Cucumber, Lime & Apple Juice

Serves 3 tall glasses

Ingredients:

1. 2 cucumbers sliced into sticks

2. 2 apples sliced

3. 2 limes peeled and cut

4. 2 kiwis peeled and sliced (optional)

5. 1 packet (20g) mint leaves

Directions: 

Blend together in a cold-pressed juicer and serve :-)

Additional Information:

We saw this in a TV program 2 days ago and decided to try it yesterday. I made this for a friend who visited us yesterday. J was away at the school camp, leaving Mr. FECS and me. I made this for our coach time, where we watched a movie together :-) This juice is like the Mohito cocktail, just without the alcohol.

The original recipe calls for syrup. However, I substituted it with 2 apples to sweeten the drink.

Kale Avocado Salad/Grønkål avocado salad/羽衣甘蓝牛油果拉酱 [yǔ yī gān lán niú yóu guǒ shā lā]

Serves 4

Preparation Time: 25 minutes

Ingredients:
- 1 head kale, discard stem and shred leaves (I prefer the taste of curly kale for this one)
- 1 avocado
- 1 cup tomato chopped
- A handful of black olives chopped into half
- 1 stalk of spring onions
- 2 - 4 tablespoons olive oil (go for less if you can)
- ½ squeezed lemon or lime juice
- ¼ to 1/ teaspoon Himalayan sea salt
- For extra yummy…add 1-2 sheets untoasted nori (snip up with scissors into little bits)
- Optional toppings: walnuts, pine nuts, raisins, flax seeds, sesame seeds

Directions:
1. In a mixing bowl, raw cook the kale by mushing it with olive oil and Himalayan sea salt with hands to create marinated/wilted effect on kale. This also makes it much tastier and easier to digest.

2. Mix in the avocado, tomatoes, spring onions, walnuts, flax seeds and olives and toss with salad fork and spoon.

3. Squeeze in lime or lemon, mix well and serve.

Nutritional Value:
The leaves of the kale plant provide an earthy flavor and more nutritional value for fewer calories than almost any other food around. It has gained recent widespread attention due to their health-promoting, sulfur-containing phytonutrients.

Kale is an excellent source of vitamin A, vitamin C and manganese. It is also a very good source of dietary fiber, copper, calcium, vitamin B6 and potassium.

Human population as well as animal studies consistently show that diets high in cruciferous vegetables, such as kale, are associated with lower incidence of a variety of cancers, including lung, colon, breast and ovarian cancer.

A study of Chinese women in Singapore, a city in which air pollution levels are often high putting stress on the detoxification capacity of residents' lungs, found that in non-smokers, eating cruciferous vegetables lowered risk of lung cancer by 30%. In smokers, regular cruciferous vegetable consumption reduced lung cancer risk an amazing 69%!

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Additional Information:
Eating kale raw gets the most nutrients out of it. If you are tired of always eating it stir-fry, this is a very easy and tasty recipe for raw kale salad. My Superstar and I tried it for dinner tonight, and we really really enjoyed it. It is not just healthy, but truly truly delicious. I wish I had known earlier that healthy wholesome food can taste so delicious! But better late than never! Try this recipe out or you can come over as our guest :-)

References:
Here is a great video by the raw food coach, Karen Knowler…demonstrating how to make this salad:
http://happyfoody.com/2008/02/12/raw-kale-avocado-salad/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kale

Pho Bo Vietnamese Beef Noodle Soup/Vietnamesiske Nudlersuppe med Oksekød/越式牛肉汤面 [Yuè shì niú ròu tāng miàn]

The Pho beef noodle soup I made today

Serves 4

Preparation & Cooking Time: 1.5 hour (for pressure cooker) or 4 hours for normal cooking

Ingredients:

The broth:
- 500g beef bones
- 2 beef shanks (Osso bucco)
- 500g beef tenderloin, cut in thin slices
- 2 onions, halved, unpeeled
- 1 clove garlic, unpeeled
- 4” ginger, halved length wise, unpeeled
- 5 star anise
- 5 cloves
- 1 cardamom
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1 TBS fennel seeds
- 1 TBS of coriander pods (optional)
- 3 litres of water
- 1 tsp sugar (optional)
- 1 tsp cooking oil (to char the ginger and onions)

The raw beef:
- 400g beef tenderloin, cut in thin slices (easier to cut if it is slightly frozen)

The rice noodles:
- 400g dried rice noodles/sticks
- Enough water to cover and boil the noodles
- Dash of salt

The soup bowl:
- A handful of cooked rice noodles
- 1 handful mung bean sprouts
- 5-8 slices of raw beef
- 2 stalk of spring onions, chopped
- 1 piece of lime cut
- 2-3 slices of chilli (optional)
- 1 handful of mint leaves (optional)
- 1 handful of cilantro (optional)
- 2 tsp fish sauce (optional)

Directions:
1. Put the beef tenderloin in the freezer for at least 15 minutes. In this way they will be cold and it would be easier to slice them thinly when you take them out.

