Zucchini and Green Zebra Tomato Lasagne with Basil-Pistachio Pesto

I have made this dish many times over the last couple of years, sorry for waiting so long to share it with you! It is one of my faves!! And you can use each component on its own in other dishes as well 🙂 SO versatile and deelish! A total crowd pleaser – beautiful and amazing! Plus it has been one of their top sellers at the restaurant for years!

Zucchini and Green Zebra Tomato Lasagne with Basil-Pistachio Pesto
Recipe by Matthew Kenney of Pure Food and Wine
Serves 6

Lemon-Pignoli “Ricotta”

2 cups raw pignoli nuts, soaked in water for at least 1 hour
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
1 teaspoon sea salt
6 tablespoons water

Place the pignoli, lemon juice, nutritional yeast, and salt in a food processor, and pulse a few times, until thoroughly combined. Gradually add water, and pulse until the texture becomes fluffy, like ricotta. Place in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and set aside.
Tomato Sauce
2 cups good-quality sun-dried tomatoes (dry-packed), soaked in water for at least 2 hours
1 medium ripe tomato, diced
1/4 small onion, chopped
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon agave
2 teaspoons sea salt
Pinch hot-pepper flakes

Place all ingredients in a Vita-mix or high speed blender, and process until smooth.
Basil-Pistachio Pesto
2 cups packed basil leaves
1/2 cup raw pistachios
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon sea salt, or to taste
Pinch freshly ground black pepper

Place all ingredients in a Vita-mix or food processor and process until well combined but still slightly chunky.

Lasagne
3 medium zucchini, ends trimmed
3 medium green-zebra tomatoes (or other heirloom variety)
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh oregano
1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
Pinch of sea salt and fresh pepper

Garnish: whole basil leaves

  1. Using a mandoline or vegetable peeler, shave zucchini lengthwise into very thin slices, then cut in half crosswise. Cut the tomatoes in half, and each half into thin slices.
  2. Line the bottom of a 9-by-13-inch baking dish with two layers of zucchini slices. Brush the zucchini lightly with olive oil, spread 1/3 of the tomato sauce over it, and top with small dollops of “ricotta” and pesto, using 1/3 of each. Layer on 1/3 of the tomato slices, and sprinkle with 1/3 of the oregano and thyme. Add another double layer of zucchini and repeat twice more with the tomato sauce, pesto, ricotta, tomato slices, and herbs. Serve immediately, or cover with plastic and let sit at room temperature for a few hours. Garnish with basil. (or make individual portions by layering into square shapes on plates)

Vegan Peach Cobbler Pie

When we were out in Sag Harbor we went to every farmers market in the Hamptons. SO many fresh and colorful fruits and veggies 🙂
One of the markets we went to, The Milk Pail in Water Mill had beautiful peaches, so I couldn’t resist the 5 pound bag. Two years ago I had done the same thing (we had actually got to pick the peaches then) and made Raw Luscious Peach Cobbler. This year I figured although we LOVED that cobbler, to try a baked version. Michael’s absolute favorite dessert is cobbler so I always love to experiment with it. I looked up some different recipes and here is my interpretation. Yum!!!
Vegan Peach Cobbler Pie
makes 2 cobbler pies 8x8ish or round pie pans 
Sauce
1 cup flour
3/4 cup white sugar
2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup soymilk
4 teaspoon vanilla
Crumbles
3/4 cup vegan butter, melted
1/2 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon agave nectar
pinch of sea salt
2 1/3 cup flour
Peaches
7-9 peaches, sliced or chopped
1/2 cup agave nectar
1 tablespoon nutmeg
  1. Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees.
  2. Toss the peaches with the agave and the nutmeg in baking pans and set aside.
  3. Mix all the sauce ingredients together until smooth and pour over peaches.
  4. Combine the crumbles ingredients into a crumbly dough with your hands. Sprinkle on top, completely covering the peaches and sauce.
  5. Place in the oven 35 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle another tablespoon of sugar onto both pies. Place back in the oven for 7 more minutes.
  6. Remove, let cool, and enjoy!

Raw Kale and Pear Salad – Kale Salad Challenge #2

We LOVE raw kale! It is great because any other salad with dressing would get all wilted when left with dressing in the fridge, where as kale just gets better, so this is a great leftover salad! The cooked onions and pears added so much goodness to this too. YUM!

