What a lunch – Fennel tarts

Hello everyone,

It is Lori here. Well I hope everyone is having a fabulous hump day. I know I am!! One that I made a delicious lunch (more on that soon) and I ran 6 miles today at the gym (I beat my sister’s time).

To get my day started I had a blackberry apple smoothie:

Smoothie was filled with 1 apple, handful of frozen blackberries, water, lime juice, stevia, turmeric, cayenne, and hemp oil. It was different than my typical morning smoothies, though I liked it! Hate it when the blackberries seeds get stuck in my teeth. :/

To get pumped up for my 6 mile run today I enjoyed one of our chocolate avocado based wrap. I ate it plain since I did not have any spread made to go inside. Though it was still chocolately and delicious!

Love my raw chocolate!

Now, I did talk with the sis before she left for 105 degrees academy for class and she informed me that she ran a good 6 miles today. That she ran it faster than she normally does! Oh, I thought to myself – I really got to push out do her today with my run. Don’t you just love sister competition. One of the nice things having a twin sister is that you have a cardio (workout) buddy! I really enjoy having a workout buddy especially on those days when you just don’t feel like working out.

Do you have a workout buddy? If not, let me know, I would love to be your workout buddy!

My workout:

• 4 minutes at 6.0
• 6 minutes at 6.1
• 5 minutes at 6.2
• 5 minutes at 6.3
• 5 minutes at 6.4
• Than I started my sprint work. I decided to do a 2:1 (run 2: jog 1). So for the next 25 minutes I ran with this sprint work.
• 25 minutes 2 minutes at 6.6 and one minute at 6.0.

Once I hit 55 minutes I stayed at 6.6 mph till I hit 6 miles which I did at about 57:20. Therefore this means I out ran my sister today! It was a decedent run for me. I got a little tired at points but knowing that my sis already ran 6 miles was motivation to keep going. This is when a cardio buddy comes into key play. Because they can help keep you going or challenge you to do better! Or if you do not have a cardio buddy good music can also help. Check out here about why music can help or hurt your performance.

Post-workout Smoothie:

Today I absolutely loved my post workout smoothie and will be making this again!

Here is what I did:

• 1 cup coconut water
• 4 tbsp hemp protein
• 2 tbsp goji berries
• 1 tbsp coconut oil
• 1 heaping tbsp maca ( I load up on this after a hard intense workout)
• 1 packet stevia
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp spirulina
• 2 tsp sun is shining

Put all the ingredients into your blender and blend till creamy. Than devour.

My lunch today was something a little special and took a day to prep, but though it was worth it! I have always seen tarts in raw cookbooks or online and wanted to try one myself! So here it goes.

First you got to make your crust for the tart:

• 2 1/2 cups Almond meal
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 scallions,
• 1 tsp sea salt,
• 2 tbsp olive oil

Blend in food processor till combined. Add water if really dry. Dough will be thick. Than take your dough and scoop them into your molds. I only had one mini tart mold and 2 larger ones, so that is what I used. But you can use any size you prefer. Next put your tarts into the dehydrator over night. In the morning flip them out of the tart molds and put them back in the dehydrator till desired crispness.

Tarts right out of the dehydrator.

my one little mini tart... so cute

Next is to make the balsamic fennel. I used one bulb of fennel.

(Tip: you need a mandolin for cutting the fennel or you can do my hand)

Balsamic sauce:

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• pinch salt

Put sliced fennel into a bowl and pour the sauce over it and mixed with hands till fully incorporated. Than place on dehydrator sheet and dehydrate for 1-2 hours. (I did not wait that long – I was hungry) I did about 45 minutes.

While they are dehydrating it is time to make the cream that is going to be our filling for the tarts.

Cream filling:

• 1 tbsp tahini
• 1/2 cup pumpkin seeds (mine were soaked and dried, though you could just use soaked and rinsed pumpkin seeds)
• 2 pinches of lemon zest
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 3 tbsp water
• 2 tsp olive oil
• small handful of fresh cilantro

Place all ingredients into a food processor and blend.

Yummy!

Now I used pumpkin seeds as my base you can use another nut like cashews or macadamia’s for you would like. I try personally not to always use a lot of nuts and since my base was almonds I decided to use a seed for my “cream”.

Now finally time to put it all together!

Again, so cute! Can't wait to eat it!

Creamy, flavorful, salty.

These tarts really hit the spot for me. I ended up eating the mini tart and half of one of the larger ones:) . The balsamic on the fennel really helped round out the whole dish. I also like how the crust was neutral so it did not take away any flavor from the cream filling or fennel! I will definitely make this recipe again though I am sure next time I will do something a little different. I can’t help it, I like to play around with recipes all the time! Isn’t that what “cooking” or shall I say ‘non-cooking’ is all about! Well I hope you like my little kitchen experiment with raw fennel tart!

Twin Question: What is your favorite dish to play around with in the kitchen?

Till next time, from my tart to yours

Lori

The Raw Twins

L&M