Raw Mediterranean-style Pressed Lasagna

Ok, so these raw recipes may be a little "out there" for most of us but hey, maybe they are fantastic and we just don't know it yet!  ;o)

Another raw recipe that uses zucchini to make lasagna.  :o) 

MEDITERRANEAN-STYLE PRESSED LASAGNA

(MAKES 8 SERVINGS)

5 medium zucchini, sliced lengthwise into long thin strips (this is best done on a mandoline but you can do it by hand as well ;)

1/2 cup Herb Oil** (see recipe below)

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 tomatoes, quartered

1/2 cup pitted olives

2 cups Quick Cheese (click here to see the recipe) made with macadamia nuts

3 garlic cloves, grated on a a Microplane rasp

2 tablespoons chopped with fresh rosemary leaves (or any other herb of your taste -I bet chives would be fab!)

1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

Sea salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 pound shiitake mushroom caps, torn (450gr)

2 tablespoons of Garlic Oil *** (see recipe below)

1pound baby spinach (450gr)

2 tomatos, thinly sliced

----------------------------------------------------------------------

1-Lay the zucchini strips out on baking sheets. Using a pastry brush, brush each layer of zucchini with the herb oil. Lightly salt and pepper each later and set aside.

2-Put the tomato quarters and olives in a food processor and blend until smooth. Add cheese, garlic, rosemary, red pepper, 1 teaspoon salt, and the black pepper. Pulse until the mixture is creamy. Transfer to a bowl. Using a spatula, fold in the shiitakes until thoroughly coated. Set aside.

3-Whisk the garlic oil and a pinch of salt together in a bowl. Add the spinach and toss to coat.

4-To layer the lasagne, you'll need an 8-inch square pan (20cm). Cut the zucchini slices into 8-inch lengths. Layer the lasagne as follows: zucchini, spinach, shiitake cheese, and tomato slices, then repeat.

5-Cover the pan with parchment paper and using water-filled jars -or something similar-, weight down the lasagne and refrigerate for 3 to 4 hours. To serve, cut pieces and garnish with any remaining herb oil. Cover any leftovers and refrigerate for up to 5 days.

////////////////////////////////////////////////////

**HERB OIL RECIPE

(MAKES 3 CUPS)

1 bunch of scallions, green and white parts, halved

1cup fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves

1 cup spinach leaves

1/2 cup fresh tarragon leaves

2 cups extra virgin olive oil

----------------------------------------------------------------------

1-Put the scallions, parsley, spinach, and tarragon in a food processor and coarsely chop. With the machine on, slowly drizzle in the olive oil until well combined with the herbs.

2-Pour into a jar, cover and refrigerate for up to 1 week. Allow the oil to come to room temperature before using.

////////////////////////////////////////////////////

*** GARLIC OIL RECIPE

(MAKES 1 CUP)

1 cup extra virgin olive oil

5 garlic cloves, grated on a Microplane rasp

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Combine oil and garlic in a glass jar and give it a good shake. Use immediately or store in the refrigerator put to one week. Allow the oil to come to room temperature before using.

Recipe & Photo from here.  I LOVE the internet!!

Zucchini Noodles with "Raw-fredo" Sauce

I had a friend go to a raw foods 'cooking' class and bring me back some recipes. (Thanks Megan!!)  I'm excited to try this one out!!  Please leave a comment if you make this and let us know what you thought of it!

Zucchini Noodles with "Raw-fredo" Sauce:
zucchini
1 cup raw cashews
2 T nutritional yeast (I bought some of this in the bulk section at WinCo)
1 lemon, juice of
1 clove garlic
1 bunch green onions
salt & pepper to taste
dried lemon peel
chopped parsley
lemon thyme seasoning

1-2 hours before you're ready to make the dish, place cashews in a jar and fill jar with water.  Allow cashews to soak.
Slice zucchini in thirds and place through spiralizer (or you can use a julienne slicer).  Set aside.
Place soaked cashews, nutritional yeast, lemon juice, garlic, green onions, & spices in food processor.  Add fresh water if necessary to achieve desired consistency.
Poor sauce over zucchini 'noodles' and enjoy!

There wasn't measurements for those last ingredients so I guess they'd be "to taste" too.

IsaPro Macaroons

In case you need a treat during Phase 1....  ;o)  These were pretty good!

