zuke pasta with tahini sauce & other goodness

I used basically the same recipe for the sauce that I made for my raw sushi recipe. It is so TASTY. This creamy, filling meal will leave you satisfied and full of energy. I could eat like 3 bowls of this - oh and guess what, I can! Ah, life is good. Enjoy!

zucchini pasta with tahini sauce, olives, cilantro & avocado: serves one or two

Pasta:
2 zucchinis
1/2 avocado
handful of olives
1 tablespoon hemp seeds
1/2 cup cilantro
1/4 cup sprouts

Tahini sauce:
2 tablespoons tahini
1 tablespoon miso
2 tablespoons peeled ginger root
1 tablespoon tamari
1 tablespoon agave nectar
1/8 cup water (more or less)

To make the sauce: blend all ingredients until smooth and creamy, adding liquid as needed. Set aside.

To make the pasta: slice your zukes on a spiral slicer or mandolin. Put in a bowl and pour your sauce on, rubbing it in with your hands or two spoons, until every noodle is covered. Cut up your avocado and throw it on along with the other toppings. Let it all sit for a minute to marinate then dig in!

yam noodles with sweet sauce, marinated mushrooms & sesame seeds

This was a quick dinner I just whipped up after a (strangely) long day. The recipe needs no pre-planning because I didn't even know I was going to make it until I stepped into the kitchen and noticed we had yams. I was going to make a salad but then I'm like... "Hey, yams, you be lookin' pretty fine today. Imma spirooli you up and cover you in sweet miso sauce then put you in my mouth. Whaddya think?"

And so, my dinner was born. 

My favourite type of plant to turn into noodles is (probably expected, sorry) - zucchini. It is PERFECT for pasta. It has the right texture, taste and appearance to fool all your complex-carb-inclined friends. Having said that, I still love turning yams, bell peppers, carrots and other willing veggies into spiralized goodness. It's just so fun and you can be uber creative. 

yam noodles with sweet sauce, marinated mushrooms & sesame seeds: serves one

marinated mushrooms:

4 mushrooms

1 teaspoons sesame oil (optional but recommended) 

1 teaspoon tamari

sweet miso sauce:

2 tablespoons of nutritional yeast

1 tablespoon agave/maple syrup/raw honey

1 tablespoon miso

1 tablespoons hummus (not raw, too bad)

1 peeled garlic clove

2 tablespoons mustard

3-5 tablespoons water, as needed

1 tablespoon sesame seeds

Yam noodles:

1 peeled yam

To make the mushrooms: slice them really thin then rub in the oil and tamari. Put them in a warm spot (I put them in my oven at its lowest temperature) and forget about them for a minute. 

To make the sauce: blend all ingredients except sesame seeds together until smooth. Add whatever else you want. Then toss in the sesame seeds by hand. Set aside.

To make the noodles: put the yam through your spiral slicer (spirooli) or slice on a mandolin  Then cover them with the sauce and them get to know each other for a few minutes. The noodles will soften and pick up more flavour. Now remember your marinating fungi friends being warmed somewhere? Add those on top, and sprinkle on some more sesame seeds and raisins. Yum. Yams, man. 

juice fast: day 5

you cannot deny the refreshing nature of this juice. the peppermint pairs surprisingly well with beets; the fresh personality of the mint compliments the earthy tones of the beets perfectly. make sure to serve this with ice and in cute little glasses - it makes it taste better.

sweet beet peppermint juice: makes three cups

large handful of fresh mint leaves
3 apples
1 orange
1 red bell pepper
1/2 cucumber
4 beets
2 carrots

prep the fruits and roots - juice 'em and drink! mmm...

some sad news: my partner in juice fasting decided to go back to solid food today... i am alone once again. i guess doing the rest of this by myself will make me stronger? i don't know. i was really enjoying doing it with someone else. you both can share how you're feeling, mentally and physically. it's great and i really recommend it for anyone wanting to fast. unless you adore solidarity and isolation. 

okay... i do. but it's still hard to fast alone. 

