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CONTENTS
COVER
LIST OF RECIPES
TITLE PAGE
DEDICATION
OUR TWO-MAN FOOD REVOLUTION
BREAKFASTS
SOUPS
EATING HEALTHY, LIVING HEALTHY
SALADS
MAINS
THE HAPPY PEAR COMMUNITY
DESSERTS, CAKES AND SWEET TREATS
OUR FIRST TEN YEARS
THE HAPPY TOOLKIT
INDEX
THANKS!
COPYRIGHT
LIST OF RECIPES
ARMENIAN LENTIL SOUP
ASIAN BROCCOLI SALAD IN A SWEET CHILLI SAUCE
ASIAN SPROUTED BEAN SALAD
AUBERGINE PARMIGIANA
AUBERGINE, FENNEL AND BEAN STEW
AVOCADO AND TOMATO TOASTIE
AVOCADO CHOCOLATE MOUSSE CAKE
BANANA AND WALNUT CAKE
BEETROOT, SPINACH, APPLE AND TOASTED SEED SALAD
BEETROOT, WALNUT AND FETA BURGERS WITH ROASTED CARROT HUMMUS AND SPROUTED SEED SALAD
BLACK SESAME, CARROT AND AVOCADO SALAD
BROCCOLI, SWEET POTATO AND GINGER SOUP
CARAMELIZED RED ONION HUMMUS
CARROT, CASHEW AND CORIANDER SOUP
CASHEW BUTTER COOKIES
CHERMOULA AND HERB COUSCOUS WITH EDAMAME BEANS, CHERRY TOMATOES AND ALMONDS
CHOCOLATE MOUSSE CAKE
CHOCOLATE, ORANGE AND GINGER CAKE
CHUNKY MOROCCAN HARIRA SOUP
CHUNKY SPANISH LENTIL AND VEG SOUP
CLAIRE’S STUFFED FLATBREADS
COCONUT MACAROONS
CORIANDER PESTO
COURGETTE AND LEMON CURD CAKE
DAVE’S THAI RED CURRY
FALAFELS WITH RED PEPPER RELISH
FRUIT COMPOTE
FRUIT SALAD WITH SWEET TAHINI SAUCE
GRAIN-FREE GRANOLA BARS
GREEK PUMPKIN, FETA AND FILO PIE
GREEN MONSTER
HAPPY HEART PANCAKES
HAPPY PEAR DAHL
HAPPY PEAR FIG ROLLS
HAPPY PEAR GUACAMOLE
HAPPY PEAR HOUSE SALAD WITH PUMPKIN SEED AND PARSLEY PESTO
HAPPY PEAR MOUSSAKA
HAPPY PEAR NO-BAKE HEALTHY BROWNIES
HAPPY PEAR SCONES
HAPPY PEAR WHITE LASAGNE
HEALTHY CHOCOLATE-COATED ‘CARAMEL’ BARS
HEARTY ITALIAN VEG AND WHITE BEAN SOUP
HONEY AND SEED FLAPJACKS
INDIAN VEG KORMA
INDONESIAN AUBERGINE SATAY
IRISH ROOT VEGETABLE SOUP
KALE, SPROUTED BEANS AND GOJI SALAD
MEXICAN LEEK AND BLACK BEAN CHILLI
MILLET PORRIDGE
NAOMI’S MEGA MUESLI
PERFECT PORRIDGE
POMEGRANATE AND GREEN COUSCOUS SALAD
PUY LENTIL AND CORIANDER PESTO BAKE WITH SWEET POTATO MASH
PUY LENTIL COCONUT DAHL
QUINOA GOJI HERBY SALAD
QUINOA, BUTTERBEAN AND BUTTERNUT SQUASH BURGER
RAW POWER BARS
ROASTED MEDITERRANEAN VEG AND LOCAL CHEDDAR LASAGNE
RYE SOURDOUGH BREAD
SAMPHIRE, CIDER AND VEG CHOWDER
SHEL’S NO-BAKE CARAMEL SLICES
SHITAKE MUSHROOM AND POT BARLEY BROTH
SPANISH CHICKPEA AND POTATO BAKE
SRI LANKAN VEG CURRY
SUPERFOOD TIFFINS
SWEET POTATO AND CHESTNUT MUSHROOM SOUP
SWEET POTATO, SPRING ONION, SPINACH AND GOAT’S CHEESE FRITTATA
TASTY VEG BAKE IN A ROASTED RED PEPPER AND ALMOND CREAM SAUCE
THAI COCONUT, SWEET POTATO AND LEMONGRASS SOUP
THAI RICE NOODLE AND MARINATED TOFU SALAD
TIRAMISÙ SQUARES
VEGGIE DETOX
VERONICA’S GREEN BEAN CURRY
VERONICA’S POTATO AND BEAN CURRY
VIETNAMESE COCONUT CURRY
VIETNAMESE SWEET ALMOND CURRY
VITAMIN C POWER
WHITE CHOCOLATE RASPBERRY CHEESECAKE
WHOLEMEAL SPELT BREAD
WILD GARLIC PESTO
WINTER SQUASH, LEEK, KALE AND FENNEL GRATIN
OUR TWO-MAN FOOD REVOLUTION
I’m Dave (right) and I’m Steve (left), and in this book we hope to inspire you to eat more veg. That is it, plain and simple. We have been eating this way for more than a decade now and have never looked back. We want to share with you our passion for creating really tasty, simple food that is good for your health and pocket.