1 1/3 cups unsweetened shredded coconut (you can find this in the bulk foods section at WinCo!)
1 T IsaPro
1/2 t salt
1/2 - 3/4 T agave nectar OR 1 T Splenda powder
1 3/4 T DaVinci Vanilla sugar free syrup* (could also use Amaretto or one of the other flavors)
3/4 t almond extract
2 medium egg whites

* I bought this at Sam's Club.  A big bottle was less than $5 and it is DELICIOUS!  You could use it in lots of things.  UPDATE:  I have since studied and learned and decided that it's WAY better to stay away from any artificial sweeteners so don't go buy this.  :o(  See my post about what sweeteners are a better choice (but still stay away from ANY kind of sugar/sweeteners as much as you can!!  The less you eat of any of them, the better!  Even the healthier ones!).

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Mix ingredients together in a bowl in order given.

Drop by teaspoonfuls onto a lightly greased baking sheet.  These do not spread out so you can put them close together.

Bake at 325 degrees for 20 minutes.  Edges of cookies should be light brown.  Remove from cookie sheet immediately.

Makes about 24 cookies.
Each cookie is about 17 calories (this was calculated on the website I got the recipe from and they used 1 T Splenda powder instead of Agave nectar and another brand of whey protein powder so the calorie count might be a bit off).

Adapted from a recipe found on this site.

Roy's Zucchini Soup

Ok people.  This was one of my uncle's famous recipes that he made with fresh produce out of his garden and home-canned tomatoes.  :o)  I have not tried it with the turkey sausage as a substitute so if you make this, let us know how it is!

Ingredients:

1 lb. hot Italian turkey sausage*

1 1/2 quarts tomatoes with juice

1 cup onions, chopped

2 lbs zucchini, chopped

2 cups celery, chopped

2 green peppers, chopped

1/4 t garlic

1/2 t basil

1/2 t oregano

1 t Italian seasoning

2 t salt

*The original recipe calls for 1 lb Jimmy Dean Hot Sausage but I know you can find Hot Italian turkey sausage and that would probably make a good substitute.  It also calls for 1 t sugar but I bet you could leave it out all together and not notice.  

Instructions:

Brown the sausage and drain.  Add remaining ingredients except the green peppers and simmer on low for 1/2 hour or until vegetables are getting soft.  Add green peppers and simmer for another 10-15 minutes.  Enjoy!

The calories for this recipe will depend on what meat you use so check the packaging to calculate calories per serving.  The rest of the ingredients won't be very high in calories because they are vegetables and spices.  Makes sure you serve this soup with a salad to get your raw veggies!  :o)

Pumpkin Pie Yogurt!

Just came up with this to give my boys something yummy and healthy as a snack!  It was a hit!!

Vanilla Yogurt* (maybe 1/2 cup)
Canned Pumpkin (1-2 Tbls)
Pumpkin Pie Spice (try a couple of dashes)

(adjust everything to your taste)
Mix together and enjoy!!

*Remember to watch for sugar in the yogurt!  There is WAY too much in most of them!!  Try the brand Nancy's from WinCo.

If you close your eyes and pretend, maybe you can imagine this is pumpkin pie?  ;o)  Try it and see!  I actually think it's not TOO bad of a replacement and it's healthier!!  I hope this helps you get creative and find delicious AND healthy things to eat this holiday!

Phase 1 Spaghetti

So the hardest part of Phase 1 for me was not being able to have the carbs (breads & pastas especially!).
We started Isagenix in the fall so it was perfect timing for all the yummy fresh produce!! I had never actually made spaghetti out of spaghetti squash before but it was the perfect time to try it out so I did!

Spaghetti Squash Spaghetti  (watch how hard this is, are you ready?....)  ;o)

• Cook the spaghetti squash.  (Don't know how?  Get help here.  ps.  I blew one up in the microwave.  Pretty cool.  At least until I had to clean it up.....)  ;o)
• Scrape out seeds and discard.
• Scrape 'strands' (the squash, aka part you eat) out of its skin and put on a plate.
• Cover with spaghetti sauce* & zap it in the microwave (just long enough to warm up the sauce).
• Enjoy!

