June 3, 2012
Breakfast
Spicy Juice
serves 2 ~ $1.60 per serving
1 bunch kale ($2.00)
1 apple ($.50)
1/4 pineapple ($.50)
2 radishes ($.20)
1/4 onion
These are recipes that I made previously and then didn’t do anything with for one reason or another. The juice and pie were intended for my spring ebook, but got tucked away in a folder and I forgot about them!
This is a surprisingly good juice. Spicy, but just a little sweet. It definitely tastes healthy! Simply juice all the ingredients and add a couple radishes, if desired.
calories: 60
fat: 0 gr
carbs: 12 gr
protein:4 gr
Lunch
Zucchini Pasta 1
serves 2 ~ $1.25 per serving
2 zucchini ($1.00)
3 green onions, chopped ($.10)
2 tablespoons olive oil ($.20)
1 tablespoon agave ($.10)
2 tablespoons lemon juice ($.20)
1 clove garlic, pressed
1 tablespoon soy sauce or nama shoyu ($.10)
2 cups cherry tomatoes, cut in half ($.80)
This is something I made last summer and it never made it to the blog. It’s very light and summery.
Make zucchini noodles using your preferred method. An easy way is to peel the zucchini, makes cuts lengthwise about a quarter inch apart, and then use a vegetable peeler to shave off fettucine sized noodles. Chop the green onions and put in a lidded container.
Whisk together the olive oil, agave, lemon juice, garlic, and soy sauce. Pour over the zucchini noodles and onions. Shake or stir to coat. Leave to marinate for a few hours or overnight.
Use an ring mold to form the noodles into a tower. A tin can with both ends removed can be substituted for the molds.
While still in the mold, top with chopped tomatoes. Remove mold.
calories: 213
fat: 7 gr
carbs: 26 gr
protein: 3 gr
Dinner
Zucchini Pasta 2
serves 2 ~ $2.55 per serving
1 cup almonds, soaked overnight ($2.50)
1 tablespoon lemon juice ($.10)
1 cup carrot juice ($.20)
4 tablespoons olive oil ($.40)
1 medium onion, sliced ($.10)
2 cups cherry tomatoes, cut in half ($.80)
2 zucchini ($1.00)
This is just a cheesy sauce over zucchini noodles. The noodles can be marinated first as in the Zucchini Pasta 1 recipe above (do this step a few hours before, or even the day before, to allow marinating time).
Use a bullet type blender to make the cheesy sauce. On high speed, blend the almonds, lemon juice, carrot juice, and olive oil until very smooth.
Spoon the cheesy sauce on top of the noodles and top with some chopped tomatoes and sliced onion.
calories: 513
fat: 23 gr
carbs: 15 gr
protein: 6 gr
Dessert
Chocolate Cherry Pie
serves 8 ~ $1.96 per serving
crust
1 cup nuts, soaked and dehydrated ($2.50)
1 cup dates ($1.00)
pinch salt
chocolate layer
4 avocados ($4.00)
1/2 cup agave ($.80)
1/2 cup cocoa or cacao powder ($.80)
1 teaspoon vanilla
pinch salt
cherry layer
1 cup almonds, soaked overnight ($2.50)
2 cups cherries ($1.50)
1/2 cup agave ($.80)
cherry sauce
1 cup cherries ($.75)
1 cup dates ($1.00)
This was also intended for the spring ebook and didn’t make it in. I was totally enamored with the combination of cherry and chocolate. I still am!
Make the crust first. In a food processor fitted with an “S” blade, process the nuts until medium fine. Add the dates and process again until the mixture starts ti stick together. Press into the bottom and up the sides of an eight inch springform pan.
The chocolate layer is super simple. In a food processor fitted with an “S” blade, process all the chocolate ingredients until very smooth. Pour into the prepared crust and freeze for at least two hours.
Cherry layer. In a food processor fitted with an “S” blade, process all the ingredients until very smooth. Pour over the frozen chocolate layer. Put back in the freezer until about 20 minutes before serving. Remove from the freezer and allow to thaw just a little before serving.
The cherry topping is also good on ice creams and is very simple to make. Just process the cherries and dates in a small bullet type blender until very smooth. Spoon over the individual pie slices.
calories: 387
fat: 24 gr
carbs: 43 gr
protein: 4 gr
Total cost for the day: $7.36
total calories: 1173
total fat: 54 gr
total carb: 104 gr
total protein: 17 gr
total protein: 17 gr
In the Garden: Spring 2012
The garden is growing and I’m really happy with it. We made raised beds for a lot of things, which has made it amazingly easy to weed … though we’re not overzealous about the whole weeding thing. The soil is never walked on, so it stays nice and fluffy.
The raised beds, which are planted a lot like a square foot garden, also help organize the garden. It’s super easy to plant or weed or water many four foot by thirty foot areas, compared to looking at the whole garden. It’s just a mental thing, but it really helps.
Growing a garden really makes staying raw and eating healthy very easy, especially in the summer (although things can be frozen and used for raw dishes in the fall and winter).
Here are some photos and a video (taken on a very windy day, so the sound isn’t great …).
Chives.
Edible podded peas grown on sunflower stalk trellises.
Old water jugs were used to get a few things started early, like this zucchini.
I love it, it reminds me of the garden cake I made last year!
What are you growing this summer?
You have such a lovely garden! I'm jealous 😉 The flowering chives are so neat – purple flowers!!
lovely garden!! do you still use chives after they bloom?
Thanks, Denisa. I do use them. The stem the blossom grows on is tough, but the rest are good. The blossoms are also edible and look nice in salads.
wow, your photography is just stunning! your lunch looks outrageous! gourmet quality! and dessert!! can i have a slice??!! hahaha….thanks for sharing!
Thanks, glutenfree!
I so wish I had all that land to grow things! In my tiny city backyard I'm growing peas, broccoli, cucumber, peppers, tomatoes, lettuce, spinach, corn, strawberries, leeks, chives, garlic chives, thyme, sage, tarragon, cilantro and parsley. I'm also harvesting weeds for salads: plantains, sorrel, dandelions, and purslane. We also are growing flowers: marigolds, lilacs, lollies, daffodils, tulips, etc.
My chives look like yours: flowering. I've been putting some of the blooms in my husband's salads. We'll let many of them go to seed though and see if we can plant them.
On a note of the recipes — I'd love to see you offer raisins (soaked and blended to make a syrup if need be) as an alternative to agave. The cost might be a bit higher, but the nutrition would be a lot higher, and the fructose level much lower and more in balance with the glucose level.
*hugs*
~ Raederle
Wow, your garden is amazing! I wish I had all of that land to grow such a large garden.
Your garden and recipes are gorgeous!! Thanks for sharing! For the cherry chocolate dessert, how long did you soak and dehydrate your nuts? What variety did you use?
this is simply also awesome pertaining to words! 🙂
great job!