ONE WEEK RAW AND GLUTEN FREE - Day 7, Learn To Make Raw Meatballs On Zucchini Ribbon Pasta!

Raw walnut meatballs on ribbons of zucchini with tomato sauce

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DAY 7 OF "ONE WEEK RAW AND GLUTEN FREE"

Today is the 7th and last day of our "One Week Raw and Gluten Free" mini cleanse. But it doesn't have to be the end. If you want to extend it a few more weeks, just repeat the recipes you enjoyed during the week. In case you missed any of them, check out DAY 1, DAY 2, DAY 3, DAY 4, DAY 5 and DAY 6.


Today's menu includes:
Breakfast: Strawberry, pear and spinach smoothie
Snack: Leftover pear and apple crisp from last night's dessert
Lunch: Monster salad
Dinner: Raw meatballs on zucchini ribbon pasta
Dessert: Mango and mixed berries


Breakfast:
Strawberry, pear and spinach "green smoothie"
(New Recipe)
Raw Vegan, Gluten Free
[makes 2 servings - enjoy both throughout the morning]
1 1/2 cup frozen strawberries or strawberry tops *
1 large or 2 medium organic pears, cored
2 cups organic, baby spinach
1 tablespoon unrefined flaxseed oil
1 1/2 cups filtered water


Place all ingredients in a VitaMix blender and process until smooth.


Per serving: 190.8 calories, 7.0 g fat, 0.5 g saturated fat, 3.7 g omega 3 and 1.0 g omega 6 fatty acid, 0 mg cholesterol, 2.3 g protein, 35 g carbohydrates and 8.3 g dietary fiber. 

This green smoothie is high in fiber and omega 3 fatty acid.
Spinach contains lutein and zeaxanthin which may decrease the risk of age related macular degeneration.

* When I clean organic strawberries, I cut off the tops (which include a 1/2 inch of strawberry), freeze them and use them for smoothies.

Today's snack is leftover pear and apple crisp.
That is, if you didn't eat it all last night! It's sooo good!!

Lunch
One of the best things you can do for your health is to eat some sort of salad every day of your life. I'm not talking iceberg lettuce and thousand islands dressing. I'm talking about a HUGE MONSTER salad with as many veggies you can stuff in a bowl topped with more healthful goodies like nuts, seeds and fruit. Today's salad contains many of the leftover ingredients from the recipes we made this week:
red leaf lettuce,torn
baby spinach
daikon, thinly sliced 
carrots, thinly sliced 
cucumber, thinly sliced
orange bell pepper, thinly sliced
red onion, sliced
broccoli florets
avocado, sliced
raisins
hemp seeds
sunflower seeds
sesame seeds


For the dressing, I had leftover ginger tahini dipping sauce from DAY 6 which I thinned with some freshly squeezed lime juice and a little water. If you ran out, make a little more!
So fill your refrigerator with veggies and experiment with combinations for lunch or dinner each day!

Today's lunch is a MONSTER salad with many of the leftover veggies from this week's menus.

Dinner
Today we're going to make little raw meatballs. My poor Italian grandparents, were they alive, would think I was absolutely nuts! But these little guys, made from walnuts and other goodies, really taste meaty! 
We're also going to make a raw tomato sauce for our zucchini pasta.  When not on a raw cleanse, you can serve this delicious and healthy raw sauce mixed with hot pasta and the raw meatballs (at room temp) on top. They are too delicate to mix in or cook. 
I've posted this on the blog before (in fact it is one of the most "googled" recipes) but it's improved and changed a bit to make it gluten free. 


Raw Zucchini Ribbons with Walnut Meatballs and Tomato sauce
Old Blog Favorite - modified
Raw Vegan, Gluten Free
[makes 4 servings]
For the zucchini pasta
4 medium zucchini
Freshly ground black pepper
For the raw tomato sauce
1 clove garlic, peeled
1/3 cup sun dried tomatoes, soaked in filtered water for 1 hour, or until soft, and drained
1 Medjool date, pitted and soaked in filtered water for 1 hour and drained
1 cup ripe tomatoes, diced
4 kalamata olives
2 packed tablespoons fresh basil or 1 teaspoon dried
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
For the meatballs [makes 12 small meatballs, 3 per serving]
1 clove garlic
1 1/3 cup raw English walnuts soaked for several hours and rinsed
1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 teaspoons Bragg liquid aminos
1 teaspoon thinly sliced green onion, white part only
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh parsley, minced, plus extra for garnish


Make the zucchini ribbons by peeling the zucchini with a potato peeler, gradually rotating with each peel.
To make a thinner spaghetti, use a vegetable slicer. My favorite is Benriner. Wrap the ribbons or spaghetti in a paper towel until ready to use otherwise they will get watery when combined with the sauce.

Making the zucchini ribbons with a vegetable peeler.

You can make zucchini spaghetti by using a Benriner spiral vegetable slicer. Peel the zucchini first so it really looks like spaghetti!

To make the sauce, drop a clove of garlic in the chute of a food processor with an S blade while it's running. After it is minced, add the drained sun dried tomatoes and date along with the fresh tomatoes, olives, and the rest of the tomato sauce ingredients. Process until smooth, place in a small bowl and set aside.

Top with extra parsley and freshly ground black pepper and serve!

Wash and dry the food processor. 
To make the meatballs, drop a clove of garlic in the chute of the food processor while it's running.
After it is minced, add the walnuts, nutritional yeast, olive oil, lemon juice and Bragg liquid aminos and process until smooth, scraping down the sides when necessary. 
Place in a bowl and mix in green onion and parsley.
Form 12 small balls from the mixture, dip each one in tomato sauce to coat and set aside.
Mix the zucchini pasta in the desired amount of sauce. Serve onto 4 plates and top each with 3 sauce covered meatballs.
Garnish with parsley and freshly ground black pepper and serve immediately.

Tonight's dessert is diced mango and an assortment of fresh berries