Garden Fresh Cucumber and Tomato Salad

I'm just lovin' this time of year; the produce is in abundance here in my neck of the Minnesota woods. Whether from my own garden or the farmer's market or my local co-op, it just keeps on coming and is starting to invade my kitchen counter. Not that I am complaining; it just means more creative juices are flowing to get that produce from "just picked" to "plate".

Today we had a run to the beach in the late afternoon, and didn't get home until 5:45 (and oops! no dinner plans were made before we left the house). So with the temps in the mid-90's and no air conditioning in my house, we were in need of a quick, refreshing, and "cook-less" (AKA "raw") meal for my hungry boys. I glanced at the bowl full of fresh cucumbers and tomatoes sitting on my counter and immediately envisioned this salad. It comes together very quickly and will satisfy even the child's palate. My three year old just devours cucumbers; it is the oddest thing to me, to see a child beg for them, and he does. (Meanwhile a thankful mother, in tears of gratitude, lifts her voice to the Almighty, "Thank you God! My child eats vegetables!") 

Ahh hemmm. I digress. Back to the recipe!

Garden Fresh Cucumber and Tomato Salad

2 cucumbers
6-8 roma tomatoes
1 red bell pepper
1/8 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup feta
1/3 cup pitted kalamata olives
1/4 cup freshly chopped basil and parsley
salt, pepper

Chop cucumbers, tomatoes, and bell pepper into medium size chunks and add to bowl. Whisk olive oil and vinegar in small bowl and pour over vegetables. Add feta, olives, and herbs to bowl and toss to combine. Salt and pepper to taste before serving.

The longer this salad sits, the more intense the flavors get; it makes a great "leftover" salad. You can also make an easy one-dish meal out of this by simply adding some protein elements like cooked quinoa and shredded chicken.

Grain Free Granola

This granola recipe caters not only to the gluten free crowd but also to anyone who loves granola but does not want all the added sugar. It is sweetened mostly by fruit, so you can really indulge without guilt. It is a fantastic on-the-go snack or as a quick breakfast with some almond milk. And the recipe is so versatile: you can substitute any of the nuts and seeds for others you might have on hand (think macadamia nuts, pumpkin seeds, cashews, etc...) and swap out the pear for an apple or peach. You can't go wrong, so enjoy the experimentation. If you try a variation of this, leave me a comment!

Grain Free Granola

1 cup almonds
1 cup walnuts
1/2 cup pecans
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1 pear
1 1/2 tablespoons vanilla extract
3 tablespoons agave or xylosweet
2 tablespoons cinnamon
pinch salt

Soak nuts and seeds in large bowl of water for 8 hours or overnight. Place pear through remaining ingredients in food processor and pulse until chunky consistency. Add soaked and drained nuts and seeds and continue pulsing until all ingredients are combined.

Spread mixture onto two Teflex lined dehydrator sheets and dehydrate at 115 degrees for 12 hours until crispy. Alternatively, you can spread the mixture onto two parchment paper lined cookie sheets and bake in the oven at 300 for 45-50 minutes.

Hearty, Seedy Gluten Free Bread

I was so thrilled to wake up this summer morning to rain and cooler temperatures, not that I love rain or cooler temperatures in the summer, but it gave me a prime opportunity to turn my oven on. All summer long I have been banned from this wonderful kitchen appliance because it makes our 90 year old home way too hot (we don't have central air). So it's been grill, grill, grill for us the last few months. But oh, this morning I jumped at the first cool breeze blowing through my window to make some gluten free bread that I have been craving!

I admit, I have been a addict to Elana's Pantry for a couple of years and was elated when she came out with her Gluten Free Almond Flour Cookbook last year. I especially fell in love with her gluten free breads. As a gluten free girl myself, bread seems to be the thing gluten-freers miss when they make the initial conversion. I don't actually crave (grain) bread anymore, but it is nice to have the option of bread- you know- for sandwiches, as toast with eggs, etc.

