Radiance - The Juice Cleanse Co.

The Hemsley Sisters have spruced up your average pizza and given us a healthy alternative. The light healthy cauliflower base is the perfect summer option!

This is not quite as simple as our Socca Pizza, but no pancake skills are required for this. We sneak some cauliflower (the flower!) into the pizza base and then use protein-rich ingredients like almonds, egg white and buckwheat – that’s the power part.

If you plan to cover your pizza with lots of protein in the form of meat, we recommend using more ground almonds rather than buckwheat flour for better food combining. 

Double the recipe to make two pizzas, then you can freeze one of the pizza bases or freeze a constructed pizza ready to pop in the oven later that week. Stick the leftover egg yolk in a smoothie, bake it on top of your pizza or make a mayo or tartare sauce.

Ingredients - 1 pizza

For the tomato sauce (make this up in advance or use passata if you're in a rush)

3 garlic cloves, or diced

1 tbsp ghee

12 large tomatoes, roughly chopped

2 tsp dried oregano or 1 tbsp fresh oregano leaves

sea salt and black pepper

1 fresh or dried chilli, finely sliced or chopped (optional)

For the pizza base

140g cauliflower (about ¼ of a head without the stalk)

1 egg white, beaten

50g ground almonds

40g buckwheat flour

½ tsp sea salt

½ tsp black pepper

¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda

1. Preheat the oven to fan 190°C/Gas mark 6. Line a baking tray with parchment paper and lightly grease with butter, ghee or coconut oil.

2. Make the tomato sauce: gently heat the ghee in a pan over a medium heat and fry the garlic for 1 minute, then add the chopped tomatoes, oregano, salt and pepper and a little chilli, if you like.

3. Cook the tomatoes down to a thick sauce over a medium heat, lid off, which will take about 15 minutes, then mash the tomatoes with your spatula or blend to a paste if you like things less rustic.

4. While the sauce is cooking, grate the cauliflower into rice-sized pieces using a hand grater or food processor.

5. Put all of the pizza base ingredients into a bowl and mix well with a spoon, or add to the food processor and blend, to form a sticky dough.

6. Spread the dough out with the back of the spoon on the prepared tray, shaping it into a 30 cm-diameter.

7. Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes, flipping it over after 15 minutes to cook the underside.

8. Choose your pizza topping and cook as instrusted.

9 Serve the pizza with a big green salad and drizzle over some Brazil Nut Pesto if you like.

For a parma ham and rocket topping spread the tomato sauce over the base of the pizza with the back of a spoon. If you’ve made the sauce in advance and it’s cold, rebake the tomato-topped pizza for 5 minutes before adding your toppings. Top with 4 slices of Parma ham torn into small pieces, 2 handfuls of rocket and some Parmesan shavings. Add chilli flakes if you like.

For a tomato and mozzarella topping pull apart 1 medium mozzarella ball into small pieces and arrange over the base of the pizza. Slice 2 handfuls of fresh tomatoes into 1 cm-thick slices (a mixture of colours looks good) and arrange over the pizza. Add chilli flakes, if desired. Bake for 10 –15 minutes until the mozzarella is melted and bubbling.

Source: The Art Of Eating Well by Jasmine and Melissa Hemsley (Ebury Press, £25) Photography by Nick Hopper ©Ebury Press.

The Hemsley sisters, Melissa and Jasmine, create organic, nutritious and delicious homemade food, free of grains, gluten, high starch and refined sugar.

Radiance were pleased to attend the launch of their first recipe book ‘The Art Of Eating Well’. We have chosen three of our favourite recipes to share on our blog. Here is the first of our top picks. Why not start with a breakfast dish! We love chia and its nutritional benefits are well known, so get your day off to a great start with this delcious combination. 

Chia Chai Butternut Breakfast Pudding

This is an overnight breakfast or make-ahead dessert. We’ve infused omega-3-rich chia seeds with our favourite rooibos chai breakfast tea and together they turn the usually savoury butternut squash into a sweet start to the day. Gently heating up the pudding before layering with the Mango Cashew Cream is our favourite way to breakfast and warm our bellies in the autumn.

This is so yummy that you’ll also fancy it as a cool, creamy dessert. We love it with summer fruits, such as blackberries, grapes, figs, plums or peaches, which are just in season as butternut comes in. In the winter months, try apple chunks, chopped clementines or blood orange.

