No Cook Fresh Applesauce

There was most certainly a time in my life when I had no appreciation or rather understanding of applesauce. I remember watching my uncle eating applesauce for dessert one evening and being completely at a loss as to why one would want applesauce for dessert when one could opt for, let's say..chocolate chip cookies and ice cream? But as I began to discover vegan and low fat baking (in which apple sauce tends to be a staple ingredient) I found myself finally appreciating the delicate sweetness of homemade applesauce. 

Now what are the advantages of making homemade applesauce, rather than just, running to the market and picking up a nicely pre-packaged bottle of the stuff? Well here are three awesome ones: 

1) Homemade applesauce doesn't have any preservatives...and well, I think we can all agree that is a good thing. 

2) Homemade applesauce is not loaded with sugar, like many supermarket brands.

3) Homemade applesauce just tastes better, especially if you are using freshly picked apples (YUmalicious ladies and gents!) 

On this note:  Any of you who have gone apple picking will likely have noticed something special about freshly picked apples. Okay, so there is a lot of specialness going on, but the main thing that struck me the first time that I went apple picking was that the stems of the apples were in fact green. And... get this... they stayed that way for 3 weeks! So what does this tell us about the brown stemmed apples we usually find in the supermarkets?  They're probably not exactly fresh.... though perhaps not as scandalous as the "fresh raspberries" for sale here in the market across the street... it's not summer anymore my dears!   

Well anyhow, enough gushing on homemade...RaWw Applesauce! 

Raw Applesauce

Ingredients: 

1 Granny Smith Apple (Lowest sugar) 

10 drops Nustevia (more to taste)

2 TBS Water 

1/4 tsp cinnamon (optional)

1/4 tsp Nutmeg (optional) 

1) Throw all of the above into the food processor (skin and all) and puree until smooth! 

Voila! So simple and easy! Now you can use this with various recipes later to come on Sweetly Free! It's amazing for baking and a wonderful guilt free dessert, topped with a little cashew whipped cream! 

Free Spirit Rice

Free Spirit Rice:

 A carb free base

So Obviously I can't get enough of Cauliflower! It's just so awesomely delish once you start using it!  Vegan Sushi sounded so yummm but I wanted to get really crazy and not only switch out the fish, but also switch out the rice! Wild... I know. Not only is this recipe useful for Vegan sushi (which I will post about later) But it is also fantastic for a base to many Asian, Mexican and Indian dishes. 

Free Spirit Rice Recipe:

1 large head of cauliflower

1-2 tbs sunflower oil

2 tsp of salt

pepper to taste 

Indian or chili seasoning (optional) 

1. Remove the leaves from the cauliflower (save for later use in a soup or stir fry!) 

2. Cut the cauliflower into small pieces and transfer into a food processor

3. Process those babies until they begin to look like (you guessed it) Rice! You may have to do this in several batches

4. Transfer your "rice," into a large bowl and coat with remaining ingredients. 

5. Transfer coated rice into a fry pan heated over medium heat and cook until just sprinkled with golden bits. 5-10 minutes. 

6. Serve with a smile! 

Oh and btw. It has been argued in my house to be even tastier than real rice! 

Enjoy ladies and gents! :) 

Cucumber Cups stuffed with Sun Dried Tomato Paté and topped with a Basil Avocado Cream

Cucumber cups are fun, easy and incredibly beautiful when prepared! They are great for a light dinner on a hot summer day or for appetizers at your next dinner party! Not to mention they are totally kid friendly! I love the taste sun dried tomatoes impart onto pretty much any food, especially when mixed with the vibrant taste of a basil cream. “Hip Hip Hooray” to awesome finger-food!  J

Ingredients

1 Cup Sunflower Seeds

6 Sun Dried Tomatoes

2 Cucumbers

1 Lemon, juiced

1 handful of fresh basil

1 Avocado  

salt

pepper

sesame and chia seeds (optional)

DIRECTIONS

1. Soak sunflower seeds overnight
2. Soak sun dried tomatoes for 20 minutes
3. While tomatoes are soaking, wash your cucumbers and if your cucumbers are not organic, peel the skin
4. Cut into 1 inch pieces.
5. With knife or teaspoon, carve out the middle of the cucumber, creating a ‘cup-like’ shape.
6. Set aside

Sun Dried Tomato Paté

1. Drain the sundried tomatoes, saving the liquid in a separate bowl
2. Drain the sunflower seeds 

Basil Avocado Cream

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Groovy Green Juice

 FROM EARTH TO JUICE....

