Garlic scapes are the curly stalks that develop on hard-necked variety of garlic plants. They are cut off when they start to curl to allow the developing bulb in the ground to grow bigger before harvest.

These edible stalks are tender, juicy and have an incredible garlic flavour that mellows with cooking.

Only available for a short period of time in late spring, it is rare to find fresh scapes in grocery stores. Look for them at farmer’s markets and fruit stands or plant your own.

This version of a pesto type spread is potent and a little goes a long ways. Since it makes approximately 2 cups, you can put half cup portions in the freezer for later use.

Use it on potatoes, rice, pasta and stir fry dishes; rub onto fish, chicken and veggies before grilling; also makes an unusual base sauce for pizza.

Almond & Garlic Scape Pasta is:
- Diabetic Friendly
- Detox Friendly
- Gluten Free
- High Fiber
- Vegan
- Vitamix Recipe

Ingredients
8 – 10 fresh garlic scapes
2/3 cup almonds, soaked and rinsed
1/2 – 3/4 cup olive oil
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp salt

Directions
1. Soak almonds for a couple of hours or over night. Rinse and drain.
2. Wash and cut the garlic scapes into manageable pieces.
3. Put 1/2 cup of olive oil and all other ingredients in the Vitamix (or food processor)
4. Pulse the Vitamix, using the plunger to push the ingredients into the blades.
5. Blend until smooth, adding extra olive oil if required to create the desired consistency.
Can be stored in fridge for up to a month or frozen in small quantities.

I love this time of year when the dandelions are in full bloom. Those ubiquitous yellow flowers are like little bright spots of sunnyness shining their light and love everywhere.

But even before the flowers appear, the green leaves can be found hiding amongst the grass. If you are lucky, like me, to have a dandelion graced lawn (rather than an uptight manicured lawn) then you have an endless supply of dandelion greens to put in your smoothie, salad, pesto, saag, stew, soup, wrap, sandwich and any other dish that requires greens.

Dandelion Greens are one of the best sources of beta-carotene and they supply high amounts of potassium, iron, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus and fibre, as well as many other trace minerals and nutrients.

In addition to their richness of nutrients, Dandelion Greens have both a tonic and cleansing action in the body, especially focusing their healing energy on the kidney and liver.

A food that is both tonic and cleansing might seem like a contradiction. To understand the tonic/cleansing concept better, think about what exercise does for your body. For example, when you exercise you sweat … which is cleansing … AND you build-up muscle tissue … which is toning. Dandelion, and other greens work in a similar fashion, they tone up the liver and kidney tissues while gently cleansing … without the sweat of a workout.

Just a handful of dandelion greens each day will provide you with amazing nutrients. If you want more of a cleansing detox action, slowly build up to taking 2 or 3 handfuls each day.

Lots of books will tell you that greens should be harvested early in the morning after the dew has dried. This is great advice, especially if you want to harvest a large amount of dandelion leaves at a time and store them in the fridge.

But don’t let that ‘rule’ get in the way of using the greens daily. With such an abundance in my yard I tend to use the “hey I should add some dandelion greens to this dish” harvesting method, and pick my greens as needed … regardless of the time of day.

If you use chemicals on your lawn … stop! Stop using chemicals so you can safely consume the dandelions.

Here’s a simple blender recipe to introduce you to Dandelion Greens as a food.

Dandelion Apple Drink

Dandelion Apple Drink is:
- vegan
- dairy free
- gluten free

Ingredients
½ apple
15-20 Dandelion leaves
2 cups water

Directions
1. Add all ingredients to blender and blend until smooth.
2. Serve over ice.

I’m in a juicing phase.

I go through phases … for several days, even weeks in a row, I’ll make green smoothies in my VitaMix. Then I start to get bored with the smoothies, so I’ll pull out my juicer and go through a juicing phase until I get tired of the little bit of extra work involved in juicing, and then I’ll back to making smoothies.

