Veggie Rolls-My New Favorite Lunch

Veggie Rolls
2 Nori wrapper
Leftover brown rice
1/4 ripe avocado, thinly sliced
2 slices of smoked tempeh
1/2 carrot, sliced into thin stalks
1/4 cucumber, sliced into thin stalks
toasted sesame seeds
real sea salt

Place sesame seeds, 1 nori wrapper and sea salt to taste in blender. Pulse until nori sheet is broken down some and sesame seeds pop open. Store in airtight container.
Cook tempeh in small amount of coconut oil until brown and cooked through. Spread nori wrapper out and put a thin layer of rice on 2/3 of it, end to end. In the middle of the rice, place avocado, carrot, cucumber and tempeh. Sprinkle with sesame seeds mixture. Roll up and seal wrapper with water. Let sit for a few minutes for the wrapper to soften, and then slice into "sushi" shaped rolls. Delicious!

Creamy Garlic Salad Dressing

This may not look like much, but it has changed my salad eating habits! It's amazing how a new dressing can revamp those greens!! I got this recipe from Beachbody, with a couple of small changes.

Creamy Garlic Dressing
1 c extra-virgin olive oil
3/5 c raw apple cider vinegar
4 cloves of garlic
6 T fresh lemon juice
2 t Real Sea Salt
1 t Dijon mustard
2 T raw honey
1/3 bunch of italian leaf parsley (I'm not picky about using just the leaves, but I do take off the thick stalk part of it)

Blend in blender and store in fridge.

Creamy Breakfast Quinoa

  Breakfast Quinoa

This recipe isn’t really a recipe in that there are no exact measurements, so make it work for you or your family as needed. This is meant to be fast and to use up what you have on hand, so don’t stress! Just go with it and experiment. You can easily make this every day and change up the flavors so that it tastes like something different each time you make it!

-Rinse (if needed) and cook quinoa according to package directions. (Do this the night before for ease in the morning.)

 -Cut up fruit that you have on hand-fresh, dried and/or freeze-dried. This picture has a mango, a banana and a few strawberries.

-Raw nuts and seeds-I sprout my own and dehydrate them to store in my pantry for a more nutrient dense breakfast, but you can use regular raw nuts and seeds, too! (see below)

-Other toppings: unsweetened coconut, sesame seeds, whatever you want!

-Creamy milk: I used  what I had on hand-1 ½ c almond milk (canned coconut milk would be delicious!), dash of vanilla or almond extract, maple syrup or honey, 1/4 t sea salt, 1/2 t+ cinnamon, unsweetened shredded coconut, dates, whatever! Blend it all up in your blender and taste to make sure it’s the perfect sweet and creamy consistency that you want.

Put quinoa in a bowl, top with fruit and pour milk mixture on top. Sprinkle with nuts and seeds.

Dehydrated Nuts and Seeds

Cover nuts and seeds with filtered water and let it sit overnight. In the morning let it drain and rinse really well . Put on dehydrator sheets and let dehydrate at 108 until dry, about 12 hours. This keeps it raw, and the sprouting makes it a powerhouse of nutrients. Store in airtight container.

**The next time I do this, I will soak the nuts and seeds separately so that I can chop the nuts before storing it. I will also put some raw chia in the jar with the nut/seed mixture. Enjoy!

Veggie Pita and Spinach Pinwheels

 

These two meals are PERFECT for the summer: simple, quick and delicious!

Veggie Pitas
Pita bread, cut in half
Favorite Hummus or leftover cheezy sauce
Raw veggies of your choice: romaine lettuce, baby spinach, sprouts, peppers, carrots, celery, avocado, cucumbers, tomatoes, etc.

Spread your spread in the pita. :) Follow with whatever veggies you want. This is a great one for kids to build their own!  Enjoy!

I think I will like this one more when I find a great-tasting whole grain tortilla.
Spinach Hummus Pinwheels
GREAT TASTING whole-grain tortilla
favorite hummus or cheezy sauce
chopped baby spinach
thinly sliced avocado
thinly sliced peppers
thinly sliced cucumbers

Spread hummus. Thinly layer veggie. Roll up and carefully cut with a knife. Serve with a fresh fruit salad (mmmmm, peaches and blueberries right now, huh???).

