Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead

Have you seen the documentary, Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead? We watched it the other night, (currently streaming on Netflix) and I must say, veggies rocked his house! 

Juicing is a powerful form of cleansing and nourishing. By juicing your vegetables, you're making them extremely easy to digest by eliminating the fiber. Not that fiber isn't good, it is, but if your goal is to cleanse and/or to ramp up the nutrient availability, juicing is the way to do it.

In the film, I loved watching people's reactions to the idea of going on a juice fast. "I could never do that." "I like my cheeseburgers too much," and on and on. I think in Joe Cross's case, he liked his health and life too much NOT to! I admire that kind of viewpoint, don't you?

And then there was Phil, who was nearly suicidal, feeling rather hopeless about his health situation and the several hundred extra pounds he was carrying around. What a hard road he had to travel, but he did it, and I loved watching the transformation. A little juicing went a very long way for that man!

If you're curious about the benefits of juicing, here's a good explanation. Even if you're not needing or wanting to do a full juice fast, just adding fresh juices to your diet, especially veggies, is a great nutritional boost.

Roasted Potatoes with Tomatoes, Basil, and Garlic

 I had a hankering for something that I could make using the fresh basil from my garden. I also had a bag of plump tomatoes. So I thought to myself, "I wonder what I could find that had basil, tomatoes, and garlic, but no cheese." So I did myself a little Google search and came across this very easy and very DELIGHTFUL dish. We will definitely be having it again soon and likely more often when the garden tomatoes are ripe and ready.

Roasted Potatoes with Tomatoes, Basil, and Garlic
 
2 pounds red potatoes, chopped
1 1/2 cups chopped fresh tomatoes
3/4 cup fresh basil, chopped
3 cloves garlic, pressed
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary


Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Spray an oblong casserole dish with olive oil. Place the potatoes, tomatoes, basil, and garlic in dish and toss with the olive oil. Sprinkle with the rosemary. 

Bake 20 to 30 minutes in the preheated oven, turning occasionally, until tender.

Quinoa and Vegetable Salad

A few months ago when my husband was quite ill, his diet was extremely restricted and we had a tough time finding things he could eat that weren't too plain. My friend made and brought over some quinoa salad from a recipe she found on the blog Oh She Glows. We loved it and have made it several times since then. It's perfect for summer weather!

I have adapted the recipe to fit our needs. Red quinoa is lovely but expensive. I found black quinoa quite a bit cheaper, and sometimes I'm kind of boring and just use the plain ol' regular stuff because I have a ton of it. Well, not a ton, but a 50 lb. bag! And my husband cannot do legumes, so we just leave the black beans out. I have listed them as optional here.

Quinoa and Vegetable Salad
 
 For the salad:

    1 cup uncooked red or black quinoa
    1 red pepper, chopped
    1/4 cup fresh cilantro, finely chopped
    2 green onions, chopped
    1 cup fresh or frozen corn 
    1 small avocado, chopped into 1 inch pieces
    1 (14oz) can black beans, drained and rinsed (optional)

For the dressing:

    4-5 tbsp of fresh lime juice (2 small limes)
    1/2 tsp Real salt, or to taste
    1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
    1 garlic clove, minced
    1/4 cup fresh cilantro, finely chopped
    1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
    1/2 tsp ground cumin, or more to taste

Directions:

1. Cook 1 cup quinoa according to package directions.

2. While quinoa is cooking, prepare the chopped vegetables and whisk together the dressing.

3. Allow quinoa to cool after cooking for about 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork. Add the vegetables (and beans, if using) and toss well.

4. Drizzle dressing over salad and toss well with salt and pepper to taste. Bring salad to room temperature before serving. Keep fresh in a sealed container for 1-2 days. Makes 4 - 5 cups.

Angelina's Easy Lasagne (Raw)

This recipe makes plenty! It filled a 9 X 13. Next time, I'd halve it.

I have so many cookbooks that I hardly know what to do with them all. Some of them are quite useful, some of them not so much. But I'm still searching and finding more cookbooks that fit my diet better, recipes filled with veggies and spices to tantalize my tastebuds.

Recently I came across the book, Alive in 5 by Angela Elliott. It seemed like a good fit because I like to incorporate A LOT of raw foods into our diet for their nutritional benefits. Gone are the days of thinking that having a few carrot sticks will fulfill your raw foods quota for the day. Alive in 5 is filled with some pretty straightforward recipes with easy-to-find ingredients. I'm looking forward to trying a bunch more recipes.

Tonight I put together the lasagne. It was different but delicious. Fair warning - you must start earlier in the day to soak the sunflower seeds and marinate the artichoke hearts (or cucumber slices, in my case). Also, this makes a large quantity. For my size family, I should have made half as much, but we'll share some with relatives and eat lots of leftovers, although I don't think they'll keep very long. So here goes:

Angelina's Easy Lasagne
Serves 8

Note: Start soaking the sunflower seeds 3 hours before you prepare this dish. This is what you'll do:

Place 3 12 C raw sunflower seeds in a medium sized bowl. Cover with water and allow to soak for 3 hours. Drain.

And, 1 hour before preparing the lasagne, start marinating the artichoke hearts (or cucumber slices).

Begin thawing frozen artichoke hearts.

