vegan, gluten-free, raw adaptable, makes 2 servings or 1 big bowl if you're hungry

I’ve been absolutely addicted to this happy bowl of explosive flavor bliss. It has been the perfect lunch and body fuel after my morning workouts, so I wanted to share it with you. Especially if you might think veggies and quinoa equates to boring and more boring.

Contrary to popular belief, quinoa is not actually a grain, but the seed of a plant, Chenopodim, which is related to spinach and swiss chard.  The many nutritional aspects make it so excellent for replenishing the body after a strenuous workout.  Quinoa contains all nine essential amino acids, making it a complete protein source (meat eaters take note). It’s very high in iron, manganese, magnesium, fiber, riboflavin, various antioxidants, vitamin E, and the omega fatty acids our brains need. Really, quinoa is one of those things that has practically a perfect nutritional profile.

Take all this power, add raw veggies and herbs, and you have something spectacular! The best thing about this recipe is that it doesn’t even have to be a “recipe”. You use whatever favorite veggies and herbs you have on hand. The key to the yummiest outcome is building flavor from the beginning on through the final toss of the dish. Nothing does a better job of that than adding aromatics like garlic and shallots, and then plenty of fresh herbs to finish. Dried ones work well too. I really love the hearty Italian flavor that oregano adds here (just make sure the dried herbs haven’t been in the pantry for 5 years).

Most all ingredients in this dish are raw, except for the quinoa.  I use packaged ready-sprouted quinoa, but opt to heat it through because the flavor and digestibility works better for me. Using a low sodium, organic, and home made vegetable broth adds a great flavor layer.  You can certainly choose to soak and sprout quinoa on your own for a raw application, just be sure to plenty season it.

Prepare the quinoa:

1/2 cup sprouted quinoa
1 cup vegetable broth
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp minced fresh garlic
1 tsp minced fresh shallot
1/2 tsp sea salt
pinch crushed red pepper

Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan and bring to a light boil. Reduce the heat to lowest setting, cover, and let simmer for 15 minutes until all liquid is absorbed.

Prepare veggies:

Thinly slice and layer into a large bowl:

1/2 cup baby bell peppers in assorted colors
1/2 cup shiitake mushroom caps
1/2 cup fennel bulb
1/2 cup halved grape tomatoes

When quinoa is ready, tumble over the top of the layered veggies. Allow to sit for about 5 minutes. Then add:

1/2 cup chopped parsley
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil
1/4 cup chopped fresh dill
1/4 cup chopped fennel fronds

Toss thoroughly and enjoy, enjoy, enjoy!

<3, JMK

raw & vegan adaptable, makes 6

My Greek husband is not a fan of stuffed peppers – in the traditional Greek, or otherwise method.  Honestly, rice or meat stuffed peppers have never appealed to me either, so I took the liberty to try something much more fresh and flavorful.  These did not disappoint.

As far as the family guinea pigs were concerned, it was the stuffing that was the star of this presentation. The peppers were just a vehicle to serve it. But I happened to think the peppers were just perfect, and how could you overlook those carnival happy colors?

I used ready sprouted quinoa (available at health food markets), and soaked it in hot water in a covered bowl for about 40 minutes until tender. You can cook quinoa according to package instructions, or keep it “raw” by soaking it for 24 to 26 hours, allowing it to sprout. The texture will be firmer to the bite and have a more “earthy” taste.

I also opted to roast the peppers conventionally rather than dehydrate them. For me, it does my stomach and taste buds better. Alternatively, you can pop them in the dehydrator after drizzling with olive oil, at 115∘until they’re soft but still hold their shape, about 6 hours.

Lastly, this recipe includes goat’s milk feta cheese. If you are vegan, omit it.

Begin with:

3 medium sized bell peppers, in an array of colors if possible. Just don’t choose green.

Preheat the oven to 375∘F. Halve the peppers lengthwise and remove the seeds. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and a pinch of sea salt and rub it all evenly, from the backsides and throughout the cavity. Put them face down on a foil lined baking sheet and bake until soft but still retaining shape and bright color, about 15 to 20 minutes.

