Spicy Peanut Noodles with Broccoli.

This month my parents went to Dr. McDougall's advanced study weekend seminar (so jealous!) and they took a class from this amazing vegan, unprocessed, salt-free, sugar-free chef, Chef AJ. My mom loved her class, loved her personality and loved her food. She was sold. Bought her book. Bought me her book. And now we're both sold.

I skipped the reading and went straight to the recipes. She doesn't use any processed foods. No salt and she only uses dates to sweeten things. Her stuff is awesome. Here's the first thing I tried from Chef AJ. Sold and love how it comes together so quickley!

1 pound brown rice noodles (spaghetti or linguine)

1 pound broccoli florets

3/4 cup peanut butter, unsweetened and unsalted

3/4 cup water

1/4 cup rice vinegar

2 tablespoons low sodium tamari

2 tablespoons date syrup

2 garlic cloves, pressed

1/4 - 1/2 ounce piece of fresh ginger, pressed

1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

8 scallions, thinly sliced on the diagonal

sesame seeds or chopped unsalted peanuts for garnish (optional)

Cook pasta according to directions on package. {Run under cold water when done. She serves it cold, I've never tried it that way... so if you want it warm, don't rinse. If you want it cold, rinse and tell me how it was.} Drain and place in a large bowl.

Blanch broccoli {and run under cold water when done}. Dran and add to pasta bowl along with the scallions.

To make the sauce, combine peanut butter, water, rice vinegar, tamari, date syrup, garlic, ginger and red pepper in a suacepan over medium-high heat. Whisk until smooth and cook for about 10 minutes until thickened. Pour dressing over noodles and broccoli and thoroughly combine. {Chill until it becomes cold.}

Chef AJ

Unprocessed

Peach Crumble.

I've been wanting to make this for about forever... but always forgetting the kuzu when I was at a health food store. We were celebrating 2 birthdays, the super bowl was upon us... My parents, my sister and her family were coming over... so, I said forget it... and just subbed arrowroot.

SO glad I did... and I think they were too. It was quickly gone and everyone wanted more. I put a dollop of whipped cashew cream on top... yum....

When I made it the first time, there was way too much topping for fruit... so, I saved the topping and made it again later that week. The next time I make I'll either double the fruit or half the topping... just depending on what I need it for. Also, the second time around I swapped the blueberries with raspberries and loved it even more. SO good.

2 1/2 - 3 cups peaches, sliced fresh or thawed frozen
1 cup organic blueberries
1 3/4 cups apple juice
2 tablespoons kuzu, arrowroot or corn starch
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
pinch of fine sea salt

topping
3 cups rolled oats
2 cups barley flour, spelt flour, brown rice flour, or sweet rice flour {just grind in the blender until it's fine}
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 cup safflower/coconut oil
3/4 cup brown rice syrup/date syrup
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts

Preheat oven to 350*F.

Combine the peaches and blueberries in a 9" x 13" baking dish.

Reserve 1/4 cup of the apple juice in a small bowl, and heat the remaining 1 1/2 cups in a small saucepan. Place the kuzu in a small bowl, and add in the reserved apple juice. Let the kuzu mixture sit for about 10 seconds so that the kuzu can dissolve into the liquid. Stir with a fork, and immediately whisk he kuzu mixture and the lemon juice into the hot apple juice, stirring continually to prevent lumps from forming. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 2 minutes. Turn off the heat, and add the vanilla extract and the salt. Pour over the peaches and blueberries in the pan.

To make the topping, dry-roast the oats, flour, salt, and cinnamon in a skillet over medium-low heat for about 5 minutes. Heat the oil and syrups together in a separate pan, then pour over the flour mixture and mix well. Stir in the nuts.

Crumble the topping over the fruit, then cover the pan with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the foil, and bake 15 to 25 minutes longer or until the topping is golden and the fruit filling bubbles a little. Cool crumble for about 30 minutes before serving.

