Day 18 (30-Day Green Smoothie Challenge)

FROM MY KITCHEN TO YOURS: My Finger-Licking Lasagna

Apart from the first two to three days that seem to go one forever, the rest of the days on the raw food lifestyle has a been a total breeze and an amazing high. My husband told me something I hadn't thought about today, he said "Baby, raw food preparation comes more easily to you than doing cooked food." He is absolutely right. I love preparing raw foods; playing with recipes and ingredients is such a great hobby of mine now.

I started my day with 20 minutes of circuit training with Jillian Michaels. She makes me sweat and I like that. I have been in the Kitchen all day today playing with recipes and I made a raw/vegan burger with french fries which Nina completely devoured, lol. Rick loved it as well and the plate of my finger-licking lasagna was gone in a flash! My, my,my, do we have some tasty eaters in this house. It feels great to make food that people love to eat, especially children.

I came up with this interesting cheese recipe, all by taste, and it blended great with the other ingredients in the lasagna. If you go down to Day 13, you will find the recipe of the Marinara sauce I used today. I have also discovered the great taste of pesto. It is incredibly easy to make as well. I like to use it for appetizers and as a dipping sauce. You can also eat it with julienned veggies, and as a stuffing for many side dishes. Whew! I am loving my life big time.

Here is my recipe:

Marinara Sauce:
Scroll down to Day 13 for recipe. Set aside.

Pesto:
2 cups of fresh basil
1 cup pine nuts
4 garlic cloves
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 -1 tsp salt (as desired)

Blend in food processor until smooth and set aside.

Cheese:
1 cup raw cashew
1/3 cup of pine nuts
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp nutritional yeast
1 Tbsp lemon juice, fleshly squeezed
1/4 cup water
1Tbsp olive oil

Blend all together until smooth and set aside.

Using the flat blade of a mandolin or a vegetable slicer, cut peeled zucchini into flat strips. I used 1 zucchini.

Wash and strip leaves of two stalks of rainbow chard and set aside. You may also use spinach leaves but I had none today.

First, place the leaves of rainbow chard on plate. Then start layering the zucchini into a matted pattern. When that is done alternate between spread of cheese sauce first, pesto sauce and then marinara. Add some spinach leaves or chopped up chard leaves on the marinara and then place zucchini strips again. Then add cheese sauce, pesto and marinara. Continue process over and over till you obtain 3-4 layers. Garnish with some sprouts and serve as is. By far my favorite lunch or dinner recipe. Very delicious and filling. Enjoy!

~B

Day 17 (30-Day Green Smoothie Challenge)

FROM MY KITCHEN TO YOURS: fyr sIGnatURE ApRIcOt PiE with a pECan cRUst

Going raw is one of the best things that ever happened to me. First of all, I have always been in pursuit of the optimum healthy lifestyles and I think--in my opinion--the Raw food lifestyle is it. It is a lifestyle because unlike most popular diets out there where people have a start date and an end date, the raw food lifestyle is a way of life that reflects your beliefs and values. Belief that live foods create live beings (Ann Wigmore says it best).

The fact that I can still satisfy my sweet tooth when I so choose--and in a healthy way too-- is just mind blowing to me. The fact that I don't necessarily need eggs and flour and bleached sugar and that one can safely use nuts, seeds and natural sweeteners to create a delicious-healthy-nutritious crust is just perfect. Today I made the best tasting pie ever. I added the ingredients as I went and it came out MARVELOUSLY GORGEOUS, lol. I now realize that there is a great shortage of adjectives to describe the different foods and experiences I've had ever since I started this raw journey.

There is an immense variety of foods and you don't have to eat just fruits and a bowl of salad everyday. If that were the case I would have been long bored out of my mind. Anyway here is my signature FYR Apricot Pie with a Pecan Crust.

Crust:

1 cup pecan

1/2 cup sunflower seed

3-4 mejool dates

pinch of salt

1 Tbsp carob nibs (optional) but if you want the full blasted taste of Yumminess you must get carob or 100% pure cacao nibs

Filling:

1.5 cups dried apricots

1/4 cup raisins

1/2 apple

juice of 1 lemon

1 tsp organic grade B maple syrup (you can also use agave or raw honey)

1/2 cup fresh raspberries or blueberries (I like it for tartness)

In food processor with 'S' blade chop pecan, sunflower seeds and pinch of salt till almost fine. Then add dates and blend till mixture starts to stick together. Press into pie plate and sprinkle carob nibs on crust. Slightly press nibs into pie crust.

