Raw Fettuccine With Meatballs And Creamy Marinara Sauce

Vegan, Raw, Gluten-Free, Paleo-Friendly Fettuccine With Meatballs And Creamy Marinara Sauce

I know I am posting a lot of uber-healthy recipes rather than decadent sweet treats. Trust me I have a ton of sweet recipes, which will be coming up soon but this summer it has been so hot and all I feel like eating is fresh, raw wholesome meals that won't heat up my kitchen and that take advantage of my amazing raw organic produce. So, if you're looking for junk food, hang tight I'll post those recipes later even though I might be switching over to a more plant based, less (or no) grain, soy, etc. I still have written down many vegan junk food recipes so I don't want them to go to waste. I will post eventually. I must clarify, when I say vegan junk food, I don't mean junk like the equivalent of fast food or twinkies. I always use quality ingredients which are healthier, they just are a little more processed than say Raw Fettuccine With Creamy Marinara and Meatballs. This recipe is vegan which means dairy and meat free. Also, it is gluten-free, grain-free, and 100% raw. It probably took less time to make than real fettuccine and didn't heat up my kitchen which is very important as we've been in a bit of a heat wave lately. Anyway, I am very excited about this recipe. I hope you enjoy.

Pasta:

4-6 zucchini 

juice of 2 lemons or limes

dash of salt

1 T olive oil (can be left off if you are cutting back on fat)

Peel zucchini and toss or eat the skins or feed to pets (I have a rabbit and guinea pig who love my veggie scraps). Use your veggie peeler to shred the zucchini into noodles then mix noodles in with the lemon or lime juice, salt and oil and set aside while you prepare the sauce.

My cute veggie lovers: Piglet and Thumper

Creamy Tomato Basil Sauce:

8-10 oz of cherry or grape tomatoes

1 T  red onion minced

1 zucchini peeled and sliced

salt to taste

1 clove of garlic minced 

5-7 leaves of fresh basil

5-7 leaves of sage

6-8 olives

Place all ingredients (minus the sage and olives) into a blender, Vitamix or Blendtec  (I know I'm pushing this blender a lot but it is my favorite you may also find a used or refurbished one cheaper on Amazon) and puree. Mix sauce into noodles. Add a few whole leaves of fresh sage and the olives chopped in half.

Italian Sausage Meatballs:

1 C Walnuts

1 C sunflower seeds

1/4 C sun dried tomatoes

2 cloves garlic minced

2 T onion minced

2 T fennel seeds

1 tsp basil

1 tsp oregano

salt and pepper to taste

water as needed

Soak your nuts and seeds while you prepare the noodles and sauce. If you don't remember to soak them, it's ok you may just need to add water while you are blending this mixture. Add all ingredients to a blender, Vitamix, etc or food processor and blend thoroughly. It should have the texture of a thick almond butter or something like that. Once mixed, roll into 1/2" balls.

Serve noodles and sauce over a bed of spinach and top with "Meatballs." There you a have a satisfying, delicious meal that is filling, wholesome and doesn't heat up your kitchen.  

Organic Produce Co-op!!

I just discovered the most amazing thing! The South Central Farmers Cooperative it's an organic produce co-op where you can buy a box of assorted produce for $20, $25 or $40 and pick it up weekly from your local farmers market or whichever of their locations is most convenient. Here's the link for anyone who's reading in Los Angeles: South Central Farmers Cooperative

Anyway, all the boxes are the same size but you can choose to pay more if you can to help cover those who can't afford as much. Pretty cool, huh? The boxes vary depending on what's in season. My box came with several types of zucchini, cherry tomatoes, watermelon, oranges, mandrine oranges, fresh basil, parsley and sage, squash, kale, and I think a bitter melon. I'm not exactly sure what it is. The box is supposed to feed a family of 4 for one week. Not sure how long it will last with how much produce my family of 3 eats but it's definitely going to save us some money. I want to start adding videos to my blog so I think I'll do one next week when I open my box. That way you can see how fresh and amazing it is. I was just too excited this week with my first box to think of doing a video before I started tearing into it. Seeing all the yummy raw produce inspired me so I will have some tasty, healthy recipes coming up. :)