For this recipe, I started with Elana's Scrumptious Sandwich Bread base recipe, and added/changed a few things to come up with this hearty, seedy version. The star ingredient in this recipe- almonds- are a great nutritional start, packed with protein, fiber, and minerals like magnesium, phosphorus, and zinc. Then you add the buckwheat flour, also high in protein and fiber, and the flax, pumpkin, and chia seeds, all rich sources of vital essential fatty acids and fiber, and this bread becomes your go-to Super (Wonder) Bread! Even if you are a gluten-ite, try this recipe for sheer nutritional deliciousness.

My favorite ways to eat it are toasted and topped with either goat cheese or pesto. But it does make an amazing sandwich too; use it in place of sprouted grain bread for the Ra-Kel.

Hearty, Seedy Gluten Free Bread

3/4 cup creamy almond butter
4 eggs
1/4 cup ground flax seeds
1/4 cup buckwheat flour
1/4 cup arrowroot powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
pinch salt
1/4 cup pumpkin seeds

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Blend almond butter and eggs in bowl with a hand mixer until smooth. Add in flax, buckwheat, arrowroot, baking soda and salt and continue mixing until smooth. Add pumpkin seeds and stir to combine.

Pour mixture into greased 7 x 3.5 inch glass baking pan (I use the Pyrex brand) and bake 40-45 minutes until slightly browned and toothpick comes out clean.

Let cool 30-60 minutes in pan before removing. Elana recommends storing the bread wrapped in a paper towel and closed in a plastic bag in the refrigerator. Use within 5-6 days or freeze for up to 3 months.

Berry Breakfast Pudding

We're back from the barn dance at my aunt and uncle's house in the country. They always throw a great party, and the barn dance was no exception. It was a celebration of life: my uncle is battling cancer and we believe he is winning the fight, it was my aunt's 60th birthday, and also their granddaughter's (my cousin's daughter's) first birthday. Talk about reasons to celebrate! We spent the weekend lounging around in the great outdoors with our extended family members, and spent Saturday night jamming and dancing to the bands' music in the barn. My cousins play in several bands in the Twin Cities, and various band members showed up to jam, including my cousin Jamie's band Sick of Sarah and my cousin Chris' bands The Fattening Frogs and Four on the Floor. My uncle and his brothers also did a few numbers on the banjo. My son danced with grandma's cowboy hat on for over two hours; he was definitely entertainment for the rest of us!

Well, you know when you're out of town, it seems no matter how you try, you always end up eating foods you don't normally eat. And a lot of sugar. So when we got back in town, I knew I was going to want something super nutritious for breakfast. We happened to have one avocado left, and this breakfast pudding was calling my name. It's really creamy, filling, and nutritious. The idea of it came from one of my cookbook obsessions from last summer... Mariel's Kitchen.

When I discovered the cookbook, Mariel's Kitchen, I instantly fell in love with it-- and her-- all over again (I first fell in love with her in the movie Delirious when she starred opposite the comedic legend John Candy- classic!). Her health philosophy so closely resembles my own, I know that if we met someday, we'd be friends. Her recipes are very simple, and clean.. I almost feel detoxed from just looking at the gorgeous pictures.

I think I've made most recipes in that cookbook at least once, and have come up with my own variations of my favs. I make this pudding all the time.

Berry Breakfast Pudding

1 avocado
3/4 cup frozen blueberries or other berries
1/2 cup hot or boiling water
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon vanilla protein powder
1 tablespoon coconut oil
1-2 tablespoons agave

Mix all ingredients in Vitamix or other high powered blender until smooth, adding more hot water if necessary to facilitate blending. Serve immediately or refrigerate for up to two days.

Makes 2 servings (although I often eat all of it in one setting!).