For the quinoa stuffing you will need:

1 cup quinoa, prepared as per package instructions or raw preparation
1 small zucchini, cut into small quartered chunks
4 oz. cubed goat’s milk feta
1/4 cup cured black olives, pitted and chopped
1/2 cup fresh chopped parsley
1/4 cup fresh chopped oregano
1/4 cup fresh chopped dill
1/4 cup fresh chopped chives
1 tbs extra virgin olive oil
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
juice of 1 lemon + 1 tsp lemon zest
sea salt and fresh black pepper

To garnish & serve:

extra virgin olive oil
parsley sprigs
pinch sweet ground paprika

Assembly:

Combine all quinoa stuffing ingredients in a large bowl. Season to taste with sea salt n pepper. Gently toss until all seasonings and herbs are evenly combined.

Spoon quinoa mixture into each pepper. Arrange on a plate, drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and a sprinkling of paprika. Garnish with parsley sprig and serve.

<3, JMK

Raw vegan, gluten-free, serves 4 sides or 1 all day long :)

This is a VERY addicting salad that will definitely get you into the spring season spirit.

Until today, we in Central Florida have lately been spoiled with temperatures that are more like early summer than late February or early March!  So this has been a wonderful light-weight but satisfying salad that I’ve been grazing off of during these warm days while getting my new garden started. It has a nice combo punch of crisp, cool, tangy, sweet, nutty, salty, and of course licorice-y.  Did I mention that I have a full blown fennel addiction?  I never buy celery anymore. For anything that calls for celery, I’m all in with fennel instead. Happily.

Textures – that is, the shape and size of the cuts of veggies matters. It really governs the flavor intensities and the entire flavor balance of a dish. In this salad, the fennel, green apple, and red onion are sliced mandoline thin. This keeps them from overpowering one another and creates a light, cool, crispness. I also prefer young, smaller fennel to larger bulbs. They’re much sweeter and milder.

First, thinly slice or use a mandoline:

1 medium sized fennel bulb, or 2 small bulbs
1/2 small Granny Smith apple
1/2 small red onion

Place into a bowl.

Coarsely chop:

1/2 cup of shelled pistachios and
a handful of fennel fronds and parsley

Finely mince:

1/2 of a seeded jalepeño or serrano pepper.

Add remaining ingredients to bowl. Finally, squeeze over the juice of a small lemon, drizzle lightly with extra virgin olive oil, and season to taste with a delicate sea salt (such as fleur de sel), and white pepper. Toss well and serve.

<3, JMK

{ just a bite to start the week }

{ raw vegan, gluten-free, great for a party }

A few nights ago a friend of mine hosted her monthly evening business meeting and recruited my assistance on some healthy, easy finger foods with a raw twist.  Although her meetings are in no way about food, Tessa is known for her creativity and unexpected, innovative touches.  She wanted to replace the typical offerings of chicken wings, mozzarella sticks, and vegetable platters with their accompanying ranch dressing swimming pool with something delicious and optimally healthy, yet undetectable by the attendees.

These quinoa bites are a real flavor experience, so much so that your attention is focused on the fun tart-sweet-spicy-nutty contrasts in your mouth.  No boring “health” food here!

But it is commonly known how insanely healthy quinoa is for us.  You may choose to soak and sprout it to keep it all raw, or cook it in the traditional manner.  Either way, quinoa is so loaded with vital nutrients and minerals like complete-protein amino acids, magnesium, riboflavin, and antioxidants, that your body will greatly benefit from this nutritional gold mine.  The true magic comes in the moroccan flavors: tart preserved lemon, sweet zesty sundried tomatoes, spicy minced jalepeno, and a cinnamon-based seasoning blend.

