Anybody Want A Date?

Before you all run screaming in the other direction...I don't mean THAT kind of date!  I speak of course of the luscious, sweet little morsels of goodness...the Medjool Date.  Nature's candy.  I had quite the full schedule today so I only got three dishes made but three is better than none right?

For some strange reason, my eyelids went up like a roll shade at 5 am this morning and I couldn't go back to sleep.  If I were not already perfectly gorgeous I'd be concerned about the lack of beauty sleep!  My pledge to stick to raw juices and raw foods is going well but as an aside, I've always had trouble sleeping before the witching hour (usually long past).  Despite that, I generally wake up before 7 am.  Maybe its all this raw juce.  I feel like Jack LaLane...full of vitality.  Maybe I am evolving to a point where sleep is not necessary to my species?

In any event, here I sat at my desk pecking away at recipes while it was pitch black outside.  My husband's snores carrying from the other room sounded like a gorilla giving birth in the morning stillness.  Clearly, the carnivore has no issues with sleep! 

So, I started my day with just some straight orange juice from two huge navel oranges making a trip through my juicer.  There is NOTHING like it.  By the way, always cut off the colored rind before juicing citrus.  It's full of very stringent, bitter oils and will ruin the flavor of your juice.  Don't however, remove the pith.  I know that's weird because when you zest an orange or lemon you try to AVOID the pith but when you juice it, it makes the juice thick and creamy and there is not bitterness whatsoever.

About 10 am I popped the top on a tetra pack of coconut water and then juiced up some carrot, apple and Kale.  A friend of mine made the comment that her kids love it when she juices carrot and apple...they call it CRAPPLE.  I was wondering what you get when you add Kale to Crapple?  Maybe some questions are best left unanswered.

I had an appointment at 12:30 and I knew I'd be ravenous by the time I got home so I opened the vegetable bin and basically ran one of everything in there through the juicer.  Wow...the color of red bell pepper juice is so red that no matter what else you throw in there, the drink is still red.  I kind of made my own V-8...oops I guess I can't say that.  I'll call it my own Eight Veg cocktail;  red pepper, celery, cuke, parsley, carrot, kale, green beans and something else that I've forgotten...with a couple of slices of peeled lemon.  It was delicious.

I got home from my appointment around 2 and went to work straight away.  First, was my delicious and alkalizing Avocado, Cucumber and Parsley Soup.

This soup is served chilled and the texture is indescribable...it just melts on your tongue.

It is so simple to make.  Juice one huge handful of parsley with half an organic english cucumber (peel on) and a couple of slices of peeled lemon.  If you don't have a cup of juice add enough purified water to equal 1 cup.  Pour this mixture into the blender and add one ripe pitted and peeled Haas avocado.  Puree until smooth.  Season with sea salt and black pepper to taste.  I garnish mine with some diced seeded Roma Tomato.  It's fab!

From there I moved on to an arugula salad with tomatoes and onion, dressed simply with some homemade lemon tahini dressing.  I decided that I needed a little dessert and a pantry raid yielded dates, dried cranberries, dehydrated unsweetened coconut and raw chocolate nibs.  In the freezer I found almond meal, raw almonds.  This all went into my food processor and was ground until completely chopped and mixture was sticky enough to form into balls. 

You would use:

8-10 pitted medjool dates

1/2 cup dried organic cranberries

1/3 cup dried organic unsweetened coconut flakes

1/3 cup raw cacoa nibs (raw chocolate)

1/4 cup raw almond meal

1/4 cup raw almonds

Process until thoroughly blended.  Form into 18 (tablespoon sized) balls and store in fridge if you don't eat them all first!

Nature's own candy!

You can add flax meal or chia seeds to these to boost the protein and add more nutrients.

Lastly, I needed to finish my Wheatberry Pate' which I was reluctant to do since I know that I could easily eat the entire batch.  I started to talk about that a little yesterday but didn't give you the amounts.

Soak 1/2 cup of hard winter wheat berries overnight in purified water.  In the morning, drain the water and rinse the wheat.  Place it in a covered 1 quart sauce pot and cover with more fresh water.  Bring to a boil and simmer covered for about 1 1/2-2 hours for this amount of wheat.  Drain and cool.

To make the Wheatberry Pate:

Add the cooked wheat to the food processor with 6-8 pitted Medjool dates, 1/2 cup dried cherries, 1 cup of raw walnuts and a generous grating of fresh nutmeg.  Process until mixture becomes a thick paste.  Transfer to a container and refrigerate until ready to serve.  We have ours with apple or pear slices but you can eat this just as it is. 

I know it looks like a blob of goo...but its just ridiculously delicious and HARD to back away from once you get started.

These are crisp organic Fuji apples and they taste like ambrosia!

Now, its time for me to think about what I'm juicing for dinner.  The carnivore is at his weekly ritual of male bonding and blantant display of gross manliness (dart tournament) so I don't have to roast some poor slain animal tonight. 

Just a little sump'n sump'n to make you smile (at least it did me), I came across a Far Side quote that I loved the other day.  This was written by the Far Side humorist, Gary Larson. 

"When their numbers had diminished from 50 to 8...the other dwarves began to suspect HUNGRY...."

What can I say...I'm slightly bent!

(c) copyright Jill Anderson

The Homegrown Gourmet