Spring Salad

A sweet and a lemony dressing accompany this lunch:

1) Lemon-Garlic Tahini for dipping the zucchini sun-breads and

2) Sweet beet and onion dressing over the John Goode's baby romaine.

Top it off with fresh-picked wild violets. Use some of the smaller lighter-green new leaves from the violets as part of your mix for salad greens. Yum!
All ingredients are local, when available, and ALWAYS organic or home-grown using organic methods.

Lemon Garlic Tahini Dip:

Ingredients:

• juice of one lemon
• 1 tsp of Cooper's local clover honey*
• 1/8 tsp Himalayan pink salt*
• 1 and 1/2 cups of hulled organic sesame seeds*
• 2-3 cloves of garlic, to taste
• clean source water for soaking seeds and as needed (up to 1/4 cup)

* Available on the shelf at Kovac's North in the produce section, 2201 Frederick Ave. St. Joseph, MO 64507.

John Goode's gorgous greens available through freshconnectkc.com

Instructions:

Soak sesame seeds 4 hours at room temp or overnight in fridge. Drain, rinse and allow to rest, wet, for a minimum of 4 hours in the dark. (One method is to use a dish or crock that does not allow light to pass through. Cover the dish with a plate as it's lid. Another method is to use a glass jar and place it inside a double layered brown grocery bag.) Expose to sun-light for 10 to 15 minutes, optional. Rinse one more time before adding to recipe.

Add soaked seeds with all other ingredients to the food processor or Vitamix. Only use water, if needed. Blend until smooth. Chill or store in fridge. Use as a dip for sun-breads and living seed crackers; To use as a salad dressing, add raw or toasted sesame oil and more citrus juice (lemon, orange or lime are all good!) Also used as an ingredient in hummus.

Sweet-Beet Dressing/Marinade

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Raw Oil of Choice (Safflower, Sunflower, Raw Sesame, Walnut, Grape-seed, Pumpkin Seed, Extra Virgin Olive are all good raw bases)
• 1/2 cup raw apple cider vinegar
• 1/4 cup grade B maple syrup
• 1/2 large yellow onion, dices
• 1-2 cloves crushed garlic, to taste
• about 1/4 cup of diced beets = center cut of one small beet
• a pinch of Himalayan sea salt (optional) -some oils, like olive oil, do not require extra salt
• fresh garden herbs

Instructions:

Making this dressing the day before you use it mellows the flavors and results in extra bright colors.

TIP

Instead of peeling the beet, just carve a square out of the middle and use the outer pieces (peel in-tact) to run through the juicer. Add the juice to the dressing. Or, just drink it. You can also add other veggies to the juicer to make a full glass of veggie juice (I like combining celery, apples, sweet-potatoes or the stems from kale or chard with the beet. You will be surprised how a little beet-juice goes a long way!)

Add the ingredients to a glass jar, shake it and refrigerate until ready to use. The yellow onion will turn bright pink and translucent. All other veggies and herbs to your liking. Zuchini, cucumber, diced carrots, spring radishes, sweet corn and pumpkin seeds are all good choices.

Warm the sun bread in 75+ degrees in the sun under a bug-screen or pop them in the dehydrator at 105 degrees for 10 to 15 minutes. Serve with chilled Tahni dip.

To assemble the salad: harvest baby romaine, wash and pat dry the leaves. Put tiwce as much on your plate as you normally would. Toss or top with dressing, edible flowers, freshly-shucked peas and anything else young and green and cute you can find!

Bacon!?! Better! Eggplant Bacon!!!!

Eggplant Bacon Wraps with Saute of Cabbage, Onion, Garlic, Mushrooms;

Fresh Yellow Bell Pepper Slices;

Fresh-picked Pea Sprouts in Lettuce Leaves

Used as a condiment, eggplant bacon is a healthy alternative to commercial vegetarian bacon substitutes. This recipe was inspired by Matthew Kenny's book, Everyday Raw. He uses eggplant bacon to make a vegetarian version of a traditional Cobb Salad. We used it for EBLT wraps, salad, egg-salad, sprouted lentils and baked* potato toppings. Yum.