To make lasagne, first prepare the marinade, then Presto Pesto and then the Olive Medley
Marinated Artichokes

1/2 c. olive oil
3 -4 T. fresh lemon juice
1 t. salt
1/2 t. Italian seasoning
1/2 t. fresh ground black pepper
1/8 t. cayenne
2 packages (12 oz. each) frozen artichoke hearts, thawed

Combine all ingredients except artichokes and blend. Add artichokes, stir gently, and set aside to marinade one hour.
Presto Pesto

1 C. fresh basil leaves
1/3 C. olive oil
3 - 4 T. fresh lemon juice
1 t. Real salt
3 1/2 C. soaked raw sunflower seeds (drained)
1/8 t. fresh ground pepper
1/8 t. cayenne pepper
(I added 2 cloves minced garlic)
Place basil, olive oil, lemon juice, and salt in a food processor with the S blade. Pulse to chop. Add sunflower seeds, garlic, black pepper, and cayenne powder, and pulse again until evenly combined.
Olive Medley

1 1/2 C. pitted olives
1 red bell pepper, diced

Place the olive and bell pepper in a food processor. Pulse until evenly chopped.
Lasagne ingredients

Presto Pesto
Marinated artichokes
4 large ripe tomatoes, thinly sliced
1/2 C. minced fresh basil
Olive Medley
2 T. nutritional yeast

Line bottom of a 9 X 13 dish with the Presto Pesto. Use cucumber slices or tear apart each marinated artichoke heart to make "noodles"  and place over pesto. Layer the tomato slices over "noodles", completely covering them. Scatter the minced basil over tomatoes. Evenly distribute the Olive Medley mix over the basil. Sprinkle with the nutritional yeast powder and additional salt and pepper to taste.

Serve immediately. Enjoy!

You can sort of see the layering.

Coconut Kurma with Vegetables

Coconut has gotten a bad rap over the years, but that is quickly changing, as you'll discover in many health food stores. There is coconut everything it seems: oil, "ice cream", canned drinks, canned or cartoned "milk", mixes for quick dinners that use coconut based sauces, and more. I grew up thinking I didn't really like coconut, based on shredded coconut flakes in baked goods and the like. That still isn't my favorite way to consume coconut, but I have since learned that I really like most everything that contains it. The oil alone has too many benefits to list. Coconuts are amazing!

Here's a recipe for an Indian dish that usually involves chicken, but I have substituted vegetables instead. I mean, after all, veggies really do rock the house!

Coconut Kurma with Vegetables

2 yellow onions cut in long shreds (like very thin orange segments)
1 large clove garlic, crushed
1 6 ox. can tomato sauce or 1 c. cooked tomatoes
2 - 13 oz. cans coconut milk
1/2  can (13 oz) water
1 T. curry powder
1 t. cinnamon
1 t. cardamom
1 t. fennel seeds
2 T. shredded coconut (unsweetened)
1/8 t. basil leaves

Saute' onion and garlic in 2 T. olive oil until onion begins to soften. Add tomato sauce and simmer 5 minutes. Remove 1 cup of this mixture and place in blender. Add the rest of the ingredients to the blender and puree. Pour blended mixture into pan with remaining onion mixture and simmer for 60 minutes to blend flavors. I added thick slices of carrots with the pureed mixture and simmered them for 10 minutes, then added broccoli florets, and frozen peas and simmered about 50 minutes more and served it over quinoa.

Zucchini Hummus

My friend at work always seems to have interesting things to eat. I walked past her desk and saw a container full of something greenish that I didn't recognize. I asked her what it was and she said that it was Zucchini Hummus. Hmmm. Interesting to me because I love humus, but neither my husband nor I can tolerate beans very well. She asked me if I wanted to try it; of course I wanted to! It was DELISH.

Today I got around to whipping out a batch, and I have to say that it was not only delicious but it was SO SIMPLE. It comes from the book, Raw Foods Made Easy by Jennifer Cornbleet.


Zucchini Hummus


1 zucchini, peeled and chopped (about 1 1/2 C)
2 T. tahini (sesame butter)
2 T. fresh lemon juice
1/2 t. crushed garlic (1 clove)
1/4 t. ground cumin
1/4 t. paprika
1/4 t. salt


Place all ingredients in a food processor fitted with the S blade and process until smooth. Stop occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Stored in a sealed container in the refrigerator. Zucchini Hummus will keep for about 5 days.

Grilled Ratatouille Boats

I got a free one-year subscription to Every Day with Rachel Ray magazine through some special offer nearly a year ago. I thumb through them when they arrive in my mailbox and see some pretty delicious-looking dishes, but I think until now I haven't made a single one. Why? I don't exactly know!

This month's magazine arrived and I did my usual scan and came across these zucchini boats with cheese on top. My first thought was, "What kind of meat do those have in them?" but as I read through the ingredients, much to my delight I discovered there wasn't any at all, and the only thing I'd need to adapt was the type of cheese, and that was simple!

So tonight my husband and I whipped these out and snuck over to the neighbor's house to grill them (they were out of town, and we just party it up over there when they're gone!) Unfortunately, I didn't follow my own rule of reading carefully through the directions before launching forth, but fortunately they still turned out great. I'm excited to make them again soon and actually follow the directions. What a concept!

Here you go:

Grilled Ratatouille Boats

2 zucchini, halved lengthwise
3 T. olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlice, minced
1 eggplant, cubed
2 tomatoes, chopped
1/4 C. chopped parsley
1/3 C. shredded mozarella cheese (I used vegan cheddar)


1. Scoop balls of flesh from center of zucchini to create boats (use melon baller - it works great!) Preheat grill to medium high.


