Magenta Dream Salad

A delicious kale salad, plus an orange segmenting tutorial!

This is one of my all-time favourite salads (although I love all salads with fruit, avocado and nuts). It's sweet, slightly creamy, fresh, crunchy, contains jicama, and is an absolutely gorgeous shade of pink!

This also contains kale, which we should all know by know is a powerhouse of vegetable nutrition, and also tastes great in salads after a good massage.

This is my first dinner in my month-long raw food experiment, and it was delicious! I did have to eat about half of it before I was full, but I didn't mind one bit! I know tahini isn't raw (unless you specifically buy raw tahini), but I'm going to allow myself a few small cheats, as long as they're only condiments and I don't have them too often, or too much of them at once.

First of all, if you don't know how to segment an orange, here's how:

first, slice off the top an bottom

then cut off the rind with a knife, cutting in a bit of a curve to
get all the pith

your orange should know look like this

cut the orange out from between the membrane

 I usually like to cut the orange segments in half so more bites have orange in them, but this is optional.

Magenta Dream Salad

Ingredients

2 bunches kale, thinly sliced
1 fennel bulb, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced
2 medium-smallish beets, grated
1/2 small jicama, cut however you want (I can never figure out the best way to cut jicama for salad, so just do whatever you think is best. I cut it into flat squares)

use about this much ginger, or more

3 oranges, 1 zested
1 tsp grated ginger
1 avocado, thinly sliced, slices cut into quarters, the riper it is the creamier the salad will be
2 Tbsp raw apple cider vinegar
2 Tbsp olive oil
pinch of salt
pepper, to taste
1 tsp honey, optional
2 Tbsp tahini
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped (toast them if you're not eating raw)

Directions

1. Whisk together the vinegar, olive oil, tahnini, salt, pepper, honey (if using), ginger, and orange zest.

2. Put the kale in a bowl or on a large cutting board. Pour the dressing over it.

3. Cut the segments out of the oranges over the kale, so the juice falls on it. Once all the segments are cut, squeeze the remaining pulpy stuff so the juice falls on the kale, then discard.

4. Using your hands, squeeze the kale and mix it up with dressing; "massage" it.

5. Toss the kale with the fennel, beets, jicama, orange segments, and walnuts.

6. Eat it right away, or allow to marinate for stronger flavours and softer kale. Kale salads keep well without turning limp and soggy like lettuce salads.

7. Enjoy!

before tossing

after tossing

This post has been shared with Healthy Vegan Fridays.

Guacamole Zucchini Noodles

The main reason I bought a mandoline was to make zucchini noodles. And I have to say, they are amazing! They taste great, and they have that noodle-y feel, and they're healthy! What's not to love? Spiralizers and julienne peelers also work, but I wanted a multi-purpose tool. Too bad it's extremely dull and can't cut much. Oh well. I guess that's what I get for buying the cheapest mandoline available. Makes great zoodles, though.

I wanted to keep these raw for the health benefits. I also thought a creamy sauce would taste much better than a tomato-based one, and wouldn't be as watery. I've eaten spaghetti squash with tomato sauce, and trust me, it isn't good. So I just tossed the noodles with some leftover guacamole and served it with tomatoes and leftover pork for a delicious and super-quick dinner. The creaminess of the guacamole, the fresh, sweet, and acidic flavour of the tomatoes, and the rich, crispy, salty meatiness of the pork went wonderfully together to create this delicious dish!

If you want to make this dish raw and/or vegan, just leave out the pork, it'll still be good!

Zucchini Noodles with Guacamole

makes 1 serving

Ingredients

3 very small zucchini, cut into noodles

1/2 avocado

lime juice, to taste

salt, to taste

1 tomato, cut into thin wedges

cooked pork meat, preferably fatty and crispy, chopped and heated

Directions

1. Mash the avocado with a fork or puree in a food processor, for a creamier sauce.

2. Add lime juice and salt to taste. Mix it all together.

3. Toss the zucchini noodles with the guacamole.

4. Garnish with the tomato and top with the pork.

5. Enjoy!

Spinach, "Rice", and Egg Soup

This is a very simple, yummy soup. The inspiration comes from a recipe in the De Luca's cookbook. Enjoy!

