Raw Pesto Zucchini Pasta!

I just had myself a most sublimely delectable plate of zucchini pesto pasta. :)

Zucchini pasta is definitely one of my all time favorite raw dishes because it tastes great and it's sooo easy to make. I've been making it at least once or twice a month forever now, and most of the time, end up having it for a whole week.

Depending on what you like and how you happen to want the sauce to taste on any particular day, you by just adding a few things you can make sauces like marinara or pesto (in this post I'll put up a pesto recipe) go from an Italian zest one day to a homey sweetness the next. Experiment! :)

If you don't have a special slicer, do not fret! I was making this for probably more than a year just slicing away at zucchinis with a fruit/veggie peeler. It works great, but if you have the extra $10 or whatever it is to get a slicer, it's worth it. I got mine at Target for about that much, but its not a spiral slicer.

The pesto (and marinara) is always different as I just kind of wing it remembering bits of different recipes, but what I did today is what I'll post.

Anyway, here it is:

Raw Pesto :) 

- Big bunch of fresh basil (1 1/2 to 3 Cups)

- 1 C cashews

- 1-2  tsp sea salt

- 2 tsp pepper

- 3-5 cloves of garlic

- 1/3-1/2 C olive oil

Grind up the cashews and then place them and all the other ingredients in a blender. Turn it on and Presto! You've got Pesto! XD On looking at it, you might feel the inclination to add water; I do, and afterwards I always tell myself not to do so next time. Once everything is served it becomes just a tad too liquidy, but it's never bothered me more than aesthetically. Still tastes great, and you can increase the amount of sauce you've made. But, if you do add water, you'd probably want to add another 1/2 C of cashews.

Now, over a pot or a bowl slice up your zucchini. I peel mine, but you don't have to. Even if it is organic, though, I suggest you do, because USDA owns organic. Anyway, once you've got it all sliced up, just add the sauce into the bowl or pot or on top of each serving on a plate. :)

To sprinkle on top, I strongly suggest grinding up some soaked and dehydrated sunflower seeds, as well as ground flax. Mmm :) I think it tastes better than parmesan ever did as a kid.




So that's it :). Now, just a note for everyone which I think is important; I don't know if it is that zucchini is high in fiber or if it is the high water content of the vegetable and the sauce, but this pasta has without fail brought tummy and bowels joy. If you're eating raw, you definitely know what I mean, but if not, you will soon :)



 This is the basil plant on my balcony I get my basil from :)

And please excuse the highly amateur placement and arrangement of the photos. :) I'll get better at it.

Blessings

Dragon Fruit

I am sitting at my dining table, slightly bummed, as I had written a whole post and completed it, only to click the back or refresh or erase button as I was putting my camera card into the laptop to upload a picture. :/ This version of the post will be significantly more succint. :)

It is a beautiful autumn day in south Florida. Bright sun, and a constant cool breeze. I feel quite erudite sitting here drinking a cup of home brewed strawberry kombucha reviewing my notes; this morning I had my first taste of the rare Dragon Fruit, and gift from a family of cacti native to central and south America, and harvested all throughout Asia, according to Wikipedia.
I come across the fruit at the supermarket while I was stopping in to pick up some avocados. I saw it, and without needing to see its name, knew I should get a couple. I saw no price, but figured they wouldn't be too expensive. Turns out even the cashier was surprised at the whopping four dollars per slightly-smaller-than-fist-sized fruit. These have to be good, I thought. :)

A brief description of the fruit: Its skin is waxy and deep pink or red, there are varieties that are yellow. Along its surface it has green extended fleshy protusions which resemble, quite honesly, scales. Thus, the aptly named Dragon fruit.
So this morning I cut one in half, being that it was now soft and the "scales" had become dry. The flesh is white, and it has dark brown/black kiwi sized seeds haphazardly placed, without symmetry. I sliced along a side and peeled the skin from there. I cut a couple small pieces and tried them and thought it a good idea to take some notes on the strange fruit.

