Recipe of the Week: Spinach & Cream Pasta Casserole

Spinach being one of my favorite greens, I was looking for new delicious ways to serve it a few days ago. I decided to browse through Recipe Zaar to see if anything would spark up my interest, and my efforts paid off. You'd be amazed at how many cooked dishes can easily be converted into raw!

I actually found quite a few versions of the following recipe, all invariably calling for some kind of pasta tossed with a creamy cheese sauce and sauteed spinach. Sounded simple enough to tackle and give it a raw twist! I was quite pleased with the result. It certainly was a hit with Don and even our neighbor, Livina, who happened to drop by just in time for a taste.

Spinach & Cream Pasta Casserole

Serves 4

Pasta
2 or 3 zucchinis, peeled

Make linguine size pasta with the help of a spiral slicer. (Although any type/size would work well too.)

Sauce
1 cup cashews and/or macadamias
1/2 to 3/4 cup water (depending on desired thickness)
1 garlic clove
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 tsp salt

Grind nuts until fine then add other ingredients and blend until smooth.

Marinated Spinach
2 cups spinach, thinly sliced (or more, to taste)
1/2 tbs olive oil
1/2 tbs oregano
1/8 tsp salt

Place all ingredients in a bowl and massage to wilt the spinach.

Marinated Criminis
1 cup crimini mushrooms, sliced

Toss mushrooms in a little olive oil and tamari, and let marinate for at least 1 hr.

Pine Nut Parmesan
1/2 cup macadamias
1/2 cup cashews
2 Tbs pine nuts
1 Tbs lemon juice
1Tbs flax meal
1 clove crushed garlic
1Tbs nutritional yeast
1/2 tsp salt

First process macadamias and cashews until ground. Then add the rest of the ingredients and process until well mixed. You don’t want to overprocess the pine nuts as they release a lot of oil.

Assembly
Toss the noodles with the sauce. Gently fold in the spinach and half of the marinated mushrooms (save the rest for garnish).

Place mixture in a dish.

Sprinkle with Pine Nut Parmesan.

Top with remaining mushrooms.

Dehydrate at 110 degrees for 1 hour (optional)


Carmella's Notes:
You'll probably have extra sauce and parmesan, but I'm sure you'll find some way to use the left-overs.

Oh, and the parmesan freezes really well too.

Enjoy!

Technorati Tags: Raw, raw food, raw recipes, recipes, pasta, spinach

Two Raw Divas, One Kitchen - The Adventures - Part I

A'right! Back on blogging duty! ;-)

I was telling you a few posts back that I was expecting the visit of my dear online friend and raw chef, Heathy/Fairygirl. As some of you may know, I've been so fascinated by Heathy's culinary gifts that I even did a post on her back in February, featuring some of her amazing creations.

Her visit all came together very unexpectedly, and to say I was thrilled that we'd finally get to meet and uncook together would be a gross understatement. In fact, I could hardly sleep at the prospect!

Change of Plans
They say that if you want to make God laugh, make plans. Well, things indeed took an unforeseen turn on the morning Heathy was scheduled to arrive at the local airport. We were almost out the door in order to pick her up when the phone rang. Although we had never spoken before, I just knew that the voice at the other end could only be Heathy's. She told me she was stranded in Calgary due to fog. (Actually, I later found out that the Castlegar airport has been nicknamed 'Cancelgar' due to the high rate of flight cancellations in winter time. he he)

Remember my Calgary Rawkin Revel earlier this year? I spent a few days with Don's sister Sandy and her family, uncooking up a storm. Anyhoo, we managed to get hold of her, and she was more than happy to have Heathy stay with them while waiting for the next flight. Sandy and Heathy had arranged to meet in Australia last spring, but it fell through, so this couldn't have been more perfect!

The Raw Divas Meet
Thankfully, we woke up to a glorious sunny morning the next day, so off we went to the airport to pick up our gal.

It kinda felt like we were going on a sort of blind date. hehe I knew that Heathy was a little nervous, wondering if we'd get along as well in 'real life' as we do in the virtual world, but we both knew that our deep sense of kinship and common passion for raw food prep was as real as it gets.

