds and olive oil in the blender.

The roasted peppers, chilies and garlic ready to be blended with the rest of the ingredients.

Store in an air-tight jar and cover with a thin layer of olive oil. Keeps for about a week.

Roasted sunflower seed and red pepper pesto ready to be stored.

Spread on crostini, enjoy in sandwiches, mix through your pasta, use as a dip with crudités or breadsticks, add to mashed or baked potatoes, use as a sauce for grilled vegetables, fish or meat or use as a base for a salad dressing. The options are endless.

Spread the pesto on crostini for a great appetizer

Eat, taste, enjoy!

Happy Juice: Green Goddess

We all know that green fruit and veggies are good for us and there are so many fantastic green juice recipes out there to help us get our recommended servings of our greens. The “Green Goddess” is a recent invention of mine, and a fast favorite, with just the right blend of sweet and sour. 

It is inspired by my love of kiwi fruit which I have eaten since I was little. Mum often gave me one with the top cut off like a boiled egg and I would scoop the sweet and tart, juicy green fruit out with a teaspoon. They were a happy favorite in my packed lunch for school! I hadn’t had kiwi fruit juice though until I moved to Java, Indonesia and used to pass by a fantastic and cheap juice stand on my way to work. They had all sorts of fruits on offer to be whizzed up into a juice and kiwi quickly became my juice of choice most days as I went past.

The Green Goddess!

Kiwis are too expensive now here in Bali for me to make a pure kiwi juice very often so I thought I would create a new green juice recipe that included them. They really work wonders at balancing out the bitterness of the spinach. Give it a try as a delicious alternative from your regular green juice. I’ve added some milled flaxseed too to up the nutritional value of this juice even more (and it is tasteless), but you can leave it out if you prefer.

Nutritional benefits

Kiwis contain vitamins C, K and E, fiber and heart-friendly potassium.

Apples contain fiber, they fight the effects of aging on the brain, they reduce the risk of several types of cancer, decrease the risk of diabetes, lower cholesterol and can prevent gall-stones.

Pineapple contains vitamins A and C, calcium, fiber and strengthens gums and bones.

Spinach is nutrient dense, contains vitamins A, C, K, B2 and B6, magnesium, calcium and iron amongst other good stuff!

Flaxseed is high in fiber, contains anti-oxidants, omega-3fatty acids, B vitamins and magnesium.

Ingredients

2 apples (or a cup of apple juice)

1 kiwi fruit, peeled and diced

¼ medium pineapple, diced

1 cup of spinach

A good glug of orange juice (freshly juiced or bought)

1tsp milled flaxseed (optional)

Heart-healthy kiwi fruit, apples, English spinach and pineapple.

Method

Extract the juice from the apples using a juicer. Then place the apple juice with all the other ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth or use a stick blender. Easy!

(If you prefer a less pulpy drink, extract the juice from the pineapple too using a juicer. Remember you lose a lot of the nutritional benefit doing this though).

The Green Goddess with an oatmeal, coconut and honey cookie! Great afternoon treat.

Bring out the inner goddess in you with this sweet, delicious and nutritious green juice! Heart-healthy goodness in a glass :)

Heart-healthy food

Did you know that you can eat certain foods to help protect your cardiovascular system? Just as some food can do harm to our hearts and clog our blood vessels, there are lots of heart-friendly foods that can reduce the risk of heart disease.

Even cooked tomatoes are good for your heart! Photo from: http://wishflowers.tumblr.com

I was inspired to write this article because in recent weeks there was a heart scare in my family. Thankfully it did turn out to be just a scare but in the process of talking about it to several friends I discovered quite a few people I know have had similar scares and have actually been advised to make changes to their lifestyles to avoid future heart problems. I found this a little bit shocking due to the relatively young age-group of the people I was talking to.

