Tag Archives: pasta

raw “baked” fettuccine alfredo

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My dears!

Oh my goodness it seems a lifetime ago since we last spoke! So much in my life has changed since then and I barely know where to begin.

I finally made the move I’ve been talking about for the last few weeks! Yes, Saturday (promptly at 6 am I might add) I began the drive to bustling Toronto to move into my new apartment. The move went fairly smooth and I am already settled in nicely. I am in love with my room and while my kitchen is small, I was able to fit all my dishes and gadgets in (thank goodness my roommate didn’t have a ton of stuff!). I also probably have the best stocked pantry of anyone who has ever moved. I carted most of my food from my parent's to this apartment after failing to eat through anything so now I’m wonderfully prepared to start creating loads of delicious foods to share with you all. It’s actually pretty hilarious to look in our pantry. It is so packed it threatens to spill out with the slightest provocation. Luckily my clumsiness has not made an appearance and everything has stayed in tact.

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Anyway, I’m sure NONE of this is interesting to you. You’re here for the food and I don’t blame you. So I’m going to share a recipe for Raw “Baked” Fettuccine Alfredo that I concocted a few weeks back and I’ve eaten it so many times since. It’s quick and easy, versatile, seasonally appropriate and super nutritious! Let me delve into these points just a little bit further.

  1. Besides the couple hours of dehydrating, this is a snap to prepare. You can fix it up then forget about it for 2 hours while it dehydrates to perfection
  2. It takes very little culinary skill to prepare and uses all pantry staples. Well at last my pantry staples ;) And I’m sure most of you reading out there have most of these on hand.
  3. You can make this in the oven instead of a dehydrator, I’m sure, on it’s lowest setting. You can use almost any nut you feel like and can totally mix up the spices with whatever you’d like.
  4. Can easily halve this to make one portion or double it to make 4! You can even make the whole sauce recipe, set half aside and make half for dinner, then the other half the next day. Just assemble everything right before dehydrating.
  5. The sauce can be used to top ANYTHING. Cooked pasta, salads, grain dishes, veggies, anything you want!
  6. For those of you lucky enough to have a garden overflowing with zucchini, this is a great way to use up those zucchinis in a different way. With one zucchini per serving, that can add up fast, depending on how much you make. No colour of zucchini is discriminated against either.
  7. This uses zucchini noodles as the base providing lots of phytonutrients and keeping it light, uses nuts for the sauce for lots of healthy fats and cayenne pepper to kick up that metabolism!

Woo, so seven reasons you should make this! Have I lost you or are you ready to learn the recipe? I hope the latter.

For my version I used walnuts. You all know how much I love walnuts after this post. They improve cardiac function, strengthen you bones, make you smarter and pack an antioxidant punch with loads of vitamin E. Can you say glowing skin? That being said, feel free to use any nut you have in your pantry! Cashews would be dreamy.

Without further ado, I give you the recipe!

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Raw Baked Fettuccine Alfredo (Vegan, Gluten-free, Sugar-free, Raw)

Adapted from Rawdemption.

Ingredients (2 servings)

  • 2 zucchini, sliced thin with a vegetable peeler
  • 1/2 tsp sea salt
  • 2 tbsp chopped sundried tomatoes (without sulphites)
  • 2 tbsp finely chopped walnuts
  • generous sprinkling of cayenne

Sauce

  • 1 cup walnuts, soaked for a few hours
  • 1/2 cup homemade almond milk (or store-bought for mostly raw)
  • 2 tbsp lemon juice
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 1/2 tsp white miso paste
  • 1/4 tsp nutmeg

Instructions

Toss the sliced zucchini with the salt. Place in a single layer in a colander to sweat for about 30 minutes. When done pat them dry with a clean towel and move to a bowl.

In the meantime, make your sauce. Toss all sauce ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.

Combine the sauce, sundried tomatoes and zucchini in a bowl and toss to evenly coat the noodles in the sauce.

You can either dehydrate these in 2 ramekins or 1 large one. Either way- spoon the mixture into your pan of choice. Sprinkle the tops with chopped walnuts and cayenne pepper.

Dehydrate for 2 hours, until warmed through and the top looks crispy and browned, kind of like baked pasta would! (Alternatively you could bake in the oven on it's lowest setting. I would keep my eye on it though, probably doesn't need 2 hours)

Serve immediately and enjoy!

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Look at that creamy goodness!

I'm sharing this recipe on Fat Tuesday, Real Food Wednesday, Allergy-free Wednesday, Keepin' it Real Thursday, Raw Foods Thursdays, Gluten-free Friday, Foodie Friends Friday and Wellness Weekends!

I hope you all enjoy this recipe! Now for all you Torontonians out there, I need advice! What should I do in my new home? I tested out Mylk Uncookies yesterday and fell in love. Coffee and tea lattes with homemade almond milk accompanied by vegan, gluten-free treats- could it get any better?

Enjoy the rest of your weeks everyone!

creamy chickpea tomato sauce

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Do you every feel like you’re fumbling around in the darkness that is life- not really sure where you’re going or what you’re doing, but just hoping that your decisions lead you somewhere positive, new and to a place of happiness?

Since I graduated from Queen’s just over 2 years ago, my life has felt much like this. Every decision I make is laced with uncertainty. One question and decision simply leads to another. Should I travel?  Should I move across the ocean? Should I start a blog? Should I go back to school? In reality, all of these questions can be reduced down to a much more simple, or more complicated question, depending on how you look at it:

Should I test myself?

With the prospect of moving to a new city to pursue my passion looming before me, I am facing another personal test. To rise above the anxiety, fears and personal pressure and fully embrace this change.