It might sound weird, but his is a standard raw-foodie ingredient to keep on hand for wraps, salad toppings, snacking. There are a lot of recipes out there that are SUPER high in sodium. Hey, that's what's appealing about bacon. It's salty. Eggplant bacon is no different. The saltier, it seems, the better. My Thursday Demo & Dine class and helped work out this recipe to reduce the sodium level considerably from what we saw posted on-line and in various raw food uncook-books. I also like the "smokey" taste we achieved by using smoked paprika powder from Alhabahi Mart in the City River Market, KC, MO. You can use Hungarian paprika with a pinch of chili powder as a substitute.

You can flavor this up different ways. Think: honey, onion, chipotle chili pepper, garlic, mustard, rosemary, lavender...oh, I could go on! Make it really complex, or you just do the quick version to have as a staple hand. It keeps for several weeks refrigerated and freezes well too. This version turned out really good. For a quick version, leave out anything below that says (optional). It will still be good!

Once you get a feel for this, do double batches.

Ingredients:

• 1 large eggplant sliced length-wise (We left the peel on. It turns black, but no bother. It tastes great and the texture is snap-crispy! You can peel it if you are impressing the in-laws or fussy people. It does look better peeled. Use a Cut-Co peeler. Otherwise, you'll be frustrated! I'm not kidding.)
• 2 TBS of sea salt
• 1/4 cup of toasted sesame oil
• 1/4 cup grade B maple syrup**
• 2 TBS of namu shoyu
• 2 TBS apple cider vinegar
• 1 tsp of smoky paprika (or substitute Hungarian paprika)
• Fresh ground black pepper to taste (We used gourmet peppercorn mix)
• Juice from 1 orange (optional)
• Zest from one orange (optional)
• 1 tsp chili powder (optional)
• 1 tsp of ground cumin (optional)
• tamarind paste or concentrate (available at Middle-Eastern Stores) (optional)
• VERY SMALL pinch of cayenne (optional)

Step 1: Lay sliced eggplant in a glass dish, toss with coarse sea salt (fine ground salt will work too. Avoid processed salts). Let rest for 1-3 hours at room temp or or longer the fridge.

Step 2: Before adding the seasonings, drain and squeeze the liquid from the resting eggplant slices. Also give them a quick cold-water rinse in a stainer. Give the glass dish a quick rinse-out while the eggplant slices are in the stainer. Return the eggplant to the clean glass dish.

Step 3: Blend other ingredients into a "dressing." Adjust the seasoning. Remember, you are going for salty, sweet, smokey. The flavors will intensify with dehydration. Don't over-do the salt or pepper. You can wreck the whole thing with too much Cayenne. When you are happy with the sweet-salty balance, pour over the eggplant slices and allow to marinate for at least 45 minutes. I like to marinate for a whole day in the fridge and turn them a couple of times. (The longer the marinating time, the more intense the flavor.)

Step 4: Dehydrate 24 to 36 hours on screens or tefex sheets at 105 degrees, until crisp. Eat warm or store refrigerated in waxed paper or plastic zip-locks with a paper towel added to the bag. Can be re-heated by placing a few strips in the dehydrator at 1005 degrees, 10 to 20 minutes prior to use, and it stays crisp even when cold.

Another variation: Use honey in place of maple syrup and apple cider or apple-beet juice in place of orange juice. This variation is good with LOTS of fresh-ground pepper. The beet juice makes it looks like bloody bacon when its marinating. Weird! Not to worry, it turns into a nice rosy appearance when dehydrated.

Favorite variation, so far: Use the Vita-mix or a blender to macerate a whole tomato with a pinch of salt, and one heaping TBS of tamarind concentrate. Add to the dressing. If a tomato is not available, organic ketchup can be substituted. (Ah ha! you say, the secrets come to light! Yes, sometimes I go for the quick fix, but not every day and not to compromise on quality. The ketchup actually tastes even more awesome than the tomato, but, it's a compromise all the same. Ketchup is processed and it s not raw.)