Fast, easy, healthy, delicious!  Those are the BEST kind of meals!!  :o)

*There are a couple of different options for spaghetti sauce without sugar.  Hunt's has a No Sugar Added one.  This is your best bet when it comes to finding a sauce in most stores and it'll probably be the cheapest too.  There are some 'fancy' brands (probably most of them are ones that are organic too) with no sugar but they are more expensive.  And not all of them are missing sugar like you'd think so make sure you read the ingredients label!!  (ps. You all know what I mean by 'fancy' right??  lol.)

Note:  Spaghetti Squash is really sweet so even when you aren't using much sauce on it you won't miss it since you can eat the squash without sauce and it still tastes good!  (Although I guess you do have to like squash to begin with....lol.)

But wait!!  If you want to get a little more creative, ;o) I've also tried adding:

• Ground turkey!  It's a great way to make it more like 'real' spaghetti and get your protein.  You could even go one step farther and make meatballs out of it!!  Just so you know, the turkey is a little 'off' if you're used to using ground hamburger.  It's kind of sweeter than you expect it to be.
• Italian sausage!  (Look at the ingredients to see which brand is healthiest!  There are ones made from ground turkey or even chicken!)

I actually have all the calorie count for this written down but I can't find my notebook with the info in it so I'll edit this when I find it!  For now, I'd say to use about 1/2 a spaghetti squash and maybe 1 cup of spaghetti sauce and about a 1/2 cup of ground turkey.

Don't forget your raw veggies!  Have a side salad with this or some veggies & dip for an appetizer while you're waiting for your squash to cook.  :o)

Happy Lunches!!

Looking for salad dressings?

Here are some of the salad dressings we've bought since starting Isagenix.  In the beginning it was discouraging to find hardly any dressings with sugar listed as the 5th or lower ingredient!  (Remember, you're looking for sugar to not be in the first 5 ingredients of anything you're eating!!)  :o(  I couldn't believe it!!  But we hunted at a bunch of stores and have since found plenty!  :o)  They may be more pricey than the ones you're used to but remember that you and your health are worth it!!

Note:  Almost all of these we found over in the refrigerated section by the produce/salad and not down the dressing aisle!!   Not to say that other stores wouldn't have them but we found almost all of these at Target and WinCo if you're having a hard time finding them.

Bolthouse Farms has a FANTASTIC selection of dressings and they are ALL 45 calories or less per serving with no added sugar (they use fruit juice instead, awesome!)!!  (Thank you Bolthouse Farms!)  That link will send you to their site to see their yogurt dressings and their vinaigrettes.  My favorites from them are the Raspberry Merlot Vinaigrette & Tropical Mango Vinaigrette.  We also tried their Thousand Island Yogurt, Honey Mustard Yogurt (it's got that mustard-y spicy kick to it, which you probably either like or don't like so be away of that), and Caesar Parmigiano Yogurt (had high hopes for this one but it isn't my most fav.  Bummer).

My hubby's favorite dressing is Wishbone's Light Blue Cheese

Makoto makes a Honey Ginger dressing but it is not my fav either.  :o(  The flavor is good and it has lots of ginger, which is fine, but there is hardly any "sauce".  It's mainly finely chopped pieces of ginger that you're putting on your salad instead of a dressing.  :o(  I wouldn't recommend it for a salad but it could be yummy to marinate chicken of something maybe?  I'll have to try it with the rest of ours.  (We got this one at Smith's.)

And last but not least, Kraft makes a Greek Vinaigrette and my absolute favorite right now is their Classic Balsamic!!  Yum!!

ps.  You can always get the Hidden Valley Ranch packets and make your own ranch dressing with your Kraft Olive Oil Mayo too but this is probably the least healthy one by far (even the ingredients in the mix aren't good for you).  :o(

So head to the store and see if you can find some of these dressings to use on your next salad!  :o)

Cottage Cheese Tip

Want your 2T of salad dressing to go a little farther?  Try adding cottage cheese!!

Since starting Isagenix, we've been buying Nancy's brand from WinCo.  It's organic and I recognize all the short list of ingredients! ;o)  They also make the yogurt and sour cream we've been buying.  I will tell you though that the yogurt is VERY tangy and the cottage cheese is too!!  I don't really eat the cottage cheese plain because of that (it's an acquired taste and I think 'if that's what it's SUPPOSED to taste like, how many not-good-for-you-things have been added to the stuff I've been used to'??!) but you can't really tell when it's mixed into your salad.  :o)  And it's pretty runny (other brands might not be) which helps with your dressing.

