Vegan Sweet Potato Chopped Salad

I made this for a creative women's group event.  It was a big hit! Serves 6 as a side dish.

Dressing
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
1/4 cup Balsamic Vinegar
1 tsp Dijon Mustard
1/4 tsp fresh ground black pepper
1/8 tsp red pepper flakes
1/4" hot pepper, minced
1 small apple, quartered, 1/4 minced, 3/4 coarsely chopped for salad
1 garlic clove, minced
1" ginger, peeled and minced
1 Tbsp red onion, minced
1/2 tsp fresh oregano, minced
Zest from 1/2 of an orange, minced
Juice from 1/2 of an orange

Salad
All ingredients chopped to bite size
2 small, or 1 large sweet potato, peeled
1 red bell pepper
1 avocado
3 tangerines
4 small tomatoes
1 cup slivered carrots
1/2 cup slivered almonds

Whisk together dressing ingredients, set aside.  Place all of the salad ingredients in a large bowl, toss with dressing and serve!

Zucchini Soup

As usual, I was just going on instincts while making this last night.  Tasted good!

2 cups almond/coconut milk (@LoveMySilk)

1 tsp olive oil

1 tbsp chopped onion
1/2 yellow bell pepper (1 Tbsp reserved and chopped for garnish)
3 cauliflower florets
4 mushrooms (1 reserved and sliced for garnish)
1 clove garlic
1/2" ginger
12 basil leaves
1 yellow carrot
1 1/2 zucchini
1/2 lemon
1/2" orange slice
1 avocado (1/4 reserved and chopped for garnish)
1 tsp red pepper flakes
Black pepper
4 olives
1 Tbsp Hummus (@lillyshummus)

Wash all vegetables.  Peel the onion and avocado.  Coarsely chop all vegetables so that they'll blend better.  Toss everything except the olives and hummus into the blender.  Garnish with olives, avocado, pepper, mushrooms, almonds and a dollop of hummus.

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Red Spinach

This morning at the grocery store, I saw a bag of red spinach, and thought "Eureka!  A way to add spinach to my red smoothies!"  Alas, the color still ended up being that awful brown shade.  It still tasted great (and yes, I drank it...I don't believe in wasting food!), but I'll have to find another way to make sure my red breakfast smoothies aren't limited to sugar based fruits.  Balance!!  I want BAAAAALANCE!!

Basic Red Smoothie

Here's another smoothie recipe.  I don't like mixing red and green because the resulting brown is rather unappetizing...it still tastes great, but looks yucky! lol

Basic Red Smoothie (makes enough for two servings)

1 cup Almond/Coconut milk
1/4 cup aloe juice (whole leaf)
1/4 cup cactus water
1/2 red or yellow apple or pear
1/2 orange
5 red grapes
1 small beet
6-8 berries
1/2 carrot
1/2 avocado
1/4 lemon
1" slice cucumber
1 mint sprig
1/4" ginger
1/8" turmeric (VERY strong flavor, but super healthy, optional)
1 Tbsp chia seeds
1 Tbsp ground flaxseed
1/2 scoop wheatgrass
1 Tbsp coconut oil
1 Tsp local honey

Adjust liquid to your taste and texture preference.  Put everything in blender.  Blend.  Drink!  Yummy!

Kale, Squash and Onion Sauté

Tonight for dinner I had a Kale, Squash and Onion Sauté, apples with peanut butter, mango slices and a square of dark chocolate.  As you know, I'm a home cook, no training at all, so use this recipe as a guideline, not a strict dictate! lol

Kale, Squash and Onion Sauté
Serves 1, total time ~ 20 minutes

4 kale leaves, chopped
1/2 yellow squash, chopped
1/2 rutabaga, chopped
1/2" thick slice of yellow onion (cut off whole onion), chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1 Tbsp coconut oil
1/2 Tbsp butter (optional, leave out for vegan)
pinch red pepper flakes
Fresh ground black pepper
1 cup cooked brown rice

Heat coconut oil in skillet, over medium low heat.  Add onion and garlic and cook until soft, about 2 minutes.
Add rutabaga, stir and cook for 3 minutes.
Add yellow squash, stir cook for 2 minutes.
Add kale, stir and cook for 4 minutes.
Season with pepper to taste.
Add 1/4 Tsp butter, stir.

Transfer vegetables to plate.  Add remaining butter and red pepper flakes to skillet, just until butter is melted, stirring.  Pour over rice and serve!

Happy New Year!!! Basic Green Smoothie

Happy New Year!!!

I hope that you enjoyed a fitting farewell to 2014 and joyful welcome to 2015!  I've been enjoying the holidays with family, and haven't been as consistent with my semi-raw vegan practices (and obviously terrible at blogging), but starting this week, I'm back on it!  I've been having my breakfast smoothies, though.  So, I offer my recipe for a basic breakfast smoothie in this blog posting.  Of course, you can change the type of fruit and vegetable, but overall this is how I make my shakes.

Basic Green Smoothie (makes enough for two servings)

1 cup Almond/Coconut milk
1/4 cup aloe juice (whole leaf)
1/4 cup cactus water
1/2 green or yellow apple or pear
1/2 orange
5 green grapes
4 small kale leaves or a handful of spinach
1/2 avocado
1/4 lemon
1" slice cucumber
1 mint sprig
2 parsley sprigs
1/4" ginger
1/8" turmeric (VERY strong flavor, but super healthy, optional)
1 Tbsp chia seeds
1 Tbsp ground flaxseed
1/2 scoop wheatgrass
1 Tbsp coconut oil
1 Tsp local honey

Adjust liquid to your taste and texture preference.  Put everything in blender.  Blend.  Drink!  Yummy!