Pepper Paints

Thursday’s Recipe …. Raw Butternut Squash Rice

Isn’t this the most beautiful dish?? And it’s tasty too!

1 small butternut squash peeled and seeded and cut into 2 inch cubes

1/2 an onion

1 T cumin seeds **** see my senior moment note below

1 T corriander

1/2 cup cilantro

1 cup dry cranberries

1 cup crushed walnuts

salt

So I mixed up this wonderful mixture and ate it. And it was really good. BUT because I just copied the ingredients from the Crunchy Bits (Fall Harvest Squash Rice) post and didn’t pay attention to the fact that it called for cumin seeds –mine did taste a bit dusty! -and that she also put her squash in the food processor! As you can see-I did not. But still it was good. I did think it needed something wet with it or on it. I bet processing the squash made it more moist. Today I may add some cut up apple or an orange to my bowl full. Mmmmm (also I skipped the walnuts because we are sensitive to them)

Either way–a beautiful dish to eat!

Thursday’s Recipe ….. Raw Pad Thai With Kelp Noodles

Kelp noodles=heaven! Oh my, I can’t believe how good these are. Excellent texture! If you are local you can buy them at the Clintonville Community Market on Crestview.

I know every week I rave about how good my recipes are—and I am biased because I really do like to eat—but this Pad Thai is awesome!!!

For 1 package of kelp noodles

4 to 5 Tablespoons  nut butter

1 Tablespoon hot sauce

1 Tablespoon honey

1 Tablespoon tamari1 teaspoon vinegar

2 teaspoons seseme oil

1/4 cup of water

juice of 1 lime

I rinsed my kelp noodles and put them in a bowl then I  put all the above  ingredients in my vita-mix and poured it over my noodles.

Next I cut up lots of veggies and tons of cilantro. You can use any veggies you choose-I used red cabbage, scallions, pea pods, chard, shiitake mushrooms. Sprinkle a few cashews on top. Let the pad thai sit for ten or so  minutes to soften the noodles.

I have been participating in the green smoothie challenge this week.  I often drink green smoothies but not daily. I must admit I don’t really love green smoothies. But I wanted to see if I would see any benefits to drinking them daily for 2 weeks. I will let you know!

Thursday’s Recipe ….. Sprouting

Often times my kitchen looks like a laboratory with various nuts and or seeds soaking or sprouting on the counter tops.

Where to start—

So why sprout?  Sprouts are full of nutrition–They are alive, vitamin and mineral content doubles or triple!!  Sprouting pre-digests the nut or seed and  activates living enzymes which also assist in digestion.

What to sprout? Almost anything! Use untreated, unbroken nuts, grain or seed–not seeds treated for planting purposes. Anything out of the bulk bins will probably sprout.

What equipment  do you need? Any container that provides drainage. You can buy nut and seed mesh bags for sprouting or use mason jars with old tights or nylons on the top secured with a rubber band for draining or you can buy a jar with a screen lid or for larger beans/grains I have used a bowl strainer/colander combination.

How do I sprout? Choose something simple to start off with-   Easy beans–mung beans, garbanzo, lentil, kidney, aduki Easy seeds—alfalfa, clover, radish, mustard, feugreek      Easy grains—-whole barley, wheat berries, kamut berries, rye, quinioa  Best nuts—almonds, sunflowers, filberts

For 1 qt finished sprouts measure out:    small seeds 2-3 rounded Tablespoons — Medium Seeds 1/4-1/2 cup —-Larrger beans and grains 1 cup —sunflower seeds 2 cups

Pour into jar or strainer, fill with good water,  let soak over night    Drain using a screen, nylon or strainer of some sort.  Rinse and drain again.  Continue rinsing 2 to 3 times per day for 4 to 7 days depending on the temperature-until desired sprout length. Keep in a darker spot for days 1 through 3 And for the last 2 to 3 days place in a sunny spot to activate their green chlorophyll.  Drain and keep in the fridge for about 7 days.

Once you get started it’s super easy to sprout!  You can eat them raw in salads or on sandwiches (PB&J w/ alfalfa sprouts is a favorite of mine!!) You can add them to soups or puree to make pate or hummus. You can go on to cook sprouted beans and sprouted grains can be dried and ground into flour.  I have a recipe for the mung bean sprouts in the first photo that I will be making tonight! I love to use sprouted quinoa to make tabouli.  Happy Sprouting!

******Fermented Foods update from last week*********

I just tasted them again today and the carrots definitely have a bit of a zing to them but still not enough-I will taste again in a couple of days. The cabbage is now a beautiful purple color but not too tangy yet. The temperature hasn’t been too warm so I think that might keep things from moving along and fermenting. If I had to eat them now they would be tasty but I am hoping for a little more “sour” zest to them! I promise to keep you posted.

