Vegetarian

Some people regard true health in association with being Vegetarian. While I don't necessarily agree, there is research to suggest vegetarians live healthier lives. For example a famous American Naturopath and Iridiologist and Chiropractor, Bernard Jensen, trekked to Tibet, I think around the 1960's to meet the HUNZAS.

Have you heard of them? They were considered to be one of the healthiest groups of people in the world at the time. They ate mainly vegetarian, because meat was scarce. They also ate Apricots which were plentiful and drank from a glacial stream which was white with minerals.

They usually lived to well over the 100 mark, and some even grew another set of adult teeth after 120 yrs. They had scarce transport, so relied on the traditional way, using their legs and a few animals. Their skin was still very good, brown and smooth.

While their main starch was made into Chapattis I am going to offer you a dish from nearby India made of my favourite grain, GLUTEN-FREE rice!! I have suffered from bloating and stomach distension for many years despite doing what I thought was the right thing in my diet. I just put it down to stubborn CANDIDA albicans until I thought I would try a gluten-free diet.

Hooray! My tummy has shrunk back to what I would expect, except when I do the wrong thing!! I now no longer look 7 months pregnant all the time.




RICE with Broccoli and Almonds

This fancy dish is ideal for party catering or for a special lunch or dinner.

Preparation Time: 5 mins Cooking Time: 30-40 mins For: 4 or 5 people 1 cup (250 ml) Basmati Rice or other long grain white rice 4 green cardamon pods
2 cups (500 mls) water
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp turmeric
3 tblsp (60 mls) ghee or oil (Rice Bran is good)
1 4cm (1 1/2") cinnamon stick
6 whole cloves
1/3 cup slivered or sliced raw almonds
1 cup fresh broccoli or other greens, broken into tiny florets

1. Wash, drain, and dry the rice
2. Lightly tap each cardamon pod to partially crush
3. Bring the water, salt, and turmeric slowly to a boil in a 2-litre/quart saucepan over moderate heat.
4. Heat the ghee or oil in another 2-litre/quart saucepan over moderately low heat. Fry the cinnamon stick, cloves, bruised cardamon pods, and almonds in the hot ghee until almonds turn pale golden brown.
5. Add the rice and saute for about 2 mins or until the grains turn whitish. Pour in the boiling salted turmeric water and vegetable/s. Stir, increase the heat to high, and bring water to a full boil. Immediately reduce heat to low, cover with a tight fitting lid, and gently simmer, without stirring, for 15-20 mins or until all the water is absorbed and the rice is tender and flaky. Serve hot.

I use this basic recipe to cook most of my rice dishes, adding whatever vegetables I have in the larder.

My mother has just brought into me some lovely recipes I will share with you that she found in old magazines she had on her shelf. My mother is the most amazing cook, which is where, no doubt, I formed my love and passion for cooking.

She, at the age of 50 and my father at 57, sold up their house in Sydney and headed north to the wilds of the Blackall Range west of the Sunshine coast, at Flaxton. They bought a beautiful block of land and built a Tudor style home and restaurant, to serve Devonshire Teas. It was to be the first built on the Blackall Range in 1970. However, another tearoom opened about the same time at Montville.Here is a photo of the "clan" - My father, me and my son David, aged 2, Mum, my brother's wife Bryony with her baby Emma, and my husband, Mike outside the front door, just after it opened.

Mum then proceeded to make her special scones every day. She made around 200 of them a day, for the time they stayed. Devotees to her cooking came as far as from Brisbane once she got known. She also invented a special cheesecake recipe which is now fairly common. It is still my favourite recipe for cheescake. Eventually she extended herself to cooking evening meals using recipes from her favourite author, Greta Anna. Cordon Bleu dishes, made simple!! Wow!

Perhaps she will share! I will ask her.

By the way, she is 91 yrs old and still pretty fit and rarely ill. She says she owes that to her genes and sticking to my advice on health and supplements. We still go "on the town" together and she is still capable of walking around for several hours at a time. All her friends are dropping like flies with all sorts of diseases and ailments. Mum has a little bit of arthritis, and her doctor says her blood pressures is that of a 17 yr old!

Her diet is based on Naturopathic principles (apart from a glass of wine before dinner) and having everything in moderation.

Well done mum!