Lemon Heaven

When you weren’t looking, I snuck off to southern Italy. The trip was filled with sun, sea, and of course, food. But being someone with an aversion to white flour, dairy and meat, finding appropriate cuisine for me was, challenging to say the least.
A swathe of gelato may have graced my lips on occasion (when in Rome…), but on account of it making me feel less than perfect, I went in search of something less rich. Lo and behold, the granita stand appeared, a holy, lemony light falling upon it. Related to sorbet and Italian ice, granita has a more crystalline texture. This is largely the result of different freezing techniques: the smoother types of frozen desserts are produced in a gelato machine, while the coarser varieties, like granitas, are frozen with only occasional agitation, then scraped or shaved to produce separated crystals. This is good news for those of us who only have a freezer and a fork!
Granita stands are everywhere in Naples, and each serves delicious slushy-ice in a myriad of fruit flavours. My favorite, and the most traditional, was the lemon. So refreshing and with a sweet, but tangy bite…oooh! It’s amazing how such a simple combination of water, juice and sugar can produce such delicious results – so much more than the sum of its parts.

When I got home, I set off to make my own granita, except a healthier version without using processed sugar. If you recall back to post on sugar alternatives, you may remember a delectable little nectar called agave, with a taste similar to honey, but without the blood sugar rollercoaster effects. Agave is perfect in this recipe because it is so viscous, and easily dissolves into the lemon juice and water mixture. It adds a light sweetness, which balances out the sour lemon, but doesn’t overpower. And if lemon isn’t your thing, try using other flavours like orange, strawberry, blackberry, or even coffee. Light and refreshing, this dessert is my idea of the perfect end to a summer’s meal.




Lemon Granita
Ingredients:
2 cups water
1 cup lemon juice (about 6 medium lemons)
½ cup agave nectar
½ teaspoon sea salt

Directions:
1. Combine water, lemon juice, agave nectar and sea salt in a blender.
2. Pour mixture into a 13 x 9 inch baking dish. Freeze overnight.
3. Scrape the frozen mixture with a fork until all the frozen pieces are broken into small shavings.

You can serve the granita very frozen, which will appear more like ice crystals, or you can let it thaw slightly to create more of a slush. Either way, you will fall in love with its tangy brightness and refreshing finish. Ciao, bella!

Gluten-Free Millet Buckwheat Wraps

Gluten-free wraps- an easy recipe with millet and buckwheat flours.

What's keeping us fortified during our transition from the wild desert of northern New Mexico to the cool big blue of the Pacific? In a word, wraps. We're munching Lime Quinoa Salads, leftover Veggie Garden Loaf, stir-fry veggies and quinoa, and sandwich fillings in these handy, tasty beauties. They sustained us as we whittled down our food supply, making both lunch and dinner easy as pie. I froze a dozen for the road, thinking that in a pinch, I could always buy a salad to stuff inside.

They're completely fabulous hot off the griddle. The best. I could scarf them down bare, without adornment. In fact, I started with a basic crepe recipe when I was developing this wrap recipe. Which is why they're pliable, tender and delicious. Unfortunately, they're also fragile after day one- a problem I am working on. But if you freeze them right away, snugging rounds of wax paper in between each wrap, they thaw easily and remain fresh enough- though slightly less flexible.

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Celery Soup with Ryeless Rye Croutons

A creamy celery soup that is dairy-free and gluten-free? Indeed.

By the time you read this new soup recipe, we'll be well on our way to Southern California. It will Monday, you see (it is Monday, right?). It will be bright and early. And we'll be waving our coffee fueled good-byes to piney Flagstaff, Arizona, the infamous gateway to the Grand Canyon (inspiration for Steve's movie) where we stayed overnight. We'll be up with the chickens, Honda packed with gluten-free treats, hitting Route 40 West for the second leg of the trip.

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A Vegan Basil Mint Parsley "Pesto"

A lip smacking raw vegan pesto. Yep. You heard me.

We're getting so close to our departure now I can taste it. The house is swept and cleaned, boxes and bags are packed. Anticipation is hanging in the desert air. You can almost hold it in your cupped open hands. The hardest part will be trying to sleep Saturday night. I told Steve, If it's 3 AM and we're lying side by side in the dark listening to the whir of the ceiling fan, just waiting, can we get up and go? Why not? he responded.

This earned him some extra bonus points.

Not that he needs any. His bonus point status is pretty high to begin with these days. We've had an exciting week. I'm so proud of him. His first script sale, an independent movie titled The Canyon just released its first trailer. If you'd like to catch a sneak peek at the movie, see The Canyon trailer here. You'll see why I fell in love with Yvonne Strahovski and Will Patton when we visited the set.

So what does all this California dreamin' taste like? I decided it tastes like basil and mint with a bite of parsley. 

Green. Earthy. Alive.

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Strawberry Sunrise

Good morning, gorgeous!
What better way to start your day than with a glass full of fresh, strawberry beauty? This is what I woke up to this morning and it was so delicious. With strawberries now in season, the time has come to worship their mouth-watering deliciousness with a drink fit to raise to the rising sun!

