Butternut squash with adzuki beans

I have a huge vegan cookbook called Vegan Planet. I have only made two recipes out of it - which is silly! One recipe I have made over and over though, and it is a recipe that uses butternut squash and adzuki beans. This time of year, Costco has packages of peeled, cubed butternut squash which makes the recipe so convenient. You can use a can of adzuki beans, but I try to cook all my beans from scratch. Today I cooked up the adzuki beans with kelp. Then, I chopped up the shallots, sauteed them in a little olive oil for a couple of minutes, added Bragg Liquid Aminos, water, and the squash. The cookbook has more precise measurements, but I'm sure I made a bigger batch than what is in the cookbook because it took WAY more water than what was called for. Cooking the shallots and squash together slowly like that sort of caramelizes them and makes them gooey and sweet. When the squash is soft, mix with the beans, season with salt and pepper if you want, and enjoy!

I also cooked up some chard for dinner. Well, really, the chard is only "cooked" long enough to wilt it. I sliced 8 large garlic cloves, sauteed them briefly in olive oil, then added the chard and about a tsp of Bragg Liquid Aminos. After the chard is wilted, remove from heat and top with sesame seeds.

I sliced up some super yummy tomatoes to eat with dinner. My goal is to eat a high raw diet. Living foods are so important to good health. Now that I am not so sick all the time, I have started making green smoothies in the morning again. I plan on experimenting and trying out some new combinations. I've been making big, awesome salads for us. I have been trying to use up the prepared salad dressing that we have in the house, so I'll be forced to make my own! If I can ever remember to get more sunflower seeds from the market, Trey and I are going to make RAWvolution's onion bread again - that stuff is so good (stayed tuned for an upcoming blog post on it!). I just watched a tutorial video tonight on making flax crackers that I am going to try tomorrow. My health is so much better when I am eating a cleaner diet, and now that I am feeling well enough to prepare food - I am going eat a better diet! If it's healthy for me, it's healthy for the kids, and growing baby "Squishy," too.