If you are a meat-eater you may be wondering if this book is only for vegetarians, an inner circle book for the converted. Not at all! The whole thrust of this book is to inspire you to eat more fruit, veg and wholefoods, and to make more meals based around these. After all, no one is going to argue with the most basic of advice: to EAT MORE VEG! It’s best for us and it does the planet the least harm. But we certainly haven’t written our book with the intention of turning anyone into a veggie.
In some ways, we were the least likely people you could have imagined becoming champions of plant-based eating. So if we can be all about our veg then anybody can be!
Growing up we ate a totally standard Irish diet of whatever was put in front of us. We loved barbecues, which were essentially meat fests. There was an instinctive sense that ‘real men eat meat’, and as teenagers, particularly teenagers who played rugby and did weights, it was all about meat and we ate it by the truckload!
During college we were full-on jocks: we played rugby, chased girls and drank like fish and hadn’t a care in the world other than stumbling through exams. Our dreams were all about money, flash cars and lots of beautiful women, as this is what society was telling us was ‘living the dream’. We wanted to be millionaires by the time we were thirty, have a private island by forty and private planes by fifty!
After college we weren’t sure what to do: we always knew we were going to work together and work for ourselves. We never really had any plan of ever getting a ‘real’ job. It was 2001, Ireland was booming economically and our generation didn’t worry too much about being able to make money. While we were thinking about our next move, we decided to run the Dublin City Marathon. About a month before – after abusing ourselves with drink and partying while inter-railing around Europe – we decided we needed to do a detox (not as fashionable then as it is now). We did some research on Dad’s computer and decided to eat porridge for break-fast, swap white bread for brown, cut out processed foods and, most importantly, stop drinking! Though we didn’t know it then, this first detox was the start of our personal food revolution.
After all our training and detoxing we did the marathon no prob. It was the end of October and we were feeling good and enjoying the extra money in our pocket from not drinking, so we decided to keep it up till Christmas. Just before Christmas we met all our old school friends to go on the lash. The pints were passed around and we took our first gulp. But something had changed. The drink tasted bad and, more important, drinking alcohol didn’t feel quite right, though we weren’t sure why. We went home – sober – with our tails between our legs but feeling good that we had done what felt right.
In 2002, having lived our whole lives with everyone asking, ‘Are you Steve or Dave?’ or ‘Which one are you?’ we figured it was time to see what it was like going solo. Dave started in South Africa (trying to become a golf pro before deciding he didn’t like golf any more and going travelling) and Steve in Vancouver (as a snowboard instructor). Steve ended up living on the floor of a vegetarian’s flat for his first week in Canada. At the time, it was like meeting a different species of human! He asked the guy if he could eat the same food as him for a week. Eating so much new stuff – lentils, beans, quinoa, brown rice – was a huge eye-opener.
At the end of the week Steve was sold on this new way of eating. Here he was surrounded by young people wanting to party and rip it up, and he was near obsessed with beans and lentils and vegetarian cooking! He phoned Dave, expecting to get one up on him: ‘Dave, guess what? I’ve decided to be a veggie, I like the idea of thinking about food a bit more.’ Lo and behold, in true twin magic, Dave replied, ‘That’s weird, I decided the same thing this week too!’
Our search for health through food had started and, typically, being competitive, it was all about what we could do next, pushing the limits and seeing how we felt in terms of energy and well-being. We decided to try going vegan to see if this gave us any extra superpowers! A vegan is a vegetarian who, as well as meat and fish, also cuts out dairy products and eggs. We really got up on our high horses and stopped wearing leather and went on with a lot of ‘holier than thou’ type stuff!