2. Heat 1 T. oilve oil in a large skillet over medium heat; add the onion and cook for 5 min. Stir in the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add the remaining 2 T. olive oil, the eggplant and zucchini balls; cover and cook for 8 minutes. Then add the tomatoes and cook, stirring until the mixture is thick, about 5 minutes. Stir in parsley and season with salt and pepper. I accidentally dumped in too much pepper, but in the end, I loved it. I'll add plenty next time, for sure!

3. Fill zucchini shells with the ratatouille, sprinkle with cheese, and grill, covered, over medium high heat until the cheese is melted and shells are slightly softened.


Oh, my, my! These were delicious and so good for you. You could substitute all kinds of different veggies. Plan for at least two boats per person.

Coconut Nice Cream

Oh, yummy! It's Sunday, so because we don't go out to the store, we make do with what we have if we haven't planned ahead for a dessert. Tonight's "make-do" creation was SO YUMMY! (If you're not sure why I called it Nice Cream, read here. Scroll down near the bottom of that post and you'll see it.)

Last week, one of my co-workers was eating a coconut "ice cream" bar (no dairy) and told me how good they were. She was headed down to the little herb shop to get another one the other day, so I asked her to pick one up for me. It was every bit as good as she said. I looked at the ingredients and decided I could make something sort of similar, and I was guessing that the magic ingredient was coconut extract. So I picked some up the other day. Good thinking on my part!

What we had on hand was silken tofu and a can of full fat coconut milk, so I tossed them in the blender, added coconut extract, stevia, and a little honey, and gave it a whirl. Then I stirred in all natural shredded coconut and put it in the ice cream freezer.

The temperature today was 101 degrees, and can I just say that a little coconut "nice cream" really hit the spot? This is definitely going to be one of our regular desserts. It was fantastic!

Sweet Chili-Lime Tofu with Spinach and Quinoa

 The other day I decided to look around for new ways to use the dry fried tofu and happened upon this. It looked fabulous, and I was heading to work that day, so I asked Aubrey if she'd be willing to prepare it for dinner. She LOVES tofu prepared the dry fry way and is quite good at using the method herself. She agreed to give it a shot. Back a few posts, you'll find the directions on how to dry fry tofu, a most excellent way to prepare it.

That evening she prepared the tofu and the sauce, and I cooked up the quinoa. In my hurry, I didn't pay attention to the fact that the quinoa was to be cooked with the spices in the pan, so I had to hurry and add them in at the very end. It was still delicious, but next time I'll know better. And next time we'll know to add about HALF the chili flakes in the sauce!

Nevertheless, it was so flavorful, and I adored the spicy lime-ness of it all. When we have it again (which will be soon!), I will make the sauce first, then wrap the spinach rolls, then start the quinoa,so it can just do it's thing while I monitor the tofu, which has to be constantly attended to. Did you catch that? I'll rearrange the order of things in the recipe so they make more sense (at least to me).

Sweet Chili-Lime Tofu with Spinach and Quinoa

Ingredients

1 lb. block of extra firm tofu

Sauce:
3 T sugar (we used turbinado, but agave, honey, and/or stevia would work)
2 T soy sauce or liquid aminos
2 T teriyaki sauce (or just use more soy sauce)
6-8 mint leaves, thinly chopped
2 t chili flakes (I plan to use 1/2 this next time!)
1 t chili sauce
1 clove of garlic, crushed and very finely chopped
½ inch ginger, very finely chopped
¼ zest of the lime (do twice as much and divide it; you'll need it for the quinoa, too)
2 T lime juice, freshly squeezed (squeeze more, you'll need it for spinach and quinoa)
¼ t salt 

Spinach:
2-3 packed cups of baby spinach
Pinch of salt
1 t lime juice

Quinoa:
¾ cup quinoa, rinsed in cool water and drained
¼ zest lime
½ tbsp lime juice
2 green cardamom, lightly crushed
½ inch cinnamon stick
1 bay leaf
¼ tsp salt
1-1¼ cups water

Directions:

Start with draining the tofu, following these directions. While it's draining, proceed as follows.

Sauce:
Combine all the ingredients listed. Whisk the sauce till all the sugar and salt is dissolved. Se it aside.


Spinach:
Stack the spinach leaves one above the other and roll them. Slice the roll into 1 inch segments. Repeat same procedure till you get 2-3 tightly packed cups of spinach. Set in dish so that they're in tight against each other to hold them together. Set aside.


Quinoa:
Combine all the ingredients in a thick bottomed pot with tight fitting lid. Bring it to a boil, then cover and reduce the flame to low. Cook undisturbed for around 15-20 mins and turn off the heat. Let it sit covered for about 10 mins so that the steam is retained.

Tofu:
Cut and dry fry your drained tofu.Then heat a medium sauce pan on the stove, add the sauce you prepared and let it bubble up. Switch off the heat and let the sauce reduce and form a glaze. Make sure that the sauce is bubbling up nicely before you switch off the heat. Stir the tofu into the sauce.

Cook spinach:
Heat wok and add spinach, lime juice and salt. You can add about a tbsp of water if required. Cover and cook for 1-2 mins. Remember you don’t need to cook it thoroughly, just soften it some so that the greens are still a little crunchy.


