Raw Zucchini Spaghetti with Basil Walnut Pesto

I love zucchini!  It's one of my favorite summer veggies.  I have found that I prefer it raw because no matter how you prepare it, it retains it's crunch.  Lucky for me, my CSA, The Good Food Collective, provides me with an abundance of it!

To make zucchini noodles, you will need a spiral slicer.  There are many options for spiral slicers.  I have a World Cuisine Tri-Blade Spiral Vegetable Slicer.  It's a hand crank and was inexpensive.

SALAD

1 green zucchini

1 yellow zucchini

1 seedless cucumber (if desired)

Tomatoes (I use a variety of heirlooms to get the best flavor)

PESTO

2-3 large handfuls of fresh basil

3-5 large cloves of garlic (adjust to your liking)

1 handful of raw walnuts

Good quality olive oil (flavored olive oil works great!)

Up to1 tablespoon of sea salt

Wash the zucch and leave the skins on.

Cut off the ends and put it through the spiral slicer using the smallest noodle blade.  Put noodles in a non-reactive bowl and sprinkle with olive oil.  Dice the tomatoes and put them in with the zucch.

Put the basil, garlic, and walnuts in a food processor and chop.  When everything is chopped well, drizzle in olive oil until you are happy with the consistence of the pesto.  Add sea salt until the flavor is to your liking.  Mix in with the veggies and let sit on the counter for about 2 hours before serving. Stir frequently to release all the yummy juices!

Detox Water

I love making flavored waters and this by far is my favorite recipe.  I adapted it from The Science Of Eating.

16 cups of cold water

2 large English cucumbers, thinly sliced

2-3 lemons, unpeeled and sliced

A 4"-5" hunk of ginger, peeled and sliced 

At least 24 mint leaves, torn

Put everything in a large jar and refrigerate for at least 12 hours before drinking.

You can add more water as you drink until you notice the flavors weakening.

Detox Water

I love making flavored waters and this by far is my favorite recipe.  I adapted it from The Science Of Eating.

16 cups of cold water

2 large English cucumbers, thinly sliced

2-3 lemons, unpeeled and sliced

A 4"-5" hunk of ginger, peeled and sliced 

At least 24 mint leaves, torn

Put everything in a large jar and refrigerate for at least 12 hours before drinking.

You can add more water as you drink until you notice the flavors weakening.

Chocolate Decadence

I love chocolate!  I love chocolate!  I LOVE CHOCOLATE!  Finding chocolate desserts that are gluten-free and dairy-free are a challenge.  Don't get me wrong.  There's plenty if recipes out there but let's be honest.  They don't all taste good.  This recipe was modified from a cake that a friend made.  It's rich, delicious, and so completely sinful that it's hard to believe that it's GF, DF, there are only 3 ingredients, and there is no added sugar!  The only question here really is what should you top it with?  Coconut creme is delicious on this cake but so is cashew creme.  I'll let you decide!


CAKE
8 extra large organic eggs
1 pound of dark chocolate (any darkness is acceptable-the darker the chocolate, the less sugar)
16 tablespoons of soy-free earth balance

• Pre-heat oven to 325*.
• Place a roasting pan filled halfway with water on the bottom rack.
• Line the bottom of a 10" springform pan with parchment paper.
• Spray the sides of the pan with an organic cooking spray.
• Melt the chocolate and Earth Balance over medium-low heat, stirring frequently.
• As soon as everything is just melted, take the pan off the stove to cool.
• Beat the eggs on high until the double in volume, about 5 minutes.
• When the eggs are done, carefully fold them into the chocolate 1/3 at a time.
• When everything is incorporated pour batter into pan.
• Place on oven rack above water bath and bake for 30 minutes.
• After 30 minutes, check cake.  It can be baked up to 15 minutes more if necessary.
• Once cake is done, allow to cool in the pan for an hour before removing
• Be sure to peel off the parchment paper from the bottom
• Store in the fridge

COCONUT CREME
2 cans of full-fat coconut milk
Pure vanilla extract or 1 vanilla bean

• Chill coconut milk for at least 3 hours in the fridge
• Carefully open cans and scoop out the white solid off the top
• Add vanilla and whip either with electric beaters, in a food processor, or in a high-powered blender
• Spoon over cooled cake or serve with individual slices

*A note about this creme.....If it begins to separate, that means you mixed it too long.  You can fix this by continuing to mix at a high speed until it becomes combined again.  It will be watery.  Just stick it in the fridge and it will harden up in an hour or so.  It will still have the consistency of creme.