If you have a local farmers market where you live, or maybe you live in a good farming community, you should see they have anything similar to the South Central Farmer's Cooperative and if not, maybe you can organize one for your area. It's a great way to save money if you're trying to be more frugal and eat more fruits and veggies or if you just want to eat more locally grown food. Keep an eye out for my upcoming recipe for raw fettuccine with creamy marinara and "meatballs." All made from fresh organic produce and no meat, grains or dairy. It should be posted by tomorrow so come back and check it out.

Raw Lettuce Leaf Tacos and Raw Nachos

There's a restaurant I love called Sun Power Cafe in Hollywood. It's on Cahuenga blvd, if you're ever in the area and want to check them out. Quite possibly my favorite dish there (besides the chocolate shake or the key lime pie) is the lettuce leaf tacos. They are an appetizer but I usually order them as my entree. The dish seems small, like it wouldn't be a lot of food but it's the perfect amount of food. I guess all those live enzymes, minerals, and vitamins that are so bio available just fill you up faster. You don't miss what's not it them. Anyway, I've been craving them and the Paleo Power Lunch Cookbook I mentioned the other day had a similar recipe so, I made my own even better version today. I was completely ravenous after work and didn't have the time to wait for nuts and mushrooms to soak so I have a new impromptu version of my nut meat which requires much less preparation. I think perhaps the best recipes are invented out of starvation. I could be wrong. What do you think? Do you have any favorite recipes created under similar circumstances?

For this recipe, and most raw food recipes, you will need a good blender, I recommend this one: Blendtec Blender HPA-611-25 White - J-2 3qt 

It's my absolute favorite! It really is amazing, it can grind popcorn into cornmeal and rice into rice flour.   So it's great for a gluten-free baker to save money on gluten-free baking ingredients and it will cut time from all of your raw food recipes. If you're interested in more raw recipes, I own this book: The Complete Idiots Guide to Eating Raw By Reinfeld, Mark/ Rinaldi, Bo/ Murray, Jennifer . It makes raw food recipes simple. It really is a great beginner's book.

Anyway, without further ado, here's my new favorite recipe:

Lettuce Leaf Tacos/ Raw Nachos:

If making Lettuce Leaf Tacos, you will need 1 head of romaine lettuce washed. Each leaf can be sliced into two to three "taco shells." If making "Raw Nachos" you will need a couple cucumbers sliced into "chips"

Taco Meat

1 C Walnuts

1 C sunflower seeds

3oz sun-dried tomatoes

1 T chili powder

2 tsp cumin

2 tsp paprika

1-2 tsp salt 

2 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp onion powder

Soak nuts and sunflower seeds for 10 to 20 minutes while you prep the rest of your ingredients. Pour excess water out then pour the seeds, walnuts and sun-dried tomatoes into a food processor along with the seasonings. This should have a course texture.  Once blended to desired texture, remove from blender and place in serving bowl. Set aside.

Cheese 

1/2 C almond meal

1/2 C sunflower seeds

1/2-3/4 C water

juice from 1 lime

2 tsp nutritional yeast flakes*

2 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp salt 

1/2 tsp onion powder
dash of nutmeg

Add all ingredients to the food processor or blender, add more or less water as needed to reach desired consistency. I made mine about the texture and thickness of hummus. 

UPDATE: I recently made these and discovered a shortcut! I just chopped up avocados, tomatoes and olives and placed them on top, instead of making guacamole. It was easier and tasted great- maybe even better than with the guacamole.

