A Rouxbe Experience....A lesson in eating your homework.

 

I've taken a break this summer from posting since I've been a busy bee - mainly, eating my homework. I've recently graduated from Rouxbe's online Professional Plant-Based Certification Program, and we've been busy creating food and eating food, creating, and eating....it's been enlightening to say the least, and an amazing experience.

This has everything to do with going back to the basics. Going back to the things you think you know, to learn them in a totally new and inspired way. Chopping. Knife skills. How big is a small dice anyway, and how do you sharpen your knives, hold your guide hand, know when a pan is ready for a sautee. Chemistry, science, art, and total joy.

We've had so much fun with the plant-based recipes, and we've totally indulged this summer: hand made manicotti with tofu ricotta filling and fresh marinara, chocolate genache torte, soups, stews, bean salads, desserts, smoothies, and so much more! 

My favorite part of the course was the intended "mise en place" for each recipe, or rather, the idea of "everything in its right place" before you proceed with the recipe. So many meals have been ruined due to overcooking, leaving the stove for an ingredient, not timing things correctly, and mise en place allows you to have everything in the right place, chopped, measured, ready to go, so that you can ENJOY the process of cooking and be in the present moment. Symbolic, right? 

Here we go. 

Enjoy the gallery of plant-based nutritious cooking, where nothing is missing....except the junk. This is how we loved ourselves up this summer, with beans, grains, veggies, fruits, nuts, seeds, super foods, and all the lovely indulgences that these create, with whole foods. 

Knife skills!

Mise en place for roasted lemon cauliflower.

Spring asparagus rissotto. 

Mise en place for an arugula quinoa salad.

Coconut chickpea stew.

Penne carbonara (the vegan way)

Thai noodle soup.

Tofu chocolate mousse pie.

Braised seitan au jus with garlic greens.

Handmade manicotti, tofu ricotta, and marinara.

Handmade udon stir fry.

Mushrooms and beans.

Purslane and flower salad.

Chocolate genache pie with cherry/black pepper sorbet.

Mock tuna pate in collard rolls.

Mise en place for tempeh brocoli stir fry.

Polenta and broccoli/tempeh stir fry and heirloom tomatoes.

Cauliflower chimichurri.

Here are some photos of our last Rouxbe Assignment, which was to host an event with little canapés. So much fun enjoying good food and family and friends. 

Sweet pea and jimaca coconut samosas (raw) with lime creme.

Mini samosa burgers with onion and mango chutney.

Healing turmeric tomato soup, sweet potato crackers, borage.

Mini chocolate genache tortes with berry sorbet and coulis.

Fruit kabobs - can't have enough fruit kabobs!

Amazing best friends and family.

Easy Morning Detox Lime-ade

Everyone knows about lemon water in the morning, but sometimes I need something a little more spiffy - like lime water, or lime-ade.  Try this and I bet you'll drink a whole mason jar worth of it, like I do, on an empty stomach. Nourishing, cleansing, filling, and energizing!

2 limes, juiced (I just use the glass juicer shown in the photo)
1 tall mason jar filled with water (about the size of a jar of marinara)
liquid stevia, to taste

Combine all ingredients together and enjoy throughout your morning, first thing, prior to breakfast. 

Happy Hormone Infusions

Raspberry leaf and Nettle Infusions

I've been dabbling in herbalism lately (love my Herbals class).  Raspberry and Nettle infusions have been my "thing" for a little while now and I just had to share them with you.  Nettle and Rasperry leaf are extremely healing and tonifying for the female reproductive system, and I use them to maintain balance in my hormones. So for those of you experiencing irregular period, or the fluctuations of PMS, cramps, mood, and even mild depression due to hormonal imbalances, be sure to make some of these infusions. Another good one is lemon balm (Melissa), although not pictured.

I make mine in pots and in the morning, I transfer them to ball jars and keep in the fridge. You can sweeten them if you like, but I really enjoy them as they are. 

4-5 cups boiling water

1 handful raspberry leaves or nettles (or you can even mix them) in dry form

Heat the water until boiling and add the herbs in.  Turn the heat off, cover, and let steep overnight.  Strain in the morning and drink throughout the day. This infusion will last about 3 days in the fridge.  

Zesty Lean & Mean Watermelon Juice

We served a variation of this at one of our recent raw foods potluck, but I decided to kick it up a notch.  

Typically we get an organic watermelon, obliterate the inside of it, and then juice the rind. Last year, we grew our own watermelons, and the juice was this fantastic, light pink color. This year, we did a few things differently with our garden, and didn't plant watermelons, and it's tricky to find organic watermelons in these parts.  We had to make due with a conventional one, and therefore opted not to juice the rind. 

