green tea soba noodles with roasted vegetables & herbs

My boyfriend and I have been eating so many veggie-noodle dishes lately. Our routine right now (and probably through the winter break) is to get up "early", work out together, make post-exercise green smoothies or juice, then do homework/something productive and go for a walk. Then we make lunch and watch whatever TV show we are currently addicted to - at the moment it is The Wire. Thug life.

Anyhoo, the past week we've been making different kinds of soba noodles with a ton of raw and roasted veggies like sweet potatoes, cucumber, mushrooms, cilantro, beets, onions, garlic, bell peppers, etc. I like to add raisins and peanuts on top. So today I prepared some green tea noodles and served them with delicious, fresh vegetables.

green tea soba noodles with roasted vegetables & herbs: serves two hungry people

Roasted veggies:
1 sweet potato
2 large beets
4 large mushrooms
4 garlic cloves
1 onion
1 tablespoon fave veg oil 
1/2 teaspoon each of salt, pepper, fennel seeds, dill, paprika, turmeric, garlic powder and rosemary if you have it
1 teaspoon maple syrup 

Noodles:
1/2 package green tea noodles
1 teaspoon veg oil (optional)
1/2 teaspoon salt (optional) 

Toppings:
1/2 cucumber
1 cup cilantro 
1/4 cup peanuts
1/4 cup raisins 

Prepare your plants: pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. Peel and slice all the veggies so they are all roughly the same size. Mix in the oil, herbs/spices and maple syrup until everybody is evenly coated. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the beets and sweet potatoes are soft and delicious. 

While they are baking, make the noodles: follow the instructions on the package, ya goof! Drain in a colander and rinse with cold water to stop them from cooking anymore. Then add a teaspoon of veg oil and a 1/2 teaspoon of salt, if you like. 

Cut up the cuke and cilantro for the toppings. When the vegetables are ready: put your noodles in two bowls, place the roasted veggies on top, followed by the cucumber, cilantro, raisins, peanuts and whatever else you think to add. Eat with your significant other while watching cops chase drug gangs in 90's Baltimore. 

Namaste, yo. 

energy elixir

as i said on my facebook, i was feeling a bit drained yesterday after my weekend. but today i got TONS of sleep (maybe too much - i just kept sleeping because my dreams were so enthralling...) then had a great workout and drank a gorgeous pink jar of juice.

yum yum. i'll give you the recipe in a minute (or - due to the magical nature of the internet and time-space continuum - you may just scroll down.) last night i felt like just having juice today to get my energy back and guess what. it's already returned! all it took was some deep sleep, weight-lifting, and the elixir of living fruits and vegetables. i made a glass for mom too, since she was in desperate need of some nourishment after a busy day of random errands like getting a bunch of knives sharpened.

oh! just remembered something. heard of global girl? well if not - check her out. she just did a raw vegan dessert round-up for her fave recipes; one of them is mine. yes, i am indeed tooting my own horn. if you've got a problem with that - well you can DRINK MY JUICE!

oh wait, you should do that anyway. 

everything awesome life juice: serves two

2 carrots

3 tomatoes

2 apples

1 cucumber

3 slices of pineapple

4 beets

chunk of ginger

lemon

2 bell peppers

i think that's all i put in there... 

wash, slice, peel, chop and cut as needed. throw it all in the juicer! not literally, that would be messy. drink!

oh one more thing. PLEASE take a listen to this amazing woman. she is a visionary in my opinion. her albums are "projects" and she makes a video for each song. you can watch them all in a particular order and it becomes an emotional journey. she keeps you guessing. it's beautiful. 

garden life

i adore our yard. it consistently provides us with such a bounty of sun-grown nutrition, colour and love. if everyone had their own garden, the world would probably be a more peaceful and understanding environment! good vibrations, maaaaaaan.

my dad got a new barbeque this summer (it's huge) and we've been taking full advantage of it. the weather has also been great so at least once a week we harvest a bunch of veggies from the garden and grill them with herbs. the rest of the produce we get from the farmer's market.

and for dessert? fruit. we've got goji berries, strawberries, blueberries, and figs - all that satisfy my sweet tooth as naturally as you possibly can. i seriously implore you to grow some of your own food; even just a few basil plants or some kale will do to get you into the mindset of having harmony and a symbiotic relationship with mother nature.

that's all for today! keeping it short and sweet. here's some calming sounds to help you relax this afternoon.

don't worry, i'll be back with delectable recipes real soon. BUT FIRST - i'm going on a cross-country motorcycle trip with my dad. i know, i know. i am so grateful for this life!

namaste.

.

yam noodles with miso sauce

holy yams! you might be skeptical about using raw sweet potatoes (yams) for food, but as soon as you try this, all your doubts will be vaporized. it's so satisfying. i don't know WHY you'd want or need white pasta with meatballs when you can eat THIS living, raw, cruelty-free meal. i took lots of photos, i hope you don't mind. 

nah... you don't.

hopefully you have a spiral slicer, but if not - a mandoline will do. and if you're REALLY ambitious, you could try to make the noodles manually. good luck.

i've been wanting to make these noodles with some kind of sauce and veggies for awhile, and the plan for this sweet potato (organic!) was to make this recipe then give it to a curious friend who had wondered whether you could raw potatoes. but um... i'm greedy. i ate it all at my house. don't judge me. i promise i will make this again and actually share it. it will be difficult, but i can do it.

 yam noodles with miso mustard sauce, avocado, cucumber & raisins: serves 1-2

noodles:
1 yam (sweet potato)

sauce:
1 tablespoon miso
1 tablespoon mustard
1 tablespoon agave
1 date
vegan milk/water, as needed (about 1/6 cup)
3 chopped garlic cloves

to make the noodles - slice the yam on a spiral slicer or mandoline. mix with a bit of tamari in large bowl and set aside.
to make the sauce - blend all ingredients together. if it's too thick, add more vegan milk/water. if it's too thin, add more miso, dates or mustard. pour the desired amount of sauce onto the noodles and mix in. you don't need that much.
i added chopped avocado, cucumber, beets from our garden, raisins, and parma... of course. i bet this with sesame or pumpkin seeds would be great too.

raw beets with pesto and carrot & bell pepper puree

I adapted this recipe from gliving.com - a great site, do check it out! - and really loved how it turned out. The pesto is the star. It's sooo yummy. Even my older brother who is a pesto/cheese LOVER said it was great! He couldn't stop eating it. The beets were also yummy, I chose to soften them by dehydrating for an hour or so. I also didn't put any oil on them, just salt.

I added more basil and less parsley to the pesto because we have basil growing on our deck. (I'll be posting more on growing your own herbs and food later.) I also used sun-dried-tomato-infused extra virgin olive oil and that stepped up the whole thang. I used carrots from our garden in the puree and it actually became a general sauce for the rest of dinner that night. Way better than gravy, that's for sure.

Beets are one of those foods that taste very different raw than cooked. They're crunchy, refreshing, and even more earthy. I truly love beets. Their colour is ever-impressive. Speaking of...

Did you know? You can use beets for your lips! Instead of smearing animal-tested chemicals and Red 41 on your lovely lips, swipe a beet across them! You can also use them for blush. Nature's first lipstick, edible of course.