Guacamole

2 Haas Avocados 

1 small tomato

1 jalapeno

1 shallot

1 garlic clove

juice of 1 lime

add salt and cumin to taste

Chop up tomatoes, green peppers, cilantro and black or calamata olives to place on top of the tacos or nachos. Place each taco or nacho topping in it's own separate bowl and each person can make their own with whatever they want to add. I made mine with "meat", then "cheese," then guacamole topped off with tomatoes, green peppers, cilantro and olives.

Paleo Power Lunch- Vegan?

      I can't say I'd ever go 100% Paleo as I don't eat meat and the diet would be rather restrictive. However, I really like this diet's avoidance of wheat gluten, and dairy and generally sticking to natural unprocessed foods. So, I just checked out this great cookbook. It provides a lot of help for planning out your meals for the week and also includes simple and nutritious no-cook recipes. I love un-cooking. I don't post nearly enough uncooked recipes. The only thing I did to make up for the lack of meat, which of course is not normally a lack of food for me but without grains, beans or potatoes (which are excluded from the paleo diet) to fill me up, the recipes can seem a bit sparse for a vegetarian so I made a recipe for "nut meat" (see below for recipe). It's raw, contains no gluten or grain and can be seasoned in any way to match the flavor of whatever dish you add it to.  I also recommend cauliflower blenderized to replace the egg. Maybe you could add flax seeds or cashew or sunflower seed butter or milk for more protein. I didn't try it so if you do, let me know how it worked out.

    I would definitely recommend this cookbook to anyone. If it seems to restrictive for a lifestyle change, it would easily make a great short-term detox diet or a quick plateau- busting diet for weight loss that will give you great energy. If you're vegan or vegetarian, include my nut meat as a substitute for the meat or you can just add extra nuts, seeds, or mushrooms to your meals to keep you from feeling really hungry.

Click here to get the Paleo Power Lunch Cookbook.

And, for anyone who's ever wanted to try gluten-free, soy-free*, dairy-free and egg-free meat alternative, here's my nut meat recipe. I think it needs a new name. Any suggestions?

Nut Meat
1 C raw walnuts
1 C raw white mushrooms sliced- or if you like the taste, dried shitake mushrooms have more of a meat-y texture
1 clove of garlic minced
2 tomatoes
1/4 C Bragg Liquid Aminos*
1/4-1/2 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp sea salt or himalayan crystal salt
1/2 tsp raw agave

In blender, mix the tomatoes, liquid aminos, salt, agave onion powder and garlic. Add a little water if needed to blend thoroughly. Pour into a container with the walnuts and mushrooms and allow to marinate overnight. When ready to prepare "meat," drain the excess liquid from the mushrooms and walnuts then place in food processor and grind to a ground beef consistency.

For mexican taco inspired "meat" season with:
1 T chili powder
1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp oregano

For italian flavor season add:
sun-dried tomatoes, basil, oregano, and black pepper

*Liquid aminos contain some soy, can substitute an extra 1/4-1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 C water

Ron Popeil Olive Oil Fryer

I am going to be in the next Ron Popeil informercial for his new Olive Oil Fryer and Steamer! So, I have been working on some fantastic recipes. I am determined to get some of my recipes into his recipe book. The major selling point about this fryer is that you can safely and easily cook a 15 lb turkey in 45 minutes. Of course that's fantastic if you eat meat but I don't. However, this is an amazing machine and I have made tons of yummy recipes which have no meat, no dairy and no gluten which is a least a little healthier.

Even though olive oil is healthier than other types of oils, I may have to get together with Richard Simmons again after creating all these fried recipes.

I'm very excited to say I have my new thanksgiving turkey replacement. I'm not a big fan of the Tofurkey roast though I love their deli slices. So, since they were on the whole turkey kick, the first thing I made was a tofu turkey. I used Ron's amazing flavor injector to make my tofu full of flavor. I will post the recipe of how I did it at a later date as I  don't want to give away my recipes yet in case they get used in the cookbook! The whole recipe took less than 15 minutes to make and it was super easy and delicious! The next thing I made was breaded tofu nuggets. I used the flavor injector again and I also made a gluten-free breading using almond meal. It's tasty but I'm still perfecting it. I also wanted to make a few dessert recipes so I made fried bananas breaded again with almond meal and also shredded coconut, fried strawberries, which taste like an amazing jelly doughnut and my most decadent recipe I like to call cherry bombs which is basically chocolate covered cherries fried in a coconut mixture. If you've had fried chocolate covered cherries, I can guarantee they weren't as good as mine. They are also pretty simple to make and are sugar-free and gluten-free.

