Naraya Cooking Health Recipe

Ingredients

• 5 cups leeks (about 2-3 large or 4-5 small), sliced
• 4 cups sweet potatoes (about 2 small), diced
• 3 cups zucchini (about 2 small), chopped
• 6 cups vegetable broth 
• mineral salt & fresh cracked pepper to taste
• 2 teaspoons turmeric or curry powder, optional
• 2 tablespoons basic cashew sour cream, optional
• chopped fresh chives or scallions, for garnish

Chop and prepare your vegetables. For the leeks, once sliced place them in a bowl of cool water swishing them around to rinse away any dirt that is trapped, drain in a colander giving another good rinse, or simply use a colander making sure to break up the rings releasing any dirt in between. The sweet potatoes can either be peeled or left unpeeled.

In a large dutch oven or stock pot, heat oil over medium, add leeks and saute until softened, about five minutes. Add the sweet potatoes, zucchini, vegetable broth, salt, pepper and optional turmeric, bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Let cool about 10 - 15 minutes. Using a hand held submersion blender, blend until creamy. Add the cream and blend again. Or you may opt to use a blender or food processor to blend your soup (this will most likely take two batches to complete).

Serve hot or chilled (I especially liked this warm or at room temp). Makes about 4 servings.

Notes:

Feel free to add in some unsweetened non-dairy milk if your soup is super thick, about 1/4 - 1/2 cup.

This soup is wonderful on it's own without the optional turmeric or curry powder. I have them here in case you would like to vary the recipe up from time to time. Turmeric is noted for it's ability as an anti-inflammatory and cancer inhibitor, adding to the soup will enhance the nutritional profile. As for the curry, if you love it, it will also complement the soup nicely!

This would be great with some spiralized or julienned zucchini noodles.

For some spiciness, try adding a sprinkle of ground cayenne or chipotle powder when serving.

If you're not a fan of sweet potatoes, sub in regular potatoes instead.

Ingredients (serves 6)

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 onion, diced
• 5 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 - 2 tablespoons fresh ginger, minced
• 1 - 2 tablespoons curry, to taste
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• himalayan salt to taste
• 1 tablespoons red pepper flakes, optional 
• 1 can (15 oz) fire roasted tomatoes or two cups fresh tomatoes, diced
• 2 cups dry red lentils, rinsed and picked over
• 1 1/2 cups cooked garbanzo beans or 1 can (15 oz) garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
• 6 cups water or vegetable broth, + more as needed
• 3 cups kale, julienned
• juice of one lemon, optional
• cooked basmati, brown or jasmine rice, as much as needed

In large pot or stock pot, heat your oil over medium heat, saute onion and garlic until onion becomes transparent. Add spices, tomatoes, lentils, garbanzo beans and 6 cups of liquids, bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat and simmer for about 30 minutes. Add in the kale and optional lemon juice, continue to cook for 10 minutes or until kale softens and wilts.

Serve alone, over rice or grain of choice...

Ingredients

• 16 oz. package pasta of choice (I used rice penne pasta) (works with an 8oz package too)
• paprika, garnish

Cheese Sauce

• 1 1/2 cup raw cashews, preferably soaked for a 2 -3 hours (aides in digestion)
• 1 3/4 cups water or unsweetened almond milk, or combo like I did
• 1/3 cup nutritional yeast
• juice of one large lemon or 1 tablespoon vinegar
• 1 clove garlic
• 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon white miso
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon sea salt, or to taste
• 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon chili powder, to taste*
• 1/8 teaspoon turmeric
• dash of cayenne powder 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil, cook your noodles al dente and set aside.

While waiting for the water to boil, start with your bread topping first. I toasted two pieces of bread we had on hand really well and processed them in the food processor until crumbly, a high speed blender will work too. Place the crumbs in a small bowl, drizzle with olive oil and a twist or two of the salt grinder, mix well and set aside. Quickly rinse the processor/blender bowl and move on to the cheese sauce.

For the cheese sauce: In food processor/blender, combine all of the cheese sauce ingredients except for about 1/2 of the water/milk and blend until creamy. Add remaining water/milk and blend again. Taste for flavor adding anything extra to suit your taste.

Once pasta is cooked and drained. Add pasta back to the pot it was cooked in, add the cheese sauce and combine well. It may seem like too much liquid but the pasta will take care of most of it.

In baking dish, pour mac & cheese and top with bread crumbs. Bake for 25 - 30 minutes, check after 15 minutes if crumbs are darkening too much for your liking, cover with foil.

When done, let cool about 10 minutes and serve. The sauce will thicken upon standing.

* The chili pepper adds a really nice flavor without being too powerful. If your worried about the spiciness, especially for the little ones, I would suggest using the smaller amount, taste and add more if desired.

Notes: If you use a smaller baking dish or use ramekins, lessen the cooking time to 10 - 20 minutes depending on the size of dish you use.

• 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

• 1 cup red lentils (if using green/brown, see notes)
• 4 cups water or vegetable broth
• 1 tablespoon olive or grapeseed oil or 3 tablespoons water (for water saute)
• 2 medium yellow onions, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon ginger, minced
• 3-4 medium tomatoes, diced or 1 can (28oz) diced tomatoes, drained
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon coriander
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon mineral salt, or to taste