Rice and Bean Rollups

Brian loved these roll ups.  They taste very fresh, but are quite filling as well.

1 1/2 cups cooked brown rice, cooked in salt water

1 cup firm cooked pinto beans, cooked in salt water

1 large tomato, finely chopped

1/2 red pepper, finely chopped

1 avocado, diced

1 cucumber, seeded and finely chopped

1 cup nut mayonnaise

4-8 Leaves greenleaf lettuce

4 to 6 tortillas, depending on size

Warm the tortillas in a preheated oven.  Place all ingredients except lettuce and tortillas in a bowl.  Mix to coat with mayo.  Spread a layer of mixture over each tortilla (I used a large Indian flatbread, cut in half) then top with lettuce leaves.  Roll up the tortillas and serve.  Makes about 4 servings.  If your rice and beans are not salted, you may wish to add some salt and pepper. 

Candice

Delicious Chocolate Milkshake

Hi everyone.  So I've been experimenting with desserts this week.  I had 3 failures that a blended together and made the best every chocolate milkshake.  Here's about what I did, give or take a little:

I ground up some pecans and added about 10 pitted dates, then ground them together.  I rolled that out and tried dehydrating it a bit, but it was to oily, so I squished it together, put it in a plastic bag and threw it in the fridge.  Failure one. 

The next day I put some dried apricots to soak in cold water so that I could make some jam.  I forgot about them and they soaked about 3 hours.  I tossed them in the blender anyway with a few cashews and a little water to make apricot cream.  It was creamy, but had a funky taste, so I put it in a tupperware container and tossed that in the fridge too.  Failure two.

Then I tried to make ice cream with almond milk.  1 cup soaked almonds, 10 pitted dates, 3 Tbs Maple syrup, 1 tsp vanilla and 5 cups cold water.  I blended it together and poured it into the ice cream machine.  It froze up nicely, but I had forgotten to strain out the pulp, so it tasted grainy and it wasn't sweet enough. We didn't finish it, so I froze the last two or so cups.  Moderate Failure three.  

A few days later I was cleaning out my fridge and found failures one and two and decided to blend a little of both of them together with 2 Tbs unsweetened cocoa powder, a little more maple syrup, a few more pitted dates, 1/2 tsp almond extract and 3/4 cup water.   Tada!  I very rich chocolate pudding.  Then I remembered the ice cream in the freezer and tossed that in to the blender as well.  I blended just a few seconds, until it was all mixed together, and....Wow!!! The best ever, one of kind, chocolate milkshake.  Unfortunately, I don't think that I'll be able to recreate it; but it sure was fun while it lasted. 

The point: it's not a failure till it rots and smells vile, so keep it around a few days; and, try, try, try again.   

Good luck and keep blending!!

Candice

Keep it up!!

I'm so glad that so many of us are making healthier food choices. I love seeing all your recipes and hearing about successes that you've had.

I just thought I would let you know something that I thought was weird, but also neat. As many of you know, I recently found out that I am pregnant, I have been extremely nauseated and nothing sounds very good to eat. However, I realized last week that the only things that don't make me even more nauseous when I think of eating them are fresh fruits and vegetables!! It is bizarre to me that the sound of a salad seems less nauseating than an order of french fries. I have to say, with my other pregnancies the thought of a salad would have done me in...so I guess that my body must have realized what is actually going to be beneficial :)

I know it's not a huge thing or anything, but I just thought it was interesting enough to share. Keep up the good work everyone!!

Spread it on thick!

I've been trying to eat more raw foods and 100% chemical/preservative free.  In short, I make everything from scratch.  Here are 4 of my favorite (and easiest) spreads:

Chickpea Hummus:

1/2 cup raw cashews

1  1/2 cups chickpeas (soaked 10 hours, boiled for 10 minutes and rinsed in cold water)

1/4 cup olive oil

Juice of 1 Lemon

1 small clove garlic, crushed

1 tsp sea salt, or to taste

1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1/2 cup water

Place all ingredients in a blender in order listed and blend until smooth.  Add more water to achieve desired consistency.   I use this spread on sandwiches and in wraps.  I also use it as a vegetable dip.   Store in covered container in the refrigerator.  