Thursday’s Recipe …… Gado-Gado (only it’s friday)

This recipe is from Moosewood Cookbook

Sauce Ingredients:

2 T butter

1 cup chopped onion

2 medium garlic cloves

1 bay leaf

1 to 2 t freshly grated gingerroot

1/2 to 1 teaspoon salt

1 cup good peanut butter (although any nut butter would work)

juice of 1 lemon

1 T honey

1 T cider vinegar

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper or to taste

dash of tamari

Other ingredients:

shredded cabbage steamed or raw

carrots

broccoli

mung bean sprouts

tofu-raw or sauteed with sesame seeds

hard cooked egg quarters

fresh spinach leaves

Heat butter-add onions, garlic, bay leaf, ginger and salt. Cook until onions are tender. Stir in 3 cups of water and remaining sauce ingredients. Simmer on lowest heat 30 minutes-stir occasionally. Pour sauce over veggies.

My 2 cents—-decrease the water by at least a cup. I wished the sauce was a bit thicker. As I said above any nut butter can be used.  I used all raw veggies and included kale and chard but no cabbage or spinach this time. This is good cold too! It travels well-always a good addition to a pot luck. I have had this over noodles too-yummy!

Thursday’s Recipe… Raw Apple Crumble & Banana Ice Cream

OOps I see it’s been a week since I last posted. We have been busy skiing, cooking and eating and trying out some new homeschool classes. I have been spending way too much time in front of the computer changing email addresses and joining a new blog group (more on that soon).  I hope to post more projects in the coming weeks.

We have been eating this for breakfast and dessert this week. It tastes like a home baked treat but really it is healthy enough to enjoy any time of the day. Or even multiple times!

Apple Crumble

You will need a 9×13 pan and about 10 apples

In a food processor puree 1/2 cup of raisins (I used 1/2 dates and 1/2 raisins), 2 lbs apples (about 10 small apples) with skin on, 1 tsp cinnamon

Line the pan with this mixture

For the crumble process 4 oz almonds, 5 oz pecans, 4oz oat groats soaked 8 to 12 hrs and 2-3 oz honey or agave. Add more dry oats if this is too wet.

Crumble over top of apples.

For the banana ice cream break up 4 frozen bananas into the food processor and blend until they reach a creamy consistency. This will take a while so be patient.

We added 1/2 a scraped pod of vanilla beans and a few squares of dark chocolate for chocoalte chip ice cream. Even my picky, junk food loving, husband like this ice cream!

I have seen many different additions to this ice cream–chia seeds, nuts, fruit–frozen or dried, carob powder or almond butter. I think next time I will add some mint leaves to make a mint chocolate chip.

This ice cream is really smooth and creamy and the banana flavor is not overwhelming at all.

Thursday’s Recipe—Stuffed Peppers Go Raw

Oooo these were so good and so easy!

I don’t have exact measurements because I threw this together.

Throw some raw cauliflower into your food processor and process until it is like grains of rice. Then do the same for a few large carrots.

Next I threw about a cup of raw sunflower seeds into the processor with a large handful of parsley and the tops of the peppers that I was stuffing. Mix all together.

Now for the sauce:  I used all the ripe cherry tomatoes I had, but could have used more!

Process them with a few cloves of garlic, 1/4 to 1/2 of a purple onion, some (1/4 c?) olive oil, salt, pepper, oregano, cayenne.

I added a few spoonfuls of sauce to the stuffing mixture and then stuffed the pepper spooning more sauce over the top.

Really good stuff!

Do you have a recipe to share? Leave a link to your recipe post in the comments!

Thursdays Quarter Recipe

Well that was fast…it’s apple time again! Recently we visited our favorite orchard for the first pick of the season (jonafree, scarlett o’hare and liberty).

We filled ourselves with apples and raspberries while we were there and brought a few bags home.

Now what to do with all those apples that are sitting on my counter?! Pies, drying, cake, sauce..the list goes on and on! This week  I am going to re-post a raw apple pie recipe that I plan to make tomorrow (for potluck)!  I have made it several times and every time it is delicious!!

You will need both a blender and a food processor. Because, I guess you can’t put liquid stuff in the food processor or it will seep out of every crack and crevasse..nobody told me that!

For the crust you will need

2 cups almonds-plus a few more for dusting the bottom

2 cups dates

1 teaspoon salt

Put a few almonds in the food processor and line your pie plate with almond dust

Next process the almonds dates and salt until they make a sticky mass. Dump them into a bowl and make it into a ball with your hands, try to form it into your pan shape as best you can-it will be crumbly-press itinto the bottom of you r pie plate.

For the Filling you will need

6-8 apples chopped-or thinly sliced

1 cup raisins and or cranberries

2 Tablespoons cinnamon

Combine in a bowl

For the Syrup for the filling you will need (this can be doubled-I did, because I lost most of it when I tried to make it in the food processor instead of the blender!)

1/2 cup of dates

1 large orange

1/4 cup of water

Blend this all up until smooth and pour over your filling.

Be sure to pit all your dates!!!

This was so delicious!! I even ate it for breakfast the next day and it was even better because the apples had softened a bit.

Try it you’ll like it!!!

If you have a recipe to share, leave a comment with a link to your recipe post!