Tastes like spring – even if it rains.

Good morning lovely people! Yes, I know many of you suffer from the cold at the moment. I just tool my best friend L to the airport and she was really, really not looking forward to flying back to the cold in Munich. But, beware, even in Malta it rains today so if we all can’t have spring – why not create the taste of spring in your cosy home and make the most out of a lazy Sunday??

Since one or two weeks strawberry season has begun here in Malta. You can buy them at little stalls next to the street and from the moment you put this little box of red yumminess into your car, the flavor takes over the (in my case tiny) space. As some of you know I’m trying to incorporate an alkalizing way of nutrition into my daily diet (60-80% alkalizing foods and only 40-20% acidic foods. Why you can re-read in my first post about this topic some weeks ago). So it’s important to know that strawberries are acidic. To keep the balance you can always mix them with some alkalizing ingredients (cucumbers, celery stalks, herbs like mint, lemon/ lime etc). Don’t get me wrong, they are still great for your health anyways: they contain tons of vitamin C (an average serving provides you with the double amount of the recommended daily amount of this immunity-boosting vitamin) as well as vitamin B (supports nervous system and fights stress) and ellagic acid which helps fight cancer and destroys toxins in smoke and polluted air.

So, get some strawberries, get your juicer & blender kickin’ and enjoy the taste of spring on your sofa while looking out of the window in the rain and not even bother about it 🙂

P.S. For the perfect musical support switch on my all time favorite radio station from Austria FM4 and listen to their regular Sunday show “Sunny Side up” – always from 10am to 1pm.

What you need…

• 2 hands full of ripe strawberries
• 2 celery stalks
• 1 apple
• 1 carrot
• small piece of ginger
• some fresh mint
• dash of lemon or lime
• dash of flax seed oil

What to do…

Juice the carrot, celery, apple and ginger. Pour the juice in a blender, add the other ingredients and blender. Add a bit of water depending on your taste.

Love & sunshine – enjoy your Sunday!
N xxx

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tabuleh salad with roasted veg, walnuts, tahini lemon dressing & falafel.

Do you also love arabic food? I love the flavors of the Turkish and Lebanese kitchen and find it very inspiring to taste different things and try to introduce them to my own kitchen, too. Recently I started this new habit of giving myself a treat after my lovely yoga class on Mondays. The treat is called fresh falafel and I found a place which makes them super fresh, just in front of you. While you pick your salad from the counter (my favorite mix is couscous, aubergines, parsley tabuleh and humus with it) the falafel which mainly consist of chickpeas and different spices get fried in a pan. Five minutes later you have a warm, lovely smelling box in your hand and I can hardly wait to get home.

Yesterday was another Monday so I decided to buy 3 more falafels to get a nice and quick lunch after today’s work. I knew that I still have tons of fresh herbs from the farmer’s market and wanted to try out an arabic salad version with my own stuff. The experiment came out lovely! Super tasty, healthy and boasting of amazing flavors…

Tabuleh like salad with fresh mint, parsley and rucola, topped with roasted red pepper, aubergine, fennel, walnuts and falafel, served with a lemon tahini dressing.

Ingredients: bunch of greens like mint, rucola and parsley, 1 red pepper, small fennel bulb, some walnuts (crashed), 1 garlic (if you like) & some fresh herbs for the roasted veg (I took fresh marjoram and rosemary), juice of 1 lemon, high quality olive oil, seasalt, pepper, 1 spoon of tahini and 3 pieces of falafel from your favorite Lebanese place.

Method: For the roasted veg cut the pepper and fennel in bite-sized pieces and roast them for like 10min with some fresh garlic, herbs and season with salt and pepper. Add the crashed walnuts only for the last couple of minutes so they don’t burn. Put aside to cool off. For the salad chop the washed and dried greens (mint, parsley, rucola) and make a dressing of olive oil, lemon juice, a spoon of tahini (add a splash of water), salt and pepper. Top with roasted veg and falafel.