Next we decided to become raw foodists (still eating vegan but nothing being cooked). We did this for about a year and were both super-healthy, but a bit neurotic and obsessed with our diets! We lived separately, still on different continents, in a mixture of organic farms, intentional communities, meditation centres. After all this, by the time we got home in 2004, we were long-haired, vegan, organic, trinket-wearing, herbal-tea-drinking hippies! As we said already, before our adventures we were all about becoming millionaires. Now we were back with a totally different perspective. We were all about happiness, lifestyle, community and health. The weird clothes and long hair were just our way of letting people know we had changed.
While we were away, Steve had started reflecting on how his perspective had changed so much in a few years. The idea of taking over the greengrocer’s shop in our home town popped into his head. He thought that we could use it as a platform to try to share some of what we had experienced and our new perspective. After a week back home, he called around to see the owner and, to cut a long story short, within a few months we had bought the shop and the food revolution was on the way!
Our aim was to start our food revolution by making fruit and veg sexy. And we wanted to get involved with our community and drag as many people along for the ride as we possibly could.
Six months into our venture, Steve had a college class reunion. He went along in the little red van that came with the shop. He skipped in, delighted with himself. Most of the lads had become accountants or stockbrokers or worked in banks – all suit-wearing jobs. Steve shows up and one of the lads says, ‘Flynner, that story isn’t true that you’re a greengrocer, is it?’ Steve stands there, proud as punch, and he says, ‘Yep, it’s true, lads – Dave and I are living the dream!’
‘What do you mean, you’re living the dream? You came here in a little wreck of a van and you sell vegetables!’
It brought home to us how much our perspective had changed: this really was our dream and we were doing something that we loved. And we’re delighted that that is still the case. We started with an old-fashioned greengrocer’s shop and a clapped-out van. Today we have our main shop and café on Church Road in Greystones, a second café in Shoreline Leisure Centre (also in Greystones), an online shop and our online Happy Heart course. We do classroom health education courses, including our Happy Heart course and cooking demos. We have a sprout and wheatgrass farm, from which we distribute our products around the country, and we thoroughly enjoy being partners in a magical local cherry farm.
We are thirty-four now and neither of us are millionaires or even close. However, we have incredibly rich lives – rich in family, friends, good food, connected to our community and full of purpose and goodwill. When we were younger somebody said to us, ‘If you love what you do then you will never work a day in your life.’ Happily, we can say that 99% of the time we wake up excited about our work and have such craic doing it.
So that’s our story – how we fell in love with a plant-based diet and never looked back! We believe that if you look at food in a whole new way it will be better for your health, better for your pocket and better for the planet. We felt we couldn’t write a book that was just a collection of recipes: we wanted to write something with soul, to tell you all about our journey and share our world and some of our passions with you. When it came to choosing what recipes to include, that was tough, but the hundred or so recipes between the covers here will give you a fantastic basis for starting your very own food revolution!
That is it: GO FORTH AND EAT MORE VEG!
USING OUR BOOK
Very often cookery books make a point of high-lighting the handful of recipes with particular healthy eating benefits – such as being dairy- or gluten-free. Since all our stuff is already incredibly good for you, we have to do things the other way around!
The vast majority of our recipes are dairy-, gluten- and sugar-free (in our desserts, cakes and sweet treats we use the various sugar alternatives described later under ‘sweeteners’ on here). Most are vegan-friendly too. We have some smashing dishes designed for our Happy Heart course that minimize fat and so are especially useful if you’re watching your weight or cholesterol. And a handful of our recipes contain soy.
So that you can get the best use out of our book, we have come up with our own shorthand symbols that will appear where relevant and let you know what’s what if you’re watching any of these issues:
= contains dairy
= contains gluten
= contains sweetener
= heart healthy
= non-vegan
= contains soy
Please go to our Toolkit (see here) for a guide to some of the ingredients and techniques we use in our cooking and other useful information.
BREAKFAST RECIPE LIST
PERFECT PORRIDGE
MILLET PORRIDGE
NAOMI’S MEGA MUESLI
FRUIT COMPOTE
FRUIT SALAD WITH SWEET TAHINI SAUCE
GREEN MONSTER
VITAMIN C POWER
VEGGIE DETOX
SWEET POTATO, SPRING ONION, SPINACH AND GOAT’S CHEESE FRITTATA
HAPPY HEART PANCAKES
HAPPY PEAR SCONES
RYE SOURDOUGH BREAD
WHOLEMEAL SPELT BREAD
AVOCADO AND TOMATO TOASTIE
CLAIRE’S STUFFED FLATBREADS
PERFECT PORRIDGE
SERVES 1 HUNGRY PERSON!
