Mediterranean Quinoa Stuffed Tomatoes

So yesterday was Day 1 of the Crazy Sexy Diet Cleanse Program that I'm following over the next three weeks.  In the morning you're supposed to drink a glass of filtered water with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice and cayenne pepper, followed by a cup of herbal tea.  Well, I made the mistake of drinking a cup of decafenated Green Tea, instead of herbal, which made me kind of sick to my stomach, but once I made my green juice drink, everything was fine and following the program throughout the day was pretty uneventful.

I probably ate about 70 percent raw foods yesterday.  It would of been higher if I would of planned my meal(s) a day in advance.  I'm so used to driving to the grocery store and formulating my grocery list on the way there.  But eating a raw-live diet requires advance planning because a lot of the ingredients require soaking, sprouting or dehydrating prior to use.  Anyway, dinner was really great and hubby loved it.  He said that it was so fresh and flavorful--just what I like hearing.  Also, kitchen clean-up was a breeze, no dirty pots and pans to clean!

 

So here's what I ate/drank yesterday:

Breakfast/Morning:

8 oz glass of filtered water with a squeeze of lemon juice and a pinch of cayenne pepper
8 oz cup of Green Tea, recommend herbal as the book states...:-)
16 oz freshly juiced green drink (1 apple, 1 cucumber, 1 celery stalk, 1 broccoli stalk, 1 small carrot, 4 stalks kale, 1 serving Amazing Grass (optional), 2 tbsp ground flaxseed (optional)

Lunch/Mid-Afternoon:

1/2 cup olive hummus (2 cups cooked cannellini beans, 1/4 cup tahini paste, 1 garlic clove, 1/4 cup pitted black olives, 1/4 cup pitted green olives, 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, juice of 1 lemon, salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup each of raw broccoli, carrots, zucchini, and cherry tomatoes
2 oz freshly juiced wheatgrass, around 4:00pm

Dinner/Evening:

3 Mediterranean Stuffed Tomatoes with Sun-Dried Tomato Vinaigrette, recipe below
2 Medjool dates...couldn't resist...

Also, throughout the day I drank about 1.5 liters of filtered water and I also went for a 45 minute walk.

Mediterranean Quinoa Stuffed Tomatoes:
(Serves 2)

6 organic beefsteak tomatoes, cored, tomato seeds and pulp removed, reserved
2 1/2 cups cooked or sprouted pearl quinoa, see note below
1/3 cup currants
1/3 cup pinenuts
2 tomatoes, seeded and diced
2 tbsp minced fresh parsley
2 tbsp minced fresh mint
1 cup finely chopped organic spinach
Juice of 1 lemon
Sea salt and fresh black pepper to taste
Note:  I cooked 3/4 cup quinoa to yield 2 1/2 cups cooked for the recipe.  If you have time and you want the entire dish to be raw, then soak the quinoa for about two hours, rinse and place in a sprouting jar for 24 hours, rinsing and draining regularly until seeds sprout.

Method:

• Cut tops off tomatoes and using a spoon, remove seeds, pulp and juice.  Reserve seeds, pulp and juice and place in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth.  Strain the tomato juice into a bowl.  You should have about 1 1/2 cups juice that you'll need for the sun-dried tomato vinaigrette.
• In a medium bowl, add cooked or sprouted quinoa, along with other ingredients.  Season with salt and pepper to taste and chill for about an hour before stuffing tomatoes.

Sun-Dried Tomato Vinaigrette:

1/2 cup rough chopped sun-dried tomatoes (not in olive oil)
1/4 cup pitted Kalamata olives
1 1/2 cups tomato water (if you have less then just use filtered water)
Juice of 1 lemon
1/4 cup cold-pressed extra virgin olive oil
Sea salt and black pepper to taste
1 garlic clove, finely minced
1 tbsp minced fresh basil

Method:

• To a food processor or blender, add tomatoes, olives, tomato water and lemon juice and blend until smooth.
• With motor running, stream in extra virgin olive oil until emulsified.  If too thick add additional water and season with salt and pepper to taste.
• Pour into a bowl and stir in minced garlic and basil.

To assemble tomatoes, slice off a small slice on the bottom of each tomato so that they stand upright on the plate.  Using a small spoon, fill each tomato with quinoa and press to pack filling.  Drizzle with sun-dried tomato vinaigrette and garnish with fresh basil.