Fudgesicles

I was never a huge fan of popsicles as a kid, but one summertime treat I did love was fudgesicles. These were my preferred treat of choice from the ice cream man. A few years ago when I was pregnant, I had this random craving for fudgesicles, however this was after my food conversion to whole foods, so I attempted a few "all natural" fudgesicle products that I found at my local co-op, and they definitely hit the spot. This random fudgesicle phase did indeed pass with time and the birth of my first son and I haven't really thought about it much since. But the other day as I was blog rolling, Ali from The Whole Life Kitchen posted a recipe for avocado fudgesicles, and I was thus inspired to create my own version (I'm now in a huge popsicle phase since my son and I picked up some popsicle molds at Target the other day).

I love that Ali used avocado as her base; this wonderful fruit (or vegetable depending on who you talk to) is full of almost 20 essential nutrients and it's been said that humans can live on them exclusively for periods of time. Ali's recipe is intended to "hide" the avocado, so you're eating it without knowing it, and turning a not-so-healthy treat from your grocer's freezer aisle to an absolutely healthy treat! Jessica Seinfeld's Deceptively Delicious cookbook also has some fun uses for "hiding" the avocado in recipes you wouldn't normally think they would be in.

Before my food conversion, I was never a big avocado fan. In fact, I don't know that I had ever eaten one until I was in my early twenties, as we never ate them at home growing up (it was a lot of boxed meals thanks to mom and Betty Crocker... mac n' cheese, Rice a Roni, and Hamburger Helper, etc.). When I did discover them (and learned that they are not, in fact, as exotic as one midwestern girl might think), I was so elated I started buying them at the grocery store every week and making guacamole like crazy. (The first time I made guacamole for my mom, she exclaimed, "Oh, you made that green stuff!")

I also consumed a lot of avocados in my raw food days a year or so back, as this is considered a staple of that eating lifestyle due to it's high fat and nutrient content. Raw foodies use them in dressings and salads, on top of "main" courses, and always in lots of dessert recipes. This is where I first learned that it pairs so well with carob or cocoa for a delicious vegan chocolate pudding. 

So... needless to say... we nearly always have them on hand. And when my son asked me about making popsicles the other morning, a fudgesicle recipe started brewing in my brain. This is what I came up with; the best part is that you (or your kids or your spouse) will never know you're eating your fruit (again, or vegetables) with this recipe.

Fudgesicles

1 avocado

2 bananas

3/4 cup almond milk

2 tablespoons agave nectar

2 tablespoons cocoa powder

pinch salt

Blend all ingredients in Vitamix or other high powered blender. Pour into popsicle molds and freeze for 6 or more hours.

Makes 6-8 fudgesicles.

(Hubby never even knew avocados were in theses!)

Sweet Potato & Pea Quinoa

At any given time, I have random cookbooks and food magazines stashed in strategic places around my house, you know, for easy access whenever I might be in the mood to browse them (which is a lot). I keep some in both bathrooms, some on my nightstand, some in the kitchen (obviously), and just about every other room in the house. I am somewhat of a neat freak, so it always looks clean and organized to the untrained eye, but I know where these treasures lie.

My current main level bathroom read is an issue of Vegetarian Times from sometime this spring, and I have re-read the article on incorporating frozen veggies into your meals at least thirty times. My husband is out of town this weekend on a guy's trip, so I had free reign in my kitchen tonight to make dinner sans meat (this does not happen very often. Most nights, my husband asks me not, "what's for dinner," but rather, "what meat is for dinner?"). So, with this freedom in mind today, I decided to make a version of one of the recipes from that VT article, called Gingery Quinoa Salad with Apples, Peas, and Coconut.

Now I say that I made a version of this (in typical Kelly fashion) omitting some ingredients and adding others (I've never really been a recipe follower). What came out of that pot turned out to be so good, my three year old commented at dinnertime, "Mommy, this is really yummy!" (after I had to bribe him to take the first bite).

And the funny thing about me and quinoa is that I seem to make a lot of it in the summertime, more than any other season and I don't know why? Something about the hot weather just makes me crave it. Weird.

