STEAMED SWEET POTATOES with WILD RICE, BASIL + TOMATO CHILI SAUCE

A lot of you have been asking for more savoury recipes and more low-fat dinners. My job as I see it is to give you what ya want. So here we go. This is also a good representation of my actual diet; since I do not simply live off raw vegan chocolate cake (although sometimes I wish I could), but in reality enjoy mostly fruit all day in the form of smoothies followed by a dinner of lots of steamed or baked veggies with rice! Check out my Instagram to see more on this... and also to see my PMS face.  I do love my raw vegan desserts recipes, and I definitely eat as much of them as I want, but I see them as a fun and delicious way to get in my fats for the day, so in the rest of my diet I keep fat content to a minimum. Fat is an essential part of a healthy lifestyle, but I just don't need much of it. So in this recipe, I only use a handful of nuts (or 1 tablespoon of nut butter if you prefer). It provides the perfect amount of creaminess and richness without making me feel sluggish afterwards, which happens when I eat too many nuts in a day. I have learned my limits.

As many of you may know, I have gradually transitioned into an 80/10/10 diet (a high carb diet) and for me that basically meant just increasing the amounts of fruits and starchy veggies I was eating. Instead of 3 bananas a day; I eat anywhere from 5 to 15 now. Instead of 3/4 cup of rice; I eat 2 cups, etc. When I eat this way I find I don't crave the rich foods that I used to. I don't want to eat the entire tray of raw vegan brownies, I am satisfied with one. I have learned that my body does best with minimal amounts of fat. As I stated a moment ago, I feel weighed down and head-achey when I eat too much fat in a day. All I need to keep me energized and strong is a handful of nuts, 1 avocado, or 1 tablespoon of nut butter or coconut oil a day. Am I saying this is the ideal diet for everyone? Of course not! You know your body better than I do! So experiment and find what works for you. I have a friend who does best on a high fat diet, and so that right there is proof that we all require different percentages of macronutrients to fuel ourselves right. Having said that, it DOES make sense to me from an evolutionary perspective that most of us would do best with a diet high in fruit, greens, and starchy veggies.

My logic is simple: we all know fruits and vegetables are good for us, so let's eat as many as we can!

Now, onto this meal! I am in love with sweet potatoes. They are excellent for your brain and eye health, as well as overall wellness. Basil is called The Sacred Goddess Herb and is thought to be the embodiment of femininity and holiness itself, tomato is great for the prostate (holla to the males out there), and the whole recipe is just freaking yummy altogether... so make it.

STEAMED SWEET POTATOES with WILD RICE, BASIL + TOMATO CHILI SAUCE

Sauce:
1 tomato
1 tablespoon nut butter (optional) 
1 tablespoon miso paste
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon maple syrup 
1 teaspoon chili powder, to taste 
1 garlic clove

Other ingredients:
1 large sweet potato, sliced and steamed until soft and tender
2 cups cooked wild rice
1/4 cup basil leaves

To make the sauce: blend all the ingredients until smooth. Mix the sauce into your rice and sweet potatoes in a bowl, then top with basil leaves and enjoy! 

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WILD RICE with BLACK BEANS, CHERRY TOMATOES + STEAMED POTATOES

Keepin' it simple and wholesome, as per usual. I made this a couple weeks ago and posted a pic on Instagram, and I thought it was so pretty and delicious I decided to share the recipe with you, 'cause you're awesome, and so is this bowl of happy food. That is all. (Like I said - keepin' it simple.)

WILD RICE BOWL with BLACK BEANS, TOMATOES + STEAMED POTATOES

1 cup cooked black beans

1 cup cooked wild rice

2 steamed potatoes

1 cup salsa or tomato sauce

Handful cherry tomatoes

Handful chopped cilantro 

Pinch of turmeric, paprika, salt and pepper (if desired) 

Throw it all in a bowl. Yessss. 

Note: add whatever other spices or flavourings you want! This would probably be outta this world with the addition of an avocado. Then again, when is that statement ever false? 

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ZUCCHINI SPAGHETTI with SUN-DRIED TOMATOES & BASIL

I cannot get over how amazing tomatoes are when you drizzle them with some extra virgin olive oil, salt, pepper and allow them to dry in the sun, dehydrator or oven. They become flavour EXPLOSIONS that are the very essence of the best pizza you've ever eaten. Trust me. But wait - don't trust me. Find out for yourself by doing it. You will not be sorry. They taste so damn delicious that all you need to do to make a meal is throw them on some noodles. Bam. You just made a mind-blowingly tasty dinner that everyone will be jealous of. If they aren't envious, then they are definitely missing their sense of sight or smell. 

Although my family's own tomatoes from our garden in the summer are - needless to say - my favourite, I eat them all long before summer is over so in the cooler months we need to rely on other sources for my tomato obsession. My mom brought home a jar of organic sun-dried tomatoes in extra virgin olive oil and spices yesterday and I opened it up this afternoon only to have my taste buds do a happy dance and my memories of our oven-dried tomatoes from summer sweep back into my mind. Ahh. Flavour explosions. I am confident I could have eaten the entire jar but I held back and did the next best thing: threw some of the tomatoes onto zuke noodles along with some basil leaves. Everyone's jealous. 