Spinach, "Rice", and Egg Soup

Ingredients

9 cups stock (chicken is best)

1 cauliflower, riced (chopped in a food processor until it's the texture of rice)

1 Tbsp olive oil

4 cups spinach, coarsely chopped

4 eggs

1/4 cup nutritional yeast

fresh grated nutmeg, to taste

salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

1. Bring the stock to a boil in a large soup pot.

2. Add the cauliflower and simmer until tender.

3. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a pan and cook the spinach until wilted. Set aside to cool.

4. Whisk the eggs with the nutritional yeast, nutmeg, salt and pepper.

5. Mix in the spinach.

6. Stir the egg mixture into the stock. Let the soup heat up for a few minutes.

7. Taste and adjust seasonings. 

8. Serve with a sprinkle of extra nutritional yeast, if desired.

Chinese Beansprout Salad

There are often times, usually a few days before the next grocery shopping trip is planned, were I start running out of fresh vegetables. At these times, beansprouts can be a lifesaver. I sprout my own, so the bag of dried beans is always sitting ready for me in my cupboard. It takes a bit of pre-planning, but beansprouts really help to stretch the last bits of fresh produce in my fridge until more can be bought. Did I mention that beansprouts are really healthy? Yeah, they contain protein, they're low in calories, and they've got tons of enzymes. Raw foodists love them because they're the most "live" food you can eat. (Unless you eat a live bug, but I don't think anyone really wants to do that on a regular basis.)

This is one way I enjoy beansprouts. They're also really good with some leftover roasted winter squash and peas.

Chinese Beansprout Salad

1 cup mung beansprouts

1/2 red bell pepper, chopped

1 carrot, grated

1/2 cup sugar snap peas, chopped

1 tsp rice wine vinegar

1 tsp organic tamari, nama shoyu, or coconut aminos

1 tsp sesame oil

1/2 tsp grated fresh ginger (or less, to taste)

pinch of red pepper flakes

optional: a few grinds of pepper (I like to put pepper in everything)

1. Whisk together the tamari, vinegar, oil, ginger, red pepper flakes, and optional pepper.

2. Combine the beansprouts, carrot, bell pepper, and sugar snap peas.

3. Pour the dressing over the salad and toss to combine.

Middle Eastern Lettuce Wraps

Lettuce wraps are delicious and middle eastern food is delicious, so the combination is natural. I love things like falafel, lamb kabob, and chicken shawarma, but since those usually come with refined wheat pita bread and meat of unknown origins, I don't really enjoy them very often (although I could eat falafel more often, it's just that with my mini food processor it's too much work, and deep frying them tastes best but that requires lots of expensive fat and I'm too lazy.)

Chicken shawarma from the best Lebanese place in the city, Baraka Pita Bakery.
So good, but the chicken was almost certainly fed GMOs and the pita is made from wheat. :'(

Anyway, if you're lazy like me and don't want to spend lots of money on pastured meat and paleo almond meal wraps, you can still make use of the fresh goodeness of middle eastern food. Just make lettuce wraps! Admittedly, they won't be as good as the beef donair or lamb kabob from Baraka, but they still taste good, and they're healthier, cheaper, and easier to finish. So get some fresh veggies and enjoy some delicious lettuce wraps!

Middle Eastern Lettuce Wraps

Lettuce wraps are a very imprecise, so just stuff as much stuff in the lettuce as you want, the amounts don't really matter.

Ingredients

10 large leaves romaine lettuce
1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
1 or 2 tomatoes, cut into wedges or slices, or cherry tomatoes, halved
1/2 english cucumber, thinly sliced lengthwise and cut in half crosswise
20 kalamata olives, cut in chunks
about 20 lactofermented rutabaga strips

tahini sauce

1/4 cup tahini

juice of 1/2 a lemon

1 clove garlic, minced

salt, to taste

cayenne, to taste

2 Tbsp olive oil

water, to thin

2 tsp za'atar

optional: hummus, chickpeas, lamb, or chicken can be added to make the wraps more filling, and green onions, parsley and lebanese pickles would also be good additions, and if you don't want to use lactofermented rutabaga, you could just use pickled turnips, which are more traditional (see, this recipe is flexible!)

