Sesame Seeds

Delicious Summer Soup (Hot or Cold)

Genevieve Leave a comment
Summer Soup... Yummy!

Summer Soup… Yummy!

I love summer time with all the fresh veggies and farmers markets. I am super lucky that there is a local farmers market, Cannon Beach Farmers Market. I do a CSA (community supported agriculture) box with Kingfisher Farms and get an abundance of local, organic goodies. This is a soup made from those treasures…

Delicious Summer Soup (serve hot or cold)

  • 2-3 large tomatoes
  • 1 red pepper
  • 1 zucchini
  • 1/4 cup raw sesame seeds (could substitute with cashews, hemp seed, sunflower seed, etc.)
  • 2-3 cups of water (more or less depending on how creamy you like it)
  • salt to taste (I actually used liquid aminos because I prefer the taste)
  • chipotle (just a dash… more if you like it spicy)
  • 3-4 cups chopped greens: kale, chard, arugala (whatever yummy greens you have on hand)
  • 1/4 cup finely chopped onion or chives

Blend the tomatoes, red pepper, zucchini, sesame seeds and water in blender until smooth and creamy. Then add salt and chipotle to taste. You can heat this up if you would like or just super chop the greens and onion, add to the soup and serve… Enjoy!!!

Loving the Falafel

Genevieve Leave a comment
Baked Falafel (coated in flax meal) with Tabouli

Baked Falafel (coated in flax meal) with Tabouli

Last week we had another great Creative Healthy Cooking Class… the theme was Lebanese cuisine, and WOW was it delicious!!! We made baked and lightly sautéed falafel balls. The baked ones (that look fried) are actually covered in freshly ground flax meal to really up the nutritional profile… not that the dinner needed it with all that parsley. We also made tabouli, tahini sauce (with unhulled sesame seeds to maximize the calcium content), and of course hummus.

Falafel (serves 4)

  • 2 cups garbanzo beans (sprouted first, then cooked 10 minutes)
  • 2-3 garlic cloves
  • ¼ small onion (chopped)
  • 1 cup fresh parsley (chopped)
  • 1 teaspoon cumin
  • 1 teaspoon coriander
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 4 TBS flax seed

Grind the flax seed to make flax meal and set aside. Then add all other ingredients into a food processor and blend until uniform in consistency. Should be able to form mixture into balls (slightly larger than golf ball size). Then take flax mixture to coat the outside of falafel balls and bake in oven at 350 for 15-20 minutes until crispy. Enjoy with tahini or in a sandwich, wrap or on top of a salad.

*Instead of baking you can also flatten balls slightly and sauté in coconut oil lightly on each side and enjoy! (Pictured below)

Tahini Sauce (serves 4)

  • 4 TBS sesame seeds (try to use unhulled)
  • juice of ½ lemon
  • ½ cup water
  • 1-2 garlic cloves
  • salt or liquid aminoes to taste

Blend ingredients together in blender until smooth consistency. Can add lemon zest for more lemony flavor as well. Makes a great salad dressing (if you add a little more water and vinegar) or use as a dip for veggies or to slather on steamed greens… delicious!!

Falafel lightly sauteed in coconut oil topped with tahini sauce

Falafel lightly sauteed in coconut oil topped with tahini sauce