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Chop-Chop Salad

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Chop-Chop Salad by Mimi Kirk

 

This delicious Chop-Chop Salad recipe from my personal role-model, the gorgeous Raw Food Chef, Mimi Kirk (click on her name for an amazing video), is the perfect crisp, refreshing meal for a Summer evening.  The tangy dressing is absolutely phenomenal- rich and creamy with a zippy zest I just love.  In fact, I find the dressing so tasty I also like to let it shine on it's own as a delectable sauce over a beautiful plate of yellow squash spaghetti (I prefer yellow squash over zucchini for my raw vegan version of spaghetti).

Please enjoy this tantalizing recipe!  


Ingredients:  

(Feel free to substitute in the vegetables you have on hand or whatever is in season)

  • 1/2 yellow squash
  • 1/2 zucchini
  • 4 stalks asparagus
  • 1 cup broccoli
  • 7 string beans
  • 1/2 parsnip
  • 1-2 small carrot
  • 1 cup red cabbage
  • 1/2 turnip
  • 1/4 fennel bulb
  • Fresh whole herbs such as mint, tarragon, sorrel, and dill for garnish

Dressing

  • ½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
  • ½  cup tahini
  • ¼  bunch of fresh parsley
  • ¼  cup apple cider vinegar
  • 1/3  cup cashews
  • 3–4 tablespoons lemon juice
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • ¼ cup coconut aminos or gluten free tamari
  • Himalayan salt to taste
  • Freshly milled pepper
  • 2–3 tablespoons maple syrup or sweetener of choice
  • 1 tablespoon or less water, added slowly while blending if thinning is necessary

Method

  1. Chop all vegetables into small, even pieces. (Feel free to substitute in the vegetables you have on hand or whatever is in season.)
  2. Add dressing ingredients to a blender & blend until smooth.
  3. Place all salad ingredients into a large bowl and add desired amount of dressing. (I used it all, it depends on the amount/size of your veg)
  4. For beautiful plating, use a ring mold or, an empty 8 oz. can with top and bottom removed. Pack the salad into the ring, pressing down firmly. Slowly lift up the can while pushing the salad down with a spoon, leaving a cylindrical stack of salad in the middle of the plate. Garnish with a sprig of dill, tarragon or mint. 
  5. Best served chilled.

Check out Mimi's two beautiful cookbooks at her website YoungOnRawFood. 

 

How is your Summer going?

 

Lots of love,

 xoxo

Juliane

 

You may also enjoy:  Dearest Pasta Alfredo, It's been way too long…

 

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Sweet & Tangy Power Green Juice & My Raw Journey

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Sweet & Tangy Power Green Juice


I've begun my Raw journey!  

Several years ago I began experimenting as a vegetarian purely out of love for animals.  One need only adore a pet of their own for that to turn into compassion for all animals.  That's what happened for me.  I became unable to hold dually in my conscience, that it's ok to eat one animal so long as I never knew it personally/it came from XYZ species, while simultaneously loving another animal as a member of my family.

I hold no judgement against meat eaters as it's woven into the fabric of our conditioning.  We're raised eating, wearing & using animal products in more ways than we probably realize.  Even despite my own internal conflicts over the issue, I've waffled back and forth between vegetarian/flexetarian over the years, rationalizing, since my husband was a carnivore, preparing a couple of meat dishes a week, though I'd use only humanely raised/organic products religiously.

Recently, however, after reading several fascinating nutrition books, I learned the amazing benefits of a raw foods vegetarian diet.  What we've been conditioned to believe our bodies require nutritionally in order to thrive is quite upside down.  A vegetarian/raw foods diet has been linked to a whole host of benefits including greater energy, radiant skin, reduced risk of disease and better digestion.  Research and real life experiences have also shown that a person can prevent a body's healthy cells from turning into malignant cancererous cells by consuming mostly a vegetarian, raw food diet of whole, organic foods!  

When I shared what I'd learned with Jim, I was thrilled when he decided he too wanted transition to a vegetarian, mostly Raw Vegan food diet.  The timing was perfect!  After just 2 weeks of phasing ourselves into this new lifestyle, we're already feeling and seeing the results.  Jim, for example, is experiencing a much higher level of performance during his boxing workouts!

Uncooking, or eating Raw involves a lot of new techniques and some new tools- though the investment is negligible compared to health related expenses down the road.  We'd already been making a delicious green smoothie daily for the past year (yes, we love it that much!) in our Vitamix, so we were off to a fab start.  My 1st two equipment investments so far on our Raw journey are my spiralizer, for making vegetable pasta, and a Juicer.  Love them both!

Originally, I'd planned to share my Raw Vegan recipe for Pasta Alfredo today, but I've received so many requests for this Power Green Juice that I decided to share it first.  Again, this is NOT the same recipe as the green smoothie I've shared previously.  Juicing is very different from blending as it immediately delivers a degree of enzymes/nutrition/benefits we'd never actually be able to consume in even one day.  Jim and I noticed after our first Power Green Juice we experienced an awesome sustained rush of energy, not unlike what follows a cup of coffee, just without the jitters and subsequent crash.

Please enjoy Sweet & Tangy Power Green Juice.  I am thrilled about it, as until now, I've never been able to drink more than a few sips of green juice, from even the best juicing companies.  Sweet & Tangy Green Drink has a wonderful tang of ginger and lemon, sweetness from apples & zip from the fennel… and there's something about that fabulous sustained energy rush… it becomes addictive!  It's already one of our daily staples.