Sometimes I live a really wild life and have a smoothie for breakfast and juice for dinner … but I digress…

Right now that little bit of extra work is so worth it when I sip on my juice creations. I say ‘sip’ which is what I try to do … savour and enjoy every drop. But sometimes the flavour and enthusiasm of the liquid yum gets the better of me and I find myself gulping it back like I hadn’t had anything to drink for days.

That’s what happened with today’s juice. I fully intended to take a picture of the ingredients and the finished product to show you … but somehow I got lost in the creation and enjoyment of it all and before I knew it … all that was left of my experience was this empty glass and my body saying ‘thank you for the liquid yum.’

Liquid Yum is:
- Alkaline
- Diary Free
- Gluten Free
- Raw
- Vegan

Ingredients (for each person)
1 apple
3 stalks celery
¼ – ½ stalk broccoli
¼ – ½ bell pepper (red, yellow or orange)
¼ head romaine lettuce or 1 cup of leafy greens
2 ice cubes (if you like your juice chilled)

Directions
1. Wash all ingredients
2. Chop into appropriate sizes for your juicer
3. Put the ingredients through the juicer
4. Place the ice cubes in the juice while you clean the pulp out of the juicer (It’s much easier to clean a juicer immediately after using it, before the fibre bits have dried.)
5. Stir the juice and remove the ice
6. Pour into a glass and enjoy … sipping and gulping allowed

This fresh tasting dish is quick and easy to put together. The tomato and cucumbers have edible covers, so there is little waste … and it looks pretty too!

Tomato, Cucumber, Pine Nut Salad is:
- dairy free
- diabetic friendly
- raw
- vegan
- wheat free

Ingredients (per person)
1 ripe Tomato
¼ – ½ Long English Cucumber
¼ cup Pine Nuts
Olive Oil
Rice Wine Vinegar
Tarragon (or your favourite savoury herb)

Directions
1. Chop Tomato and Cucumber into bite size pieces
2. Place in bowl and sprinkle with equal amounts of Olive Oil and Rice Wine Vinegar
3. Add Pine Nuts and chopped fresh Tarragon
4. Toss together
5. Enjoy!

Its cold and flu season … just in case you hadn’t heard about it in the news … and I’m surrounded by people in various stages of sniffles and coughs, and plenty of people who have been down a few days and recovered.

With all this going on I’ve been thinking about how to fortify my immune system the low crap way.

So I started blending up a small clove of garlic with my morning smoothie.  I don’t do it every day …  just the days that I wake up with a little tickle in my throat (which is a sure sign my immune system is under serious strain.)

I’ve discovered over the years that when my body needs a garlic boost I am not bothered by the unpleasant smell normally associated with eating raw garlic. When I start to smell garlic coming through my skin, then I know that the garlic has done its job in fortifying my immune function and I won’t eat it for a few days.

If you really don’t like the taste of garlic in your smoothie (its actually quite subtle) then you can take deodorized garlic tablets (1 or 2 per day is plenty) and achieve the same results. Remember though, processed garlic tablets are not low crap … what with all the packaging and processing that goes on to make them.

Garlic is worthy food medicine to keep on hand. It has antibiotic and antiviral properties and it is excellent for both preventing and treating respiratory conditions such as colds and flu. While you are keeping away colds and flus you will also be doing your heart good as garlic will lower cholesterol. Be aware though that garlic is a natural blood thinner; so use caution if you have a bleeding disorder or are using pharmaceutical blood thinners.

Fresh raw garlic is truly low crap, self-packaged goodness.

Almond milk is easy to make at home … really!

When you make your own almond milk you avoid having to deal with the cartons, both lugging them home from the store, and sending them back to the recycler. And home made almond milk is much more economical than the commercially prepared brands, especially if you purchase almonds in bulk and store them in the freezer.