This is the 2nd Salad in the Kale Salad Challenge 🙂


Raw Kale and Pear Salad
inspired by Chef Rachel Greenspan

1 lb Lacinato kale, cut crosswise in very thin slices
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 cup basil, diced
1 red onion, chopped
3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 tablespoon agave
2 pears, diced – carefully take onions out and leave some agave to sautee pear in
cinnamon, to taste
juice of 1 lemon
3 tablespoon white or red wine vinegar
salt and pepper
handful of pepitas, toasted

  1. Place kale, garlic, and herbs into a large bowl.
  2. Sweat onion with 1 tablespoon olive oil for about 5 minutes or until translucent. Add agave and continue cooking until nicely caramelized, another 10-15 minutes.
  3. Carefully take cooked onions (place in the bowl with kale) out of the skillet, leaving some agave liquid in the pan. In the same pan, saute diced pear until tender but still firm (add a dash or two of cinnamon to the pears). Once cooked, add to the kale and mix through.
  4. To dress salad, add remaining 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil, vinegar, lemon juice, and salt and pepper, all to taste. Let the salad sit for about 30 minutes to 24 hours to tenderize the kale without having to cook it. The salad should be vinegary and delicious.

Asian Cold Noodles With Spicy Almond Dressing

I have used Blue Print Cleanse many times over the years and always love their juices. When the fabulous ladies behind the juice company came out with a cook book of course I had to check it out. So far this first one is a winner!

I love pasta, but of course I don’t want to eat plain, white pasta all the time (especially after doing this cleanse). There are fabulous alternatives to traditional pasta – quinoa, rice, buckwheat (soba), etc. Soba is a deeeelish buckwheat noodle that cooks up super fast and tastes great with this sauce. This dish was great for dinner and just as good cold the next day for lunch. YUM!

Check out my Ginger-Poached Noodles with Soba Noodles as well 🙂

Asian Cold Noodles With Spicy Almond Dressing
Recipe adapted from ‘The 3-Day Cleanse’ by Zoe Sakoutis and Erica Huss (The Blue Print Cleanse Ladies 🙂
Makes 4 servings

12 oz. buckwheat soba noodles
1 cucumber, peeled, seeded and chopped
1/2 cup scallions, sliced
1 red bell pepper, seeded and sliced
Spicy Almond Dressing (see below)
lime for garnish

1. Bring a saucepan of water to a boil and add the noodles.
2. Lower heat and simmer for 6-8 minutes until soba is tender, then remove from heat.
3. Strain noodles and rinse with cool water. Drain.
4. Place noodles in a bowl and add the cucumber, scallions and red bell pepper. Toss with spicy almond dressing.
5. Squeeze of lime before serving.

Spicy Almond Dressing
Makes 8 ounces

1/2 cup raw or roasted almond butter
1 tomato, chopped
2 Tbsp. Nama Shoyu or Bragg Liquid Aminos
2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
3 tsp. fresh lime juice
2 tsp. agave nectar
3/4 tsp. ginger, peeled and chopped
1/4-1/2 tsp. ground cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp. sea salt

Blend all ingredients in a high-speed blender until completely smooth.

Spicy Almond Dressing

Spring/Summer Cleanse 2011: Week 1

It is that time of year, cleansing time! I love to do fasts and detoxes a few times a year. I have done so many different cleanses ranging from green smoothie cleanses, to juice cleanses, to the master cleanse and even gallbladder and liver cleanses. I decided this time around to embark on a longer more sustainable cleanse. It is a combo elimination diet and detox. This is helping me cleanse easily and effectively while I am continuing to eat. But I have cut out foods that would interfere with the cleansing process and that I feel I rely too much on in my diet. I used Dr. Alejandro Junger’s, Clean Program as a loose guideline. I am hoping to maintain eating primarily the foods of the Elimination Diet even after I finish the cleanse, while occasionally enjoying some of the other foods.

My Plan for the Cleanse:

Weeks 1-3 (21 days): (I plan on doing this part for 4 weeks)

  • Breakfast: Smoothie/Juice or Protein Shake
  • Lunch: Clean meal made of detox friendly foods (see list below)
  • Dinner: Smoothie/Juice/Soup/Blended Foods
  • Snacks: anything from the approved list, but only snack when truly hungry, not just bored. (I can certainly relate to this!)
  • Drink A LOT of water and/or herbal tea.
  • Also ideally lunch should be the real food meal, but of course since this is an extended cleanse, if you need to switch lunch and dinner sometimes it is fine, BUT make sure you keep
    a 12 hour window between dinner and breakfast free of food for optimal digestion and detoxing. (This actually makes this so much easier to sustain for weeks at a time, knowing that you can still go out for dinner sometimes!)
  • The shakes/smoothies/juices are meant to help decrease the amount of work your digestive system has to do so it can rest and  restore.

