I haven't been the healthiest person lately and I'm certainly not doing very well as a wannabe raw foodist, but along with my "bad" food, I've been eating lots of the usual fruits and vegetables.
I've been putting my food processor in good use. I'm SO in love with it that I've used it every day the pass week and I can't believe I lasted years without one! For some reason last week I really enjoyed pureeing my food. For lunch and dinner I often processed my fruits and vegetables together and it was a nice pudding like texture. It was a great change from chewing salads. I must have been having a bad stomach week because pureeing all my food was friendly on my sensitive belly as well. Looking back now I realize I didn't use a single ounce of oil or salt dressing on my food because pureeing brought out the natural flavor of the fruits and veggies!
If anyone has a food processor I HIGHLY recommend pureeing apples, carrots, and spinach together. It sounds strange and it turns out very green, but the taste is fruity and oh, so good! To that mixture I added some cinnamon and it was almost dessert like. Mmm...just writing about it makes me want to eat it again. I know what lunch will be tomorrow hehe.
Ok, on to to what I've learned (amateur me) how to do recently. To make my food more decorative, I've learned that there are 3 things you can do: Stacking, Stuffing, and Rolling. I've done the rolling recently with my raw "sushi", so I decided it was time I did the other 2.
Stuffing is pretty simple. Put something soft into something harder. In this case, I stuffed hummus into green peppers. For some reason my tahini that I add to the hummus is slightly on the sweeter side, but the sweeter hummus complimented the bitter/tart taste of green peppers. I'm actually not a huge fan of raw green peppers, but this made them very easy to eat. They were good enough that I even snacked on them the next day.
On to stacking. This was really fun! I first had to start with a paste to add in between my "stacks." I got this idea for a Bean Pesto in a magazine. I used whatever I had on hand. It happened to be Arugula, another green leafy veg that I only know the Japanese name for, and Edamame. Threw it all in the food processor along with some dried basil, oregano, pepper and dash of salt.
Processed everything until smooth. It was a little too bitter for my liking so I added my strangely sweet tahini and it balanced everything out perfectly!
Now the fun part! Stack, Stack, Stack!
Tomato slice, bean pesto, cucumber slice, tomato slice, bean pesto, and just for fun garnished the top with some eringi mushrooms. Drizzled (accidental doused) some balsamic vinegar and WALA! It tasted very good. Unfortunately, I made this yesterday for lunch, which means Motozo couldn't enjoy it with me :(
This will be a good entree one day, some day, if ever I host a dinner party (haha fat chance!) With a little more practice I think I can make this look even better.
Vegetables aren't the only thing I've made recently. Of course, I can't forget dessert! Lately, I've been REALLY wanting chocolate. It doesn't help that Motozo has had a box of chocolates on the kitchen counter now for weeks and I don't think he ever plans to eat it. But I KNOW as soon as I put it in the cupboard he'll ask me where it went. So, I leave it out for him in case he decides he wants to eat it them one day.
Anyway, I decided to try out a simple chocolate recipe that I've been eyeing lately online. I had all the ingredients on hand and had the added incentive of using my new glass mixing bowls. Lovely eh?
The ingredients: Shredded coconut, unsweetened cocoa, maple syrup, dash of vanilla and cinnamon and Chia seeds.
Threw everything into a bowl, stir, and look at that chocolate delight! Vegan, semi raw and healthy.....alright, maybe not extremely healthy, but certainly better than your standard store bought chocolate though.
I transferred everything into a Tupperware and put it in the freezer to harden. The beauty about this is that it doesn't freeze rock solid, but hardens up to a perfect texture!
Of course, I couldn't resist licking the mixing bowl clean before washing it. It was SO good!
The next day, which was today, I spooned some out, garnished it with some frozen blueberries and OMG! Chocolate orgasm! Even Motozo, who mind you, is not big on sweets, said this was a very addictive flavor! I think it could have been better with a little less maple syrup as I prefer
The next day, which was today, I spooned some out, garnished it with some frozen blueberries and OMG! Chocolate orgasm! Even Motozo, who mind you, is not big on sweets, said this was a very addictive flavor! I think it could have been better with a little less maple syrup as I prefer
a little darker chocolate over uber sweet choco. But it certainly hit the spot on my chocolate craving and I think I'm all chocolate out (in a good way) for this week. The great thing is I have half a Tupperware of this goodness still in the freezer which I can dig into whenever the craving comes back. HAPPY HAPPY!
One more photo of the chocolate just for the sake of it....even though it highlights the blueberries.
Gosh, I seriously am becoming food obsessed, but I'm having a grand old time!
My next challenge - Making almond milk!
OOOOO this is such a great post, so many new things and tips! Stuffing and stacking, that's an amazing idea! And arugula...all the top chef shows they make that for salads and I"m always wondering what it is!!
ReplyDeleteThe images look amazing too you're getting your photography mojo back! LOOOVE the blueberry shot, it's like nom nom nom nom. That chocolate is also so easy to make I gotta get me some raw cacao powder.
You're such a chef! That tomato dish looks beautiful, and love how you stacked mushrooms ontop, genius :D, I'll put you to work in our kitchen when you visit lol and those bowls are awesome, gotta get those too!! The purree doesnt' sound too hot, reminds me of mushy baby food...but hmm I gotta get a food processor big time for baby foods and all those pastes you're making, I have nice organic tahini just sitting in the fridge untouched!
I'm glad you liked it Lils haha.
ReplyDeleteMotozo says I'm becoming a little food crazy and he doesn't mean it in a good way ha.
Arugula is a nice salad leaf. In my opinion its pretty bitter so I always need to mix it up with a different leaf. The bitterness got to mean its good for you though eh?
Yeah, the pureeing really did remind me of baby food haha. Hence, no photos for it. But I would def look into a food processor! Its so versatile and before you know it you'll be using it a lot and trying out tons of different things. But for pureeing baby food, maybe you should ask your other mother friends if a hand held blender is better. I'm really not sure about it. There is an AWESOME blender called Vitamix which puree's food to a pulp beautifully! Its one of those really expensive ones that almost all raw food people have because they can use it as a food processor and blender. One day I will treat myself to it.
I'm getting back into my photography but its a little hard having a real simple camera that doesn't have a lot of shooting option. but oh, well, I make do with what I have.
Today I planning to make a raw apple pie and will post how that goes :)