Winner Winner There Ain't No Chicken in MY Dinner!

::Slaps wrist:: I know, I know. My lax blogging is inexcusable! Sorry folks, often real life (like my full time real job) often takes over and I am just too damn tired at night to put forth the energy for a  post that I feel is worthy; not to mention the annoyance of only being able to blog from my laptop since you cannot upload photos on from the IPad to the blog.

Anyway, I am here, I am back. Let's get down to business, shall we?

Cucumber pasta! God, I just really love the stuff. You can legit top cucumber pasta with anything and it is guaranteed to taste amazing! Seriously, even the most simple combination like 1/4 an avocado, lemon juice, and diced tomatoes is the bomb! No salt, oil, or spices needed! Avocados are creamy and unctuous, lemon juice provides the acid to pump up the flavor of the avocado and well, tomatoes are just natures little gifts of flavor-popping goodness. It was kind of insane, once I eliminated salt and spices from my diet, all my fruits and vegetables started to have more dynamic and robust flavors. You are going to think I am cray-cray, but even zucchini started to taste creamy and sweet to me!

Personally, my most beloved cucumber pasta sauce is the one below: mango, sliver of red pepper, yellow grape tomatoes, celery, basil, and a sprinkle of fresh thyme.

 

Looks disturbingly similar to real pasta, no? 

Sometimes, I throw in cilantro or to make it more hearty I like adding in salt-free, un-sulphered, sun dried tomatoes.

So, you might be wondering, "Where the heck is the zucchini pasta in all of this?? I thought raw vegans were allllllllll about the zucchini pasta?!" And well, we are. I truly LOVE zucchini pasta, but unfortunately, it really doesn't love me back - anymore! It is the weirdest thing, honestly. And I am quite perplexed by it. All summer I ate zucchini pasta. Zucchini tasted so delicious to me that I was eating it nearly everyday, much like my cucumber pasta. Uhh ohhh. And then I came back from Italy, and zucchini started to give me a really awful headache every time I ate it. And perhaps the strangest part, it makes me mouth and my whole body go numb! 

I decided to eliminate the zucc all together for a couple of months, kind of like a modified Elimination Diet hoping that someday ::sigh:: I could indulge in more than just cuc noodles. Thankfully, it worked! And I am happy to say that I am officially back on the zucchini wagon! 

I've been in California for my "spring break" and have been eating ginormous bowls of zucchini fettuccine with red pepper marinara. 

This sauce has some serious panache! And you know how I roll, so this doesn't have any salt or oil and only FRESH herbs. It is a simple combination of good tomatoes, red pepper, sun-dried tomato, a mango, celery, few green scallion tops and then I blend it up until it is as smooth as butta. Then I add basil and blend some more. Lastly, it is more tomatoes, more basil, and the rest of my zucchinis after they have been fettuccine-ed. And I blend it up, but not all the way, because I like to keep it chunky. Nom nom nom, for sure! (And this is only PART of my meal...this doesn't even include all the fruity deliciousness I eat before hand.)


 I think the real secret as to why this was so damnnn good is because I have been making my own sun-dried tomatoes from local heirloom tomatoes that I have been picking up at Mother's. God, California produce is just so heavenly. New York produce is bland. Sorry, but it is true. Bland, bland, bland!

 

I mean, check out these babies! Don't they just scream "EAT ME!"

On the flip side, sometimes I like to really change things up and make beet noodles! I know, right? Beet noodles! This girls gone all sorts of crazy! But, beets can be really good especially when they are nice and sweet and when spiralized they make really funky looking noodles! Before I came to California I was on a bit of a beet kick.

 Once again, my life in NYC is go-go-go. I don't have time for complicated meals with fancy-pants food preparation. I' m all about simple, but I still want to be satisfied by what I am eating. I don't think there is anything worse than eating something and feeling unsatisfied when your done. Personally, because I am such a food-oriented person, want to LOVE what I am eating. So, this sauce is as you would imagine, pretty simple: mango, basil, scallion. Blend it up, 123, you're done, toss over your noodles and your on the way to munching-land! 

As you can see, I'm allll about the noodles from zucchini to beets and the endless possibilities for the number of sauces you can create from only a few ingredients. (Ahh, the blood of an Italian, always got macaroni on the brain!)  You don't really NEED the salt because you've got celery and you certainly don't need any oil because only we really use oil for in a sauce is to add richness and body and that's what the sun-dried tomatoes do! Why mess with perfection really?

...really hoping I don't even have to mention the fact that meat and dairy, which shouldn't even be considered a food group, need not be present in any meal...

I can't promise how regular my posts will be, but I am going to do my best to post at least once every two weeks if not every week. Until then!

Sincerely,
 Raw Food Nerd