The general list of foods to remove for Elimination Diet includes: grains with gluten, anything processed (including all soy products), fatty nuts, nightshades (potatoes, tomatoes, peppers and eggplant), condiments, sugar and obviously no dairy, animal products, alcohol, caffeine or soda. Click here to see Elimination List. and here to see the Shopping List.

Weeks 4: Juice Cleanse

I love my juice cleanses! See this post for more details.

Weeks 5: Back to the Elimination Diet Cleanse detailed above

With all stages I will include lots of Yoga of course and some cardio exercises.

Here is my first week of the cleanse broken down meal by meal to make it super easy for you to cleanse! Of course adjust times and recipes for your life and preferences. Meals in Bold have recipes listed below. I will post a few more recipes next week to add more variety 🙂

DAY ONE

8am Upon Rising: room temperature lemon water &/or herbal tea
10am Breakfast(at least an hour after waking): Morning Green Smoothie
1:30pm (lunch): Romaine with Caesar Dressing and Capers
8pm (dinner): Apple and Butternut Squash Soup

DAY TWO

8am Upon Rising: room temperature lemon water &/or herbal tea
10am Breakfast(at least an hour after waking): Morning Green Smoothie
2:00pm (lunch): Kitchari from JivamukTea Cafe (they use brown rice instead of white basmati! perfect!)
4pm (snack): A handful of mixed seeds and nuts
7pm (dinner): Shake: 1 serving UltraClear and MetaFiber mixed with water

DAY THREE

8am Upon Rising: room temperature lemon water &/or herbal tea
10:30am Breakfast(at least an hour after waking): Morning Green Smoothie
2:00pm (lunch): Raw Sesame Nut-meat salad from Bonobos
7:30pm (dinner): Shake: 1 serving UltraClear and MetaFiber mixed with water

DAY FOUR

5 am Upon Rising: room temperature lemon water &/or herbal tea
7:30 am Breakfast(at least an hour after waking): Morning Green Smoothie
12:00pm (lunch): Kitchari and a kale side from JivamukTea Cafe
4pm (snack): A handful of mixed seeds and nuts
8:30 pm (dinner): Cucumber and Avocado Soup

DAY FIVE

8am Upon Rising: room temperature lemon water &/or herbal tea
10am Breakfast(at least an hour after waking): Shake: 1 serving UltraClear and MetaFiber mixed with water
1:30pm (lunch): Berry Protein Shake
4pm (snack): A handful of mixed seeds and nuts
7pm (dinner): Coconut/Avocado Raw soup & Lover’s Salad from Caravan of Dreams

DAY SIX

9am Upon Rising: room temperature lemon water &/or herbal tea
11am Breakfast(at least an hour after waking): Berry Protein Shake
1:30pm (lunch): Chocolate Protein UN-Milkshake
4pm (snack): A handful of mixed pumpkin and sunflower seeds
7pm (dinner): Soba Noodle Soup at Souen Ramen

DAY SEVEN

9am Upon Rising: room temperature lemon water &/or herbal tea
11am Breakfast(at least an hour after waking): Mango and Coconut Smoothie
2:30pm (lunch): Leftover Soba Noodle Soup & Small Salad  with Caesar Dressing
5pm (snack): A handful of mixed seeds and nuts
9pm (dinner): Leftover FROZEN Berry Protein Shake (so fun! I was able to eat it like a creamy sorbet instead of drinking it :))

RECIPES

Morning Green Smoothie (2 servings)(We drink this most days as it is now :))

1 cup frozen Blueberries or raspberries
1 cup frozen Mango or Pineapple
big handful of baby spinach or 3 stalks of kale or chard
2 heaping tablespoons Synergy Green Powder, Vitamineral Green or other green powder
1 tablespoon Maca
1 heaping teaspoon Crystal Manna Blue green algae or E3AFA2 heaping tablespoons Psyllium Whole Husks or MetaFiber1 serving of Vegan Protein (soy-free) powder; Vega, UltraClear, Life’s Basics
2 cups Almond, Hemp or Coconut milk
1/2 cup water or coconut water

optional: coconut (unsweetened) or avocado

Blend everything together and Enjoy! Feel free to play around with ingredients (adding or ommitting them) but pay attention to the elimination diet guide (ie no bananas for this smoothie)

Berry Protein Shake
Recipe adapted from Dr. Alejandro Junger

1 cup nut/rice/hempseed milk of your choice (either homemade with 1/2 cup nuts and 1 1/2-2 cups water, or unsweetened)
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
1 cup fresh or frozen raspberries
1/2 cup fresh or frozen blackberries (optional)
3 pitted dates
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 serving of Vegan Protein Powder
1 serving of Fiber powder, Psyllium Husks or 2 ounces aloe juice
Handful of Spinach or serving of green powder

1. Blend all ingredients until smooth.

Mango and Coconut Smoothie

  • 1 cup frozen mango
  • 1/2 frozen pineapple
  • 1/2 cup dried unsweetened coconut
  • 2 teaspoons agave
  • 12 ounces almond, coconut milk or coconut water
  • handful of baby spinach

Blend and Enjoy!