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 Sweet & Tangy Power Green Juice

Recipe for Sweet & Tangy Power Green Juice (Serves 2)

Ingredients:

  • 2 collard or kale leaves 
  • 3 romaine lettuce leaves
  • 2 handfuls parsley, about 1/2 bunch (or use spinach)
  • 1 cucumber
  • 1/2 fennel bulb (or 1/2 of top portion, ie. the fronds/stems. I get four batches out of 1 fennel this way.)
  • 3 stalks celery
  • 2 green apples, cored
  • 1 lemon, peeled (yellow skin removed)
  • 1 lime
  • 1 1/2" piece of fresh ginger root (I like a lot of ginger, you may want to try w/ a 1" piece first)
  • A couple squirts of Stevia to sweeten if necessary

Method:

  1. Juice and enjoy!

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Sweet & Tangy Power Green Juice

You may also enjoy: Until Next Time Nantucket Part I  or Grapefruit, Avocado & Kalamata Salad

Summer Tomato Bouillabaisse with Basil Rouille

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Summer Tomato Bouillabaisse with Basil Rouille 

Tomorrow's the first day of Summer!!

My favorite summer-time memories revolve around family: picnics at the beach, backyard BBQ's followed by after-dinner croquet, bike rides, tennis, walks to the Sunday evening band-concert in the park…

Beautiful days!

Right up there at the top of that list are fond memories of my mom's summer clam-bakes. With all the gorgeous, sunny days of late, I've been craving those delicious, briny shellfish.

Summer Tomato Bouillabaisse with Basil Rouille is my homage to Mommy's clam-bakes. It's a quick dish that gets fabulous complexity of flavor from the clams and mussels while the Rouille, a garlicky Provencal style mayonnaise, provides a fresh punch.

The perfect dish to celebrate summer!

Ingredients  

  • 5 garlic cloves, divided
  • 1/2 cup (packed) fresh basil leaves
  • 1/4 cup best quality mayonnaise
  • 5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
  • 2 or 3 anchovy fillets packed in oil, drained
  • 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
  • 4 cups cherry tomatoes
  • 1 small fennel bulb, cleaned, halved, thinly sliced
  • Coarse sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 1/4 cup dry white wine
  • 1, 8 ounce bottle clam juice
  • 3 pounds mixed shellfish (such as mussels & littleneck clams) scrubbed
  • 1 or 2 pats unsalted, organic butter
  • fleur de sel (or use sea salt)
  • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
  • crusty bread, sliced (to serve alongside)

 Preparation

  1. Chop 2 garlic cloves and transfer to a blender along with basil, mayonnaise, 3 tablespoons oil, anchovies and lemon juice. Purée until smooth. Transfer basil rouille to a small serving dish, cover and chill.

  2. Heat remaining 2 tablespoons oil in a large heavy pot over medium-high heat. Add fennel and tomatoes, season with salt & pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until tomatoes burst (about 10 min).

  3. Slice remaining 3 garlic cloves and add to pot. Cook, stirring often, until garlic becomes fragrant, about 1 minute. Pour in wine and cook, stirring often, until almost absorbed, about 1 minute. Add clam juice and 4 cups water and bring to a boil. Add shellfish and cook, covered, until opened (discard any that do not open), about 4 minutes. (Clams may take a few minutes longer than the mussels.) 

  4. Add 1 or 2 pats of butter and a sprinkling of fleur de sel. Stir in parsley. Spread basil rouille on warm crusty bread and serve alongside. Enjoy!

    Recipe adapted from Summer Tomato Bouillabaisse, BonAppetit, July 2011

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Lemongrass Thai Cuisine, Greenville, SC

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Vegetarian Massaman

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A recent trip to visit family brought us to Greenville, South Carolina, a historic city of cozy neighborhoods with mature oak-lined streets and a downtown overflowing with culture and great restaurants. During our stay, we were treated to a wonderful Thai dinner at Lemongrass Thai Cuisine on North Main Street downtown.  

The food at Lemongrass is delectably fresh while delivering the diverse spices and aromas of Thai cuisine- salty and sweet, fiery and mild, sour and bitter – into perfect harmony.  The presentation of the meal was colorful and authentic, incorporating the rice tureen, clay pots and artful yet not-too-fussy arrangements.

Keeping it a little lighter, I ordered the Vegetarian Massaman Curry, a combination of mixed vegetables, potatoes, onions and pineapple sauteed in coconut milk and – of course – massaman curry, (a fragrant yellow curry that incorporates ground peanuts, lemongrass, and tamarind together with warm spices such as cardamom, bay leaves and fennel), topped with cashew nuts and avacado.  Absolutely phenomenal.

In fact, everything we ordered was terrific.  Fluffy jasmine rice.  Tender, perfectly cooked squid, muscles and shrimp flavored with basil, lime and ginger in the Tom Yum Talay (soup).  Crisp vegetarian spring rolls served with a tantalizing Thai sweet and sour sauce.  Hungry yet?

So, not only do I recommend the city of Greenville, SC as a great place to visit, but a stop into Lemongrass Thai Cuisine is essential while you're there!

Do you have a favorite Thai restaurant or Thai dish?  Do share 🙂

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