Oven Roasted Tomato Bruschetta (on focaccia)

This bruschetta is not like typical bruschetta, which is made with raw tomatoes and usually served on a more crusty bread. This bruschetta is made with "candied" tomatoes piled high on soft, toasted focaccia (substitute with whole grain bread if you like), with mozzarella and fresh basil from the garden.

It's a nice twist on the old standard. Additionally, these tomatoes would be fabulous in paninis, and for that reason I'll indicate their preparation separately from the entire dish. My grade for the bruschetta: B+

Oven Roasted Tomatoes


Several ripe Roma tomatoes, seeded and cored
Good balsamic vinegar
Good olive oil
Kosher salt
Freshly ground pepper

Take the prepared tomatoes and lay them out on a cookie sheet. Drizzle as liberally as you like with balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Add salt and pepper to taste. Bake at 300 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour.

When finished, chill and then set aside. Reserve some if you like for a jar. These last awhile in your fridge.

Oven Roasted Tomato Bruschetta (on focaccia)
One loaf store-bought focaccia (I use Trader Joe's)
Butter
Olive oil
Reserved oven roasted tomatoes (chilled)
12 - 15 leaves fresh sweet basil
Buffalo mozzarella, sliced
1 clove garlic, minced

I realize I don't have exact measurements here, and that's because I like a lot of basil and a little less mozzarella. I often omit the butter (though I like the taste it imparts). Prepare according to your proclivities.

Slice focaccia about 1/2 inch in thickness. Lay on cookie sheet and drizzle with olive oil. Add a little bit of butter to each slide if you like. Broil on hi for approximately 5 minutes. Watch closely; they toast quickly and can burn. When finished, set aside.

Grab your oven-roasted tomatoes, now chilled, and if you like, add some garlic. If they need some more balsamic, add conservatively. Slice sweet basil in long thin strips. Arrange mozzarella on top of toasted focaccia, and then add tomato mixture and basil. Serve immediately.

Delicious Caprese Paninis

Have you ever had a Caprese salad?

They're delightful, really; thickly sliced tomatoes piled with fresh buffalo mozzarella and sweet basil leaves, and drizzled, typically, with balsamic vinegar and fine olive oil. They're fabulous in the summer. I sometimes add a little salt to my Caprese salads, but not always, since fine herbs and good vinegar/oil usually does the trick.

I decided to kick my Caprese salad up a notch, making a panini sandwich out of it. I thought I'd incorporate my Easy Breezy Every Day Pesto to add some nice punch and flavor. Because it's important, I made sure that all the ingredients were as fresh as possible.

The result was something out of this world -- fresh, light and even healthy. I made mine in a waffle maker because honestly? Do you think I'm going to spend $50 for a panini maker? Hardly. A waffle maker will do just fine, and if you don't have one of those, try toasting the sandwich in a cast iron skillet, the sandwich weighed down by another heavy pan or pot. Works expertly. My grade? To the moon and beyond! A++

Delicious Caprese Paninis
Ingredients:

3 Roma tomatoes
Good balsamic vinegar
Good extra virgin olive oil
1 container buffalo mozzarella in water
15 - 20 leaves fresh sweet Basil
pesto
1 loaf sliced Italian bread (or ciabatta)
butter

Directions:
About an hour before panini making, marinate thinly sliced Roma tomatoes in balsamic vinegar and olive oil. The tomatoes will let off liquid into the oil and vinegar, creating a nice marinade.

About ten minutes before panini making, turn on waffle maker or begin to heat pan.

One hour later, arrange two bread slices for sandwich making. Slather both pieces with homemade pesto (the more the merrier, depending on how much you like the green stuff). Atop the pesto create a layer of marinated Roma tomatoes. Atop the tomatoes layer thinly sliced buffalo mozzarella. Atop the mozzarella drape the sweet basil leaves. Create sandwich, lightly buttering the outsides of both pieces of bread, and then brushing on a light layer of olive oil.