If you have an organic one, definitely juice the rind and proceed with the recipe. If you don't have an organic watermelon, ditch the rind and just juice the middle. 

Watermelon is very detoxifying and although it is high in sugar, for a limited period of time in the summer, we do indulge. If you add in the cayenne, it will be a natural fat burner (thermogenic food) and the lime will also add to alkanalize the juice even more.  

Enough watermelon to produce two glasses of juice (about 4-5 cups)

1 lime, juiced

pinch of cayenne

Juice the watermelon and divide into two glasses.  Juice the lime and add to the glasses, sharing equal quantities.  Add the cayenne to each glass, stir and drink up!

Goji Berry Tea

One of my favorite summer treats is cool tea! I love spearmint most of all (super cooling) but when I'm in the mood for a sweet treat, goji is the way to go! Simply steeping dried goji berries in boiling water and let cool gives you a naturally sweetened cooled drink that gives you energy (from nutrients, not stimulants) and revs you up. 

Goji berries are amazing, through and through. They offer a huge dose of vitamin C, are anti-inflammatory, anti-viral, are a great source of iron and a true powerhouse of antioxidants. They also have more carotenoids than any other food! For more info, please visit this site HERE. 

Handful Goji berries

5 or 6 cups boiling water

Boil the water in a pot and add in the goji berries.  For some added "umph", throw in a few slices of lemon. Turn the heat off, cover, and let steep overnight.  Drink throughout the day as a cooling beverage and enjoy - you don't need to strain it!

Ode to Coconut Water

I love my coconut water! Fresh is certainly best (and I will upload a video soon on how to crack open a coconut) but for those of you who may not have a machete or a cleaver, you might want to opt for some bottled beverage. Nice 2nd best choice.

I have a couple of priorities when I look for packaged goods, which is not often...
1.  It has to be clean (nothing added)
2. It has to be in glass.

The first priority is obvious.  I'm not interested in anything but coconut water - not added water, sugar, flavorings, colors, or preservatives.

The second priority has to do with the fact that anything fatty (such as nut milks, nut butter, coconut products, oils, etc.) tend to leach impurities from the plastic into your food. So even if you're buying organic coconut water, guess what...if it's in a plastic bottle, then it's pretty much a done deal. 

I love this particular brand, Taste Nirvana. Its in a glass bottle and what's great is that after we're done drinking it, I use the large bottles to create a bottle edge around my garden beds (have you heard about this!?!?) and the small bottles to hold my new herbs (I'm taking an herbalism class and need to get organized).  I know it's not organic, but I can sleep better at night knowing it's contained in glass.  All in all, a sweet deal.  

It's a complete protein, high in electrolytes and has more potassium than bananas. It's excellent for hydration and truth be told, when I want a little something sweet, this is my new favorite dessert.  Notice I said dessert - it IS sweet and I don't over do it.  But it does hit the spot. I drink a small glass, savor the taste, and I'm good to go.

Hope you enjoy your coconut water as much as I do! 

Cooling & Tart Green Juice

I go through phases...always alternating between smoothies and juices, but for some reason during the summer, I really opt for the juice...it's cooling, not as sweet, and really helps me gain energy when the days are hot and lazy.  It's my preferred way to break the fast after sleeping.  Make sure you chew (swish) your juice and take your time with it...I like to sip it over 20 minutes, but not longer, to retain the nutrients. 

This juice is pretty lemony, but that's how we like it...not too sweet and super tart.  Adjust the greens (bitters) and lemon/limes (tart) and apples (sweet) to your taste to create the perfect balance for you.

We also use whatever we have on hand - whatever is abundant in the garden, leftover in the fridge, and little remnants of pieces of veggies here and there. We love broccoli stems, leftover cauliflower, half pieces of carrot.  Anything goes.  

Lastly, we love to get every bit of juice out, so we actually take out the pulp and juice that all over again.  You'd be surprised how much you get (for us, almost about a whole cup!).

Also, see if you can get most of these things organic, since when you juice, you want as many nutrients as possible in the juice.  Most of these nutrients are found in the peel, which you want to keep, but for some non-organic produce you really have to peel it (which means less nutrients for you). 

2 broccoli stems

1 cucumber (peel if not organic)

2 stalks celery

2-3 carrots (long, not baby)

2-3 green apples

chunk ginger

1 turmeric root

4-5 kale leaves

2 lemons (skin on)

1 lime (skin on)

1 clove garlic (optional)

Juice everything, and rejuice the pulp.  This makes a lot, enough for two people with some leftovers (for later in the day if we need it).  But we love our green juice, and we can't get enough of it.  