The final moments before Heathy/Fairygirl and I got to meet 'in physical form'... As you can see, we made sure she couldn't miss us! ;-)

Here we are... The Raw Divas united at last! It took a while to sink in that this was really happening.

As you can imagine, I had prepared a raw feast to celebrate Heathy's arrival. On the menu was Cream of Tomato Soup, a mixed green salad with my House Dressing, and the Lasagna Magnifica (all three from my 'Best of the Sunny Raw Kitchen' ebook.) I actually had the jitters a bit as I was working on dinner. "What if the lasagna didn't turn out right?" Never mind the fact that I'd made it countless times before, and it has always been phenomenal. Ahhhhh, the mind!

Lasagna Magnifica

I was particularly intimidated to prepare dessert for the one I've nicknamed 'The Ultimate Raw Dessert Queen'. She'd told me she wanted to try my Banana Chocolate Cream Cake so I thought I'd make a variation of it.

Here's Heathy putting the finishing touches to my Strawberry Chocolate Cream Cake.

Boy, does she know how to make something look good or what!?!

A work of art... and oh so yummy too!

We were all exhausted from this eventful day, and hit the sack early so as to be fresh and ready to begin our uncook-a-thon in earnest the next morning.

Kitchen Here We Come! - Day 2

Although we could hardly wait to get going in the kitchen, we started off with some exercises. (What discipline, eh!?! lol) I showed Heathy the Tibetan Rites - a series of movements somewhat similar to yoga. In the meantime, Don, the ever-devoted 'Juiceman', had prepared our usual morning brew: apple, carrot, beet, celery and ginger juice.

Yep, our juicer isn't the quietest! hehe

Heathy so loved its color she just had to take a pic!

As we slowly sipped our ambrosia, we came up with a plan of attack. Man oh man! So much to make and so little time! We decided that we'd make the most of our time together by focusing mainly on our own creations. Heathy is in the final phase of working on her raw dessert ebook and still had a few recipes to test. We've also been talking about collaborating on a joint recipe book for some time, so this was the perfect opportunity.

At last, we were ready to get going. Woo-Hoo!

The Raw Divas doing the happy dance at the sound of the Vitamix...
Ahhhh! What sweet music to our ears! lol

The More Mouths The Merrier

If you've been hanging around The Sunny Raw Kitchen a while, then you've probably heard about our neighbors and friends, John and Livina. Although they don't follow a raw diet per se, they're always open and game to try some of the stuff we make, especially the desserts. (Gee, I wonder why that is!?! lol)

Anyhoo, as Livina was away and knowing that John isn't too big on food prep, we invited him to join us for the evening meals. Lucky him! ;-)

On the menu that evening was Cream of Zucchini Soup, Mixed green salad with my House Dressing, Spinach & Mushroom Quiches, and Cheezy Tortellinis in Rose Sauce.

The idea for the quiches came to me a while back when I had more mushrooms in the fridge than I knew what do do with. Actually, I had mentioned the fact to Fairygirl during one of our chats, and she suggested I make mushroom quiches. I've already posted my first attempt here, but I also wanted to play some more along the lines of a savory cheesecake. What better occasion to do so than with Fairygirl being in the kitchen with me?

Spinach & Mushroom Quiches

As soon as I found out about Heathy's visit, I started scouring my brain in search of dishes we could try turning into raw. I remembered the tortellinis I used to serve in my SAD days with a simple sauce consisting of tomato paste and fresh cream. We came up with the following:

Cheezy Tortellinis in Rose Sauce

And of course, the best part was dessert! I gave Heathy a hand in making her Chocolate Orange Cream Cake. OMG!!! I can't even begin to tell you how yummy this was! After drooling over so many of her scrumptious creations online, it was hard to believe I could finally partake in the bliss. Woo-Hoo! (Ooops, sorry guys! Don't mean to be rubbing it in! lol)

In fact, I'm munching on the last of it as I'm typing this... Mmmmmmmm

On that sweet note, I'll stop here for now and catch a breather. We got lots more decadent looking pics and even some video footage coming up, so stay tuned for the rest of our Raw Diva Extravaganza!

