Spirulina Sprout Salad

Spirulina is pretty important for vegans. It is one of the only non-flesh source of vitamin B-12, a vitamin that is essential to the human body and if you become deficient side effects include irreversible nerve damage. Serious issue.


More nutritional info can be found here.


Easy way to get all that goodness into your cells? Salad dressing, duh! I found this video and followed his lead. Best part is that it makes your lips/teeth/face green...



Ingredients:
sprouts
1 carrot, grated
1/2 red pepper, julienned
1 green onion, chopped
1 c sauerkraut

juice of 1 lemon
1/4 c olive oil
1 t curry powder
1 T spirulina
pinch of salt

Directions:
Mix mix mix!

Zucchini Pasta with Pesto Sauce

Zucchini made into "pasta" = the best. It is water rich, alkaline and nutrient rich. I have been on a serious pesto kick lately, pureeing just about any leafy green and nut that I can get my hands on. 

Based off of Pesto Pasta in Raw: The Uncook Book. This is a much more allaborate recipe than my typical one

For Pasta:

1 zucchini, cut lengthwise into pasta-like strips

1/4 of a red pepper, thinly sliced

1/4 c of marinated onions*

1/2 tomato, diced

5 basil leaves, chopped

leaves from 1 sprig of oregano

leaves from 1 sprig of rosemary, chopped

8 sun-dried tomatoes, soaked in warm water for at least 10 minutes, chopped

1/4 jalapeno, chopped

1 garlic clove, chopped

juice from 1/2 lemon

Pre sauce

Mix together and set aside.

*1 onion thinly sliced and marinated in 2/3 c tamari for 10 minutes - 8 hrs

For Sauce: (This makes more than you need for the pasta so add as much as you desire!)

3 cloves garlic, chopped

2 handfuls of walnuts

1/4 c basil leaves

2 handfuls of baby spinach (MI spinach is finally in season!!)

1 heaping T miso

2 T olive oil

1 t salt

8 sun-dried tomatoes, soaked in warm water for at least 10 minutes

Blend sauce ingredients in a food processor or blender until smooth.

Add water to reach desired consistency (I used 1/2 c).

Pour as much as you want onto the pasta and refrigerate the rest.

Remember how I actually eat my food? Pasta curled up on my couch with my laptop ;)

This is not an all local recipe but all ingredients can be bought trash free. For Ann Arbor residents:

-Herbs can be bought unpackaged at Sparrow Market.
-All vegetables can be purchased packaging free.
-Tamari, sun-dried tomatoes, walnuts, miso, salt, olive oil can all be bought in bulk at the People's Food Co-op.

Cheezy Dorito Sauce

Source: wired.com

Yeah you heard it. This sauce taste exactly like Spicy Doritos. It is SO bizarre. It has been quite a while since I have eaten a Dorito so I wouldn't have completely thought my opinion to be valid however Marcy was there to confirm it. Dorito.

When I ran across it on Averie's blog I had to try it ASAP and I'm so glad of that. Also, Marcy is brilliant for suggesting that we actually attempt to make Doritos. Well we attempted alright but we failed.

The failure sure is tasty though! Not crispy like a Dorito and has less of a punch but I would guess that rolling the dough thinner and adding more cheesy coating and we'd have one hell of an all natural, gluten free, vegan Dorito! (The picture above is particularly appropriate since we created the S&M Doritos instead of going out on a Saturday night. We party hard.)

“Spicy Doritos” Spread
Raw vegan and based off of this recipe.

Ingredients:

1/3 c sunflower seeds, soaked
1/2 c nut/seed of choice, soaked (I used more sunflower but cashews, sesame seeds, hemp seeds, etc. would work just as well)
1/4 c nutritional yeast
1/2 of a red pepper
3 T apple cider vinegar (or lemon juice)
1/2 t salt (or to taste)
1 t cayenne

Directions:

Blend it up!

Sam and Marcy's (S&M) Doritos Attempt 1.

Based off this recipe to make homemade gluten-free cinnamon toast crunch (yeah the sound of that blew me away too...). These measurements ended up with a Doritos-flavored, pita bread-textured treat! If you play around with it and make something more Doritos-like, please let me know.

Ingredients:

1/2 c garbanzo bean flour
1/2 c millet flour (or dried millet ground in a spice/coffee grinder or food processor)
2 T coconut oil, melted
3/4 c water
1 T nutritional yeast
1 t cayenne
1/4 t salt

"Spicy Doritos" Spread (recipe above)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 F.

Mix together flours, oil, nutritional yeast, cayenne and salt.

Whisk in water until smooth.

Pour batter into a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. (Looking back on it, this was our fail. The batter we made was not of a pourable consistency. Add more water!)

Bake for 25-30 minutes, until starting to brown.

Remove from parchment paper and spread with a decent amount of "Spicy Doritos" Spread.

Score into triangle and return to oven for another 5 minutes.

Snack away!