I'm gonna tear through that jar in no time, so next week I think I'll hit up the farmer's market and buy some more there. *Cannot wait* but *must wait*. Something else I can't wait for? A tentatively planned trip I want to go on this summer. Get this: I might be going to Minneapolis, Montreal and Mexico. All three places start with M. My name is Em. If ya look on a map, the layout of the trip is an M shape. I basically HAVE to go, right!? (Say yes.) My soul mate sister moved to Montreal a few years ago and that's why I wanna go there. Also, the culture in that city is off the chain from what I have heard. I'll be in Minneapolis for a family reunion. And Mexico... well. Avocados. Mangoes. Papayas. SUNSHINE. Need I say more? But actually I have made a friend there who has a vegan restaurant and hotel and has invited me to stay for free. Can life get any better? Only if I had some frozen bananas to make a chocolate mylkshake with. 

ZUCCHINI SPAGHETTI with SUN-DRIED TOMATOES & BASIL 

Noodles:

2 large zucchinis 

Sauce:

1 cup dried tomatoes in extra virgin olive oil 

Salt, pepper, lemon juice, other spices you like

1/2 cup basil leaves (whole or chopped) 

Note: the tomatoes are gonna need to taste *amazing* before you even add them to the noodles and stuff because they are the star of this recipe, so try to get organic or even better - use your own! 

To make the noodles: slice the zucchinis into noodles on a spiral slicer, mandolin or even cheese grater. Set aside in a large bowl. 

To make the sauce: blend up half the tomatoes into paste then mash up the rest of the tomatoes with the olive oil and the rest of the ingredients and mix everything into your noodles. Let it sit for 10-15 minutes and mix again. Eat. Omg. 

RAW PASTA

I love noodles. 

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So it makes perfect sense that among desserts, raw pasta is one of my favourite meals. I prefer it made with zucchini, although bell peppers, yams, carrots and other veggies work well too. I also love it with a creamy sauce and a bit of spice.

It's so satisfying, nutrient-dense, low-calorie and RAW, in every sense of the word. 

I don't really use recipes when preparing raw food (as you probably know by now) so for the following recipes, feel ABSOLUTELY FREE to play them with them as you like. There's endless possibilities for sauce ideas - just like for smoothies and salads. The combinations are infinite.

For the pasta: use any wide, fairly long vegetable - zucchini is the perfect example - and slice it on your spiral slicer or mandoline, into noodles. Set aside. Now for the sauce =)

Avocado Hemp Sauce: 

1/2 avocado
1 clove garlic
3 Tb tamari
Water or non-dairy milk, as needed
Salt & pepper, add other spices if you wish
2 Tb hemp seeds

Blend all ingredients except hemp seeds until smooth. See if you like the taste and consistency. Stir in hemp seeds and pour over noodles. Let them sit for a few minutes, then enjoy! I like to add hot sauce and raw marinated veggies.

Garlic Miso Sauce:

2-3 Tb miso
1 clove garlic
2 Tb tamari
1-2 Tb rice vinegar
1-2 Tb almond butter
2 Tb black sesame seeds
Water as needed

Blend all ingredients except sesame seeds until smooth. See if you like the taste and consistency. Stir in sesame seeds and pour over noodles. Let sit for a few minutes then eat it up! This recipe is good with broccoli. 

Spicy Asian-y Sauce: 

1 Tb mustard

1 Tb miso

1 Tb nut butter

2 Tb nutritional yeast

Salt & Pepper 

A few drops of hot sauce

1/8 t cayenne/chili powder

I also add hemp seeds and other spices if I want

Blend all the ingredients until smooth, adding water as need to make it creamy. This time, I added black sesame seeds at the end to add some contrast. Do whatever floats your boat!

Here's some more pictures that have recipes linked to them. Noodles 4 EVER!

EAT THIS NOW.

Nom. I don't say that a lot, but I do when it's necessary. I don't know what it is about this meal, but I've made it several times and I always want more.
It's not mind-blowingly amazing when you first bite into it... but after a few minutes you start to realize how simply YUMMY it is!

That's all I can say about it - it's pure and simple yummy.

Sorry, the pictures are kinda lame today. I didn't have the patience - I just wanted to eat this! Plus, our house has terrible lighting.

Anyhoo - These are basically just rice paper OR seaweed (I'd prefer nori seaweed but we didn't have any big sheets, just the mini ones) with a mix of veggies and avocado inside, and a spicy-savory asian-y sauce! Everybody you know will LOVE this.

Note: I never measure anything, and this is always a total improv dish, it really doesn't matter. But I've given general amounts for the sauce. 

Savory Spicy Veggie Wraps: serves 1-2

1 Avocado

1/3 cup corn

1 Bell Pepper

2-3 Mushrooms

Red onion?

Cucumber?

Tomato?

Carrot?

Any other veg you like/have

Chop all the veggies (and avocado) roughly, put in a bowl and pour on a little tamari. Let them marinate while you do the other stuff.

Spicy Asian-y Sauce: makes about 1/3 cup?

1 Tb mustard

1 Tb miso

1 Tb nut butter

2 Tb nutritional yeast

Salt & Pepper

I also add hemp seeds and other spices if I want. 

Blend all the ingredients until smooth, adding water as need to make it creamy. This time, I added black sesame seeds at the end to add some contrast. Do whatever floats your boat!

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Finally - prepare some rice paper by soaking it in hot water for a minute or two until it's super pliable. OR just get out some nori seaweed sheets. Spoon a little of the sauce into the nori or rice paper and then load on the veg mix! Wrap it up. Repeat until you use up all the veg.

Want another really easy way to do this? Don't even make the sauce - just put tamari on all the cut up veggies and mix in the avocado with your hands, mashing it up a little - it creates a salty, creamy avocado sauce all on it's own! I did that the other night and it was great; saves you time.

I usually make two or three wraps, and eat the leftovers outta da bowl. YUM!

My brother's reaction to this?  
"Dang, why do you vegans always get to eat better food than us!?"
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