Another advantage of making your own almond milk, is you can sweeten it how you choose … or don’t sweeten it at all. And you can filter it or not. This flexability allows you to create almond milk to suit your particular need. For instance, if I am going to use the almond milk in a recipe that already contains sweetening ingredients, I make an unsweetened version. I make a sweetened almond milk to pour on my unsweetened breakfast cereal (usually cooked brown rice or quiona).

The only time I filter my almond milk is when I am going to drink it on its own.

It takes less than 5 minutes to make a full litre of almond milk that will keep in the fridge for several days.

Almond milk is
- low alkaline forming
- dairy free
- diabetic friendly
- gluten free
- raw
- vegan

Ingredients
1 cup raw almonds
4 cups filtered water

Optional Ingredients
Sweetener: 1-2 pitted dates OR 1 tbsp honey OR 1 tbsp maple syrup
Flavouring: pinch of sea salt, splash of vanilla extract or seeds from 1 vanilla bean, 1 tsp cinnamon, allspice or nutmeg
Enhancer: 1 tbsp organic coconut oil (adds richness to the finished product) 

Directions
1. Place almonds and water into high speed blender (Vita-mix works perfectly for this)
2. Blend on high for about 60 seconds
3. Decide what type of almond milk you want and follow the appropriate directions below.

For unsweetened, filtered milk:
- Pour it through a strainer or nut milk bag. The ‘pulp’ will keep in the fridge for several days, or can be dehydrated and ground up into almond flour. 
- Enjoy the milk as is, over ice, or added to recipes

For sweetened, filtered milk:
- Pour it through a strainer or nut milk bag. The ‘pulp’ will keep in the fridge for several days, or can be dehydrated and ground up into almond flour.
- Put the filtered ‘milk’ back in the blender
- Add your choosen sweeteners, flavourings and/or enhancer and blend for about 30 seconds. When using dates as a sweetener, you may need to blend a little longer to ensure the dates are completly broken down.
- Enjoy the milk as is, over ice, or added to recipes

For unsweetened, unfiltered milk:
- You’re done!
- Enjoy the milk as is, over ice, or added to recipes

For sweetened, unfiltered milk:
- Add your choosen sweeteners, flavourings and/or enhancer and blend for about 30 seconds. When using dates as a sweetener, you may need to blend a little longer to ensure the dates are completly broken down.
- Enjoy the milk as is, over ice, or added to recipes

I’m avoiding the stores today. Its too frustrating to see all those beautiful fresh berries packaged up in plastic baskets and bags. Tomorrow I’ll go to the Farmer’s Market to restock my fridge. At least there I can buy bulk fruit in cardboard boxes or fill up my own bags.

So instead of shopping for fresh fruit today, I decided to dig into my freezer and see what I could come up with for an afternoon treat. There wasn’t much there except frozen grapes and cranberries. That started me thinking about how refreshing the combined flavours of sweet and sour are.

Wow! Did I ever come up with a wonderful recipe! In fact it was so good that I didn’t want it to end … so I made a second batch …

Cranberry Grape Cooler is
- Dairy Free
- Gluten Free
- Raw

Ingredients
2 cups frozen grapes
½ cup frozen cranberries
1 tsp honey
Splash of Vanilla Extract
2 cups water
1-2 tsp Maca Powder (optional) Maca, the powdered root of a South American plant, is known as a ‘super food’ that provides a vital energy lift.

Directions
1. Put all ingredients in blender.
2. Blend on high until the cranberries are thoroughly broken down
3. Enjoy … in a wine glass of course

Today I’m taking a respite from the plastic insanity to bring you this raw food tidbit and low crap recipe.

Have you ever wished there was a way that you could get all the goodness of a big salad everyday without the fuss?

You wish is about to come true!

I’ve been doing some serious lurking in the online raw food movement for almost a year, experimenting on myself to see if eating raw food would make any type of significant difference in my health. The answer to that question is “absolutely”! And I will be blogging more about raw food in the future.

For today I want to tell you how you can ingest a full days worth of raw veggies and fruit in one sitting … without a fork. The way to do that is by making a blended salad, where all the salad ingredients, including the dressing, are blended up and served in a glass.