2. Char the ginger and onions on a pan on the stove.

3. To make the broth, in the pressure cooker, add water, ginger, onions, the spices, bones, beef shanks and cook for 30 minutes after the pressure cooker has reached pressure. (To save energy, if you are using electric stove, you can turn off the heat 10 minutes before and just let the pressure cooker sits on the stove until it reaches 30 minutes. ) If you are using an ordinary pot, simmer under low fire for 3 hours.

4. To prepare the noodles, bring to boil water sufficiently to cover the noodles, add noodles and salt and wait for 3 minutes. Thereafter, strain off water and set aside.

5. Take out the beef tenderloin from the freezer and cut them into thin slices.

6. Line your soup bowls beside the stove and fill half of each bowl with rice noodles, mung bean sprouts, slices of raw beef, spring onions and chilli.

7. While lining your soup bowls, bring to boil the broth and pour 2-3 ladles of soup into the soup bowl. The hot broth will cook the raw beef slices.

8. Serve immediately and garnish with cilantro and mint leaves if desired.

Tips:

1. If you make with beef shanks using the pressure cooker, it will be very tender, and you can scoop some of it into the bowl with the noodles.

2. I like to add a teaspoon of garlic oil into the noodle soup, as it gives it a nice fragrant.

3. If the amount of work looks overwhelming to you, you don't have to make the preparation all at one go. You can also cook the beef broth in an automatic electric cooker overnight.

4. If you have a toddler who doesn't like beef, you can scoop out some of the broth and add cod fish and serve the soup and the cod fish with the rice noodles.

Nutritional Value:
The 5 spices used in this soup is very beneficial for health. The star anise seeds are an excellent source of many essential B-complex vitamins such as pyridoxine, niacin, riboflavin, thiamin. Pyridoxine (vitamin B-6) helps increase GABA neuro-chemical levels in the brain.
The spicy seeds are great source of minerals like calcium, iron, copper, potassium, manganese zinc and magnesium. Potassium in an important component of cell and body fluids that helps control heart rate and blood pressure. The star anise is also contain good amounts of anti-oxidant vitamins such as vitamin-C and vitamin-A.

Fennel seeds are concentrated source of minerals like copper, iron, calcium, potassium, manganese, selenium, zinc and magnesium. Copper is required in the production of red blood cells. Iron is required for red blood cell formation. Zinc is a co-factor in many enzymes that regulate growth and development, sperm generation, digestion and nucleic acid synthesis. Potassium in an important component of cell and body fluids that helps controlling heart rate and blood pressure. Manganese is used by the body as a co-factor for the powerful anti-oxidant enzyme superoxide dismutase.

The seeds indeed are storehouse for many vital vitamins. Vitamin A, vitamin E, vitamin C as well as many B-complex vitamins like thiamin, pyridoxine, riboflavin and niacin particularly are concentrated in the fennel seeds.

Fennel seeds have many health benefiting volatile essential oil compounds such as anethole, limonene, anisic aldehyde, pinene, myrcene, fenchone, chavicol, and cineole. These active principles in the fennel seeds are known to have antioxidant, digestive, carminative and anti-flatulent properties.

Fennel seeds are rich source of dietary fiber. 100 g seeds provide 39.8 g of fiber. Much of this fiber is metabolically inert insoluble fiber which helps increase bulk of the food by absorbing water throughout the digestive system and easing constipation condition.

In addition, dietary fibers bind to bile salts (produced from cholesterol) and decrease their re-absorption in colon, thus help lower serum LDL cholesterol levels. Together with flavonoid anti-oxidants, fiber composition of fennel helps protect the colon mucus membrane from cancers.

Fennel seeds indeed contain numerous flavonoid anti-oxidants like kaempferol and quercetin. These compounds are indeed function as powerful anti-oxidants by removing harmful free radicals from the body thus protect from cancers, infection, aging and degenerative neurological diseases.

Cloves are an excellent source of manganese, a very good source of dietary fiber, vitamin C, vitamin K and omega-3 fatty acids and a good source of calcium and magnesium.

Cinnamon is an excellent source of manganese and a very good source of dietary fiber, calcium and iron.

Seasoning a high carb food with cinnamon can help lessen its impact on your blood sugar levels. Cinnamon slows the rate at which the stomach empties after meals, reducing the rise in blood sugar after eating. It is also helpful in lessening inflammation.

