Nutella Triple-Swirl Ice Cream

Wow, I haven't posted for a long time! I guess I've just been so busy with school starting again. Maybe it's a bit late in the year for ice cream... nah, it's never to late for ice cream! Just before school started I had an ice cream party with all my friends. It was a lot of fun, plus I love showing off my new recipes! This is my first one, and it's the simplest (yes, really!). The other ones I made were "Sultan's Treasure" (tahini with dried fruit and other things) and another one that I don't have a name for. It's maple-bacon-pecan-brownie-sour apple-coconut swirl. If anyone has any suggestions on what to call it, I'd love to hear them!

I don't have a recipe for the nutella or hazelnut butter, since a quick google search will give you more recipes than you could ever need. I suggest making the hazelnut butter first, removing some of it and using the rest for the nutella. You can easily switch honey for the sugar and coconut milk for dairy milk in any recipe you find. This is not a quick recipe; none of them are, but this is the easiest of the three. (hey, sometimes great things require effort!)

So this is delicious and you should go make it now (seriously, it's like eating a bowl of cold, creamy nutella. How could that not be delicoius?).

Nutella Triple Swirl Ice Cream

Ingredients

4 cups coconut milk
1/2 cup cocoa powder
8 large egg yolks
1 1/4 cups sucanat
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
2 cups homemade nutella
1 cup salted, roasted hazelnut butter (optional: slightly sweetened)
Chocolate Swirl:
3 squares unsweetened bakers chocolate
2 Tbsp coconut oil
1 Tbsp honey

1. Melt all the chocolate swirl ingredients in a small pot on the stove top. While making the rest of the ice cream, let this mixture cool so it's still pourable but not hot enough to melt the ice cream.
2. Whisk  the cocoa powder with 1 cup of the coconut milk in a medium pot over medium heat to combine. Add the rest of the coconut milk and mix. Bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally, then remove from the heat.
3. In a bowl, whisk the egg yolks until the colour turns lighter. Slowly add the sugar while whisking.
4. Add the cocoa-coconut milk mixture into the eggs very gradually so they don't curdle. Add small amounts at a time.
5. Pour this mixture back into the pot and put over a low heat. Cook, stirring frequently, until it thickens and reaches 170-175 degrees F.
6. Pour the ice cream into a bowl and let it cool at room temperature for 1/2 hour. Stir in the vanilla extract. Put the ice cream in the fridge until it's cool enough not to form condensation on a lid, then cover with a lid. Chill for at least 4 hours, until it reaches 40 degrees F or less.
7. Pour into and ice cream maker and process according to manufacturer's directions.
8. Pour the ice cream into a container, alternating layers with the nutella, hazelnut butter, and chocolate. Try to pour the chocolate in thin strips. Swirl everything together with a knife.
9. Freeze until hard. When you serve it, make sure to take it out at least 30 minutes before serving (it takes a while to soften).

Walnut Apricot Chip Ice Cream

I think I've found the perfect dairy-free ice cream base! I got the recipe from this website, and added my own extras. This ice cream is so rich and creamy! If you leave it out for a few minutes, it can even be scooped after being in the freezer! It's not like other dairy-free ice creams, which can be icy and watery, this is the full-on ice cream experience!

I first realized that walnuts, dried apricots and chocolate go well together when I was making chocolate chip oatmeal raisin cookies and realized that I didn't have any raisins or chocolate, so I used dried apricots and carob chips. Oh my, were they ever delicious! The flavours just work so well together! Needless to say, I ate way too much of that batch of cookies. :P

It was a little later that I thought to combine the walnuts and apricots with cocoa nibs instead of carob chips. And since I had ice cream on the brain, this ice cream recipe was born.