Place sandwich into waffle maker and close lid. Watch closely, making sure cheese melts and tomatoes and basil become sufficiently wilted. Pull sandwich when bread is golden brown. Cut in half and serve immediately.

Difficulty: Easy
Prep/Cook time: 30 minutes prep, 5 minutes cooking (per panini)

Spinach Salad with Gorgonzola and Orange Honey Vinaigrette

Sometimes you just can't beat a good salad. I typically subscribe to the KISS philosophy (Keep It Simple, Stupid), opting for dark greens instead of light, and less ingredients rather than more. Yes, less is more, as evidenced in this favorite of mine. All you need is fresh spinach, crumbled Gorgonzola for garnish and the following homemade dressing:

Orange Honey Vinaigrette

Ingredients:

2 cloves garlic, peeled
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
2/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons orange juice
2 tablespoons honey
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:

With food processor running, drop garlic and parsley down feed tube and let process until garlic is minced.

Turn off machine and remove cover, add all remaining ingredients except salt and pepper, replace cover and process for several seconds until well blended.

Taste and add more honey if you wish, and salt and pepper to taste.

Keep bottled in the fridge and shake well before using.

My grade: A (it's now my favorite vinaigrette, hands down.)

Thanksk to Lennie from RecipeZaar for this recipe.

The best hummus, tabbouleh and tzatziki you'll ever put in your mouth

This week we're being vegetarians.

I personally am doing this for spiritual reasons; the rest of my family, however, is doing it because I have to do it. Not to make it sound harsh or draconian; it's actually been pretty lovely eating this way. Vegetarian food doesn't have to suck, come to find out. In fact it can really be great, especially with recipes I'll be giving you today.

My husband loves hummus. I always thought it looked a bit like toddler poop and so was never really game to eat it. Until about four years ago, when I finally tried it slathered on pita bread and topped with tzatziki and tabbouleh which my husband insisted I try. Now, you won't hear me admitting this often, but my husband? He's been absolutely right, all along!

Here are three recipes for these dishes that are both easy and delish. They'd be great as an appetizer, but we enjoy them for dinner and no one is left unsatisfied. Enjoy! My grade: A+

Easy and Delicious Hummus (Hummous) (as adapted from Fine Cooking Magazine)

Ingredients:

2 16 oz cans chick peas (garbanzo beans)
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons tahini
2 tablespoons fresh squeezed lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4th cup olive oil
1/2 - 1 teaspoon Kosher salt

Directions

Add all ingredients into food processor and puree. I'm serious. It's that easy. Add more or less oil to get the consistency you prefer. If you don't want to use too much oil, warm water works well, too. Always taste during the process so the spices are just right. You can add olive oil and additional lemon juice on top of the hummus upon serving. I usually just do the oil, though, because the lemon used is adequate.

For a nice variation, add sun-dried tomatoes and/or roasted garlic.

Tabbouleh (as adapted from The Essential Vegetarian Cookbook by Diana Shaw)

Ingredients:

1 cup bulgur wheat
1 1/2 cup water, boiled
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1 cucumber, seeded, chopped
1/2 cup parsley, minced
2 tablespoons fresh mint, minced
2 scallions, minced, white part only (I also use shallots)
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium tomato, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
Kosher salt to taste

Directions:

Bring water to a boil. Add bulgur wheat and remove from heat. Let sit for a 1/2 - 1 hour. In this time the bulgur wheat will soak up the water, enlarging. At the end of allotted time drain bulgur through sieve, making sure to remove all water. Transfer to bowl.

To bulgur wheat add add chopped cucumber and tomato, parsley, garlic, mint, olive oil and lemon juice, mixing thoroughly. Serve room temperature or refrigerate up to 3 hours.

