Easy Wholemeal Bread

It's very rare to find good wholemeal bread in Japan.  Dark German rye bread, yes.  But not wholemeal bread.  I've just found this recipe for very easy wholemeal bread, no kneading required.
http://www.deliaonline.com/how-to-cook/bread/how-to-make-wholemeal-bread.html
I'll report back when I've found the wholemeal flour and have a chance to make it!

Tuna and Avocado Flower

I had this stunning dish in a bar last night, and so wanted to recreate it quickly before I forgot... It looks so beautiful - it was a bar snack, but would be beautiful as a starter for a special meal.






Ingredients (serves 1)
5 very thin slices of daikon (mooli/Japanese radish)
1/2 ripe avocado
1/2 rounded tsp green pesto
about 20g very fresh raw tuna
a little red onion
about 2 tsp flying fish roe (tobiko)
a sprig of something dark green

Method

• Peel a small piece of daikon and slice it into 5 very thin rounds - you can use a knife or vegetable peeler for this. If it is thin enough you will see the veining on the daikon.
• Arrange on a small plate as a 5 petaled flower.
• Thinly slice a little red onion into slivers.
• Roughly chop the raw tuna into about 1cm cubes.
  
• Mash the half avocado with about 1/2 rounded teaspoon of green pesto. Mix in the tuna.
• Arrange the avocado mixture on the daikon petals, top with the slivers of red onion, and scatter the flying fish roe on top.
• Chop something green on top. I just chopped a bit of green salad leaves on top, but you could use basil or parsley.
• Serve immediately!

Trail Mix

This is a really delicious and healthy snack. No measurements are given, because it's such a matter of taste!







Ingredients
Coarse oats
Almonds, chopped into thirds
Pumpkin seeds
Raisins
Dried blueberries
Dried figs, chopped into quarters
Dried coconut
Anything else you might like!

Method

• Preheat the oven to 170C.
  
• Spread the oats in a fairly thin layer on a baking tray, and toast for 20 minutes until crisp and golden brown.
• Pour into a large bowl, and mix in the other ingredients.
• Store in small containers for snacking!

If you like healthy snacks, you might want to take a look at the Sunday Snacks Event - Healthy Snacks.

And also some of my previous posts:
Cheesy Potato Marmalade Balls
New Potato Asparagus and Bacon Hot Salad
Melted Camembert with Toasted Walnuts
Balsamic Figs Ham and Blue Cheese
Mackerel on Rye Bread
Low Fat Lemon Pepper Houmous

Celery, Cucumber and Ginger 'Juice'

It's difficult to call this one a juice, because it's really rather chewy! But it is very fresh-tasting, and ginger is very good for promoting good blood circulation. Of course if you had a juicer you could make it clear, but then it wouldn't have the fibre!





Nutrition Data
Calories: 36
Protein: 1.5g
Carbohydrate: 8g
Fat: 0g
Dietary Fibre: 2.5g

Ingredients
Stalk celery (about 60g, with or without leaves)
1 Japanese cucumber, or 1/3 English cucumber, unpeeled (about 90g)
Piece of root ginger, unpeeled (about 15g)

Method

• Wash the vegetables.
• Break the vegetables up into the blender with a little water, and blend until as smooth as possible.
• Drink immediately!

Tip

• If you don't want to drink it immediately, then store it in a vacuum flask. This keeps it cool and dark, so that you don't lose too many nutrients.

Spinach, Avocado and Tofu Smoothie

OK, so as from this last week, I'm on a bit of a health kick, and feeling really energetic all day as a result!

This very green smoothie really is filling! It also supplies about 20% RDA calcium, nearly 200% RDA Vitamin A, about 70% RDA Vitamin C and about 30% RDA iron.



Nutrition Data
Calories: 272
Protein: 13.1g
Carbohydrate: 17.8g
Fat: 19g
Fibre: 8.9g

Ingredients (serves 1)
120g spinach
1/2 avocado
150g soft silken tofu

Method

• Wash the spinach and tear roughly into the blender bowl.
• Add a little water and blend until finely chopped.
• Add the avocado and silken tofu and blend until smooth, adding water until it's a consistency you like.
• Drink immediately!

If you like spinach, you may also like to look at the Healing Foods Event - Spinach.
Also my previous spinach posts:
Spinach, Cucumber and Avocado Salad
Sesame Sauteed Spinach


Tips

• So now you have half an avocado that you need to keep without it going brown. Don't brush with lemon juice, but keep the half with the stone and wrap it in foil, making sure that the foil is pressed down well over the cut side. Store in the fridge for up to 2 days.
• If you don't want to drink it immediately, then store it in a vacuum flask. This keeps it cool and dark, so that you don't lose too many nutrients.