Strawberries compliment just about everything. Stars in salads, beauties in baked goods, decadent in desserts, but because they love being the center of attention, I tend to eat strawberries on their own or blend them up with just a few mild-tasting friends. This smoothie is a perfect example of that: sweet, yet mellow flavours serve to enhance the juicy, red ripeness that only summer berries bring! This combination of power-house foods and flavours is sure to wake you up and give you the kick-start you need to go play in the park, or jump in the lake, or fly a kite. Hey, it’s summer – and having fun requires lots of healthy energy!
To receive the most nutrition from your nuts, make sure to soak them overnight. Can’t remember why? Make sure to read my previous post on soaking nuts!

Strawberry Sunrise Smoothie
Ingredients:
15 soaked organic almonds - protein to maintain health hair, skin and nails, magnesium to build and strengthen bones, vitamin E to protect your delicate skin form ultraviolet light.

1 cup filtered water (or freshly squeezed orange or apple juice)

2 dates, washed and pitted - with fiber to scrub your whole digestive system clean, relatively low in calories, but high in natural sugars for quick-delivered energy.

1 cup organic strawberries, fresh (if possible!) or frozen, destemmed - vitamin C to protect cells from free-radical damage, cancer-fighting ellagic acid, manganese to keep your bones strong and healthy.

1 ripe banana, peeled, and broken into 2-inch pieces – potassium to help lower your risk of high blood pressure, pectin to help normalize movement through the digestive tract.

splash of fresh lemon juice (optional) – vitamin C to regenerate your vitamin E supplies and improve iron absorption, limonoids to help fight cancers of the mouth, skin, lung, breast, stomach and colon.

Directions:
1. In a blender, place the almonds, and process for 30 seconds to finely chop.
2. Scrape down the sides of the blender container, add the water (or juice) and dates, and process for 1 minute.
3. Add the remaining ingredients and process an additional 1-2 minutes or until smooth and creamy. Serve immediately.

This recipe also makes delicious popsicles! Just double or triple the smoothie recipe depending on the amount and size of your popsicle molds, pour liquid in molds and freeze overnight. Now your covered in strawberry from sunrise to sunset! How sweet is that?

Roasted Sicilian Potatoes

Roasted potato love- Italian style.

Here's an easy summer side dish recipe you can bake or grill in foil packets. It's an intuitive toss-together combo of potatoes, onion, garlic, tomatoes, olives and raisins--- with some hot pepper flakes thrown in to kick it up Sicilian style. I don't even know where the inspiration came from.

It all started with cleaning out the pantry.

We're leaving on our long pined-for road trip next Sunday (can you say, Stoked, Babycakes?). I've been trying to use up the remaining lonely bits of our fresh ingredients and whittle down our stash of friendly staples. I'm determined to scour the cupboards bare. One way or another. I'm leaving no can of fire roasted tomatoes behind. Or bags of organic popcorn. Whatever is left standing next Saturday night? It's all coming with me. Because deep in the cockles of my private tiny girl heart, I am not coming back. Nope. Not even to say good-bye.

So if you spy a black Honda Fit humming its little heart out, streaking across the Southwestern desert on its journey to Los Angeles stuffed with homebaked vegan goodies (translation: Strawberry Rhubarb Muffins, Gluten-Free Ryeless Rye Bread, Chocolate Pecan Brownies, Lime Quinoa Salad with Mint, Two Potato Salad) and gluten-free comestibles (translation: several pounds of rice pasta, three boxes of quinoa, two sacks each of millet flour, sorghum flour, and tapioca starch, five jars of sugar-free organic preserves, one unopened bottle of Annie's ketchup, a shoebox packed with a baker's dozen bottles of dried herbs, sea salt, cumin and sesame seeds), well.

That would be, me.

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Quinoa Recipe with Summer Vegetable Stir-Fry

Delicious quinoa stir-fry with summer vegetables.

Trying to find a Los Angeles sublet for the summer- within our budget- is as slippery and twisted as charting Madonna's romantic liaisons post Guy Ritchie. It's a serpentine endeavor, this whole reading between the lines thing, deciphering what is true and what is only mostly true. It's all those key buzz words peppering Craig's List and Westside Rentals. "Convenient to the 10" can mean the eastern bedroom window sucks in freeway exhaust during rush hour. "Pet friendly" might translate to everyone in the building works all day and leaves their poor pooches to yap and woof until the cows come home. Which, as we all know, in LA is after sushi and mojitos.

"Cozy studio" can mean cute and comfy or it can mean as cramped and tight as a walk-in closet. Not Madonna's closet(s). I'm sure hers are bi-coastal and coordinated by era, each epoch's collection larger than our entire casita. We're talking my closet here. The five foot black hole currently crammed with winter parkas, too many mismatched socks to count, and the book-filled boxes I'm storing for this alleged, yet-to-materialize summer getaway.

And the price for the privilege of said 150 square feet of space in Venice Beach?

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