Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Panzanella Salad Recipe

With our garden harvests of the tomatoes, basil, garlic, and scallion, we were able to make this.
We adapted it to be raw and grain free. We topped the panzanella salad with almond feta cheeze. We served it with raw sesame, red pepper crackers.

Panzanella Salad Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 clove of garlic, grated or pressed
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• Dash of salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 3 to 4 ripe tomatoes, or enough to make about 4 cups, coarsely chopped
• 2 ripe bell peppers (preferably orange or yellow), seeds removed, coarsely chopped
• 3 scallions, both green and white parts, chopped
• 1/2 cup fresh basil leaves, left whole if small, torn into pieces if large

Instructions:

1. Add the garlic to the olive oil, and sprinkle o along with the salt and pepper. Toss thoroughly to mix.
2.  Chop coarsely the tomatoes, or pull them apart with your fingers, and then add them to the bowl and toss again. Let the mixture sit for about 5 minutes, but do not refrigerate.
3. Taste, and add more salt and pepper if needed. Add the peppers and scallions, then mix again. Stir in the fresh basil just before serving at room temperature.


Read more: http://www.motherearthnews.com/real-food/panzanella-salad-recipe-zmrz14aszmat.aspx#ixzz39YOnz3Ly

Monday, August 4, 2014

Fermented Dill Pickles

Thanks Debbie for posting this recipe and sharing the pickles with us!!! We love fermented foods and dill pickles are the best!
The recipe is from http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/dill-pickles-recipe.html

Ingredients

5 1/2 ounces pickling salt, approximately 1/2 cup

1 gallon filtered water

3 pounds pickling cucumbers, 4 to 6-inches long

1 tablespoon black peppercorns

1 tablespoon red pepper flakes

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1 teaspoon dill seed

1 large bunch dill

Directions

Combine the salt and water in a pitcher and stir until the salt has dissolved.

Rinse the cucumbers thoroughly and snip off the blossom end stem. Set aside.

Place the peppercorns, pepper flakes, garlic, dill seed and fresh dill into a 1-gallon crock. Add the 

cucumbers to the crock on top of the aromatics. Pour the brine mixture over the cucumbers in order to 

completely cover. Pour the remaining water into a 1-gallon ziptop plastic bag and seal. Place the bag 

on top of the pickles making sure that all of them are completely submerged in the brine. Set in a cool, 

dry place.

Check the crock after 3 days. Fermentation has begun if you see bubbles rising to the top of the crock. 

After this, check the crock daily and skim off any scum that forms. If scum forms on the plastic bag, rinse 

it off and return to the top of the crock.

The fermentation is complete when the pickles taste sour and the bubbles have stopped rising; this 

should take approximately 6 to 7 days. Once this happens, cover the crock loosely and place in the 

refrigerator for 3 days, skimming daily or as needed. Store for up to 2 months in the refrigerator, 

skimming as needed. If the pickles should become soft or begin to take on an off odor, this is a sign of 

spoilage and they should be discarded.

Read more at: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/dill-pickles-recipe.html?oc=linkback

Saturday, August 2, 2014

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
TBLS mustard
6 cloves garlic, crushed
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.

Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Almost Tuna Salad

Having attended webinars with many raw foodists, read Brian Clement's book Living Foods for Optimum Health, and fallen in love with sprouts, we noticed the recipe for Almost Tuna Salad, page 206 in this book.

Ingredients
1/2 cup celery
2-3 tablespoons seed sauce (1 cup sunflower or pumpkin seeds and 1/2 cup water blended until smooth)
2-3 tablespoons raw almond butter
1 tablespoon kelp (we used less and NO REACTION for our son, HUGE blessing!!!)
1/4 cup mung beans sprouts
1/4 cup lentil sprouts
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup chopped parsley (split 1/8 for blend and 1/8 for garnish)
1 cup alfalfa sprouts (we used red clover)

Blend all but the sprouts until smooth. Pulse in the bean and lentil sprouts. Then stir in the alfalfa sprouts. It can be served on red bell peppers halves or over lettuce.

We served it with raw red pepper/sesame crackers on a bed of greens.

Monday, July 28, 2014

a natural and easy way to clean your stainless sink

We ran out of our co-op purchased stainless natural cleaner, so we searched for a homemade natural way to make our kitchen sink shine.  Since we have a freshly squeezed lemon every morning and have the other ingredients in the pantry, this is the site for us, http://www.savvysugar.com/How-Clean-Your-Stainless-Steel-Sink-30688216
What You'll Need:
  • Sponge
  • Baking soda
  • Vinegar
  • Lemon or orange peel
  • Olive oil
  • Paper towel
Directions:
  1. Give your sink a quick wash and rinse, removing all dishes and any food bits from the drain. Then sprinkle the entire sink with baking soda and use a soft sponge, working in a circular movement, to scrub the basin. Baking soda softly cleans without scratching stainless steel.
  2. Rinse the sink with vinegar, which will bubble and fizz. Vinegar naturally disinfects while helping remove hard water stains from your stainless steel sink. Then lightly rub with the sponge and rinse the sink with water. You can also drop a garbage disposal refreshing bomb down the drain to keep the entire sink smelling fresh.
  3. Put lemon or orange peel to good use, and rub the entire sink basin with a section of peel, rubbing the skin against the stainless steel, which helps deodorize the sink while helping the basin keep its new shine.
  4. Finish by buffing with a paper towel and a touch of olive oil. Your sink will stay wonderfully shiny for several weeks before needing a refresher.


Friday, July 25, 2014

Raw Greek Lunch


Raw Greek lunch
For lunch today we had a Raw Greek Lunch. Both recipes are from Raw Food for Dummies. The recipe for the dolmas is quite long and would take too long to retype. The raw almond feta is here http://heal-thy-self-cb.blogspot.com/2014/07/almond-feta.html
We had raw dolmas using zucchini "rice" and the Greek salad uses a raw almond feta.
To those wanting to incorporate more raw food into the diet, we highly recommend the purchase of Raw Food for Dummies.

raw dolmas