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All of my “personal tests” up until this point have had results that were so amazing, I can hardly imagine who I would be without them. By travelling I was exposed to new cultures and traditions and got to experience just what “living in the moment” meant.. When I moved to Ireland I gained a sense of independence and assurance in myself, confidence in my abilities to be self-reliant and well as self-respect. Starting this blog has allowed me to connect with so many fantastic bloggers and readers, that I no longer feel alone in my crazy little food world.

While all of these have been stunning successes, I can’t help but be wary of this move, of going back to school and revamping my life again. With every new decision and experience comes uncertainty and risk. I only hope I can find it in me dive in without reservations, so I can meet what’s coming to learn and grow.

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Chickpea Cashew Tomato Sauce (Vegan, Gluten-free, Sugar-free)

Ingredients (Serves 3-4 generously)

  • 3/4 cup red onion, chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 1/2 cup chickpeas
  • 1 28 oz. can tomatoes
  • 3 handfuls baby spinach, torn
  • 1/3 cup raw cashews, ground
  • 2 tbsp fresh basil, 2 tbsp fresh oregano
  • pinch sea salt

Instructions

In a large saucepan, saute the onion for a couple minutes in oil (I used coconut) until it is starting to become translucent. Add garlic and saute a couple minutes more. Add in the chickpeas and cook until onions are completely translucent and are beginning to brown.

Add in the tomatoes and bring to a simmer. Reduce the liquid by about 1/2. Cover and turn the heat down to a low simmer and keep cooking until most of the liquid is gone. Add in the spinach and cook until wilted, then stir in the ground cashews. Stir in the fresh herbs, add salt to taste. Serve immediately on top of small chunky pasta such as fusilli or penne.

 

Don't forget to come back tomorrow for Healthy Vegan Friday!

P.S. Sorry about the poor quality pictures- the lighting when I took them was terrible so i decided to play with some editing features

 

wiaw #21 and a special invitation

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Hello again my friends :) I would like to thank you all for your kind words yesterday in regard to my 100th post! If you haven’t yet, make sure to enter my giveaway for a huge 32oz container of coconut oil! And make those cookies while you’re at it ;)

It’s Wednesday again! I’m growing to really look forward to this day of the week! I love throwing together a post of the things I’ve been loving lately and looking at what everyone else has been nibbling on.

For those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about- it’s What I Ate Wednesday! Jenn @ Peas and Crayons hosts a weekly blog party where people share what they ate on any given day or over a period of time. It’s great for ideas! Head over to Peas and Crayons to check out more of the action!

Yesterday was a fairly average day for me, nothing too exciting and no real themes emerged. I’m a little sad to say I didn’t even work out except for 15 min of yoga in the morning and a 15 min walk later on in the day. What can I say, it was a lazy day? Hopefully even though, this month’s theme is fitness, you’ll all forgive me.

So without further ado, here’s my day of food, activities and fun!

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Started the day with some lemon water and vitamins as usual

Then I did my 15 min of yoga, followed by 15 minutes of meditation. I did a simple sequence of a few sun salutations, some standing poses and a few ab moves. My meditation was the guided audio from Day 9 of the 21 Day Meditation Challenge I mentioned I was doing in my last WIAW post. I’ve been loving it so far! Today’s meditation focused on learning to listen to the intuitive knowledge of our hearts. I think this is such an important lesson, so I’m glad I’ve begun working on it. I think we could all benefit from learning to quiet our heads and all outside influences and focus on what we need and want.

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Breakfast was a standard green smoothie- in this one there’s a banana, blueberries, kale, a few leaves of basil, a little bit of Sunwarrior protein powder and flax seeds. Topped with fresh berries and the last of my pistachio rosewater granola.

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Snack was an unpictured apple with some Better’n Peanut Butter

Followed by a couple (unpictured) squares of dark chocolate.

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Lunch was a new to me product! Some GoGo Quinoa pasta with organic tomato sauce, bell pepper, mixed greens and nutritional yeast. Simple but tasty. Served with some of my homebrewed kombucha

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Snack was a smoothie again- a bit of a smaller one with half a banana, frozen cherries, a little chocolate Sunwarrior, and ice. Topped with sprouted and dehydrated buckwheat groats.

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Dinner was some roasted veggies with quinoa. Veggies were an assortment of what was in the fridge: beets, parsnips, carrots, pepper, broccoli and cauliflower, roasted with salt, pepper and thyme. This was so delicious! I dare even veggie haters to dislike this. I went back for a second helping of the veggies!

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after-dinner snack of vanilla almond rooibos tea and dark chocolate

And since this month’s theme also includes some fun! I thought I’d add in a couple photos of what I got at IKEA the other day!

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the bedspread! I fell even more in love with it in person

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a little kit that that included stencils and shakers so you can sprinkle cinnamon or cocoa on top of your drink in cool patterns

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A couple cool placements for food pictures :)

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This obviously isn’t from IKEA, but while in Ottawa I also went to the Van Gogh exhibit at the National Gallery and fell in love with this painting: Almond Blossom

And that concludes today’s What I Ate Wednesday! Now before I go, I have one more thing…

I would like to cordially invite you to the first ever “Healthy Vegan Fridays” blog party, this Friday July 27th! Basically it’s a weekly blog party where bloggers can submit healthy vegan recipes for other bloggers and readers to see. You submit recipes from your own blog, and each week myself, Shelby and Carrie will highlight our favourites, as well as the most popular ones. We hope this will be a place where bloggers and readers alike can come to get great ideas and inspiration! Click on the tab below my banner for more information, or the link I provided above. The post on Friday will have more details on how to submit recipes. Hope to see you there!

Have a great Wednesday everyone!