August Potluck

the spread

 This month's theme is summer soups, salads, and sandwiches. What a turn out of wonderful people and amazing food!!! We loved having our old friends (Debbie, Faith, Donna, Jane, and Betsy) join us, reuniting with Linda (way too long gf), and welcoming those new to the group, Rosario, John, Rebecca, and Cathi.

almost tuna salad

We had a demo on making the "Almost Tuna Salad" from http://heal-thy-self-cb.blogspot.com/2014/07/almost-tuna-salad.html








We started with hummus and guacamole with veggie sticks

hummus

guacamole with veggies

The hummus was cooked chickpeas, cumin, cumin seeds, tahini, sea salt.
The guacamole was avocados, tomatoes, onion, cumin, sea salt.

onion bread and zucchini wraps

We had zucchini wraps and onion bread (http://heal-thy-self-cb.blogspot.com/2013/12/raw-onion-bread.html) with Taste Like Chicken Salad and the "Almost Tuna" for sandwiches (http://heal-thy-self-cb.blogspot.com/2014/07/almost-tuna-salad.html). The sandwiches could be topped with tomatoes, lettuce and sprouts. We also had a wonderful kale salad.

kale salad and "chicken salad"

The Tastes Like Chicken Salad

 Adapted from "Cook for your Life: Fresh, Delicious Recipes" by Ian Thorpe

For the salad

3 C roasted, unsalted hulled sunflower seeds

4 ribs celery, thinly sliced

1/2 onion, minced

2 tsp dried oregano

2 tsp dried thyme

2 tsp dried sage

For the dressing

1/2 C roasted, unsalted macadamia nuts

1 C roasted, unsalted cashews

1/2 C pine nuts

2 TBLS mustard

6 cloves garlic, crushed

1 TBLS fine sea salt

1 3/4 C coconut water (could use filtered water)

2 lemons, juiced

Put sunflower seeds in a large bowl.  Cover with cold water, by at least 1 inch, soak for 4 hours.

In smaller bowls, soak each of nuts in cold water, by at least 1 inch, for 4 hours.

Make dressing:  Drain the macadamia nuts, cashews, and pine nuts.  Combine with mustard, garlic, and salt in a food processor or blender; process until smooth.  With the motor running, gradually add coconut water and lemon juice to form a creamy-looking dressing.  If the dressing is too thick, add a little more water.

Drain sunflower seeds and shake them dry.  Wipe out bowl they were soaking in, then return the dry seeds to thebowl along with the celery, onion, oregano, thyme, and sage.

Pour dressing over mixture and toss to incorporate.  NOTE:  I did not use all the dressing.  For best flavor, cover loosely and let the mixture rest for 30 minutes before serving.  Serve at room temperature.  Store in refrig up to 5 days.

Yield:  12 servings (makes around 7 cups)

The Kale Salad was kale massaged with 2 avocados and the juice of 2 lemons with a pinch of salt, garnished with radishes.

butternut squash/mango soup

Our soups were butternut squash/mango and gazpacho.
The butternut squash soup was
3 cups peeled, seeded, and cubed butternut squash
1 mango peeled, seeded, cubed
2 teaspoons curry
orange juice to thin
garnish:
1 banana sliced
1/2 cup chopped mint
1 mango seeded, peeled, diced

Gazpacho soup with basil

The gazpacho recipe was from http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/gazpacho-recipe.html

hibiscus cooler

We had hibiscus tea cooler from http://heal-thy-self-cb.blogspot.com/20
14/06/hibiscus-pomegranate-cooler.html

fruit salad

For dessert we had a pineapple sorbet and fruit salad
The pineapple fruit sorbet  was
1 pineapple, cut into chunks, frozen
3 cups almond milk
4 frozen bananas
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
blended and then frozen.
The fruit salad was strawberries, blueberries and watermelon.



Our theme for September will be Asian.