Beet Salad

The beet is a highly versatile vegetable.  They can be boiled, sauteed, roasted, pickled, eaten raw, made into soup or juiced and I have even substituted them for zucchini when making bread.  I like them all these ways.  Today I am featuring beets in the raw.

The most common color is a garnet red.  However, they can range in color from deep red to white.  The one I really think is intriguing is the concentric rings of red and white.  I have all of those and yellow in my salad and of course all are from my garden

The poor beet is so misunderstood.  People have a love or hate relationship with them.  It seems that relationship might have something to do with how you have had them prepared.  The taste is very different when they are raw to let's say boiled.  I think that is the key to a lot of food.  Bad experiences can set some people off of a food for life.  I always say "try it you might like it but how will you know if you don't try."

Be careful beets bleed.  The juice acts like a dye and everything it touches turns red.  Yes that is a unique trait of beets - one we all wish we had.  The ability to be so colorful.  Reminds me of a song I heard at a concert Monday night - You know the song "Colour My World" by the great band Chicago.  Talk about memories.  As airplanes were flying over our heads, Chicago was playing the song at sunset.  I was at EAA in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.  Wonderful.

Try the beet next time you are in a colorful mood, you might expand your food horizon and add some color to your soul.

Beet Salad

3-4 different colored beets, peeled, stems and root removed, sliced thin on mandoline
1/2 to whole lemon juiced
Handful of cilantro, chopped
12 cherries pitted and chopped
1 Tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Just combine all the ingredients and adjust the lemon and olive oil to your taste.  How easy.  

Cookie Dough

It's Friday and not so sunny here today so I thought a quick weekend pick me up would be good.  This feeds that childhood habit of wanting to eat the cookie dough.  The dough I grew up with however had eggs in, this does not.  There are a number of ways to make dough like this and I have tried various ones.  This is raw and quick and perfect for summer no baking.  Adapt it for yourself and use whatever ingredients you like.  The nut choices can be any nut varieties.  Just try it and have fun.


Gypsy Dough Delight

1/2 cup macadamia nuts
1/2 cup almonds
1/2 cup dates pitted
1/4 cup chocolate chips (I used enjoy life dairy, nut, soy and gluten free)
1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice (combination of cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, ginger and cloves use whatever you like)
1/4 tsp cardamom (skip if you don't have it)

Put nuts and spices in food processor and pulse until chopped.  Add dates and chips and blends until it forms a sticky dough.  I pressed into foil cupcake tins and refrigerated for 1-2 hours.  I filled with coconut bliss vanilla.  So easy so good.  I rolled some of the dough into balls for quick bite size future snacks.  Refrigerate or freeze. 

Use your imagination and fill with whatever your heart desires.  How fun.

Collard Wrap

The wrap is a fast healthy lunch I enjoy.  With all the greens coming out of my garden it is a fun alternative to corn or flour.  I like the collard wrap which is what I have here today.  You can use lettuce, kale, chard or whatever you have available.  The filler in this one is a hummus and a Romesco sauce with vegetables.

The Romesco is a classic sauce from Catalonia, Spain.  Finely ground mixture of tomatoes, red bell peppers, onion, garlic, almonds and olive oil.  This sauce tastes like Spain.  Yes another gypsy adventure.  I loved Spain.  The smells, the tastes, the gazpacho, the olives, the architecture.  Definitely a place I would go back to.  I adapted this sauce a little of course.  The traditional one is good too.

So when you are feeling like something healthy and green with a little hint of Spain try this.  A master piece even Picasso could appreciate.

Gypsy Romesco

6 colored sweet petite peppers, stems and seeds removed
3 garlic cloves
1/2 fresh tomato
1 1/2 tsp smokey Spanish paprika
1/2 tsp cumin
1 Tbsp sherry wine vinegar
1 Tbsp almond meal (or use blanced almonds)
1/8 cup olive oil

Put all ingredients in food processor and blend until smooth.  Season with salt and pepper.  Add more of any ingredient to your taste.  Keep leftovers in refrigerator.

Hummus

I think we all have our favorite way to make this.  This is mine for this day.

1 15 oz can eden organic garbanzo beans drained
1/2 lemon juiced
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 handful chopped parsley
1 garlic clove
salt and pepper to taste

Put all ingredients in food processor and blend.  Adjust to your taste.  Keep leftovers in refrigerator.

Collard Wrap

Collard leaves with middle stem removed
Assortment of vegetables like cucumbers, carrots, fresh beans, avocado all sliced small.  Basically whatever vegetables you like.

Spread the hummus on collard then place vegetables on and spread some Romesco sauce on top.  Roll.  That's it.  Once you have the hummus and Romesco in the refrigerator just keep chopped vegetables around and you can make these in a flash.  Just feel the nutritional goodness with each bite. Enjoy!

Zucchini Noodles

Yes here comes the garden.  This was dinner Saturday night.  Steak, garden beans and zucchini noodles.  The steak was from a local farmer but the vegetables are all mine.  The fruit of my labor.  The first ones are the best.  So many ways to deal with this great summer squash.  For this recipe you want the medium large zucchini, not those huge ones you make bread with.  You know how zucchini is, if you turn your back on it you swear it wasn't there yesterday and today OMG!  Where was that hiding.  Its looks like something from a sci-fi movie like the alien zucchini thingy.  I try to pick most of mine small and petite to medium.  However, every now and then you get one of those monster bread making kind.  I will do some other recipes with this vegetable later.