Anyway, since I'm not giving away my recipes yet, I'll tell you about this fryer. It is a great little machine and all the extra pieces, except the steaming attachment, that came with it fit inside for easy storage. I got some cool extras with the machine that I will definitely use.

The most surprising is the carving knife. It's designed for carving meat but it's amazing. It slices lots of things with ease. I of course haven't tried it on a tin can or anything crazy but it is definitely equal in quality to our Cutco knife set.

I also got the flavor injector which I mentioned earlier. It is a flavor injector. Its got a syringe and a giant hollow needle which comes with a warning not to use on anything other than food. The frightening thing is that is would work on a person- if you had massive veins like a bodybuilder. Please don't inject yourself with anything though cause that could kill you. My sister is actually somewhat disgusted by it. I guess it doesn't bother me due to my medical background and the fact that I'm only injecting tofu. Hmm wonder why I never thought to bring a needle home from blood draws to inject flavor into my food rather than marinate it? Anyway, I have big plans for this flavor injector and I'm really excited to develop more recipes with it.

Another thing I am excited about but I haven't received it yet. It's a cool contraption that you used to bread anything rather easily without getting your hands dirty. I haven't used yet so I can't really go into detail but it will cut down on the time it takes to prepare some of my simple recipes so I'm looking forward to getting that.

There's also a cool little slicer coming. It's called the Spiral Slicer. It's a really simple contraption but it will slice a potato into really thin potato chips in just seconds. It's pretty cool to see it in action but it slices really fast and would made pretty vegetable garnishes or whatever. I am sure I will find some creative uses for that one. It was actually made by Ron Popeil's dad in Chicago, IL.

Vintage Picture of the Spiral Slicer

So, I am really excited to get back in my kitchen and make more cool recipes. I've got to come up with some cool ideas for the steamer. I know I haven't posted in a while but trust me, these upcoming recipes will be worth the wait. ;-)

Nachos for a heart-attack-free super bowl party!

I don't really have much interest in the super bowl besides the commercials and maybe the half-time show, but I love good food and entertaining! If I were having a super bowl party, this is what I would serve. You won't have to worry about heart attacks with this recipe. My sisters and I opted to go to Trader Joe's for a quick meal rather than Chipotle the other day and that is where this recipe was born. We needed it to be quick and with three of us it took less than 10 minutes to throw everything together. So unless you have 3 pairs of hands working in It was so good I had to share. This recipe features vegan nacho cheese, vegan sour cream, refried beans, beef-less taco meat, guacamole, salsa and fajita style peppers and onions.

Mmm Fajita Nachos

Vegan Fajita-Style Nachos

You will need:

2 tubs of non-dairy [cream cheese] spread

1 can Trader Joe's salsa style refried beans

1 pepper (red or green)

1/2 red onion

1 bag blue corn chips

1 package Avocados Number One Guacamole- or if you have time to make any other guacamole recipe, that's fine

1 tub of Trader Joes Serrano Salsa Fresca- or other Salsa you enjoy

1 tsp Trader Joes Red Jalapeno Sauce- if you don't have TJ's maybe you can sub Tapatio or Texas Pete or whatever other hot sauce you enjoy

1 package TJ's Beef-less Grounds

olive oil

1 Tbs lemon juice 

1 tsp chili pepper

1/2 tsp paprika 

1/4 tsp cumin

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp salt

Start by slicing the peppers and onions first then place the onions in a pan with some olive oil on low-medium heat. While the onions are cooking down, start the taco "meat." 

