Raw Food at Oryana

My sister is working at Oryana in Traverse City. She has long been interested in the relationship between food and health, so working at Oryana is a great fit. Oryana is a food co-op that consistently provides quality food to the community. It's an amazing store that reminds me of a smaller, better version of Whole Foods.

There's a lot going on in this store and all of it is good. They pride themselves on featuring local products some of which include produce, chocolate, wine, and bread.  There's a restaurant that serves up anything from smoothies to sandwiches and when you visit you may find yourself happily listening to live music as you sip your chai.

But back to my sister. She loves her job and its easy to see why. She demonstrates healthy, delicious meals featuring seasonal food while focusing on dishes that are easy to prepare. I visited recently with our mother and she was serving up a raw dish that could be made for lunch or dinner. It's a twist on pasta. You simply sub out the pasta for zucchini and end up with a raw, fresh, healthy, fun, good for you meal (her words). She found the recipe in the magazine,  "Whole Living,"  and it is so delicious I had to share.

Zucchini "Pasta"
Serves 2

8 ounces cherry tomatoes, sliced
1 clove garlic, thinly sliced
1/4 cup chopped raw walnuts
2 T torn fresh basil, plus leaves to garnish
2 T extra-virgin olive oil, plus more to drizzle
sea salt
1 zucchini, thinly sliced lengthwise, slices cut into 1/4 inch long strips

In a bowl, combine tomatoes, garlic, walnuts, basil and oil. Season with salt. Let stand 20 minutes. Toss with zucchini, garnish with basil and an extra drizzle of olive oil if desired.

This photo is from the Whole Living website.

Oryana - Natural Foods Market

Pasta Primavera

 

This recipe came to my attention courtesy of my beautiful daughter and her boyfriend. The two of them made this over the weekend and enjoyed it so much I received an email containing the recipe along with photos! They found it on the Food Network website from Giada De Laurentis (I've included the link below). My daughter said it was easy to make and fairly flavorful. Her other comments were that it was good either hot or cold, but she preferred it cold, so it sounds like a great lunch too. The recipe below is a copy of what appears on the website but I added the two notes, "minus tomatoes," and "great for the omni's in the house". Thanks Lo!!!

Pasta Primavera

Makes about 6 servings  

Ingredients

• 3 carrots, peeled and cut into thin strips
• 2 medium zucchini or 1 large zucchini, cut into thin strips
• 2 yellow squash, cut into thin strips
• 1 onion, thinly sliced
• 1 yellow bell pepper, cut into thin strips
• 1 red bell pepper, cut into thin strips
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon dried Italian herbs or herbes de Provence
• 1 pound farfalle (bowtie pasta)
• 15 cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan (great for the omni's in the house)

Directions

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

On a large heavy baking sheet, toss all of the vegetables (minus tomatoes) with the oil, salt, pepper, and dried herbs to coat. Transfer half of the vegetable mixture to another heavy large baking sheet and arrange evenly over the baking sheets. Bake until the carrots are tender and the vegetables begin to brown, stirring after the first 10 minutes, about 20 minutes total.

Meanwhile, cook the pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water until al dente, tender but still firm to the bite, about 8 minutes. Drain, reserving 1 cup of the cooking liquid.

Toss the pasta with the vegetable mixtures in a large bowl to combine. Toss with the cherry tomatoes and enough reserved cooking liquid to moisten. Season the pasta with salt and pepper, to taste. Sprinkle with the Parmesan and serve immediately.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/pasta-primavera-recipe/index.html

Ratatouille Appetizer

My husband and I went north for New Years Eve and spent it with family. My sister Kathy organized the celebration and did nearly all of the cooking. She's an amazing cook. She thinks of everything! So when I walked in to find a vegan appetizer, I wasn't surprised. As usual, it was fantastic.  I begged her for the recipe and she sent it on to share along with this note.

"Here is the recipe for the ratatouille! This is my tweaked version of a recipe from a newspaper insert. I can't remember which one! You can use it as a main vegan dish or do the appetizer. If doing the appetizer, you should still have leftover ratatouille. I think this would also be great served over pasta."

I cannot adequately express how beautiful this appetizer is to look at, and it's soooo delicious! Thank you Kathy!

Yummy over pasta too!

Ratatouille

  

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1/2 medium red onion, diced 

1 medium yellow bell pepper, diced

1 medium orange bell pepper, diced

1 medium zucchini, diced

1 medium yellow squash, diced

1/2 medium eggplant, diced (My sister used a bit less and left the eggplant unpeeled, but you could peel it if desired)

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 large ripe tomato, seeded and diced

1/2 t coarse salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

30 - 45 mini phyllo cups

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion, cook for 2 minutes. Add yellow and orange bell peppers and cook for another 2 minutes. Add zucchini, yellow squash and eggplant and cook for 2 more minutes. Add garlic, tomato, salt and pepper and cook for about 1 minute.

To make into an appetizer, spoon ratatouille into the mini phyllo cups and bake in a preheated 400 degree oven for about 8 minutes, or until heated through.

Roasted Squash with Pasta

Where is all the squash? Normally this time of year you can't run into someone without them offering up zucchini from their garden. Usually neighbors and co-workers are so overrun with summer squash they can’t bare it... and I always look forward to this overabundance.

I love the roasted flavors of squash so much I've been buying it to satisfy my cravings. Oh well... The following recipe is my latest creation. It's easy and yummy! I think you'll like it. Try it and let me know what you think.


Roasted Vegetables
1 large ripe tomato cored and sliced
2 lbs. zucchini and yellow summer squash, sliced
2 garlic cloves, minced
olive oil
salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Place the sliced squash in a large bowl and pour a little oil over the squash. Using your hands, toss the squash to coat with the oil. Lay the squash out on a sheet pan. Lay the tomatoes on the sheet pan and pour just  a little oil over the  tops of the tomatoes. Sprinkle the veggies with garlic, salt and pepper. Roast in the oven for 25 minutes.

Sauce:
2 Tablespoons olive oil
2 Tablespoons Earth Balance
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 shallot, diced
1 sprig fresh oregano
1 sprig fresh thyme
salt and pepper to taste
roasted vegetables and juices from the pan
one package of whole grain linguine

As the vegetables roast, boil the noodles as directed on the package. For the sauce, heat a large saute pan. Add the olive oil and Earth Balance warming until blended. Add the garlic, shallot, thyme and oregano to the pan. Saute until the shallot becomes translucent, about 5 minutes over medium low heat. Remove the sprigs of fresh herbs. Once the vegetables are done, add them to the saute pan with all the juices stirring until combined. Drain the pasta reserving some pasta water and add  the pasta to the saute pan mixing well. If the sauce needs more liquid, add enough pasta water or olive oil to achieve the desired consistency. Serve!