Almost Raw Salad

This week on the unprocessed journey is a recipe for a summer salad. My co-op box came with red cabbage, corn, and cherry tomatoes so I mixed them all together for a light and tasty dish.

1 pint of cherry tomatoes
1 piece of corn
1 cup of black beans
1 cup of diced red cabbage
balsamic vinegar, pepper,and olive oil to taste
squeeze 1/2 a lemon

This is a light and delicious salad. Some hot peppers, green onions, and/or cilantro would also be great additions (none ready in my garden at the moment unfortunately).

I ate pretty much the entire dish in one sitting!

Apple Plum Bread- Unprocessed

Last weeks muffins were loved by all of the adults in the house but still did not impress the 4 year old, so this week I thought I would attempt something a little less dense. 

3 cups Bob's organic 10 grain flour

1 cup diced carrots 

1 cup diced plums (I used dried plums) 

4 packets of Organic applesauce (a only apples applesauce will due) - probably about 1 1/2 cups

2 tspn cinnamon

1 tspn salt 

1/2 cup vegetable oil 

1/2 cup almond milk 

1/2 cup agave

1 large spoonful of honey 

1 egg 

1 tspn baking powder

I scooped it into muffins so that it would cook faster and be travel friendly, but this definitely tastes more like a bread than a muffin. They came out incredibly fluffy, not dense at all (at least fresh out of the oven). 

Lentil Soup

This is a recipe I have been making for years, but honestly I am not sure if I have posted on this blog before. I havent made it in at least a year, but thought this unprocessed challenge was the perfect time to resurrect it.

Saute 1 large potato and 3 green onions with olive oil for about 10 minutes.
Add in 1 box of veggie broth
Add 1 cup of red lentils (uncooked)
Add in herbs - I use basil, oregano, thyme, and rosemary from my garden - dont be shy with them.
Add in assorted veggies (I used zucchini, heirloom tomatoes, stewed tomatoes, kale, cauliflower, carrots, and bell peppers).
If you use a leafy green (collard greens, kale, spinach, etc.) add those in the last 5 min rotation.

Stir every 5 minutes for 20 minutes and saw YUM!

I've outdone myself with these Unprocesed muffins!

2 1/2 cups of Bob's Red mill 10 grain stone ground flours (100% wheat, rye, soy, flaxseed, millet, triticale, oat, corn, barley, and brown rice)

1/2 cup agave nectar (I like the fair trade organic type)
1 large dollup of honey (I love the Trader Joe's organic raw honey)
1 tspn baking soda
1 tspn baking powder
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 tspn salt
3/4 cup almond milk
1 cup shredded carrot
1 cup raisins (O organic has great ones)
2 eggs

All items were organic or non-gmo (except for the baking soda and baking powder not sure about those)

Mix all ingredients together, bake at 350 degrees for about 15-20 minutes.

So for those new to 100% whole grains, they still may feel the bite that grains have, but for those of us that eat pretty pure already - these will definitely surpass all expectations!

Unprocessed challenge

There is a book by Megan Kimble, called Unprocessed. She deems that she can eat anything with ingredients that she could feasibly (even if time consuming) make herself at home. That means that she considers whole grains that are milled, cooked veggies, etc all to be unprocessed because with the right amount of time, she could make these items. Other items like white flour or processed sugar she could not make at home, she would need to make in a lab. (White flour strips out the nutrients and then adds them back in and even bleaches the flour by adding chlorine!). 100% Honey or agave nectar can be used in the place of sugar.

Only on Chapter 3 of the book, I am attempting the challenge. I am pulling out the handy juice maker, bread maker, steamer, and rice cooker (for quinoa and brown rice) and will be baking /making new dishes weekly that fit these requirements.

The hardest part is that you have to check the ingredients very closely. My go-to corn tortillas (Mission thin tortillas because thinner = less calories and carbs) have more than corn, water, and acid. Apparently they also have benzoic acid and amylase, both suspect ingredients not only for someone eating unprocessed, but for all people who don't like odd food additives. Benzoic acid is "harmless" in small quantities but poisonous if overexposed. Supposedly humans would need a lot of it to be poisoned, but even in lower doses it is known to cause rashes and asthma. 

So off to the store I go to get whole food ingredients and start making recipes. This week I will be trying out a few bread recipes. 

Aloo Gobi.. kind of

I am a busy lady, and like all busy ladies, I often find myself cooking without having shopped. I just open my cupboard and fridge and come up with an idea. The other day, I felt like indian food. I looked in the fridge  -- I had both cauliflower and potatoes and thought - Aloo gobi!

1 head of cauliflower
6 fingerling potatoes
Dash of dried ginger
1 tablespoon coriander
1/2 tspn tumeric
2 cups water
1 can rotel
1/2 tspn cumin

Chop and roast potatoes in oven for 20 minutes.
Saute with olive oil the cauliflower for about 5 min.
Add potatoes after being roasted, to saute pan
add other ingredients except water. Toss so spices cover everything
Saute for 5 mins.
Add water - cover, mixing every 5 min. Do this for about 20 mins

Say Yum!

Lentil Pasta

So personally I thought it tasted good, but some in my family felt that the texture was a little weird.

1 Shallot
1 red bell pepper
1 green bell pepper
1 zucchini
1 can of diced tomato
fresh oregano, rosemary, sage, and basil to taste (we like it herbie so we used a ton)

Sautee veggies...
Separately cook lentils (I used 1/2 cup of red lentils)
Drain and then add to the veggies
Toss in with cooked pasta..


say yum