Now for the fun and easy part!
Place cooked quinoa on a serving dish and arrange steamed spinach on top. Place saucy tofu on spinach, drizzling extra sauce on top.

Serve immediately and ENJOY!!!

Father's Day Food (albeit a week late)

We had our Father's Day celebration a week later than everyone else due to the fact that my husband had a gallbladder attack that weekend. No matter, we saved the foods we'd purchased and prepared them a week later.

On the menu:
California Grilled Veggie Sandwiches
Cucumber Salad with Fresh Raspberries
Raw Corn Tortilla Chips with Guacamole
"Nice" Cream (our own version of vegan ice cream)

Here are the recipes. I wish we'd taken photos, but we didn't think of it and we ate outside in the wind.

 (Not ours, but close enough, right?)

California Grilled Veggie Sandwiches

A co-worker of mine told me about these, and we'll most certainly be having them again SOON! They were incredibly delicious.

Prepare the following by cutting into strips:

Bell peppers
Onions (we used purple)
Yellow summer squash
Zucchini

Sauce:
1/2 C. Vegenaise
6 cloves garlic, minced
2 T. lemon juice

Olive oil with garlic (I just put some crushed garlic cloves in a jar of olive oil and let it sit awhile, or you could purchase it)

Foccacia bread, Raw Onion Bread, or other whole grain rolls
Feta cheese (for non-vegan version)

Mesquite charcoal

Heat charcoal or grill
Cut up all of your veggies (we underestimated and wished we'd had more!)
Mix Vegenaise, garlic and lemon juice together
Split focaccia or other bread and have ready to place on grill
Brush veggies with garlic oil and place in grilling basket (not absolutely necessary, but so much easier!)

Grill vegetables approximately 3 minutes on each side. Remove from grill.
There are several ways you can prepare the bread*:
#1 - Spread sauce (and a little feta for the non-vegans) on one side of bread, then place bread on grill with sauce side up. Cover and let grill for about 2 minutes, making certain it does not burn.
#2 - Spread garlic olive oil on bread and place on grill for several minutes. Remove and spread mayo sauce on.
Place grilled veggies between two slices on the bread and consume immediately! You won't be able to stop at just one.

*If using raw bread, just spread the mayo mixture on and skip the grill part

Cucumber Salad with Raspberries

3/4 cups cashews
1/2 T apple cider vinegar
1/2 t white miso
3/4 cup water
1/4 cup lime juice (about 1 large lime)
1/2 clove crushed garlic
1/8 cup fresh mint, chopped
2 med. cucumbers, thinly sliced
Fresh raspberries

In blender, mix first six ingredients until smooth. Stir mint into sauce, then pour sauce over cucumbers. Gently stir all together. Add fresh raspberries onto individual servings.

Raw Corn Tortilla Chips

I have to confess, this was not the recipe we used, but I wish that it was! The one we tried was rather lackluster, and this one looks so much more interesting. We will be using it from now on.

3 cups fresh corn kernels, cut from 2-3 ears, or thawed frozen corn
1 1/2 cups chopped yellow or red bell pepper
3/4 cup golden flaxseed, finely ground
1 tablespoon lime juice
1 tablespoon ground chili powder
1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt
2 teaspoons ground cumin

In a food processor, chop the corn and bell pepper. Add the remaining ingredients and process until almost smooth.
Divide the dough onto two Teflex-lined dehydrator trays and spread to the edges using an offset spatula.
Dehydrate at 115 F for 3 to 4 hours. Flip the Teflex sheets over onto the tray and carefully peel away the Teflex. Place back in the dehydrator for about 2 hours.
When the tortilla is completely dry on both sides but still pliable, slice or cut into chips.

Use your favorite guacamole recipe. We're not picky. We just throw together some lovely ripe avocados, lime juice, chopped cilantro, chopped tomatoes, and sometimes a little fresh hot pepper. It's always good, no matter what we do or don't add.

"Nice" Cream (I have my son-in-law, Caleb, to thank for the name. Thanks, Caleb!)


I have tried several varieties of locally made raw ice cream. They're all good, and I'm still experimenting with different things myself. One thing I haven't yet tried, but hope to soon, is running frozen bananas (or other soft fruits) through the juicer with the blank plate on. I hear it's divine. I'll let you know as soon as I get around to it.

Most of the raw ice cream flavors that I have tried were made with young coconut flesh, which I love but those darn coconuts are so expensive these days. So I've tried other things that work well enough. Should I find coconuts inexpensively, I'd sure go with those every time.

Here's what we've done (all is approximate. We've just experimented every time):

Soak some raw cashew pieces (a cup of so) for 1 to 2 hours. Drain and place in blender.
Add the meat from one Thai coconut (reserving the coconut water to thin with) or use silken tofu. You could also add some canned coconut milk.

Add:
1/4 C. carob or cocoa powder
2 T. coconut oil
A teaspoon or so of vanilla extract
A dash of salt
Sweetener of choice (we've used agave, stevia, a combination of the two, etc.)
Coconut water for thinning

Whirl away until very smooth and creamy. Taste to see if you need a little more sweetener or vanialal
We have a Cuisinart ice cream freezer that has two pre-frozen bowls (handy when you want two varieties at the same time.) I pour the mixture into it and start it up. As it gets near the end, I sometimes add cherry pieces (tart is best, but hard to find) or other mix-ins. On Father's Day, we put sliced strawberries on top and attempted to make "whipped cream" out of coconut milk, but I had the wrong appliance in mind. You need to use a mixer, not a blender -  (better luck next time, Caleb. Sorry I misled you!)