*~*~*~*~*
Photos by Carmella and Heathy
Unless otherwise stated, the raw dishes mentioned in this series will be available in upcoming ebooks.

Recipe of the Week: Sesame Nuggets in Sweet and Sour Sauce

Just before Heathy/Fairygirl's visit, Snowdrop posted the following on Raw Freedom Community, so we just HAD to make it during our time together. She has done it again; this recipe is absolutely IN-CRE-DI-BLE!!!

The nuggets have a delicious, unique flavor unlike any other raw nut-based 'meat' I've ever tried. I could just keep popping 'em in! Add to that the Sweet & Sour Sauce which you can use as a dip for the nuggets or for marinating veggies, and that's it! You're up for one exotic and yummylicious ride!


Snowdrop’s Sesame Chicken
Posted on Raw Freedom Community

‘Chicken’
2 c walnuts soaked 4-6 hrs or overnite
2 c sunflower seeds soaked 4-6 hrs or overnite
1 c sunflower seeds, soaked 4-6 hrs or overnite and then dehydrated
1 c sundried tomatoes soaked 4-6 hrs or overnite in:
1 c orange juice
__
1 onion
2 cloves garlic
¼ yellow pepper (or red)
10 fresh sage leaves or 1 T dried herb
1 t cumin
½ t turmeric
1 t garlic powder
1 t onion powder
1 T dark miso
1 T braggs or soy sauce
1 T liquid lecithin* (to be stirred into batter by hand at the end)
Sesame seeds (to sprinkle on top of the nuggets)

* Liquid lecithin can be found at your local health food store

Food processor the tomatoes in their liquid and blend until a paste.
Add onion & garlic, blend.
Add herbs spices blend.
Add nuts, process till smooth (I did it in 2 batches).
Put into a bowl & stir in the lecithin.
With a coffee grinder, powder the dehydrated sunflower seeds.
Stir into batter till blended.
Spoon onto teflex sheets (I used 3 trays) by the tablespoon.
Dehydrate 6-8 hr at 105-115 degrees.
Flip half way thru drying time.
Make sweet & sour sauce (see below).
Dip your chicken nuggets into the sauce and sprinkle with sesame seeds and continue to dehydrate another 4-6 hrs.

Carmella's Note: I forgot to soak and dehydrate the 1 cup of sunseeds so I used them dry.


Sweet & Sour Sesame Sauce
¾ c nama shoyu
¾ c honey (or agave)
2 cloves garlic
1 pc ginger as big as your thumb (equal to the amount of garlic approx)
2 T sesame seeds
2 T coconut oil
1 t sesame oil
2 t red pepper flakes

Chop the garlic & ginger so it doesn’t jam under your blades, and put all into the food processor and blend till the veggies are well pureed. The seeds will float up with the oils when left standing, that’s ok, just stir when using.

In a glass pie plate: Take a nice head of broccoli and make bite sized pieces. Slice up 4-5 mushrooms. Sliver up ½ red pepper. Toss these in some of the sweet & sour sesame sauce and put into D till broccoli is tendered up some.

Snowdrop's Notes:
~ I made more than the sauce recipe called for because I will be using this on lots more veggies the next couple of days, as it is mind blowing good.

~ The nuggets were a nice change from what I had been eating, but… The veggies + sauce was the finest thing I have put in my mouth in months!

I will be making that even when I don’t have any nuggets to serve them with, just a dash of sesame seeds on top. mmm

Carmella's Notes:
~ Was she not kidding or what!!! This sauce is to LIVE for!
~ I replace some of the soy sauce called for in the Sweet & Sour Sauce with water as I prefer it to be not as salty.

I've also served the Sweet & Sour veggies (broccoli, mushrooms, bok choi, red pepper) on top of a modified version of my Ginger Un-Steamed 'Rice'. Yummo!


Ginger Squash 'Rice'
1 ½ - 2 cups cauliflower
1 ½ cups butternut squash
2 tablespoons of almond butter or tahini (I used both)
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
A little lemon juice
Salt, to taste

Process cauliflower and squash in food processor until rice-size. Mix other ingredients by hand.

Enjoy!

*~*~*~*~*
Photo Credits
Sesame Chicken with Sweet & Sour Veggies by Snowdrop