Carrot Almond Porridge

My husband has begun a 30 day cleanse by going RAW.  The RAW movement is huge and he has been reading about it for months.  So he is giving it a try.  One of the best parts of it is the family benefits greatly.  We are eating in new healthy ways I had never thought of before.  Experimentation in our kitchen is in high gear with great results.  Have fun experimenting in your kitchen!

Carrot Almond Porridge
First make Carrot Apple Ginger Juice:
*6 carrots
*2 medium green apples
*1 inch ginger root, unpeeled
*6 cups of water

Put all the ingredients in the VitaMix and blend until smooth.  Strain the pulp out using a strainer or cheese cloth.  Add cinnamon, nutmeg, and 2 teaspoons agave nectar to the pulp.

Next, make almond milk:
*2 cups almonds, soaked in water for 10 hours.
*6 dates
*6 cups water
*2 teaspoons vanilla extract

After soaking the almonds, rinse and drain them.  Add all ingredients in the VitaMix and blend until smooth.  Strain the pulp out.

Finally mix the pulp from both recipes together until well blended.  Add some almond milk back into it until the texture satisfies you.  I also added some raisins and whole almonds for crunch.
ENJOY!!  When juicing, reusing the pulp means extra nutrition for you.  A win-win situation.

Vitamix Giveaway

This is my 6th post for this blog and I can't help but notice 2 of them have been about my VitaMix.  This morning I found out that there is a VitaMix Giveaway on Elana's Pantry, a gluten free blog I follow.  I didn't want any of my readers to miss out on this news.  I have only used a VitaMix for the past 2-3 weeks but can't say enough positive things about it.  It makes eating healthy that much easier because in seconds you can make your own almond milk, smoothies, soups, and grind flour for bread.  You can even blend compost scraps for your garden or worm bin.  The list goes on and on.....  Last night I came home and K and X had made me vegan peach-triple berry icecream. Now that I can get used to!
Here is what I've said about the VitaMix in earlier posts: Click here!  And here!

I suggest you head on over to http://www.elanaspantry.com/ and enter to win.  Plus check out all the great recipes she has.  She is quite an inspiration.

GOOD LUCK!!

Summer Garden Ratatouille- Improv

This morning I went out to the garden to see what was growing which would determine what I would cook tonight.  I had eggplants, chiles, green peppers, basil, rosemary, marjoram, and radishes among other things.  I consulted my Simply In Season Cookbook and found this:  Summer Garden Ratatouille (p. 125)  I absolutely LOVE the layout of this book.  Not only is every recipe amazing beyond belief but it is laid out in seasons.  This layout makes sense to me since I know it is healthier and better for my body (and less expensive) if I eat what is in season.  I took what I saw from the recipe and revised it:

The original recipe calls for summer squash and says to serve it over pasta.  Keep the squash and pasta in the recipe if you like those things.  We don't eat much pasta because I don't feel my best after doing so.  We added ground turkey and radishes. I rarely ever follow a recipe exactly because I never have all the ingredients.

Here is what I made:
1 large onion (chopped)
5 garlic cloves (minced)  (I personally hate mincing so I just throw them in whole.  So far, no one has                                    complained.)
1 medium eggplant (chopped)
handful of fresh basil
handful of fresh rosemary
handful of fresh marjoram
2 green, yellow, red peppers (cut in strips)
2 cups tomotoes
5 radishes (chopped)
1 lb. ground turkey

Saute the onions and turkey til onions are soft and turkey is cooked.  Pour everything else in the pan and stir fry.

In tonight's meal, of these 9 ingredients (minus the turkey), six I grew.  Only 1 was from a can.  And it tasted amazingly FRESH.

Here was Kevin's exact remark: "This is a keeper.  Share it with others on your blog.  If you keep cooking like this or if you teach me how to cook like this, eating healthy will be easy."
Umm....so I guess he liked it!