Cashew Mayonnaise:

1/2 cup raw cashews

2 tsp mustard powder

Juice of 2 lemons

5 Tbs cold water

1/2 tsp sea salt

1 tsp freshly ground black pepper

3/4 - 1 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Place everything in blender except the oil.  Blend until smooth.  Reduce speed to medium-low and add oil in a fine stream.  This should create a soft, spreadable cream.   I love the taste of this Mayo, and use it on sandwiches and in soups to make chowders.  It keeps very well in an airtight container in the refrigerator.  

Date Nut Spread:

1 cup walnuts

1 cup pitted dates

1/2 to 1 cup water

Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.  Place in an airtight container and refrigerate.   Serve chilled with fruit or on bread in the place of peanut butter and jam.   This spread has become a staple in our household.  The girls love it.  I often have a hard time getting Livi to eat the fruit as well as the dip!  This also stores well in the refrigerator.

Apricot Jam:

10 dried apricot halves, cut in half

4 pitted dates, cut in half

1 cup water

Place all ingredients in a saucepan and soak for 1 hour.  Heat over medium heat until boiling.   Boil a few minutes, until fruit is tender.  Pour into a blender and blend until smooth (add more cold water a little at a time, to achieve desired consistency) Place in an airtight container and refrigerate until thick and cold.   Sabrina likes to eat this on skillet bread with date nut spread. 

Keep eating healthy everyone.  It's fun!!

 

My Morning Constitutional

This the the recipe for my morning green drink. I love it.

In the blender I place: 10 ounces of pure water
4 ounces of cleaned spinach
1/2 a red or green bell pepper, washed and seeded
1 small to medium zucchini, washed and the top and bottom cut off
1 cucumber, peeled
1 avocado, peeled and pitted
1 apple, washed and seeded

I grind it all really well until it is a thick smoothie. It makes 5 half glasses of smoothie. I fill it the rest of the way up with cold, pure water and stir it well. I drink all 5 glasses throughout the morning. I really like it, but it doesn't fill me up very long. Oh well.

When we were in Hawaii, I made this in the cheapy blender provided with our room. It never did get "smooth" but I was glad to have it anyway. Smooth is better, though.

Another Yummy Recipe

I made another recipe I liked. It was Veggie Enchilada. I made the corn tortillas and the veggie filling and then put them together and dehydrated them a couple of hours longer. They were so yummy, but they stuck to my teeth. I wish I knew how to cure that.

I am trying out recipes for Thanksgiving, but the girls said they are not planning on eating raw, so then I wonder if I should bother. I went to a party the other night and took enchiladas, mock salmon pate and cut up veggies. Lar brought salad with raw dressing. We shared and we both got plenty to eat. Darla ate it all, too. Lar had dehydrated cheeses, too. I haven't tried those, yet.

I have decided I don't like the taste of Braggs Liquid Aminos in recipes. I wonder if Nama Shoyu tastes different. Maybe I'll just substitute salt. I like the taste of salt.

Yummy Recipes

I tried two recipes that I liked:

Mock Salmon Pate. (I would call it Nut and Veggie Pate)

1 cup walnuts
1 stalk celery
1 green onion
1/2 red bell pepper (necessary for the pretty reddish color)
1/2-1 teaspoon sea salt

Place all ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth and combined. Serve rolled in a lettuce or cabbage leaf or on crackers. Brad ate his on bread and on crackers. He liked it.

Key Lime Pie

Crust:
1 1/2 cups macadamia nuts (could use cashews)
1 cup soft dates, pitted and soaked
1 ripe banana

Grind macadamia nuts in a food processor. Add banana and blend until smooth. Add dates and blend until smooth. Spoon into a pie pan and spread around.

Filling:

3 whole limes, peeled
2 cups dates, pitted and soaked
2 avocados

In a food processor, blend all ingredients until smooth and creamy. Pour filling on top of the crust. Refrigerate.

This is much better the next day. It tastes a lot lime-ier. This is a spoon-it-up type of pie. This makes a lot of pie. You could consider halving the recipe. I halved the Pate recipe.

Happy unbaking!