What a Healthy Family Eats

Visitor in the garden....

2013-04-28T11:55:00.000-04:00

A cute little turtle from the lake was crawling through our garden this morning. We went searching online to figure out exactly what type of turtle it is and we think it is a Florida Redbelly Cooter.
What do you think?

Pea Shelling Saturday

2013-04-21T13:44:00.001-04:00

Look at all the beautiful snow peas we harvested from the garden yesterday! Looks like we will be making lots of tofu muttar in the next few weeks. These are really good raw, on top of a salad too!

Blueberry Buckwheat Mini Parfaits with Vanilla Creme

2013-04-19T00:35:00.001-04:00

As mentioned in a previous post, we are cooking out of "Crazy Sexy Kitchen" this month, and I am loving it so far. These lovely little treats were inspired by the "Mango-Raspberry Parfait with Vanilla Creme" on page 103.

Because I am a freak about overconsuming even "good fats", I decided that we would make the recipe into mini parfaits since the Vanilla Creme is made entirely from raw cashews and coconut milk. Yummy yes, but OMG, it's like 90% fat!

You only need to remember to soak your groats and cashews the night before and then you can bake the "groat crunchies" in an oven at low temperature in the morning. Not using a dehydrator makes this so much faster, and because of that you can eat them first thing in the morning for breakfast or for an after lunch treat.

Serves 4
6oz container blueberries
1 cup cashews soaked in water overnight
2 raw medjool dates soaked in water overnight (or 2 tbsp of Agave Nectar)
1 tsp Vanilla Extract or Vanilla Bean paste
1/2 13 oz can Thai coconut milk
1/2 cup water
3/4 cup raw buckwheat groats soaked in 3 cups water overnight
1/8 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon

1. Prepare the Vanilla Creme
Blend all creme ingredients in a blender- cashews, coconut milk, date, vanilla, water. Scrape the sides of the blender with a rubber spatula while blending to ensure that the creme is silky smooth. Place in refrigerator while preparing buckwheat crunchies.

2. Prepare Buckwheat Crunchies
Rinse soaked buckwheat well and toss with cinnamon and sea salt. Spread out thin over a tray. I used a flat strainer tray so the buckwheat would cook on both sides. This was something I bought in India and I have no idea if you can find anything like it here. I used a convection toaster oven that allows me to set the cooking temp to as low as 75 degrees! Since I wanted to get this done somewhat quickly I chose to cook at 150 degrees for 1 hour. You could probably raise the heat to 250 to save time, maybe it will finish in 30 minutes at that temp. Either way, make sure you stir the buckwheat around at least once to make sure it cooks evenly.

3. Assemble Parfaits
When the buckwheat is done you can now take out your vanilla creme and start pouring it into your glasses. I used small wide mouth mason jars. Toss your crunchies and blueberries on top and you are good to go!

Meatless Chickpea Curry with Roasted Cauliflower and Tomatoes

2013-03-29T08:27:00.000-04:00

Here it is! One of the most voted for recipes from my Meatless giveaway. I made one modification to this recipe and that was to use no salt vegetable broth in place of the EVOO when cooking the onions. Enjoy!!

Toasting the curry powder with other aromatic ingredients before adding the liquid intensifies the flavor of this quick take on chana masala. You can roast the cauliflower and the tomatoes a couple days ahead; cool, cover, and refrigerate until ready to use. Serves 4

Ingredients
1/2 head cauliflower (about 1 pound), trimmed and cut into florets
2 tbsp plus 2 tsps extravirgin olive oil
1 1/2 pints cherry tomatoes
Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
1 large yellow onion, cut into medium dice
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tbsp minced peeled fresh ginger
1 tbsp plus 1 tsp curry powder
3 cups cooked chickpeas (canned or soaked and cooked)
2 1/2 cups baby spinach
1 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro

1. Preheat oven to 375F. Toss cauliflower with 1 tsp olive oil and arrange in a single layer on one side of a rimmed baking sheet. Toss tomatoes with 1 tsp olive oil and arrange on other side of sheet. Season with salt and pepper. Roast until florets are browned in spots and tomatoes are soft, about 25 minutes.

2. In a medium pot, heat 2 teaspoons oil over medium-high. Cook onion, stirring occasionally, until golden brown, about 10 minutes. Add garlic, ginger and curry powder and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 1 minute.