 For vegan ice cream, just substitute any liquid sweetener for the honey. If you can get turkish apricots, they are definitely worth the extra cost; they taste so much better! The walnuts can be raw, soaked and dehydrated, or toasted. Soaking nuts makes them healthier, so I soaked and lightly toasted mine. If you don't have/like cocoa nibs, carob chips would make a great substitution, just make sure they're homemade, the store bought ones are full of yucky hydrogenated oils and other icky stuff. One last note: the combination of the cashews and cocoa nibs are slightly reminiscent of mocha flavours. It's wierd that I enjoy that, since I hate coffee! But if you like mocha, that's just another plus to an already delicious ice cream!

Walnut Apricot Chip Ice Cream

1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 dried turkish apricots, chopped
1/2 cocoa nibs
2 cups coconut milk
1 1/2 cups raw cashews
1/4-1/2 cup honey (remember, freezing will make the ice cream less sweet, so use a little more than you think you need)
2 tsp vanilla
pinch of salt

1. Blend the cashews, coconut milk, honey, vanilla and salt in a blender. Soaking the cashews beforehand in the coconut milk, or blending them into a powder first helps to make this mixture even smoother.
2. Blend for a minute or two, until completely smooth.
3. Taste and add more honey if needed. It should be sweeter than you want the final product to be.
4. Chill the mixture in the fridge for a few hours, the longer the better.

Straight from the ice cream maker

5. Pour into an ice cream maker and make ice cream according to your ice cream maker's instructions.
6. In the last 5 minutes or so, add the walnuts, apricots, and cocoa nibs, making sure the apricots pieces don't stick together.
7. Pour into a container and move to the freezer to freeze until solid (although it makes great soft-serve too!).
8. Take out of the freezer a few minutes before serving so it softens up a bit.
9. Scoop and enjoy!

As you can see, I garnished my ice cream with a sprig of tarragon. The flavour of tarragon works really well with this ice cream! If you want, I would highly recommend adding some fresh tarragon to the blender with the rest of the ice cream ingredients. Or make an ice cream sandwich with these cookies (or a healthier version of that idea). That would taste AMAZING!

Next I think I'll make either a nutella ice cream or a tahini one.

This post was shared at healthy vegan Fridays.

Magenta Dream Salad

A delicious kale salad, plus an orange segmenting tutorial!

This is one of my all-time favourite salads (although I love all salads with fruit, avocado and nuts). It's sweet, slightly creamy, fresh, crunchy, contains jicama, and is an absolutely gorgeous shade of pink!

This also contains kale, which we should all know by know is a powerhouse of vegetable nutrition, and also tastes great in salads after a good massage.

This is my first dinner in my month-long raw food experiment, and it was delicious! I did have to eat about half of it before I was full, but I didn't mind one bit! I know tahini isn't raw (unless you specifically buy raw tahini), but I'm going to allow myself a few small cheats, as long as they're only condiments and I don't have them too often, or too much of them at once.

First of all, if you don't know how to segment an orange, here's how:

first, slice off the top an bottom

then cut off the rind with a knife, cutting in a bit of a curve to
get all the pith

your orange should know look like this

cut the orange out from between the membrane

 I usually like to cut the orange segments in half so more bites have orange in them, but this is optional.

Magenta Dream Salad

Ingredients

2 bunches kale, thinly sliced
1 fennel bulb, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced
2 medium-smallish beets, grated
1/2 small jicama, cut however you want (I can never figure out the best way to cut jicama for salad, so just do whatever you think is best. I cut it into flat squares)

use about this much ginger, or more

3 oranges, 1 zested
1 tsp grated ginger
1 avocado, thinly sliced, slices cut into quarters, the riper it is the creamier the salad will be
2 Tbsp raw apple cider vinegar
2 Tbsp olive oil
pinch of salt
pepper, to taste
1 tsp honey, optional
2 Tbsp tahini
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped (toast them if you're not eating raw)

Directions

1. Whisk together the vinegar, olive oil, tahnini, salt, pepper, honey (if using), ginger, and orange zest.

2. Put the kale in a bowl or on a large cutting board. Pour the dressing over it.

3. Cut the segments out of the oranges over the kale, so the juice falls on it. Once all the segments are cut, squeeze the remaining pulpy stuff so the juice falls on the kale, then discard.