*Yes, that's "baked" as in "cooked at a high temperature." Remember, "high-raw" means "a high percentage of raw foods" and some cooked foods. I'm not crazy! I like my potatoes cooked!

**Also, Maple Syrup is a living food. But, it is not raw. Sap from the maple tree is boiled into a syrup. The condensed sugars are pro-biotic and hence, "living". Grade B Maple syrup has a higher nutrient content than grade A, and grade B usually costs less. A to Z Fresh-air Fair, 114 S. 8th Street, in DT Saint Joseph, carries a WONDERFUL grade B maple syrup in quart sized GLASS Bottles! PERFECT! Look for Herrman's Pure Wisconsin Maple Syrup

Frugal Raw Gourmet Tip:

Save extra marinade and use it to flavor:

Veggie patties that you make from the pulp left-over after juicing

OR

Living Seed Crackers (see basic recipe at demoanddinelive.blogspot.com)

Worth repeating, the following article is an excerpt from Living-foods.com, explaining whole food plant minerals as our best source of health and vitality. Dehydrating actually gives our system MORE access to these important minerals.

MINERALS IN DEHYDRATED FOODS Dried food is the most exciting way to get minerals IN BALANCE. Exciting because it tastes good and it's great to share with friends. Nothing turns a friend on more than raw fig bars, cashew-date leather, or home-dried apple or banana -- well at least turns them on to raw foods! You get MORE minerals in dried foods because all the water's gone, which is 70% of the cells. So you get both QUANTITY and BALANCE. Dehydrating gives you more nutrients for less digestive work, just like juicing. It's so easy to snack on a few fig bars made from living plants in your very own Dehydrator. Compare that to gorging on all those plants if they were still plumped up with water, especially the sprouted grain. It would take forever to chew on the grains, nuts, seeds and figs in a fig bar. To me, it's not possible to get enough minerals if you don't include dehydrated foods and juices in your life. Double Noble Laureate Dr. Linus Pauling said: "One could trace every sickness, every disease and every ailment to a mineral deficiency" (quoted in "The Power of Plant Derived Minerals" by Elmer Heinrich). Heinrich also writes: "I have witnessed thousands of people lose weight naturally, and I mean lots of weight, after they began to consume a full spectrum of 70 or more minerals on a daily basis." When you get the right kitchen equipment -- a Dehydrator, a Sprouter and a Juicer -- and choose ORGANIC plant foods, you will enjoy every mineral you need, more than 70, in perfect harmony. There's over three thousand known minerals, and who knows how many we need? Only plants hide that secret. Buy your veggies, fruits and Sprouter seeds from mineral-rich organic soils. end-

Live Vibe: juices!

Green Apple, Pumpkin, Celery, Beet Juice

Check out the STRIPES:

This Living Juice is SO BEAUTIFUL it was difficult to stop photographing it and drink it! I should have had a video cam - All the stripes "breath"!

I joined a Juice Club on-line with cafegratitude.com

I love Cafe Gratitude's energy and the co-founder, Terces Engelhart!

So, it's juice for the first week of each month of 2010! There. That's a New Year's Resolution, if I've er'heard one!

I juice the green apples, pear, celery and ginger first and then add the beets and pumpkin last. The result is the amazing striping: a peachy delicate foam top; a glowing translucent chartreuse base and a big yummy fuchsia middle.

For two juices:

Chop the ingredients into pieces that will fit in the juicer and divide into equal stacks:

3 to 4 small green apples

1 pear, divided (optional)

1 or 2 barbs of celery

1 medium beet with 2" of the stems still attached

1 small piece of ginger, divided

1 four-inch burdock root (optional)

Juice the light-colors first and the darker ones last.

Drink in layers, or stir it up. It's all good!

Love Beets All!

You have heard of Dinosaur Kale?

I'm calling these Elephant Beets!

