What you need

• 1 bunch kale, washed and trimmed (cut the stalks out and compost them – aahh composting, that’s a topic for another day)
• 1 cup shitake mushrooms, thinly sliced
• 1-2 Tbsp olive or grapeseed oil
• 1/2 tsp himalayan or celtic salt
• 1/2 cup daikon radish, matchsticked or julienned
• 1/2 cup pomegranate seeds
• 1/2 cup broccoli sprouts
  Broccoli is one of the most nutrient dense foods and eating it at a sprouting stage results in some truly power-packed cancer fighting action. Plus they’re just plain tasty. 
• 1/4 cup cilantro, chopped

How to make it

First, chiffonade your kale. That’s a really fancy word for saying slice it in thin strips. Put the kale and mushrooms in a large bowl and add oil and salt. Massage with your hands until well coated. Set aside.

Prepare the rest of the vegetables and make yourself a dressing. I made Green Goddess dressing from one of my instructors’ books, Rawsome. Avocado, water, lemon and a bit of celtic salt. I added a bit of fresh ginger as well.

Add vegetables to the kale and mushrooms and stir well. Serve with dressing on the side. I don’t have any dressing recipes on the site yet. Maybe my friend, Gary, will help me with some. He makes fabulous, fresh healthy dressings that taste far better than anything you can find processed in the store. Stay tuned.

This recipe is inspired by a meetup I went to this past weekend hosted by the Vegetarian Society of Colorado. I modified it using some of the knowledge I’ve learned in school to enhance the nutritional profile. And yes, I tried it. It was a lot better than the Gravy Train I tried growing up when I wanted to see whether their gravy really was meatier. Don’t believe me? Great reason to try it for yourself!

Remember, you’re also trying to please your pet diner. So I let Tiger try this too. I made the recipe small to start. Once you know your pet likes it, you can always make more of it. Experiment with the recipe to suit your pets’ tastes. Next time, I’ll probably add some ground flaxseed as well. They will tell you what they like and don’t. You can buy these ingredients at most natural food stores.

What you need

• 1 cup dry garbanzo beans or 1 can cooked garbanzo beans
• 1/3 cup cooked millet
  Millet is a high protien grain that you can cook like oatmeal. It’s a major food staple for most of the third world. If you’re not ready to experiment with millet, use tofu instead. I cooked my millet with some fresh apples as well. Tiger loves apples. I’m eating the leftover millet for breakfast tomorrow.
• 1 Tbsp nutritional yeast
• 1/2 tsp kelp
• 1/2 tsp molasses
• 1 Tbsp olive oil

How to make it

If you buy canned beans, simply rinse your beans and throw them in the food  processor. If you use dried beans (they’re way cheaper!), then soak your beans overnight with a strip of kombu. Kombu makes the beans easier to digest and prevents gas (for both dogs and people).  Then rinse and put beans and kombu in a large pot of water. Bring to a boil and simmer the beans until tender and soft, about 2 -3  hours.

Next, combine all ingredients in the food processor and pulse until well blended and beans are mashed. Adjust seasoning and texture to taste. Your pets’ taste that is. But don’t be afraid to taste it yourself. 

Serve and enjoy. At first, I will be mixing this with Tiger’s dry food, but over the next month or two, I will transition him completely to homemade food.

Yummy.

Tip

Beans and grains typically have complimentary protien profiles, so combining them with regular variety will maximize your body’s health benefit.

What you need

• 1/2 cup maple syrup
• 2 cups sunflower seeds
• 1 cup cashews, coarsely chopped
• 1 cup almonds, coarsely chopped
• 1/2 cup sesame seeds
• 1/2 cup flax seeds, 1/4 cup ground
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 orange, zested

How to make it

Note: Soaking all your nuts and seeds in advance will make them more easily digestible and enable your body to get as many nutrients from them as possible. If you have time, soak!

Preheat oven to 350. Oil a cookie sheet and lay down parchment paper. Put half the maple syrup in a bowl. Add sunflower seeds. Mix well, until coated. Add remaining nuts and seeds and spices. Fold and mix well. Add remainder of syrup and coat thoroughly.

Spread mixture on cookie sheet and bake at 350 for about 30 minutes, until nuts are toasted and hardened in the midddel off the cookie sheet (not soft and sticky).

Cool, break into pieces and serve.

