Naraya Cooking Health Recipe

I'd just like to take a moment to let you know (if you didn't notice my freak-out session yesterday) that I have been nominated for "Favourite Blog" for the 2013 VegNews Veggie Awards! This is like being nominated for the Oscars, if you're a vegan food blogger. Please please please vote for me in this survey. I will send you cyber kisses - they are almost as good as the real thing. Not really. But it's the thought that counts?

Ingredients

• 1 cup quinoa (I used tri-color)
• 1 3/4 cups water
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 bunch parsley (about 2 cups lightly packed), stems removed
• 1 small bunch mint (about 1 cup lightly packed), stems removed
• 1 English cucumber (skin on), diced
• 1 small red onion, diced or 3 green onions, thinly sliced
• 1 1/2 cup cherry/grape tomatoes, halved or quartered depending on size
• 1/4 cup hemp hearts (shelled hemp seeds)
• drizzle of good extra virgin olive oil 
• juice of 2 large lemons
• mineral salt & cracked pepper to taste

Rinse your quinoa in a fine mesh stainer to remove any dust (sometimes I do this, sometimes I don't). In a medium size pot, bring water, quinoa and garlic powder to a boil, cover, reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove from heat, remove cover and let set for 10 - 15 minutes, fluff with fork.

In the meantime, finely chop your parsley and mint. Dice your cucumber, tomato and onion.

Once quinoa is ready, add in the parsley, mint, cucumber, onion, tomatoes, hemp hearts, drizzle of olive oil and the juice of your lemons, salt & pepper to taste, gently mix together.

Serve with a few whole mint and/or parsley leaves and lemon wedges.

Serves three generously.

I AM TYPING EVERYTHING IN CAPS LOCK BECAUSE I NEED TO EXPRESS MY EXCITEMENT IN SOME PHYSICAL FORM, BESIDES JUMPING UP AND DOWN AND SQUEALING.

GUYS. I AM NOMINATED FOR "FAVOURITE BLOG" AT THE VEGNEWS 2013 VEGGIE AWARDS. I KNOOOOOOOOOW.

Alright enough with the caps. But don't think I have calmed down - I am. Freaking. Out. I have kind of been dreaming of being nominated for this for years; whenever I flip through a VegNews magazine and read about amazing vegan bloggers I think "One day, Emily... one day..." THAT DAY COULD BE SUPER SOON.

If you don't know what VegNews Magazine is... where have you been living!? It's the biggest all-vegan magazine in the world and pretty much the epitome of everything vegan all wrapped up in one glossy monthly mag. That's why this is such a huge deal! Vegan mainstream, yo.

You only have 6 days left to vote because I just found out I was nominated like 2 seconds ago, so PLEASE VOTE! I will give you hugs and kisses and cake and pie. Here's the link to the survey. And here is the page where I am nominated for Favourite Blog. Seriously, vote. This is actually the most important thing to me. I say that with only love but also just a hint of demanding. Here's an ice cream sandwich to show my abundant appreciation.

Today I am just going to share some photos with you that I took yesterday when my mom came home from the farmer's market carrying a super nutritious and colourful bounty. Most of the tomatoes are actually from our own garden but I threw them together with the other heirlooms she bought.



I cannot help but relish in the incredible, explosive flavours of these tomatoes, and I am sure when my family and I enjoy the corn and eggplant, I'll have the same reaction again. Some claim that organic produce has no nutritional superiority compared to the conventionally-grown stuff, but I choose not to listen to these folks. I trust myself first, and I know I can taste the difference.

In any case, it's of paramount important that we support and encourage local, sustainable farming. As the truism goes: you vote with your wallet. Do you wish to see a healthy world being built for your children where love, wellness and acceptance are vital factors? Do you hope for a future where individuals and groups have the ability to know exactly what is in their food and the effects their consumerism has on the planet? Do you long for a time when corporations are powerless, we are not slaves to the economy, and we are free to live our best lives? I do.

This is why we go to the farmers market.

I am so happy right now. For my countless blessings from the magical universe BUT ALSO - because I have succeeded in creating raw vegan buttercream. Chocolate. Buttercream. I know, I know; but please try to contain the applause.

Honestly, it was accidental. Two nights ago I was making some date syrup to photograph for my cookbook, and then I decided to turn it into a fudgy pudding type thing so I threw in some cacao, coconut oil, maple syrup, cashew butter, and other stuff. It tasted great but I had changed my mind - I wasn't hungry anymore. I put it in the fridge...

The next day my heart was set on creating strawberry chocolate cream tarts using the chocolate mixture I had made the previous night, along with a simple tart crust and fresh strawberries from our garden. Everything was set to go; I finally took out the chocolate mixture and tasted it. Oh. My. God.

It had evolved into chocolate buttercream overnight. Praise the heavens and all that is holy. Obviously it will taste great with anything, especially if that anything is strawberries. Make this ASAP.

strawberry & chocolate buttercream tart

Crust:
1 cup almonds
1 cup dates 

Chocolate buttercream:
1 cup dates
3/4 cup water
Juice from 1 lemon
1/4 cup cacao powder
2 tablespoon cashew butter
2 tablespoons coconut oil
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Pinch of salt

Topping:
Sliced strawberries 
Mint leaves

To make the crust: pulse the almonds into flour in a food processor. Add the dates and process until they stick together. Press into the bottom and up the side of a lined spring form pan or tart molds. 

To make the buttercream: blend all the ingredients until smooth. Refrigerate overnight so it can develop those magical flavours, then spread evenly into your crust. Top off with strawberries and mint. Enjoy the !#$% out of it. 

I talked about this briefly in my last post about my cleansing, but I wanna go back to it now since it's important to me: I really am not a fan of calling this a cleanse. I'd rather just say I felt like consuming only juice and fruit for awhile, so I did, and now I am back to my regular diet. If I call this "cleansing", it implies that my normal diet is dirty. This is sooo not true. I also don't wanna call it a "detox" because it implies my regular diet is toxic! See what I mean? It just doesn't work for me. (But keep in mind that for some people, this could indeed be the case and they are starting off a new healthy life with a juice detox or smoothie cleanse. Yay for those guys!)


savoury tomato basil juice

1 large heirloom tomato
5-7 kale leaves, stems removed
Handful basil leaves
1 red bell pepper
1/2 pineapple
2 apples
1 tablespoon fresh ginger
1 lemon
1 garlic clove
1 cucumber (optional) 
3 carrots 

Wash, peel, and cut your produce as needed. Put everything through your juicer, strain and enjoy!