nevertheless - feeling okay today, better than this morning. oh, and i have some GOODS NEWS too: i am buying a new camera today! excellent deal on craigslist (bless you, internet deities). i am so excited about this since it's been quite irritating dealing with the little auto point-and-shoot camera since my good one was stolen (curse you, vancouver island thieves!) PLUS this camera is even better than my previous one. 

i will be busy the rest of the day; having a bath, buying that camera, making more juice, and helping my boyfriend settle more into his new apartment. (i had some strained miso soup today, by the way. i'm fine with drinking that on a "juice fast" because it is a strained liquid, free of fiber - also the salt is wonderful).

xox, em

another juice fast

hello, my sweet, plant-loving comrades.

i have decided to go on another juice-alicious fast. why? let's start at the beginning: i didn't tell you that when i THOUGHT i had strep throat and couldn't swallow without flinching for a week... i actually had MONO. it was total agony for seven days and i hope i never go through it again. would've been nice to know what i actually was suffering from...

thanks a lot, doc.

he tells me AFTER i recover... cool. anyways, that's not really relevant but you must deal with it. tough. the point  is - i didn't eat for a week. the first two days i just drank tea, lemon water and miso soup, the remaining days i basically went on a juice fast. it reminded me how much i love juice, and how much i appreciated my previous juice fast (search "juice fast" on my blog to get my posts about it.) it made me want to complete another one.

so i have the best news ever... for me, anyway. 

we (mom and i) have officially ordered our OMEGA VRT350 JUICER!!! i am way too excited about this, people. but as i said to my girlfriend - at which she promptly laughed - "why can't everyone get this stoked about juicing!?" as you may have noticed, i have gradually fallen head over heels for juice. i used to be a smoothie girl all the way. i will always keep a place in my heart for my green smoothies. but i have warmed up to juicing. i used to dislike the absence of fiber but my mind has been changed. taking out the fiber allows for instant assimilation... it is the fastest way to get the highest quality nutrients in the greatest quantity. simply put: it's excellent nutrition in a glass.

we should get our juicer in about five days (fingers crossed, canadian postal system) and then i'm going to sell our old juicer to my friend. at that point she will join me in a juice fast! i am really excited about this because i've only ever cleansed and/or fasted by myself. i think it's gonna be loads better with a partner. i don't want to set a number of days this juice fast will be, but i'd like it to exceed ten days (the length of my last one). we will see. i plan to listen to my body.

i'm going to be reading up on juice fasting this time too. so far i've gotten juice fasting & detoxification, and juicing, fasting and detoxing for life - sound pretty enthralling, huh?

just wanted to give you all a heads up about this! i will be posting recipes for shampoo and conditioner soon, as well as some salads and other raw concoctions that have come from my twisted mind and dutch-inspired kitchen. love all. drink juice.

holy garlic

we bought garlic from the farmer's market on saturday... it is so intense. like, the most potent garlic on the planet. i naively used an entire clove in the dressing of my salad, i have now killed all my taste buds. learn from my mistake - be cautious with your organic garlic. start with half a clove if you've got strong stuff.

besides the garlic insanity, this salad was friggin delish. i had a great workout up at my campus gym and all i wanted to eat afterward was a big salad from my garden. i added some chickpeas for extra protein. hemp seeds would also be a nice addition. we had grilled zucchini from last night and well... that's never a bad thing to throw in. enjoy! i sat in the sun and fought with wasps to eat this.

walnut garlic salad: serves one

dressing:

1 tablespoon mustard

1 tablespoon tamari

3 tablespoons almond milk (or water)

1/2 garlic clove

1 tablespoon miso 

1 tabelspoon honey/maple syrup (or 2 dates)

1 tablespoon hummus (optional... but yum)

salad:

2-3 grilled zucchini slices

1/2 cup chickpeas

4-5 cups kale and/or rainbow chard

2 figs

3 olives

make the dressing by blending all ingredients until smooth. hopefully you like it, it might be a little thick so feel free to add more liquid. chop up the salad topping and tear up the leaves into bite-size pieces. pour on the dressing and mix into the greens, then add your toppings. yummers.