CASHEW CREME
1 cup of whole, raw cashews
water
pure vanilla extract
1 seeded medjool date to sweeten if desired

• Put the cashews, date, vanilla, and 1/4 cup of water in a food processor and let 'er rip for about 5 minutes
• If the creme isn't thick and "creamy" looking, add more water, a little at a time
• You can add more nuts if it seems too watery

                                          coconut creme                      cashew creme

                                                   cashew creme on top of coconut creme

Sun Is Shining

Happy 2014!  I hope everyone had a great holiday!  Now that the holidays are over, it's time to clean up our internal ecosystems.  I know mine needs it!  Thanks to Drew Canole (I will provide a link to him later) I have a new tool in my arsenal and I want to share it with you!

The product is called Sun Is Shining and can be purchased on-line through a company called Sunfoods.  (Sunfoods has a ton of other great products as well.  When you sign up as a costumer and then every time you order, you get Sun Points which gives you nice little discounts on future orders.)

Sun Is Shining is a green powder full of phyto-nutrients and trace minerals.  Best of all, it acts as a clean sweep for your body!

You can add the powder to juices and smoothies but I actually prefer it plain in just some water.  It makes a beautiful dark green drink and best of all, it doesn't taste grassy!  It actually has a very mild flavor.

To start yourself off, put 1 teaspoon in 8oz of water, shake it well and drink it up.  Do this twice a day; when you wake up and before you go to bed.  I recommend starting slow because this green gem has great cleansing properties!  After a couple of days, increase to 2 teaspoons twice a day.   I use pint canning jars because the powder mixes in better if you shake it.

A couple of new recipes will be coming soon!  Enjoy the new year and if you live on the East coast, stay warm!

Summer Berry Pie

I had lots of berries and tart cherries from my CSA pick-up and we weren't able to eat them fast enough so I decided to make a pie.  I didn't want to have to worry about processed sweetness to off-set the tart was of the cherries and berries so I used turbanado sugar.  I also had to make sure the crust was gluten and dairy free and not full of transfats.

CRUST: 

Makes enough dough for one 9" bottom crust and a floating top.

1 & 1/2 cups of gluten free flour

1/2 cup of solid coconut oil

1 teaspoon of sea salt

1 tablespoon of turbanado sugar

5-8 tablespoons of cold water

Mix the flour, sugar, and salt.  Cut in the coconut oil.  When combined. Add the water 1 tablespoon at a time.  Fork stir after each tablespoon until you have a soft ball of dough.  Wrap in Saran Wrap and refrigerate for about an hour.

FILLING:

6 cups of whole fresh berries.  You can use a single type of berry or a mixture.  

1/2 to 1 cup of turbanado sugar, based on your tastes

1 tablespoon of ground cinnamon 

1/4 cup of tapioca starch or arrowroot starch

Mix sugar, cinnamon, and starch.  Add to berries and mix carefully but well.

ASSEMBLY & BAKING:

Lightly oil a 9" glass pie plate with coconut oil.

Remove dough from fridge and roll out to 1/4-1/8 " thick.  Line bottom of pie plate with dough and press in.  Trim off the edges and set aside.

Pour filling into crust.  Roll out the remaining dough and lay it on the top of the pie.  Do not seal it.  It should look like its floating on top of the pie.

Bake at 375 for about an hour.

COCONUT CREME TOPPING:

Several hours prior, place a steel bowl and beaters in the freezer to chill.

1 can of full fat coconut milk refrigerated for several hours.  The longer in the fridge the better.  This will allow the cream to solidify and cone to the top.  You will use the cream for this topping.  Reserve the oil for another use.

1 tablespoon of turbanado sugar.

1 whole vanilla bean or 1 tablespoon of pure vanilla extract.

Carefully scoop out the white cream from the top of the coconut milk and put it in the chilled bowl. Add the sugar and vanilla.  Beat on high until a smooth creme forms.

CASHEW CREME TOPPING:

In a high-powered blender or food processor place:

1/2 cup of water

2 large handfuls of raw cashews

4 pitted medjool dates

1 tablespoon of pure vanilla

Blend on high until a smooth creme forms, adding more liquid if necessary.  You can use some of the left over coconut oil.

Kale Chips

I've seen these gems in the grocery store for a lot of moolah.  They are super easy to make and way cheaper than buying the fancy schmancy ones!

Fresh kale

Good quality extra virgin olive oil

Seasoning of your choice (cinnamon sugar, sea salt, garam masala, etc)

Cut kale into chunks.  Cost in olive oil.  Add seasonings.  When the flavor is to your liking, pour kale onto a cookie sheet and spread out.  Bake at 350 until crisp.  Stir regularly.

Kimchi or Kimchee

Kimchi/Kimchee is a Korean side dish made from various vegetables and seasonings that are fermented. Traditionally kimchi styles vary by regions across Korea.

Kimchi is rich in vitamins A, B1, B2, C, phosphorous, niacin, calcium, & iron.  It also contains non-dairy lactic acid bacteria, one of which is lactobacillus kimchii.  All that good shit aids your gut in digestion.

This is, by no means, the only way to make kimchi.  I found several recipes and settled on adapting one I found from hungry tigress food blog.

