Recipe of the Week - Acorn Squash Pizza Salad

Yes, this can happen. Just go with it. On our standard American diet weekends, we have been trying to keep the fare a little less "jolting" to our systems. I think it was my non-raw weekend that kicked me into a horrible cold all of last week! I even had to stay home from work! That never happens to me! Boo.

Well, luckily I was feeling better by Saturday to whip up some dinner to eat while watching Frontier House. Which, BTW, is an amazing series! Watch it and you'll be so glad/sad you live in the 21st century! Glad because we have tampons, sad because we don't even know who our neighbors are these days...

So this was a little pizza salad Shug and I have been grubbing on for quite some time...Try it, you'll get addicted!

Acorn Squash Pizza
Serves 4...or 2 depending on how grumbly your tummy is...
Ingredients:
One big ready-made pizza crust, Shug likes Boboli OR one gluten-free pizza crust mix
Tomato or pasta sauce, about 2 cups
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1 cup shredded of thinly sliced manchego cheese
4 T., sliced sun-dried tomatoes, we liked the packed in olive oil kind
4 cups mixed spring greens
1 acorn squash, cut in half and cleaned out
extra virgin olive oil
one fresh lemon
salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 350. Prepare your GF pizza mix according to the directions and let it rise if necessary. Cut the acorn squash into 1/2 inch half-moons and throw them on a cookie sheet that has been squirted with some of the extra virgin olive oil. Add some salt pepper and toss well, making sure all the pieces are well-coated. Place in the oven for about 20-30 minutes and get started on your pizza!

Throw the prepared crust or spread out your GF pizza dough and apply the tomato sauce liberally. Leave about an inch of room for a part of the pie you can grab on the outside edge. Sprinkle on the mozzarella and manchego evenly. Then add the sun-dried tomatoes on top. Add a little squirt of olive oil, salt and pepper. Put in the oven with the acorn squash and let it bake for about 15-20 minutes or until the crust is golden brown and the cheese is all melty and perfect!

When you can easily pierce the acorn squash slices with a fork, they are done. Remove from the oven and working quickly, take a spoon and separate the rind from the flesh. Your pizza should be finished by now so remove from the oven and throw the half-moons all over the pie. Cut the pie into desired pieces and plate them, then throw the greens on top of all the servings...be generous! Dress with a squirt of olive oil and lemon juice and a tad more salt and pepper. Try not to eat the whole pie.

Raw Recipe - Easy Peasy Cashew Cheese-Stuffed Anaheim Peppers

I know it's going to be difficult trying to avert your eyes from my ample bosom, but this iPhone shot was all we managed to take before we snarfed down our dinner! Before we embark on this cashew cheese journey together, I've got to tell you that eating raw has seriously improved my energy levels! My resolve to eat raw is only for the weekdays, so on the weekends I indulge in all the follies the Standard American Diet (SAD, haha) has to offer. I also had a tuneup on Monday and my blood work came back stellar, HDL, LDL, iron - the whole shebang was looking exemplary. Maybe I'm on to something with this partially raw insanity...

I will say Shug has NOT had the same effects from eating raw that I have enjoyed. Granted, he is eating only one meal a day raw, but he has complained of being tired and fatigued. He also pretty much hated the avocado bisque I made the other night, but the rest of the raw fare he thinks has been pretty tasty. So here's his fav so far...

Cashew Cheese-Stuffed Anaheim Peppers
Serves 4
Ingredients:
4 Anaheim chile peppers
4 T extra virgin olive oil
2 cups raw cashews
Juice of 2 lemons
3 cloves garlic, with the green shoot removed from the inside of each clove
1/2 t freshly ground black pepper
1 t sea salt
1/4 cup water

Cut the chiles in half and clean out all the membrane and seeds. Coat the inside and the outside with the 4 T olive oil. In your blender or food processor, blend the cashews, lemon juice, garlic, pepper, salt, and water until smooth. You may have to scrape the sides often, but don't give up until it's smooth! It's worth it! Your mixture should be thick. Once blended, spoon into the halved chiles and set on a bed of greens, spinach, cabbage, whatever! I like a lemon and olive oil dressing on top with a little more salt and pepper, or you can chop up some onion, tomato, cilantro and lime for a raw pico de gallo! Devour.

Raw Update

Well, it's been about a week with my foray into Rawsville and I've already hit a few road bumps. The major road bumps being nachos at Brewvies and BBQ at Holy Smokes, or to put it another way, dishes so vastly NOT raw they could be considered inedible by raw foodies everywhere. But, in my defense, that was my original plan. I was going to 80/20 eat raw...it's just that 20% was soooo not raw food (i.e. smoked, cheezed, sauced, charcoalized) I kind of feel like the goodness of my 80% raw was completely erased by these few heavenly infractions.

With new resolve, I'm going to eat an entire week of just raw food and see how I feel. I did notice a difference last week in my energy levels, but I'm going to attribute that to the placebo effect of just the action of doing something good for my body.

Here's a recipe I whipped up for my morning shake that is really good!

Morning Green Drink
2 cups filtered water
1 green tea bag
1 T goji berries, dried
1 T maca powder
1 T lucuma powder
1 T hempseed
1 t cocoa nibs
1 t bee pollen
a BIG handful of fresh spinach
a drizzle of raw agave nectar (optional, I like it without)

Microwave the water and tea for about 2 minutes, let it steep and cool off a little bit before throwing in the blender with all of the other ingredients. If you want to be sure it's not above 120 degrees, use a thermometer. Take the handle out of the top of the blender and use a dishtowel to cover, you don't want the warm liquid exploding out of the blender! If your blender's lid doesn't have that feature, just crack the lid generously, use a dishtowel, and start the speed of the blender off slowly. Blend until super mixed, since those goji berries and hemp seed need a little extra spin. Pour into a big mug and enjoy your healthy breakfast!

Raw.

Soooo, my schedule is super-jam-packed this semester and I'm already feeling tuckered out.

Shug and I had a sweet little six day reprieve known as a honeymoon in some parts of the world just three weeks ago. Shug, the good sport that he is, agreed to a truncated trip in exchange for a real-deal honeymoon to Europe next summer. Now that we've been back and pummeled by real life, I realize how wise he was to want the real-deal following our wedding. I'm still utterly exhausted.

In my anxiety-induced insomnia, I was perusing the interweb for energizing tips and ideas. Being a barista, I already have access to inhumane amounts of caffeine...which I've been consuming for the whole of my young life. Coffee just doesn't WORK anymore, and yes, I know that I'm addicted.

I decided to up the heath ante, if you will. While black coffee has a few benefits to stave off Ahlzeimer's and stain your teeth, I needed something that was actually healthy and energy-sustaining.

Enter the Raw Food way of life.

Now before you freak out and think that I'm going to subsist on lettuce and wheat grass, let me allay your fears. I'm planning on doing an 80/20 split of raw food, mainly for brekkie and lunch, while eating normal people food for dinner. I'm still going to drink the copious amounts of coffee and red wine that has sustained me thus far. I will not be a super-weird fanatic that throws out her microwave in hopes that it will shed a few pounds...because I don't want to lose a few pounds, I just want to not fall asleep in class.

I'll keep you posted on the results. I think I may have even talked Shug into being on board for 20% of the time!