Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

TÜRKÇE İÇİN TIKLAYIN

PER ITALIANO

Hello everyone,

Hummus is one of the essential foods in a plant based kitchen for its versatility. We can prepare many different variations of it by using different legumes and various vegetables and spices.

I published a more traditional Hummus recipe which was also compatible with whole food plant based diet. Today, I will be sharing our delicious Roasted Red Pepper Hummus recipe.

You can either grill or roast your peppers, I roasted mine. They lose liquid during cooking obviously so make sure that you use minimum 600 - 700 g of fresh peppers.

Ingredients:
750 g cooked chickpeas
250 g roasted and then peeled sweet red capia or bell pepper
75 g chickpea cooking water
60 g whole sesame tahini
40 g freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 cloves of pressed garlic
2 TBSP nutritional yeast

1 tsp smoked paprika

Optional, little salt

Preparation:

Strawberry Pomegranate Smoothie Bowl

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PER ITALIANO

When it gets hot in summer we enjoy having our refreshing and delicious Smoothie Bowls. I've used frozen fruits for today's breakfast.

I always have a good amount of frozen bananas stocked in my freezer so that I can make smoothies, smoothie bowls or healthy ice creams.

Amongst the ingredients of today's recipe there is also pomegranate juice which is a great source of antioxidants. We buy a lot of pomegranates in season, juice them and keep in the freezer to use in our breakfasts and smoothies.

Here is the recipe for today's smoothie bowl.

Ingredients (for 2):
50 g whole grain oats (gluten free if you prefer)
20 g flax seeds
10 g chia seeds
80 g pomegranate juice (frozen or fresh)
80 g strawberries (frozen or fresh)
120 g frozen bananas
20 g sunflower seeds
15 g raisins
1/2 tsp cinnamon
300 g organic no sugar added soy milk or almond milk

Topping
Halved or quartered fresh strawberries
Dried goji berries
Coconut flakes


Preparation:

Almond Milk

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It is not a coincidence that Almond Milk is our favourite homemade plant based milk. We love its taste, it costs much less than store-bought ones and we can also benefit from leftover pulp. And what's more, it has no added sugar, thickeners, or any kind of additives.

We use Almond Milk mostly in our breakfast. I use 165 g of almonds to prepare 1 liter of milk. So, with 1 kg of almonds I make 6 liters of milk. I buy almonds in 1 kg packages. This way I reduce the cost even further.

Although almond milk recipes in the cookbooks and on internet are very alike, the amount of the ingredients changes. Please see the notes for the details.

Ingredients:
165 g raw almonds
1 liter water


Notes:

1. If you'd like to make a thicker milk reduce the amount of the water and use about 500 - 750 ml depending on your preference.
2. Some people blanch their almonds but I don't find it necessary. It takes too much of time and I don't find it is worth the effort.
3. If you'd like to sweeten your milk you can add 1 - 2 Medjoul dates. We prefer ours unsweetened.
4. Not every city has drinkable tap water so remember to use drinkable water also while soaking the almonds.

Preparation:

Oat Blueberry Breakfast Smoothie

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PER ITALIANO

The first recipe I shared in Bitkisel Cafe was Mixed Berry Overnight Oats. What makes it very practical is the chance to prepare it the night before so that we could have it all ready waiting for us in the fridge in the morning.

If, for some reason, we skipped preparing our breakfast the night before, one of the easy peasy solution we have to this is to prepare some quick oat smoothie in our blender. We always keep some frozen bananas and fruits in our freezer to be able to prepare smoothies or nice creams whenever needed.

Oat Blueberry Breakfast Smoothie is ideal for those who want to make a fresh and sweet start to the day, especially in summer days.

Ingredients (for 2):
50 g oats
20 g flax seeds
10 g chia seeds
120 g frozen bananas
50 g pomegranate juice (100% fruit, sugar-free)
50 g frozen or fresh blueberries
10 g raisins
10 g goji
20 g walnuts
1/2 tsp cinnamon
300 g organic sugar-free soy milk or almond milk

Topping:
60 g frozen or fresh blueberries

(*) Pomegranate is one of the major fruits in our super food list. It has a great antioxidant capacity. It contains a unique, very powerful antioxidant called punicalagin. With its anti-inflammatory effects and anti-angiogenic properties pomegranate may protect against cancer and other chronic diseases, with its phytochemicals it may protect against heart disease. In addition, it is said to guard memory and brain function. (See:Source) We try to consume a bit of pomegranate daily. Besides all the benefits they taste so good!

