La Belle Vie Holistic Living

Raw cucumber rolls stuffed with beets, carrots, cilantro and avocado and drizzled with a tropical fruit coulis My first week in South America, I met a girl named Rebecca. Since then we had been trying to reconnect, but keep missing each other. In May we caught up again in Cusco and had a delicious raw dinner to celebrate. We made cucumber rolls and carrot dumplings both with a maracuya (passionfruit in non-south america speak) and papaya coulis. A great sweet and sour tropical flavour for these refreshing and savoury dishes. After a week of eating not very awesome and definitely not too health food in restaurants in Lima, this and the company of a great friend were just what I needed. The dumplings were incredibly easy to make but had that fancy look to them that excited and impressed onlookers as well as ourselves and our palates. The lighting was poor, so please excuse my pictures... Carrot dumplings drizzled with a tropical fruit coulis Raw feast in Cusco. From bottom left (clockwis...

I love a little spice on my food. Ok, I seriously heart a whole lot of hard core heat, if we're being totally honest here. For my first month or so in Ecuador, I was really missing that little bit of kick that adds so much to any meal. The hot sauce ("aji") they have in most restaurants is anything but hot. The curry powder is mostly just there to add some yellow colour to whatever you're eating - I've dumped in a whole container and still no flavour! And then I discovered Ole...specifically maracuya ole - deliciously spicy with a hint of fruit. amazing, but the ingredients and the neon colour of it do freak me out a bit. So I made my own. The sweetness comes from the maracuya (passionfruit) and touch of honey. The heat comes from the 2 varieties of spicy peppers. And the rest of the full-bodied flavour comes from the bell peppers, tree tomatoes, and splash of kombucha that had gone vinegar-y. What I really like about this hot sauce is that the bite only lasts for...

I've moved! Visit my new blog La Belle Vie for more recipes and healthy living tips. Don't forget to update your bookmarks! chocolate raspberry torte: chocolate nutty crust, topped with fresh raspberries and fudgy sauce I'm not going to lie, I totally make up whether to call it a torte, a tart or a pie based on what sounds nicer. I'm pretty sure this is not a torte...aren't tortes filled with denser fillings or something? I have no idea. Anyway, I know it's been forever forever forever since I posted anything. The reasons are many-fold: we had to bring our computer in for fixing so it was away for a while we both came down with the WORST FLU I HAVE EVER HAD IN MY LIFE. It is horrible! And it's still kicking! Thank god it's on the way out now at 1.5 weeks. I actually didn't get out of bed for 3 straight days. And then, when I did, I could only do light activity because simple tasks like cleaning the cats' litter exhausted me too much....