- Almost absent of flavor - quite bland.
- Rreminiscent of a not-too-ripe pear in flavor and texture, with a slight taste of cactus (aloe, maybe?) juice.
- Once at the center, there is more taste; a potential pungeance that is appealing yet far too subtle, leaving me wanting more of the new found almost-juiciness after it was gone.

I know it's short, but that was pretty much it. I only ate half the fruit, as the other half is waiting for my beautiful partner Maria to arrive and taste before we go to a park to enjoy this lovely day, but I did most certainly want more after I finished that half. I don't know its nutritional value, but it feels like a very healing fruit. Those notes were taken before I looked anything up on the fruit, so I was surprised to find that it actually came from a cactus after I had written that it tasted as such.
I will at some point post something that will include the nut. value of this delicately flavorless fruit, but until then, I believe this will suffice as an Ode to the Fruit of the Dragon.
Blessings :)

First blog and super green smoothie!

Ok, so I've been meaning to get around to starting a few blogs for quite some time now. I do quite alot and usually find myself too fulfilled experiencing or creating to sit and write about it, although I've always felt how great of a tool this could become.
Anyway, this is my first blog. Finally. Part of why I've not gotten around to actually writing anything is because I feel like my life and experience covers such a broad spectrum, I didn't know where to start with the whole blog thing, or if I should at all. Luckily, though, I've of late been taking emphasized effort to listen to intuition and it's spontaneous (or not) suggestions. So, as I was drinking a cup of this super duper green smoothie I made today - for the first time - I thought, "This is so good! I have to blog about this!".
Actually, I probably though first that I had to have some one to share it with and taste it, and get as excited about it as I did, but since I was the only one home, and I don't know too many people in the area with a palette as sensitive as my own, I knew this was the perfect opportunity to create a blog. So, as to not continue to make this a blog about my first blog, and fulfill the intention with which I set out to write,
this is it.

Super Duper VitaGreen Smoothie!

I've been a raw-foodie for quite some time now, and I've had my fair share of green smoothies, even while just being vegan and vegetarian before, but this smoothie blew my mind.
I fasted yesterday and this morning and wasn't necessarily hungry, but I felt my body wanted something. Being to early for solid food for me anyway, (10 ish?) I decided to make a smoothie.
I just threw stuff in the blender but it was pretty much

1-2 c spinach
2 apples cored
2 or 3 Tsp of Lyn Rose's Chocolate pudding (better than any pudding ever!)
+ 1/2 Avacado (I just had one opened, you could use 1)
2 minibananas (super sweet) or 1 whole regular
4-5 strawberries
2-3 heaping Tsp of HealthForce's Vitamineral Green SuperFood* (this stuff is incredible)
and maybe an extra couple tsp of cacao powder? :)


So blend it up and that's pretty much it.
I didn't take a picture of anything except the very last glass because it was so good and I had no idea it would be, but here it is:

Alright! So this is it. That's what it looked like. Looks kinda like any other green smoothie I guess, but it tastes awesome! :)


Yup, a nutritiously potent and deliciously spot-hitting raw liquid meal or drink!


Btw, I normally take better pictures (?) but the yellow place mats will most likely be in all of them :)


* I had no idea about HealthForce until about 2 weeks ago when I walked up to their booth at Bhakti Fest in Joshua Tree, CA and asked this awesome broher whose name I can't recall to talk to me about their stuff. After about 30 min of awesome raw good and nutrition talk I bought small jars of the Vitamineral Green and Earth superfoods. I've been taking a few teaspoons of each everyday with smoothies or raw almond mylk and I've got to say, this stuff is amazing. If you've never heard of it or have an just havnt tried it, I sincerely suggest you do :). Within the next couple weeks I plan on buying their big jars.

Alright! So that pretty much wraps it up for my first blog. :) Hope you guys enjoy the smoothie, and of course, any lack of or extra ingredients (that can substitute those lacking) you can think of that would go nicely probably would, so try it out and let me know how it goes! Thanks for reading!

Blessings :)

p.s.
I don't think my text will normally be this big. It is here to offset the smaller (normal) sized text of the "prologue" up top.