Avanti Cafe Musings

Sunday, December 20, 2015

Avanti Simple Seed Blend :: Fantastic Flavor Fast

Organic tofu tacos w/ basil blossoms & Avanti Simple Seed Blend

Spend a few quick moments combining a bunch of crunchy, flavorful and nutritious seeds & spices in a jar and save yourself a ton of time whenever you cook or garnish a dish. No recipe required. When you hear of particular relevanthealth benefits on Dr Oz or Dr Fuhrman et al on PBS add them to your mix. Some of my favorite and essential seeds include:

Get started w/ seeds in a jar

SOME SEEDS

Sesame, both black and brown

Mustard, yellow, brown & black

Hemp

Fennel & anise (love that licorice flavor)

Nigella

Perilla

Flax

Chia

Coriander

Cumin

Caraway

Pepitas

Quinoa

Chili flakes & seeds

Schezwan pepper

SOME GROUND SPICES

Avanti Golden Spice

Avanti Hawaij

Turmeric

Curry

Garam masala

Sumac

Cloves

Nutmeg

Cinnamon

Cardamom

Ginger

Onion

Garlic

Asafetida

Pumpkin pie spice

Gotta have those pepitas

SOME HERBS

Italian seasoning

Basil

Oregano, Mexican and Greek

Thyme

Tarragon

Chives

Parsley

Mint

Dill

Lemon Balm

EXTRAS

Nutritional yeast

Puffed brown rice (The toasted puffed brown rice used in genmai tea is available separately [without the green tea] in Japanese grocery stores)

Blue green algae


Avanti ancient grain prantha stuffed w/ cabbage & onion & served w/ red & green vegetable stews

All seeds and spices have a wide variety of micronutrients and thus health benefits. Google spices by name or health concerns such as “herbs and spices for blood pressure, cardiovascular health, diabetes, arthritis, etc.”

Combine your favorite spices into a clean and dry glass jar w/ a tight fitting lid. I make mine in small batches, a pint jar is great. Keeps things fresh. Don’t fill it too full. You’ll want room to shake it like Taylor.

I like to keep one in the kitchen and one more tableside. Make a separate one with warm sweet spices like Avanti Hawaij, pumpkin spice, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom & sweeter herbs like mint & lemon balm, etc. for your morning oats & hot organic grain cereals. Mix in some dried cranberries, raisins, tree nuts and you’ll make a nutritious complexly flavored breakfast in minutes.

Hot fatalii chili yam cakes w/ mushroom stew & romaine salad, topped w/ pickled onions & seeds

This is a great alternative to adding cheese, oil or sour cream as a garnish for soups, stews, salads and entrees. The seeds offer that satisfying crunch, satiating healthy fats & pixel points of flavor. Mash into an avocado on toasted ancient grain bread for a power breakfast or high-energy snack.

Spice blends and seasonings have been around forever. But rarely is the main component those healthy seeds we know we should be eating more of. Make your own at home, and make your time in the kitchen work for you. Whip up a bunch, they make great Avanti Natural Gifties too! Eat Well // Live Well // Cook Smart, the Avanti Natural way!

Simple seeds adorn a 10 grain wild rice risotto w/ pineapple sage blossoms

Eating Healthy & Delicious is a Win Win Win Situation!

Eat, Live & Party Well

Blog post by Chef Mark Cleveland

Avanti is the longstanding leader in organic, sustainable, local, flavorful cuisine in Orange County, CA.

Meaning 'forward' in Italian, Avanti Natural is a culinary philosophy that integrates the best of traditional European and Asian healthful eating with the latest nutritional information for optimum health.

At Avanti Natural, we believe that you don't have to sacrifice taste to eat healthy. You can Eat Well & Live Well. Follow us on social media to see what Avanti is up to now. We are Whole Foods Experts. Post photos of your versions of Avanti Natural recipes on our Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram pages. Check our blog on the website for how to recipe blogs. We’re excited to see and share your culinary creativity!