For this Moroccan style quinoa, I simply tossed in finely chopped preserved lemon, sun-dried tomatoes, green onions, jalepeno, fresh mint, cilantro, and pine nuts.  The mixture was given a good drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, and finished with sea salt.  Finally, I gave it all a liberal seasoning of Sambhar curry powder.  Sambhar curry is a delicious cinnamon based season-all you can find at Whole Foods in the spice isle.  Alternatively, you can mix together your own seasoning blend of ground cinnamon, coriander, cumin, paprika, and chili powder.

With a melon baller, spoon the quinoa mixture into a cucumber cup: a slender English cucumber cut into 3/4″ segments and hollowed out nearly all the way through with a melon baller. Serve to your guests and hear them “mmmm”, “ooooooh”, and “ahhhhhmmm”, as Tessa’s guests did!

<3, JMK

{ raw vegan, gluten-free, serves 4-5 as main dish }

Perfect for a cold winter night’s dinner.  Even in Florida.  Yes, it’s cold here.

I enjoy any opportunity to turn my favorite cookware into uncookware, and these cute little mini cocottes were the perfect dehydrator-to-table servers for polenta.  These cocottes in particular are made of cast iron, so they do a great job of absorbing and maintaining even, gentle heat.  When the polenta and mushrooms are covered during the last hour of dehydration, each portion is perfectly warm and satisfying.

For the polenta:

2 cups fresh or fresh frozen corn
1/2 cup pine nuts, soaked for 4 hours
1/2 cup cashews, soaked at least 4 hours
1 green onion, cut into 2 inch pieces
1 tbsp nutritional yeast
1 tsp lemon juice
1 big garlic clove
1 tsp sea salt
good pinch crushed red pepper flakes
a few grinds of freshly ground black pepper

Put pine nuts, cashews, salt, and garlic in a food processor and blend until finely crumbled. Add the rest of the ingredients and blend until smooth, like creamy cornmeal. Spoon about 1/2 cup each polenta into ramekins, cocottes, or a ring mold. Dehydrate for 4 hours at 115º until polenta becomes slightly firmer and crusty on top.

For the mushrooms:

8 oz. shiitake mushroom caps, sliced about 1/4″ thick
7 oz. royal trumpet mushrooms, sliced lengthwise about 1/4″ thick
3.5 oz. beech mushrooms, separated and whole
1/4 cup arugula, finely chopped
2 tbsp shallot, finely minced
2 tbsp celery, minced
1 garlic clove, finely minced
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp sea salt
a few grinds of freshly ground black pepper

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Toss well and let marinate for 30 minutes to 1 hours. Transfer to a lined dehydrator tray and dehydrate at 115º for about 2 hours, until mushrooms become chewy and “cooked” in texture.

For the porcini gravy:

3 oz. dried porcini mushrooms
2 cups very warm filtered water
1/4 cup cashew milk
1 tbsp marsala wine (optional)
1/2 celery stalk, cut into chunks
1 tbsp coarsely chopped shallot
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp sea salt
a few grinds of freshly ground black pepper

Soak the porcinis in the water until very soft, about 2 hours. Drain and save 1 cup soaking liquid. Combine the mushrooms, 1 cup of soaking liquid, and all other ingredients in a food processor until very smooth. Pour into a bowl and place at the bottom of a dehydrator for about 3 hours, until the liquid reduces and slightly thickens.

To serve:

Transfer the mushrooms to a bowl and stir in about 3/4 to 1 cup of the gravy, or desired amount. Then spoon mushrooms over the polenta and serve If using cocottes or ramekins, cover and heat in the dehydrator before serving.

<3, JMK

{ raw vegan, makes 4 sandwiches }

My all time favorite sandwich has got to be the pan bagnat, (Provençal tuna sandwiches) – sometimes referred to as a salade niçoise on baguette.  However you interpret it, this classic street food of Nice, France is all about the fresh bread and a certain but simple je ne sais quoi once it’s loaded with a combination of salad ingredients.  When in France, I find these hard to resist, but here at home I had to reinvent it the raw vegan way.

The Ezekial burger buns I used here are not technically raw, but in the raw food world most deem them acceptable since they’re made with sprouted grains and cooked at much lower temperatures than conventional bread.  For a pan bagnat, dehydrated raw flat bread just won’t cut it.  Especially when the other substitution is within a second primary ingredient – the tuna.