We couldn’t write a breakfast section that didn’t champion one of our favourite foods, porridge! This super-nourishing meal can also double up as a lazy, hug-like supper. We usually make our porridge with half rice milk, half water, so that it’s rich, sweet and creamy, while being dairy-free and super-wholesome.
There are typically two types of porridge oat flakes available: jumbo oats, which are bigger than regular oats and don’t break down as well – they tend to have a bit more bite to them – and regular or standard oat flakes, which are the norm. If you don’t know which you have been using, chances are they are standard oat flakes. Pinhead oats are also available, but we usually find them a bit more hard-core in that you need to soak them overnight and even then they still have a bit too much bite to them.
Think of porridge as a blank canvas – it’s what you do with it that really makes it. In Dave’s house they have a brekkie tray with about ten different porridge toppings on it to choose from. Dave likes to put granola and sugar-free bran flakes on his. Steve likes raisins, banana and honey. It’s all a matter of taste and preference. Here is a simple recipe for perfect porridge.
Put all the ingredients into a medium pan and stir together. The porridge is sweeter if you cook it slowly on a low heat (10–15 minutes). If you don’t have time for this, turn the heat up high, stir regularly and it should be done when it starts to bubble (about 5 minutes).
Toppings to try
granola in all its many shapes and forms • honey • dried mulberries • fresh apple and/or banana • fresh berries – raspberries, blueberries, strawberries • goji berries • raisins • superfood breakfast mixes • seeds – pumpkin, sunflower, sesame
Perfect Porridge
MILLET PORRIDGE
SERVES 1
A gluten-free and super-wholesome start to the day. Millet is in the same league as quinoa – they are both superfood grains that are great sources of fuel. Millet is very soothing for the digestion and great for nourishing the kidneys, our foundation organ. Use millet flakes to make millet porridge. It is best soaked overnight, as it cooks quicker and tends to be sweeter.
Put all the ingredients into a medium pan. Ideally, leave to soak overnight. Then cook slowly on a low heat until it starts to bubble and come together (about 15 minutes).
Millet Porridge
NAOMI’S MEGA MUESLI
MAKES APPROX. 2KG
We did a detox programme in January, where we prepared breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks for a week for fifty people. The food was low in fat and all about veg and wholefoods. Naomi (our wonderful cousin who works with us) came up with this muesli, and afterwards people who had taken part kept coming in to buy it.
Put all the ingredients into a large bowl and mix together.
FRUIT COMPOTE
MAKES ABOUT 1KG
Fruit compote is a great way to use up a glut of fruit such as apples or other fruit from the garden, or to use up ripe fruit from your fruit bowl. This is our basic recipe (depending on availability, you could use more frozen and less fresh fruit – it’s not a rigid recipe). Rhubarb always goes fantastic in compote; it gives a lovely sharp, distinctive bite. If you are feeling fancy, you could maybe add some star anise. This makes enough for a few days, and it will keep for at least a week in your fridge.
Put the frozen berries into a medium pot along with the chopped fruit and apple juice and put on a high heat. Bring to the boil, then reduce to a simmer. Add the cinnamon and honey and leave to simmer for 15–20 minutes, or longer if you have time – the longer you leave it the thicker and sweeter your compote will get (it will thicken as it cools too).
Goes great on top of porridge with granola, lovely with pancakes, or even to sweeten a curry!
Fruit Compote
FRUIT SALAD WITH SWEET TAHINI SAUCE
SERVES 4
For about three months we ate this for probably two meals a day! It is seriously good.
Mix the dressing ingredients together.
Peel and chop the bananas and kiwis. Core the apples and pears and cut into bite-size pieces. Take the grapes off their stalks.
Put all the fruit into a bowl. Stir the dressing, pour it over the fruit, and mix gently.
Fruit Salad with Sweet Tahini Sauce
SMOOTHIES
For all of the following recipes you just put all the ingredients into a blender and whiz together till smooth. Couldn’t be easier!
ZINGY CITRUS CREAM
MAKES 1 GLASS
A friend had a version of this when in Iceland, and we have been making it ever since. It will definitely clear the cobwebs and wake you up!
½ a ripe avocado • juice of ½ a lemon • 2 apples, juiced, or 100ml apple juice • 2cm cube of fresh ginger • a few ice cubes
AVOCADO-TASTIC
MAKES 500ML
The creation of our first manager, Sally Marshall, and still a favourite.
½ an avocado • ¼ of a pineapple, skin and core removed • a handful of baby spinach • 350ml apple juice • juice of ½ a lime • a tiny piece of fresh chilli (optional but recommended)
ELSIE’S OMEGA 3 LIQUID BRAIN FOOD
MAKES 800ML
Dave’s daughter Elsie loves to make this one, and any variation of it. It is loaded with omega 3s – great for brain function and energy.