Tzatziki (Cucumber-Yogurt Dip) (as adapted from Fine Cooking Magazine)

1 1/2 cups plain whole milk yogurt (I like Greek)
1 cucumber, seeded, diced
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
2 teaspoons minced fresh mint
2 teaspoons minced fresh dill
2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
3 cloves garlic
Kosher salt to taste
Fresh mint for garnish

Mix yogurt, salt and garlic. Add to this the diced cucumber (making sure to drain all excess water from cucumber), vinegar, mint, dill and olive oil. Stir to blend and season with more salt if needed. Cover and chill for at least 4 hours before serving.


Serve all three on whole grain pita bread. I like to layer first with the hummus and then atop that add razor-thin slices of cucumber and tomato. Atop that I add the tzatziki and then tabbouleh. Brilliant!

Difficulty: Easy
Serves: 4 people well

Delicious Fresh Garden Soup

Even though it's kind of hot this time of year (kind of?), a good soup is always welcome in my house. 


If you're a nutritarian (or vegan, or vegetarian), you already know that soups are a mainstay. (Typically, when adhering to the plan 100%, a person will have a smoothie in the morning, a salad in the afternoon and soup at night -- so soups are important.)

Our garden is starting to explode, so it seemed like a good a time to harvest some vegetables for a fresh garden soup. If you have a garden just about any vegetable will do, from broccoli to kale to spinach to carrots. Be creative! Vegetables are good for you.

I'm going to tell you right now: this soup is delicious.

Keep in mind that not everyone in the house is nutritarian. It didn't matter; everyone who tried the soup loved it. Try it and tell me what you think!

Ingredients:

4 quarts of water
2 T Better Than Bouillon (or less or more, according to your salt tastes) (another vegan alternative is Not-Chick'n Bouillon Cubes --- use 1 or 2)
2 heaping T organic tomato paste (no salt added)
1 15 oz can organic diced tomatoes, or tomatoes from your garden
3 carrots, chopped
1 cup broccoli florets
1/2 a white onion, chopped
6 - 8 cloves of garlic, minced and left out for 45 minutes before use in soup**
2 cups spinach, cut or chopped
2 cups kale, cut or chopped
1 cup corn
1/2 cup black rice
1 15 oz can kidney beans
1 15 oz can pinto or black beans (really, any beans you love)
1.5 cups Bob's Red Mill Vegi Soup Mix (contains green and yellow split peas, barley, lentils and vegetable pasta)

Directions:

Add 4 quarts of water to pot and set to boil.

After all fresh vegetables are chopped, add to water, along with all beans, diced tomato, tomato paste and bouillon. Do not salt. Do not add garlic at this time. Once at a rolling boil for fifteen minutes, reduce heat to simmer (though not too low).

Cook this mixture approximately 1 to 1.5 hours. Once vegetables are cooked, add Vegi Soup Mix. You might like to bring up the heat on the stove if you've had it low, to aid in the cooking of the mix.

Wait an hour and then add rice and cook one more hour.

At the beginning of last hour of cooking, dice garlic and let sit for 45 minutes.** After this time add to soup and let cook for 15 - 20 minutes, or until soft.

This makes a thick, hearty soup. Some might like to add more water according to their desired consistency. Serve this soup alone or along side a spring salad or whole grain bread of your choice.

It really is amazing!

**A report by Science Daily explains that if raw garlic is first chopped and then allowed to sit for 45 minutes, it can produce allicin. Once allicin is produced by this raw garlic preparaton, the garlic can be cooked with minimal loss of allicin. According to this report, cooked garlic prepared in this manner is similar in its anti-cancer effects to raw garlic. Source 

Easy Veggie & Hummus Sandwich

Remember that raw hummus recipe from yesterday? I hope so, since it was only yesterday.

ANYWAY, here's me using that hummus in a easy-breezy veggie sandwich why btw? Totally tasted awesome. I had to make seconds for everybody which is kind of amazing when you realize that it was HEALTHY.

