Our First Raw Meal! Zucchini Pasta with Spinach & Tomato Cashew Cream Sauce

FINALLY!!

It’s only been a few weeks since I even began to learn about the world of eating a raw, living diet but I must say the benefits of doing so had me intrigued from the get-go.  My boyfriend initially signed up for a class that revolves around eating uncooked foods and quickly got me to join after, in which I was thrilled to start understanding and researching the rewards of consuming raw fruits, vegetables, nuts and sprouts.  Initially, it didn’t sound all that appetizing to me, but I have to admit our first meal was without a doubt, one of the MOST amazing meals I have ever enjoyed!

Before we share our recipe here’s a few perks to having a living foods diet:

• Raw foods maintain the nutrients, minerals and enzymes that are usually killed by cooking
• Cooking raw requires less preparation and virtually NO clean up!
• Eating raw is completely efficient in fighting lots of diseases like heart disease and cancer, because no free radicals are formed when you don’t cook food
• Issues like indigestion,heartburn and constipation greatly decrease when consuming living food
• Especially if yo grow your own garden, eating raw saves money of money when it comes to grocery shopping, as well as not needing to buy pots and pans anymore and cutting on  your electrical appliance bills
• It is SO much better for the environment when you don’t buy packaged foods and throw away tons of containers and wrappers.  And the more you depend on locally grown produce, the less you depend on food factories that pollute the air when they release carbon dioxide as they cook food
• It improves sleep AND energy levels (many people claim eating such nutrient rich foods creates a euphoric high or state of being- I can attest to that!)

ZUCCHINI PASTA WITH SPINACH CASHEW SAUCE

For the pasta and actual dish:

2 medium zucchini

20 grape tomatoes, halved

1/2 cup green onions, chopped

• Using a vegetable spiraler (we HIGHLY recommend the World Cuisine Spiral Vegetable Slicer) simply slice zucchini through the machine
• Toss with tomatoes and green onions, and set aside

For the Sauce:

1 cup cashews, soaked over night

2 cups fresh spinach, half of it chopped

1/2 sun-dried tomatoes

2 lemons, juiced

1/4 cup white onion

3 cloves garlic

1 cayenne pepper, minced

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/3 cup water

1/2 tsp sea salt

Pepper to taste

• In a food processor, blend cashews, cayenne, lemon juice and olive oil and  blend well.  Stop and stir a bit, then add the onions, garlic and sun-dried tomatoes and blend again until well mixed
• Stir again, and then add 1 cup of the un-chopped spinach and blend again until smooth.  Once that is mixed, add the water and blend until creamy
• Remove from food processor and stir in chopped spinach, salt and pepper
• Toss with pasta, grape tomatoes and green onions and enjoy!

(NOTE:  Since this was our first experience we have to give credit to Rawmazing, for providing such a great recipe we altered a little to make our own version)