RAW LEMON PESTO ZUCHINNI PASTA

Run the garlic through the chute of the food processor. Add the basil, lemon juice, lemon zest, salt and oil and process until smooth. Add pine nuts and nutritional yeast and process being careful not to over process the nuts. Set the pesto aside. Peel 4 medium zucchini, and put through a spiral vegetable slicer or spirooli. Place the zucchini “spaghetti” on paper towels to dry. Put dried zucchini strands in a serving bowl, mix together with  lemon basil pesto and serve.

NOTE: You can get buy a spirooli at Organic Lives (Vancouver, BC) to make your veggie pasta, I’ve also seen them in cooking stores.

Spork Foods is a Los Angeles-based gourmet vegan food company owned and operated by sisters Jenny and Heather Goldberg. They offer in-person cooking classes in Los Angeles (www.sporkfoods.com), in-home healthy eating consultations, and recipe development, as well as on-line cooking classes (www.sporkonline.com).

Their love of food started at a young age, when they experimented with recipes in the kitchen with their parents and grandparents.

Jenny and Heather feel like twins, separated by three years.  They both studied Environmental studies in college, and decided then and there to go vegan – forever.

Since their love of cooking was so deeply ingrained, they resolved that becoming vegan would not stand in the way of creating recipes with amazing taste, texture, and flavor.  Jenny soon started veganizing all the girls’ childhood favorites, and their friends would always appear at the door, hungry.  The natural next step was for Jenny and Heather to work together and create Spork Foods and now Sporkonline!

Their recipes are easy to re-create and are sure to impress even the most avid meat eaters! They want you to use these recipes with pride, and show people how incredible, colorful, satisfying, and uplifting food can be.

Jenny was trained at the Natural Gourmet Institute for Food and Culinary Arts in New York City and has over five years of professional cooking experience. Her perfume is the scent of freshly baked cinnamon rolls or garlic and onions, depending on the menu for class.

Heather has a decade of experience in the environmental non-profit world and makes a morning smoothie that is so delicious it would make anyone happy to start their day!

Together, as sisters, they put their love and care into all the recipes they create.  They hope you will get as excited about vegan food as they do!

Via Whole Foods

Ingredients

6 cups mixed berries, such as blackberries, blueberries, raspberries and sliced strawberries
1 tablespoon pure maple syrup, more or less to taste depending on sweetness of berries
1 cup raw pecans
1/2 cup raw walnuts
1/2 cup pitted dates, roughly chopped
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

You have to go to this blog and check out the recipes! I am loving this one especially. It is the jack pot of goodness! I am going to make it for mother’s day, I might even try making the Bacon Cheddar Mini Vegan Quiches.

Pictures and Recipes (Via Vegan Yum Yum)

Serves 9-12

3 Tbs Olive Oil
4-6 Cloves Garlic, minced (optional)
2 28 oz Cans Organic Tomatoes, blended
2 tsp Salt
4 tsp Dried Italian Herbs
Olive Oil, for drizzling
2-3 Medium Eggplants, peeled
8-10 Large Slices of Sourdough Bread
1 Cup Breadcrumbs (or 2 more pieces of bread for toasting and food processing)
1-2 Large, Ripe Tomatoes, fresh, for garnish
Basil, for garnish

In a very large skillet with high sides, or a sauce pan, heat the olive oil over medium high heat. Sweat the garlic for 1-2 minutes, then add tomatoes, salt, and herbs. Cook for 30 minutes (bubbling), stirring occasionally. Invert a mesh strainer over the top of the pan to prevent splatter, if desired.

Preheat oven to 400º F.

Meanwhile, prep two baking sheets with parchment paper. Peel the eggplants by slicing off the top and bottom and using the cut edge to start your vegetable peeler. Holding the eggplant vertically, cut the eggplants into 1/2 inch slices. Arrange in one layer on a baking sheet. Sprinkle with salt and drizzle liberally with olive oil.

Bake eggplant for 30-40 minutes at 400Fº, turning once, until very, very soft and browned in some places.

Spray both sides of each slice of bread with spray oil and “grill” in a hot skillet until browned on both sides. You can also simply toast the bread, but I think you get more flavor with grilling.

In a large baking dish (a lasagna dish), spread 1 1/2 cups of tomato sauce. Line the bottom of the dish with bread, filling as many as the gaps as possible without overlapping.

Place half of the eggplant on top of the bread, followed by another 1 to 1 1/2 cups tomato sauce.

Add a second layer of bread.

Add the second half of the eggplant, and all of the remaining sauce. Make sure that the bread is completely covered by sauce. Sprinkle breadcrumbs over the top.

Place fresh tomato slices on the top of the lasagna, sprinkled with salt and pepper.

Bake for 40 minutes at 400º F. Remove from oven and let rest 10 minutes before cutting.

Top with basil leaves and drizzle sweet and thick balsamic vinegar (or balsamic syrup) on the plate if desired. Enjoy!

Costa Rica also has an abundance of cheap fruit, great sunsets wide open beaches and nature everywhere you go. Needless to say I really enjoy traveling to Costa Rica. In my mad search to find a great gallo pinto recipe I didn’t have to look far I just happened to find a great recipe on one of my favorite blog sites (recipe below) she also has a recipe for casado.

The scenery  in Costa Rica is to die for, the pace is very relaxed, there is so much to do whether it’s surfing, eating well, yoga or just hanging on the beach. A lovers paradise. I have attached a few of my favorite photos.

Gallo Pinto con Leche de Coco

Click Below For Recipe

(Via Just Making Noise)

[Mottled Rooster Bean with Coconut Milk]

Recipe inspired by Renee Underkoffler

1 cup almonds
1 1/2 cups cashews
1 cup dates
2 tablespoons agave nectar
1 tablespoon coconut butter (also known as coconut oil)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup cocoa
Pinch of seasalt

Soak almonds overnight. You’ve gotta do it because the almonds need to be soft. Drain and rinse.

Soak cashews for an hour. Drain and rinse.

Soak dates for about an hour. Drain and rinse. (Note: Date soak water is sweet! Throw it in your next green smoothieor something. I never throw it away.)

Process almonds and cashews in a food processor until they (almost) resemble flour. Add dates, agave nectar, coconut butter and vanilla. Process until well mixed and doughlike.

Add the cocoa powder and sea salt and process again.

Form cookies. Dehydrate for ten hours or even up to a full day if you want them to be crispy. I like them quite soft, myself.

Enjoy this chocolatey goodness!

Ingredients

1/3 cup roughly chopped cilantro
1 (16-ounce) bag frozen green peas*, thawed
1 avocado, peeled, pitted and roughly chopped
4 green onions, sliced
3 cloves garlic
4 to 6 tablespoons lime juice