Half-Raw Veggie Ribbons

I try to consume lots of raw foods because they're super good for you, but I don't really like eating raw food for dinner. Sure, I can munch my way through entire jicamas, handful after handful of sugar snap peas and cherry tomatoes, multiple carrots and peppers; I love raw fruit and salads (both kale and lettuce) are delicious (plus raw nuts are delicious, but I need to stop eating so many of those), but I don't really like making an entire meal out of raw foods. They're just not filling or substantial (although it might help if I had a dehydrator. Maybe I should ask for one for my birthday. Are you reading this mom?). So I came up with a compromise. This is about half raw, but you can play with the proportions a bit, adding more raw vegetables or using a larger spaghetti squash. You could also make this entirely raw by substituting raw zucchini or other veggie noodles for the spaghetti squash and using homemade coconut milk. Whatever you do, this is sure to be a delicious meal! It's creamy, fresh, healthy, filling, and you can slurp it up like real pasta (although it really doesn't taste anything like pasta. It's still delicious though)!

Creamy Thai Vegetable Ribbons

Ingredients

1 spaghetti squash, halved, seeds removed
1 Tbsp coconut oil, melted
salt and pepper
1 small or 1/2 large bunch kale, very thinly sliced
1 small or 1/2 large red pepper, very thinly sliced
1 carrot, cut into ribbons with a vegetable peeler

Sauce

1/2 can coconut milk
1/2 avocado
1-inch knob fresh ginger
2 cloves garlic
red pepper flakes, to taste
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp cumin
pinch of coriander
salt, to taste
juice of 1/2 lime

Directions

1. Turn your oven on to 375*F. Brush the insides of the squash with coconut oil and sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper. Roast cut-side down for about 45 minutes, or until squash is just tender (but much less tender than other squashes are when deemed ready).

2. Meanwhile, make the sauce. Put everything in a food processor or blender and blend until smooth and creamy.

3. Using a fork, separate the strands of the spaghetti squash. Put the squash in a bowl and allow it to cool.

4. At this point, I like to add all the kale so the residual heat from the squash softens it. I don't know if this makes the kale lose all it's raw properties, so if you don't want to do this, message some of the sauce into the kale to soften it a bit.

5. When the squash is cooled, add the rest of the vegetables and the sauce and toss to combine.

6. Serve, topped with something crunchy like nuts or seeds (optional). Enjoy!

I topped my bowl with chopped walnuts and kimchi