Last night’s dinner was courtesy of the garden. The smell of basil is intoxicating; permeable when watered. I don’t think you can ever sow enough basil seeds. I’m considering growing it in my sunny foyer.
I harvested a hoodie full of basil or 3 tightly packed cups and several zucchini including pastel green Clarimore and buttercup yellow Golden Dawn. Seeds are from Squash, Zucchini, “Tricolor Mix” and were purchased from Renee’s Garden Seeds.
I learned to make Angel Hair Pasta with Pesto at Judita’s Raw Food 101 class and speaking of, her next class will be held on Sunday May 3 and I highly recommend it. Since taking her class I have incorporated more raw foods into my diet, feel full and fueled, crave less cooked food, and have experienced weight loss. I fit into 3 pair of old jeans. Woot!
The pièce de résistance; a perfect spring/summer dinner. Not one burner needed for this rich guilt-free dish. This pesto recipe is sans blanching and I used raw almond slivers instead of pine nuts because it’s what I had on hand.
My tweaked recipe for pesto:
1 cup basil leaves, tightly packed
¼ cup of extra virgin olive oil (I use Braggs)
¼ cup of raw almond slivers
1 garlic clove, crushed
¼ teaspoon of sea salt
Pasta Noodles:
3 zucchini, peeled and cut into thirds. Cut in half if zucchini are small.
Thin noodles can be made with a vegetable spiral slicer or you can simply use a vegetable peeler and make “fettuccine” type noodles. Draw the peeler down all sides until you reach the core.
Toss with pesto and enjoy!
Lastly, yesterday I started day 1 of pre-cleansing in prep for THE colon cleanse. The wonderful Judita turned me on to Blessed Herbs colon cleanse. The first three days you gradually decrease your solid food intake in anticipation of a five day liquids only fast. Here’s the satisfying and sustaining food I ate:
Breakfast: Organic Raw Kombucha-Multi-Green flavor
Lunch: Organic apple & a handful of organic flax & sesame seed tortilla chips
Dinner: Raw vegan angel hair pasta with pesto & three vegan chocolate chip cookies. I had a weak moment.
Tonight’s dinner will be sunflower herb pate with shaved beet salad and chard with homemade lemon herb dressing. Beets, chard and lemons are from the garden and I’ll forgo the cookies.
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Judita greeted her 10 students with an elegant and delicious spread of kale chips, no-bean hummus with tasty seed cracker thingies, almond joyous and refreshing lemonade. I’ve made kale chips before but they weren’t nearly as flavorful as the ones Judita served up. I could have eaten the whole bowl and almost did. In fact I could have eaten the entire spread and this was just the beginning.
Next we moved on to Strawberry Fields Green Smoothie from Victoria Boutenko’s book “Green For Life.” Judita uses Brazil nut milk instead of water to make a richer and creamier smoothie. She taught us how to make Brazil nut milk. It was so easy to make that I’ve vowed to never buy boxed soy milk again.
Judita stressed purchasing organic strawberries since they are one of the most heavily sprayed crops. I did not know that. I grow my own strawberries but sometimes they are picked for me.