3. Add chickpeas, tomatoes, and 2 cups water; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium, cover and simmer 8 minutes.

4. Add cauliflower and cook until warmed through and chickpeas are tender, about 8 minutes. Stir in spinach and cilantro and season with salt. To serve, divide among 4 bowls (over rice, if desired).

Recipe reprinted from the book Meatless with permission from the publisher. Copyright © 2013 by Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc. Published by Clarkson Potter/Publishers, a division of Random House, Inc.

Winners of "Meatless" and April Book Giveaway

2013-03-25T10:16:00.001-04:00

The winners of the drawing for a free copy of "Meatless" are....Chris Robinson and Michelle Moore Summers! Please get in touch with me to get your copy of the book. I can mail them out today :)

I was at the library over the weekend and picked out my next book giveaway for April! I am super excited to be reviewing and cooking out of Crazy Sexy Kitchen by Kris Carr with Chef Chad Sarno.

I love this book and I promise you will too! It's beautifully organized and full of gorgeous photos of high nutrient/high raw food. There are recipes for raw juices, smoothies using raw nut milks, creative raw salads, soups and stews, "sexy sides", and desserts.

I can't wait to jump in and start cooking...and uncooking!

Here's the video trailer for the book and you can also get some sneak peak recipes on Kris Carr's website. And bonus! You get free cooking classes with the book as well :-)

Review of the book "Meatless" and BOOK GIVEAWAY

2013-03-22T09:03:00.000-04:00

I have been provided complimentary copies of the book "Meatless" by the publisher of Martha Stewart Living. I only review books and products that I think my followers will have an interest in and I will always give an honest review.

For the past three weeks I've been cooking from the book "Meatless" by the publisher of Martha Stewart Living, with a promise to the publisher to give my honest review. I was somewhat hesitant to take on this project because the book is primarily filled with Lacto-Ovo vegetarian recipes, and well, this is a vegan blog. But I wanted to give the book a chance because I think it's huge that Martha Stewart has her name on a cookbook that has no meat in it! Can we all just stand up and give her a round of applause?! Seriously people, this is HUGE.

Upon opening the book, I was excited to see that there was a beautiful color photo for every single recipe. There's a wide variety of dishes catagorized as "Small Plates to Mix and Match", "Stovetop Suppers", "Soups, Stews, and Chili", "Casseroles and other Baked Dishes", "Substantial Salads", "Sandwiches, Burgers and Pizzas", "Pasta and other Noodles", and "Simple Side Dishes".

I appreciated the many gluten free recipes, though I did need to modify a bit on the oil and dairy. The ingredients were easy to find and the recipes simple to follow. The serving size and macronutrient information are all there, but I would have liked to have had a notation about the total time from start to finish.

If your family has been "eating clean" or tossing around the idea of giving up meat at least one day a week, this would be a great guide. If you are a seasoned vegan or vegetarian cook the book may or may not give you some fresh new ideas but it's worth a look. I didn't find that the recipes pushed vegetarian cooking to the edge like Isa's Moskowitz's recipes do, but it definitely has it's place in the mainstream world of new vegetarians or new plant based eaters. Again, I give Martha and her staff a big high five for recognizing that palates are changing, and for the better :-)

Below is the Versitile Vegetarian Chili on p. 146. The basic chili has 10 ingredients, but there are suggestions for toppings (I chose raw corn and avocado), varying the beans, changing up the vegetables, using tomatillos in place of the canned tomatoes, and broiling the veggies to maximize the flavor.

This is the Roasted Beet-Garlic Soup on p. 142. I love me some Borsht soup, so this was not hard to make and eat. The only thing I did wrong was to not roast the garlic in the oven, I simply pan sauteed it because I failed to read ahead in the directions and had a time constraint for getting this one done. I think roasting it is necessary to give it the depth of flavor. It was still very good! My kids enjoyed it too, but they aren't picky eaters so that's not saying much.

I was at Whole Foods to buy the veggies for the ratatouille and mentioned to one of the employees what I was making. I got a nice story about how he worked on a farm one summer and there was always lots of fresh tomatoes, so he made ratatouille several nights a week and never got sick of it. And since then it has become his "favorite meal". I almost felt as if I needed to extend him an invitation to dinner!

I had not made Ratatouille in years, so I had forgotten how wonderfully simple it is to make. I think the Roasted-Vegetable Ratatouille on p.141 one will become a regular in my meal plan rotation.