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Additional Information:
It is winter time now with heavy snow fall today... makes me crave for a hot bowl of noodle soup to keep warm.

I normally don't like food containing five-spice as I find the flavour too domineering, although the five-spices are believed to have a lot of health benefits. However, somehow five-spice just fit so well in Vietnamese beef noodle soup. It enhances the flavour rather than overpowering it.

My Significant Other normally doesn't like noodle soup, but this is the only exception. J loves the noodle soup, but he doesn't like beef so much, so I added cod fish, which is easier to eat, to his bowl of pho noodle soup instead. The cod fish also enhances the soup.

The best pho bo noodles I have ever tasted was in Paris' Chinatown. My parents came to visit me in Copenhagen for the first time in 2005 and we went for a trip to Paris. My father had a bowl of the pho bo noodles and fell in love with it. He was back in Copenhagen last year when J was born, and was looking around for the Vietnamese pho bo noodles soup. But there are very few Vietnamese restaurants in Copenhagen, and none near our place. None of the Vietnamese restaurants in Copenhagen serve pho bo as good as the one we tried in Paris. This year, we were back in Paris with my Significant Other and J, and it was the first noodle soup that my Significant Other gives a thumb up. Next year, when my parents visit me, I will be able to make my father his favourite pho bo beef noodle soup myself :-)

References:
http://steamykitchen.com/271-vietnamese-beef-noodle-soup-pho.html

http://www.nutrition-and-you.com/fennel-seed.html

http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/beef-pho/Detail.aspx

https://youtu.be/Cnf90NG7ZTs?si=DdLfEf7mSk-82DHu

Close-up

The Pho beef noodle soup we had this year in Paris

This is the Pho beef noodle soup my parents had in 2005 in Paris

This is how the restaurant looks like in Paris' Chinatown

Carrot Soup/Gulerod Suppe/胡萝卜汤[hú luó bo tāng]

Recipe from Anni Airaksinen

Preparation & Cook Time: 45 minutes - 1 hour

Ingredients:
- 680g carrots
- 680g potatoes
- 1 cup chopped onion
- 1-2 tablespoon cooking oil
- 3 cloves garlic chopped
- 2 TBS fresh ginger, chopped
- 2 TBS chopped leeks (optional)
- 2 tsp lime juice
- 500g minced beef (optional to give more flavour for adults)
- 4½ cups or 1125ml of water
- 1 tsp salt
- A spoonful of yogurt or fromage frais and some chopped chives as garnish (optional)

Directions:
1. Peel carrots and potatoes and cut into chunks (and small cubes for baby)

2. Meanwhile saute garlic, ginger, onion, leek and beef with cooking oil on medium heat in a heavy bottom pot.

3. Add the carrots and potatoes, bring to boil and simmer for 20 minutes or until carrots and potatoes are cooked and tender.

4. Puree with a stick blender directly in the pot (if you wish, you could just puree half of them and leave the rest as small cubes for baby to chew).

5. Add lime juice, salt and pepper.

6. Garnish with yogurt or fromage frais and chives and serve.

Tips:
If I am making steaming or cooking some chicken the day before, I will make carrot soup the day after and use the stock from making the chicken the day before.

Italian Pesto Sauce/佩斯托沙司[pèi sī tuō shā sī]

Preparation & Cooking time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

- 1 clove of garlic
- 2-3 tablespoons of chopped pine nuts or walnuts (Pinjekerner eller valnødder)
- 15 g fresh parmesan cheese
- Half lemon or lime pressed juice
- 1 bunch of basil leaves or rucola herb leaves (1 bøtte basilikum eller de nippede blade rucola)
- 80 - 100 ml of good olive oil
- Dash of Himalayan sea salt
- Ground black (kværnet peber )

Directions:

1. Blend garlic, pine nuts and cheese with lime or lemon juice using a mini-blender.

2. Add olive oil and basil leaves or rucola leaves and blend lightly using the mini-blender.

3. Stir until right, then add sea salt and sprinkle with ground black pepper.

Storage:
Pesto freezes well. Put it in ice cube trays and pull one out when you want to liven up a small portion of pasta.

Tips:
1. Use pesto sauce as dressing for salad.

2. Use pesto sauce as dressing for pasta.

3. Use pesto sauce (mix with yogurt optional) as a dip for chips or bread.

4. Use pesto sauce to spice up tomato soup.

5. Jazz up the mashed potato with a teaspoon of pesto mixed in.

6. Marinade chicken breasts or lamb steaks with pesto and bake in the oven.

7. Spread on fish fillets, such as cod, wrap in grease-proof paper and oven bake.

8. Toss parboiled potatoes in pesto.

9. Mix with diced avocado and serve with cooked pasta, rice or a jacket potato.

10. Mix with cold pasta, canned tuna and sweetcorn for a pasta salad. (Great for a zero-waste lunch box).

For babies:
This is NOT for babies.