Feel free to add nutmeg, cardamom, dried fruit or coconut, or any type of nut and seed combination that interests you. Have fun exploring!

What you need

• 2 cups macadamia nuts, soaked overnight (soaking enables you to absorb more nutritients and digest them more easily)
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 lemon, juice and zest
• 2 tsp nutritional yeast
• 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 small bunch broccoli sprouts (or other herbs, optional)

How you make it

This one is all in the wrists – otherwise known as a food processor. First, rinse the soaked macadamia nuts through a strainer and add to your food processor. Begin to process while slowly adding water. Be sure not to use too much liquid. You are looking for a cream cheese like texture. Scrape the sides down and pulse and blend until a good paste is formed. Add the other ingredients, continuing to scrape the sides of the processor, pulsing and blending, until all ingredients are well blended. Taste and adjust ingredient amounts as desired.

You can use this recipe for crackers, pasta dishes or as a dressing for savory main dishes as I did here, or adjust using sweet spices like cinnamon, allspice and nutmeg for a dessert or fruit appetizer accompaniment.

Enjoy!

What you need

• 2 dried mission figs
• 6 dried dates
• 4 dried prunes
• 8 dried cherries
• 1 cup hot water
• 1 tsp agave nectar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup red quinoa
• 1/3 cup walnuts, chopped
• 1/4 cup shredded coconut
• 2 Tbsp ground flax seed
• 1 1/2 cups almond milk

How to make it

First, soak all your dried fruit in the hot water for 5-10 minutes, until softened. Then chop fruit into bite-size pieces. 

You’re going to use the leftover water to cook your quinoa. I use a rice cooker, but you can also cook it in a saucepan just like rice. Add the agave nectar and vanilla to the water and stir. Then cook your quinoa.

While the quinoa is cooking, roast the walnuts in a frying pan. You don’t need any oil as long as you keep stirring your walnuts frequently. Remove the walnuts from heat when golden brown. Be careful not to burn.

When the quinoa is ready, mix it with the fruit, walnuts, flax seed and coconut in a large bowl. Serve in cereal bowls, with almond milk on top.

Makes 2-3 servings.

First, here’s a recipe that Chef Brigitte made for Raw Celery Soup. It was absolutely delightful.

What you need

• 4 stalks celery
• Juice from 1 lemon
• 1- 1.5 tomato
• handful of cilantro
• 1 avocado
• 1 tsp celtic salt
• 1-2 cups water (don’t exceed the maximum water level of your food processor!)
• 1-2 tsp smokey paprika

How to make it

This one is beautifully simple. First, let your vegetables warm to room temperature, about thirty minutes. Then simply cut up your ingredients and combine them (minus the paprika) in the food processor. Pulse until slightly blended. You want some texture to the soup, but not more than bite size chunks. Finally, sprinkle smokey paprika on top. It’s a colorful dish and the flavors blended superbly. I’ll have to see if I can start taking pictures of all the food we eat.

Amazing foods I’m adding to my grocery list

• chia seeds – good for your kidneys and for libido
• nutritional yeast – lots of B12
• smokey paprika – lots of flavor and vitamin c
• celtic salt – more minerals and less processing than sea salt

In questioning the waiter about it, he advised me that the dish is supposed to be salty and that Indian food uses a lot of exotic spices. I’m a big fan of exotic spices and have frequented my fair share of Indian buffets. However, I had never experienced this level of saltiness.

Rather than throw the leftovers away, my friend suggested “watering” the leftovers down by making a soup out of them. So that’s what I ate for dinner tonight.

First, I added two cups of water and one cup of vegetable broth. Then I added a 28-oz can of stewed tomatoes, a cup of cooked lentils and a 1/2 cup of red quinoa. The results were outstanding. I didn’t need to add an ounce of additional spices, let alone salt.

So before leaving your leftovers on the table and wasting both food and money, consider how you might be able to take a fresh spin on them.  The results might surprise you.

Side note: If you try visiting India’s Pearl and don’t like a lot of salt, ask your waiter for light salt in advance!

Tonight, I had one of those occasions. I chose Vanilla Bean Hempmilk Cream this time, but also enjoy rice milk cream or my favorite, coconut milk cream. Coconut milk cream is still an indulgence. I’d love to pretend it’s low-fat, but no such luck. Still, I’m fortunate. Because I regularly eat a healthy, whole-food, plant-based diet and exercise 4 or 5 times a week, I don’t really have to worry about fat. On average, I’ve found that my expeditions into the land of non-dairy desserts offer far superior richness of flavors and are far creamier than most of the traditional ice creams I’ve explored.