Keep an eye on calories but I add maybe 1/8-1/4 cup of it to my salad.  :o)

Omelets

We do a lot of omelets because they are fast and easy, don't take much thought, and I always have the ingredients already on hand.  AND you can adjust these to each of your family members' tastes really easily so everybody's happy!  :o)  Here's what we do at our house:

• 3-4 eggs  (1 egg = about 70 calories  It's a LOT of food!)  :o) 
• 1" cubed of cheese, shredded = about 100 calories (check on your cheese package to see if yours is different)

• deli meats (turkey and ham are our favorites.  Check the packaging for the calories and make sure there isn't any sugar or many other ingredients you don't recognize in the ingredients!  Deli meats are NOT created equal so pick the healthiest one!)
• turkey sausage (check packaging for calories/ingredients)

Then go wild with any veggies!!  For the most part I'm not a big stickler on the calories coming from vegetables. We like a combination of these but again, add what YOU like!  And the more fresh veggies , the better! (if you don't mind them raw, do that to get those live digestive enzymes!):

• sauteed onions
• sauteed mushrooms
• sliced zucchini
• spinach (throw that on at the very end just to wilt it)
• tomatoes (I throw these on at the end too because they are yummiest fresh!)
• peppers (green, red, yellow, spicy...whatever!)

• fresh salsa
• hot sauce (check the ingredients for sugars, etc.)

Enjoy!

Sweet Potato Chili

Sweet Potato Chili

1 large onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 T chili powder
2 t ground cumin
1 t salt
1/2 t dried oregano
1 can (28 oz) tomatoes in juice
3 T tomato paste
2 sweet potatoes, peeled & diced
2 cups water
1 can black beans, rinsed & drained
1 medium zucchini, chopped
1 T Tabasco Chipotle Pepper Sauce

Throw everything into a crockpot and cook until the veggies are tender.
(Maybe a couple of hours on high or 3-4 on low? I haven't ever timed it.)

Makes about 11 cups or 6 main-dish servings.

According to one calorie counter I found online (not sure how accurate it is though), a serving of this might be around 200 calories.


Note: The original recipe also calls for 1 lb of ground beef.  I was going to use ground turkey but ended up just completely leaving the meat out instead.  I didn't miss it!  :o)

Here are the instructions if you want to do it on the stove:
Heat a 5-6 quart saucepot over high heat until hot.  Brown ground beef and onion.  Spoon off any fat.
Reduce heat to medium; add garlic, chili powder, cumin, salt, and oregano, and cook for 1 minute, stirring.
Add tomatoes with their juice and tomato paste.
Add sweet potatoes and water; heat to boiling over hight heat.
Reduce heat to low; cover and simmer 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add black beans, zucchini, and Tabasco Chipotle sauce to saucepot; heat to boiling over high heat.
Reduce heat to low and simmer uncovered for 15 minutes or until zucchini is tender and chili thickens slightly.

Enjoy!

Overview of Phase 1 and Foods to Avoid

Your first 30 days on Isagenix are called Phase 1.


Phase 1 is a detox period that will balance out your body.  This first phase is prepping your body for aggressive cleansing and you will drop a significant amount of pounds and inches!



During Phase 1:  Cut out SUGARS and CARBS


For best results you will go without any sugars, grains, or flours.  
This also means no breads (even whole wheat), rice (even brown), pasta, potatoes, corn, peas or any other starchy item.  These can create cravings. 


The Sugar Rule:  
Sugar, in any of its forms, must be listed fifth or lower in the ingredients list to qualify for use in our eating plan.  Since flour and saliva combine to form a simple sugar, we also use the sugar rule when it comes to dealing with flour. In other words, flour - any kind of flour - must be fifth or lower on a product's list of ingredients.


WHY do you want to leave these foods out for your first 30 days?  Because it gives your pancreas a chance to heal and it redirects your body's pathway of energy towards burning your body's FAT for fuel instead of the carbs you'd eat!



Four things that happen during Phase 1:
  1) You reset your Metabolism to burn fat!
  2)You nourish every cell in your body!
  3)You alkalize your system!
  4)And you activate the cleansing process!


You can learn more about Team Abundance's 3-Phase System here or sign up with Isagenix here.


This 3-Phase program was developed by Nutritionist RaQuett Stroud.