On the menu to try today

BTW - LOVE this recipe blog! LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it!

I copied this recipe - looks great, can't wait to try it!

As you can see, the bottom is watermelon, topped with a thin layer of kiwi, a thick slab of pink lady apple (my fave; I wonder if my mom still has my old Pink Lady jacket she let me decorate when I was little), a ribbon of strawberry slices and a mango wedge. The "cake" is iced in a coco-banana pudding (check the bottom of this post for the recipe), sprinkled with coconut flakes (mom's favorite cake is German chocolate, which I rawified one year) and decorated with ripe raspberries.

Coco-banana Pudding

1 peeled banana

1 soft pitted date

2 Tbsp. cocoa powder

1 Tbsp. coconut butter

a dash of vanilla

a pinch of sea salt

Blend all the ingredients in a high-powered blender until smooth. Chill to set. Makes one serving of pudding, a small bowl of dip or enough icing to frost a small raw cake. The recipe can be doubled to suit your needs.

Creamed
Pattypan Spinach

Large handfuls

of fresh baby spinach

2 patty pan squash

1 Tbsp. EVOO,

plus extra for drizzling

Few squeezes of lemon juice

1 Tbsp. nutritional yeast

1 small clove of garlic

Dash of cayenne

Freshly grated nutmeg

Sea salt

Fresh ground pepper

Run a knife through some fresh baby spinach and add it to a bowl (keep in mind that the amount you put in the bowl will reduce substantially in the next step). Drizzle it with a little EVOO, a squeeze of lemon and some salt and pepper. Scrunch it with your hands and set aside to "cook" while you prepare the squash.

Slice the tops off of both squash as you would a pumpkin when making a jack-o-lantern. Then, with a melon-baller, scoop out the insides and add it to a high-speed blender, along with 1 Tbsp. EVOO, some lemon juice, nutritional yeast, garlic, cayenne, nutmeg, sea salt and pepper, to taste. Blend until smooth.

By hand, mix in the wilted/"cooked" spinach. Fill the hollowed squash with this mixture and top with some more fresh ground pepper and nutmeg.

This makes a beautiful presentation for the creamed spinach or for the "cream" by itself, which would be a lovely soup at a dinner party (you would have to make more than two, of course). As always, enjoy!

I was really feeling that I need to spend time with my children. Even though they are my buddies and follow me everywhere, I still feel that I am too busy working , running errands and when the night comes and they fall asleep I always regret that I didn't spend more time with it. So , heck it with the job! I will officially skip today ( because I asked for a short leave, but it was not welcomed very enthusiastically. Come on, people, don't we have some understanding here? Who jumps around on 9th month of pregnancy? Even I need a break sometimes... ). So, I decided - although DEFINITELY NOT my usual policy - but it's better to say sorry later then ask a permission, besides already tried. :) And since I am not the key element in the company anyway, I hope they won't even notice :) And considering that I have to be present on Saturday rehearsals for the Nutcracker 9 to 6pm ( ask me why - I am due to deliver the baby when they are performing. Obviously, I am not a part of the cast. Crazy politics! ), I feel totally justified for a day off. :)

So, since the morning, kiddoes and I were selecting different recipes we want to try over the weekend. We all feel like we again are falling into the routine of doing the same ol' thing over and over, and we are getting tired of it. So, here is what we came up with ( the key element was "simple", but not 10% successful. Oh, well, at least the weekend is coming) Don't have all ingredients, so I'll probably change things around a little. Well, off to the store to get what we need!

“Cheesy” crackers with peanut butter

For the cracker

1 cup carrot pulp

2 Tbsp. flaxseed, finely ground

1 Tbsp. nutritional yeast

sea salt (be generous)

For the "peanut butter"

2 Tbsp. almond butter

1 Tbsp. tahini

1 tsp. raw honey or agave nectar

½ tsp. lucuma

½ tsp. mesquite

dash of sea salt

Pumpkin Bread Ingredients

3/4 cup Almond Pulp*

1/4 cup Golden Flax Meal*

1 cup Pumpkin Puree*

1/2 cup Date Paste*

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. allspice

1/4 tsp. cloves

1/2 smidgen salt

Directions:

Mix by hand and form into a loaf about one and a half inches thick. Dehydrate at 105 degrees for 8 hours on a teflex sheet then remove the teflex sheet and dehydrate for additional 16 hours and enjoy!

Optional:

To make a dryer bread, slice the bread and dehydrate for an additional 8 hours.

To make almond pulp, make almond milk and strain out the pulp.

To make golden flax meal, put golden flax seeds in a dry blender and blend to a powder. Brown flax meal will also due just fine.

