I have two passions in life: Health and Art (in the sense of being creative and working with my hands).
My goal: To eventually figure out how to merge the two together. How the hell I do that, still to be decided. I could write about all the options I’ve considered in my head, but then you’d just see me as a bipolar mess of a child. Literally, it expands from culinary school in France (to learn and embrace the emotional aspect of dinning/eating – which I think is SO important in our over-all health) to furthering my education in Natural Health – Like I said, two opposite ends of the spectrum. Pretty much, if you could jump inside my head, you’d beg to get out – as everyday it’s seems to become more and more a cluster f**k of ideas. Creativity truly is a blessing and a curse 
In the meantime though, I’ll stick to the undecided route – i.e. cooking (or, playing) with healthy food!
Yesterday’s playtime included squash (told ya you’d be seeing a lot of this) and cookie cutters… Which I heart, because cookie cutters equal perfect shapes and perfect shapes make this perfectionist, perfectly happy.
At first I thought, “ravioli!” Which was then immediately followed by, “boring!” So instead, I went for a mix between lasagna and ravioli – A ravioli stack. Easy, but elegant. What more could a girl want!?
Ravioli Stacks
Squash noodles
1 butternut squash (peeled)
1 T of sea salt
Using a mandoline, thinly shave the neck of the squash. Using a stainless cookie cutter, cut out circles. In a large bowl, combine squash circles and sea salt, soak for about 2 hours to soften. Once softened, rinse well. You might even want to soak the squash in unsalted water for about 2o minutes to make sure it’s released the salt.
Spinach Stuffing
.75 C soaked pumpkin seeds
.75 C soaked sunflower seeds
2 T nutritional yeast
1 T olive oil
1 T lemon juice
1 T apple cider
1 clove of garlic
1 T dried Italian herbs
.5 C cup soaked sun-dried tomatoes
.75 – 1 C water (enough to move in blender)
sea salt to taste
3-4 C packed spinach
1 T kalamata olives (stones removed)
Combine all ingredients, except spinach and olives, in a high-speed blender, blend until smooth. Transfer half of the sauce (about 1 C) to a food processor (If you use both cups of sauce, double spinach and olives) – add spinach and olives. Pulse until mixture is slightly chunky in texture. Set aside.
Pesto drizzle
2 T of pesto
1 T olive oil
Using a fork, whisk ingredients together.
Assembly
Layer butternut squash with spinach stuffing. Drizzle with pesto, and garnish with lemon zest.
Ok, playtime is over…. Until tonight, that is 