The Kind Diet

Alicia Silverstone

serves 4 to 6

page 194

Chia Snowballs.

These are so, SOOO good and pretty cute.

1 cup peanut butter (natural, without added sugar)
½ cup honey (don't use agave, it's not sticky enough to form into balls or keep in bars)
¼ cup brown rice syrup (or date syrup)
2½ cups brown rice cereal (i used puffed millet)
½ cup oats
2 tablespoons chia seeds
optional: 1 cup finely shredded coconut

Mix all of the ingredients together except for the coconut. Roll the mixture into balls and then roll in the coconut. Or, if omitting the coconut, press mixture into an 8x8” pan and let it sit until soft, about 1 hour.

{I've added the shredded coconut in with the mixture before I rolled it into balls. The first time I made these, using agave, the balls weren't staying in balls and the coconut wasn't sticking very well. Conclusion: agave isn't sticky enough. So, stick to the sticky honey and I'm sure the coconut would then stick on.}

Note: Chia seeds are a power food. Packed with nutrition, they contain 19-23% protein. Two ounces of chia seeds will give you more Omega-3 than 1¾ pounds of salmon. Chia also has three times more flavanol (to fight cancer) than blueberries.

Banana-Date Scones.

These were a perfect way to use some really ripe bananas. Really moist and cake-like. Yum.

8 ounces dates

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

1 cup mashed, very ripe bananas (about 3-4 bananas; their skin should be almost black)

2 tablespoons ground flaxseeds

1/3 cup rice milk

1/3 cup canola oil/coconut oil

1/4 cup brown rice syrup

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 1/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat the oven to 350*F and lightly grease two medium-size baking sheets.

Finely chop the dates, place in a small bowl, and sprinkle with 1 tablespoon of flour. Toss the dates to thoroughly coat with the flour, breaking apart any clumps. Set aside

In a large bowl, whisk together the flaxseeds and rice milk. Wish in the mashed banana, canola oil, and brown rice syrup. In a separate bowl, sift together the all-purpose flour, while what pastry flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Stir into the banana mixture until the ingredients are just moistened; the dough will be thick yet sticky. Fold  in the chopped dates and walnuts.

Lightly oil a 1/2-cup measuring cup and scoop generous half-cupfuls of dough onto a baking sheet, leaving about 3 inches of space between the scones.Gently pat down the tops of the scones and dab with a little rice milk if desired.

Bake for 32 to 34 minutes, until browned and firm. Transfer from the baking sheets to a cooling rack to complete cooling.

belly biters: shayne, jen & coco - yum!... ava - boo ... nolan never tried 'em

page 224-225

Gooey Chewy Caramel Corn.

In attempts to find a healthier treat for Shayne to take to a couple people this Christmas season, I turned to some of the GreenSmoothieGirl holiday recipes I've been wanting to try. This one's not full of the expensive ingredients that I don't want to hand out if I don't think people will really appreciate it... and it's not junk that I'll feel bad giving to people.

I've come to realize that I'm starting to be know for something... and with this 'healthy' label I can't very well hand out complete junk. Right?

When they were all done, I asked Shayne if 'regular people' will think it tastes good - he gave me the thumbs up. Although, he's almost as 'messed' up on the taste buds as I am (especially with being off white sugar for 7 1/2 years now). I omitted the craisins and used sliced almonds to make it a little more mainstream... Now, I just wonder how they liked it because my kids tore.it.up!!

10 cups popped popcorn (about 1 cup kernels)

½ cup honey

½ cup sucanat

½ cup brown rice syrup (i used date syrup)

1 teaspoon molasses

2 teaspoons vanilla

½ cup coconut oil

1 tablespoon salt

½ cup pecans

½ cup dried cranberries

Mix the honey, sucanat, molasses, vanilla, coconut oil, and salt together in a medium sauce pan. Cook on medium heat until it is just about to boil. Take off of the stove and pour over popped popcorn. Fold in the pecans and dried cranberries.