Blend ingredients of filling except raspberries or blueberries and process till thick and gooey. Spread thick mixture over crust with a spoon or flat spatula. Garnish with raspberries or blueberries. Serve as is or refrigerate and serve chilled. ENJOY! :-)

Day 16 (30-Day Green Smoothie Challenge)

FROM MY KITCHEN TO YOURS: MEDITERRANEAN Kale SALAD

Hi everyone, hope you're having a sunny-diva day. I woke up bright and early today and did my usual, water, 20 minute walk and then home schooled my six year old. My choice of smoothie today was the kale- Panana (basically, 2 bananas, 2 pears, bunch of kale leaves and 2 cups of water). I wanted to try something different and very simple to make today for lunch, so I went with the Mediterranean kale salad. It was SURPRISINGLY ExTREMELy DEliCiOUs (do you like the play of letters?, lol just kidding around).

Mediterranean Kale Salad:

1 bunch of kale leaves, sliced very thinly

1 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

1 Tbsp lemon juice, freshly squeezed

sprinkle of salt

2 Tbsp pine nuts

1/2 red bell pepper, diced

2 Tbsp black pitted olives, diced

1/2 avocado, diced

First work the olive oil, lemon juice and salt into the bowl of sliced kale with fingers, to wilt and moisten. The kale will start to get a darker green color. Then add the rest of the ingredients, toss and serve. This salad is very high in calcium and very delicious. YUM!

Day 15 (30-Day Green Smoothie challenge)

FROM MY KITCHEN TO YOURS: CARLIFORNIA ROLLS (SUSHI MADE EASY)

Hello everyone and thanks for stopping by today to read my little insights. Today was a fantastic day. I woke up with joy on my face and a heart full of gratitude. So if you don't mind I want to take a few seconds and be thankful for all that I have.

To the Earth: Thank you for staying rich and resilient.

To the Trees: Without you there'd be no functional ecosystem, I thank you for that.

To the Fruits : For your sweetness ever true, you satisfy my sweet tooth like no other and enrich my insides with vitamins and minerals.

To Vegetables: Green and red and yellow, in vibrant colors you live to sustain my cells and build me up to the best of me.

To Seeds and Nuts: Nutty-nutty me loves you to pieces. You provide me with energy and good fats that melt away and never stay on my hips.

To the Sun: Queen of rainbows, excellent provider of vitamin D, without you I'd be oh, so gloomy.

To the Rain: Water, the giver of life, the purifier, eliminator and transporter. You wear many hats. My hats off to you.

To the Organic Farmers: You truly know what patience is all about. Thank you for caring and taking the time to grow all these foods with abundant love. Your love is felt and can be seen in the beauty of me.

To the Community of Raw foodists: Thanks for your constant support as seen in all the great cookbooks and blogs.

To God the creator and author of life: If we go back to basics as in the garden of Eden, that which you provided for Adam and Eve is all that we truly need to fully sustain us. After all, out of earth (dust) you made us and just makes sense that those things that grow alive out of this same dust are what we need to stay alive, in that way we can be in sync with our own. YOU are awesome!

I am very blessed and grateful that I have the opportunity to have what I have and be able to eat the way I eat. I am in constant praise and thanksgiving.

Today I made myself the easiest smoothie:

2 bananas
1/2 bunch of spinach
1.5 cups of water

A yummy-delicious-nutritious green rejuvenating elixir

I made the best tasting raw/vegan carlifornia rolls for lunch (sushi)

3 nori sheets
3 Tbsp peeled and grated parsnips (they look like albino carrots)
1/2 cup thinly sliced cucumber
1/2 cup shredded carrots
1/2 avocado, thinly sliced
1/2 cup clover sprout (or sprout of your choice)
drizzle of agave
drizzle of Bragg's aminos or nama Shoyu

Lay a nori sheet flat and brush down with a little water
add grated parsnips, cucumbers, carrots, avocado and clover sprouts (you can use which ever sprouts you have). Drizzle some agave and Bragg's over filling and tightly roll into cylindrical shape. Use a knife and cut into desired shape. I was almost tempted to eat it long like that, it smells so good and tasted like the best sushi I ever had, just without the fish and rice. WHAT A LUNCH! Even non-sushi lovers will love this version.

