Naraya Cooking Health Recipe

• 3 small potatoes, diced...either with or without the skin
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1 small onion, diced
• 1 small bell pepper, diced
• 1 small zucchini, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• handful grape tomatoes, quartered
• small handful parsley or cilantro, chopped
• shake of red pepper flakes, optional

we bought garlic from the farmer's market on saturday... it is so intense. like, the most potent garlic on the planet. i naively used an entire clove in the dressing of my salad, i have now killed all my taste buds. learn from my mistake - be cautious with your organic garlic. start with half a clove if you've got strong stuff.


besides the garlic insanity, this salad was friggin delish. i had a great workout up at my campus gym and all i wanted to eat afterward was a big salad from my garden. i added some chickpeas for extra protein. hemp seeds would also be a nice addition. we had grilled zucchini from last night and well... that's never a bad thing to throw in. enjoy! i sat in the sun and fought with wasps to eat this.


make the dressing by blending all ingredients until smooth. hopefully you like it, it might be a little thick so feel free to add more liquid. chop up the salad topping and tear up the leaves into bite-size pieces. pour on the dressing and mix into the greens, then add your toppings. yummers.

i beg you, grow your own tomatoes. they're pretty easy as long as you don't over water them... and they taste HEAVENLY. really... they should be golden with holiness, not red. i've been eating them like candy. some of ours are cherry tomatoes and some are larger. either way - ridiculous.

today i made a salad with rainbow chard, oregano, basil, and tomatoes from the garden. i also added some bell pepper, dried figs, avocado, and leftover gardein. the dressing is sooo good. it has mustard, miso, walnuts, garlic and fresh basil in it. sweet basil is probably my favourite herb. i left whole leaves of oregano and basil with the rainbow chard greens too, i think it's lovely when you get a bite and suddenly it's a herb-filled explosion of flavour!


chop up the greens, tomatoes, pepper, avocado and figs. set aside. to make the dressing, blend all the ingredients together, adding as much water as needed. pour the dressing onto the greens and mix in. top it off with the remaining goodies and enjoy!

this is not a problem though, i could eat it all day... and i do. i use it in smoothies, wraps, kale chips, soups, and salads! mainly in smoothies though. so yesterday i figured i make it into a salad instead of the usual green smoothie. oh wait - i had a green smoothie for breakfast.

but still.

dino kale is a bit bitter and tough for regular salad greens so what you do to make it all nice, soft and flavourful is massage your dressing in and let it sit for a few minutes. i did that while i cut up my other salad ingredients. they included: THE BEST TOMATOES EVER, grown on our deck. i also added some bell pepper, beans, and gardein because well... i like the taste. my dad thought i had put real chicken in the salad for a second. hah.

chop the veggies and kale, set aside. to make the dressing blend all ingredients until smooth. i hope you like it! then massage the dressing into the kale and let it rest for a 5-10 minutes, getting soft. put the tomato, pepper, raisins, chickpeas/nuts and protein on top and enjoy!

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.

we got these radishes from the farmer's market and they were so pretty i had to take pictures; they aren't actually in today's recipe, but i bet they'd be a delicious addition!

veggie wrap with miso mustard gravy: serves one

miso mustard walnut gravy:
1/4 cup or so of walnuts
2 tablespoons mustard
1 tablespoon maple syrup
2-3 tablespoons miso
1 tablespoon minced garlic
2 tablespoons hemp seeds
1/2 teaspoon each of salt & pepper, other fave spices/herbs
juice of 1 lime
2 tablespoons tamari
water, as needed (probably a several tablespoons)

nori veg wrap:
3-4 mushrooms
3 leaves dino kale
1/4 avocado
2-3 dates or some raisins
1/2 raw or grilled bell pepper
1 nori sheet 

to make the gravy: blend all ingredients together until smooth and like gravy dressing. if it's too thick, add more water; if it's too liquid, add more walnuts or maybe a date. whatever you think it needs.
to make the wrap: slice the veggies and what not, length-wise. then layer them all on your nori sheet and spoon on some "gravy".

*i made this again today and used cilantro instead of kale, and zucchini instead of mushrooms.
FRICKIN' AMAZING. as usual, you can basically do anything to this recipe and it'll be insane.


the pics of the food aren't that good today so i'll make up for it with these lovely photos of BLOOMING LIFE in our garden. ahhh, i adore my home.

• 1 block (14-16 oz) tofu, firm or extra firm
• 1/2 red onion, diced
• 8 oz. package mushrooms, sliced (about 1 1/2 - 2 cups)
• 1 1/2 cups broccoli florets
• 2 handfuls spinach
• 1 tablespoon grapeseed or olive oil
• 1 - 2 tablespoons dijon mustard
• 2 teaspoons dried thyme or tarragon
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• himalayan salt & pepper, to taste

Drain and slice tofu, I like to cut mine into thirds. Place slices between a few paper towels or clean dish cloth. Press it between your hands or press tofu while lying on a hard surface, paper towels/cloth will absorb excess moisture. Set tofu aside and start on prepping your vegetables. Alternately, you can skip pressing if needed. The little bit of moisture will be fine. Try both ways to see what you like best.

In skillet or wok, heat oil over medium high heat. Saute onions, mushrooms and broccoli for five minutes. Add tofu crumbling the between your fingers. Add the spices, mix to combine, add spinach and continue to cook over medium high heat, stirring occasionally until spinach starts to wilt, about 5 minutes or so. Using a lid/cover will help the spinach wilt faster.

Remove skillet/wok from heat. Serve as you like adding whatever extra spices or condiments you wish. I like mine especially with sambal oelek (it's a simple chile paste that adds the perfect spice).  Pair with toast and avocado butter, or simple warmed corn tortillas. Fresh fruit on the side adds a refreshing touch. 

Serves 2 - 3.

Notes: 

The mushrooms are going to add some moisture to your scramble, cook it down by keeping it on the stove a bit longer if it bothers you or omit the mushrooms altogether. I've made this with just broccoli and spinach, it was delicious!

Try different types of mustard's if you like. I have used a habanero and stone ground mustard, both were delicious. I upped the amount to about 2 tablespoons. Or use 2 - 3 teaspoons mustard powder if you have that on hand. 

Tarragon, parsley and chives would also be a great sub for the thyme!