Directions

1. To make the tahini sauce, just whisk everything together or combine in a food processor or blender. Add enough water to achieve your desired consistency. If you're whisking, the tahini may clump a bit, just add more water or stir it for a little longer.

2. Distribute the vegetables (and olives and optional additions) evenly in each of the lettuce leaves. Place them in the bottom half, where the stem is stiffer.

3. Drizzle with the sauce.

4. Fold the top half over and fold the sides under.

5. Serve, with more tahini sauce if desired.

Garden Vegetable Nori Rolls

Nori rolls are great for lunches, snacks, or side dishes! You get all your veggies conveniently wrapped up in a sheet of seaweed, which itself is very healthy. They're also super easy to make, no special sushi equipment required!

Garden Vegetable Nori Rolls

Ingredients

1/2 bell pepper, thinly sliced

1/2 carrot, shredded

3 inch piece of cucumber, julienne

1 avocado, thinly sliced

3 romaine leaves or the equivalent in other lettuce, thinly sliced (or if you're using baby greens, just leave them whole)

1 tomato, thinly sliced

4 nori sheets

optional: anything from your garden! spinach, zucchini, snap peas, even sprouts!

Directions

1. Have a nori sheet in front of you, shiny side down, with the lines running horizontally.

2. Place 1/4 of the sliced avocado near the bottom of one of the nori sheets. (you could also mash the avocado and spread it on. Leftover guacamole works great for this!)

3. Pile on 1/4 of each of the remaining toppings.

4. Starting at the bottom, roll everything in the nori tightly to create a firm roll. Dab a little water on the last centimeter from the end to help the nori stick.

5. Repeat for the other 3 rolls.

6. Starting with the first roll you made, slice crosswise with a very sharp knife. (I don't have a sharp enough chef's knife, so I usually use a sharp serrated knife.)

 

Avocado Sauerkraut Nori Rolls

This is one of my favourite nori rolls! Avocado and sauerkraut taste great together, and it's an easy way to consume more lactofermented foods. If you have some on hand, try adding some cucumber matchsticks, it's delicious!

Avocado Sauerkraut Nori Rolls

Ingredients

1/2 avocado, thinly sliced

1/4 cup sauerkraut

2 cups of mixed lettuce, or more (however much you can pack into the roll!)

2 nori sheets
optional: some cucumber, cut into matchsticks

Directions

1. Have a nori sheet in front of you, shiny side down, with the lines running horizontally.

2. Place 1/2 of the sliced avocado near the bottom of one of the nori sheets. (you could also mash the avocado and spread it on. Leftover guacamole works great for this!)

3. Pile on 1/2 of the sauerkraut and greens, and cucumber if using.

4. Starting at the bottom, roll everything in the nori tightly to create a firm roll. Dab a little water on the last centimeter from the end to help the nori stick.

5. Repeat for the other roll.

6. Starting with the first roll you made, slice crosswise with a very sharp knife. (I don't have a sharp enough chef's knife, so I usually use a sharp serrated knife.)

If it's really difficult to cut, wait a few minutes for the
avocado to soften the nori

Super easy and delicious! 

Spring Salad

A yummy, crunchy, fresh salad filled with springtime vegetables! Now, if only the weather would cooperate and realize that it really is spring! Anyway, even if the sunshine's running a bit late, this is a very enjoyable and filling salad that will make you dream of melting snow. Maybe it can even distract you long enough for spring to come. If only.

I find that the ripe avocado and lemon juice makes enough of a dressing to coat the vegetables and leave the salad with a light, mild, fresh taste, but if you like you can add some pepper and a drizzle of olive oil if you want it to be less light and mild. Just do so sparingly.

