Dinner from the garden: stuffed zucchini [vegan, gluten-free]

Though I can’t grow much on my balcony, I’m thankful that I have family willing to share the fruits (vegetables?) of their labour. I hiked the .3km to my sister’s this afternoon and snagged some zucchini as big as my thigh. Though some people don’t love the huge zucchinis, they are my favourite and I hate that I can’t find them in stores! So when my sister and my grandmother offer some up, I’m more than happy to take them.

Dinner was simple tonight, but so delicious I wanted to share.

Raw dinners this week

I’ve been enjoying about a 90% raw diet, with the exception of roasted almond butter as opposed to raw (just using up some that I have), a morning coffee with almond breeze, and the odd bit of tofu. The summery weather (today reaching a sunny, lightly breezy 25C or so) was a blessed welcome, and basking gratefully ensued.

I dehydrated some chard patties again, adding different spices with sage, caraway seeds, chilis, and some mushrooms, too. They were okay – I liked them atop a fresh tomato.

Along with it was a zucchini alfredo. The sauce was garlic, lemon, soaked pinenuts, and salt and pepper. I ended up putting in way too much garlic, so I mellowed it out with a load of fresh mushrooms. It was a great idea! I also added fresh Italian herbs.

Another day was a stirfry, with cauliflower rice. I made a dressing with a tahini, garlic, and fresh ginger. I wanted to keep this quite simple, although it was a few days ago so I don’t remember if I added anything else.

For the cauliflower rice,  I saved some of the dressing, did the cauliflower in the food processor, and then stirred in some of the dressing. This was also topped with black sesame seeds and hemp seeds. Veggies included broccoli sprouts, carrots, sugar snap peas, mushrooms, yellow bell peppers, red bell peppers, and green onions.

These, though, were by far my favourite; every experience I’ve had with dehydrating eggplant has been stellar – it’s one of my top dehydrated foods. After peeling and slicing it, I salted the eggplant and squeeze the life out of it after about 30 minutes, then marinated it in some olive oil and salt for a bit with a heavy dish on top of it.

The filling is pulsed almonds, mushrooms, garlic, red bell pepper, and a load of fresh basil in the processor. I folded them over and dehydrated about 4 hours.

Last night I decided to finally try sprouting  – the only thing I’ve never done – and started with quinoa. A success! For dinner, we enjoyed a salad with sprouted quinoa, kohlrabi, cherry tomatoes, green onions, a load of flat-leaf parsley, leaf lettuce, bell peppers, and hemp oil.