Hey everyone
So on my way home Tuesday I had to make a stop at Borders and bought a Raw cookbook [in addition to the Babycakes vegan//gluten free cookbook - their second one! ] and tonight I thought I would give it a shot at Raw [un]cooking.
But first I had lunch at Grassroots in Tampa with my best friend =) It is the first [and only] fully vegan restaurant in Tampa that also features a raw menu selection.We had the guacamole and raw chips to start - I think the chips were a blend of flax seed, sunflower seed, onion, and some other seasoning and then dehydrated to form chips. very yummy with the fresh guacamole.
For my main entree I had Spinach & Basil Pesto. with High Mineral Kelp Noodle. The noodles tasted and looked just like a rice noodle but they were made of pure kelp. The basil pesto was incredible, so fresh, and there were thin slices of zucchini and fresh tomatoes to top it off. Yum.
So back to my food. For my first entree I decided to make an
Italian Rawzania
It uses zucchini squash thinly sliced for the pasta layers
Unfortunately the supermarket had NO zucchini and so I used eggplant instead but since raw eggplant is not the same as zucchini I chose to lightly broil it for a few minutes to tenderize it [yes, i know that means its not 100% raw but everything else was, I promise!!]
so here is the recipe
"noodles"
- 3 zucchini squash [or in this case one eggplant]
Fillings
1/2 batch Sun-dried tomato marinara [recipe below --- I used the whole batch for this recipe since the sauce is sooo good and healthy]
1/2 batch Italian Pizza Cheese [recipe below]
1 tomato sliced [i used two, i`ll explain below]
1/4 cup yellow onion, thinly sliced
1/2 cup black olives, chopped
1/2 cup sun dried tomatoes
1/4 cup oregano, fresh or dried
1/4 cup thyme, fresh or dried [for both the oregano and thyme I used my own "eyeball" measurements because the idea of 1/4 cup dried oregano seemed scary to me]
Directions
Layer half of the squash in a 8x9 baking pan
top with half of the Italian Pizza Cheese , half the tomato [this is where I added a whole tomato] half the onion, then half the marinara half the olives, sun dried tomatoes, oregano, and thyme.
half-way layered picture
Layer the rest of the squash and push down to lightly pack. Re-layer everything else!
Slice on my plate - It all blends just like real lasagna
Italian Pizza Cheese
2 cups macadamia nuts
juice of 1 lemon [or 2 Tbsp]
3 cloves of garlic
1/2 cup basil leaves [fresh]
1 tsp sea salt
2/3 cups water, as needed
- blend nuts, lemon juice, garlic, basil, and salt until smooth
Finished product
Sun-dried tomato marinara
2 cups tomatoes, chopped
1 clove garlic
1/2 cup basil leaves
1/4 cup EVOO
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp pitted dates or agave syrup
1 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp rosemary [fresh or dried]
1 tsp sea salt
3 Tbsp sun-dried tomatoes
Blend everything until smooth, add the sun-dried tomatoes at the end
Since dinner turned out so incredibly [trust me, make it and you will be a convert] I decided to give a light dessert a go.
Blueberry Soup with Almond Kreme
Soup
4 cups blueberries
1 cup pitted dates
- puree in a food processor
Kreme
2 cups almonds
1 cup water [i added another 1/4 cup water]
- blend [it will be a rough consistency]
- add a scoop of soup and a Tbsp or 2 of the kreme and swirl them together.
sprinkle with cinnamon and enjoy!
You may not think these look incredibly appetizing but I assure you that is due to my inferior food-photography skills, not my cooking ability!!
Hope everyone is eating as well as I am!
Love