4th of July Nom-Noms

Who said you can't eat healthy during the holidays? We sure did! Here in the south, we had quite a bit of heavy rain on the 4th, so it started out as a bit of a downer. At least for me. However, we quickly changed that with some patriotic food that we got the whole family in on, and in the end, the rain took a break long enough for many neighbors to shoot off fireworks. It was a beautiful day/night!  Here is what we did:

I took THIS potato salad recipe, and instead of using regular potatoes, I found some gourmet potatoes at Costco: red white and BLUE potatoes! Have you ever heard of blue potatoes? I hadn't, but they tasted just like regular potatoes and the kids thought it was the "best potato salad ever"! I scrubbed and cut them into smaller pieces, drizzled with a little bit of olive oil and roasted in the oven until I could easily pierce through with a fork. Let cool and follow the rest of the recipe. Delicious!

 For this one, I bought a (better-for-you) ready made pie crust from Whole Foods (you can totally make your own whole wheat pie crust), and line the bottom of a pie pan. Pit cherries and mix with raw honey or raw agave nectar. Let sit for 20 minutes. Mix a couple of cups of blueberries with agave. Take a piece of cardstock and fold so that it points to 12 & 9. Fill that triangle with blueberries and the rest with cherries. Gently pull out cardstock. Cut pie dough in stripes for your "flag" and use small star cookie cutters to make stars for your blueberries. Sprinkle with raw sugar granules. Bake at 425 for 10-15 minutes, or until crust is golden brown

 This is self-explanatory, right? The kids loved this one in particular. Happy 4th!

 P.S. After all the rain we had, my garden exploded!

Summer Fun!!!

Fresh Georgia Peaches. Oh baby! We had a lot of them, so I decided to try dehydrating them. (If you dehydrate at less then 113 degrees, they are considered raw still! You preserve the enzymes and nutrients! Wahoo!) 

I wasn't patient enough, so after a day of dehydrating, I ate one. It was still juicy in the middle and as sweet as candy. Needless to say, the 4 trays didn't make it to complete dehydration. The kids and I at them all! Yum!

 

 Remember this recipe? We celebrated our youngest's half birthday (poor kid was born 3 days before Christmas!), and we did a breakfast celebration: dessert first! I felt no guilt cause it's so good for ya!

 K, this recipe is compliments of Beachbody Ultimate Reset. I decided to give it a go, and have been pleasantly surprised! I can do this kind of cleanse all day every day!

Black Bean Open-Faced Tacos
3 c black beans (2 cans drained well and rinsed, or make your own!)
1 1/2 t extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 t chili powder
1/2 t cumin
1 1/2 t ground coriandor
6 t Braggs liquid aminos
Sea salt to taste
4 1/2 c cooked brown rice
1 1/2 c frozen corn kernels, rinsed in cold water until thawed
1 pkg non-GMO corn tortillas
1 ripe avocado
1 c salsa (fresh is best, but we just did regular)

Combine the first 7 ingredients. Warm over medium heat and fold in brown rice. Remove from heat. Gently stir in corn kernels. Mash avocado and mix with salsa. Put rice mixture in a corn tortilla and spread with some salsa mixture. Serve!

Raw Berry Crisp

This may have been one of the fastest desserts I've ever made, and so delicious and simple!

Raw Berry Crisp
*6 cups mixed berries (whatever you want-see note below)
1-2 T maple syrup, preferrably Grade B
1 c raw almonds
1/2 c raw walnuts
1/2 c-2/3 c chopped dates
1/2 t ground cinnamon
1 t chia seeds
*Note: I used frozen berries from Costco, and just ran some cool water on them for a few minutes. Gently place in baking dish. Or use fresh, and gently chop bigger berries-strawberries-and place in baking dish

In small baking dish (7x11 or the like), place berries. Drizzle with syrup and gently mix. Put remaining ingredients in food processor and process until coarsely ground. Nuts should be the size of 1/2 pea, or if you prefer chunkier, process it for less time. Sprinkle over berries. Serve immediately or chill in fridge until ready to serve.

This would be a great dessert or brunch item.