Gazpacho

Two things happened in the last two days to bring about our dinner last night.  First, my friend who hosted book club on Friday night served a lovely gazpacho for all of us.  Second, our neighbor's mom was unloading her car as Scott walked out the front door the next morning and she gifted him with the most amazing bounty of fresh homegrown tomatoes AND a cucumber.  Well that was dinner set for the night.  Many thanks to Joelle for the idea, and to Sidonie for the ingredients to make our light refreshing meal...that I again, didn't have to turn on the oven for! :)

Gazpacho:

2 lbs tomatoes, roughly chopped
1 medium red bell pepper, roughly chopped
1/2 medium cucumber, peeled and roughly chopped (I used a small homegrown + a bit of an English cuke)
1/2 red onion, roughly chopped (I probably used less)
1/3 cup olive oil (I'm sure I used less of this, but I also added a drizzle on each bowl at serving)
1/3 cup almonds
3 Tbs sherry vinegar (I was out, so used red wine vinegar...also used less than 3 Tbs.)
1 large serrano or jalapeno pepper, mostly seeded, chopped
1-2 garlic cloves (I went light on this)
handful of chopped cilantro if you like it
salt and black pepper to taste
optional: avocado slices to serve

Blend all ingredients together (you might have to work in several batches if it won't all fit in your blender) and process until smooth.

Taste and adjust the seasoning.  Refrigerate for up to a few hours before serving or serve immediately, garnished with the avocado if desired.

Raw Vegan Pad Thai

Waaaay back in February, our friend came out for a visit.  We ended up eating at Whole Foods downtown one night and she ordered pad thai, made with raw spiralized zucchini in lieu of the typical rice stick noodles.  She liked it so much that we took a photo of the ingredients list they so conveniently had in the case by the sauce.  Enter Erin's knock-off version.  Now, I don't know if anyone is gonna buy that this is like a real Pad Thai, but that said, it's a really good dish in it's own right.  Play with ingredient amounts to your own tastes.  You will need a mandoline with a small wavy blade or a spiralizer to make the zucchini noodles, but I know enough of my friends have been moved to buy a mando since being served said "noodles" at our house to warrant posting this recipe. :)  Sauce is good on other salad fixins too if you don't want to shell out for special equipment.

Zucchini Pad Thai:
(based on Whole Foods Pad Thai sauce)

Sauce:

1 cup raw cashews, soaked overnight

juice from 1 large navel orange

juice from 1 large lime

2-3 green onions

1 seeded serrano, or jalapeno pepper

4 tsp wheat-free reduced-sodium tamari

1 clove garlic

~1 inch of ginger

dash of crushed red chile flakes

optional ingredients not on the original ingredients list: sambal oelek, rice vinegar

Salad:

zucchini, made into "noodles" (buy larger ones for less waste on the mandoline)

carrot, shredded

cilantro, chopped

sprouts

lime wedges

Gomasio and Sriracha to top

Blend all in a high-powered blender until smooth.  I stirred in some sambal oelek and a little rice vinegar to taste at the end.  Refrigerate for a while to let flavors meld.

No firm amounts, just mix enough sauce into the zucchini to make you happy, then top with shredded carrot, cilantro, Gomasio, lime wedge, sprouts, and Sriracha.

Raw zucchini noodles

Raw Zucchini Dressing

I'm usually quite happy with munching on veggies, be they raw or steamed for a snack without any extra amending, but today I had 1/2 a large zucchini in the fridge just begging to be obliterated in the blender. I found this recipe for a raw zuke dressing on Choosing Raw's blog and so I just halved it to able to use up my 1/2 zuke. It's pretty tasty, albeit not very zukey. I still haven't used it on a full on salad, but it was good as a dip for my red pepper strips today. Amounts below are for the full recipe.

Raw Zucchini Dressing:
(Choosing Raw)

1 large zucchini, chopped
½ cup lemon juice
¼ cup nutritional yeast
2 Tbs extra virgin olive oil or flax oil
1 Tbs organic mustard (optional, but I added after tasting without first)
3 pitted dates or 1 packet stevia (I used dates)
3 Tbs shoyu or tamari (I reduced sodium and used less)
3 Tbs ground flax seed
¼ cup water
½ tsp ground coriander

Blend all dressing ingredients on high till smooth and creamy. Mix salad ingredients and top with the dressing as desired.

Behold...moody veg.