Pesto

My grandfathers recipe...

Ingredients

1. 2 cups packed fresh sweet basil leaves
2. 1/4 cup Pine Nuts, toasted
3. 1/2-3/4 cups Parmesan Cheese (depending how pasty you want it)
4. 1/2 cup olive oil
5. 4-8 cloves garlic
6. salt to taste

Directions

Combine all ingredients in a food processor and process until well blended.

Bread Pudding

Ingredients

1) 6-7 slices day-old bread
2) 2 tablespoons butter, melted
3) 4 eggs, beaten
4) 2 cups milk
5) 3/4 cup white sugar
6) 1 tablespoon cinnamon (less if you prefer)
7) 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
2) Break bread into small pieces into an 8 inch square baking pan. Drizzle melted butter or margarine over bread.
3) In a medium mixing bowl, combine milk, eggs, sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla. Beat until mixed very well.
4) Pour over bread, and lightly push down with a spoon until the bread is covered and soaking up the mixture.
5) Bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes.

Cilantro Pesto

1 bunch Cilantro
1/4 cup raw almonds or pine nuts
3 cloves garlic
2 tbsp olive oil
1-2 tbsp Parmesan cheese

Combine all ingredients in a food processor and process until well blended.
Use as a pasta sauce, a dipping sauce, or spread it on bread.

Herb Pasta with Zucchini

My goal for this pasta was to make it warm and fragrant while keeping the ingredients relatively raw.




3 - 4 Tbs olive oil (or any other desired oil)
1 tsp rosemary
1 leaf white sage
3 garlic cloves
Black pepper
Salt
Cheyenne pepper
1 Tbs honey
1 zucchini
1 cup dry pasta (I used this pasta. It's different but I really liked it!)


Boil the water for your pasta while you do the following:

Put olive oil in a small pan

Finely chop the rosemary and white sage and add to the oil

Crush the garlic and add to the oil

Sprinkle (to your taste) the black pepper, salt, and Cheyenne pepper on to the oil

Add the honey

Mix all the ingredients very well and mash the herbs and spices into the oil with your spatula

Turn the burner on to a very low heat and continue to mash the herbs and spices with your spatula for 1-2 minutes (don't let it get too hot)

Remove from heat

Chop the zucchini into bite size pieces and add to the oil

Turn the burner on to a very low heat again and coat the zucchini in the oil. Do this for 1-2 minutes

When the water starts to boil, add the pasta

Cook the pasta to your liking, then drain it and add it to the zucchini mixture and coat the pasta evenly with the oil

Serve with your choice of bread with a side of balsamic vinegar and olive oil for dipping.

Green Smoothie

My dear friend Tammy, who is a HUGE inspiration to me in the world of healthy living, introduced me to green smoothies yesterday. Its a bit more chunky than juice but oh so good. I made one this afternoon. So tasty and good for you!!

6 chard leaves
The fruit of 1 mango
A hand full of grapes
1/2 inch of ginger
1 1/2 cups of water

Put all ingredients into a blender. Blend until smooth. Drink up!
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Carrot Lemonade

Ingredients

10 carrots
6 small apples (3 large apples)
1 small lemon (with skin)

Method
(made with a Champion juicer)

Juice lemon.

Juice the carrots and the apples, alternating between the two (carrots have a very dry pulp, the moisture in the apple pulp will help the carrot pulp come out).

Stir it up and enjoy...

Super Green Juice

I call this Super Green Juice because the dandelions in it give it a strong green kick. If you don't like the strong green taste, just use a full bunch of spinach instead of the dandelions.

Ingredients
2 apples
5 carrots
1/4 of a pineapple
2 yams (or 1 large one)
1 bunch dandelion
1/2 a bunch of spinach
1 small lemon (with skin)
about half a gram of fresh ginger

Method

Juice everything in a juicer (I recommend one of these juicers)

~Hint~ The carrots have very dry pulp, so if you are using a Champion juicer, I would recommend juicing a carrot or two in between some of the juicier fruits and vegetables. (Juice a carrot, then a pineapple, then a carrot, then an apple - something like that). It helps the pulp move out of the juicer. Juice the greens last.