It's not a big surprise that we are big ethnic food eaters at our house since my husband was born and raised in India. So, of course I had to make the Curried Red Lentil Soup with Dried Cherries and Cilantro on p. 126. Vineet insisted on serving his over Basmati rice and adding mango pickle. He ate two bowls of it- a sign that his Indian palate enjoyed it. I have made similar soups but never thought to add the cherries (well I used cranberries) but it does add a nice dimension to the soup! And I like the idea to drizzle the coconut milk for garnish. Not my best photo, but you get the idea...

This is the Chickpea Curry with Roasted Cauliflower and Tomatoes on p. 133. I have made many a curry with cauliflower but never had I thought to use roasted cauliflower. Roasting cauliflower gives it an almost buttery/cheesy taste. We had purple califlower growing in the garden, so that's what I used here. This one is also a definite keeper!

Lastly, the Zucchini-Ribbon Lasagna on p. 155 was made with both zucchini ribbons and gluten free noodles. I ran out of zuchini, so I had to improvise. I thought this one lacked a bit in flavor when I compare it to Isa Moskowitz's lasagna recipes. I think making the tofu into a ricotta with cashews and spices would have helped make the dish more flavorful. Still, we did enjoy this one.

I'm not done cooking with this book! I still want to try the Quinoa Veggie Burger, Green Vegetable Curry, Marrakesh Stew, Sweet Potatoes with Pomegranate Coconut and Lime, Lentil and Cashew Hummus, Baked Polenta Fries and more.

Also, I am giving away a copy of Meatless! All you have to do is comment below on which recipe you'd like me to get permission from publisher to print here on my blog! You can follow me on FaceBook and also enter the contest there. I will randomly select a winner using random.org. Good Luck :)

Leprechaun Pudding

2013-03-18T11:03:00.002-04:00

I'm so sorry I didn't get this recipe up before St. Patty's Day! I made these for my husband and kids the day before I had to drive to Sarasota to run in the Sarasota Half Marathon, so there was no time to blog!

Leprechaun Pudding
Makes 4, 1 cup servings

4 large Haas Avocados
8-10 large Medjool dates soaked and drained (soaked for 2+ hours)
3/4 cup soaked and rinsed cashews (soaked for 2+ hours)
1 tsp Vanilla extract or Vanilla Bean paste
2 tbsp cocoa powder (I used raw cocoa)
2 tbsp raw cocoa nibs (optional for garnish)
1 tbsp pumpkin seeds (optional for garnish)

Put everything except the cocoa powder in a high powered blender and blend on high until smooth. Add water as needed to keep from overworking your blender. This is really thick pudding!

Scoop out half of the pudding and put into glass canning jars (or whatever containers you want to use). Now add the cocoa powder into the blender with the remaining avocado pudding. Blend until combined and scoop over the top of the "green pudding". Garnish with raw cocoa and pumpkin seeds.

Enjoy! I hope everyone had a fab St. Patty's day :)

Super Simple Raw: Banana and Nut Butter "Milkshake"

2013-03-13T12:27:00.002-04:00

Sometimes when I'm taking photos, my kids will run over and pop their heads right into my photo :) This is one of her favorite raw milkshakes, and it really hits the spot when you are craving a thick and creamy shake. I don't always make it 100% raw, sometimes I use Almond Breeze for the nut milk but using the raw nut milk definitely delivers more of a "wow factor" to the tastebuds.

This shake comes from my Uncooking 101 Jump Start, with some adaptations. I use less nut butter than the original recipe and I use cocao nibs to make it like a chocolate chip shake. You can find raw cocao nibs at your local health food store. Check the bulk section for the best prices. If you live in the Orlando area, you can get them at Hoover's Market in Apopka.

Banana and Nut-Butter "Milkshake"
Makes 1 large Nut Milkshake

Ingredients
2 Frozen organic bananas (use frozen for an extra thick shake)
2 tbsp of raw nut butter (I use Woodstock brand Raw Unsalted Almond Butter)
1 cup nut milk (DIY Cashew Milk, Almond Milk or store bought Almond Breeze)
1 Tbsp cinnamon
1 Tbsp Cocao nibs

Instructions
Blend until smooth, then top with cinnamon.