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Wednesday, December 16, 2015

Spice Your Holiday Gifts The Avanti Way!

Everyone is creative and crafty these days. And everyone is thinking about healthful additions to our lifestyle. Combine the fun of these joys as you craft fun healthful gifts this [and future] holiday season to give the gift of foodie fun, health, vibrance, spirit & flavor! Read our Avanti post on the Ron&Lisa blog for more!

Spices, herbs & seeds are among the most invigorating and body nurturing ingredients. So for the holidays, why not put your culinary knowledge and creativity into practice for flavorful herb & spice gift blends. We all pay attention to the new trend of integrative medicine and nutrition. We get so much new info on what to eat from Dr. Oz, Dr. Weil, Dr. Fuhrman, Dr. Amen and more. And it’s great stuff. Like Lucy Ricardo said so many years ago, “We can spoon our way to health!” But all this info can be overwhelming. Oregano is an anti viral, cloves are anti bacterial, turmeric & ginger are anti inflammatory. Fennel and hibiscus are good for high blood pressure. Cinnamon & nopales regulate blood sugar. Chili pepper stimulates the cardio vascular system. And so on and so forth. So as your interest and knowledge increase and your spice cabinet explodes, how many curries can we eat on a daily basis. Instead of spending too much time reaching for multiple jars in front of the stove, plan ahead and create great tasting & health boosting spice blends, in a fun filled creative hour in the kitchen. Think regional flavors, think specific health benefits, think overall wellness then get out your measuring spoons and combine stuff. I like a mixture of ground spices, whole seeds & dried herbs. Go for Italian, Thai, Mexican, French, Japanese Spanish, Lebanese and more. Whip up some fun labels with a list of ingredients and serving suggestions, pack the blends into wee zip bags or larger glass jars. Blooming spices in a little evoo, avocado or sesame oil creates a ton of flavor right away. Cooking is fast, flavorful and fun if you plan ahead. And the spicy gifts you give nurture body (taste nutmeg, cumin, peppermint), soul (mediate on lavender, sesame, chamomile & lemon balm) and mind (think sage, saffron, rosemary, garlic & basil). Give a tasteful hand blended gift of culinary pizzazz this holiday season. When you begin to research the health benefits of herbs, seeds and spices you’ll find that many are across the board powerhouses. Ginger, turmeric, chili peppers (including sweet paprika, for those that don’t like heat), sage, rosemary, parsley, saffron, cinnamon, cumin, oregano, basil, lavender and fennel are on almost every list. Spend some time online and make up your own mind as you dream up concoctions that will fill your senses with fragrance and tantalizing flavor as they soothe and support your body’s health.

You’ll find several Avanti Spice Blends for your low sodium buddies on the Avanti blog. And here are our favorite ayurvedic style Avanti Golden Spice Blend. Buon Apetito & Namaste

Eating Healthy & Delicious is a Win Win Win Situation!

Eat, Live & Party Well

Blog post by Chef Mark Cleveland

Avanti is the longstanding leader in organic, sustainable, local, flavorful cuisine in Orange County, CA.

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Peach Bhut Jolokia HOT Sauce

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If you like your flavors complex and your hot sauce smoking, then grow yourself a patch of Peach Bhut Jolokia HOT chili peppers!

Peach Bhut Jolokia Persimmon & Tahini HOT Sauce

I wanted to create a light colored hot sauce to showcase the crazy heat of the peach bhut jolokia I grew this summer in the Avanti Natural garden. This HOT sauce is sincere! It’s got all the SE Asian flavor components, Spicy, Salty, Bitter, Sweet. Hence one of the odd ingredients in the recipe, Scotch Wiskey. It imparts a slightly smoky bitterness that marries w/ the bite of the sesame and other seeds.