Sweet Mint Kohlrabi Smoothie

Ah, kohlrabi, my new favorite veggie.  Here are two versions....green and purple, although the insides are the same white, water-rich and delicious...

The taste is a little bit between a radish and a broccoli stem, and once you peel the tough outer skin, the bulb mass can be sliced, diced, and used raw in salads, shredded in slaws, and in a variety of ways.  I'll be posting a kohlrabi salad next, so stay tuned.  

     The greens are also wonderful to use, so please don't toss them!  They're low in calories, high in fiber, loaded with vitamins especially vitamin C, and since it's a part of the brassica family, this veggie (bulb, leaves, and all) is especially good for cancer prevention.  
     Today, I decided to take the plunge and use them in a smoothie, and it's absolutely delicious.  Honestly, we should be seeing this veggie in every food store, and it's barely to be found...something I hope will change in the future. 
     This smoothie has the taste of summer written all over it, and it's super cooling.  This is a great way to use those kohlrabi greens I mentioned in the last post, as well as the ever growing sweet mint that ravages our gardens (to be honest, I love mint everywhere, so I think I may be the only one who doesn't mind mint taking over....which means more shakes for me!)

1/3 of the blender kohlrabi leaves

sweet mint/spearmint leaves and stems filled up to the 1/2 blender line

1 large banana

1 soft pear

frozen strawberries almost to the top of the blender

Combing all the ingredients together in the order listed, and add water to fill 1/2 the container.  Blend away and enjoy.

Greens, Greens, Fabulous Greens...

If you're like me, you're always looking for the new "green" to spruce up your menu.  Smoothies with spinach, kale, and collards are a thing of the past (well, not really - those are always staples to drink by), but we've moved on to parsley, spearmint, pak choy, bok choy, and even pineapple sage to spruce up our smoothies these days...  These beauties have been bringing smiles to our faces and filling our tummies with a more exciting dose of nutrition.  Above, you'll see our new swiss chard growing, and it's literally taken over our garden...rainbow chard, to be exact.  It's on the pungent spectrum, and sometimes overpowering, so for smoothies, include super sweet fruits like mango or very ripe pears to help balance it out. Also, for swiss chard, replacing water in the smoothies with a sweet tea (herbal peach, etc.) helps. 

At 11:00 we have radish tops...the tender smooth tops are actually more palatable than the "adolescent" greens which have a bit more fuzzies on them, but I love them each way.  Again, if you're like me and you've over seeded (very excited once spring came, and I just put them everywhere), you can reap the reward of two crops - first, the little leaves with no radishes, and secondly, harvesting the radishes when they're mature. The best of both worlds! At the 2:00 spot you'll see the water-rich pak choy greens...very succulent and again, strong in flavor, but I love just picking them and eating them right from the garden.  Excellent in salads too. And at 6:00, you'll see the beginnings of butter lettuce.  

Don't forget your herbs...we've got rosemary, thyme, chives, and (not seen here) parsley, cilantro, pineapple sage, spearmint, peppermint, chocolate mint, stevia....the whole world of herbs at your fingertips.  They're not just for adorning plates any more....forget that. Go crazy and really give them a shot to create delicious green soups in your blender. Or try what we had this morning... a whole head of parsley, bananas and strawberries...simple but super satisfying and it gave us a megadose of "multivitamin" nutrition. 

And last but not least, Kohlrabi leaves.  These have become my new passion.  Not only is the bulb absolutely delicious (recipes to follow!) but the greens are very tasty too.  Look for the new mint/kohlrabi greens recipe in the next week.  They're milder than kale but have a taste of their own, reminiscent of radishes a little bit.  You can use the greens in shakes and chiffonade in salads.  Excellent green and incredibly underutilized.  


So enjoy...a little walk through our garden to show you the possibilities are literally endless.  Have fun, get your hands dirty, and enjoy all that spring has to offer! 

Anytime virgin grapefruit margarita smoothie...

This is complete heaven.  We just spent the whole morning gardening, pruning trees, you know...hard labor.  Not really, actually.  I could have this job any day, since I love the bees, trees, flowers, and just beautiful dirt underneath my fingernails.  But I'd like to think we worked hard...sweat, tears, and hours of pruning later, we are deserving of a cool afternoon margarita...except that it's not even 11:00 a.m. yet and there should be some laws out there (despite the fact that it's 5:00 p.m. somewhere) that alcohol is not the best on an empty stomach for breakfast.  If there isn't one, I just made it so.  So virgin we go...