A tip on storing raw nut butters and nuts- they will last a lot longer if you keep them all in the refrigerator! If you find they are getting too hard to scoop out, you are keeping your refrigerator set a too cold of a setting. I also like to drain the oil off the top of my nut butters. There's plenty of fat in the butter, no need to keep the extra oil :)

Vegan Valentine's Day Dinner at Infusion Tea

2013-02-19T12:24:00.000-05:00

I've been asking my husband to take me to the Very Vegan Valentine's Day Dinner at Infusion Tea ever since they started offering it. He has had an excuse every year, including the popular "I only like YOUR vegan food" excuse. Well, last week while he was in San Diego I finally decided to just go. I took my mom and my younger daughter as my "dates" and we enjoyed a 5 course dinner with a room full of couples. Kind of awkward, but whatever! I think we had more fun :-)

The lights were dimmed and the added touch of a soloist singing soft romantic songs was really nice. It was enough that we could still have a conversation without being overpowered by singing or the music.

Wine or tea was offered as soon as we sat down. Of course, I must have wine on Valentine's Day so I opted for the Pinot Grigio. My daughter had a red herbal tea!

First course was a sort of Borscht soup with the name "Apricot, Beet and Cumin Soup" and was very flavorful with a nice texture. I could have had two bowls of it, I enjoyed it that much. The bread served with it didn't really compliment it that well. I think a small side salad with citrus would have paired better.

The second course was a "Cedar Roasted Carrot Salad with Tofu and Carrot Pesto" and it was so nicely presented I dove in and started eating without thinking about taking a photo until my plate was almost empty...sorry, it really was that good!

So here we have the third course, a "Vegetable Wellington with Compari Tomato Coulis". The vegetables were well seasoned but the pastry itself tasted a bit dry. Maybe a "Vegetable Galette" would have kept a moist pastry crust...just a thought.

The final course was a "Cocoa Rose Mini Cake". This paired well with a Merlot wine, but the cake was more like a chocolate rose infused cupcake with too much frosting. I liked better the mini chocolate and berries served along side it as a garnish...I could have eaten two or three of those :-)

All in all, I think the Very Vegan Valentine's Dinner is a great place to take a Valentine's date, whether they are vegan or not. The atmosphere is casual yet elegant, and the service is excellent. A big thanks to the owners Brad and Christina for fitting us in at the 7pm seating with only 8 hours notice. I know how hard it is to work a kitchen when you have a restaurant full of people being seated all at the same time and I felt that the owner, the wait staff and chef handled this beautifully. I look forward to Infusion Tea's next 5 course dinner, the Vegan Fall Harvest Dinner...with my husband or not!

Raw Food Swap!

2013-02-02T17:51:00.001-05:00

A friend of mine started a "Raw Food Swap" last summer and we've been swapping on and off...well mostly off. When life gets hectic, this is the first thing everybody drops! So, we swap when we can and we are always glad that we did even though it can be stressful to try to prepare everything in time on a busy weekday. We put everything in these mason jars and bring them in a cooler to a local health food store for the swap. One of the friends has a truck, so we usually meet at the back of her truck!

The food gets prepared the day of the swap, or at least I prepare it the day of the swap...maybe others do the day before if they are using a dehydrator. It's so super fresh and everything looks so vibrant and delicious that it all gets eaten when I bring it home. Not by me, but by my KIDS and my HUBBY! Yeah, I have to pry it out of their hands. This is a good thing. I'm not complaining, but I am sort of because I'd actually like to have more than a taste of each jar I receive! Especially on the desserts :-)

Garden Goodness: The 2013 Garden has started!

2013-01-26T17:25:00.003-05:00

The 2013 Goel Garden is looking good this month. So far we are harvesting lots of turnips, sweet potaotes, kolrabi, and lettuce. We also have some english peas, snap peas and grape tomatoes. This year I want to help Vineet more with improving the soil quality. He likes to take shortcuts, like using Miracle-Gro fertilizers which basically deplete the nutrients from the soil, even though the nitrogen helps the plants to grow bigger faster.

So this month he laid down Black Cow Manure and our garden compost and I plan to do a PH test on the soil to see what's happening in some of the beds that are not producing much.

This year the kids will also have their own separate garden where they can choose what they want to grow.

Here are some photos of what's growing...

Cauliflower!

Turnips!

Kolrabi!

Baby Romaine!

Asian Squash "Tori"

Pumpkin Hummus

2013-01-12T17:54:00.001-05:00

We have a few cans of pumpkin left over from the holidays and since I'm always looking for ways to change up the flavor of hummus I thought I'd give the pumpkin try.