4. Using your hands, squeeze the kale and mix it up with dressing; "massage" it.

5. Toss the kale with the fennel, beets, jicama, orange segments, and walnuts.

6. Eat it right away, or allow to marinate for stronger flavours and softer kale. Kale salads keep well without turning limp and soggy like lettuce salads.

7. Enjoy!

before tossing

after tossing

This post has been shared with Healthy Vegan Fridays.

Guacamole Zucchini Noodles

The main reason I bought a mandoline was to make zucchini noodles. And I have to say, they are amazing! They taste great, and they have that noodle-y feel, and they're healthy! What's not to love? Spiralizers and julienne peelers also work, but I wanted a multi-purpose tool. Too bad it's extremely dull and can't cut much. Oh well. I guess that's what I get for buying the cheapest mandoline available. Makes great zoodles, though.

I wanted to keep these raw for the health benefits. I also thought a creamy sauce would taste much better than a tomato-based one, and wouldn't be as watery. I've eaten spaghetti squash with tomato sauce, and trust me, it isn't good. So I just tossed the noodles with some leftover guacamole and served it with tomatoes and leftover pork for a delicious and super-quick dinner. The creaminess of the guacamole, the fresh, sweet, and acidic flavour of the tomatoes, and the rich, crispy, salty meatiness of the pork went wonderfully together to create this delicious dish!

If you want to make this dish raw and/or vegan, just leave out the pork, it'll still be good!

Zucchini Noodles with Guacamole

makes 1 serving

Ingredients

3 very small zucchini, cut into noodles

1/2 avocado

lime juice, to taste

salt, to taste

1 tomato, cut into thin wedges

cooked pork meat, preferably fatty and crispy, chopped and heated

Directions

1. Mash the avocado with a fork or puree in a food processor, for a creamier sauce.

2. Add lime juice and salt to taste. Mix it all together.

3. Toss the zucchini noodles with the guacamole.

4. Garnish with the tomato and top with the pork.

5. Enjoy!

Peanut Butter and Jelly Ice Cream

I have and obsession with peanut butter. I know it's not very healthy (peanuts contain toxic substances), but I just can't stop myself. It's sooooooo good! And peanut butter and jelly is a match made in Heaven. So peanut butter and jelly ice cream was obviously something that I came up with right away when thinking about what ice cream flavours I should try, and just had to make it. I'm glad I did, because it was utterly amazing! Besides, my peanut butter's organic, so it's not that bad. ;) This is for all the peanut butter addicts out there: eat it in moderation, but when you do eat it, be sure to savor every last sweet, creamy, toasty, fruity, peanut buttery bite!

Peanut Butter Ice Cream with Berry Jelly Swirl

Jelly

2 cups mixed berries, fresh or frozen

1 Tbsp honey

2 tsp arrowroot powder

water

1. Put the berries, honey and a splash of water in a saucepan and simmer until the berries start to break apart and the liquid reduces. Keep cooking until the mixture starts to thicken. This may take a while.

2. Puree either with a stick mixer or in a blender. You can strain this if you want, to remove the seeds, or just leave them in. Put this mixture back in the pot over low heat.

3. Mix the arrowroot powder with warm water in a small bowl (similar to a cornstarch slurry). Pour this into the berries slowly, stirring constantly. If you notice the mixture becoming thick, you can stop pouring in the arrowroot. If the mixture is still too thin, make more slurry and add it. Remember that it will thicken as it cools.