Enjoy!

Day 14 (30-Day Green Smoothie Challenge)

A FEW OF MY FAVORITE READS...WITH A GLASS OF CANTALOUPE SMOOTHIE

Whew! Sorry for posting this late today. I have been very, very busy. Just came back from the whole foods market with lots of stuff for the coming week's menu. I can hardly wait to make some raw/vegan sushi. I think my mom will be pleased that I no longer eat raw fish, lol. I also bought some raw cashews for next week's Alfredo sauce. The fresh basil I got will be used for some pesto I will be adding to my lasagna, YUM! I never liked lasagna (except for my mother in-law's which is TASTY) but now I get to make my own raw lasagna. That will be an experience. For smoothie veggies I got, parsley (I love parsley), arugula, rainbow chard, kale(yes), spinach (a must) and some endive (this is packed with B vitamins). As usual I bought lots and lots of bananas, I can't live without it.

For the first time I bought some jicama (pronounced 'hee-ca-ma'). I plan to use them to make some raw french fries and some raw/vegan burger patty which I will make with the some of the baby bella mushrooms, hmm, I can't wait for that. Anyway, it is always fun going shopping and trying new recipes. I hope you try some for yourself and if you do I hope you like it.

I gotta run though, Rick and I are making some seaweed salad. I am hungry and have to go eat. Tomorrow I will introduce you to another new recipe. Don't forget to make your green smoothie and stay healthy. I am going to leave you with something delicious:

Banana Shake:

2 frozen bananas (or 1 cup of ripe frozen strawberries)

1/2 cup almond milk

2 tsp agave nectar or organic grade B maple syrup

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Blend all until creamy smooth. YUMMY!!!

Day 13 (30-Day Green Smoothie Challenge)

FROM MY KITCHEN TO YOURS: Zucchetti and Marinara Sauce...YUMMYLICIOS :-)

Let me quote Aunty Cathy, "There is a God." Today I made the most delicious and filling meal since starting this challenge. I made raw marinara sauce with zucchini pasta. There is nothing you can't make on this diet. I am sold. I had Rick and a friend of ours try it and she thought it was cooked. She was so pleasantly surprised that she had another mouthful. Once you start to try different recipes on the raw food diet, you begin to wonder if God intentionally put certain foods for this reason only. For example, I thought the zucchini pasta would taste a little weird or starchy, thing is, it has no taste at all but gives you the feel of pasta in your mouth and taste buds. This is absolutely incredible. I am looking forward to start making raw breads and crackers. For this thanksgiving I will be making a raw, meatless, meat loaf, some raw pizza and a raw raspberry white chocolate cake. What a bountiful feast it will be.

I realize it will be hard for all my wonderful non-vegan friends, but thank God they are so awesome and understand that this is my choice. We can always enjoy the best of both worlds. I also realized that the places I used to eat at before will no longer be the places I go to now. I love to cook at home anyway and if I have to eat out, I will make it a raw/vegan restaurant. I have been scouting for some in my area and found a few great ones. Price range is perfect and all worth it. I want to give my body the best it needs to be fully functional and vibrant. I thank God everyday that I can be able to do this and I praise him for his bounties, the incredible edibles he masterminded.

Here is the Recipe for my mouth-watering lunch:

You need a veggie-slicer or spooroli to slice the zucchini or turn it into angel hair zucchetti, lol

Zucchetti:

1 organic zucchini.

add sprinkle of black pepper and some salt and toss zucchetti then keep aside.

Marinara Sauce:

1 10oz ripe grape tomatoes

1 cup oil-packed sun dried tomato

1/2 red bell pepper (deseeded)

1/4 tsp salt

1/8 tsp black pepper

2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 tsp sweet basil

1 tsp oregano

1 garlic clove (crushed)

1 jalopeno pepper (optional) or dash of cayenne pepper (optional)

Blend all together in a food processor with an 'S' blade, till smooth. Pour over bed of zucchetti and enjoy.

Sometimes the truth 'stinks'

Do your due diligence and be in the know and not in denial. Sometimes the truth 'STINKS' just take it with a pinch of Stevia....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3hMn2enc7k

Even my grandfather in-law used to say these things some twenty years ago. The truth is there for those who seek it.


~B.