It’s easy to imitate tuna salads, chicken salads, and the like with nut-based pâtés.  The texture and weight are pretty spot-on, and what’s really neat is that the use of dulse flakes gives faux “tuna” a from-the-sea taste.  And of course, these pâtés are much better for us than soy or mock meat substitutes, which are loaded with sodium and processed ingredients.

If you’re a present or former tuna sandwich lover, you will definitely love this pan bagnat.

“Tuna”:

1/2 cup sunflower seeds, soaked for 8 hours
1/2 cup pine nuts, soaked 6-8 hours
1 small garlic clove
1 tbs finely chopped green onions
1 tbs dulse flakes
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp dried tarragon
1 tsp sea salt
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1-2 tbsp cold water, for thinning

Combine all ingredients, except for green onions, in a food processor.  Pulse to a medium crumbly texture (not too fine or blended).  Stream in cold water as needed, to help thin and add some creaminess to the pâté.  Check seasonings.  The final product should be similar to a lumpy hummus, with texture like a tuna salad.  Transfer to a bowl and stir in the green onions.

For sandwiches:

4 Ezekial sprouted grain burger buns
2 roma tomatoes, thinly sliced
1/4 cup chopped niçoise olives
mache, lamb’s lettuce, or mixed baby greens
red onion, thinly sliced
red bell pepper, thinly sliced
2 tbs extra virgin olive oil
1 tbs red wine vinegar
1/4 tsp sea salt
fresh ground black pepper

To assemble:

First whisk together the olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper and a small dish.  Lay out the buns, and drizzle both sides with the oil and vinegar mixture.  On the base side, spread over some chopped olives, followed by the red bell pepper slices, red onion, lettuce, and tomato.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper.  On the top side of the bun, add about 2 tablespoons of the faux tuna and close sandwich.  Repeat with the others and serve.

<3, JMK

{ raw vegan, gluten-free*, serves 2-4 as appetizer }

There’s nothing quite like warm, marinated, “roasted” mushrooms fresh out of the dehydrator.  Which sounds peculiar in a way, since the first thought of dehydrated mushrooms may remind you of the packaged and shriveled specimens that need liquid to give them life.

That isn’t the least bit true in this case. When mushrooms are “cooked” in a dehydrator, they rival the flavor of a slow simmered stove top sauté.  They have less moisture and more flavor intensity. Portobellos are known to be an awesome meat substitute, but they really stand on their own delicious integrity just fine. So dehydrating them is the perfect way to create a beefy-style carpaccio.

Bocconcini, being small little balls of mozzarella, have been reinvented as a cashew based “cheese”.  Freshly grated horseradish gives it a really nice kick and pairs well with the sweet baby beets.

For the mushrooms:

2 large portobello mushroom caps, gills removed
1/3 cup madeira wine
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/3 cup nama shoyu*
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 tbs sherry vinegar
1 tsp herbs de provence
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper

*for gluten-free preparation, omit nama shoyu and substitute with 1 tsp sea salt

Whisk together marinade ingredients in a bowl. Place mushroom caps in an airtight plastic bag and pour over marinade. Seal, and evenly marinate for at least 2 hours.

Place caps on lined dehydrator trays and dehydrate at 115 degrees for 4 hours. Remove, and thinly slice into strips.

For the beets:

8 baby beets, quartered
1 tsp good balsamic vinegar
1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp sea salt

In a small bowl, sprinkle the beets evenly with the sea salt and let sit for an hour. Add vinegar and olive oil, turn to coat, and spread beets onto lined dehydrator trays. Dehydrate at 115 degrees for 4 hours, until vinegar has reduced and beets are glazed.

For the bocconcini:

1 cup soaked cashews
1 tbs freshly grated horseradish (or to desired strength)
1 garlic clove
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp nutritional yeast
1/2 tsp sea salt
1-2 tbsp cold water, for thinning

Place all ingredients in food processor and blend until as smooth as possible. Slowly drizzle in cold water as needed to smooth the mixture, but it should still be thick enough to form 1 1/2″ round balls. Refrigerate the mixture for about an hour before forming bocconcini with your hands.