Enjoy your Nice Cream and let me know what kinds of combos you come up with.

Vegan Quinoa Pancakes

I'm always looking for ways to make something familiar with healthier ingredients. And due to the fact that my husband isn't eating most grains, including, wheat, I'm always looking for alternatives to try. This morning I made a batch of these. They aren't as light and fluffy as a lot of pancakes, but they're pretty decent. I also didn't have enough quinoa flour, so I ground my own out of some quinoa flakes. It seemed a little heavier than what we'd purchased at the health food store. I'm going to do a little more experimenting, but for now, this was pretty good.

Quinoa Flour Pancakes (Vegan substitutions below)


1 1/2 cups of quinoa flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 egg, 2 egg whites
1 1/2 cups milk
1 TB Earth Balance Buttery Spread (melted)
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup of ground flax seed
Just mix all the ingredients together. I actually increased the flour because when I first poured it on the griddle….ummm….way too thin!

My substitutions

I added a little more baking powder

I used soaked flax seeds in place of the eggs

I used rice milk

I replaced the buttery spread with coconut oil

I added a little vanilla and cinnamon to the batter

Put everything in a blender and whirl away!  I had to add extra water because it got very, very thick due to the flax seeds. Pour 1/4 c. batter onto griddle or into non-stick or oiled pan. 

I served them with a little plain soy yogurt with vanilla and stevia added to it and some blueberry sauce made out of frozen blueberries and tapioca flour. Colorful and pretty good

Raw Tempura Vegetable Sauce

This is one of my favorite new raw recipes. It's easy to make, and I think it really tastes great. In fact, I crave it. It gives me a little boost that seems just right in the late afternoons.

Raw Tempura Vegetable Sauce

1/2 C raw sunflower seeds, unsoaked
1 C raw cashews, unsoaked
1/2 C fresh lemon juice
1 t Redmond or Celtic salt
1/2 C olive oil
1 t Chinese Five Spice (star anise, cloves, cinnamon, fennel, and black pepper)
1 C water

Blend all ingredients in a high-powered blender, pouring in the water slowly until you achieve the right consistency. (I usually pour in the whole cup of water at once, but can't guarantee you'll get a consistency you'll like.)

Spoon into a bowl for dipping broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, celery or any other firm, raw vegetable. You can refrigerate it for several days, if it's lasts that long.

You can also mix the sauce with vegetables and heat in a food dehydrator at 145°, spread on a Teflex sheet or parchment paper, for two hours. I enjoy this variation, but I am usually too impatient to wait to heat the vegetables!

Note: The original recipe comes from Gabriel Cousens' Rainbow Green Live-Food Cuisine. His recipe uses pistachios and pine nuts, which are better choices than the nuts I used, but cost somewhat more. He also uses 3 teaspoons of  salt rather than 1 teaspoon (3 teaspoons was too salty for my taste.)

Picnic Food - Veggie Sandwiches on Raw Onion Bread & Sweet Potato Fries

Friday night. What shall we do? We're in the habit of going out, usually to a restaurant, and normally to one that's inexpensive. These days we look for places that have salads or salad bars, but we opted for a little picnic at the park instead. We hadn't planned ahead, so it was very last minute and the food had to be prepared fairly quickly. We settled on Veggie Sandwiches on Raw Onion Bread and Sweet Potato Fries.

If you're not very familiar with a raw foods diet (I distinctly remember the first time I heard the term and thought of all the food we ate and how they'd taste raw - yuck! I couldn't imagine), do a little Google research and you'll find it's pretty popular and there are tons of recipes and recipe books on the subject. At any rate, we're trying to eat a large portion of our diet raw because of the health benefits, and with the dietary restrictions that my husband has had, bread has been completely out of the picture. But he can have raw breads, and the onion variety is a good one!

There are a number of different twists on raw onion bread and I've made several. I've taken a couple of recipes and tweaked them into my own, so I guess I get to put my name on it. You'll need a dehydrator to make this work.

Cristi's Raw Onion Bread

2 1/2 lbs sweet onions, peeled
1 cup ground sunflower seeds
1 cup ground golden flax seeds
1 zucchini
1/2 avocado, well mashed
2 T. olive oil
1 1/2 t. Real Salt

Note: You may want to start with 1/2 batch if you're uncertain about liking it or not. Also, I use a coffee grinder to grind the flax seeds and sunflower seeds.

Put onions in food processor with 's' blade and process until small pieces, (but not mush). Put in mixing bowl with the other ingredients and mix thoroughly. The flax will absorb liquid. Smooth onto Teflex sheets* about 1/4" thick and place in dehydrator for 5 hours, turning over for another 3-4 hours or until dry and crispy. Either break into pieces or cut with a pizza cutter, and store in refrigerator in an airtight container.

*If you don't have an Excalibur dehydrator, any type will do - just use natural unbleached parchment paper instead of the Teflex sheets.

Of course you'd have to be thinking ahead to have this ready to make sandwiches. Once you have a batch, you'll be good to go. Here's what we do:


Veggies Sandwiches on Raw Onion Bread


Spread a little mayo on the bread. We prefer Vegenaise with a few seasonings thrown in. Chef's Shake was our favorite, but we can't seem to find it anymore. I used Herbamare but it was a little on the salty side. You're on your own for this! Experiment a little. 