 4. Allow mixture to cool.

Ice Cream

3 cups organic full fat coconut milk, chilled

3/4 cup raw honey

3/4 cup smooth organic peanut butter (no sugar added)

1 Tbsp pure vanilla extract

1/4 tsp salt (or more, I usually use twice this much because I like salty peanut butter)

1. Blend all ingredients in a blender until smooth and well blended.

2. Pour the mixture into an ice cream maker and process according to the manufacturers directions.

Peanut Butter Chunks

3 tablespoons coconut oil

6 tablespoons creamy peanut butter (I use lightly salted)

4 tablespoons Honey (don’t sub sugar here, you want soft chunks)

1/2 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

pinch of salt

1.In a small saucepan over a low heat, stir and combine all ingredients.

2. Cook until melted. Keep it slightly warm, because it's harder to add to the ice cream when cold and thick.

Peanut Butter and Jelly Ice Cream

peanut butter ice cream, straight from the ice cream maker

jelly

peanut butter chunks, warm

1. Put about one third of the ice cream in a container.

2. Add half of the jelly, or less if you want a higher peanut butter-to-jelly ratio.

3. Pour another third of the ice cream over the jelly.

4. Add the rest of the jelly.

5. Pour the rest of the ice cream over the jelly.

6. Pour the peanut butter chunk mixture over the ice cream. Try to spread it in as thin a layer as possible.

7. Close the lid and freeze the ice cream for about 30 minutes, or until the peanut butter chunk mixture has hardened.

8. Break up the peanut butter chunk mixture into chunks with a knife (I actually find this easier to do with my hands, but it's really messy that way. You can make smaller chunks, though).

9. Swirl everything together with a knife, making sure to reach the bottom to spread some jelly there too. Just be careful not to swirl too much, or the colour will be muddled and it won't freeze as nicely.

I over-swirled this a bit, but it was still delicious!

Coconut Cookies

These delicious cookies were made as an accompaniment to my coconut lime ice cream, but they're also delicious on their own. They have crispy edges, and they're soft and chewy in the middle.

They're based on these cookies, but they're a bit crispier. They're healthy and so delicious, you won't even miss the grains, refined sugar, dairy, or grains! Enjoy!

Coconut Cookies

Ingredients

3 cups shredded unsweetened coconut

1/3 cup pure maple syrup

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/4 tsp. fine sea salt

2 egg whites

 Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 300*F.

2. Put 1 2/3 cups of the coconut in a mini food processor (I haven't tried a regular food processor, but you'd probably have to add more coconut so it blends better), and blend for about 10 minutes, or until it turns into coconut butter, scraping the sides as necessary.

3. Combine the remaining ingredients in a bowl.

4. Scoop tablespoons of cookie dough onto a cookie sheet and flatten into thin circles.

5. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the edges get crispy and brown.

6. Let the cookies cool a bit before eating.

7. Enjoy coconutty yumminess!

Spinach, "Rice", and Egg Soup

This is a very simple, yummy soup. The inspiration comes from a recipe in the De Luca's cookbook. Enjoy!

Spinach, "Rice", and Egg Soup

Ingredients

9 cups stock (chicken is best)

1 cauliflower, riced (chopped in a food processor until it's the texture of rice)

1 Tbsp olive oil

4 cups spinach, coarsely chopped

4 eggs

1/4 cup nutritional yeast

fresh grated nutmeg, to taste

salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

1. Bring the stock to a boil in a large soup pot.

2. Add the cauliflower and simmer until tender.

3. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a pan and cook the spinach until wilted. Set aside to cool.

4. Whisk the eggs with the nutritional yeast, nutmeg, salt and pepper.

5. Mix in the spinach.

6. Stir the egg mixture into the stock. Let the soup heat up for a few minutes.

7. Taste and adjust seasonings. 

8. Serve with a sprinkle of extra nutritional yeast, if desired.

Chinese Beansprout Salad

There are often times, usually a few days before the next grocery shopping trip is planned, were I start running out of fresh vegetables. At these times, beansprouts can be a lifesaver. I sprout my own, so the bag of dried beans is always sitting ready for me in my cupboard. It takes a bit of pre-planning, but beansprouts really help to stretch the last bits of fresh produce in my fridge until more can be bought. Did I mention that beansprouts are really healthy? Yeah, they contain protein, they're low in calories, and they've got tons of enzymes. Raw foodists love them because they're the most "live" food you can eat. (Unless you eat a live bug, but I don't think anyone really wants to do that on a regular basis.)