To assemble:

Arrange the mushroom strips on a serving plate. Spoon over any excess marinade if desired. Sprinkle over some arugula drizzled with olive oil and sea salt (optional), followed by the baby beets and bocconcini, and serve.

<3, JMK

{ raw vegan, gluten-free, serves a nice lunch for 1 }

Now this is what it’s all about.

Yesterday my husband surprised me with finds from a local produce market – incredible cucumbers and heirloom tomatoes from Waterkist Farms in Winter Park, FL, and big red onions from South Florida (just a hop, skip, and a jump away).

Bring me flowers?  Nah.  Chocolates?  Please…(well, maybe).  Surprise me with a big sack of off-the-vine fresh, I mean, really fresh produce?  He’s getting lucky tonight.

These were the perfect items to feed my obsession of adding paper-thin slices of lemon and red onion to pretty much everything.  Going through lemons like mad are a good thing, because the raccoons don’t bother with the ones that drop from our tree.  Someone’s gotta eat them!

The lemon-infused extra virgin olive oil is actually from Positano, Italy, but I brought that back myself.  What is it about lemons that are just sheer magic to whatever they touch?

The tomatoes are so sweet and juicy that their delicate acids mixed with the lemon oil is amazing.  After I sprinkled on salt and pepper, I could have very well stopped at that.  But why?

There were some soaked almonds sitting in the fridge that needed attention.  So I blended them up and made a very light sort of cream that turned out much like yogurt (adding a dash of lemon, of course).  I seasoned it with just oregano, sea salt, pepper, and a tad of garlic paste, tossed in the cukes for a light dousing, then laced them with dill from my herb garden.

The fresh dressed cucumbers were scattered on top of the tomato slices and, finally, mandoline-sliced pieces of lemon and onion crescents.

Simplicity.  This is the joy of fresh, local fruits and vegetables.  They speak for themselves.  They’re the stars of the show.

This salad really made my day.  Could you tell?

<3, JMK

{ Raw vegan, gluten-free*, serves 4 }

Vegetables and herbs such as leeks, shallots and tarragon are staples in French cooking – and flavors I absolutely adore.  They also happen to be some of the most under-utilized in American cuisine until recent.  Singularly or combined, each of these ingredients adds sheer flavor heaven, and particularly work like magic with mushrooms.  Leeks are incredibly nutritious and while lending their mildly diuretic benefits, they’re loaded with minerals like iron and potassium.  I added leeks and tarragon to this otherwise Italian-inspired cannelloni dish, launching the marsala wine-marinated creminis and porcinis into taste bud bliss!

Mushroom mixture:

1 lb criminis sliced in half
1/4 oz dried porcinis, soaked and softened in 1 cup warm water and 1/2 cup marsala wine
1 small leek finely sliced, white and light green part only
1 tbs dried tarragon
1 large garlic clove, minced
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/3 cup marsala wine
1/3 cup nama shoyu*
1/2 tsp finely ground green peppercorns
1/2 tsp finely ground black pepper

Put all ingredients, except for porcinis and liquids, into a large bowl. Whisk together olive oil, marsala, and nama shoyu and pour over mushrooms. Toss well and marinate for 2 hours, occassionally turning to coat. Meanwhile, coarsely chop porcinis and set aside. Spread mushrooms on to a lined dehydrator sheet and dehydrate for 3 hours at 115 degrees, or until texture is slightly chewy and resembles a sautéed mushroom. Toss mushrooms occasionally while dehydrating.

Take 3/4 of the mushrooms and all the porcinis into the food processor and pulse until coarsely chopped.  Reserve remaining mushrooms for plating.

* For gluten-free preparation, omit nama shoyu and substitute with 1-2 teaspoons sea salt.