Place lots of cut up raw veggies on. We've used spinach, romaine lettuce, bell peppers, onions, avocados, tomatoes, carrots (thinly sliced), you name it. Put another slice of the bread on top and you're good to go. Chances are that your veggies will start falling out. Eat quick and keep a plate and fork handy for what drops!


*For the picnic, we placed the veggies in a plastic container and assembled the sandwiches just before eating.


Now for the fries. They're a bit of an odd thing to take along for a picnic, but they sounded good and we weren't going far. We baked them, wrapped them in foil, and wrapped the whole thing in a towel. They were still good and hot when we were ready to eat.

If you're only accustomed to white potato fries, you're in for a treat. These generally aren't very crispy, but they are oh so flavorful. And they're much healthier, being lower glycemic and higher in nutrients. Yum, yum!


Indian Spiced Sweet Potato Fries


2 med. sweet potatoes
1 1/2 T olive oil
1 t curry powder
1/4 t turmeric
1/4 t cumin
1/4 t ginger powder
1/2 t Real Salt
Parchment paper

Preheat oven to 400F. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper.
Wash & scrub potatoes, leaving the skins on. Cut them into sticks and place in mixing bowl. 
Pour on olive oil and mix together until all are coated. 
Mix spices together in small bowl (I'm generous with the amounts!), then dust over sweet potatoes, mixing them around as you dust. (I mix everything together with my hands. It's messy but it gets the job done better.) 
Spread in single layer onto cookie sheet.
Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, turning them half way through the baking time.

And here's my man, enjoying our little picnic. We ate, then walked the perimeter of the park in our bare feet, a healthy thing to do called grounding.  Then we played a round of croquet. 'Twas fun and relaxing. It reminded us of our engagement days. Who cares if that was 32 years ago? We don't!!!

Eggplant, What?

Aren't these lovely? I think they're a little too neglected, probably because people don't really know how to use them properly (like me!) For a long time, my only real association with eggplant was remembering my mother being on Weight Watcher's and fixing eggplant in some tomato sauce. I'm pretty certain I tasted it and didn't care for it much, and I don't think I had any again until well into adulthood. Then my biggest connection with it was Eggplant Parmesan, which I love.

My husband chose a recipe from Rainbow Green Live Food Cuisine, a book by Gabriel Cousens (a man I happen to admire quite a lot.) The recipe was for a raw Eggplant Casserole, and it was a "I'm thinking ahead" kind of thing. Thankfully I was thinking ahead this morning when I asked Aubrey to slice up the eggplants and soak them in salt water all day long (the recipe suggests 8 hours). Unfortunately, I wasn't thinking enough ahead to give it the 1 to 2 hours in the dehydrator, and then I didn't appear to have my thinking cap on when it came to turning on the oven because I set it and walked away without pushing "start" - who needs start anyway?!! I don't.

So, I chose to cook it rather than go the raw foods route, and because I had missed that blasted start button, I turned the oven up to 400 degrees and cooked it for about 15 minutes. Worked fine, but I really do prefer doing it raw and keeping all of those lovely enzymes intact. Maybe next time?

Anyway, we had this easy Eggplant Casserole with a lovely green salad made by Bob (I can't always call her Aubrey because Bob is what comes out when I open my mouth to say her name.) Give it a try, whether raw in your dehydrator, or cooked in the oven.

Eggplant Casserole

3 small eggplants
2 t. Celtic salt


Sauce
1/2 c. olive oil
2 T. fresh thyme, minced
1/2 t. Celtic salt


Garnish
1/2 C. sun-dried tomatoes, soaked and diced
1/2 C. parsley, finely chopped


Peel and slice eggplant into 1/2" rounds and cover with water. Add salt and soak for 8 hours. Drain and combine with sauce and massage the eggplant 3 to 5 minutes. Spread the mixture on a dehydrator tray with a Teflex sheet and dehydrate at 145 degrees for 1 to 2 hours. Combine in a mixing bowl with sun-dried tomatoes and parsley and mix well. Serve warm. Serves 4 - 6.

My notes:
Our eggplants were sliced a little thinner, which I liked, and it cooked faster
We use Real Salt, and like it a lot.
I found some fresh thyme growing about 12 - 15 feet from the pot I grew it in last year. There it was, snuggled up next to the rose bush. And it gives a lovely flavor, so use the fresh herb!
I saw someone say on a raw foods forum that they made this recipe with olives. Oh, yum! Wish I'd seen that before we made it. Next time, for sure!


Don't be shy about trying eggplant. It doesn't have a whole lot of flavor, so it takes on whatever flavors you surround it in. The texture is a little spongy, but it's good. Go for it!

Dry Fry Tofu

Although tofu constantly gets a bad name and often a groan if mentioned in some circles, we have learned to like it if it is properly prepared. We're no more fond of its slimy texture than anyone else, but if you're still preparing it the slimy way, then listen up! My daughter, Melissa, told me about a cooking method for tofu that makes it so much more palatable, and it actually feels a lot like chicken in your mouth. We've used this method about a half dozen times over the past two months, and it works!