In a bowl mix the chili pepper, paprika, cumin, garlic powder, onion powder and salt in with your Beef-less Grounds. Once thoroughly mixed, pour olive oil into a pan add your "meat" and brown until desired temp is reached.

 While you're cooking the meat or once you're done, it should be time to add the sliced pepper to the onions that have been cooking. Add more oil if necessary. 

Next make the nacho cheese. Take one container of non-dairy spread and dump it into a small saucepan. Add 1/2 C water and 1tsp Jalapeno sauce along with a dash of salt and a dash of garlic. Stir over low heat until your nacho cheese reaches desired consistency. 

Now put the refried beans in a bowl with 1/4 cup water and heat in the microwave on high about 2 minutes. Stir well once you take it out of the microwave. By now our peppers and onions should be cooked so don't forget to remove them from heat.

Then make the sour cream. In a bowl mix the other tub of sour cream with about 2 Tbs of water and 1 Tbs of lemon juice and it's ready to serve. If it still feels too thick you can add a little more water.

Place everything in serving bowls and let your guests put together their nachos however they like. If you're taking food to a party and that's too inconvenient, you can layer it in a large bowl in this order: beans, meat, nacho cheese, peppers and onion, guacamole, salsa, sour cream. Or, try my 7 Layer Dip if you prefer. 

Happy Super Bowl!!

I think I must be a stress eater but at least it's good for my creativity!

My mom's in the hospital, she just had surgery. She's doing well but every time I come home from the hospital I just keep making delicious gluten-free recipes. Maybe it's because all the food at the hospital is so awful I have to remind myself that there's good food in the world. Yesterday I made the most delicious rosemary olive gluten-free loaf which my sister and I polished off before I could think of blogging about it. Today I woke up wanting pancakes so. I made my own recipe and made the dough. They were amazing! Luckily for you guys, I remembered to blog. ;-) This recipe is so easy too!

So delicious!

Easy Gluten-Free Pancakes

Ingredients

---

• 1/2 C certified gluten free oats
• 1/2 C cornstarch
• 2 Tbsp. honey* or agave
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. xanthan gum**
• ¼ tsp. salt
• 1 Tbsp. flax meal***
• 1 C. water + 1/4 C water
• 1 Tbsp. oil- I used olive but I think it would be better with grape seed oil.
• 1/4 C blueberries (optional)
• *Honey is not considered vegan by most so if you're opposed to the consumption of honey, use agave
• ** You can find xanthan gum at Whole Foods or online. I also see it at the chinese grocery stores sometimes. Most recipes don't require much so it's good to just keep around the house for your GF baking needs.
• *** The flax meal and 1/4 C water mixture is a replacement for an egg so if you eat eggs and you don't have flax, you can use one egg instead.

This is the dough before I added the blueberries.

How to make it

---

• Put the 1/2 C oats into the blender and blend until the oats have mostly the consistency of flour. In mixing bowl, stir together oats, corn starch, baking powder, xanthan gum, and salt. In a small bowl combine the flax meal with 1/4 C water and mix together. Let stand while you get another mixing bowl, and mix the honey, water, and oil. Add to oat mixture all at once and mix in flax meal mixture and blueberries if you're using them. Stir until blended. Pour about 2 Tbsp. or 1/4 C onto heated pan or griddle. On my stove we set it to a 2 out of 8. Not sure what temp that is. Sorry. You can test the temp of your pan or griddle by wetting your fingers and dropping a drop or two of water onto it. If it skates across the surface, it's ready. When you drop the dough onto the pan, you will need to help it spread out as the dough doesn't really spread out easily as regular pancake mix. Perhaps this could be helped by adding more liquid but I didn't think to try that.
• Cook until pancakes are golden brown, you will know it's time to flip when you see little bubbles on the surface of the pancake.  Makes 8 to 10 pancakes. 
• And yes, my sister and I ate them all. :-p
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