This is one way I enjoy beansprouts. They're also really good with some leftover roasted winter squash and peas.

Chinese Beansprout Salad

1 cup mung beansprouts

1/2 red bell pepper, chopped

1 carrot, grated

1/2 cup sugar snap peas, chopped

1 tsp rice wine vinegar

1 tsp organic tamari, nama shoyu, or coconut aminos

1 tsp sesame oil

1/2 tsp grated fresh ginger (or less, to taste)

pinch of red pepper flakes

optional: a few grinds of pepper (I like to put pepper in everything)

1. Whisk together the tamari, vinegar, oil, ginger, red pepper flakes, and optional pepper.

2. Combine the beansprouts, carrot, bell pepper, and sugar snap peas.

3. Pour the dressing over the salad and toss to combine.

Coconut Lime Ice Cream

I wanted to call this lime sherbet, but it's not extremely sour, it's not lime green (ironic, I know), and it's creamier than most sherbets. This is why I decided to call it ice cream. This is just another one of coconut milk's incredible advantages; it doesn't curdle!

Since it's getting warmer and I haven't used my ice cream maker nearly as much as I've wanted to, I'm planning on trying out a lot of different ice cream flavours this summer. I'll try to post an ice cream recipe every 1-2 weeks.

Coconut Lime Ice Cream

3 cups full-fat coconut milk

2 egg yolks

zest and juice of 3 limes

1/2 avocado

pinch of salt

1/3 cup maple syrup (or more, this doesn't make a super-sweet ice cream)

1. Throw everything in a blender.

2. Blend.

3. Follow the instructions for your ice cream maker to freeze the ice cream.

4. Put the ice cream into the freezer for a few hours to harden it up.

5. Devour your healthy, delicious ice cream!

Thai Peanut Slaw

I find most coleslaw pretty disgusting. It's just gloopy, way too sugary, and is made basically with equal parts cabbage and mayonnaise. And sugar. If you're lucky, there might be some carrots thrown in. This can be described in one word: ick. I also don't really care for the coleslaws made with an oil and vinegar dressing. I like my raw cabbage creamy. But not with mayo made from genetically modified rancid yellow seed oils. So there's a bit of a dilemma. Luckily, like all problems consisting of a yearning for creaminess and a refusal to achieve said creaminess with GMOs, this can be solved with coconut milk. I love coconut milk.

Best brand, thick and creamy
and only contains coconut milk

Like bacon, caramelized onions, and peanut butter, coconut milk makes everything better. :D And this recipe includes coconut milk, peanut butter, and onions! (well, the onions are fried, not caramelized, but close enough.) Sadly, no bacon. :( It probably wouldn't work with the other flavours. The other flavours, by the way, are Thai. Yes, I love Thai flavoured things. I wonder if it has something to do with my love of coconut milk and peanut butter? Especially since Thai food is one of the few ways of incorporating both those foods into vegetables, so it's healthier and it keeps you from eating an entire jar of peanut butter in one sitting. Anyway, this was delicious if I do say so myself. But really, how can you go wrong  with coconut milk and peanut butter? (By not adding enough, that's how!) :D So enjoy your coleslaw, because it can be much more interesting and delicious and healthy than cabbage and mayo.

One final note: while writing this, I suddenly thought, sprinkling of shredded coconut. And tamarind in the sauce. Why do I never get these ideas while I'm cooking? It was terrific without these additions, but it would be nice to add them. A fancy drizzle of tamarind puree would be really pretty.