It's so tasty and a super easy way to increase the nutrition in your hummus. It really doesn't taste very pumpkiny, it has a wonderfully mellow taste. I modified the recipe from Dreena Burton's Plant Powered Kitchen, but I think I will make it with the white beans next time. It was a little on the lumpy side, though it could be because the blade on my food processor is getting dull.

1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup Organic pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie mix!)
1/8 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
1 medium-large clove garlic (adjust to taste, use smaller clove for kid-friendly)
1/4 tsp sea salt
1 – 2 tbsp tahini (to taste)
3/4 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp (rounded) ground allspice
1/4 tsp maple syrup
1/ cup toasted pumpkin seeds (see note for toasting; reserve about 2-3 tbsp for garnish)

In a food processor add all ingredients except pumpkin seeds (and starting with 1 tbsp tahini). Puree until very smooth. Taste, and if you’d like to add addditional garlic or spices, add a little (and if you’d like a richer tahini flavor, add the other tablespoon of Tahini). Then, add most of the pumpkin seeds (reserving a couple of tbsps), and pulse through. Transfer mixture to a serving dish, and top with remaining pumpkin seeds. Serve with whole-grain pita breads, tortilla chips, warm whole-grain bread, etc.

Happy New Year from WAHFE!

2012-12-30T10:40:00.005-05:00

I've been really quiet on the blog this month but I thought I'd post our family photo from our "Happy New Year" cards that went out to friends and family on Christmas Eve. It's become a tradition that I send out Happy New Year cards after Christmas because...

1. I'm a procrastinator when it comes to getting a family photo done for the card and
2. My husband's side of the family doesn't celebrate Christmas because they are Hindu!

So it gives me extra time to get a photo done and seems more appropriate and cost effective that we send out Happy New Year cards so I don't have to get two separate sets of cards done.

I hope that all of my blog followers had a mostly great 2012 and are ready for a fresh new year of great things in 2013!

Some of the highlights of 2012 for me personally and on the blog include:

My attendance at the 2012 Food Blog Forum at Disney World where the chefs greeted me with wonderful vegan food and I got to reconnect with all of my Food Blog friends.
A weekend of workshops at the first annual Florida Herbal Conference in Ocala, where I gained new knowledge about the use of herbs for health.
My daughter's participation in the Portion Size Me Snack Wars Challenge
A week long trip to Paris with my husband as an early celebration of my 40th birthday

Joining the Raw Food Jump Start and Teacher Training at Eva Rawposa's Uncooking School.
And lastly, my daughter Anika's successful first year of competitive gymnastics and participation in the USAG state tournament...all in good health and free of injuries

So many great things happened, I feel truly blessed and ready to take on 2013!

Simple Collard Chips

2012-12-04T16:50:00.002-05:00

Yes, you read that right! Collard Chips. Kale Chips are so last year. And since I don't have a dehydrator, I like to cook them at a low temperature for up to 40 minutes so they still have a slight bit of "chewyness" to them. I don't really have a recipe for this other than to say you need 2 heads of Organic collards and a bottle of Organic Low Sodium Tamari. Then follow these directions....

Step 1: Tear 2 heads of unwashed collards off the thick stem in chip size pieces
Step 2: Soak in filtered water for 10-15 minutes and put through a salad spinner
Step 3: Hand toss/massage with 1 1/2 tbsp of Organic Low Sodium Tamari and let it sit for 10 minutes to absorb. Heat oven to 200F.
Step 4: Spread the collards out flat on several trays lined with parchment paper. Do not spray with oil. I use a Silpat silicon mat to keep the collards from sticking.
Step 5: Keep an eye on the chips after 25 minutes. Some of them will dry out faster than others. You can start removing the really dry ones so they don't become paper thin and fall apart when you pick them up :-) Depending on your oven it could take up to 45 minutes to cook them all this way.
Step 6: These are not dippable chips, but you could lightly spoon some hummus on them if you wanted to. Enjoy with your kids! They will love them. And the best thing ever is sending them to school in their lunch and hearing how everyone thought they looked disgusting but really wanted to try one.

Homemade Vegan Sushi

2012-11-08T13:30:00.003-05:00

Most people are surprised to find out that sushi doesn't have to contain raw fish. You can normally find several vegetable rolls on the menus of most Japanese restaurants where you can choose from tempura sweet potato, tempura asparagus, avocado, carrots, cabbage and tofu. You can also order miso soup and a salad with ginger dressing and you have a completly vegan meal!

