Guest Blogger: Czech Vegan (in America) – Raw Cucumber Spaghetti with Spinach Pesto

The best part of VBU! is all the variety of bloggers from all over the world. One such blogger is Elisabeth, the author of Czech Vegan, who is from the Czech Republic and lives in Atlanta Georgia. Here she is in her own words, “I am a Czech Vegan living in America. I am working on my first vegan cookbook. On this blog I share my recipes, my thoughts about vegan living, vegan products reviews and other fun things. ” You can contact Czech Vegan through her blog, Facebook, Youtube and Twitter. Please welcome Elisabeth!

Look at this beautiful, green pasta! Doesn’t it look like “real” spaghetti with rich, creamy basil pesto? Don’t run to the kitchen to turn on your stove or to get your pot filled with water. This pasta does not come from a box, but rather from your garden (or the produce section at your grocery store)…….What a better, refreshing, low calorie fruit (or in the culinary world vegetable) can you imagine on a hot summer day? Nothing beats cucumbers! They are healthy, yummy, packed with water to hydrate your body, and they smell amazing! I love cucumber salad! I love adding cucumbers into my salads, or eat them plain. When I first started exploring the raw vegan diet, I kept hearing about raw pasta, mainly zucchini pasta. I used to make my raw zucchini and cucumber pasta by hand, using a vegetable peeler. What a time and labor consuming chore! And it looked more like linguini instead of spaghetti……Then I saw a video about making raw pasta using a really neat tool, a tri-blade spiral vegetable slicer (aka Spirooli). I read a few reviews and I had to have it! I am so happy that I got this since it makes my raw meals easy, fun and beautiful! Making raw spaghetti with this is a breeze! No need for electricity! Simply place cucumber, daikon radish, zucchini, sweet potato, carrot or other firm vegetable on prongs, and turn wheel while pushing base toward the blade (use the shredder “strip” blade) and in minutes (or rather seconds) you have a bowl of super long spaghetti.

This spiral vegetable slicer has three interchangeable blades to make everything from shredded cabbage, thin vegetable spaghetti, thicker vegetable noodles, vegetable slices, apple chips, curly fries and much more. So far I have been using it for raw spaghetti, thin potato slices, apple slices and shredded cabbage. I like the suction cup base that keeps my Spirooli tightly and safely locked in place while I am using it. I also like the self contained blade storage underneath the Spirooli so I don’t lose the blade, plus they are safer there than laying around the kitchen. The blades are stainless steel and the whole tool is dishwasher safe, but I find it easily washable under warm water in the sink. Spirooli is light and easy to store. The durable plastic is well made and all the parts are designed very well, too. I love how easy it is to use and for some reason everytime I use it I get all excited about looking at the cool spaghetti that are coming out of the Spirooli. And to top it all, my World Cuisine Spirooli came with 1 year warranty. You can get yours on Amazon, it’s on sale now 🙂

I created a healthy, raw, vegan pesto recipe and I want to share it with you. This pesto goes well over raw cucumber pasta, or as a salad dressing.

Raw Cucumber Spaghetti with Spinach Pesto

2-3 large cucumbers, peeled if not organic

(or use zucchini if you like)

6 oz raw spinach leaves

1 clove garlic

1/4 cup raw pumpkin seeds

1/3 cup water

6-8 fresh basil leaves

salt to taste

Turn cucumbers into raw noodles using a spiral vegetable slicer, knife, or a vegetable peeler. Drain the cucumbers of excess water before placing them into a large bowl.

In a blender or a food processor, chop pumpkin seeds until they turn into a fine powder. Add the rest of the ingredients (except for the cucumber noodles) and blend until smooth, scraping the sides of the blender or food processor as needed.

Pour pesto over your raw pasta and mix well. Serve as a meal or a big side salad.

(This recipe makes about 1 1/2 cup pesto that will keep in the fridge for up to 2-3 days)

I love my raaaaaaaaaaaw spaghetti!!!!

