Buckwheat noodles with the best fresh tomato sauce

I LOVE TOMATOES. Maybe it's because I'm Italian but beautifully ripe tomatoes are delicious and smell just like summer, they take me back to my childhood summers spent in Puglia with my family.
It's kind of hard to find some really good ones here in England but when I do, I feel really lucky and want them in my kitchen straight away!
These days, I'm trying to reduce the amount of gluten in my diet just because I always feel so much better and my tummy is nice and flat when I do that, sure, I cannot resist sourdough pizza from Franco Manca sometimes, but in general, I try to keep gluten to minimum amounts.
Lately I discovered buckwheat noodles (see a recipe for a summer buckwheat noodle salad here), and since I have been craving spaghetti this week, I  used these beauties instead of regular pasta. Together with quick fresh tomato sauce, it tasted incredible without the bloat and heavy after dinner feeling. Score!
It's a very quick dinner to prepare and you get lovely fiber and magnesium from buckwheat, plus the fresh tomato sauce provides you with lycopene which has antioxidant properties. Enjoy!x

INGREDIENTS
1 pack buckwheat noodles
1 tbsp coarse pink Hymalaian salt

For the sauce:
1 pack (4 or 5) ripe vine tomatoes thinly sliced
4 cloves of garlic chopped small
2 tbsp extravirgin olive oil
a pinch of organic coconut palm sugar (you can use regular sugar if you don't have it but start thinking about                                                               substituting it, coconut palm sugar it's sweeter but doesn't upset your                                                              blood sugar levels as much due to it's low glycemic index)
a pinch of salt
some ground pepper
4 or 5 chopped fresh basil leaves

METHOD

Pop all the ingredients for the tomato sauce in a small pan, except for the basil, and let it cook over medium to low heat for about 10 minutes stirring  every now and then.
After 10 minutes add your noodles to boiling water (noodles generally take 5 minutes) and add the basil to the sauce stirring it in.
Drain noodles and add to the pan with the sauce so everything mixes in real nicely.. Time to serve!
Buon Appetito.x

Sunshine Smoothie

This smoothie is a modification of a recipe by Natasha Corrett of Honestly Healthy, which is basically my bible. You can find her original recipe in her first book. 

I have been practically living on this smoothie for the past month and a half, I crave it especially when sunny and warm outside, basically a day like today! Of all the smoothies I made, this is hands down my favourite.

INGREDIENTS

1 cup frozen mango
half a banana
1tsp vanilla essence
1tbsp coconut oil
1 tbsp chia seeds
1 capsule probiotic powder (just the powder, not the whole thing!)
1-1/2 cups brown rice milk

METHOD
Pop all the ingredients in your blender and drink up baby!!!!x

Sophie's Ice Lollies

I'm going to write this post quickly before going out because it's going to be another warm weekend and these easy and delicious treats are so quick to make and will keep you cool!
I tested these with my gorgeous friend Sophie and she loved them so much I decided to name them after her.
You can really use any fruit you want but I love berries and the coconut yougurt cream bit is for people that need a creamy part without the dairy.

INGREDIENTS: ((makes four lollies)
2 cups fresh mixed berries ( I used blueberries and strawberries)
1 date (soaked in water for a few minutes to make it nice and plump)

for the optional coconut yogurt creamy half:

1 tub plain coyo coconut yogurt,
1 tsp honey (add more to taste)
1 tsp vanilla essence

METHOD:

Just blend berries and date with a little water and put to the side. Clean blender and blend the rest of the ingredients. Add both flavours in layers to ice lollies moulds. Leave in freezer for 3-4 hours and they'll be ready for you when you get back from sunbathing in the park!

Rainbow Buckwheat Noodle Salad

I made this a few days ago for the first time and it's so delicious,  fresh, filling and good for you that I had to pass it on! I looked at a few different recipes than made my own.
Buckwheat noodles will be a staple in my house this summer, gluten free and with a beautifully earthy flavour.They can be eaten hot or cold.
This salad is very quick to assemble and the dressing takes 10 minutes if you make your almond butter yourself like I did (just pop a cup of raw almonds in the food processor and let it go for 10 minutes and you got butter!!!), otherwise you can just buy the almond butter (preferably raw as to keep its nutrients intact) and add the rest of the ingredients.
The vegetables I used are my favourites but you can use anything  you like.
Next time I'm thinking of adding some crunch and probably sprinkle around some cashews, pecans or pumpkin seeds...Yum!
So here is what I used:

INGREDIENTS:
1 red bell pepper (chopped small)
Half a large cucumber (chopped small)
4 carrots (you can chop them small or if you're lazy like me just shred them in the food processor)
3 small spring onions finely chopped
a big handful of chopped coriander
1 pack of buckwheat noodles or 4 small bunches (this made enough for three meals!!!)

FOR THE DRESSING:
3/4 cup raw almond butter
1 tbsp tamari
juice of 1 lime (plus a few wedges to use if need extra)
2 tsp honey or rice syrup or maple syrup (I only had honey in the house so that's what I used)

METHOD

Boil the noodles following instructions, mine were 5 minutes.  A good trick is to prepare the dressing in the bowl first so then all you have to do is add the veggie and noodle and mix, that way you only have that bowl to wash up afterwards! BONUS!!!
So add all together, mix it up and sprinkle some more coriander and lime juice on top. Ready to go.
PS: leftovers can be kept in the fridge and used for lunch on the following day.

Purple Smoothie Delight

School is out and summer is in baby!

I finally did my physiology exam yesterday, preparing for it has been hard and it drained me both mentally and physically even though I loved everything I was learning. So now it's time to recharge my batteries, gain some of the weight I lost from too much uni stress and just relax and focus on myself and everything I love!!!

