What is better than a weekend in the summertime – they fit perfectly.  Time to relax and rejuvenate. Talking about feeling rejuvenated – that is exactly how I feel after a week on plant food!

We are taking it slow this morning, sleeping in and then a good run. Later, I potted about in the kitchen preparing brunch, while the rest of the house slowly got going.

Today’s brunch is inspired by one that I had in one of my favorite restaurants in Vancouver, Cafe Medina. I love having brunch there, while slow jazz fills the room and sunshine beams through the windows. Service is fabulous and the food is divine!!

They do a great brunch and one of them is a plate of Baba Ganoush, Tabouli and tzatziki – served with little crisp breads. I love this combination!

So, for brunch this morning in the garden with the family under the parasol, we enjoyed Baba Ganoush, Tabouli, fennel marinated cucumber and a little hot pomme rosti with mushrooms and thyme.

Brunch

Baba Ganoush, tabouli,  fennel marinated cucumber salad served with a little hot pomme rosti with mushrooms and thyme

Baba Ganoush:

2 medium-sized eggplants

2 tablespoons of tahini

lemon juice

sea salt

1/2 teaspoon of ground cumin

2 tablespoons olive oil

Bake the eggplants in the oven till they are completely soft – leave them to cool. When they are cool cut them in half and scrape out the soft middle and put it in the blender. Add tahini, olive oil, freshly squeezed lemon juice, sea salt and cumin. Blend into smooth consistency. Keep it cool while preparing the other dishes.

Pomme Rosti with mushrooms and Thyme:

5 medium size potatoes – I used yellow potatoes

15 brown mushrooms

one onion

fresh thyme

salt and pepper

Clean and chop the mushrooms. Fry them until they are golden brown, season with salt and pepper. Put them in a bowl and then chop the onions and fry them till they are slightly brown, season with salt and pepper.

Peel the potatoes and grate them roughly – add the grated potatoes to the bowl of onions and fried mushrooms – mix well and season to taste with salt and pepper then add some finely chopped fresh thyme.

Mix it all really well – now take a handful of the wet mixture and squeeze out water forming a little “cake” – you have to squeeze hard, but gently while you are forming the potato rosti. Put them carefully on a board – when you have formed all the rosti – heat the frying pan with olive oil and brown them gently on either side. They are quite fragile while raw so be gentle with them. Put them in a baking tray and finish them off in the oven at 350F for about 45min -1 hr

Tabouli

1/2 cup of cooked bulgur

4 tomatoes

1/2 red onion

one bunch of big leafed parsley

one bunch of fresh mint

freshly squeezed lemon

3 tablespoons of olive oil

salt and pepper

In a bowl mix the cooked bulgur with finely chopped tomatoes, finely chopped red onion, finely chopped parsley and mint. Mix well and pour over a marinade made from the olive oil and the lemon juice. Mix and season with salt and freshly ground pepper.

Fennel marinated cucumber

1/2- 1 whole cucumber

sea salt

fennel seeds

Finely dice the cucumber, add sea salt and sprinkle with a little fennel seeds – I used about 1/2 teaspoon for 1/2 cucumber

Enjoy!

A shot of greens

Delicious cool juice made from a bunch of red chard from the garden, 5 apples and 1 lemon

Dinner

This dinner is from a previous post – a raw food lasagne – It has become a favorite of ours and I think it makes a perfect end to the Plant-wild week.

Lively lovely Lasagne

I LOVE lasagne – just like Garfield! I love it!

However, this version is 100% plant based, raw and delicious – full of goodness but as it has not been cooked, the nutrients and enzymes have not been destroyed.  It is so healthy you feel satisfied and totally energized after eating it – AND no greasy pans to wash afterwards!

You know when you eat regular lasagne all you want to do afterwards is get the dishwasher started and head for the couch – heavy and tired. After eating this version, you want to go and play soccer with the kids in the garden 🙂 or go for an evening run. You can really feel the difference! This has now become our favorite and we love it so much we actually prefer it over the traditional lasagne.

Now to the recipe:

The “pasta” is zucchini thinly sliced  lengthwise.

The pasta sauce is made from fresh ripe tomatoes, fresh herbs and sun dried tomatoes, like this:

4 big ripe tomatoes.

6 sun dried tomatoes

A small bunch of fresh basil

1 clove of garlic

1/4 red pepper

Oregano fresh if you have it, otherwise dried

Sea salt

Freshly grounded pepper

Add it all to the blender and blend well. This sauce is so fresh and tasty that it beats any cooked tomato sauce!

“Cheese” Sauce

Soak 1 cup of raw natural cashew nuts in water for at least a couple of hours

Drain and blend it smoothe with

3/4 cup filtered water

2 table spoons of olive oil

1 table spoon nutritional yeast

1 clove of garlic

Sea salt

Marinate brown mushrooms with a couple of tablespoons Braggs and a dash of olive oil.

On top of the sliced zucchini add some fresh spinach

then mushrooms

and tomato sauce and “cheese” sauce like this

On top of this, you should add some more slices of “pasta” zucchini, a bit more spinach and slices of avocado. Finish the dish of with “cheese” sauce and tomato sauce.

ENJOY 🙂