So much fun working with the opera diva Carol Vaness in Bloomington, Indiana, where she teaches.  Her cute dog Max had fun as well – he kept singing along with me 😉 What a priceless opportunity to study the role of Donna Elvira with her.

You need a Spiralizer and a food processor.

Pasta:
One big Zucchini per serving Spiralize. Done.

Pesto:
1 1/2 cup basil leaves, packed 1/2 cup walnuts
1/2 cup olive oil
1 garlic clove
1 Teaspoon lemonjuice Salt to taste

Blend all ingredients.
Decorate with ground or grated Almonds. Enjoy!

You need:
Food Processor, Blender, Pie pan

3-4 (super ripe) Nectarines
7-10 (super ripe) Peaches
2-3 pounds of dates
2-3 cups of Pecans (I used Walnuts) cinnamon to taste

Put the nuts, 2/3 of the dates and some cinnamon in the food processor and process until sticky.
place part of this “crust” on the bottom of your pie pan, dont make it too thin.
Now slice the peaches and lay on top of the crust. On top of that another layer of “crust” and then another one of peaches. You can make as many layers as you wish, depending on your pie pan….

Now put the nectarines and the rest of the dates and some cinnamon in the blender and blend until completely smooth.
Drizzle on top of the cake and then: ENJOY!

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CRUST
1 cup walnuts
1/2 cups almonds
1/3 cup coconut oil
10-13 dates
1/2 teaspoon salt

CHEESECAKE
2 cups soaked cashews
1/2 cup coconut oil
1 frozen or fresh banana
1/2 cup agave syrup
juice of two lemons
1 tablespoon vanilla
1/2 tablespoon salt (to taste)

SAUCE
1 cup blackberries or blueberries (frozen is best)
1 tablespoon maple syrup
1/4 cup lemon water (more if you see that it’s not liquid enough. You need it to be pretty thin, but thick enough to hold together when piping onto the cake.

Methods/steps
1) In a food processor, blend all of your crust ingredients together until a dough like consistency forms.
2) Oil a pie pan or springform pan with coconut oil. Set in freezer.
3) Blend all cake ingredients. Blend until very smooth. Pour into pie pan.
4) For the sauce, blend all ingredients together and place in a sandwich bag or pasty bag.
If you using the sandwich bag, cut a small hole in the side so the sauce can come through. Draw two to three circles at least an inch apart on your cake. once the circles are there, take a toothpick and start drawing a line from the very middle of the cake, working your way out to the side. Work in a way that you move back and forth, never removing the toothpick thill the pattern is done.

5) Set in freezer for a few hours.

ENJOY!

Ingredients

Lasagna “Sheets”:
2 large zucchinis
3 yellow squash or yellow zucchini 6 large tomatoes

Raw Tomato Sauce:
2 cups sundried tomatoes
1 cup chopped tomatoes (2 medium tomatoes) 1/4 cup cold pressed extra virgin olive oil
2 tsp fresh garlic
3/4 tsp Celtic sea salt
1 tsp dried basil
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

Basil Pesto:
5 cups tightly packed fresh basil leaves
1 1/2 cups raw macadamias soaked (this is optional) 1/2 cup olive oil
1 1/2 tsp Celtic sea salt
2 Tbsp lemon zest 3 Tbsp lemon juice 6 Tbsp garlic

Macadamia Ricotta:
2 cups raw macadamias soaked (this is optional)
3/4 cup – 1 cup filtered water for desired consistency
1/4 cup finely chopped cilantro / coriander
2 Tbsp fresh lime juice
2 Tbsp finely chopped serrano chilli (more or less depending on the heat of your chilli) 1 Tbsp finely minced fresh garlic
2 tsp yellow mustard powder
1/2 tsp Celtic sea salt

Methods/steps Lasagna “Sheets”:
1) For raw lasagne “sheets” shave thin strips with a large vegetable peeler. Hold each zucchini on the bench and peel off large thin strips. You will not use the first few narrow cuts. Use this for garnish. Now peel the yellow squash. If you have lots of seeds you will find that you only get good sheets with the outside layers until you reach the seeds.
2) Now cut the tomatoes into 1/4 inch or 1/2 inch thick slices depending on your preference.
3) Set aside on layers of paper towel to get any excess liquid out while you make your sauces.

Raw Tomato Sauce:
1) Throw all the ingredients in your food processor and pulse until well combined.
2) Season to taste. You want this sauce to be mild in order to blend with the pesto and the ricotta.

Basil Pesto:
1) Throw all of your ingredients into the food processor and pulse until well combined.
2) Season and tweak flavour balance to taste.

Macadamia Ricotta:
1) Throw all of the ingredients except the cilantro into your food processor and pulse until well combined and fluffy.
2) Season and tweak flavours to taste. 3) Now stir through the chopped cilantro.

Assembly:

1) Lay 6 large plates out.
2) Lay 3 slices of zucchini side by side to make a wide rectangle lasagne sheet base.
3) Now use a palatte knife to spread some red sauce on top of each base.
4) Lay 3 slices of yellow squash or zucchini on top of the sauce (if the squash is short layer width ways to keep to match the shape of the bottom layer.
5) Place two tomato slices on top of the ricotta.
6) Now place 3 more pieces of zucchini to make another sheet of pasta.
7) Spread a layer of green pesto and top with two more pieces of tomato.
8) Garnish with large fresh basil leaves and drizzle the whole plate with a bit of olive oil. 9) I garnished with some gomasio.

You could also surround the lasagne with some chopped cherry tomatoes tossed in olive oil. YUMMO!