My Hurom Juicer finally arrived today! I have been madly checking the post tracking ever since I bought it for myself. It is my early graduation present. I bought HU500 after I saw it advertised on the Food Matters website. The demonstration videos looked quite impressive and I really liked that it yields more juice with more nutrients.
The post man was so early this morning that he woke me up, but I couldn’t go back to bed I had to try it out my new baby. Albie took advantage of my sleepiness and impressed me with giving me each paw to shake and then sat with his adorable sad face. He is not well at the moment, he has injured himself so we are off to the chiropractor on the weekend. So while I was madly trying to figure out my juicer, he helped himself to my mum’s leather lounge and took a long nap.
After taking the juicer apart to see where it all goes I put it back together and started chopping fruit and veggies. I only had a pear, small beetroot, few sticks of celery and one large leaf of kale, so I wasn’t expecting a lot of juice. I just place a glass under the spout, like they do in the video and started to juice. Before I got near the pear I already had a full glass of green juice. I had to get another glass to catch the rest. I was really impressed with the dry pulp and I really love the little cap on the spout that the juice comes out of, which makes sure you don’t spill any.
The juice consistency was really nice. It wasn’t too watery or too pulpie. To clean the juicer you just have to rinse it with water and use the brush to get off any excess fruit, so easy. I ended up making juice again after dinner tonight to demonstrate it to Marco. He is in love with it too now. Unfortunately we had to go back to his tonight, so we won’t see the Hurom again till tomorrow.
While I was enjoying my juice I was watching the Today Show and saw that David ‘Avocado’ Wolfe is here for his Australia Tour! He is coming to my city in Brisbane next week. Unfortunately I couldn’t convince anyone today to go with me, so I will be going to his evening lecture and day conference by myself next weekend. It is a bit pricey but for the amount of hours it good value. To see a show or do a cooking lesson would cost just as much and thats only 2 hours. I first saw David on Hungry for Change documentary and he really influenced me to get back into juicing. So I can’t wait to see what he says and to learn more about raw food and nutrition.
With such a healthy start to the day I continued with a healthy Mushroom and Baba Ganoush Salad Wrap for lunch. I tried out the new Organic Mountain Bread that I got from Woolies yesterday. It doesn’t have any preservatives, which is great as its hard to find any wraps or lebanese breads that don’t. It also tastes really good and doesn’t have that strange wrap after taste.
Mushroom and Baba Ganoush Salad Wrap (vegan, gluten free option, nut free)
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large flat mushroom sliced
1 teaspoon diced basil/parsley
2 pieces of mountain bread/gf wrap
2 tablespoons baba ganoush (store bought/homemade)
1/2 small carrot grated
1/2 small lebanese cucumber thinly sliced
1 radish thinly sliced
1 small tomato sliced
small handful baby spinach
1 roasted capsicum
sea salt to taste
Method:
1. Heat olive oil in a pan and add mushroom. Saute on each side, when it starts to brown add the basil/parsley and sea salt.
2. Place 1 piece of mountain bread on a plate, then spread baba ganosh and top with carrot, cucumber, radish, tomato, baby spinach, mushroom, roasted capsicum and sea salt.
3. Close the ends of the mountain bread then roll it closed. Wrap another mountain bread around the wrap.
4. Wrap the mountain bread with baking paper and twist the ends of the paper. Then slice in the middle and serve.
* Serves 1
After lunch I started on dinner. I always get so much done when I am procrastinating my uni work. I really wanted to try make another Serbian bean dish that I tried at Marco’s sisters Slava. It is prepared the same way as Prebranac, which I made with lima beans. However, is stove cooked instead of baked. To thicken the beans and water into a sauce you just add a mixture of flour and water. She also told me that leeks, carrots and capscium can also be added.
According to an article I read this stove cooked Serbian beans is called Pasulj (Пасуљ) and is more like a thick bean soup. It is traditional dish in Serbian, Bosnia, Albania and other parts of the Balkans. Like Prebranac it is made white or brown beans, onions and sweet Hungarian paprika as well as bay leaves, carrots, leeks and other vegetables. It is often prepared with smoked meats, such as smoked bacon, smoked sausage and smoked joints. But the meat is omitted during times of fasting.
Although this dish takes a long time to make its really easy and is a perfect comfort dish for cold weather. I had to add a bit of sugar to mine, as my sweet hungarian paprika was a bit bitter. We enjoyed this soup with some crusty sour dough and sauerkraut.
Pasulj (Serbian Bean Soup) (vegan, gluten free, soy free, nut free)
Ingredients:
500g great northern beans (soaked/un-soaked)
1/2 cup olive oil
1 large leek, diced
3 onions, diced
2 garlic cloves, diced
2 large carrots, diced
1 red capsicum, diced
2 tablespoons Sweet Hungarian Paprika
3 bay leaves, pinch of raw sugar (if too bitter)
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)
1/2 tablespoon liquid smoke (optional)
sea salt and black pepper to taste
2 tablespoons arrowroot flour (or other flour)
Method:
1. Place beans in a large pot and fill with water. Bring to the boil, then strain beans and remove water.
2. Place beans in the same pot and fill with water. Bring to the again boil, then strain beans and remove again water.
3. This time place beans back in pot with water to cover (about 1-2 finger tips). Slightly cover the pot and bring to the boil, then place on a simmer. Cook for 45 mins to 1 hour, or until beans are quite soft.
4. In a large pan heat olive oil and add the onion, garlic, leeks, carrots, red capsicum, paprika, bay leaves, sea salt, black pepper, sugar and liquid smoke. Cook for 1o mins or until onions are translucent and all the vegetables have softened
5. Add the vegetables to the beans and stir through.
6. Mix flour with 4 tablespoons water in a small bowl then add to the beans.
7. Cook beans for a further 30-1 hour, so that they break down a little more and become a thick soup. Season and serve.
*Serves 6-8
Pasulj <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pasulj>
Cord Magazine <http://www.cordmagazine.com/images1/pdf/cord77.pdf>
Here is an update on my garden. My herbs are looking a bit sad and my veggies are getting a few bites, but they are all growing nicely. I have started using the pak chop and lettuce. Any advice natural ways to stop bugs? I am using this natural chili garlic spray. Its only the broccoli, cabbage and brussel sprouts that are getting attacked.
I’ve also started growing a pineapple plant with the top root. I will have to plant it soon.