Raw Scramble

From The Raw Transformation

Corn is one of my favorite grains to eat raw.  I enjoyed this scramble in leaf lettuce with hot sauce.  It has corn, grated cauliflower, turmeric, cumin, red bell pepper, scallions, parsley (I subbed basil), garlic, and lemon juice.  I left out the oil called for in the recipe and added some black salt.  This does not taste like an omnivorous scramble, but I wouldn’t want it to, anyway.  I think it was tasty with the hot sauce and the lettuce but plain on its own, despite having many flavoring and garnishes added.

Tomato & Fennel Lasagna (Raw)

Raw Food Real World

This dish is a slightly modified version of the zebra tomato and zucchini lasagna recipe from Raw Food Real World.  I LOVED this dish!  The flavors were amazing, and it had very reduced fat.

The first layer is a fennel, thyme, and oregano mixture.  I left out the extra-virgin olive oil.  Next is a pine nut ricotta, followed by a basil puree (again, no fat added), and a fat-free sun-dried tomato sauce.  I think I could eat this every day.

It’s served with a kale-dulse salad with avocado dressing and cucumber.

Thai Vegetable Wraps & Coconut and Chocolate Ice Cream

 

Raw Food, Real World (for wraps and coconut ice cream)

Thai vegetable wraps in collard leaves with bok choy (instead of savoy cabbage), almond-ginger dressing, mango, carrots, basil, cilantro, mint, and served with a tamarind dressing.  I left out the bean sprouts.  I loved the wraps; I kept going back to make more.  I think I will use the leftovers as a salad, with the collards chopped, so it’s easier to transport tomorrow.  Definitely recommend this recipe!

Coconut ice cream sweetened with agave nectar, also shown with raw chocolate ice cream with coconut water and meat, macadamia milk, and cacao powder.  Served with mango, kiwi, and blueberries.  The ice creams tasted good, but I realized tonight that if I want to make my own nut milks and ice creams with coconut meat, I should really get a better blender, such as a Vita-Mix.  The texture isn’t smooth and pureed enough with my regular old cheapy blender!  Especially to serve to other people.

Lemongrass & Greens Soup w/ Raw Garnishes

I got some lemongrass stalks and Thai basil from my friend Sara, so I thought I’d try to put them to good use and also eat plenty of raw in the process.

I made a broth with pureed coconut shreds, broccoli stalks, and kale, coconut water and homemade vegetable broth, lemongrass, ginger, garlic, a green chile, salt, and a small amount of the basil.  Then I cooked the broccoli florets in the broth but still found something was missing…..roasted peanuts!  They really changed the flavor of the soup for the better.  The garnish is carrots, bok choy, kale, avocado, and Thai basil. 

 It was really tasty but I think in the future I may just keep things more simple and start eating more raw broccoli.  I had previously thought I didn’t like it raw, but I had a few bites of a stalk and liked it.  Of course a sauce with the lemongrass would be excellent even raw!

Veganomicon - Pumpkin Ziti

Veganomicon

This pumpkin looks innocent enough, eh?

Grinning from ear to ear, you might just smile back when you see it.

But then the lights go out…..

SCARY!!!!  

I had a great time carving this with Sara - it had been years and years since we had the pleasure of cutting through two-inch pumpkin flesh and getting our hands all stringy with gobs of seeds.  So much fun!

On to the food, the pumpkin ziti has brown rice pasta, cashew ricotta, pumpkin, carmelized onions, and sage-bread crumb topping.  Sound good?  Yes, it is!  I liked it a lot; it has a nice blend of flavors.  Easy to make gluten-free as well, if you use gf bread crumbs or just chopped nuts with sage for the topping.

Boo!

Eggplant Rollatini, Cheezly Pizza

 

Veganomicon

First we start off with breaded and baked (low in fat!) eggplant, then roll the slices up stuffed with spinach and a basil-tofu ricotta that tastes phenomenal.  Why do I think that - who is this vegan who thinks she knows what cheese is good?  Just listen to me.  I’m smart like that….Shown here with marinara sauce, sprinkled with Almasen, and basil.

Finally, what I’ve been putting off for ages - the Cheezly pizza.  I wanted to keep it simple, making a whole-wheat spelt and unbleached white crust, slathering the pizza sauce on, and topping it with the grated mozzarella and some basil pretties.  My stone was worried what would happen if some Cheezly got on her delicate, seasoned body.  I assured Mrs. Stone that Cheezly was, in fact, low in fat and didn’t entail stealing milk from a baby calf!  If an orphaned baby soybean rings my buzzer later, I’ll let you’all know.

Cheers to Francesco for sharing an excellent meal with me!

Ravioli w/ Basil Ricotta

 

Vegan With a Vengeance for ricotta

Finally, I made something picture-worthy!  I’ve been eating a lot of greens and broccoli.  In fact, broccoli was my appetizer to this dish. 

Let me just say, when people tell you that fresh pasta is so much better than dried, they are not exaggerating.  Fresh is delicious!  I love the texture and the fun of making the sheets, and then cutting them or making the raviolis.  I made some whole-grain spelt fettucine as well.

Herbs, Greens, and Bonus Hemp

 

Basil - I made an almond-hemp-walnut pesto with the basil and froze it in ice cube trays for single servings.

Lemon Balm - I think I will use this for tea, so I chopped it finely in the food processor, added a little water, and froze the herb in ice cube trays!  I think it will steep just fine and this was easier than drying it.

Sage (not pictured) - I decided to make two things with the sage.  One was a sage-garlic vinegar, with the sage, garlic, and a mixture of many vinegars, including apple cider, rice wine, ume plum, raspberry blush, red wine, and balsamic.  The other item was a garlic-sage spread, with extra-virgin olive oil and Earth Balance. 

Collards

Kale

Hempseed Butter

I’m sorry these pictures didn’t come out great.  I was trying to capture the making of the butter, by grinding the hempseeds in the food processor for approximately 5 min.  Also, it’s best if you add a bit of oil.  I used 2 T. of peanut oil and 2 T. of flax oil.  You do have to stop the processing and mix around the nut/paste to make sure it gets ground up well!

The best part?  Making desserts, for example, the chocolate hemp squares from Vive Le Vegan!

Thank you, Sara and Rob, for sharing the harvest goodies! 

Peanut-Basil Noodles & Green Curry Tofu

www.ivu.org/recipes

This is one of my favorite Thai dishes, as well as Rich’s, because he requested it for his birthday!  It’s a coconut-peanut-basil sauce with kale, bean sprouts, brown rice noodles, topped with peanuts.  Also shown is a green curry tofu, made just using some coconut milk and green curry paste.  We had some sweet & spicy nori strips and chilled mellon for dessert.  Apparently, someone wanted a healthy birthday without cupcakes!  How will we take over the world now?  :( 

Melted Monterey Jack

Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook

Yesterday, I posted a picture of the Monterey pepper jack block cheese.  This is a roll spread with pesto and the sliced cheese, broiled, and then spread with a knife.  It’s delicious!