Chocolate Protein UN-Milkshake

This was out of control deelish! It was so creamy and chocolatey! I would not have it everyday, but for a treat, especially when cleansing, it was amazing!

4 ounces of water
8 ounces of almond milk (unsweetened)
1/2 of an avocado
2 teaspoons organic almond butter
a pinch of sea salt
1 serving Chocolate Protein Powder – Vega Chocolate is Great!
1 serving MetaFiber
1 tablespoon Agave
1 heaping tablespoon raw cacao powder

1. Blend all ingredients until smooth.

Apple and Butternut Squash Soup
Recipe from Clean Book; Dr. Alejandro Junger

2 cups Butternut Squash, peeled and chopped
2 stalk celery
2 green apples, peeled
1/4 cup pine nuts
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 cup fresh tarragon, chopped
4-5 cups water

  1. Blend all ingredients except tarragon in a high speed blender.
  2. Check Seasoning
  3. Add the tarragon and blend again for 10 seconds, just enough to be mixed in.
  4. Serve in a bowl or mug slightly warm or at room temperature.

Cucumber and Avocado Soup
Recipe from Dr. Alejandro Junger
1 serving

zest of 1/2 lime
juice of an entire lime
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cucumber, peeled and seeded, roughly chopped
1/2 avocado, peeled and roughly chopped

Blend everything together until totally creamy and smooth.

Sweet Roasted Broccoli

I love roasted veggies! I decided to go more the sweet route with the broccoli tonight. The result was deelish crispy and sweet! Roasted veggies are super easy. Prep the veggies, toss with some seasonings, pop in the oven and prepare the rest of dinner while they are roasting away. Perfect!

See here for other roasted Broccoli Recipes 🙂 Roasted Garlic & Red Pepper BroccoliRoasted Broccoli and Simple Roasted Veggies. Also check out Garlic Broccoli Rabe or Raw Broccolini with Garlic and Olive Oil.

So bright and green!! Before Roasting.

After Roasting. Sweet & Crispy goodness.

Sweet Roasted Broccoli
5-6 servings as a side

3 bunches of broccoli, cut into florets and peeled and chopped stem
drizzle of olive oil (about 3 tablespoons)
drizzle of agave (about 3 tablespoons)
3/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon sesame seeds

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
  2. In a baking dish combine all ingredients, mixing well.
  3. Bake for 30 minutes, stirring after 20 minutes.

Kelp Noodles & Veggies in Peanut Sauce

Kelp Noodles are AWESOME! They are just seaweed yet you can eat them like noodles! Love it 🙂 They would go great with many different sauces. Have fun and experiment with them. They come out of the package a little crunchy. But after you rinse them and mix them with a sauce (containing some citrus or vinegar) they soften up and are super yummy!

I can never get enough ‘Peanut Sauce’ haha so I had to give this one a try. YUM! And with the grated daikon and carrot it was the perfect meal. I put the bowl in the Dehydrator for 30 minutes and it was great to have a slightly warmed meal.

Right out of the package they need a little help. But afterwards they were so good!

Kelp Noodles & Veggies in Peanut Sauce
Adapted from The Sunny Raw Kitchen

1 package kelp noodles

‘Peanut’ Sauce
3 tbs almond butter
2 tbs tahini
2 garlic cloves
2 1/2 tbs lime juice
1 tbs tamari
1 tbs raw sesame or coconut oil
1 tbs olive oil
1/2 tbs grated fresh ginger root
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 – 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (depending on how hot you like it)
1/2 tsp salt
3 tbs agave
1/4 cup water

Blend until smooth. If necessary, add more water until desired consistency is reached.

Veggies
1 cup grated carrot
1 cup grated daikon

Place rinsed noodles and veggies in a large bowl. Toss with desired amount of Peanut Sauce. Let sit on the counter or in the Dehydrator for 30 minutes before serving.