I followed the directions here:

Dry-Fried and Marinated Tofu
    One 16 ounce brick of extra-firm tofu for every four people.
    Cutting board and knife
    Cloth Napkin or dish towel
    Teflon pan OR a very well-seasoned cast-iron pan *
    Spatula
    Prepared marinade in a bowl (see recipes at end for suggestions)

* A note on the pan: If you use a normal cooking pan like stainless steel or other varieties that don't have a non-stick coating, you will most likely have a lot of trouble with the tofu sticking to the pan, since no oil is used. Teflon isn't supposed to be dangerous at low to medium heat, but to be safe I've switched to using a very well-seasoned cast-iron pan.  As long as I'm careful to watch it, I don't have trouble with sticking.

Preparation:
(First, prepare your marinade. See recipes at the bottom of the page.)

Tofu comes packed in water. Drain the tofu and cut it so that your pieces are a half an inch thick. For most recipes, you will want to then cut it into triangles, but some recipes call for strips.

Put the tofu pieces between two absorbent cloth napkins or woven dish towels (NOT terry cloth) and gently press, enough to get a lot of water out but not hard enough to squish it.

Dry-frying:
Use a Teflon or well-seasoned cast-iron pan at medium heat on an electric range, low to medium-low on a gas range. Slow cooking is the key to keeping the tofu from sticking to the Teflon and insures that the water has time to evaporate out before the outside is browned. Do NOT use oil. You want to leech all of the moisture out of your tofu, so do not use oil--leave the pan dry.

Place your tofu in the pan leaving room around pieces. You may need to fry a few batches to give it enough room. As the tofu cooks, use a spatula to frequently press down on each piece. You will see the water seeping out and sizzling in the pan. Once the bottom sides are very firm and golden in color, flip the tofu pieces and fry the other side, again frequently pressing each piece with a spatula. When they are golden and firm on both sides, they are done.

Marinade:

The dry-frying method has left your tofu dry and firm, ready to suck up the flavors of a marinade like a sponge. Place the tofu pieces in the marinade and stir well, making sure the tofu is submerged. Marinate for at least a half an hour and then use this delicious firm and flavorful tofu in a stir-fry.

Marinade Recipes:

Here are some example marinades that work well with dry-fried tofu. These marinades also do well with meat.

The following Marinades should work for one 16 ounce block of tofu after frying.

Simple, All-purpose Tofu Marinade:
    1/2 cup Braggs Liquid Aminos (for a salty, smoky flavor)
    Splash of rice vinegar
    1/2 large sweet onion, diced
    5 cloves garlic, crushed
    water to cover

Chinese Tofu Marinade:
    1/2 cup shoyu (or soy sauce)
    1/4 cup rice wine (or sherry)
    1 clove garlic, crushed
    1/2 tbsp fresh ginger, grated or crushed
    1 tsp palm sugar (or brown sugar)

Thai Tofu Marinade:
    1/2 cup fish sauce (or soy sauce)
    1/2 cup rice wine (or sherry)
    1/4 cup palm sugar (or brown sugar)
    Splash of rice vinegar
    Juice from 1/2 lime
    1 small shallot (or half onion), finely minced
    1 tbsp chili paste
    1 tbsp finely minced lemon grass (fresh or dried)

My notes:

Even though they say no terry cloth towels, I use them and they work fine.

I am not fond of Teflon cookware and don't have any except for a griddle. I dry fry mine on the griddle and there's just enough room for one pound of tofu to fit on there.

We use whatever sauce we throw together and I just toss the dry fried tofu and the sauce together in a pan and heat it up, allowing the tofu to absorb the sauce.

I only use organic tofu. All other tofu is GMO, and that's not for me and mine!

If you haven't tried tofu before, this is a perfect way to start. Let me know how it turns out and what kinds of sauces you use. I love new ideas!

Stuffed Bell Peppers, Vegan Style

I've become a working girl, and my work schedule these days is Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. When I come home, I'm tired and just want to chill for a bit. Unfortunately I'm not as organized as I wish I was in the meal department. In fact, instead of having a menu plan, I just go to the store and buy a gazillion vegetables and know that I'll be able to create something good out of them. But it takes some pretty quick scrambling for me to figure it out in a timely manner so that we're not eating at 9 p.m. I know there are families that do that, but ours isn't one of them! I grew up having dinner at 5:30. In fact, if the phone rang during dinnertime, it would make my dad mad. He just didn't understand why people would be so rude as to call right during our dinner hour. Then my mother would remind him that not everybody had dinner that early. I've learned since then that not many folks at all have dinner so early, but I sure wish I was nearly done cooking by that time. That's still a goal of mine.

Now back to the piles of vegetables that I purchase. It kind of makes me chuckle thinking about how many we have stuffed in both of our refrigerators. I think back to a call I overheard several months ago while at work. The School of Natural Healing, where I'm employed, has a call-in hour four days a week where a Master Herbalist answers questions from the general public. Once in awhile I can overhear a comment or two, especially if it's a topic that is particularly charged. One day I heard quite clearly, "Do what Dr. Fuhrman* says. Go to the produce section of the grocery store and anything you can find there, eat that!" That's pretty much what we have going on here at our house. We have become best buddies with the produce sections at every grocery store within 20 miles of us.

So, with this plethora of produce, I have many options as long as I find interesting recipes that tantalize our tastebuds. Tonight my niece, Brooke, posted a link on my Facebook wall for vegetarian stuffed peppers. I took a look at it and thought, "Perfect! I have more than a dozen sweet peppers in the fridge and can adapt this to fit our diet." So I did.

