Do it Yourself Star Wars Props

I'm in the middle of putting together a Jawa costume for my 9 year old. Boy, Swedish Bandoleers are hard to find!
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Shower Shock! Caffeine Soap!

Have smelly co-workers that sleep in too much? Give the gift of Shower Shock...  Found here at ThinkGeek

Stuffed Peppers in the RAW!

OK, so I've made this dish now a couple of times, and each time I spiced it up and added some ingredients and made it my own style!

Ingredients:
2 red bell peppers
1/2 cup raw pecans (in this case, I used raw cashews)
1/4 cup hemp or sesame seeds
1/4 cup chopped red or white onion
1 tablespoon lime juice
1/2 tablespoon chopped jalapeno pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon Mexican seasoning
1/2 cup sliced avocado
2 tablespoons cilantro

1. Cut the red bell peppers in half and remove the stems and seeds.
2. In a food processor, process the pecans (or cashews), hemp seeds, onion, lime juice, jalapeno, salt, and Mexican seasoning.
3. Fill each red bell pepper half full with the prepared mixture and garnish with avocado slices and cilantro.

Marinated Kale and Avocado Salad

Ingredients:
1 bunch dinosaur kale (approximately 3 cups kale)
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons nama shoyu
1 1/2 cup diced avocado
1 cup cherry tomatoes, chopped
1 tablespoon dulse (seaweed) flakes (totally forgot to add this!)

1. Peel the stems off the kale leaves. Roll the leaves and chop into small pieces.
2. Place the chopped kale into a large bowl and sprinkle with salt. Massage the salt into the kale by hand and let sit for 10 minutes so the kale will become soft and wilt.
3. Pour the lemon juice onto the kale and let it marinate for a few minutes. The acidic lemon juice will further wilt the kale.
4. Pour the olive oil and nama shoyu onto the kale and mix well.
5. Top the kale with avocado, chopped cherry tomatoes, and dulse flakes. Enjoy as a side salad with your entree of choice.

Raw Stuffed Ravioli

What is Jicama? It is a sweet, root vegetable that looks like a turnip. What can I use it with? To make my raw ravioli! So here goes... Stuffed Ravioli! This one became an instant hit!

Stuffed Ravioli Recipe

Ingredients:
1/2 jicama, peeled and sliced in thin strips
1/2 cup Cilantro Pesto
1/4 Pine Nut Cheese
Raw olives to garnish

1. Peel the jicama and slice it into thin squares, about 4 inches by 4 inches. A mandolin slicer works great for this! I don't have one, so I improvised with a cheese slicer! Works like a charm!
2. Place 1/2 tablespoon pesto in the middle of each jicama slice. Fold over the jicama and press together the edges to create the ravioli.
3. Place the raviolis onto a plate. Drizzle the pine nut cheese or pine nuts sauce on top and garnish with olives.

Add a side of green salad and lemon herb raw green beans and the meal is set!

Cilantro Pesto

Ingredients:
1 cup fresh basil
1 1/2 cups fresh cilantro
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup pine nuts

1.Using the S blade on a food processor, process the basil, cilantro, garlic and salt until the basil is chopped.
2. Add in the pine nuts and olive oil. Process until smooth. Use a spatula to scrape the sides of the food processor bowl. Do not overprocess - there should still be small chunks of basil and pine nuts in the sauce.
3. Pest will stay good for a couple of days in the refrigerator.

For the Pine Nut Cheese, please see earlier posts for the recipe and ingredients needed.
Recipe from The Everything Raw Food Recipe Book by Mike Snyder with Nancy Faass.

Raw Pasta Primavera!

I've lost track of how many nights of raw food dishes that were prepared. And I've forgotten to take photos of some. Oh well...

Here is a nice light dinner recipe for a hot summer evening. Pasta Primavera ~ raw!

Ingredients:
3 zucchinis sliced with a peeler or mandolin
2 carrots grated
1 cup of cherry tomatoes halved
1 red pepper sliced thinly

Pine Nut Sauce:
1/2 cup of pine nuts
1 cup of cashews (in my case I used walnuts)
1 garlic clove
fresh herbs
water to thin to sauce thickness
Blend together in food processor

Mix all ingredients and sauce together, garnish with fresh parsley, add some sliced avocados and yum!

Raw Pesto Lasagna!

Day Four:

Picked up a new cookbook called Everything Raw Food Recipe Book by Mike Snyder. Here's our new favorite dish, Raw Pesto Lasagna!

Ingredients:

2 Zucchinis sliced with a vegetable peeler or mandolin
Pesto
Pine Nut Cheese
Mushrooms (not originally in the recipe, but works good)
Olives

Pine Nut Cheese:
In a food processor, blend together until creamy smooth (almost like cream cheese texture):
2 cups Pine Nuts
1 cup Cashews
3/4 water
1 tablespoon Nutritional Yeast
1 teaspoon salt

Bon Appetit!

Raw Pad Thai!

Day three:

This is a favorite dish of mine. Any Thai restaurant I go to, I am the most predictable to order my usual, Pad Thai. Here's my tweaked version of Raw Pad Thai from various online recipes.

Ingredients:

• 2 zucchinis, sliced into strips with a vegetable peeler
• 2 large handfuls of bean sprouts, approx 2 cups
• small handful of diagonally chopped sugar snap peas
• 4 green onions, diced
• 1/2 cup fresh chopped cilantro
• 3/4 cup chopped peanuts

Sauce:

• juice from 1-2 limes
• 1 crushed garlic
• 2 tablespoons of raw agave syrup
• 3 tablespoons of Tamari
• 1 teaspoon of chili paste

I gotta say, I was surprised at how good this tasted! Especially for the fact that I loooove normal Pad Thai, my expectations were not high. But I was so wrong!