If you bake the butternut squash the night before, then it's ready to go in the morning. Don’t forget to chew well in order to get the most goodness out of the tiny chia seeds.

Ingredients - serves 2-4

1 large butternut squash (enough to make 400 g cooked butternut squash purée)

2 rooibos chai tea bags or 2 tsp rooibos chai tea leaves

4 tbsp white chia seeds (we used white chia to keep the pudding’s bright orange colour, but black also works – and is cheaper and easier to find too!)

3 tbsp coconut oil

1 tbsp raw honey

Optional 

Coconut yoghurt and goji berries, to serve

1. Preheat the oven to fan 180°C/Gas mark 6 and roast the butternut squash in the oven for 40–50 minutes until cooked through and tender. Scoop out 400g of the squash flesh and mash well. Any leftover squash can be frozen and used in a soup or smoothie.

2. Add the squash to a saucepan with 350 ml water, the coconut oil and the tea leaves (or the contents of the tea bags, if using). Bring to a medium simmer, then remove from the heat and leave to cool for a few minutes.

3. Stir in the chia seeds, continuously whisking at first to avoid lumps, then add the honey.

4. Leave to sit for at least 20 minutes to an hour for the chia to swell (unless you like it crunchy). Alternatively, transfer to a flask and by the time you get to work, you’ll have a nice warm chia breakfast pudding.

5 Add the coconut yoghurt and goji berries, if using, and enjoy.

To make a creamy dessert, take a jar or glass and layer up the Chia Chai Butternut Breakfast Pudding with Mango Cashew Cream and scatter 2 handfuls of seasonal fruit, such as blackberries, between the layers. Top with more fruit and enjoy.

Source: The Art Of Eating Well by Jasmine and Melissa Hemsley (Ebury Press, £25) Photography by Nick Hopper ©Ebury Press.

Kim Parsons of the Retreat Cafe shares with us two of her favourite summer recipes. These recipes make an ideal pre and post cleanse treat.

Tangy Summer Salad with Toasted Pistachios 

Ingredients - Serves 4

• 2 lebanese cucumbers, julienned
• 90g bean sprouts 
• 1 red capsicum, julienned 
• 1 orange, skin & segments removed, finely sliced in half lengthways
• 30g chives, chopped into 2cm lengths 
• 2 handfuls rocket leaves 
• 1 tsp finely grated fresh ginger 
• 1 tsp honey 
• 2 tbsp lemon juice 
• 4 tbsp olive oil 
• 130g raw pistachios, toasted & roughly chopped  

Put the cucumbers, bean sprouts, capsicum, orange, chives and rocket into a large serving bowl and toss to combine.

To make the dressing, put the ginger, honey, lemon juice and olive oil into a small bowl. Stir well to combine the ingredients and season with a little sea salt and cracked pepper.

Pour dressing over the salad and toss together. Scatter the pistachios over the salad and serve. 

Post-cleanse guilt-free Banana Bread (gluten, dairy & sugar free)

There is something magical and comforting about banana bread served lightly warm and toasted.  

What’s good about it:

Bananas are a terrific energy food and a great source of potassium, an essential mineral for maintaining normal blood pressure and heart function.They add moisture and sweetness to baked goods, which means you can reduce the amount of sweetener and oil considerably.  Almonds are packed full of protein + heart healthy  fats that  are kind to your arteries and can help lower cholesterol as well as keep blood sugars stable. This makes a nice change from typical store bought and cafe style banana breads that are generally high in refined white flour, sugar and saturated fats.

Ingredients - Makes 1 loaf:

• 300g smashed ripe banana
• 3 free range, organic eggs
• 60g raw honey or organic maple syrup
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 60g cold pressed olive oil
• ½  tsp ground cinnamon
• ½  tsp baking soda
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 200g almond meal
• 25g ground flaxseed (linseed) or chia seed

Preheat your oven to 160 C. Line a loaf tine with baking paper.

Combine smashed banana, honey, oil, cinnamon, vanilla, eggs, bicarb and lemon. ( the lemon activates the bicarb).

Add the almond meal and flaxseed/chia seeds and mix well.

Spoon batter into the tin and bake for  45  minutes to 1 hour ( a skewer inserted into the centre should come out dry).

Remove from the oven and allow to cool before turning out the loaf.