We're not only doing the vegan thing, we're focused even more narrowly, and I'll get to why that is soon. But for now, suffice it to say, I'm not using any legumes or grains (other than brown rice) in our foods. Quinoa (which is a seed, pronounced KEEN wah,) is a great substitute for grains, and sometimes I even prefer it over rice. Tonight it became the "meat" of our meal.

Without further adieu, here's the recipe, from Our Best Bites, and my adaptations. (I'm particularly fond of the author because she makes it clear that you need to choose any colorful pepper besides green. Oh, how I concur! Green peppers were meant to stay in the garden until they ripen; they were never meant for your mouth in that state.)    :-)

Southwest Stuffed Bell Peppers
Adapted from America’s Test Kitchen The original recipe in my opinion has some major flaws, which I have corrected below!

4 very large or 6 medium sweet peppers (red, yellow, or orange)
1 Tbs salt
1/2 C white rice (or  brown if you want to take the time to cook it), quinoa also works
2 Tbs olive oil
1 onion, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 – 1 jalapeno, minced (or you could sub a small 3oz can of mild green chilies)
1 14oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup frozen corn kernels
2 green onions, sliced
1/2-1 tsp chipotle chili powder (you can start with 1/2 and add more to taste)
1 tsp kosher salt, plus more to taste
1/4 black pepper, plus more to taste
1 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes, preferably fire roasted
1 1/4 C jack or pepperjack cheese, divided
3-4 Tbs chopped fresh cilantro
tortilla chips, just a handful and more for serving if desired.


Preheat oven to 350.  Prepare peppers by washing, slicing tops off, and removing insides.  Bring 4 quarts of water to a boil and add 1 tablespoon salt.   Boil whole peppers for about 3-4 minutes, until they begin to soften.  Remove from water with tongs and place on paper towels to drain. Add rice to boiling water and cook until tender, about 13 minutes.  Drain thoroughly.


Heat oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat.  Add onions, garlic, and jalapeno (or chilies) and cook until softened, about 5 minutes.  Add corn, beans, green onions, chipotle chili powder, kosher salt, and pepper. Stir until corn and beans are heated through, about 5 minutes.  Place peppers in a baking dish.  Remove skillet from heat and add rice, tomatoes, 1 cup cheese, and cilantro.  Stir to combine well and give it a taste.  Add additional salt, pepper, and chipotle powder to your liking.  Then evenly divide mixture between peppers.
Top peppers with remaining 1/4 cup cheese (or more if you can fit it on there :) and crushed tortilla chips.
Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes


We had this with a big green salad with Vegan Ranch Dressing, recipe found here.

My changes: 
I used about half the salt.
I used quinoa instead of rice.
I did not add any beans.
No hot peppers found their way in, but only because I didn't have any handy.
I missed the cilantro (just for you, Colette!) because I couldn't find it quickly enough, Darn!
I used about 3/4 t. of chipotle chili powder and it was perfect for us. Any more and it woulda burned big time.
We had some fake-o pepper jack cheese that I sprinkled on top, maybe 1/3 C. total, none in the filling itself.
I just happened to have Italian diced tomatoes only, so that's what went in. They worked fine.
I did not use any chips and we did not miss them.

When I make it again:
I would add some diced zucchini or other vegetables into the filling. The more you can stuff in there, the better. So that's my plan.

*Dr. Fuhrman is the author of the excellent book Eat to Live. If you really want to know how to reverse disease or stop it from showing up in the first place or lose weight, get that book, read it, and follow his eating plan. You'll be so glad you did!

Your Fork As Your Shovel

From the time I was a teen, I always had an interest in nutrition. I was fascinated when I took a nutrition class in college and we had to analyze the food we were eating to discover what nutrients were in every single thing we ate for a week. Some thought of it as being tedious, but for some odd reason I liked looking through all of the charts and seeing how much niacin was in a certain food, or how much vitamin C an orange had. It was a toss-up between majoring in nutrition or becoming a veterinarian. In the end, it was neither. I still am fascinated with nutrition (even more so than ever) and I have never lost my love for animals, but I figured out a long time ago that I couldn't handle seeing an animal in pain, so vet school was completely out of the question.

I have realized for quite a long time that nutrition has everything to do with health, and that every thing you put in your mouth will either work toward keeping you healthy or  it will tear down and support you in the development of disease. I read once that Americans are digging their graves with their forks. Unfortunately that is too true, and I want to leave my grave digging to the official cemetery folks. I am currently enrolled as a student at The School of Natural Healing, and one of the areas we learn a lot about is nutrition. Thank heaven! The more I learn, the more empowered I feel.

I have lots more of my story to share (and how it relates to good nutrition), and it'll come out here and there. Our family has a story, too, and that is why I'm in the position of being really vigilant about our diet these days. I only wish I had done it all along out of choice rather than being compelled, as I am now. But either way, I'm glad to be eating super healthy. That is a blessing.

I'll be sharing recipes that our family likes; we're trying new ones nearly every day. Hopefully they will be categorized in a way that will make them easy to find according to the type of food you're looking for. But really, this is just our family's own recipe book that makes it easy to have them at our fingertips without all the fuss of pulling out books and thumbing through pages. We're lazy like that.

Come. Eat. Enjoy.