2 tablespoons flax seeds • 1 tablespoon cocoa nibs • 1 tablespoon cocoa powder • 3 tablespoons walnuts • 1 tablespoon goji berries • ½ teaspoon spirulina • 6 dried apricots or pitted dates • 600ml apple or carrot juice
CHOCOLATE ALMOND RECOVERY SMOOTHIE
MAKES 700ML
Simple to make, smooth, sweet and packs a punch. Great post-workout. The cocoa nibs give it a nice, almost chocolate chip texture.
This is a creamy, chocolatey, nutty, super start to the day. Great for after training.
350ml apple juice • ½ teaspoon spirulina, or hemp or pea protein powder • ½ teaspoon cocoa powder • 2 tablespoons raw cashew nuts or other raw nuts (or unsalted peanut or almond butter) • 1 tablespoon goji berries • 1½ tablespoons linseeds/flax seeds • 1 banana • 150ml rice, almond or oat milk • 1 tablespoon cocoa nibs
Smoothies
FRESH VEG JUICES
Drinking fresh vegetable juice is the quickest and easiest way to build up your immune system. Because juice has no fibre in it, within 15 minutes all the nutrition has been absorbed into your cells. We like to keep our fresh juices at least 80% veg, and we usually use apple to sweeten and a squeeze of lime or a piece of fresh ginger or turmeric to add another dimension. Some great veg to juice are: pak choi, celery, cucumber, carrot, beetroot, fennel, kale, cabbage, white radish. A good rule of thumb is: the greener the juice, the healthier it is! You can pick up a decent centrifugal juicer for about €100 now. You just feed the veg into the top of your juicer and the liquid goodness pours out into your jug. Drink as soon as possible.
GREEN MONSTER
MAKES 750ML
1 cucumber • 1 head of celery • a handful of spinach, kale or green cabbage • 2 apples • juice of 1 lime
VITAMIN C POWER
MAKES 650ML
6 medium carrots • 2 apples • 2 small peeled oranges • juice of ½ a lemon • 1 peeled grapefruit • a large thumb-size piece of fresh ginger
VEGGIE DETOX
MAKES 650ML
1 medium uncooked beetroot • 4 carrots • ½ a head of celery • ½ a cucumber or ½ a pak choi • 2 apples • juice of ½ a lime • a thumb-size piece of fresh ginger
Fresh Veg Juices
SWEET POTATO, SPRING ONION, SPINACH AND GOAT’S CHEESE FRITTATA
SERVES 6
Such a lovely breakfast, really gourmet. Served in a pan with some nice toast for a leisurely breakfast, it’s a lovely thing altogether!
Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/gas mark 6.
Dice the sweet potatoes and put them into a roasting tray. Coat them with 1 tablespoon of oil and season with salt, then roast for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and either leave it on, or heat up the grill.
Slice the scallions or spring onions. Wilt the spinach in boiling water, then drain very well. Put the remaining oil into a 30cm ovenproof pan and add the scallions or spring onions, sweet potatoes and spinach. Sauté for 5 minutes on a low to medium heat.
Meanwhile, crack the eggs into a bowl and whisk. Add the salt and pepper. Pour the egg mix into the pan of vegetables and cook until the base and sides have set. Then crumble the cheese on top and place the pan in the oven or under the grill until the top sets and turns golden brown – about 5 minutes.
Frittata alternatives
For a Spring frittata, replace these veg with asparagus tips (steamed till tender), leeks (cut into bite-size pieces and sautéd until soft), peas (fresh or frozen – cooked until tender) and finely chopped fresh herbs (e.g. basil and dill), and use either feta or goat’s cheese.
For a Mexican frittata, replace these veg with a clove of garlic (finely chopped) and a jalapeño pepper (deseeded and finely chopped), sautéd together in oil for 3–5 minutes. Add ½ a tin of cooked black beans (drained and rinsed), a handful of cherry tomatoes (halved), ½ a bunch of spring onions (finely sliced), 3 tablespoons of finely chopped coriander and cook gently for 5 minutes on a low heat. Then add the whisked eggs and a ball of mozzarella or feta cheese. Serve with sour cream or plain yoghurt, fresh coriander, and some hot sauce if desired.
Sweet Potato, Spring Onion, Spinach and Goat’s Cheese Frittata
HAPPY HEART PANCAKES
Makes about 15 small pancakes
These are best made small, as if they are large they are too hard to flip. They are dairy-free and sugar-free but they still taste really good!
Put all the ingredients into a blender or food processor and blend until everything is smooth.