Guest Recipe: Veggie Socca with Savory Almond Sauce

Martha Johnston, also known as my mom, made a socca of her own! Different veggies but same basic socca recipe. Here's her experience:

Mine was a comedy of errors. I did not have a non-stick pan and should have used more oil. I did it on the stove, could not flip it so I popped it in the oven. I ended up scraping it out and reforming it into 2 small pan cakes and re frying it. It still tasted great. 

The veggies in it I used was portabello mushrooms, red peppers, onions and dried basil.

Lookin' good garnished with sprouts, chopped scallions,

and raw almond spread (recipe below)

And here is the recipe for the dollop of goodness on top. Based off Yuri's cleanse recipes.

Almond Sauce (raw vegan)

Ingredients:
1 c almonds, soaked overnight
2 T sesame oil
3 T Bragg's Liquid Aminos (or tamari or soy sauce)
1 clove garlic, minced
2 dried dates, soaked for 2-3+ hours
½ lemon, juiced
¼ t cayenne, or to taste (or pinch red pepper flakes)
Coconut water (or water)

Directions:
Pulse all ingredients, except water, in a food processor.

Add water until desired consistency is reached, smooth and creamy.

Roasted Red Pepper Vinaigrette

I used this on a salad consisting of kale and diced yellow bell peppers. Yum! It's actually thick enough to be a dip or a sandwich spread as well.

Ingredients:

1 roasted red pepper (below)
3/4 t maple syrup (or equivalent of sweetener of choice)
1 small white onion, diced (I roasted this along with the red pepper. My goodness if you've ever smelled a roasted onion you know why...)
a generous amount of salt and pepper, to taste
1 t Dijon mustard
1/4 c apple cider vinegar
1/3 c olive oil

Direction:
Puree all ingredients in a food processor or blender, until smooth.

How to roast a red pepper:

You really can't go wrong with roasted red peppers. They add a unique sweetness to dishes that is simultaneously savory, unlike the sweetness of sugar. Great on fajitas and sandwiches, or salad dressing (above), and many other recipes (below)!

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425F

Place whole red pepper on a cookie sheet lined with aluminum foil.

Pop in oven and let 'er char (get excited for the wafting aromas of sweetness to fill your kitchen).

Roast until black and blistery, rotating every 15 minutes.

Remove from oven and place in a brown paper bag to cool (the steam of the pepper juices will loosen the skin!)
Peel off the charred skin.*
Remove the stem* and cut open the pepper to expose the innards.
Remove the seeds and white ribs.*
Use immediately or store completely submerged in olive oil in a glass jar.

*Don't forget to compost!

Other Recipes Containing Roasted Red Peppers:
Romesco Sauce from Happy Valley Locavore
Vegetable Fajitas from Broke 'n' Veggie
Bruschetta with Roasted Sweet Bell Peppers
Red Pepper Soup from Smitten Kitchen
Pizza with Red and Yellow Peppers from Smitten Kitchen
Roasted Red Pepper Hummus from Pinch My Salt
Panini with Artichoke Hearts, Spinach and Red Peppers
Red Pepper Ravioli with Cream Sauce from BBC Food

Vinology

At the beginning of this local food journey I had assumed that I would only be able to eat food that I had cooked for myself but low and behold, I am singing a new tune after the events of last night. To conclude Marcy's Birth Week, the Zatz family ventured to Ann Arbor and took Hadas, Marcy, and I out to Vinology.

After scoping out the menu online, I was very hopeful that I would be able to actually order a dish. Not only does their menu rotate seasonally, these wonderful words are printed at the bottom:

To support our environment and local economy, 

we focus on local and sustainable ingredients whenever possible. 

Participating farms in this menu include: 

Eat Local Eat Natural, Guernsey Dairy, Calder Dairy, Miller Amish Chicken Farms, 

Gunthorp Farms, Werp Farms, Mighty Good Coffee, Avalon Organic Bakery

Nevertheless, I called in to see the extent of local purchasing Vinology takes part in. I learned that about 90% of their produce is from local sources. I was directed towards Aaron, one of the chefs, to discuss just what that meant.

I ended up talking to Aaron both on the phone and at the restaurant. He helped me navigate the menu to see my vegan options but when he offered to make me something special, how could I say no? Considering I am a far from picky eater, he surprised me with this beautiful creation:

Photo Credit: M Ziggity

Rice pilaf with saffron, topped with huckleberries, micro greens, and thyme.
A salad of dandelion greens, carrots, cucumber, and heirloom tomatoes, tossed in a vinaigrette dressing.
Roasted zucchini and asparagus in a roasted red pepper sauce.
All of which was grown in Michigan (except the rice...)

Although this will obviously not be a typical dining out experience for me (Hello college student budget), it made me realize how accommodating people will be if you are open and honest about your lifestyle. I could have easily kept my mouth shut and ordered the veggies salad, the only dish on the menu that explicitly is from Werp Farm, but I'm glad that I didn't. Not only was Aaron more than willing to make me something special because of my dietary restrictions, he saw it as an exciting challenge!

All I can say is, don't be embarrassed about your personal goals or what you consider important, you'll be surprised to find how many people want to know more or actually share them!