Black-Eyed Pea Chopped Spring Salad

Ingredients

1 stalk of celery, chopped

1/3 cup cooked black eyed peas

1/2 avocado, cut into a dice

1 large radish, chopped

1/2 cup or more sugar snap peas, coarsely chopped

2 inch chunk of cucumber, chopped

1 romaine heart, thinly sliced or chopped

1/4 large fennel bulb (or 1/2 a small one), chopped

fronds from the fennel bulb, chopped

1 green onion, thinly sliced

juice of 1/2 a small lemon

optional: other fresh herbs

Directions

1. Toss everything together.

2. If the black eyed peas you used weren't salted, add a bit of salt to the lemon juice before tossing with the rest of the salad.

Ginger-Lemon Salmon Veggie Salad

This is a delicious, fresh tasting salad. It can be made all raw if you use raw (sushi-grade) salmon, or leave it out altogether. It's crunchy, yummy and healthy!

This was originally meant to be a seaweed salad, since I'm trying to get more seaweed into my diet, but I kept adding so many other ingredients that the seaweed went from being the star of the dish to just another vegetable in the salad. Personally, I think it's much better this way, because you're still consuming super healthy seaweed, but the taste (which many find disagreeable) is mostly covered up. Feel free to add more seaweed if you actually like the taste, and be grateful that you do. Not all of us are so lucky.

Seaweed Salmon and Vegetable Salad

Ingredients

213g can of wild salmon

1/2 up to 2 cups seaweed, any kind, soaked (soaking time will vary with seaweed variety)

1/2 cucumber, cut into thin matchsticks

1 bell pepper, yellow or red or a combination, sliced very thinly

1 carrot, cut into strips with a vegetable peeler (or cut into very fine julienne)

1 avocado, half of it cut into small chunks, other half reserved

3-5 leaves romaine, very thinly sliced

1-inch knob of ginger

juice of 1/2 lemon

salt and pepper, to taste

pinch of red pepper flakes

Directions

1. Drain the seaweed, flake the salmon with a fork. Combine salmon, seaweed, cucumber, bell pepper, carrot, the cut half of the avocado, and the romaine in a large bowl.

2. Combine the remaining ingredients in a food processor or blender. Puree until smooth. Taste and adjust seasonings, if needed.

3. Pour dressing over the salad and toss to combine. Enjoy!

Optional: top with toasted sesame or sunflower seeds

St. Patrick's Day Very Green Veggie Saute

It's not St. Patrick's Day anymore, but I'll share the recipe anyway! It's not even much of a recipe really; the great thing about sautes is that you can throw just about anything in them and it'll taste great! Vegetable sautes are quick, healthy, yummy, versatile and very flexible. Any kind of green vegetable will work, but these are the ones I used:

Green Veggie Saute

Ingredients

1/2 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 small zucchini, halved lengthwise and sliced
1 stalk of celery, sliced
1 small head of broccoli, chopped
1 bunch kale, sliced
herbs, fresh and dried, to taste (I used green onions, parsley, and dried sage, thyme and marjoram)
salt and pepper, to taste
fat to saute in

Directions

1. Heat the fat in a saute pan to medium heat.

2. Add the onions. Saute until just light brown.

3. Add the garlic and celery, cook for a few minutes.

4. Add the zucchini and broccoli. Cover and cook until almost tender. Add some water or broth if the vegetables are in danger of burning.

5. Add the kale, herbs, salt and pepper. Stir everything until the kale is wilted and the rest of the vegetables are tender.

6. Serve, either as a light main course (probably for lunch), a side dish, or as a more filling main course topped with meat of fish.

Who needs neon green cupcakes when you can have something so delicious and healthy for St. Patrick's Day? Load up on the greens, any day of the year!