So let's start with the prettiest purple smoothie recipe. Purple is my favourite colour but this is not the only reason why I love this smoothie...It's really tasty, it's fresh and has proteins, antioxidants and good fats. It's a great way to start your day! Most of all, it's very quick to make which is key for me and why I love smoothies so much, you just pop all the ingredients in your blender (best money I ever spent) and in one minute you're ready to go.

INGREDIENTS

1 handful almonds

1 cup brown rice milk or soy milk ( make sure they are unsweetened, I use Rude Health Brown Rice Milk)

1 cup frozen berries (mine was a mix of blueberries and strawberries)

1 probiotic capsule (open it up and pour the powder in )

1tsp vanilla extract

1tbsp chia seeds

1tbsp coconut oil ( I use Lucy Bee)

1 date ( put in hot water while you prepare the other ingredients, this way it'll be softer and plumper, remember to remove the seed!)

OPTIONAL: add 1 handful of spinach or kale for extra calcium and magnesium.

As I said before, all you have to do is add the ingredients to the blender and whizz for a minute. Enjoy!

Summer Salad

We've had a few hot days lately here in London and when the weather is so summery, my body screams for fresh foods. I wanted to make a quick salad  to satisfy my cravings but I also needed to pack it with gorgeous ingredients that were delicious and really good for me!
And so my summer salad was born.
It has some of my favourite things in it such as sweet potatoes and red and yellow peppers.
I also added some cannellini beans for protein and chopped one small avocado to add healthy fats.
On top of everything, this salad ended up being so colourful, it made happy just looking at it!

Here we go: serves 1
1 bag of organic mixed salad
1 small avocado chopped
1 sweet potato chopped (with added paprika, cinnamon and dried herbs OPTIONAL)
1/2 red pepper sliced
1/2 yellow pepper sliced
1/2 can cannellini beans (rinsed)
1 handful of pumpkin seeds

DRESSING
Extrvirgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar to your taste and a sprinkle of Pink Himalayan salt (or sea salt)

I used one oven tray lined with baking paper for both sweet potato and peppers, just place them on opposite sides. Just pop the pepper slices on the tray (make sure you washed the peppers first!). as for the sweet potato, once you chopped it, sprinkle some paprika, cinnamon and mediterranean herbs with a little salt (at least that's what I do, but you can just keep it simple and add some salt,pepper and a little bit of dried herbs if you prefer), add 1tbsp of extravirgin olive oil and add to the tray. Bake at 180C for about 30 min.
That was the hard part, now you just put all the ingredients together and sprinkle with pumpkin seeds!
Buon Appetito.xxx

The salmon post

I have always loved salmon. Smoked, steamed, roasted, in a pie...  So I started looking for fresh wild Alaskan salmon. And I quickly realised that 1) on that supermarket counter, fish should have looked and smelled insanely fresh but it really, really didn't 2) it quickly became too expensive a craving for me to keep up.

Then I enrolled in nutritional therapy and found out that frozen fish,which I feared for years because I thought there were some weird chemicals added to it ( probably something I heard my mom's friends talked about years ago in Italy...), is actually fresher than the fish you find on the counter. 

I  decided to give it a try and soon realised it was the best thing I could ever buy. Not only it tastes delicious, looks and smells fresher, but it is also incredibly cheaper! I buy my Alaskan wild salmon from Sainsburys, it's £4.50 for 5 fillets, which means that I can now have my Omega3 fatty acids ( good fats that your body cannot produce) 3 times a week and still have two fillets left for the week after. You can find Omega3 fats in many types of oily fish like mackerel, sardines, salmon and ideally you want to eat them 2-3 times a week. I stick to salmon because I tried both mackerel and sardines and they do not agree with me but if you do like them then definitely switch between the three, ideally the smaller the fish the less amount of mercury in it. 

Having said that, there will always be some kind of big or small health issue with food or drinks so my advice is to eat what you enjoy but always be mindful.Life is too short not have salmon.

For some reason this frozen salmon seems to cook better as well, I am pretty lazy in the kitchen so food needs to be healthy, very tasty and quick to prepare. 

The way I love to cook my salmon is with a sprinkle of Hymalaian salt, a little ground pepper, Mediterranean dried herbs ( my faithful grandmother's mix) and a slice of lemon on top. Then I wrap it in loosely in a foil parcel and pop it in the oven at 180c for 11 minutes. in the meantime I can prepare a side salad or steam some greens. It's perfectly cooked every time. I suggest you give it a try.xxx

Ingredients

1 fillet Alaskan wild salmon

1 slice of lemon

Salt and pepper

Mediterranean dried herb mix ( or any other dried herbs you'd like)

Method

Turn the oven on at 180c, 350F, gas mark 4.

I quickly rinse the salmon under gently running water for 2 seconds just to make sure it's nice and clean without any small dirt bits from when it was caught or cut. Pop it in the foil sheet and sprinkle with salt,pepper and the herbs and top with a lemon slice.

Fold the sheet of foil so that the borders of the two longe sides touch and gently close them together so steam won't come out. it basically needs to create a hot steam pocket for your salmon. 

If you do have a steamer at home that would be even better, you could just put the salmon in there with the veggies as well and have a complete dinner in one move! Also, a steamer would be healthier than the foil to use. I'm planning to buy a wooden one soon. If you do not have it please don't worry, foil will work great!

Place the parcel in the oven for 11 minutes and done! 

Just make sure you keep your lovely face away from the foil when you unwrap it, so you won't be hit by the hot steam :)))

Serve on a plate with your favourite greens.xxx