This is also "grab everything you got from the farmers market on Sunday and put it in" like your spinach (which is soon to be out of season as it's definitely hot and humid out) and the big ol' bag of spearmint. Drink up, and enjoy, and if need be (to congratulate your pruning), grab a drink umbrella for your glass.

2 grapefruits, peeled and cut into manageable blend-able pieces

2 bananas, peeled

2 cups of spearmint, stems and all

1 to 2 cups baby spinach

a good chunk (up to you) of peeled aloe - we used about a 3 inch square

2 cups water

1-2 cups ice

Blend away (preferably in a Vitamix, or just chop everything small if you don't have a powerful blender) and enjoy.  Magical pruning reward system.  That should be its new name. And to boot, it actually helps the stomach (aloe and mint), so if you're having trouble in that area, you can tell them I told you this margarita smoothie is actually supposed to do you good....

Almond Milk...

I love this every which way...simply, with just almonds for a purist's delight, or with some cacao added in for chocolate milk, with or without a sweetener (dates usually), or maybe when you're feeling wild you can add cinnamon, cardamom, and clove for a chai effect.  Either way, it's SO much better for you than cow's milk, without all the bovine growth hormones and antibiotics that your body will go for weeks trying to sort out of your system.  I say keep it simple, plant-based, and you'll reap the benefits.  


You want to soak your raw almonds overnight in the fridge (or outside is fine if it's not too humid/hot), submerged in plenty of water.  When you take them out in the morning, you can either rub the skins off or leave them in for added nutrients/flavor/fiber.  I just leave them on and don't fuss with it.  These soaked almonds have a great taste, and in my opinion, are much more digestible than their raw un-soaked counterparts. They're crunchy but filled with water and because of that, they hydrate you more than un-soaked nuts.


You can use any kind of nut, typically, but I like the hard nuts better - cashews, almonds, hazelnuts, etc.  


Just so you know, if you don't strain the milk of its pulp, you reap more nutrition. The recipes below call to strain the pulp out (which you can always dehydrate into cookies, or save, dry out, and grind into a flour), but I typically don't for my taste.  I like the added protein. You can experiment and see which you like better.  

1 cup dried almonds, hazelnuts, or cashews

Enough water to soak

and 5 cups purified water to make the milk

Basic recipe:  Soak your nuts overnight, drain and rinse, and place them in the vitamix with the 5 cups of water.  Pulse for a few minutes until blended, strain through a nut milk bag or a spouter bag, and enjoy. This should keep up to 5 days in the fridge.  


Sweetened almond vanilla milk:  Soak your nuts overnight, drain and rinse, and place them in the vitamix with the 5 cups of water.  Add 6-8 pitted dates, and 2 tablespoons vanilla extract.  Pulse for a few minutes until blended, strain through a nut milk bag or a sprouter bag, and enjoy. This should keep up to 5 days in the fridge. 


Chocolate milk:  Soak your nuts overnight, drain and rinse, and place them in the vitamix with the 5 cups of water.  Add 6-8 pitted dates, 1/3 cup cacao, and 2 tablespoons vanilla extract.  Pulse for a few minutes until blended, strain through a nut milk bag or a spouter bag, and enjoy. This should keep up to 5 days in the fridge.   


Also, you can have heated milk and still call it raw...heat up the milk on the stove just about a minute or so, and test it by being able to poke your finger in it.  If it feels warm, then it's perfect, and you've saved yourself the enzymes.  Drink up!

My Morning Green Wake Up Call Shake...

Welcome to my morning green shake, which consists of wonderful life and colorful foods.  Sometimes the recipe varies (will include more recipes of this shake later on) but this is one of my favorite.  This shake is UBER creamy and smooth and it satisfies my need for fats/oils (from the avocado).  It's fresh from the cucumber and sometimes spicy from the sprouts, and if you can believe it, by way of the cacao nibs, I actually get to eat chocolate in the morning!  And not have to hide it ;) Most if not all of the following is organic, and good for the soul.  I drink one large glass of this when I get hungry in the morning (not always when I get up, but most often 1 hour after I get up) and I chew every bite (you digest in the mouth, right?). The remaining shake I put in glass jars and save for the rest of the day, but try to finish it in 24 hours or else it oxidizes too fast.  Blend the following ingredients in the following order (I use a vitamix), and enjoy!

2 cups of fresh water
1-2 collard leaves
2 kale leaves (blend these first three ingredients together first before adding the rest). 

add 1 peeled cucumber  and the meat from 1 avocado (then blend)

add a handful of green sprouts (alfalfa, etc.), 
1 banana, 
and 1 tablespoon unsweetened coconut (then blend).

Blend until smooth.  Decorate with unsweetened coconut and raw cacao nibs, crumbled.