The sushi pictured above has carrots, tofu and avocado. I added nutritional yeast for extra nutrition. I also used Organic Eco-Farmed Basmati rice, so don't think you need to buy special short grain sushi rice...or a sushi mat for that matter. You just need the sushi nori (seaweed sheets), which you can get from any health food store or asian store.

This past week has been a big sushi week as I have packed it in my kid's lunch boxes every single day. The trick is making the rice the night before AND cutting up your tofu and carrots in little pieces. Then it's literally a 3 minute assembly process per roll in the morning. There's a nice step-by-step recipe with pictures at wikihow.com. You don't need to flavor the rice the way they did it, though it probably does taste better. I just season mine with rice vinegar and dip in low sodium Organic Tamari. And as I mentioned, you can also add nutritional yeast!

Very Pumpkin Smoothie

2012-11-03T14:48:00.002-04:00

It's that pumpkin time of year again where we must find creative ways to eat pumpkin! This smoothie is not raw but I am going to try a raw version using an organic pie pumpkin in the near future. Pumpkin is a nutritional powerhouse. We all need to eat more of it, but not so much in baked goods where a lot of the nutrition gets lost :) According to Nutritiondata.com, pumpkin is a good source of Vitamin E, Thiamin, Niacin, Vitamin B6, Folate, Iron, Magnesium and Phosphorus, and a very good source of Dietary Fiber, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Riboflavin, Potassium, Copper and Manganese.

So eat more pumpkin...in a smoothie!

Makes two 24 oz smoothies + extra

1 cup cooked pumpkin (I used Organic canned)

2 frozen bananas

2 cups ice cubes

2 1/2 cups unsweetened Almond milk

1 tsp Vanilla

1 tsp Cinnamon

Toss everything in a high powered blender and blend until smooth. This smoothie is very pumpkin flavored and not very sweet. If you want it sweeter you can add a medjool date or two or agave nectar to taste.

Raw Curried Okra Salad

2012-10-21T22:21:00.003-04:00

If you saw my post from over a week ago you know I have an entire bin full of okra in my refrigerator, probably more than 5 pounds worth. And at the rate we are harvesting it from our garden, we will need to consume at least 1 pound a day so that our refrigerator does not start to overflow...or worse, so that the older pieces don't start going bad.

One friend suggested I blanch and freeze a bunch of it. But, based on my past history of freezing things from the garden and using them in recipes later, I decided not do too much of it this way. I use a lot of frozen fruit, frozen spinach, and frozen sweet potato chunks. But other frozen veggies typically get overlooked once they arrive on the "frozen vegetables" section of my freezer.

While searching for raw okra recipes I came across this one at Raw Girl in a Toxic World.

Her recipe had 1/3 cup of olive oil and well, you know how I'm a bit of a freak about using too much oil...especially when you don't really need it for food to taste good most of the time. I also had some leftover sweet yellow onions that I had marinated in coconut aminos, so those got thrown in too. So here is my modified version of the recipe.

Ingredients
1 pound of Okra sliced into 1/2 inch rounds
1 ear of Corn soaked in hot water and removed from the ear/stalk
1/3 cup Vidalia Sweet Onion sliced thin and soaked in Coconut Amino Acids
1/2 tsp Coriander
1/2 tbsp Curry Powder
1 1/2 tsp Organic Low Sodium Tamari
Juice from 1/2 a lime

Put everything into a big bowl and then massage the spices and tamari into the veggies. If it's not salty enough for your taste, try adding more lime juice before adding sea salt. If you think it needs oil, go ahead and drizzle a little EVOO over the top, but I personally didn't miss it!

Let me know what you think in the comments below :)

Almost Raw Taco Salad

2012-10-11T06:00:00.000-04:00

I am on a mission to find 30 super easy and delicious raw dishes that don't require a food dehydrator. This is one of them! This Almost Raw Taco Salad recipe comes from the Oh She Glows blog. It's so incredibly simple, visually impressive, and yummy! And it's a great recipe for men who think raw food is boring and not filling.

I called this recipe "Almost Raw" because I used the Guiltless Gourmet Organic Baked Corn Chips in place of high fat flax seed crackers made in a dehydrator. The salad has plenty of fat with the avocado, walnut taco meat and cashew cream "cheese". I didn't see the point in making the meal 100% raw if it meant eating 60% or more of my calories in fat!