Blueberry Chocolate Smoothie

I made a delicious smoothie today. The base was organic, unfiltered blueberry juice, to which I added frozen pineapple and blueberries and a banana. Yum. A smoothie would be perfect just like that, but no...I then added a heaping teaspoon of organic cacao powder (sooooo good for you) and a teaspoon of raw honey (ditto). The end result was a chocolate-blueberry smoothie, delightfully tasting and truly healthy.

What a great way to start the morning! Next time I make it, I'll take a picture and note the amounts so I can include it here as a recipe. Though it's really about eyeballing it and adjusting to your personal tastes.

I also think I'll substitute the blueberry juice base with something like almond milk, which should make the smoothie more creamy, like a shake.

Raw Hummus Recipe

Wonderful recipe for raw hummus I found on the innernahs. It's really very good, I promise!



2-3 zucchini
cumin to taste
juice of one lemon
approx 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic (or more, depending on your tastes)
sea salt to taste
2 - 3 tablespoons tahini

Mix and eat!

The anatomy of a healthy smoothie

I'm not a big breakfast eater, and so in lieu of a large meal I tend to make some kind of smoothie chock full of things to keep me going for a few hours.

I drink these nearly every day, if not at breakfast than at lunch -- sometimes even for dinner. They're easy to make, delicious and extremely healthy for you.

The ingredients are not difficult to find or hard to use. I'll explain why I personally use them, too, so you can decide whether you want to begin incorporating some of these things into the smoothies you make at home.

• 8 to 12 oz water or orange juice for base
• Fresh or frozen fruit
• 1 - 3 tablespoons coconut oil
• Nascent iodine, 4 drops
• Biotics Research Aqueous Multi Plus
• 1 teaspoon blue agave

Let's go through them one by one:

Orange juice: Oranges are a superfood. Superfoods are foods which contain important nutrients not usually found in other foods. Basically they are the superheroes of foods. The more we eat these foods the healthier we will be. I try to eat as much off the superfood list as I possibly can each day.

In this case, when unable to consume actual oranges, use orange juice. Get organic with all the pulp, if you can. I realize in the picture above I've got Tropicana and that's because wow, I'm kind of human and also totally budget conscious. Still, I get organic whenever I can. What's also wonderful, though, is using a filtered water base with actual orange slices mixed in with the rest of your fruit.

Fresh or frozen fruit: Everybody needs about five servings of fruit a day, isn't that what thye say? Personally I can't imagine eating that much whole fruit (I'm not as big a fruit lover as others I know) and so this smoothie is a good way for me to get what I need all in one go. Remember: fruit should never be eaten with anything else because the digestive processes required to break down fruit are different from the processes used to break down protein and carbohydrates. If you eat fruit with anything else, the fruit will be last to be processed, and this will cause fermentation in your stomach.

One other thing to remember is that the darker the fruit, or more vibrantly colorful, the more healthy and anti-oxidant rich. Blueberries are also a superfood and I tend to always have them on hand, either to throw into smoothies like these or to put on top of my oatmeal (oats? also a superfood). Unsweetened blueberry jam is also a healthy treat to have around the house --- use liberally on toast or scones or whatever you like. Blackberries are also fab in smoothies, as well as strawberries --- but one warning about strawberries: only eat organic. There's more pesticide found on strawberries than nearly any other fruit.

Coconut Oil: I recently wrote a post on what I consider to be the miraculous properties of coconut oil. As such I not only apply coconut oil liberally to my body, but also ingest it one to three times a day. It adds a nice flavor in this smoothie, and so I recommend it.

