Curried Coconut Sprouted Kitchari

So, I decided to try out making my own variation of Kitchari. It is an Indian dish originally and is a dish highly recommended for cleansing by the ancient, holistic, healing principles of Ayurveda. I have been considering making it for some time now, and had a friend suggesting it to me as well, to help ease my symptoms from chemo, eating and digestion can sometimes be a challenge. Although this particular chemo was a rather mild one, which I am pretty happy about. I still have had moments of tiredness and nausea, but not nearly as much as normal. Anyhow, just feeling up to cooking is a huge thing! I attribute this to juicing!

Avocado Toast

This is one of my very favorite meals. It is really simple, not really a recipe, more of an assembly. I just had to post this because I absolutely love my toast this way. I try not to eat a lot of bread, but when I do, it's either homemade gluten free or from my favorite local bakery that makes gluten free breads. This particular bread bread is white in color, but it is actually made from whole grain millet flour, brown rice flour and water. That's it! I really want to know their secrets so I can bake my own! It is not soft like white bread, but it makes amazing crunchy toast. I usually keep a loaf in the freezer since I don't eat it often. It's perfect for grabbing a piece or two to toast when I want it.

Sprouted Salad with Honey Ginger Vinaigrette

I love sprouts, can you tell? lol.. Anyway, sprouting is easy, I sprout my own lentils, mung beans, alfalfa sprouts, garbanzo's and more. Sprouts are extremely nutritious and much easier to digest than unsprouted legumes and seeds. Plus they add a nice crispy crunchy element to any dish. Ok enough on sprouting. Lets get to the good stuff! The dressing! I love making my own fresh dressings. Store bought dressings have so many unneeded and unhealthy ingredients. You think it is healthy when it says "with olive oil" but if you read the label, sure they use some olive oil, they will also use soy oils and other partially hydrogenated type oils as well. A lot of them also use high fructose corn syrup, and lots of other weird thickenings, preservatives, colorings, etc. Bad stuff... Packaging is VERY deceptive. You have to read labels. But, I find making my own dressings is easy, healthier and so much tastier!

A lot of vinaigrette type dressings are really simple to make and only require adding them to a cruet type container and shaking them. Or if you have a blender you can toss the ingredients in and emulsify them. I have a blender with single serve smoothie cup attachments which make this super easy and quick. I use the Ninja Mega Kitchen System. It's has several attachments and I love it. I use it daily as a food processor, blender, mixer, smoothie maker, salad dressing maker... The small cups are so quick and convenient to use for smoothies and salad dressings. I also bought this at Bed Bath & Beyond with a 20% off coupon! This system also has another attachment set to slice and grate which I will be ordering when I have the money. It's really nice to have this all in one capability, one base to leave out, and lots of attachments to do everything I need. I realize this is a bit on the pricey side, but consider it like a stove... These things are what I use daily. I don't actually use my stove much any more! Any blender you have will work for these dressings though! Anyway, on to the recipe!

Honey Ginger Vinaigrette Dressing:
1/4 inch knob of fresh ginger peeled
1 clove of garlic
1 inch of the green part of a scallion
1/2 lemon juiced
1 tbsp honey* or real grade b maple syrup
2-3 tbsp unfiltered apple cider vinegar
2-4 tbsp cold pressed extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup of water
Himalayan salt or sea salt to taste

Sprouted Salad:
sprouted lentils
sprouted mung beans
sunflower sprouts
romaine lettuce
bibb lettuce
red leaf lettuce
grape tomatoes
red pepper diced
broccoli florets and stems diced
carrot shreds
button mushrooms
avocado chunks

For the dressing, if you have a blender just throw everything in and blend till smooth and emulsified and done! Alternately you can mince the garlic, ginger and scallion and whisk together or shake it in a bottle. You can also use dried garlic, onion powder and ginger if you don't have any fresh around. You'll want to use about 1/4 teaspoon of each to start with, then maybe add more to your taste. The best way to make a dressing is to start with less of an ingredient and taste it and add a little more at a time to get it the way you like it. I try to keep low on the oils in my dressings since I eat avocado in my salads frequently. You need the healthy oils, but you also don't want too much in your diet. So start with less oil and more water. If you need to you can add a bit more. The salad is a no brainer, just use what you like or have handy! 

*honey is not considered vegan. you can easily substitute maple syrup, date paste or stevia if desired.

Sprouted Lentil Vegetable Soup

Sometimes you just want some comfort food, to me that is a good hearty soup. I do mostly eat raw, but sometimes I partake in cooked foods especially when I want to share a meal with others who do not want to eat all raw. I've been making homemade soups since I was a kid, I love making them from scratch. So, I decided to make some lentil soup, but I wanted to do something a little different. So I sprouted them first. The flavor of the broth reminds me a bit of Campbells Vegetable Soup, but much, much better, and with a bit of warmth from cayenne pepper.