I have been eating this way so long I always think everyone knows this stuff.  Maybe there are some of you who have never tried zucchini this way.  It is so easy.  There seems to be a heightened awareness of vegan and raw cooking going on and I think both of those styles make zucchini noodles.  I have done these totally raw as well but this recipe is slightly cooked.  When the gypsy lived in Hawaii raw was everywhere - even at the beach (I am talking food of course).  So call it what you want I just call it good.

Zucchini Noodles Gypsy Style

2 medium large zucchini any color (this was just enough for two)
1 garlic clove minced
2 artichokes with stems (I used the kind that are in water not marinated Trader Joe's)
olive oil
fresh basil
salt and pepper to taste

Take a vegetable peeler and run along length of zucchini to create noodles.  You can also use a mandolin.  Put olive oil in pan on medium heat.  I used about 2 tablespoons use what you like. Saute the zucchini noodles, garlic and artichokes to desired texture.  Add fresh chopped basil and salt and pepper.  That's it.  Faster than fast food but oh so much better for you.

Colorful Salad

I just could not resist this one.  The colors are unbelievable.  How can you not get excited about your food when it looks like this.  What makes it even more special, of course, it is from my garden.  I eat a lot of salads.  When I don't have one for lunch I have one for dinner.  In the concept you are what you eat - I want to be this salad.  Colorful, fresh, a little spicy and full of flavor.  I added a beet I just picked, cucumber, pea pods, tomatoes, garbanzo beans vegetable pulp and edible flowers.  I consider this a complete meal because it does have protein from the vegetables as well as the beans.

Edible flowers.  These are nasturtiums.  All parts of this beautiful plant are edible except the roots of course.  The flowers, leaves and stems are a peppery taste.  I just love using them as garnishes or in salads.  If you haven't tried edible flowers go for it but make sure because not all flowers are edible.

The vegetable pulp I added is what is left after I juiced carrots, beets and cucumber.  Juicing is a topic to discuss another day.  I save the pulp from juicing and use it in a variety of ways.  Generally I freeze it for future use.

There you have it my salad for today.  Once again not really a recipe but maybe some inspiration for you to go out and explore the great world of colorful food.  Do something nice for your body.

Coconut Mango Surprise

Ahhhhh summer. We all have our triggers of what that stirs up deep in our souls. Mine today is ice cream. Think of all the different memories we all have just from that one food item. Food is such an important part of who we are. It is sad how much that vibration deep within us is being lost today because of the lack of connection with our food. My connection is a powerful one because I strongly believe you are what you eat.

Today in my world of gluten, dairy, soy and egg free this treat can be a challenge. I have found a friend in Luna & Larry's Coconut Bliss frozen dessert. They have many flavors to satisfy that summer craving. So this isn't really a recipe, just some ingredients I combined to create a new memory. I just finished a weekend with a great summer concert and felt like being creative.

We found these interesting peppers this weekend. Spicy Calabrian Peppers. A new taste treat for me from Italy. The brand is Isola. The sodium content is higher than products I normally purchase but I only used one so it was fine.

I just scooped Luna & Larry's vanilla island flavor in a dish. Sliced and chopped up an Ataulfo mango for the topping. The inside is velvety smooth with almost no fibrous texture, unlike other varieties. Really this mango variety is so similar to the ones you get in Hawaii. Then put the pepper on top. Indulge.

It was the perfect treat to top off the great summer weekend concert MOJO. So much fun!!

Cauliflower Timbale

OK are you ready for this one? I have tried cauliflower so many ways, haven't you. It is interesting all those bunches of tiny florets on clusters of stalks. The entire floret portion (called the "curd") is edible. I like the fact that you can eat it raw or cooked. Cauliflower is a cruciferous vegetable. So I got this idea to really go out there and make it fool you. The artist in me took from the French word Trompe L'oeil "fool the eye" to a whole new level in food. I am French and I do paint so it is a fusion I guess. This is what I got. A cauliflower timbale. Now maybe this exists out there on our little planet, but I never went looking for it so I will just believe for now that I created it. So just have fun. Maybe fool someone with it.

Cauliflower Timbale

1 whole head of cauliflower washed and trimmed of green leaves

2 tbsp of olive oil

1/3 cup of minced red onions

1 garlic clove minced

1/4 cup chicken broth (I use Pacific organic low sodium)

1 tsp smoked Spanish paprika (I use Penzeys spices)

1/2 tsp of Zatar ( I use Penzeys spices - this is a blend with sumac)

Cut or pull cauliflower apart and put in food processor and pulse until grated. Heat the oil in large skillet over medium heat. Add the onions and saute about 4 minutes. Add the garlic and saute one more minute. Add cauliflower and saute 2 minutes more. Add chicken stock and spices, turn heat to medium low and cook for about 10 more or less. Add salt and pepper to taste. You could just eat it like that but I oiled 2 glass timbale molds, put cauliflower in and packed down. Turn over to release the shaped timbale on the plate. There you have it. You can experiment like I did.