It’s time to party with these delicious snacks, which are great as an hors d’œuvre, amuse-bouche, or part of a buffet. And like all our offerings, they’re very healthy too—in this case, especially for the gut and heart!

You will need

• 1 cucumber, sliced
• 1 cup pitted Kalamata olives (or other black olives)
• 1 cup sun-dried tomatoes
• 2 oz feta cheese (or vegan equivalent, or pine nuts)
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tbsp fresh basil, chopped
• 2 tsp black pepper, coarse ground

Method

(we suggest you read everything at least once before doing anything)

1) Make the first topping by combining the olives, half the olive oil, and half the black pepper, into a food processor and blending until it is a coarse pâté.

2) Make the second topping by doing the same with the tomatoes, basil, feta cheese (or substitution), and the other half of the olive oil and black pepper, again until it is a coarse pâté.

3) Assemble the canapés-crudités by topping the cucumber slices alternately with the two toppings, and serve:

Enjoy!

Want to learn more?

For those interested in some of the science of what we have going on today:

• Making Friends With Your Gut (You Can Thank Us Later)
• Cucumber Extract Beats Glucosamine & Chondroitin… At 1/135th Of The Dose?! ← yes, you can get this benefit by eating cucumber
• Black Olives vs Green Olives – Which is Healthier? ← have a guess!
• Lycopene’s Benefits For The Gut, Heart, Brain, & More ← tomatoes are very rich in lycopene
• Herbs for Evidence-Based Health & Healing ←Basil features here
• Black Pepper’s Impressive Anti-Cancer Arsenal (And More)

Take care!

Fiber, protein, and polyphenols! What more could one ask for? Well, great taste and warm healthy goodness, which these deliver:

You will need

For the sweet potatoes:

• 2 medium sweet potatoes, cubed (we recommend leaving the skin on, but you can peel them if you really want to)
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tsp garlic powder
• 2 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp ground turmeric
• ½ tsp MSG or 1 tsp low-sodium salt

For the black beans:

• 2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed (or 2 cups black beans that you cooked yourself)
• ¼ bulb garlic, minced
• 1 fresh jalapeño finely chopped (or ¼ cup jalapeños from a jar, finely chopped) ← adjust quantities per your preference and per the quality of the pepper(s) you’re using; we can’t judge that from here without tasting them, so we give a good basic starting suggestion.
• 2 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp red chili flakes
• ½ tsp MSG or 1 tsp low-sodium salt

For serving:

• 8 small corn tortillas, or your preference if substituting
• 1 avocado, pitted, peeled, cubed, and tossed in lime juice ← we’re mentioning this here because you want to do this as soon as you cut it, to avoid oxidation
• Any other salad you’d like to include; fresh parsley is also a good option when it comes to greenery, or cilantro if you don’t have the soap gene
• Tomato salsa (quantity and spice level per your preference)

Method

(we suggest you read everything at least once before doing anything)

1) Preheat the oven to 400°F / 200°C.

2) Toss the sweet potato cubes in a large bowl with the rest of the ingredients from the sweet potato section above, ensuring they are evenly coated.

3) Bake them in the oven, on a baking tray lined with baking paper, for about 30 minutes or until tender inside and crispy at the edges. Turn them over halfway through.

4) While that’s happening, mix the black beans in a bowl with the other ingredients from the black bean section above, and heat them gently. You could do this in a saucepan, but honestly, while it’s not glamorous, the microwave is actually better for this. Note: many people find the microwave cooks food unevenly, but there are two reasons for this and they’re both easily fixable:

• instead of using high power for x minutes, use medium power for 2x minutes; this will produce better results
• instead of putting the food just in a bowl, jug, or similar, use a wide bowl or similar container, and then inside that, place a small empty microwave-safe glass jar or similar upturned in the middle, and then add the food around it, so that the food is arranged in a donut shape rather than a wide cylinder shape. This means there is no “middle bit” to go underheated while the edges are heated excessively; instead, it will heat through evenly.

If you really don’t want to do that though, use a saucepan on a very low heat, add a small amount of liquid (or tomato salsa), and stir constantly.

5) Heat the tortillas in a dry skillet for about 30 seconds each on each side, when ready to serve.

6) Assemble the tacos; you can do this how you like but a good order of operations is: tortilla, leafy salad (if using), potato, beans, non-leafy salad including avocado, salsa or other topping per your preference.

Enjoy!

Want to learn more?

For those interested in some of the science of what we have going on today:

• White Potato vs Sweet Potato – Which is Healthier?
• Kidney Beans or Black Beans – Which is Healthier?
• Coconut vs Avocado – Which is Healthier?
• Glutathione: More Than An Antioxidant
• Our Top 5 Spices: How Much Is Enough For Benefits? ← we hit 4/5 today!

Take care!