So to do this you'll need to start a 3 to 4 days in advance to sprout the lentils. Lentils sprout fairly quick, you can let them grow longer like I did or you can eat them as soon as you see the tiny tails start to appear. I like them a bit longer. I have a large sprouting jar I found in a health food store with a screen lid. (you can also find them on Amazon for $5) Day one you want to fill the jar with lentils then add double the water, lukewarm, like you see in the image. Let them soak overnight. Day two, drain them and rinse them with lukewarm water and set the jar at an angle so it can drain. I put it at an angle in a bowl to catch the drain-off. You'll want to rinse them 2-3 times per day, you'll see the tails sometime around day 3. When they get to the desired size they are ready! The small jar in the image contains some lentils already sprouted. I keep them like this in the refrigerator and use them on salads. Here is a great write up on sprouted lentils. (The picture just above on the left is the soup after adding all the ingredients before it began to simmer.)

Ingredients:
2 tbsp. coconut oil
1 medium onion diced
4-5 garlic cloves minced
4-5 carrots sliced
1 cup of carrot pulp or ground carrot (optional)
4-5 stalks of celery with leaves, sliced
2 medium potatoes cubed
4-5 cups of sprouted lentils
1 large can of organic crushed tomatoes
1 large can of organic tomato sauce
4 cups of water (more or less)
4-5 bay leaves
1 tbsp rosemary
1 tbsp paprika
1/2 tbsp cayenne pepper (or to taste)
2 tbsp Himalayan salt or sea salt to taste
fresh ground pepper to taste
2-3 handfuls of fresh baby spinach

In a large soup pot melt the coconut oil and add garlic and onions and saute a minute or two then add carrot pulp and saute till onions and garlic are tender. Add in the sliced carrots, celery and potatoes and saute for around 5-10 minutes. If it seems too dry, add a splash of water instead of more oil. Then add the lentils, canned tomatoes and water. You'll want to have enough water to cover the vegetables by 2-3 inches. Then add the bay leaves, rosemary, salt and pepper. Bring soup to a boil then reduce heat to a slow simmer. Allow it to simmer slowly for 2-3 hours. Here is where I taste it to see if I want to add more salt or other spices. Once the soup is done add in the fresh baby spinach. It will wilt in the soup but not turn to mush from overcooking. Then serve and enjoy!

Salsa Salad with a Creamy Taco Dressing

I had been soaking my red lentils to sprout them, I love sprouted lentils in my salads. They are crispy and sweet, nutritious and very easy to sprout. As I was gathering my salad ingredients, my red lentils, and noticing all the cilantro in my refrigerator that I needed to use up before I go on vacation, I decided to make a salsa themed salad. It's no secret to those who know me that I LOVE fresh salsa, guacamole and Mexican food. I've been making fresh salsa and guac for years now and pretty much have it perfected to my taste. So... I chopped up my crunchy romaine, a beautiful red tomato, half of an avocado, stripped the leaves off the cilantro and threw them in my salad whole (I actually threw the stems in the blender, or you can dice the stems and toss them in the salad, to not waste that amazing cilantro flavor!), added some red pepper and my alfalfa & sunflower sprouts. As I was about to sprinkle on the lentils it hit me... so instead I threw them in the blender and with the addition of a few other ingredients.. voila... an oil free, dairy free, creamy raw "taco" dressing. It came out even better than I expected! The lentils give it a smooth creamy texture and lend their beany flavor, reminiscent of well... bean dip! This new dressing is will be an amazing sauce for lots of things, like wraps, as a veggie dip, it gives me a lot of ideas! I am going to attempt to make some garbanzo bean tortilla wraps soon too... This salad would also be really good with a few organic blue corn chips or my favorite Late July Sweet Potato corn chips, either on the side or crunched up over the top like croutons! (By the way these chips are extremely good! One of my indulgences that I don't feel too guilty about since they have really good simple ingredients!) (the dressing recipe makes enough for 2 large salads or around 4 smaller dinner salads)

Raw Taco Dressing:
1/4 cup sprouted red lentils
1/4 cup hulled hemp seed
1/2 cup filtered water
1 garlic clove
2 tsp real maple syrup
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (or to taste)
1/4 tsp sea salt (or to taste)
cilantro stems

Toss all the ingredients into a blender and run until smooth and creamy. You can add more or less water for desired consistency. I have a blender with single serve smoothie cup attachments and those work perfect for dressings. Alternately you can used cooked red lentils if you don't mind the recipe being fully raw.

Salad:
1 handful romaine
1 handful red leaf lettuce
1 medium tomato cubed
1/2 of an avocado cubed
1 handful alfalfa sprouts
1 handful sunflower sprouts torn into bite size pieces
1 green onion diced
1 handful cilantro leaves
1/2 lime

Chop all veggies and toss in a bowl, squeeze lime juice over and toss, drizzle with dressing and eat!