“Raw”cotta:

1/2 cup soaked, moist cashews
1/2 cup soaked, moist pine nuts
1/4 cup soaked, moist hemp nuts (optional, I had to finish off a package)
1 tbs lemon juice
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 garlic clove

Blend all ingredients in a food processor to a ricotta or thick cheese-spread consistency.

Tarragon marinara (I made this two days ahead):

2 lbs fresh roma tomatoes, sliced in 1/2 lengthwise
4 fat smashed garlic cloves
1 tsp dried oregano
1 heaping tsp sea salt
1 tsp fresh ground pepper
handful fresh chopped basil
2 tbs fine quality aged balsamic vinegar
2 tbs extra virgin olive oil to coat
1 tbs dried tarragon

Combine all ingredients, except for tarragon, in a large bowl and marinate for about an hour. Spread tomatoes on to lined dehydrator trays face up, spooning herb mixture over them. Stuff the garlic cloves into a few of the tomato halves. Dehydrate at 115 degrees for 8 to 10 hours (depending on tomato size). They should appear roasted, but still somewhat plump. You don’t want to totally dehydrate them to the sun-dried type.

Put tomatoes in a food processor along with the tarragon and blend to a marinara. It’s now ready to eat, or you can put it in a bowl a few hours before serving and keep warm in dehydrator. (This will also reduce excess moisture).

Cannelloni:

2 medium zucchini (you may have extra left over)
flax seed oil (makes it nice and buttery)
sea salt
finely ground green peppercorns
a hand-held mandoline

Slice zucchini lengthwise very thin, about 1/8″. Layer slices in a casserole dish, rubbing them with flax seed oil and sprinkling sea salt and pepper very lightly between each layer. Allow to sit for about an hour and careful drain water out of dish. Spread on dehydrator screens and dehydrate for 1-2 hours at 115 degrees so that excess moisture is gone and cannelloni have a chewier, more pasta-like texture.

For assembly:

On a work surface, lay 4 zucchini in similar lengths next to each other, slighty overlapping.  Beginning 1/2″ from one edge of the width (not lengthwise), spoon about 2 tablespoons each of rawcotta and mushroom mixture down the width of layered zucchini.  From this end, carefully pick up exposed edges and roll into cannelloni tubes.  The zucchini are very pliable and stay together quite well.  At this point you can keep the cannellonis heated in the dehydrator until ready to serve.

Spoon over tarragon marinara, garnish with remaining halved mushrooms and fresh basil leaves.

<3, JMK

(raw vegan)

Last week, I finally got hold of some flawlessly fresh portobello mushroom caps – something that has seemed hard to come by around Orlando lately.  And I wanted to have them marinated and dehydrated immediately!  A friend who has recently become intrigued by raw food asked me, “Dehydrated mushrooms?  Where is the pleasure in that? ”

Well, they’re actually scrumptiously moist and chewy as opposed to leathery and dried out, as “dehydrated” can imply.  They have nothing to do with the bone-dried packaged exotic varieties you get at the supermarket and then reconstitute (although you could use these, but that’s another dish).  The end result of plump, meaty portobello caps soaked in a sparky, flavorful marinade and then gently warmed in a dehydrator for a few hours so that all the flavors intensify is very much like sautéed mushrooms.  Believe me, there’s no compromise in texture or flavor!

“Roasted” Portobellos:

2 large portobello mushroom caps
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup nama shoyu*
1 tbs vegan worcestershire sauce*
2 tbs balsamic vinegar
2 tbs sweet vermouth, or mirin
3 to 4 fresh thyme stem leaves, + 1 tsp chopped thyme leaves
1 tsp dried oregano
1 small minced shallot
1 fat minced garlic clove
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Whisk together all ingredients, except mushrooms and thyme stems, in a bowl. Place portobello caps in a large sealable plastic bag (works best), a small casserole dish, or other sealable container. Pour over marinade evenly, add thyme stems, and allow to marinate for at least 3 hours preferably at room temperature.  Periodically turn mushrooms.

