Food

Roasted Brussels Sprouts (vegan, vegetarian)

Ingredients:
1 bag of fresh Brussels sprouts
Balsamic vinegar
Salt
Olive oil
Red pepper flakes
(I didn't really measure any ingredients - just added to taste)

Preparation (sorry no prep pictures - I got too carried away and forgot):
1. Cut sprouts in half
2. Place on baking sheet
3. Season with salt (garlic salt is preferred)
4. Drizzle with balsamic vinegar
5. Follow with olive oil
6. Broil for 10 minutes
7. Add red pepper flakes

Time: 20 minutes (tops!)

Cauliflower Stir Fry (gluten, egg, nut, dairy free)

Ingredients:
1 cup Romanesque cauliflower (fresh)
1 cup white cauliflower (fresh)
1 cup sugar snap peas (fresh)
2 medium carrots (fresh)
1/2 leek (fresh)
1/2 head of Asian cabbage (fresh)
1/4 onion (fresh)
3 garlic cloves (fresh)
red pepper flakes (to taste)
soy sauce (to taste)
honey (to taste)
1 cup dry sticky white rice
1 tablespoon of coconut oil

Stir fry ingredients

Preparation:
1. Start to boil the rice (20 mins)
2. While the rice is boiling start chopping up the vegetables.
3. Chop all vegetables to desired size (except for sugar snap peas)
4. Heat coconut oil in wok
5. Add garlic and onion until brown
6. Add  cauliflower (Romanesque and white), let sautee for about 2 mins (cover if desired).
7. Add remaining vegetables and stir fry for about 2 mins.  Do not over cook your veggies! They should be nice and crisp.
8. Turn off heat Add and mix in  soy sauce, honey and red pepper flakes.  Remove from heat.
9. Enjoy on bed of sticky rice

Time: 25 - 30 minutes tops!

chopped ingredients

Cauliflower stir fry on a bed of sticky rice

 For stir fry meals ANY veggies will do.  The key is to not overcook the veggies.  Keep them crispy!


Island Berry Smoothie (gluten, soy, egg, nut free)

Ingredients:
strawberries (fresh or frozen)
pineapple (fresh)
orange juice (fresh squeezed)
hemp seeds
coconut butter

Preparation:
1. Cut up all the fruit
2. Throw everything into a blender
3. Blend and enjoy!

Fruit in the blender...ready to go!

Island Berry!

Chia Pudding (egg, nut, soy free)

Ingredients:
hemp seed milk
chia seeds
granola
strawberries (any fruit will do)

Preparation:
1. Blend hemp seeds with water to make the milk
2. Add milk to chia seeds and let "bloom" for about 10 - 15 minutes
3. Add fixings (honey, granola, fruit)
4. Enjoy!!

Time: 15 minutes.....20 tops! You can also soak the chia seeds overnight and have it ready for your fruit in the morning

Chia pudding with granola and strawberries

Veggie Maki Rolls (featured in: The Almost Raw Lunch)

Ingredients: Lotus white rice (this I why it's a mostly raw lunch).  I've used jicama in the past for "rice"
red cabbage
mango
scallions
fresh dill
sweet onions
bean sprouts
Braggs liquid amino (or you can use soy sauce)
Super tonic dressing (this orange stuff pictured below adds brightness to any meal!)

Preparation: 1. Cut up all desired ingredients
2. Layer ingredients on sheets of Nori (seaweed)
3. Roll ingredients and Nori into a cylinder
4. Cut and eat or just eat!

Time: 30-35 minutes - this depends on how many ingredients you cut up and how many rolls you end up making.  I made about 7 rolls yesterday and had to cut up more dill, scallions and red cabbage.  Just play it by sight.

Fixings: red cabbage, oinions, dill, scallions, mango, ginger and bean sprouts

The fixings on a seaweed sheet

The finished product

Try it and let me know how it goes...again, be creative! Let your taste buds and hunger energy lead you to an awesome meal!
 

Falafel (gluten, soy, dairy and nut free)

Ingredients:
chick peas -  soaked overnight or longer (10- 12 hours).  This is a pretty hefty bean and needs a lot of time for the water do it's job.
onions - fresh
garlic - fresh
olive oil
coconut flour (to build consistency, any other flour can be used like rice, wheat or oat...but I like to keep it gluten free)
coconut oil for cooking (again any other oil can be used)
coriander - to taste
cumin - to taste
salt - to  taste
herbs (I've used the following: dill, cilantro, parsley but there's a ton out there)

Preparation:
You can blend everything in stages or all together.  I typically blend the chickpeas, onions, garlic and olive oil together first.  Then I blend in the herbs.  The spices are added to the mixture in a bowl and the flour is added as needed to get a thick pasty consistency for ease of cooking and eating.  The less water used the better.  Add as much oil to get the mixture churning as possible.  Now I've had some blunders where I've had to throw the mix away....there was just no way to salvage what was in that bowl!! I tried...and ended up making it worse!!

I usually pan fry the falafel mixture in coconut oil and eat it with pita bread and salad (tomatoes, onions, herbs, greens and lemon juice).  I'm still working on a white sauce recipe free of sesame seeds. Any suggestions?? You can add any fixings your heart desires.  Caleb loves falafel and it's a good way for me to get him to eat some greens (my falafel is usually very herby).  The cook time is less than 4 minutes on each side.


Cooked falafel