Yay for raw food!...Global Gardens- olive oil club

One of my goals this year is to try to make more raw food meals. Like raw lasagna, pasta, etc. I don't have a dehydrator yet, that's down the road. When you think of it though, just eating a salad, it's all uncooked, that fruit and those nuts, raw! I guess again it goes back to whole foods.
Also I think in the summer, at least for me, eating more raw foods will make more sense because of the heat, who likes feeling weighed down by a warm and heavy meal. blah!

I usually eat Kale cooked or juiced. At our local health food store, New Frontiers, they have a great deli area with some of the tastiest salads. I tried their raw kale salad and it was sweet and delicious! Now I'm hooked and tried to make one like theirs. I chopped up kale, added cranberries, raw sunflower seeds, carrot pulp, lemon zest. For the dressing I used a
Green Apple Ginger Golden Balsamic Vinegar(see down below for more info on this), agave and sesame seed oil, just a tad. Poured it over and wallah! A light, tangy-sweet salad with a crunch.
Served right along with my kale salad are some Carrot Falafals from Choosing Raw . Now they aren't like the authentic falafals but these are so good! I didn't make the tahini sauce because I didn't have time but I will be making these again and again. I used the oven set at 175 with the door open like Gina mentioned if you don't have a dehydrator.

Regarding the vinegar I mentioned up above. There is this great little olive oil place in Los Olivos, CA called Global Gardens. The olive trees are located throughout the local area. The owner and the employees are very warm, friendly and informative. They do olive oil and vinegar tastings, which is pretty cool! They also have an awesome walnut oil that is so rich and buttery and they have some great tasting spreads and dips. All of their products are pesticide free and mostly organic. You can also join their club and 4 times a year get a different bottle of olive oil, vinegar and a spread, spices, etc. Last time I received(picture above, cat not included) an olive oil, vinegar, a spice mixture and a trail mix using the spice mixture they sent. So if you are a cook it's a great club to join and try different olive oils and vinegars. The bottles everything comes in are also very nice looking. They make great gifts as well. Also if you join the club and happen to have any type of issue they are so quick to resolve the problem. Check out the website clicking here. Let me know if you try them out and what you think!

Grilled Falafal & Veggie Wrap

These pictures aren't very good, I really need a better camera, but you can get the idea of what the falafel wrap looked like cut in half. I broke out a book I bought during the holidays called The New Vegetarian Grill, Revised Edition: 250 Flame-Kissed Recipes by Andrea Chesman . The book has everything from individual grilled veggies to sandwich's and noodle dishes. It's pretty neat since our bbq will be in use for the rest of the summer. It's been about 100 degrees or hotter out and with weather like that we eat later and don't want anything to heavy.

My first recipe was the Grilled Falafels. These were so very easy to make and pretty tasty too! I sprayed them with olive oil before I put them on the grill, they held together great. I then grilled up, sweet potato, sweet onion, red bell pepper and zucchini. Sliced some tomato and avocado. For the tahini dressing I made the one from VCON but halved the recipe, I didn't have fresh dill so I just added a little bit of dried. Then I wrapped some rice tortillas in foil and heated them up on the bbq for a few minutes. Rice tortillas worked perfect for this because they don't get soggy like a flour tortilla. You can obviously use pita to if you wish. Assembling: I smothered a rice tortilla with tahini dressing, then on one side I layered the falafel and veggies then folded over, cut in half and served with a salad. One half of the falafal wrap was the perfect amount of food but the whole wrap would be fine if you are a bit hungrier and it still wouldn't weight you down.

Below are my changes to the recipe taken from:

Falafel

recipe from The New Vegetarian Grill by Andrea Chesman

3 C. cooked chickpeas (or two 15oz. cans), drained

4 slices sandwich bread, sprouted whole grain

8 scallions, trimmed and chopped

1/4 C. chopped fresh cilantro

1/4 C chopped fresh parsley

3 garlic cloves

2 tsp. ground cumin

]1 tsp ground coriander

1/4 tsp ground red chile pepper (I used flaked chile pepper) or to taste

s& p

2 T. Olive oil

Puree the chickpeas and bread in a food processor. Scrape into to a large bowl. Then puree the scallions, cilantro, parsley and garlic. Add to the chickpea mixture along with the spices. Mix thoroughly adding olive oil. Use your hands to completely mix if needed.

Form the mixture into patties about 2 1/2 inches in diameter. Brush with olive on both sides or use a spray olive oil/canola oil like I did.

Heat the grill or bbq up to a medium heat, about 375. Grill the falafel about 4 minutes on each side, just until grill marks and cooked through.

Note: I think the recipe calls for the bread because it helps bind the ingredients together so they don't fall apart on the bbq.