Pour marinade into a small bowl and transfer mushrooms to Teflex lined dehydrator trays gill side up (reserving a small pool of marinade and herbs).  Place bowl at the bottom of the dehydrator.  “Roast” at 110 degrees for 2 hours, remove Teflex sheets continue for least 1 more hour until mushrooms have flattened and shrunk a bit.

Remove from dehydrator and thinly slice caps on a bias.  Use marinade to spoon over, or save for future use.  Keeps for about a week in the refrigerator.

* These products are not gluten-free.  Vegan worcestershire sauce is not raw.

Baby bell peppers are another favorite.  I prefer them over their full-grown counterparts because they’re sweeter and milder.  Conventionally roasting them pleasantly intensifies their sweet flavor, and similarly, so does dehydrating.  Plus, they get on famously with portobellos.  That day last week, I picked up some of those, too.  And a couple of purpley-red heirloom tomatoes, and a bag of lively, wild arugula.

“Roasted” Baby Bell Peppers:

1 pint multi-colored baby bell peppers
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp dried oregano
extra virgin olive oil

Slice the peppers in half lengthwise, place in a bowl, and evenly sprinkle over sea salt and oregano by intermittently turning them. Drizzle over olive oil to lightly coat. Marinate for 3 hours. Transfer peppers to Teflex lined dehydrator trays and dehydrate at 100 degrees for 6 to 8 hours.

My Aerogarden was overabundant with purple basil.  Pesto seemed like a logical processing choice.  But I find that pesto can be quite strong and rich, overpowering at times.  I suspect it has to do with three key conventional ingredients: parmigiano-reggiano cheese, pine nuts, and olive oil. Each has a high-fat content and substantial on their own.  Hemp seed nuts are mild, tasty, and extraordinarily nutritious.  When used in place of cheese and pine-nuts, traditional pesto is transformed into something more delicate and smooth, but still with all that delicious, savory basil flavor.

Purple Basil Hemp Pesto:

5 oz. loosely packed purple basil
1 cup hemp seed nuts
1 fat garlic clove
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 tbs lemon juice
1 tsp sea salt
freshly ground black pepper

Put all ingredients except for olive oil in a food processor. First blitz to coarsely chop and blend. Then gradually drizzle in olive oil while processing until well-blended and smooth. Periodically check for seasoning. Stores in an air-tight container for about 5-7 days in the refrigerator.

The absence of parmegiano-reggiano clears the way for a nut-based cheese, like macadamia “parmesan”.  The substitution shares its characteristics of sharp, salty, slighty tart, and kind of creamy. But nut cheese translations shouldn’t be taken literally because they have a character all their own.

Macadamia Parmesan:

1 cup macadamia nuts, soaked for at least 8 hours
1 small garlic clove
1 1/2 tbs nutritional yeast
2 tbs fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 to 2 tbs water

Blend all ingredients except for water in food processor until crumbly. Check for seasonings. Consistency should be slightly moist but chunky, and not too thin and pasty. If needed, add a bit of water. Spread cheese out in dime-sized pieces on a Teflex line dehydrator tray and dehydrate at 110 degrees for 8 hours. Stores in an air-tight container for about 1 week in the refrigerator.

To construct the stack:

Slice a large tomato into 1/4″ slices.  Toss some arugula in a bowl with a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil, a squeeze of lemon juice, and a pinch of sea salt.

This can get a little slippery, so tell your hands to be steady and patient.  It’s helpful to use a piece of aluminum foil that has been shaped around a large can or jar as a guide.

First, lay a tomato slice down on a plate.  Spread on some purple basil hemp pesto like you’re buttering a piece of bread.  Next add some portobello slices, slightly overlapping.  Add a small mound of arugula and then finally, a few macadamia parmesan crumbles.  Repeat this process once more.

After adding the second round of arugula, top with 4-5 pieces of “roasted” baby bell peppers and a few more macadamia parmesan crumbles.  If using the foil as a guide, it helps to allow the stack to sit and set for 15 minutes.

To serve, just spoon some extra pesto around on the plate.  Makes a great salad course or light meal.

<3, JMK