Raw Fudge Brownies with frosting

The fudge brownies are delicious! The frosting on top really added to how yummy they were. It gave the brownies 2 different textures, awesome! I love how amazing raw desserts can be. Make a batch of these and keep them in the fridge. All you need is little slices, just a taste is enough. These will stay great for over a week.

Raw Fudge Brownies
adapted from Raw Lou Lou

1 Tablespoon melted cacao butter
2 Tablespoons cacao nibs
2 Tablespoons cacao powder
1/2 teaspoon hemp protein powder
1 Tablespoon carob powder
1 cup soaked macadamia nuts
2 Tablespoons ground flax seeds
1 handful goji berries
2 Tablespoons almond nut butter
1 Tablespoon coconut oil
1  1/2 Tablespoons agave
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Blend all of the above in a Vitamix or a food processor. Press into a loaf baking  pan and set in fridge.
Chocolate Frosting
1 avocado
1 Tablespoon agave
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 Tablespoon cacao powder
Blend all of the above together and spread on top of the fudge brownie mix and leave to set in the fridge. Enjoy!

Before Frosting

with the yummy frosting!

Vegan BBQ Burgers with Amazing Barbecue Sauce

These are amazing!!! The gardein was a super ingredient in these burgers. They came together really easily when making them into patties. The best part was how unbelievably tasty they are!

And the BBQ sauce is so deelish and perfect for everything else you would ever want with a condiment! It was great that I had extra left over sauce to savor for weeks 🙂

I served this with Cucumbers with Creamy Dill Dressing and Summer Corn & Zucchini Salad with Citrus Dressing. Pretty much the perfect meal!!!

Amazing BBQ Sauce bubbling away

Vegan BBQ Burgers
Makes 8 -12 amazing burgers

1 ½ cup onions, chopped
1 ½ teaspoon Earth Balance
1/3 cup nutritional yeast
½ cup tahini
2 tablespoons paprika
2 teaspoons salt
4 cups Chick’n Scallopini Gardein, roughly chopped
2 cups Barbecue Sauce (recipe below)

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat a baking sheet with oil spray. In a skillet, sauté onions in Earth Balance until soft. In a bowl, combine nutritional yeast, tahini, paprika, and salt. Add onions and combine.
  2. In a food processor, combine half of the mixture and 2 cups of Gardein and blend together, adding Gardein gradually. Set aside and repeat with the other half of the mixture and Gardein.
  3. Form mixture into 1-inch-thick patties, and place on prepared baking sheet. Bake uncovered for 45 minutes. Pour 2 cups of barbecue sauce over patties, and increase heat to 375 degrees. Bake for 20 minutes or until well done. Serve with extra barbecue sauce on the side.

Amazing Barbecue Sauce
Makes about 3 cups

2 teaspoons corn oil
1/2 cup onion, chopped
1 teaspoon garlic, minced
2 1/2  cups tomato sauce
2 cups water, divided
1 cup agave
2 tablespoons molasses
1/2 cup mustard
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon allspice
2 teaspoons red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon tamari
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon liquid smoke

  1. In a medium pan over high heat, add oil. Sauté onion and garlic until onions are translucent. Add tomato sauce, cup of water, agave, molasses, mustard, salt, allspice and red pepper flakes. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and let simmer for about an hour.
  2. Add second cup of water, tamari, lemon juice, and liquid smoke. Cook for 10 to 15 minutes longer. Allow to cool slightly and serve generously over burgers.

Cooked Burgers before the Sauce

Uncooked

Lettuce Wraps with Almond Butter Sauce

This was such a super fast and deelish meal! The sauce is perfect and very similar to a Thai Peanut Sauce. It is nutty, tangy and sweet! YUM! If you keep the veggies cut and ready to go this makes a snack in seconds! The sauce is also perfect to dip crudite in.

Almond Butter Sauce

Lettuce Wraps with Almond Butter Sauce

Lettuce Wraps

  • Boston Lettuce
  • Jicama, julienned or shredded
  • Carrots, julienned or shredded
  • Cucumber, julienned or shredded
  • Almond Butter Sauce

Place lettuce leaves and stack the Jicama, cucumbers and carrots in them. Drizzle almond butter sauce on top. Enjoy!
Almond Butter Sauce

  • 1/2 cup Almond butter
  • 3 cloves garlic, chopped
  • 1 ounce chopped onion
  • 1/2 tsp Curry powder
  • 4 T Almond or any non-dairy milk
  • 4 tsp Lime juice
  • 2 tsp Agave
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt

Blend or process all the ingredients until smooth.

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