garden herb salad

i beg you, grow your own tomatoes. they're pretty easy as long as you don't over water them... and they taste HEAVENLY. really... they should be golden with holiness, not red. i've been eating them like candy. some of ours are cherry tomatoes and some are larger. either way - ridiculous.

today i made a salad with rainbow chard, oregano, basil, and tomatoes from the garden. i also added some bell pepper, dried figs, avocado, and leftover gardein. the dressing is sooo good. it has mustard, miso, walnuts, garlic and fresh basil in it. sweet basil is probably my favourite herb. i left whole leaves of oregano and basil with the rainbow chard greens too, i think it's lovely when you get a bite and suddenly it's a herb-filled explosion of flavour!

garden herb salad with tomatoes: serves one

salad:

4-5 cups rainbow chard (or your fave greens)

1/4 cup cherry tomatoes

1 bell pepper

1/4 avocado

handful basil leaves

handful oregano leaves

2-3 dried figs/dates

dressing:

1 tablespoon mustard

1 tablespoon miso 

1 tablespoon vinegar

2 dates

2 peeled garlic cloves

1 tablespoon nutritional yeast 

handful of walnuts (around 1/4 cup)

handful basil leaves

water, as needed

chop up the greens, tomatoes, pepper, avocado and figs. set aside. to make the dressing, blend all the ingredients together, adding as much water as needed. pour the dressing onto the greens and mix in. top it off with the remaining goodies and enjoy!

garden kale salad

we have so much kale in our garden.

this is not a problem though, i could eat it all day... and i do. i use it in smoothies, wraps, kale chips, soups, and salads! mainly in smoothies though. so yesterday i figured i make it into a salad instead of the usual green smoothie. oh wait - i had a green smoothie for breakfast.

but still.

dino kale is a bit bitter and tough for regular salad greens so what you do to make it all nice, soft and flavourful is massage your dressing in and let it sit for a few minutes. i did that while i cut up my other salad ingredients. they included: THE BEST TOMATOES EVER, grown on our deck. i also added some bell pepper, beans, and gardein because well... i like the taste. my dad thought i had put real chicken in the salad for a second. hah.

garlic kale salad: serves one

salad:

1 large organic tomato

4-5 cups organic dino kale

1 organic bell pepper

1/2 cup cooked chickpeas (or throw in some nuts to keep it raw)

1 serving of tempeh or gardein (optional) 

handful of raisins

dressing:

1 tablespoon miso

1 tablespoon mustard

2 dates

handful of walnuts

3 peeled garlic cloves

1 tablespoon tamari

water, as needed 

chop the veggies and kale, set aside. to make the dressing blend all ingredients until smooth. i hope you like it! then massage the dressing into the kale and let it rest for a 5-10 minutes, getting soft. put the tomato, pepper, raisins, chickpeas/nuts and protein on top and enjoy!

yam noodles with miso sauce

holy yams! you might be skeptical about using raw sweet potatoes (yams) for food, but as soon as you try this, all your doubts will be vaporized. it's so satisfying. i don't know WHY you'd want or need white pasta with meatballs when you can eat THIS living, raw, cruelty-free meal. i took lots of photos, i hope you don't mind. 

nah... you don't.

hopefully you have a spiral slicer, but if not - a mandoline will do. and if you're REALLY ambitious, you could try to make the noodles manually. good luck.

i've been wanting to make these noodles with some kind of sauce and veggies for awhile, and the plan for this sweet potato (organic!) was to make this recipe then give it to a curious friend who had wondered whether you could raw potatoes. but um... i'm greedy. i ate it all at my house. don't judge me. i promise i will make this again and actually share it. it will be difficult, but i can do it.

 yam noodles with miso mustard sauce, avocado, cucumber & raisins: serves 1-2

noodles:
1 yam (sweet potato)

sauce:
1 tablespoon miso
1 tablespoon mustard
1 tablespoon agave
1 date
vegan milk/water, as needed (about 1/6 cup)
3 chopped garlic cloves

to make the noodles - slice the yam on a spiral slicer or mandoline. mix with a bit of tamari in large bowl and set aside.
to make the sauce - blend all ingredients together. if it's too thick, add more vegan milk/water. if it's too thin, add more miso, dates or mustard. pour the desired amount of sauce onto the noodles and mix in. you don't need that much.
i added chopped avocado, cucumber, beets from our garden, raisins, and parma... of course. i bet this with sesame or pumpkin seeds would be great too.

