Raw Vegan Puttanesca Pasta with Kale salad

If you're feeling savory tonight, I highly recommend making a large portion of this raw vegan zucchini deliciousness and scarf it down. Okay, maybe not scarf it down but... just know that this stuff is good. The misconception of raw vegan or vegan foods is that dishes taste gross. This is totally not true and I challenge people to open their minds and mouths to new types of foods because sometimes, the simplest combination of ingredients can taste beautiful! This dish is apart of my testimony because I randomly thought of the recipe one night and it turned out amazing. I just threw simple ingredients together and it turned out to be pretty tasty!

This is Raw Vegan because nothing is cooked or raised to a temperature above 118 degrees fahrenheit. What this does is it preserves the enzymes in foods which is great for your body! I don't always eat raw but majority of the food I eat are raw and fresh. It's fun to eat raw because everything tastes fresh and it cuts down on the preparation time for cooking. This dish is full of vitamins and minerals from the kale salad as well as from the zucchini and puttanesca sauce. I love making raw vegan sauces because they are typically constructed of vegetables therefore you're getting an added boost of nutrients! It's all about nutrient density when it comes to eating because all calories are not made equal. Zucchini noodles actually have vital nutrients in them compared to wheat pasta plus, zucchini noodles are not calorie dense so you can actually eat more... :D

Besides the fact that this dish is nutrient dense and very simple, it's super delicious! It's a great thing to eat for lunch or dinner, subbing for something high in gluten or animal fats. This dish is also low fat and most fats come from the fresh olives. The great part about using olives instead of olive oil is that you are able to benefit from the vitamins and minerals in the olives instead of just using the oil which has barely any nutrients. The use of olives is very important because it gives the taste of a Puttanesca sauce. Anyways... onto the recipe!

Raw Vegan Puttanesca Pasta with Kale Salad 
Ingredients:
For the pasta base:
-2 zucchinis
-4-5 leaves of kale de-stemmed and chopped
For the Sauce: 
-1 heirloom tomato
- 4 fresh olives 
-a few grape tomatoes for garnish
-1 Basil stalk
-3-4 sun-dried tomatoes soaked in water for 30 minutes
- 3 cloves garlic
-1/4 of a sweet onion chopped
-1/4 cup water
-Dried rosemary
-Salt and pepper to taste

1. To make the zucchinis into noodles, you can use a spiralizer or like me, you can just use a potato peeler. Keep in mind that using a potato peeler will take longer!
2. Set zucchini noodles on the side in a serving bowl.

For the Sauce:
1. Cut the heirloom tomato and place into a blender.
2. Add all other ingredients into the blender and blend until smooth.

Combine:
1. Pour the sauce over the zucchini noodles and leave some to massage into the kale.
2. Massage or toss with a utensil and set aside to marinate.
3. Repeat with the chopped kale.
4. Let it rest for around 10 to 15 minutes for the flavors to blend.
5. Serve and eat!