The Fresh Connect beets are gorgeous. I want to do a painting of them! But, there are hungry people to be fed and one of the first things to eat in the Fresh Connect Box will be the beet tops! They are most likely to wilt later in the week and become soup stock. So, I try to get to them first. Plus I love sautéed and/or wilted beet tops so-much, I could eat them every day!

Beets, also known as beetroot, are high in potassium, folacin, and fiber, yet low in calories. Their edible leaves offer protein, calcium, fiber, beta-carotene, vitamins A and C, and some B vitamins. They're known in the arena of natural healing for their ability to purify the blood and the liver.

Celebrate beets by eating the beet tops! They are highly nutritious. Add them to green smoothies, save the small ones to mix with other salad greens, slice and add to raw and cooked soups, sauté’s and loafs. Use in fermented chim chees and krauts.

Leave the beets in tact until you are ready to use them. (Another reason to eat them first: Elephants tend to be huge and take up much needed fridge space.)

Val's Favorite Beet Top Recipe

(Not 100% Raw)

Sauté them with Onion & Garlic

Get Ready:

Make a bunch. They are great leftover!

Make a workspace:

Clear sink, cutting board, knife, strainer, large stainless steal skillet or pan with wide surface area, wooden spatula, and camera. Check!

When ready, cut off the tops, leaving at least 1 inch of stem attached to the bulb, place the bulbs in a waxed paper bag or brown paper lunch sack to keep the dirt out of the produce bin in your fridge. Leave the dirt on the bulbs. It's good for them! I'm serious. Beets, carrots, potatoes continue to draw nutrients form the soil while in storage. Celebrate the dirt! (You'll need the bulbs for juicing later in the weekend!) Wash the tops in clean source water and drain.

Separate the stems from the leaves. Chop the stems. You will add the stems with the garlic and onion to the pan first. Then, add the more tender leaves last. Chiffonade the leaves. (Save the small ones to mix with other salad greens

Gather organic ingredients:

• A grip of beet tops (A "grip" is however many you have an/or however many you can carry. That way, you've always got a grip!)
• 2-3 cloves of garlic
• 1/2 a large white onion (refrigerated for an hour, or more, to avoid onion-gas-tears)
• 1/2 tsp living sea salt
• 1 tsp to 1 TBS of clover honey (to taste)
• Juice of one orange plus 1/2 a lemon (Or substitute a TBS of raw apple-cider vinegar mixed with 1/4 cup clean-source water)
• Ground Black Pepper
• Optional Garnish: 1/2 cup sprouted Sicilian almonds, soaked in inland seawater, dehydrated until crunchy (I make them in batches and store them in glass jars to keep on hand.)

Recipe:

1. Chop onion, sprinkle with sea salt

2. Sweat the onion first in a hot pan, on lowest of low heat, covered until clear. Add honey, stir, and a few tablespoons of water if needed. The amount of water will depend on the type of cookware you are using and the temp of your stove. So, don't get stuck on the phone in the middle of this step.

3. Chop the beat stems and garlic, add them to the onions, and continue to sweat on low heat, covered. Stir a few times.

4. Add chiffonade of beet leaves last. They should be slightly damp with clean-source water. Stir them into the onions, stems and garlic. Add fruit juice or vinegar when bottom of pan is sticky or leaves start to get wilted or a little dry, to preference. I know I'm close when the onions have turned bright pink.

5. Adjust seasoning, salt, pepper, and honey. Garnish with almonds very last so they stay white.

5 1/2. Hide it from everyone so you can eat it all! Just kidding. Sort of.

6. Actually, I shared and served the beet tops three ways:

• (Not pictured) As a warm topping over white Quinoa with a large side salad, New Year's Eve.
• (Pictured below left) Cold as a salad topping. They "jell" in the ridge overnight and the colors intensify. The almonds turn bright pink! I topped it with more white almonds, too.)
• (Pictured below right) Warm, as a base for the Vegan Hopin' John on New Years Day. I topped it with chopped white onion.

Store left-overs refrigerated, if you have any! The almonds will turn pink too. It's pretty. But, you can also garnish with more white almonds, if you prefer.