Busy weekend, time to refocus & a Cooling Cucumber & Mint Juice recipe

Wow, what a crazy busy weekend! Thanks for all who visited my blog and who have tried out my easy coconut yoghurt recipe, feel free to share your pics on the Healthy Healing Food Facebook page or @healthyhealingfood on Instagram.

The weekend was so overwhelming, we had a wedding, a Christmas party and a 3rd birthday party over Saturday/Sunday. I really over-indulged and today I am feeling a bit foggy and lack-lustre so my word for this week is 'rejuvenate; to restore to new or original condition' which sounds great to me!

Here is my weekend in pictures & then onto a Cooling Cucumber juice to get you off to a good start on this Monday morning.

 The wedding was beautiful & we took our little boy with us, 

I was nervous but he was so well behaved!

In between the wedding and reception we went back to my best friend's house and she spoilt us with french martinis in her garden, so spoilt

Somewhere along the way this happened...a vegan salted caramel cupcake from Cupcake Central, 

so amazing

I made this fresh fruit platter for our mothers group 

Christmas party using cookie cutters:

After a big weekend of eating and drinking it's time to cool down and alkalize with a refreshing drink. Cucumber and kale are two highly alkaline foods to balance out some foods with more acidic properties, you should be aiming for 80% alkaline & 20% acidic foods per day. If you are interested in learning more about which foods are alkaline or acidic, this link has a good chart; http://www.unleashthepowerwithin.com.au/images/alkalinefoodchart.pdf

Cooling Cucumber & Mint Juice:

This could be made in a Thermomix, blender or Vitamiser.

Ingredients:

1/2 cucumber, washed with the skin on & thickly sliced

2 handfuls of kale, washed and roughly chopped

1/2 handful of fresh mint

1 handful of Ice

1/2 cup of water

(Optional but moderately acidic: 1 chopped apple, for sweetness)

Method:

Throw everything into your appliance and blitz it on high for 1 minute, or until smooth.

Garnish with some fresh mint & enjoy

Super Easy Thick Coconut Yoghurt

I am in love with coconut yoghurt at the moment, below is how I make my coconut yoghurt which gives me thick creamy yoghurt every time, it is yet to fail me. I hope you enjoy it!

Super Easy Thick Coconut Yoghurt

Ingredients:

• 2 x 400g cans Ayam Premium Coconut Cream (800 grams total)

• 1/2 cup of plain COYO (I purchase mine from GoVita)

• 50 grams of Orgran 'No Egg' (purchased from health food shop or supermarket,see image below)

• 1 tablespoon of pure maple syrup

• Optional - 1 teaspoon of Vanilla (either vanilla paste, seeds or extract)

Method:

• I start by making sure everything is super clean & I run boiled water over my utensils, thermomix jug and thermosaver.

• In your thermomix jug add in your 800ml of Coconut Cream and 50 grams of 'No Egg'. Mix for 10 seconds, speed 4 until all combined

• Heat the mixture to 80 degrees, speed 3, 10 minutes. (It should already be pretty thick by now)

• Let the mixture cool to 37 degrees, keeping it in the thermomix, this normally takes 1-2 hours but it depends where you live and your climate.

• Around the end of the cooling time I normally boil the kettle and add some hot water into my thermosaver to pre-heat it.

• Once cooled, add in the maple syrup (and vanilla, if you like) and mix on speed 3 for 10 seconds.

• Add the pre-purchased COYO and combine at 37 degrees, speed 1 for 3 minutes.

• Pour the hot water out of your thermosaver

• Pour your coconut yoghurt from your thermomix jug into your thermosaver, place the lid on top and wrap it in a towel. Leave it overnight or for 8 hours, I put mine in the laundry out of the way. I normally make mine in the late afternoon and open it up the next morning.

• Refridgerate and enjoy!

• Remember to save 1/2 a cup of your batch of yoghurt for next time you make it.

The brands I use for my Coconut Yoghurt:

'No Egg' Ingredients:

Topped with Chia seeds, raspberries & shaved coconut, yum!

It Begins

Welcome

I'm Laura, a Melbourne dweller and mother of one cute little cherub. The inspiration for this blog came about after the recent discovery of some food allergies (Dairy & Egg) and chronic inflammation located around the outside of my liver due to Cesarean complications 8 months ago. My Doctor advised that it could take up to a couple of years to recover and be pain-free which shocked me but I'm not very good and taking no for an answer...

And so I embark on an exciting journey to health and healing through beautiful & nutritious food. I will be posting recipes, food ideas, ideas for alternative ingredients and many things I find of interest. I recently stumbled across an excellent book with great information about decreasing inflammation through changing your diet. Below is the cover to the book and some great excerpts.

I welcome you on this journey of health and fulfilment

Clean Cuisine is the title of the book, http://cleancuisineandmore.com. Ivy Ingram Larson was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) in her early 20's and credits keep her condition under control and even in remission to her anti-inflammatory diet, as outlined in the book.  

A 'food pyramid' of sorts to describe which anti-inflammatory foods you should be eating the most of.

Some further information about inflammation.

I have found the book to be very valuable as a great starting point to assist in reducing inflammation and leading a healthy lifestyle.