Sound gross? … only until you try it.

The trick is to put in one sweet fruit such as apple, pineapple, peach, etc and a little bit of something acidic such as lemon, lime or apple cider vinegar, and then go wild with the rest of the ingredients. I also like to include a clove of garlic for its health giving and protective properties.

Making a blended salad is much faster than making a regular salad because you don’t have to chop anything – the blender does all the work. Which also makes clean up a breeze. A quick rinse of the knife, cutting board and blender when your done, throw the produce trimmings in the compost and your good to go! Another great thing about blended salads is you can easily take them with you in a ‘go cup’.

Below are some guidelines for making a blended salad, but don’t be afraid to experiment with what you have on hand.

Ingredients
1-2 handfuls of leafy greens (spinach, beet greens, cilantro, lettuce, kale, chard, etc)
1 tomato
½ – 1 sweet pepper (red, green, or orange)
Cucumber (long English, field, etc)
1 clove garlic
½ – 1 cup sweet fruit (pineapple, apple, peach, mango, etc)
½ lemon or lime OR ½-1 tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar
½ – 1 cup Filtered water (depending on how thick you like your blended salad)
Optional: 1 or 2 pitted dates; ½ tbsp honey or maple syrup; ½ carrot; ½ beet; fresh peas or beans; fennel or celery stalks; other salad ingredients

Directions
1.Place all ingredients in blender
2.Blend until smooth. You may need to use the blender’s plunger.
3.Serve in a wine glass, over ice if you like your salad cold.

I’ve gone six days of my no-food-purchased-in-plastic experiment and I survived the weekend quite well, thanks in part to the fact that my fridge was well stocked when I started the experiment … and I ate a couple of meals at friend’s homes.

The only money I spent on food this weekend was to support my whole-milk-latte habit … neither organic nor particularly healthy … but always in a reusable mug.

I’m beginning to quite like that expensive mug I purchased a few days ago.

I did run into a plastic dilemma at a party Saturday night. There was tons of amazing home made food served on paper plates and only plastic forks available for use. I thought I had put a fork into my purse earlier in the day, but when I went to look for it, it was no where to be found. So I stuck to the finger food … actually I pretended everything was finger food and nobody seemed to care.

The week ahead should be interesting because I am almost out of a few ingredients that I like to have on hand that I have never seen sold in non-plastic containers. I’ll let you know how that goes.

And before I go, I’d like to tell you about something very cool that is happening in my kitchen as I type.

Earlier today I decided I would make hummus dip from scratch and started soaking the garbanzo beans (aka chickpeas) in water in a large pot. The beans had been soaking several hours when I returned home from running an errand. I sat down at my desk to write this post and kept hearing a popping sound coming from the kitchen. Puzzled, I went to investigate and sure enough it was the garbanzo beans popping away as they absorbed the water. They have swelled up so much that the pot is almost too small. Some of the beans have even started to sprout and they taste delicious … like fresh pea sprouts.

Right now the thought of cooking those popping beauties and turning them into hummus seems downright cruel. I think I’ll be having sprouted garbanzos for breakfast.

Quick, satisfying, easy cleanup. Raspberry Shake can also be frozen in popsicle molds for a nurishing cool off on a hot afternoon.

Raspberry Shake is:
- Low to medium alkaline forming depending on what nuts you use
- Diabetic Friendly
- Gluten Free
- High Fiber

Ingredients
½ cup raw nuts (macadamias, cashews, almonds or your favourite)
1 or 2 dates, pit removed
2 cups water
1 cup frozen raspberries or if you want to use fresh raspberries, add ½ cup of ice cubes
Splash of Vanilla extract (optional)
¼ inch fresh ginger root (optional)

Directions
1. Place nuts, dates, water, and fresh ginger root (if using) in blender and blend until smooth
2. Add raspberries and blend again until smooth and frothy
3. Enjoy!