Fun with wool and food

Mathilde loves to card wool, so we decided to get some needle felting going this morning since it was rainy outside.

Mathilde adore carder de la laine, alors nous avons décidé de feutrer à l'aiguille ce matin comme il pleuvait dehors.






:: Aïsha wanted to sew her needle felted butterly on her doll's sweater ::
:: Aïsha voulait coudre son papillon feutré sur le chandail de sa poupée ::


:: Mathilde's butterfly and my ladybug ::
:: Le papillon de Mathilde et ma coccinelle ::


And more raw food recipes that we enjoyed:

Et d'autres recettes crues que nous avons aimées :




Zucchini Roll-ups
www.rawfoodcelebrations.com

1/2 zucchini per person
Pate du Soleil (enough to lightly cover each slice)

Pate Du Soleil
3 cups hulled sunflower seeds, soaked 8-12 hours, sprouted 2-4 hours
1 cup lemon juice
2 red capsicums/peppers, roughly chopped
4 scallions (green onions), roughly chopped
1/2 small onion roughly chopped
1/2 cup raw tahini
2 tablespoons nama shoyu or other salty product
8 tablespoons coarsely chopped parsley
2-3 medium cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (I use less)

1. Soak sunflower seeds overnight. Drain.

2. Allow to sit out on counter for 2-4 hours (but no longer, if you are not ready to continue with recipe, rinse, drain and refrigerate to slow the sprouting process).

3. Rinse and drain.

4. If you have a large enough food processor just put all the ingredients in it, and run until pate is quite smooth.

5. Taste, adjust seasonings. The garlic flavor will develop and become stronger in a few hours.

Notes:
This pate can be made with nuts or a combination of seeds and nuts; when you make it with all sunflower seeds it will keep for a week or more in the refrigerator.

Assembly:
1. Thinly slice room temperature zucchini the long way using a mandolin on the thinnest setting. It is difficult to slice this thinly using a knife, but if you don't have a mandolin or other type of slicer, be sure your knife is very sharp and slice as thinly as possible.

2. Spread a thin layer of pate on each zucchini slice and place on dehydrator mesh tray.

3. Run the dehydrator and when the zucchinis are soft and flexible (2-4 hours) take the trays out and roll up the zucchini. You may have to hold them together with a toothpick.

4. Remove enough trays so roll-ups will fit back in to the dehydrator and dry until zucchinis are hard.

5. This could take as long as 24 hours. These will keep for some time.

6. Serve on a tray. They are so delicious just try to keep your guests from eating too many! Before they know it they will have eaten two zucchinis and 1⁄4 cup of pate before the meal even begins!

Notes:
Carmella:If you're using a mandoline, I'd recommend slicing the zucchinis in half length-wise first. You'll get nicer and more uniform slices that way. If you happen to leave your slices a tad too long in the dehydrator and find them hard to roll up, simply spray them from underneath with a little water, allow to soften up and proceed.




I have to say that I was a bit suspicious about making raw hummus since I learnt almost 10 years ago when I worked in a naturopathic center in France that sprouted legumes had to be cook to be digestible and good for you. This recipe is great (but go easy of the dates, mine was too sweet, and I also added lots of cumin which was great), but my belly is not happy. No more raw sprouted legumes for me!

Je dois dire que j'étais un peu sceptique de faire de l'hummus cru étant donné que j'avais appris, il y a presque 10 ans quand je travaillais dans un centre de naturopathie en France, que les légumineuses germées devaient être consommées légèrement cuites pour être digestes et saines pour nous. Cette recette est délicieuse (mais allez-y doucement sur les dattes, mon hummus était trop sucré, et j'ai aussi ajouté du cumin, délicieux!), mais mon bedon n'est pas très heureux en ce moment. Plus de légumineuses germées crues pour moi!

REAL HUMMUS
Contributed by ofek
http://www.goneraw.com/recipes/2247-Real-Hummus

if i was a capitalist – this recipe would be “for sale” only! i tried many raw hummus recipes that looked a little like hummus, tasted nothing like it, and didn’t taste good either! that raw beany flavor was simply too much! now, after many years of tweaking and improvements.. i give you: REAL HUMMUS. i am in palestine, one of the hummus havens of the world.. and people who are hummus addicts, taste this hummus and say it is simply the best hummus they ever tasted. so beware!

Ingredients
1 cup chickpeas
1 cup whole sesame seeds
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 lemons
3 cloves garlic
3 medium dates (or one big madjool)
1 slice jalapeno (about half a thumb)
1 teaspoon celtic sea salt

Preparation

the evening before
chickpeas can drink a lot – so don’t be cheap on the water… put them in a big bowl with 5 cups of water at least.

the next morning
(or 12 hours later at least). the sesame don’t swell as much – soak them in a different bowl with 3 cups of water. drain the chickpeas and place on a strainer to sprout.

in the evening
(up to 12 hours later, i find that chickpeas taste best when they are minimally sprouted) we are now going to mush it all!! fun!! prepare all the ingredients first for suspense. pit the dates peel the garlic strain the sesame seeds

the electricity-free route
juice the 2 lemons cut the pepper real small mush the garlic and dates in garlic press grind the celtic sea salt in a mortar and pestle using a manual metal flour grinder (not a meat grinder – but more like the corn grinders they use in mexico to make tortillas, you can but these on the next for less than $50 and in mexico for cheaper) – grind the soaked sesame and the sprouted chickpeas to a paste. mix all ingredients in a bowl until smooth and consistent.

the electricity-dependent route
(use vitamix or other good blender) peel and depit the lemons put all ingredients except chickpeas in blender blend with tamper until smooth empty almost the whole paste into a bowl (you now have excellent tahini paste!) put chickpeas in, blend with tamper until smooth. empty into bowl. mix all ingredients in a bowl until consistent.

Serve with slices of cucumbers. Delicious!

Déjà vu? Yes, but this is another kale recipe: the Doritos kale! AMAZING! I used much less chili powder (about 1/2 tsp and much less cayenne, be careful with the cayenne, especially if you want to use this sauce to dehydrate veggies, it gets more concentrated!)

CHEEZY HEMP NACHO SAUCE
By Kristen Suzanne of KristensRaw.com
Yield approximately 1 1/2 cups

1/3 cup water
1 clove garlic
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 red bell pepper, seeded, rough chopped (approximately 1 cup)
1 cup hemp seeds
2 1/2 tablespoons nutritional yeast flakes
1 tablespoon chili powder*
2 teaspoons tamari, wheat-free
1/2 teaspoon Himalayan crystal salt
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/8 teaspoon turmeric powder

Blend all of the ingredients in a blender until smooth and creamy. This can be stored in the refrigerator for 4-5 days.

*My favorite is by Simply Organic

Serving suggestions:
· Use this for dipping fresh veggies or corn chips (Raw or not - it's up to you!)
· For those eating cooked vegan foods, this is an awesome sauce on top of veggie burgers
· This also makes a delicious Raw vegan dressing on a hearty salad with romaine lettuce, chopped tomatoes, and cucumbers. You could even sprinkle on some Raw vegan taco meat and Fun Corn Chips for a tortilla type salad.