veggie wrap & miso mustard gravy

we got these radishes from the farmer's market and they were so pretty i had to take pictures; they aren't actually in today's recipe, but i bet they'd be a delicious addition!

veggie wrap with miso mustard gravy: serves one

miso mustard walnut gravy:
1/4 cup or so of walnuts
2 tablespoons mustard
1 tablespoon maple syrup
2-3 tablespoons miso
1 tablespoon minced garlic
2 tablespoons hemp seeds
1/2 teaspoon each of salt & pepper, other fave spices/herbs
juice of 1 lime
2 tablespoons tamari
water, as needed (probably a several tablespoons)

nori veg wrap:
3-4 mushrooms
3 leaves dino kale
1/4 avocado
2-3 dates or some raisins
1/2 raw or grilled bell pepper
1 nori sheet 

to make the gravy: blend all ingredients together until smooth and like gravy dressing. if it's too thick, add more water; if it's too liquid, add more walnuts or maybe a date. whatever you think it needs.
to make the wrap: slice the veggies and what not, length-wise. then layer them all on your nori sheet and spoon on some "gravy".

*i made this again today and used cilantro instead of kale, and zucchini instead of mushrooms.
FRICKIN' AMAZING. as usual, you can basically do anything to this recipe and it'll be insane.

the pics of the food aren't that good today so i'll make up for it with these lovely photos of BLOOMING LIFE in our garden. ahhh, i adore my home.

don't ya love summer? vibrant new creatures, plants and energy growing everywhere you look. my chakras are vibrating like crazy. the prana is strong. speaking of prana, i'm going to get the sanskrit version tattooed on my wrist soon! what do you think? by the way, it symbolizes the vital life force in the universe:

प्राण

RAW PASTA

I love noodles. 

 -

So it makes perfect sense that among desserts, raw pasta is one of my favourite meals. I prefer it made with zucchini, although bell peppers, yams, carrots and other veggies work well too. I also love it with a creamy sauce and a bit of spice.

It's so satisfying, nutrient-dense, low-calorie and RAW, in every sense of the word. 

I don't really use recipes when preparing raw food (as you probably know by now) so for the following recipes, feel ABSOLUTELY FREE to play them with them as you like. There's endless possibilities for sauce ideas - just like for smoothies and salads. The combinations are infinite.

For the pasta: use any wide, fairly long vegetable - zucchini is the perfect example - and slice it on your spiral slicer or mandoline, into noodles. Set aside. Now for the sauce =)

Avocado Hemp Sauce: 

1/2 avocado
1 clove garlic
3 Tb tamari
Water or non-dairy milk, as needed
Salt & pepper, add other spices if you wish
2 Tb hemp seeds

Blend all ingredients except hemp seeds until smooth. See if you like the taste and consistency. Stir in hemp seeds and pour over noodles. Let them sit for a few minutes, then enjoy! I like to add hot sauce and raw marinated veggies.

Garlic Miso Sauce:

2-3 Tb miso
1 clove garlic
2 Tb tamari
1-2 Tb rice vinegar
1-2 Tb almond butter
2 Tb black sesame seeds
Water as needed

Blend all ingredients except sesame seeds until smooth. See if you like the taste and consistency. Stir in sesame seeds and pour over noodles. Let sit for a few minutes then eat it up! This recipe is good with broccoli. 

Spicy Asian-y Sauce: 

1 Tb mustard

1 Tb miso

1 Tb nut butter

2 Tb nutritional yeast

Salt & Pepper 

A few drops of hot sauce

1/8 t cayenne/chili powder

I also add hemp seeds and other spices if I want

Blend all the ingredients until smooth, adding water as need to make it creamy. This time, I added black sesame seeds at the end to add some contrast. Do whatever floats your boat!

Here's some more pictures that have recipes linked to them. Noodles 4 EVER!