Stay tuned for my future raw and cooked culinary adventures with my new kitchen friend Spirooli.

Do you have Spirooli? What do you use it for?

Guest Blogger: The Veggie Nook

This lovely recipe is from Gabby, author of The Veggie Nook, living in Kingston Ontario with a passion for whole, plant-based foods. Gabby’s blog incorporates whole grains, healthy fats interspersed with treats and a belief of not being afraid of calories. Please welcome Gabby!

Homemade Raw Vegan Chocolate and Raw Almond Butter Cups

Yes that’s right, vegan, healthy, raw, antioxidant rich CHOCOLATE (that still tastes decadent).

Is it normal (read: healthy) to be in love with a food so much?

Let’s not answer that 😉

I seriously can’t believe I haven’t been making this forever!

No more will I forgo making a recipe because I am out of baking chocolate/chocolate chips. Or become moody because all I want is a piece of chocolate and there is none to be found. Because this is just so easy and healthful that as long as you have 3 basic pantry ingredients, you can make it!

The Ingredients

Cacao:

• high in antioxidants which protects the cells from toxins and promotes health in so many ways such as improving circulation and reducing cardiovascular risk and repairing and resisting damage done by free radicals, reducing cancers
• increases serotonin and other neurotransmitters- promotes a positive outlook and just makes us feel good!
• rich in minerals like magnesium (deficiencies linked to heart disease, diabetes and joint problems), sulfur (a beauty mineral- helps detoxify your system and promotes healthy skin!), calcium, iron, copper, manganese and potassium

Coconut oil:

• yes it is composed of mostly saturated fats BUT much of the fatty acids come from lauric acid might is a medium chain fatty acid that is claimed to help combat both viruses and bacteria
• lauric acid also helps prevent heart problems like high cholesterol and blood pressure through it’s promotion of “good” cholesterol (HDL) and reduction of “bad” cholesterol (LDL). Also reduces injury to arteries!
• promotes weight loss by increasing metabolism- the fatty acids are super easily absorbed so can be burned instead of being stored. It also supports our organs, such as the pancreas allowing us to burn more energy.
• improves digestions and helps with digestive related problems such as IBS. Also improves absorption of vitamins and minerals! (I can personally attest to this benefit)

I could go on and on about these two stellar ingredients, but basically they act as major health, beauty and mental boosters. They make you look good and feel good from the inside out!

but I remember eating healthy, vegan, raw chocolate 🙂

I’ve made this a few times now, using slightly different recipes every time and while I have a favourite, they are all awesome and I suspect they are widely open to interpretation. I stuck to the basic chocolate flavour for now but I seriously can’t wait to start incorporating other flavours and textures by adding flavour extracts like peppermint or orange and other add-ins like almonds and goji berries. I serisously have so many ideas of what to do with this I am bursting!

I’m going to share with you 2 recipes that I used over the course of my chocolate-making adventure and highlight how they differ and my impressions on the applications they would be best for and finish off with a recipe that includes one of the chocolates. But I mean, just take the basic recipe and go with it! It’s so easy, it’s almost impossible to mess up! Although it has to be said that I actually did mess up once because of a stupid mistake. BUT don’t worry. None of you will make it because you can learn from my example. Do as I say, not as I do (except DO make this because it is amazing).

Procedure:

The procedure for both recipes is the same. First, melt the coconut oil over a low heat. REMOVE from the heat as soon as it’s melted. Do not leave it on the heat and proceed with the next few steps. If you do, you will be left with chocolate with a funky texture. I think in the chocolate world this has something to do with improper tempering of the chocolate. Basically heating it too much making it get kind of pasty and chunky. It still tasted good but definitely not visually appealing and doesn’t have as nice of a mouth-feel.

After taking it off the heat sift in the cacao powder and whisk until completely combined. Then add in the sweetener of choice. And that’s it! You are ready to do whatever you please! Drizzle it over fruit, pour it into molds or just spread it on a baking sheet and make bars. To get the chocolate to set, put it in the fridge for 10-15 min.