Thai Peanut Slaw

Ingredients

1/2 head cabbage
2 carrots, grated
1 red bell pepper, very thinly sliced
1 onion, very thinly sliced
3 cloves of garlic, halved lengthwise and very thinly sliced
2-inch knob of ginger, half of it grated, half of it cut into very thin matchsticks
1-2 Tbsp coconut oil (enough to fry the onions, garlic and ginger)
salt
1 cup coconut milk
3/4 cup peanut butter
juice of 1 lime
2 tsp tamari or nama shoyu
red pepper flakes, to taste
1/2 english cucumber, very thinly sliced
cilantro sprig, tamarind puree, and/or shredded coconut to garnish

Directions

1. Lay the cucumbers in a ring around the edge of your serving dish (this is optional, it adds to the presentation. You could also just cut the cucumber into very thin noodle-type threads and add them in with the other vegetables).

2. Combine the cabbage, carrots, and peppers.

3. Heat the coconut oil over high heat.

4. Add the onions, garlic, and ginger matchsticks. Fry until crispy, stirring frequently. Remove to paper towels to drain and sprinkle with salt.

5. Whisk together the coconut milk, peanut butter, lime, tamari, red pepper flakes, and the grated ginger. Taste and adjust seasonings if necessary. 

6. Toss together the sauce, the vegetables, and the fried onion mixture.

7. Place in the serving bowl with the cucumbers, sprinkle with shredded coconut, drizzle with tamari puree, and garnish with cilantro, if using.

The Best Breakfast Ever!

So I recently had a really delicious breakfast, and even though it's so simple it doesn't really count as a recipe, it was so delicious that I thought I'd have to post it!

 So I took 2 slices of extremely delicious pastured bacon (from Harbourside Farms) and stuck them in a dry frying pan on medium-low heat. I let them cook until they were crispy-chewy, then I set them aside, turned the heat to medium-high and added about 1/2 box of brown button mushrooms, sliced, into the remaining bacon fat. I fried them until they were almost fully cooked, then I added some fresh thyme, some salt, and some pepper. I then turned the heat to low and removed the mushrooms.

At this point, if the pan is dry again, add some coconut oil, butter, etc. I then fried a beautiful pastured egg, sprinkled it with salt and pepper, and served it with the bacon, mushrooms, some avocado and some tomato wedges. Cherry tomatoes would just be outstanding!

So I guess it's basically bacon and eggs, but it was sooo delicious! Maybe it's just because it's been so long since I've eaten bacon and eggs? Well, it's still delicious, fast, and easy, so if you have a little extra time or want a breakfast that's a little extra special, make this!

Moroccan Veggie Burger

My first attempt with spinach and fresh tomato. Not bad, but
I much preferred the toppings included in the recipe.

While this recipe was delicious, I just keep imagining how amazing it would be to have some slices of juicy, tender lamb in addition to the veggie burger... Oh my goodness, that would be amazing. If you have lamb, add that. Luckily, it's still great without the lamb. I mean, there are roasted vegetables, dried apricots, peanut butter, spices, and caramelized onions. Come on. If there are caramelized onions, you know it has to be good.

The head chef at the cafe where I volunteer (and have lots of fun experimenting with whacky brownie flavours, including almond apricot with a tahini-lemon-honey swirl) would say that this burger has too much going on. Maybe she's right. But I don't really care. I just know that it tastes good, and that's all that really matters. On second thought, maybe the lamb would be a bit over the top. Maybe just stick with this.

One last note: these are huge, as in piled-high huge. You may need to use a fork and knife to fit it into your mouth. You could also leave the bun off, since you're probably not going to need it to pick up the burger anyway, and I don't think it really added much. I actually preferred mine without it.