Thanks to our dear friends, who have pomegranate tree in their gardens, we are given many when they are in season.

We pick up pomegranates in season, we freeze some seeds for future use. We juice the most of them though. You can see Stefano below working at high pressure ;)

We freeze pomegranate juice as ice cubes and store in the freezer. We use pomegranate cubes while preparing our smoothies or our daily breakfast. Let me open a parenthesis here: We are often using pomegranate cubes also in our Mixed Berry Overnight Oats Breakfast even though I didn't include it among the ingredients when I posted the recipe. Well, if we have them we use them.

Important ! : You need a high powered blender for this recipe which is capable of chopping frozen fruits. You may break your device otherwise. If you haven't tried using frozen fruits in your blender before, you may want to refer to the manual of your device to see if it can handle it.


Preparation:

Mixed Berry Overnight Oats

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Hello everyone,

I am here again with my new blog.

Why have I ever needed a third food blog, some may wonder.
We are renewed day by day... The more you grow up, read, witness and experience the life, the more things you learn, you evolve, transform and your priorities change.
In time we are renewed as well. We have made changes on our diet and lifestyle. We have started to take healthy way of living as a priority.

Having read Dr. Fuhrman's book named "Eat to Live", which encourages a healthy diet based on nutrients, we felt even more motivated than ever and I can happily say that this had very positive impact on our overall health.

At the moment there isn't one certain way or book we follow to the letter. Besides, the conditions you encounter in life don't always go so parallel with the rights and wrongs in the books. Nevertheless I can gladly say that we manage to eat close to ideal mostly when we are home. Instead, when we eat outside we try to make healthier choices as best as we can.

What kind of recipes will this blog offer?

Bitkisel Cafè is a Turkish name which means Plant-based Cafe. So, as the name stands for, there will be recipes prepared with plant-based, whole, unrefined or minimally refined ingredients.
That means we will be using a lot of vegetables, fruits, legumes and whole grains.
Our main sources of good fat will be nuts, seeds and avocado.
Of course we will steer clear of refined sugar, bleached flour and highly processed foods. We will limit our salt intake.

In my future posts I will try to mention many benefits of a whole food nutrient dense plant-based diet.

Now, let me focus on the very first recipe of the blog...

I gave a lot thought about what recipe to publish first and I came to conclusion that the best choice would be our delicious indispensable breakfast recipe. It is obviously the first meal of the day which makes it even more convenient as a first blog post.

We prepare this breakfast the night before so that our oats would reach the desired texture overnight. This gives a great advantage too. Many of us who rush to work or school half awake half sleepy find it very burdensome to prepare breakfast early in the morning so we simply skip it. Instead, a previously prepared breakfast which would be waiting for you in the fridge in the morning could be a game changer and solve the problem.

I don't use any honey, syrup or sweetener. Raisins, goji and and banana make it sweet enough. Ripeness of your banana plays an important role on sweetness. So, I'd recommend to those of you with a sweet tooth to use riper bananas.

Ingredients (1 portion):

25 g oats
5 g raisins
5 g dried goji berries
10 g ground flaxseed **
5 g chia seeds
60 g banana
125 ml organic unsweetened soy or almond milk
10 g walnuts
30 - 40 g mixed berries 

** Flaxseeds are a great source for Omega 3, fiber, protein and lignans which has anti-cancer effects. However, to be able to benefit all these great features the best way possible, it is important to consume flaxseeds as ground. Whole flaxseeds are very hard and small to chew. They are more likely to pass through the intestinal tract undigested which means your body won't get all the good components.

We have a simple Spice/Coffee Grinder at home. We use it to grind mainly flaxseeds but also cinnamon and our own dehydrated ginger. I'd recommend to get one to everyone to enjoy the best and freshest flavors.

 

If you don't own a grinder, it is possible to purchase your flaxseeds as ground. It is recommended to store ground flaxseeds in the freezer. The freezer will keep them from oxidizing and losing its nutritional value. 


Preparation (to be prepared the night before):