One thing to be careful of, is this chocolate gets melty pretty fast, so you should store it in the fridge and be prepared to have a little chocolate left on your fingers after eating it. A little mess never hurt anyone 🙂

Note: I used agave and stevia as my sweeteners in these recipes, but feel free to play around: maple syrup (not raw though) and coconut nectar could be used and honey for the non-vegans! Experiment and see what tastes you like the best!

Raw Chocolate Recipe #1 (Gluten-free, Raw, Refined Sugar-Free)

• 1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
• 2/3 cup cacao powder
• 2 tbsp agave
• 5 drops stevia

I used this recipe to make chocolate in molds like shells. Little bites of heaven! This chocolate is not as thick as the next recipe, making it easier to get into all the little crevices.

This one was sweeter than the others, probably really good for people who tend to be into milk chocolate. I found I could detect the stevia in it, which I didn’t mind but I think it definitely lended to the intense sweetness. Really nice in small doses for those sweet cravings. If you love sweet chocolate, this one is for you.

*And for all the Canadian’s out there, these chocolate loonies taste wayyyy better than the cheap ones you buy in the store

Raw Chocolate Recipe #2 (Vegan, Gluten-Free, Raw, Refined Sugar-Free)

• 1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
• 2/3 cup cacao powder
• 4 tbsp agave nectar

This is thicker than the other recipes because of the additional syrup (agave) so for this one I spread it out on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper. Put it in the fridge then cut it into chunks. Perfect for topping off fruit bowls, oats, or just popping in your mouth when no one’s looking….

This one is still sweet, but more of a chocolately taste. This would be great to make bars with with maybe chopped up nuts and dried fruit. Or some peppermint extract and cacao nibs. The possibilities are endless.

Raw Chocolate Recipe #3 (Vegan, Gluten-Free, Raw, Refined-Sugar Free)

• 1/4 cup coocnut oil
• 2/3 cup cacao powder
• 2 tbsp agave nectar
• 5 drops chocolate stevia (I used Sweet Leaf brand)

This one was my favourite. The texture was the same as recipe #1, a little runnier than above. I found that the flavour that came from the agave and the chocolate stevia made for an incredibly rich chocolate, that was, for lack of a better word, more chocolatey than the other two. I have always been partial to darker chocolate so perhaps this is why I enjoyed it so much.

I was also ridiculously happy with the way I used this chocolate. Raw Almond Butter Cups. Step aside Reese’s there’s a new cup in town.

Raw Almond Butter Cups (Vegan, Gluten-Free, Raw, Refined-Sugar Free)

• 1 recipe of Raw Chocolate (I used #3, but any will work!)
• 1/4 cup raw almond butter
• 1/4 + 1/8 tsp nutritional yeast (trust me here. It helps give the filling a “Reese’s taste”)
• 8 drops vanilla creme stevia (or some agave to taste)
• pinch of salt

First, you need some muffin liners. I made 4 normal sized ones and 6 min sized. Fill the bottoms of each liner with chocolate making sure the bottom and sides are covered. Should look like this:

Put them in the freezer to harden for 10 min and while you wait, mix up the filling. When the chocolate has set, take out of the freezer and put some of the almond butter in the center of the cups. I used about 1 1/2 tsp of the filling for the larger ones and 3/4 tsp for the small. Like so:

Next spoon in more chocolate on top of the almond butter and spread it out to the sides of the cups, completely covering the almond butter. Make sure there are no gaps or there will be almond butter peaking through the finished products!

Return to the freezer for another 10 min or so until the chocolate has set. Then take them out and try not to eat every single one. It’s tough, believe me!

I had a little chocolate left over so I decided to dip some strawberries in.

And just in time for St. Patrick’s Day:

A little pot of gold with chocolate money 🙂

Wishing you all a wonderful, chocolate-filled day!

I am submitting this recipe to Wellness Weekends, Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays, Allergy Friendly Fridays and Allergy Free Wednesdays!