Cashews

Ok what is the story with eggplants. Many are declaring they can’t eat eggplants these days as they are nightshades. People with autoimmune disease or arthritis are being advised that the alkaloids in nightshades (tomatoes, eggplant, tamarillos, capsicums, potatoes) may be harmful. However at this stage there is no research to indicate this. Some people cut them out and have a noticeable difference and others don’t. For those people who don’t have autoimmune diseases, eggplants and other nightshades boast a whole range of essential nutrients and wonderful health benefits.

Resistance starch has had lots of attention of late and rightly so. Resistance starch is starch from food that does not get digested in the upper gastrointestinal tract (small intestine) it skips digestion and makes its way to the large intestine where it is broken down by resistant bacteria and then fermented providing good bacteria for the gut micro biome. A good micro biome boosts our immune system and prevents us from catching diseases including cancer and also protects us from getting type 2 diabetes.

For those of you who follow me on social media you will know I have been struggling along with Plantar Fasciitis. Who else has this? Well only two weeks after I put up the post I am happy to report it is pretty much almost gone. I can feel slight twinges of it now and again so will not let my guard down. After being super diligent to add enough foods containing phytoestrogens into my daily diet I am happy to say it’s on the mend. I will keep on adding these foods forever and be diligent about it as they also sport so many other health benefits.

Wow, that week went fast. How are you all? Would love to hear from you. Please do feel free to write. Last week I had more time on my hands than normal as a few of my cooking and nutrition sessions got postponed due to COVID restrictions. This gave me the opportunity to develop some really delicious recipes and the one I bring you this week is one of them.

Two more blog posts before Christmas. I haven’t heard what you are up to this Christmas. I would love to know, maybe you don’t celebrate or maybe you do or it’s a quiet time of relaxation for you. Whatever it is I’d love to know.

It’s a very breezy cool day where I live today so this week’s recipe is very fitting. I also think this soup would go well as a spring or early autumn soup. It’s book review week this week. I have this lovely book at home, once again not vegan but definitely vegetarian and the recipes are so easily adaptable when you know how (that’s one of the many things I teach in the 3 day course - how to adapt regular recipes and make them vegan). The book on review this month is At Home in the Wholefood Kitchen by Amy Chaplin. It has lots of lovely tips and some great information. Well worth borrowing it from your local library.

It’s kids recipe week and I am excited to tell you we have a guest blogger this week. Paula from Eat Cook Love who is half way through the Vegan Chef Training. One of our trainees in waiting has developed a scrumptious recipe that you children may love. The recipe does contain nuts so for any of you with nut allergies this recipe can easily be adapted. Instead of the cashews use sunflower seeds instead and if you don’t like sunflower seeds then use one cup of cooked potatoes and 1 cup of cooked cauliflower instead. All recipes in this blog are versatile to suit your dietary needs. So its over to Paula now.

Its recipes for children week. This week’s recipe is vegan trifle just in time for Christmas. I am not sure if all children like trifle but guess what, I loved it. It was one of my favourite parts of Christmas growing up.