It's harvest time out here in the country. Hoards of lettuce is springing up through the earth, just waiting to be plucked, washed and indulged in. Having a few friends out here with gardens so generous in size that they really deserve to be labeled "mini-farms," I find that I am lucky enough to have the amazing perk of continuously being offered fresh produce. Everything offered is beautiful, delicious and as local and fresh as local and fresh come! Arriving home late last night, after an afternoon harvesting lettuce, radishes, spinach and some particularly beautiful swiss chard, I had a moment of being overwhelmed with the bounty. How ever is one woman supposed to eat so much of this delicious produce? Knowing that I have a particularly (okay I admit, extreme) aversion to throwing any edible food away in the trash, I knew that I had to get creative. And it was about this time that I laid my eyes upon my juicer. Ahah, the answer to my vegetable woes!

Typically, one wouldn't think juice and diabetics are destined to be friends. But let me tell you, with some green goodness, a little lemon and a spalsh of ginger; juice becomes a sweetly free approved delectable delight. Now we aren't going to be indulging in a sugar shock tonic like orange or pineapple juice,though excellent choice for low blood sugars. Rather, below you will find one of my favorite GREEN JUICE recipes: simple, flavorful, and you guessed it, low glycemic!!! 

Enjoy the Pictures! More on CT farming coming soon!! 

Paradise

GROOVY GREEN JUICE

INGREDIENTS 

1 cucumber 

3 handfuls of spinach or romaine lettuce

1 lemon

1-3 inches of peeled ginger 

optional:

2-3 stalks of celery

5-6 radishes (for spiciness!) 

1) Process all of the ingredients in your juicer!

2)Enjoy!  ;) 

Don't have a juicer? Blend it!!!

1) Place all ingredients in blender 

2) Blend on high until liquified 

3) Pour liquid through a nut milk bag or a cheese cloth. The pulp (aka the fiber) will be caught in the cheese cloth.

4) Compost pulp and Enjoy Juice!!! 

The Omelet Salad

I am currently living out in the Boondocks of CT! Lucky for me that means that I have access to a plethora of amazingly fresh eggs. Not only are they way more delicious than store bought eggs, but they are, according to Mother Earth News, (Click here) in fact healthier too! Just yesterday, upon arriving at the door of the house where I usually pick up my fresh eggs, I handed the little girl a dollar (A Dollar for six eggs! So they’re cheap too…sometimes even free when I get them from friends).  She happily accepted and then disappeared into the house… five minutes went by and she still hadn’t returned. As a few more minutes passed…. I was beginning to think she “saw her chance” and “took the money and ran!” But lo and behold, with a skip in her step, she returned holding six eggs that she explained: “had to be picked out of the coop and then rinsed off.” I went home straight away and cooked one up to go along with my dinner! Farm to table in less than twenty minutes! Now that’s something!

But when I want to branch out into my old Francophile ways, and head into omelet territory, I find it usually is difficult to add all the veggies that I deem acceptable into a typical omelet.  So I decided to cook up my usual Omelet, but instead of delegating the spinach to a small accoutrement in the middle of my eggs, I simply made the omelet the “topping” to my salad.

The Omelet Salad

2--3 cups of spinach (Rinsed)

2 TBS Dressing of choice (Dressings)

3 eggs

1 TBS Nutritional Yeast

salt and pepper to taste

Option:

¼ tsp curry powder

¼ tsp Tabasco hot sauce

2 TBS sunflower seeds

Directions

1.    Heat pan on medium heat

2.    Toss Spinach with 1 TBS of Dressing and set upon plate of choice

3.    Whisk eggs and the rest of the ingredients in a small bowl

4.    Lightly oil pan

5.    Pour egg mixture into pan allowing it to slowly cook. When the sides firm up, lift the sides and allow the uncooked eggs to flow underneath. Flip egg when ready to fully cook topside.

6.    Place Omelete “open faced” onto your bed of spinach and drizzle with remaining dressing.

7.    Sprinkle with sunflower seeds for extra crunch