It’s all made over the course of a day in one large blender jar. If you have a smaller blender, you can make a half batch. I use organic whole brown sesame seeds. I never use hulled sesame seeds, those have most of the beneficial fiber removed. So this HOT sauce has good texture. The seeds will plump and begin to germinate as they sit in the jar before grinding.

Amount	Measure	Ingredient	Prep Method
1 1/3	Cups	Organic sesame seeds	Whole brown
1	Tablespoon	Organic flax seeds
1	Tablespoon	Organic chia seeds
2	Tablespoons	Organic quinoa
5 /12	Cups	Flavorful herbal brewed tea	Room temperature
3	Tablespoons	Miso	White preferable
2	Tablespoons	Avanti ginger puree
¾	Cup	Red wine vinegar
1	Medium	Orange	Juice and zest
1	Medium	Lemon	Juice and zest

Directions:

When you make the herbal tea, make at least 7 cups. You’ll need some more at the end. You can get extra fancy and whip up a batch of Avanti Power Dashi for added flavor & magical nutrition. Combine all in the jar of a large powerful blender. Let plump and germinate for several hours or overnight. Next, prepare the flavor base:

¼	Cup	Evoo
1	Large	Shallot	Rough chop

Saute the shallot over med heat in the evoo until it begins to color. Add in:

1 ½	Teaspoons	Hawaij	Or garam masala
¼	Teaspoon	Nutmeg	Freshly ground
¼	Teaspoon	Black pepper
2 ½	Teaspoons	Sea salt
2 to 4	Whole	Peach bhut jolokia	Or favorite habanero type chili
¼	Cup	Scotch whiskey

These chilis are soooo hot, I hold the stem end and snip w/ scissors into the pot. Even then, you will get some chili oil on your fingers. So wash your hands well, rub your finger tips w/ oil, or wear gloves. The Bhut family is like The Sons of Anarchy. Mess w/ them at your own risk peoples. And, if you can’t find peach bhut jolokia, substitute any extra HOT chili, preferably from the habanero family, like scorpion, scotch bonnets, chocolate habs, fatalii, etc. I grew a fatalii chili this summer and got over 50 chili fruits. The peach bhut produced only 5. But man, they pack a wallop.

Once the chilis are slightly wilted, after a few minutes of sauté and the scotch has reduced a bit, add in the pulp of two very ripe persimmons, skin and seeds removed:

Medium

Persimmons

Pulp only

You can use either fuyu or hachiya persimmons for this. Just make sure they are very ripe, nicely squishy and gelatinous. Heat through for just a couple of minutes and cool.

Have the following ingredients ready:

½	Cup	Jamaica / Hibiscus blossoms	Full flower pieces
1+	Cup	Extra herbal tea	To rinse out blender jar

Add to the blender jar and let ‘er rip. This makes a full jar. Blend just to combine and work the seeds into a tahini like paste. Don’t let the sauce get too hot from the friction. It’s filled w/ healthy probiotics after all. Let this mix sit in the blender for several hours and blend again, two or three times. Pour into clean and sterile glass jars, not completely full. Add a couple of pieces of Jamaica (hibiscus) to each jar for a rosy glow. Add a cup of herbal tea to the blender jar and rinse out. Top off each jar. Allow to ferment at room temp for up to 4 days. Shake twice daily. Then put into the fridge.

This is a complex HOT sauce that has oh so many applications. Unlike some commercial jarred sauces that just make everything taste like it, this is a foodie’s creativity booster. Learn its flavor profile and create dishes that are enhanced by its bold and braggadocios flavor stance.

Even simple roasted vegetables take on a whole new dimension when infused w/ Peach Bhut Jolokia HOT Sauce. This one is the HOT Stuff for the big kids y'all!

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Eating Healthy & Delicious is a Win Win Win Situation!

Eat, Live & Party Well

Blog post by Chef Mark Cleveland

Avanti is the longstanding leader in organic, sustainable, local, flavorful cuisine in Orange County, CA.