We should all be going nuts about nuts

Nuts, seeds, legumes and wholegrains should be a very important part of our daily food intake but are often overlooked for meat and potatoes.

I recently watched a program where a 71 year old woman, who looked like a very attractive and healthy 50 year old, said she believed the secret to her youthful and healthy looks were a combination of a vegan diet and exercise.

We all know that processed, high fat, high salt and high sugar foods are quite literally killing us. The only way to be healthy is to eat healthy and exercise.

This means eating a plant based diet with some excellent quality supplements thrown in. Why do we need supplements?

The soil our food is grown in can be very depleted. Not many of us grow our own vegetables and fruit anymore so often what we eat is not as fresh as it should be.

Approximately 75% - 80% of what we eat each day should be fresh food i.e. vegetables, salads and some fruit. The other 20% - 25% should be protein and carbohydrate.

Making salads and vegetables is not at all difficult but it is great to have some good recipes and different ideas for serving healthy, vegetarian meals.

Nuts are a natural food that provide (incomplete*) protein and some nuts even contain omegas. It is best to have a variety of nuts in our diet such as walnuts, cashews, almonds and brazil nuts. Just a very small handful of nuts make a great snack. Make sure you buy nuts with no salt and avoid peanuts (they are not healthy).

Nuts are also great to cook with - nut loaves make a wonderful addition to a meal, dry fried walnuts added to a salad are delicious and savoury nut balls in tomato sauce will please even the most ardent meat eater.

*For a complete protein combine nuts with either seeds, legumes or a wholegrain such as brown rice.  

Gourmet Savoury Mixed Nut Balls

¾ cup toasted mixed nuts, ground

½ cup Orgran Amaranth Puffed Breakfast Cereal or dry bread crumbs

1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil

1 -2 tablespoons tomato paste

1 teaspoon chili sauce hot (Ayam brand), optional

Shake of Tabasco sauce

½ - 1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 whole spring onion/green onion, thinly sliced

2 tablespoons water

2 tablespoons finely chopped Italian parsley

Makes 6 to 12 balls

STEP 1 – In a bowl mix together the ground nuts and bread crumbs, then add the rest of the ingredients and                     

                combine well.

STEP 2 – Form the mixture into small balls (a small bite size) and refrigerate a few hours before serving. The

                nut balls should stick together quite firmly.

NOTE – The liquid above works well with the puffed amaranth. Bread crumbs all absorb different amount of liquid so

               You may need to add more liquid if you use bread crumbs. Do make sure the bread crumbs are dry.

TIP – These balls are great on their own but could be served with a little sauce or dip, especially when entertaining

TIP – Make small balls for finger food and larger balls if putting in a tomato sauce for a meal. See Tomato Sauce

          recipe. These nut balls go very well in a tomato sauce.

Tomato Sauce

1 medium onion, cut finely

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

STEP 1 – fry the onion in a pot until it is lightly browned

1 x 400g tin chopped tomatoes

½ cup tinned tomato soup

½ cup tomato puree

Dried herbs of your choice – rosemary, thyme etc

1 tablespoon Ketjap Manis (Conimex brand sweet soy sauce)

STEP 2 – Add these ingredients to the onion and simmer for 5 minutes

So that this sauce can be made quickly, we have used tins but you can make a tomato sauce using only fresh ingredients.

Dice 6 medium tomatoes and add to the fried onion.

You can add a little water and then herbs and spices to taste.

Simmer with a lid on.

If the sauce is too thick you can blend it.

Any leftover sauce will freeze well.