To make pumpkin puree, peel and seed a small pumpkin (don't worry about getting all the stringy part off), roughly chop the pumpkin, and toss it in the food processor. Process until it is a consistent texture, but it will never be smooth.

To make date paste, put pitted dates in either a blender or food processor and add as little water as possible to achieve a paste.

Mediterranean Almond Bread

Makes 18 'slices'

1/2c olive oil

1c sun dried tomatoes, loosely packed

3c almond flour*

1c flax meal

3 medium courgettes (zucchini), peeled & roughly chopped

2 apples, cored and roughly chopped

3T lemon juice

1t salt

3T Herbs De Provence or herbs of your choice

2T marjoram or herbs of your choice

*You can make almond flour a number of ways. My favourite is to save the pulp from any almond milk I make and dehydrate it so I can keep it in a glass jar until needed. You could also use the almond pulp wet. Another way would be just to grind some almonds into flour in a high powered blender or coffee mill.

- Process the olive oil, sun dried toms, courgette, apple, lemon juice, salt and dried herbs until thoroughly mixed.

- Add the almond flour and process again until a batter is formed.

- In a bowl mix the batter with the flax meal by hand. The reason you do this separately (not in the processor) is that you are likely to have too much mixture for the size if the processor at this point, and when you add the flax meal it will become quite heavy and sticky and overwork your machine.

- When mixed, process the whole batter in the machine again in small batches to achieve a light fluffy texture.

- Divide the mixture in 2 and place on Paraflexx sheets, on dehydrator trays.

- Use an offset spatula (aka offset palette knife or cranked palette knife) to spread the mixture evenly to all 4 sides and corners of the Paraflexx sheet. If mixture is too sticky you can wet the spatula to make things easier. With a knife score the whole thing into 9 squares.

- Dehydrate for 2 hours and then remove the Paraflexx sheets by placing another dehydrator tray and mesh on top and invert so that your original sheet of bread is upside down. That will allow you to peel the Paralexx sheet off and continue to dehydrate the underside of the bread.

- Dehydrate for approx 8 hours more (do this overnight so you're not tempted to eat it before it's ready) or until bread feels light in your hand. If the pieces don't fully come apart where you scored, use a knife to cut them.

So there you have it. Once you have this bread, the only limit you have is your imagination. I have made bread before and used lasagna leftovers to create 'cheese and tomato' sarnies, one of my all-time childhood faves!

Let me know your favorite fillings!!! :-)

Lasagne

Serves 9 large portions. Can be made in a 33 x 27cm -(or similar size) lasagne dish, or made as individual portions on the plate.

Nut Cheese

2c macadamias

1c pine nuts

2 T lemon juice

2 T nutritional yeast

2 yellow peppers

2T fresh parsley

1T fresh thyme

2t salt ½c water as needed

Process all ingredients together adding as little of the water as possible until a fluffy consistency is achieved.

Walnut Meat Layer

1 ½c walnuts soaked 1 hour or more

1c sun-dried tomatoes, soaked for 1 hour or more

2T dark/brown miso

2t dried oregano

2t dried sage

5T nama shoyu

½t cayenne pepper

2T olive oil

1T agave nectar

1t sea salt

Grind all ingredients in a food processor, leaving the mixture slightly chunky.

Tomato sauce

1 ½c sun dried tomatoes

2 soft dates

2 cloves garlic

2c tomato, seeded and chopped

1 ½T dried oregano

2t salt (depending on how salty your s/d toms are)

1/3c olive oil

2T lemon juice

Process in a food processor until smooth.

Green pesto

2 c tightly packed basil leaves

¾c pine nuts or walnuts

½c olive oil

1t salt

1 clove garlic

1T lemon juice

Process all ingredients, leaving plenty of chunkiness!

Spinach Layer

6c torn spinach

5T dried oregano

3T olive oil

2t sea salt

Place all ingredients in a bowl to marinade and wilt for 1 hour or longer, putting the covered bowl in a dehydrator will help this process but it’s not essential.

For the assembly

5 medium courgettes (zucchini), cut lengthwise and marinated in 2T of salt and 3T olive oil for 10 minutes.

Pinch black pepper

Assembly method:

Line the base of your dish with a layer of the courgette strips that slightly overlap.

On top of this put down a layer of the walnut meat, then the cheese, then tomato sauce and finally the pesto on top. Finish this with another layer of slightly overlapping courgette strips.

Repeat step 2 but before adding the final layer of courgette, take your wilted spinach and create an additional layer with that.

Placing the whole dish in the fridge for several hours will firm it all up slightly which will make it easier to cut into portions.

Garnish individual portions with black pepper and a sprig of basil.