Cucumber Green Juice

This is a light, refreshing juice with a bit of sweetness. The cucumber really comes out in this one. (I use a Champion juicer - I highly recommend one)

I really like to use spinach in most of my juices because it has all that green goodness in it and the taste isn't too overwhelming, as far as green leafy vegetables go. NutritionData.com says Spinach is "...a good source of Niacin and Zinc, and a very good source of Dietary Fiber, Protein, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin E (Alpha Tocopherol), Vitamin K, Thiamin, Riboflavin, Vitamin B6, Folate, Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Potassium, Copper and Manganese."

I just recently found out about the healing properties of pineapples. They contain an enzyme called Bromelain that has anti-inflammatory properties. Click this link to read more about Pineapples and their healing properties.

Ingredients
1 large cucumber
1/4 of a pineapple
A half to a full bunch of spinach

Method

Juice pineapple

Juice cucumber

Juice spinach

Stir with a spoon and enjoy~

Macadamia Nut Crusted Albacore

Ingredients for marinade
1-2 lbs. Albacore fillets - thawed
Juice of 1 large orange
Juice of 1 small lemon
1Tbs chopped cilantro
A sprinkle of salt and fresh ground pepper
4 garlic cloves
1 Tbsp olive oil

Ingredients for macadamia nut crust
1 cup raw macadamia nuts, chopped
Garlic powder
2 eggs
Flour
Olive oil

Marinade the fish

Place fish fillets on a large plate

Sprinkle chopped cilantro over fish

Crush garlic onto fish and spread evenly

Squeeze the juice from the orange and lemon onto the fish

Drizzle with 1 Tbsp olive oil

Flip the fish over a few times to coat both sides with the marinade

Let stand for a least 30 minutes

Method

Finely chop macadamia nuts and place in a shallow dish

Sprinkle garlic powder over the chopped macadamia nuts

Crack the eggs into a different shallow dish and scramble them

Place flour into another shallow dish

Dip each fillet in the flour to coat

Dip each fillet into the egg mixture

Coat pan in a thin layer of olive oil

Cook fish fillets on low to medium heat until macadamia nuts are golden brown

Add more olive oil if necessary when you are cooking them

Avocado Ice Cream

Ingredients:

4 Avocados
1/2 a Cantaloupe
water of 1 coconut
2 cups whole milk
1/2 cup sugar
(I use a Champion Juicer for this recipe)



Method:

Juice the cantaloupe with the juicer into a large bowl.

Homogenize the avocados (without the seed and skins) with the juicer and mix with the cantaloupe juice until you have an even consistency.

Add the coconut water, sugar, and milk and stir until an even consistency is reached and most of the sugar has dissolved.

Freeze the mixture in a tray or shallow dish.

Homogenize the frozen mixture with the juicer into a bowl.

Serve right away~

Raw Almond Pumkin Seed Milk

I thought I would start out with a simple, refreshing recipe. A very good friend of mine taught me how to do this.

Ingredients:

2 cups raw organic almonds
2 cups raw organic pumpkin seeds
Water for soaking
2-3 cups of water for every cup of nuts for blending
A couple pinches of garam masala if you like.

Method:

Place the almonds and pumpkin seeds in tupperware and fill it with water so that the water covers the almonds and seeds at least 1 inch.

Soak them overnight in the fridge or at least 8 hours.

Take them out of the fridge after they have soaked and drain and rinse them off in a strainer.

Place a cup of the mixture in a blender and add 2-3 cups of water.

Blend until the water turns white and the almonds and pumpkin seeds are ground up into fine pulp.

Separate the water from the almond and pumpkin seed pulp. I like to poor the mixture into a very fine strainer. To speed up the process, grab a handful of pulp and squeeze it over the strainer until no more water comes out. Put the pulp aside to use in other recipes. If you like, you can purchase a nut milk bag to strain the water from the pulp.

Store in the fridge.

Enjoy~