Nascent Iodine: I use nascent (or atomic) iodine specifically as a tonic for my thyroid, but its benefits, I believe, are legion:

...another, more modern form of Iodine is nascent iodine. It is a consumable iodine in it's atomic form rather than it's molecular form. It can hold an electromagnetic charge which basically means it has a huge release of energy when consumed.
According to Dr Guy Abraham Iodine is detected in every organ and tissue in the body. And so essential is it for life that a deficiency in it will bring a wide variety of afflictions (including cancer) that are difficult to trace back to the trace mineral, iodine. It used to be routinely added to bread as a supplement up until 20 years ago.
60 million mainland Japanese consume a daily average of 13.8 mg of elemental iodine, and they are one of the healthiest nations based on overall well being and cancer statistics - Abraham, G.E.
Because iodine deficiency results in increased iodine trapping by the thyroid, iodine deficient individuals of all ages are more susceptible to radiation-induced thyroid cancer.
Iodine occurs naturally in very small quantities in Salt (iodized), Cod, Shrimp, Tuna, Milk, Eggs and in much, much larger quantities in Seaweed. Some companies also offer it as a supplement.
Source.
(Please note that the referenced article also indicates an added benefit when taking nascent iodine with transdermal magnesium. I intend to write a post about the wonders of transdermal magnesium and how it has positively impacted my own health. Look for it soon.)

The few drops of nascent iodine used in this smoothie are undetectable.

Biotics Research Aqueous Multi Plus: This liquid vitamin supplement was recommended to me by my trusted integrative M.D. I've taken a lot of supplements, as it's my opinion that the traditional diet no longer provides for the essential vitamins and minerals we all need. I recommend this brand because it works for me. If taken by the tablespoon it tastes a bit like orange flavored cough syrup, though not nearly as objectionable (if you, like me, hate taking cough syrup). I have no problem whatsoever with it, and it too is undetectable in this smoothie.

Blue Agave Nectar: I don't use too much of this as obviously this is a sweet enough smoothie without it. However, sometimes I use more tart fruits like pineapple and the like, and in those cases agave sweetens nicely. I prefer it to honey. Clearly, add according to your own taste.

Enjoy!

Intriguing Smoothie Recipe I Must Try

Found this smoothie recipe online and it looks quite good. Lots goes into it, obviously, and perhaps I wouldn't use all ingredients, but man, tons of power nutrients listed here.
I'm going to try it, and am posting it here for my own records.

Start off with half an inch of water and put it into your vitamix.
Add:

1. Spoon of raw and organic honey
2. Spoon of raw/organic coconut oil
3. Pinch of organic sea salt
4. Handful of organic cashews or organic brazil nuts
5. Two squirts of vanilla stevia

Blend on high until silky smooth. Now you have your base!
Now Add:

1. Half a cup of Organic Frozen Berries (or fresh berries like strawberry, raspberry, blueberry, etc.)
2. 1.5 - 2 cups Coconut water or some kind of nut milk (I prefer coconut water, but I do use nut milk sometimes. Such as vanilla almond milk or hemp milk)
3. 2 to 3 (or more :)) big tablespoons of Cacao Powder
4. 1 - 2 teaspoons of Goji Berry Extract powder
5. Handful of Goji Berries
6. 2 to 3 tablespoons of some kind of seeds (I like Chia seeds the best. But you can use flax seeds)
7. 1 - 3 scoops of SunWarrior Protein
8. 1 - 2 tablespoons of tocotrienols
9. 1-2 tablespoons of SunWarrior activated barley (optional)
10. 1 tablespoon of maca extreme (be careful! :))
11. 1 -2 tablespoons of The Sun is Shining (or spirulina)
12. 1 tablespoon of organic peanut butter (optional)

Blend that all up until smooth and enjoy!
You can basically mix and match ANYTHING you want and be okay. The more you put, the thicker the smoothie will be. As you start making more of them and watching what you put everyday, you’ll get a good idea of what works for you. There is so much you can put into smoothies its incredible. Like I said, once you have your base, you can dump stuff in and it’ll still taste good! The ingredients above are just some of the things I put in my smoothies. Some days I put other stuff and substitute. All depends on what you feel like.
The best part is, they taste GREAT and they make you feel GREAT.