A New Month, A New Theme

First, and before I get to my main point about today's blog, I would like to thank my lovely readers, as I am so proud to see 205 visitors to my blog in less then a month, THANK YOU for helping me accomplish a dream!

__________________________________________

Today, with a beginning of a new month, I have decided to go back to detoxing; Eating Raw, "Un-cooking" Meals and Raw Desserts, learning and following recipes.

I am not a "cuisine" person, I always like to pamper myself and have the food ready for me. I used to spend a lot of time eating out, trying most of the restaurants in the city. (Lately, I was only visiting few cause I cut off lots of products in my eating habits) For that reason, I chose this month to change... and start, like Julie and Julia, the book and the movie, to follow recipes and start preparing at home, so that one day be ready to cook for You and serve You the most mouth watering food You will ever taste.

Last night, I was reading a Raw Food Cuisine Book, offered to me couple of years ago by a dear colleague and a friend, Guy. It's title is "Easy Gourmet Raw Food Cuisine" by Frederic Patenaude. ( I hope he doesn't mind me writing about his book and sharing my thoughts and creating his recipes).

His easy way of writing, creating recipes, and teaching the readers on how to prepare anything from scratch is just fascinating. First by learning the taste, the mixing, the groceries used and the equipments, second by following the recipes, where, at a later stage, you will learn to create your own. And this is My AIM!

The book is divided into 13 chapters, starting with Salads, Dressings, Soups, Green Drinks, Fruit juices and other drinks, Nut Milks, Smoothies, Desserts, Raw Pies, Pâtés, Dips and Sauces, Gourmet Raw Food Cuisine, and finally Gourmet Snacks.

What I like is that at the beginning of each chapter, Frederic describes in a well build paragraph about each ingredients, the tastes, the flavors, what is good to be mixed with this type of ingredient, and what is not. Good book for someone who doesn't cook, or is learning... like me!

I started off with the Salads for today, my first recipe was Venice Salad.

Venice Salad

Raw Organic Ingredients:

Greens:

2 cups mixed greens (young spinach, arugula, etc.) 
1 head lettuce, chopped
1 cup arugula, chopped
 
Veggies: 
1 avocado, peeled and diced
10-20 kalamata olives, pitted and chopped


Fruits:

Tamari and Olive Oil

1 tomato, diced


Nuts:
1 handful pine nuts


Dressing:
4 Tbsp. olive oil
1 lime or lemon, juice
2 Tbsp. nama shoyu, or tamari sauce


Mix all of the vegetables in a bowl, along with the olives and avocado. Drizzle with olive oil, nama shoyu or tamari sauce, lime or lemon juice, and sprinkle with pine nuts. Pine nuts are sweet and creamy, and add richness to this salad.
If you cannot find kalamata olives, you can use other types of olives, but it is not recommended to use “sun-dried” olives in this recipe, as they are too bitter for this type of salad. 
Serves 3-4.

Bon Appétit!

La Reina 

Recipe by  Frederic Patenaude

I loved this Salad, the mix and the dressing go well together. You should try it!