Heart-healthy blueberries can be added to oatmeal, smoothies, juices, or fruit salad. Photo from: http://creativespathways.blogspot.com/

Everyone knows I’m really interested in nutrition and healthy eating, and I always make the effort to eat heart-healthy foods, but when I asked friends if they knew what foods are good for our hearts most of them didn’t. They were quick to list the types of foods that are bad for heart health, such as fried, fatty and salty foods, but struggled to list even a couple of foods that can strengthen our hearts or reduce the risk of heart disease. Again I was surprised at the lack of knowledge about heart-healthy foods so I thought it might be an idea to give you a fairly comprehensive list which hopefully will encourage you to incorporate a few more of the items into your everyday cooking.

Even dark chocolate is good for heart health! Photo from: http://www.womenshealthmag.com

According to the www.webmd.com these are the top 25 foods to protect the cardiovascular system:

1.     Salmon              14. Spinach

2.     Milled flaxseed     15. Broccoli

3.     Oatmeal             16. Sweet potato

4.     Black/kidney beans  17. Red bell peppers

5.     Almonds             18. Asparagus

6.     Walnuts             19. Oranges

7.     Red wine            20. Tomatoes

8.     Tuna                21. Acorn squash

9.     Tofu                22. Cantaloupe melon

10.  Brown rice          23. Papaya

11.  Soy milk            24. Dark chocolate

12.  Blueberries         25. Tea

13.  Carrots

A glass of red wine a day is good for your heart. Cheers to that! Photo from: visualphotos.com

Many of these heart-healthy foods (beans, chocolate, wine and berries) contain flavonoids which inhibit the adhesion of platelets in the blood which can reduce the risk of heart attacks and strokes. Other foods (fish, flaxseed, walnuts, almonds) contain omega-3 fats that lower blood pressure and reduce the levels of triglycerides in the blood that can contribute to blood clotting. Vitamins C and A, potassium and fiber are also important for a healthy heart and found in lots of fruit and veggies (for example tomatoes, oranges, peppers, apples, bananas).

Heart-friendly oranges- rich in vitamin C and fiber. Photo from: http://crushculdesac.tumblr.com

It is important to include a variety of these heart-healthy foods in your daily diet, not just stick to one or two, so that you get all the nutrients you need to keep all parts of your cardiovascular system healthy. I would say that most days I include at least four to five items from the list in my meal-plan, so fingers crossed me heart is nice and strong!

Apple & cinnamon baked oatmeal for breakfast. Photo from: http://www.familyfreshcooking.com

Aim at having one or two at each meal. You could start your day with a bowl of oatmeal or use soy milk instead of dairy on your cereal or in your smoothie. Throw a few blueberries into you juice/smoothie/cereal/oatmeal too. At lunch opt for brown rice or sweet potato instead of the regular white rice or potatoes. Snack on some almonds or walnuts or dark chocolate (I have approximately 10g or dark organic chocolate each day). Make sure dinner includes a few heart-healthy veggies such as spinach, carrots, broccoli, or red bell peppers, perhaps alongside some tuna/salmon or tofu.  Round it up with a fruit salad, including papaya and cantaloupe. You can even wash it down with a nice glass of red wine or a cup of tea. Doesn’t sound too bad does it?

Heart healthy spinach can be added to smoothies or eaten at lunch or dinner. Photo from: http://butyouarebeautiful.tumblr.com/

I don’t eat salmon or tuna but include lots of tofu and other heart-friendly soy products in my diet. I don’t drink tea as I try to avoid caffeine, but by adding milled flaxseed to most of my juices and yogurt, and raw cacao to my yogurt too I find it easy to increase my intake of heart-healthy foods from the list and so decrease my risk of heart disease.

Green tea is heart healthy. Photo from: http://www.ifood.tv

For some heart-healthy recipe ideas check out www.heartfoundation.org.au, www.bhf.org.uk, and www.eatingwell.com.

Try some of my Happy Juice recipes in previous blogs (Ginger and spinach zinger, Bugs Bunny, Tropical Berry) for a heart-healthy way to start your day. My Green Goddess Happy Juice recipe is coming soon too and is rammed full of all the right nutrients to keep your heart healthy and strong. Stay healthy, protect your heart! 

Heart-healthy ingredients for my Green Goddess juice.