Nutrition Value:

Basil is an excellent source of vitamin K and a very good source of iron, calcium and vitamin A. In addition, basil is a good source of dietary fiber, manganese, magnesium, vitamin C and potassium.

The unique array of active constituents called flavonoids found in basil provide protection at the cellular level. In addition, basil has been shown to provide protection against unwanted bacterial growth. These "anti-bacterial" properties of basil are not associated with its unique flavonoids, but instead with its volatile oils, which contain estragole, linalool, cineole, eugenol, sabinene, myrcene, and limonene.

References:

https://www.valdemarsro.dk/pesto/

Mussel Soup/Muslingesuppe/贻贝汤 [yí bèi tāng]

Adapted from Tue Mantoni's Recipe

Serves 4

Preparation & Cooking Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients:
- 1kg mussels
- 3-4 cloves garlic chopped
- 3-4 onions chopped
- 1 cup white wine
- 250ml or 1 cup coffee cream (kaffe fløde)
- Sprinkling of dried oregano or Herbs de Provence
- 250ml or 1 cup low fat milk
- 250ml or 1 cup water
- 1/2 squeezed lime or lemon
- Salt & pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Wash and scrub mussels clean.

2. Fry 3-4 cloves of chopped garlic until golden brown

3. Add 3-4 chopped onions and continue frying until golden brown

4. Sprinkle in oregano or Herbs de Provence and continue frying until golden brown

5. Add 1kg mussels (pre-clean and brush the shells of the mussels) and fry for 2 mins or so (it should not be fully cooked)

6. Add 1 cup of white wine

7. Add 250ml coffee cream (kaffe fløde)

8. Add 1/2 - 1 cup milk or 1 cup water or both, depending on preference

9. Add 1/2 squeezed lime or lemon

10. Add salt to taste

11. Medium heat for 3 mins until it starts to boil

12. Immediately turn to low heat (so as not to overcook the mussels)

13. Simmer and serve with sprinkled basil leaves (optional)

Polish-inspired Beet Soup - Barszcz/Polsk-inspirerede Rødbedersuppe/波兰甜菜根汤 [Bō lán tián cài gēn tāng]

Serves 8

Preparation & Cooking Time: 1 hour

Ingredients:
- 6 beets shredded
- 2 carrots shredded
- 200g cabbage shredded
- 2 tomatoes chopped
- 2 large potatoes shredded (optional)
- 2 cups or 250g frozen shrimps
- 2 TBS cooking oil
- 2 cloves garlic chopped
- 2 onions chopped
- 1 stalk leek white portion (optional)
- 1.5 litre of water
- 1 lime squeezed
- A handful dill for garnishing
- 1 tsp fromage frais or low-fat yogurt for garnishing.

Directions:
1. Heat cooking oil on a pan and fry garlic, leeks and onions until golden and fragrance.

2. Add carrots, then cabbage, then potatoes and fry until cooked.

3. Transfer to a big pot with water and cook until the soup starts to boil, then turn down the heat to simmering.

4. Meanwhile, fry frozen shrimps in the pan with a little oil and then blend them in the blender and transfer to the big pot of water.

5. Heat pan again with oil and fry beet until half-cooked (about 2 minutes).

6. Transfer to the soup pot, add tomatoes and simmer.

7. Meanwhile, scoop up some of the vegetables from the soup pot and blend them in the blender.

8. Pour them back into the soup pot and stir.

9. Add lime juice and stir.

10. Serve in a soup bowl and garnish with fromage frais and dill

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Additional Information:
Beets are so healthy. Here is the Eastern European way to enjoy beets. I love soup and I tried this soup, when I was in Poland visiting their prisons, before J was born, and fell in love with it. I got to know a few Polish friends and once in a while we still keep in touch. It is one of their national dishes. Beet soup is also a local dish in Russia and Ukraine, and actually originated from Ukraine. It is called Borscht in Ukrainian.

I use the frozen shrimps instead of beef stock or cooking beef. It sweetens the soup easily without too much work. Add more or less shrimps to adjust to your taste accordingly.

This is a very healthy wholesome dish at the same time for toddlers, as it contains beets, carrots, cabbage, tomatoes to give toddlers the vitamins and potatoes to give toddlers the energy it needs.

It is better to shred the beet to achieve a very consistent red colour in the soup,
but if you want to save time, you do not have to do so.

My Japanese friend came over for a visit this evening, and her toddler had 2 bowls :-)

References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borscht