Sweet Potato & Pea Quinoa

1/4 cup chopped almonds
1 tablespoon coconut oil
1/4 of a medium white onion, chopped
2 tablespoons freshly grated ginger
1 sweet potato, peeled and chopped into bite size pieces
1/2 cup quinoa
3/4 cup chicken broth
salt, pepper
1/2 cup frozen peas
1/4 cup unsweetened, shaved or shredded coconut

Toast almonds in a small saucepan over medium to low heat until browned (about 8-10 minutes). Shake the pan often to evenly brown all almond pieces. In a medium saucepan, heat coconut oil, then add onion, ginger, and sweet potato. Saute for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add quinoa, chicken broth, and a pinch of salt and pepper (be sure not to overdo the salt as the chicken broth is already quite high in sodium). Bring to a boil, then cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer 15-20 minutes until quinoa is cooked through. Turn off the heat, add the frozen peas, coconut, and almonds, and stir to coat. Put cover back on the pot and let rest for about 5 minutes, until the peas are thawed. Serve warm, but is also good served at room temp or even chilled from the fridge.

Makes 3 servings.

The Ra-Kel

**Update: this post was published before my lab tests confirmed my gluten sensitivity, so if you are strictly gluten free like me, I recommend using my hearty, seedy bread in place of the sprouted grain bread in this recipe.**

It's not a Reuben... it's not a Rachel... it's a Ra-Kel! Okay, a little cheesy on the name, but you have to admit, creative? (Actually, I can't take the credit, my husband is the one who thought of the name.) Anyway, a wonderful sandwich recipe, name or no name.

Tuesday night has officially become "sandwich night" at our house. It all started a few months ago when I went back to my day job after my maternity leave with my second child. I'm in the office all day on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so if nothing more than that, these are long days, but Tuesdays are even longer because I also teach yoga that night. So from the time I get home from work and picking my boys up from daycare, I have only one hour in which to change diapers, feed my baby, play with my three year old, and make dinner. Needless to say, I need a quick dinner option. Bingo! Sandwiches to the rescue.

A few years ago when I gave up grains entirely, we pretty much did without sandwiches or anything with bread for that matter. Since that time however, I have discovered that I can eat sprouted bread every once in a while with no real catastrophic side effects to my body. So our once a week sandwich tradition works out just fine.

As a side note-- I can't recommend it enough-- if you must consume grains-- please soak or sprout them! This is such an important step in enhancing the digestibility and maximizing the nutrient content in them. Katie at All About Fasting has a great article on this. Did you know that before the industrial revolution, nearly all grains were soaked, sprouted, and/or fermented naturally before being processed? Meaning that everyone who ate grains back then already had the work done for them?! And now not only are most grains (or grain products) that are sold in grocery stores not soaked, sprouted, or fermented, but they are actually stripped of all nutritional value-- and even bleached so they look "cleaner"! (Don't be fooled by Big Food advertising that they are better for you because they add a bunch of stuff, like vitamins and minerals... because there are also tons of added preservatives, and colors, and dyes, and trans fats... trust me, they are not better for you.) Also check out Sally Fallon's must-read book, Nourishing Traditions, for more information on this topic and the importance of traditional food and it's relationship to healthy humans.

Ok, 'nough said on that for now... let's get to that recipe!

The Ra-Kel


4 slices organic sprouted bread (such as Ezekial 4:9)
2 tablespoons mayo
2 tablespoons dijon mustard
1/2 cup thinly sliced, cooked chicken breast
1/2 pear, thinly sliced
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese

Spread mayo and mustard evenly on one side of all slices of bread. Top two slices of bread with chicken, pear, and cheese. Put remaining slices on top of chicken mixture. Place sandwiches on a heated non-stick griddle pan and grill for 5-8 minutes per side until toasted (if not non-stick, butter the outside of sandwiches before placing in pan). Slice each sandwich in half and serve.

Makes 4 sandwich halves.