I'm not opposed to eating fat, but as stated many times before on my blog, I do believe fat should be limited to 20% or less of calories...regardless of whether you are eating high raw or not. Some raw foodists think that as long as you eat whole fats it doesn't matter how much you consume on a daily basis. I very much disagree and I think it's one of the reasons people give up on eating raw long term. Fat is fat, even if you are consuming healthy fats, too much of it can lead to health issues.

Stepping down off my soapbox now. Please give this recipe a try! I promise you will not be disappointed :)

Matcha Green Tea Chia Porridge

2012-10-08T10:39:00.000-04:00

On those mornings you are needing a healthy dose of caffeine, this is a good option! Meet my Matcha Green Tea Chia Porridge. It's even more simple to make than my regular Chia Porridge recipe. It's simply 1 cup of Unsweetened Almond Breeze, 1 tsp Matcha Powder, and sweeten to taste with raw agave or maple syrup. Stir all three in a bowl for 2-3 minutes and let sit for 10 minutes. You can additionally top with fruit and coconut flakes.

Now if you are looking to get fancy with it, you can go to Aarti Parti's website and try her Green Tea Chia Pudding. Or go to Good Graces for a Coconut Matcha Pudding made with Coconut Milk!

Have fun with it and enjoy!

Garden Goodness: Overstocked with Okra!

2012-10-08T10:22:00.000-04:00

We are harvesting large bowls full of okra every day from our garden, and even though we made okra twice over the weekend we STILL have so much of it!

Since we are doing a lot with raw food I have been looking up recipes for raw okra, which I think I may prefer over cooked okra since cooking it makes it a bit slimy.

Do any of my followers have tried and true okra recipes that are raw or cooked and low in oil? Please post in the comments below!

Rawsta! (or raw vegan "pasta")

2012-10-06T13:53:00.002-04:00

We had raw pasta for dinner twice this week! The first photo is of a Low Fat Raw Vegan Pad Thai by raw foodist Megan Elizabeth. The recipe is within the video, so if you don't have time to watch it all, you can fast forward to the end and there is a slide with the full recipe.

I also purchased some of Megan Elizabeth's Low Fat Vegan recipe eBooks. I'll be blogging about some of those recipes in the coming week! I've just found that my body does so much better when I restrict nuts and fats, so I'm happy to have found her videos and website!

The second photo pictured above is a modified recipe from Choosing Raw. I wanted to reduce the nuts so I used 1/2 cup of raw Zucchini in place of 1/2 cup of the nuts. I am going to work with this one more because it ended up being a bit watery, probably because of the zuchini. So I suggest if you make my modification that you add only a 1/4 cup of water and then check the consistency.

If you are wondering how I Spiralized my zuchini, I used a Spirooli! They are cheaply made in China so I don't how long they last, but so far it's getting the job done. You can find Spiroolis on Amazon.

Baked Eggplant with Ginger and Agave Marinade

2012-09-24T17:22:00.003-04:00

I needed to get dinner on the table in a hurry last Friday night because everyone was crying about how they were "starving". Okay, so I was starving too! When I eat lunch at 12pm and then have dinner at 7:30pm, even with a snack in between, it's hard not to be really hungry.

Adapting a "Ginger and Honey Marinade" recipe from Modern Spice by Monica Bhide, I think I did okay, because everyone gobbled up every last bit of the eggplant.

Ginger and Agave Marinade
1 tbs grated peeled fresh ginger
1/4 cup Raw Agave Nectar
1 tsp red chile flakes
1/2 cup no sodium veg stock
1/2 tsp grated lime zest
1 tbsp low sodium tamari
Sauteed Onions and fresh chopped basil for garnish

I combined the first 6 ingredients in a bowl and then poured over my 1/4 inch sliced eggplant. Then I put it oven at 400 and baked it until it looked all nice and cooked. I think it was not more than 15 minutes. Oh, and you will need 2-3 medium size eggplants for this :)

Vineet was out in the garden when he saw me taking photos of dinner...

Meet our new Family Member (And what he eats!)

2012-09-17T12:12:00.001-04:00

He's a little camera shy but isn't he a cutie?! Meet Raju, our newest family member. He is a 9 pound Chihuahua that we rescued from Orange County Animal Services about 6 weeks ago.