PROCEDURE:

Day 1:  Dissolve 6 tablespoons of finely ground sea salt OR pink salt in 8 cups of water.  Cut 1 head of cabbage (Napa or savoy) into 1-inch pieces.  (I do not recommend using red cabbage for this part. It's too sweet and it will also throw off the color and everything will turn red. I do like the flavor of it, so when the kimchi is completely done, I chop up some of that red deliciousness and throw that shit right on my plate with the kimchi and mix it in. It adds a bit of sweetness to the sour of the kimchi.)  Ok, back to the green cabbage Goddesses.....Make sure that all the pieces separate as you put them in a non-reactive bowl, preferably glass.  Pour that briny shit all over the cabbage so it gets a good bath!  Place a plate inside the bowl over the cabbage to keep all that leafy green goodness submerged. Let this sit at for least 12 hours or over night.

 

Day 2:  Strain cabbage from brine BUT set the brine aside.  You'll need it later!  Put the cabbage back into the non-reactive bowl.  Add to the cabbage 2 tablespoons of Turkish or Hungarian paprika,  2 tablespoons of finely minced fresh ginger, 2 tablespoons of finely minced fresh garlic, and 6 sliced scallions OR 1 sweet onion quartered and sliced OR hell!  Add both!  This is your party!.  You can add other savory spices as well.   I throw in some cayenne pepper.   

At this point you can also choose to add other veggies.  I added 2 shredded carrots, 1 rib of celery thinly sliced, 1 kohlrabi root quartered and thinly sliced, 1 fresh jalapeño thinly sliced, and 1 Jimmy Nardello sweet Italian frying pepper thinly sliced.  You can also add daikon radishes and cucumbers.  Hell!  Add whatever the fuck you want!  Except tomatoes. They don’t belong in here.  You can put that shit on top when you fill your plate! 

Once you have everything in there that you want, ix everything together really well.  It's best to just dive right in with your hands.

 

Split all that delicious veg between 2 wide-mouth, quart-sized canning jars or if you have a half-gallon jar you can put them all in there.  Make sure you pack everything down really well.  Don’t let any of that shit sneak out!  use your hands if you can.  Pour the brine into the jars just to cover the veg. This is very important so pay attention! You will have brine left over!  SAVE THAT SHIT!!!

 

Now.....Here comes the tricky part.  You have to weight down the veg inside the jar.   This will make one hell of a mess if you aren’t careful. (Ask me how I know.) You're going to do this with sandwich baggies and the rest of that sexy brine.  Very carefully, put a baggie in the opening of each of the jars.  Fill the bags with brine.  Carefully squeeze out the air and seal the baggie.  Do this for all of your jars.  Put any extra brine in a glass jar and save it. You may need it later.  Throw NOTHING away when you make this!  Place the jars into a glass bowl incase they drip.  You will not be putting the lids on at this time so put that shit in a safe place for now!  Put the whole bowl in a cool dark area. If you can’t find an area that stays dark, just put it in a corner of your kitchen and throw a towel over the whole shebang. 

 

Make sure to check it daily to be sure that the veg is still submerged.  You may have to release air from baggies or you may have to add more brine to them.  (See?  Save that shit!)  After 3 days check to see if it has soured enough for your taste.  It could take up to 6 days to get the best flavor.  It could take longer for you.  Depends on your preference.  

Once it's how you like it, carefully remove the baggies and dump all that sext brine into the jars, cap, and refrigerate.  If you need more, add some from the extra jar you have tucked away in the back of your fridge.  This will last quite a while. The vinegar has pickled and preserved everything. Make sure you eat this shit every single day for a happy gut!

 

Instant Breakfast

I'm not huge on instant meal- type mixes, however, I have found that in a pinch, Vega brand isn't too bad.  The mixes are not cheap.  I usually only have 2 or 3 around just in case.  As much ad I love chocolate, in this case I do prefer the vanilla almond.  I blend it per the package directions but I also add 1 banana, 1 heaping teaspoon of mesquite powder, and 1 teaspoon of lucuma powder.  The flavor and smell of the shake reminds me of almond paste cookies!

Swamp Cubes

My juicer has not been performing as it should when it comes to juicing leafy greens.  I was beginning to feel like I was wasting more than I was juicing.  I decided to use a different tactic to get the most out of my leaves!

1 large bunch of parsley
1 large bunch of cilantro
1 large handful of spinach
water

Roughly chop the spinach, parsley, and cilantro and put all of it in the blender.

Start the blender and add water a little at a time to keep everything mixing.

Blend until liquified, adding water in small amounts (1/8 cup at a time) as necessary.

Pour juice into ice cube trays and freeze solid.  Once frozen, pop them out and put them into freezer bags.

If you are making Swamp Water use 2-4 Swamp Cubes in place of juicing any greens.