$3.33 a day: NHPR Feature, Recipes and Interview

I have some fun news to share today! First off, I am so proud of my son Andrew. The Portsmouth High School's Percussion Ensemble is off to the WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS tomorrow! This is a huge thing obviously and the entire ensemble has worked very very hard for months practicing under the the amazing leadership of Mr. Cirillo!! Good luck to all of you! I wish I could be there to see it! (it is in Ohio)

I have a busy day coming up tomorrow. I'm going to be interviewed on New Hampshire public radio tomorrow morning around 9:30 on the program, The Exchange.

And finally, I have a job interview at Grezzo in Boston! I am super excited about that as I'm sure you can imagine! Not only is it pretty much my dream job, I get to meet Alissa Cohen. That will be super cool.

OK.. onto the food.. I'm sorry I've been slacking on blogging. On my last post I asked if any of you had a recipe you wanted me to makeover. Macie asked for some recipes or ways to prepare zucchini besides frying, baking and sir fries.. I came up with this simple soup. There are a lot of ingredients, but most of them are in your pantry and you can switch up the spices if you desire.

Herbed Zucchini Soup

2-4 T evoo (plus ½ t for garnishing each bowl)

1 large onion, diced

8 cloves garlic, minced (this is for the sauté)

1 T thyme

1 t oregano

1 t tarragon

2 T basil

Pinch freshly grated nutmeg

¼ t rosemary

¼ t fennel seed

¼ t cumin

½ t crushed red pepper flakes

Pinch salt/pepper

3 zucchinis, chopped (4 cups)

1 T vinegar

2 C cooked soybeans or white beans

2 c small diced red or yellow potatoes

4.5 c water and bouillon or broth

Handful baby spinach

1 T umeboshi vinegar or 1 T lemon juice and 1 T soy sauce

6 T nutritional yeast

4 cloves garlic (this is for finishing the soup)

½ cup fresh basil or parsley (Basil is best)

Croutons for garnish

Freshly grated nutmeg

Lemon zest

Salt/pepper to taste (I used around 2 t salt)

Method:

In a soup pot over medium flame heat add the oil, onion, garlic, spices and a pinch of salt/pepper. Sauté for 5 minutes or so or until the onions are translucent. You don’t want them to get brown. Now add the zukes, beans and water/broth (and bouillon cube). Bring to a boil for a several minutes then turn the heat down to medium low and cover. Cook for 15 minutes. Take off heat and add the spinach, umeboshi vinegar, yeast and garlic. Blend in batches (or with an immersion blender) until silky smooth. Taste and adjust for salt/pepper. Top each bowl with a drizzle of evoo, fresh herbs, croutons and a grate or two of fresh nutmeg.

You can use the leftovers as pasta sauce if you wish! It also freezes well.

I love using zucchini in place of pasta. Raw is delicious. If you have a dehydrator, you can dry the noodles a bit. You can even saute the noodles. 2 oz of angel hair and a whole zucchini spiralized makes a huge portion and is so much better for you than eating a huge bowl of pasta!

I made a soy ricotta topping out of whole soybeans. Since tofu is more expensive than soybeans, I've been playing around with using whole soy. It worked out PERFECTLY!

Zucchini Pepperoni

This is another favorite way to enjoy the lovely zuke! You can use it in raw pizzas, wraps, salads or even to top traditional pizza.

2 medium zukes, sliced super thin

½ t salt

1 t oregano

½ t red pepper flakes

3 cloves garlic, pressed

¼ t fennel seed, crushed

1 t olive oil

Black pepper to taste

Splash vinegar

Method:

Slice the zukes super thin by hand or on a mandolin. Toss them with the rest of the ingredients and allow to sit in the fridge for an hour. Drain the liquid and use like you would pepperoni. You can eat it raw or cook it on pizza. You can also dehydrate these into zucchini chips.

I had more ideas, but ran out of zukes. They're on sale this week for $.89 so I will get a bunch!

OK...so Courtney asked me to make a fat free nut free raw cheese sauce. HUH???

That was a tough call.. and to do it with what I had on hand, but I came up with two recipes. The first is more a spread. It contains flax meal and on its own, after sitting overnight, I could taste the flax and it wasn't great, but when I put it in a wrap with a bunch of other veggies (and in a cooked quesadilla) it was delicious.. but keep that in mind if you make this and taste it and think it's gross!(and I know that some raw foodist eat rolled oats and some don't, so this is more of a high raw sauce)

Raw Lowfat Cheese Spread

½ c rolled oats

1/3 c water

½ red bell pepper

1 clove garlic

1 t paprika

2 T nutritional yeast

½ t salt

1 t onion powder

1 T apple cider vinegar

1 t yellow mustard

1 T golden flax meal

1/8 t freshly grated nutmeg

2 t umeboshi vinegar or 2 t miso (or 1 t lemon juice and 1 t soy sauce)

Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Method:

Soak oats in the water for several hours then add the rest of the ingredients to a blender and blend until totally smooth.

This was the fat free sauce... and as you can see it is umm.. saucier?

Silky Fat Free Raw Cheese Sauce

3 soaked sun dried tomatoes

1/3 c nutritional yeast

1 t onion powder

¼ t garlic powder

¼ - ½ t salt

½ t paprika (can used smoked for a smoky sauce or chipotle powder for a spicy sauce)

¼ t yellow mustard

Several grates fresh nutmeg

2/3 c water

½ t psyllium powder

Optional: 1 t umeboshi vinegar (add this before adding any additional salt)

Method:

Place the soaked tomatoes in a food processor or blender and process until smooth. Add the rest of the ingredients and blend until everything is nice and silky. Taste and adjust salt level if needed. Yield around ¾ cup.

Next on the recipe agenda are Low Fat Pakoras! I plan on making them on Thursday!

I'd love all the good vibes I can get for my son's competition, my radio interview and finally, my interview at Grezzo!

excuse the horrible formatting, blogger is acting up and it's not allowing me to edit this for some reason.