Dairy-Free Cream of Spinach Soup

This soup is fast and easy, and it tastes really great, although I found that it tasted a bit more like cauliflower cheddar soup than spinach soup. It's weird, because I didn't add anything cheesy, and the only thing that was creamy was the coconut milk (I know, coconut milk in spinach soup sounds weird, but it actually tastes really good!), but I guess as long as it tastes good that's all that matters. And it definitely tastes good! Maybe if you add more spinach it'll taste more like cream of spinach soup? Whatever, here's the recipe:

Cream of Spinach Soup

Ingredients

-1 or 2 Tbls coconut oil or other cooking fat

-1 large onion, chopped

-3 cloves of garlic, chopped

-1 head of cauliflower, coarsely chopped

-about 10 cups of stock (I used turkey but chicken or vegetable would work too)

-about 3 pounds spinach or other leafy greens, coarsely chopped (I just used a giant costco bag of spinach and a bunch of swiss chard)

-1 can full-fat coconut milk

-fresh nutmeg

-salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

1. Heat the coconut oil in a large soup pot. When the oil is hot, add the onions and saute on medium-low until lightly browned. 

2. Add the garlic, saute for about a minute.

3. Add the cauliflower and pour the stock over everything. Turn the heat up, cover, and simmer until the cauliflower is tender. 

4. Add the spinach and cook until it wilts.

5. With a stick blender, blend the soup until smooth.

6. Add the coconut milk, grate some nutmeg into the soup and add salt and pepper. Give the soup another few seconds of blending.

7. Taste and adjust seasonings, then serve.

serves about 10

Tastes great with a sprinkling of nutritional yeast too!

Chinese Vegetable Soup

My first recipe! It's a soup, which I thought would be fitting. One thing that I want to mention about my recipes: I make these up as I go along, so feel free to make substitutions where you see fit. Also, I never measure anything, some add things to taste as the measurements might not be completely accurate. Anyway, onto the recipe! I made it with pork stock, since I had half a frozen pig's skull (from a previously roasted pig's head) and some frozen pork feet, and there's not much else to do with those things other than make a delicious, extremely gelatinous stock! But you can use whichever kind of stock you want.

Look at all that wonderful, healthy gelatin!

  

The Ingredients

Chinese Pork and Vegetable Soup

  -a few tablespoons of sesame oil, or other fat (I used a combination of sesame oil and self-rendered lard)

  -2 large onions, chopped

  -5 cloves of garlic, minced

  -2-inch knob of ginger, peeled and minced

  -3 stalks celery, thinly sliced on a bias

  -4 carrots, chopped (you can also slice these on a   bias, if you prefer)

  -1 head of bok choy, thinly sliced

                 

 

Celery sliced on a bias

  -1 bell pepper, chopped

  -1 large box of mushrooms, any kind (I used    about twice as much as are pictured)

-stock, as much as required to achieve desired liquidy-ness

-1 cooked spaghetti squash, separated into strands

-a large pinch of red pepper flakes

-salt and pepper, to taste

-organic tamari, to taste (I didn't use any because soy isn't allowed on the whole30, but obviously it would make this soup taste much more Chinese) all soy that isn't organic is genetically modified!

 

Directions
 1. Heat the sesame oil/fat in a large soup pot (make sure it's REALLY large, or do what I had to do, and use 2 pots. This recipe makes a lot of soup). When the sesame oil is hot, add the onions and saute on medium heat until lightly browned.
2. Add garlic and ginger, and cook for a few minutes.
3. Add the celery, carrots, and bok choy stalks (reserve the leaves for later use). Cook for a few minutes.
4. Meanwhile, in a separate pot/pan, heat some more sesame oil/fat and saute the mushrooms on high heat until browned. (You could skip this step, and just add the mushrooms in with the peppers, but I think sauteing them separately gives them a nicer taste and texture.) When the mushroom are done, add them to the pot with the other vegetables.
5. Add the bell pepper. 
6. Pour in enough stock to cover the vegetables, or more if you want your soup more soupy. 
7. Add the bok choy leaves and the spaghetti squash. Cook until all the vegetables are tender.
8. Season to taste with red pepper flakes, salt, pepper, and tamari. Add some powdered ginger if the soup if you want the soup to taste more gingery. A splash of rice wine vinegar might be nice too, but I didn't try it.

Makes about 12 servings.

Enjoy!