Believe it or not we are first time dog owners. We've always been cat people, but decided to look at dogs one day when we were at Animal Services looking at kittens. We found this little guy and just fell in love. He has been a wonderful addition to our family especially since my kids have been asking for a new sibling. No, we won't be having more of those! I love my kids, but I feel like adding more kids will take away from the attention I'm able to give them. A dog was the perfect new addition.

We started him right away on a Vegan kibble by Natural Balance. He had hook worms when we got him and I figured I would wait and see if the food would help rid them from his system since it's more alkaline, and I was right! The worms were gone within 2 weeks!

I'd love to hear from any of my subscribers who have had their pets on a vegan diet for more than a year and how it's working.

Stuffed Poblano Peppers

2012-09-15T12:21:00.000-04:00

Nothing here was from our garden, but boy these peppers are really YUMMY! I have blogged about these previously under "The Worst Thing We Ate Last Week and Then Came Monday Scones" but didn't put a recipe with it. Gotta love the title of that post! And it looks like I sprayed them with oil last time, but it's not necessary.

As I mentioned before, I originally got the idea for the recipe from my Sister In Law who got the idea from the Food Network Show "Throwdown with Bobby Flay". Of course his version was not vegan.

I have since made some changes to the sauce to make it a little less fattening. Served with salad these make a super easy and delicious weeknight meal.

Serves a Family of 4

Ingredients
6 Poblano peppers
4 Red Bell Peppers
2 packages cooked Seeds of Change Brown Rice Pilaf (I used only one packet of the seasoning for both packages of cooked rice) Alternatively you can cook your own brown rice in low sodium veg broth or no sodium stock.
Cilantro (for garnish)
1/2 can of light coconut milk or 3/4 cup of unsweetened organic soy milk (room temperature)

Directions
Place Poblanos and Red Bell Peppers under the broiler until lightly charred and soft. I put them on a non stick baking sheet. Take them out of the oven and remove any major pieces of char (unless you like that stuff, but realize that it ages your body :-/).

Cook pilaf according to box directions, adding only one packet of seasoning to keep sodium down. While rice is cooking you can start making the sauce.

Put your red bell peppers into a high speed blender along with the coconut milk. Blend until smooth and warm.

When the rice is done, stuff your Poblanos with the rice and then pour the sauce over the top! Garnish with chopped cilantro if you like. Super easy and super yum :)

Pair this meal with a green salad or bean salad and you have a healthy, delicious and quick weeknight meal!

Chili made from Eggplants in our Garden

2012-09-14T11:55:00.003-04:00

We are harvesting a lot of eggplants from our garden at the end of summer. Since we can't really eat them raw, (or at least I don't want to eat them raw!), I've been perusing all of my recipe books for easy dinners with eggplant. I came across this really good one in Appetite for Reduction by Isa Moskowitz and it was a hit...at least for my husband who went back for two additional servings!

Aside from the intial chopping of veggies, it really comes together without much effort :)

Lentil and Eggplant Chili Mole
Makes 6 Servings
Active Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour
Ingredients

1 tsp olive oil (I used veg broth)
1 small onion, cut into medium dice
1 red bell pepper, cut into medium dice
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp mild chili powder
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp ground coriander
2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
3/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup dried green lentils, washed
4 cups vegetable broth
1 (15 oz) can diced tomatoes
2 pds eggplant, cut into 3/4 inch cubes
2 tsp agave nectar or pure maple syrup
Cilantro, for garnish (optional)

Preheat a 4-quart pot over medium-high heat. Saute the onions and bell pepper in the oil until translucent, 5 to 7 minutes. Add the garlic and saute for another minute, using nonstick cooking spray or a splash of water if it's sticking. Mix in the chili powder, cumin coriander, oregano, cinnamon, and salt. Add 1/2 cup of the vegetable broth and the cocoa powder, and cook for about 1 more minute while stirring to dissolve the cocoa.

Add the lentils, remaining vegetable broth, diced tomatoes, and eggplant. Cover the pot and bring the mixture to a boil, keeping a close eye on it. Once it's boiling, lower the heat to a simmer and cook for about 40 minutes, until the lentils are tender and the eggplant is soft. Mix in the agave. Taste for salt and seasoning.

Let the chili sit for 10 minutes or so for maximum flavor. Serve garnished with cilantro, if you like.