It’s really the leisurely visit to the ice cream store that I miss the most. I’m still waiting for someone to open a shop of non-dairy healthy frozen desserts that I can eat to bring that experience back to me. Ann?

In the meantime, here are ten healthy topping recipes I use at home to make vanilla “ice cream” go from good to heavenly. Still use ice cream? Learn about all the great reasons to explore the alternatives. Feel free to mix and match to find your own divine inspiration. I use a lot of molasses, because it’s loaded with minerals and just so darned good for you. If it’s too strong for your taste, try a milder natural sweetener like agave nectar, brown rice syrup or maple syrup. They’re much better at preventing those highs and lows that come along with processed, bleached sugars.

1) Morning Mint

• 1 Tbsp dark molasses
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1-2 sprigs of fresh mint leaves, chopped

2) Berry Tart

• 1/2 cup mixed frozen berries
• 1 Tbsp frozen apple juice concentrate
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 cup water

Bring all ingredients to boil and reduce to thick liquid

3) Coconut Cookie

• 1 - 2 Tbsp raw coconut flakes
• 1 – 2 Tbsp raw macadamia nuts
• 1 Tbsp dark molasses

4) Gingerbread Dream

• 1-2 Tbsp candied ginger, with sugar rinsed off and chopped
• 1 Tbsp molasses
• 1 Tbsp raw almonds or pecans, chopped

5) The Great Outdoors

• 1 – 2 Tbsp granola (check ingredients carefully – avoid heavy syrups!)
• 1 Tbsp goji berries, chopped
• 1 Tbsp currants
• 1 Tbsp cashews, chopped

6) Grandma’s Applie Pie

• 1 Tbsp apple sauce
• 1 Tbsp peanut butter
• 1 Tbsp coconut milk or light coconut milk
• 1 tsp cinnamon

Heat and blend all ingredients over low heat to drizzly perfection

7) Wait, did I say 10?

Insert your ideas here…

There are so many great ideas, I’d love to hear yours.

Drop me a suggestion and I’ll round out the last few.

Warning! I rarely measure anything when I cook, so these amounts are approximate. Don’t be afraid to experiment with the amounts. Let me know how it works out.

What you need

Filling

• 2 cups dates
• 1 cup prunes
• 1/2 cup figs
• 1/2 cup almonds
• 1/2 cup cashews
• 2 Tbsp agave nectar
• juice of one lemon
• 1/2 cup hot water

Crust

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup tapioca flour
• 2 Tbsp ground flax seed
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 3 cups rolled oats
• 1/3 cup applesauce
• 1/3 cup margarine
• 1 cup turbinado sugar

How to make it

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 13 x 9 x 2 baking dish.

Next prepare your crust. Combine flours, flax seed, baking soda and salt. Stir in oats, applesauce, margarine and sugar until ingredients are well blended and mixture is crumbly.

Then combine all filling ingredients except water in a food processor and mix. Slowly add water until ingredients are well blended and you have a thick paste.

Add half the crust mixture to the baking dish and press evenly. Spoon the filling on top of the crust layer. Tip! Use a wet rubber spatula to prevent the filling from sticking and making a mess of your crust while you do this. Finish with a layer of crust mixture.

Bake for 30 minutes, or until golden brown. Let cool then cut into squares and enjoy.

What you need

• 1 sweet potato, sliced into steak-size fries
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 yellow onion, sliced thinly
• 1 large clove garlic, minced
• 1 tbsp maple syrup
• 2-3  tbsp hot water
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp white pepper
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

How to make it

Sautee the potato in olive oil covered, over medium heat for 5 minutes, stirring well to coat. Add onions and sautee covered for another 2 – 3 minutes. Add garlic and sautee for another 1 - 2 minutes. Add maple syrup and water, stir well, cover and sautee for another 5 minutes, stirring regularly to prevent burning. Add spices, cover and sautee for another 5-10 minutes until potatoes are browned and onions are slightly caramelized.

The spiciness of the pepper, onions and garlic was a beatiful compliment to the sweetness of the cinnamon, nutmeg and maple syrup. And cayenne pepper is great for vitamin C.

Next time, I’d love to drizzle it with a peanut butter-coconut milk sauce. Delicious.