Midweek Mates - Super Spring Salad

Andrew Sibley : Cleansing

I have a very good old friend - Jake Hoerner - we have eaten a lot together over the years, he has decided to share a really simple yet effective Super Spring Salad, it's perfect for these warm Spring days as a side or a lunch delight. It’s fresh, full of phytonutrients, beta carotene, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Iron, EFA’s and a bit of Protein.

Jake is a very busy man, he is the director of Kick Gallery a contemporary art gallery in Peel St, Collingwood, he lives his life on the run so loves this salad as it's 'bit of this bit of that...Shazaam!'

Recipe 

Carrot, Beetroot and Pine nut Salad 

3 Carrots 

1 Beetroot

50 grams of Pine nuts

Lemon

Tahini

Olive oil 

Salt & Pepper

‘This is a great salad that tastes healthy and is healthy!’ 

Grate the carrot and beetroot and then mix in a bowl until it is a combination of orange and purple is relatively even. Then in a separate jar or glass combine the lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper and stir - the quantity is relative to the amount of carrot and beetroot in the salad - and then add a dab of tahini to give an additional nutty flavour to the salad dressing. Pop in the pine nuts at the end and stir through and then shazam, Healthy Salad!

Let us know if you give this a go and what you think? I love it. It’s fresh, fun, light and flavoursome – a great side or lunch - Enjoy

If you are free this Thursday Kick is presenting one of Australia’s greatest living artists Andrew Sibley he has one many awards through out his career and it is a must see show – and tell Jake you loved the salad!

Andrew Sibley: Facial Terrain Passive 1971

Andrew Sibley: Facial Terrain III

Kick Gallery presents,

Andrew Sibley

Pivotal

Opening 6-8pm Thursday September 26 2013

To be officially opened at 6.30pm by Tim Abdallah | Head of Art | Menzies

Exhibition runs September 24 – October 12

Pivotal is the second exhibition of the work of Andrew Sibley at Kick Gallery. Once again this important exhibition highlights this pioneering artist’s exploration of ideas relating to the human condition and people’s relationships to each other. They are at times challenging in terms of subject, on other occasions full of whimsy and humanity, what binds the entire set of works is there unmistakable virtuosity.

The second of a series of exhibitions in the coming years that look back to look forward on how Australian art has developed, Pivotal continues to reaffirm and reassert Sibley’s preeminence as a modern Australian master.

Pumpkin soup with Power

Autumn has arrived and we’ve had a snap of cold – it got me excited to start up the soup regime! I had two Jap(anese) Pumpkins in my kitchen so I decided to use a whole one for soup.

I love pumpkin soup – it’s yum, filling nourishing, and full of goodness.

And here are 5 top health reasons why you should love this particular recipe:

1. Pumpkin is full of phyto-nutrients and Vitamin A, which will support your immune system and make your skin glow.
2. Turmeric is a potent natural anti-inflammatory, reducing inflammation in arthritis, psoriasis, speeds up skin healing, is a natural liver detoxifier and studies are indicating it may prevent the spread of certain cancers
3. Garlic is a natural anti microbial, potent anti-oxidant and assits in the reduction of cholesterol
4. Coconut oil is an anti bacterial
5. Natural yoghurt is a pro-biotic, restoring healthy gut bugs.

Here is my simple and delicious recipe full of health benefits.

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

1 Organic Jap Pumpkin

1 Brown onion

2-3 cloves of garlic

2 dessertspoons of Coconut oil

1 tsp. of turmeric

1 Organic Veggie stock cubes

Water

Pepper 

Salt  - Himalayan Pink Salt

Fresh Coriander

Natural Yogurt

Preparation:

Peel and roughly cut the pumpkin flesh into approximately 1cm cubes.

Peel and finely chop the onion.

Heat the coconut oil in a large pot, add onion and gently brown for 10 minutes, until soft and golden-brown.

Add the garlic, stir then add the pumpkin.

Mix ingredients, add a glass of boiled warm water

Add the turmeric, and a few more glasses of water

Season, to taste, with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Increase the heat to medium and cover with the lid.

Cook for 40-45 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent the base from burning and until the pumpkin is cooked through.

Serve hot

Add a generous dollop of natural yogurt each bowl

Sprinkle with fresh coriander

Enjoy

Slow down your biological clock

Have you ever thought that maybe your biological clock is older than your chronological age, imagine that! This weekend I have spent time at the ‘Turning Back the Biological Clock’ conference and boy did I learn a thing or two.

Here are some questions you should ask yourself to see if you are living at the age you really are;

Have you ever felt that you were older than you really are?

Do you feel like the years haven’t been kind to you?

Do you think that for your age, you should have more energy than you actually do?

At this conference it was incredible to see, through scientific evidence that some things really do contribute to us aging well beyond our years and with some simple and facilitated professional health assistance these can be addressed and changed – or better yet stopped in there tracks.

Some simple lifestyle strategies that I am always harping on about were of course addressed.

And again, I will share them with you; 

•  Fresh air
•  Exposure to Sunlight
• Eating Quality Vegetables
• Exercise and Physical activity
• Adequate Water intake
•  Forming healthy and loving interpersonal Relationships

 Yet if these actions are so simple and second nature to us why do we keep ignoring them? Why do we forget to breathe deep and activate our lungs daily? Why do we avoid the sun and now most Australians are presenting with signs of Vitamin D deficiency? Why aren’t we eating a minimum of 3 cups of vegetables a day? Or exercising or loving the one we are with?

These are the road-blocks of your day to day however if you are given the tools and learn to apply them you could drive straight through! Imagine enjoying your life to its full extent.

Other hot topics that were discussed were the drivers of Aging and Chronic Disease including Mitochondrial dysfunction, Inflammation and Genomic Instability. Again we learnt more about the benefits of using therapeutic doses and practitioner quality products to assist in the stopping and slowing down of the aging process.

Phyto-nutrients are a key indictor for making you feel younger than you are, and now they are coming in concentrated forms, which makes it easy for your body to take in one go. The use of quality anti-oxidants, Essential Fatty Acids (EFA), probiotics and of course quality multi-vitamins but unless you are taking the therapeutic doses you are not getting the benefits.

Creating balance is something we all have difficulty in achieving in these busy times; too much work, not enough family time not even enough ‘me’ time – we all strive for balance but how can it be achieved? What are some of the things that you apply to your lifestyle to make it flow?