Moroccan Veggie Burger

A complicated but delicious recipe

Burger

1 large sweet potato, cooked and mashed (about 2 cups)
2 cups cooked chickpeas
2 cups cooked black eyed peas
1/4 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup raw cauliflower rice (cauliflower pulsed in a food processor until it's the texture of rice)
1/4 dock flour (or other flour of choice, it can be any kind)
2 Tbsp ras el hanout (or more, if you like things with really bold flavours, I usually end up adding more)
salt, to taste

Sauce

1 cup canned tomatoes
3/4 cup peanut butter
1/2 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tsp ras el hanout
chicken stock, to thin (although, if you happen to have any lamb stock lying around, that would be amazing)

Toppings

1 eggplant, sliced into rounds
3 bell peppers, thickly sliced (or just quartered)
olive oil
salt and pepper

3 onions, sliced (you can use less, I just like to smother everything I eat with caramelized onions, so I like having leftovers. Just decrease the amount of apricots accordingly)
3/4 cup dried turkish apricots, chopped
oil or fat, to fry the onions
salt, to taste

optional: sprouts, cooked kale (kale would be amazing)

Bun

cauliflower bun (optional)

I suggest having the buns made in advance if you're using them. In fact, it would be much easier if you made most of the components in advance, since there are a lot of them. The burgers, caramelized onions and sauce can all be made in advance.

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400*F.

2. Coat the eggplant and peppers with olive oil, salt and pepper.

3. Put the eggplant in the oven. It will take about 1-1 1/2 hours to roast. Flip somewhere around halfway.

4. Meanwhile, make the burger, just mash everything up and combine. If you want it really smooth, put everything in a food processor, but I think it's better left a bit chunky. Taste a bit, and add more salt or spices if necessary. If it's not thick enough, add more flour.

5. You can either fry the burgers or bake them, which I find is both easier and they stay together better. Just put them on a baking sheet in circular burger shapes and pop them in the oven on a different oven rack from the eggplant. Bake until they start to brown, for me that's about an hour, but my oven takes long, so just check on them. Add the peppers to the eggplant now.

6. Heat the oil over medium-low heat.

7. Add the onions (for the topping) and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 1/2 hour or until caramelized.

8. Meanwhile, make the sauce. Saute the onions and garlic in a bit of oil in a pot until browned.

9. Add the remaining sauce ingredients and simmer while everything else is cooking.

10. When the onions are almost done, sprinkle with just a little salt and add the apricots. Stir together and add water or stock if it gets dry (and it probably will). Cook for another 5 minutes or so.

11. If you're using the buns and made them in advance, pop them in the toaster or a toaster oven to heat them up.

12. Assemble the burger. Put down a layer of sprouts on the bun, if using (if you're not using the bun, just put them on top of the burger), add the caramelized onions, place a burger on top, drizzle with sauce, add the roasted eggplant and peppers, and finally top with another bun (if using).

13. Attempt to eat with hands, then give up and just enjoy with a fork and knife. 

14. Take a nap, that was very filling and took a lot of work!

If this looks like too much for you, just make the burger and
bun a smaller size.

Middle Eastern Lettuce Wraps

Lettuce wraps are delicious and middle eastern food is delicious, so the combination is natural. I love things like falafel, lamb kabob, and chicken shawarma, but since those usually come with refined wheat pita bread and meat of unknown origins, I don't really enjoy them very often (although I could eat falafel more often, it's just that with my mini food processor it's too much work, and deep frying them tastes best but that requires lots of expensive fat and I'm too lazy.)

Chicken shawarma from the best Lebanese place in the city, Baraka Pita Bakery.
So good, but the chicken was almost certainly fed GMOs and the pita is made from wheat. :'(

Anyway, if you're lazy like me and don't want to spend lots of money on pastured meat and paleo almond meal wraps, you can still make use of the fresh goodeness of middle eastern food. Just make lettuce wraps! Admittedly, they won't be as good as the beef donair or lamb kabob from Baraka, but they still taste good, and they're healthier, cheaper, and easier to finish. So get some fresh veggies and enjoy some delicious lettuce wraps!

Middle Eastern Lettuce Wraps

Lettuce wraps are a very imprecise, so just stuff as much stuff in the lettuce as you want, the amounts don't really matter.

Ingredients

10 large leaves romaine lettuce
1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
1 or 2 tomatoes, cut into wedges or slices, or cherry tomatoes, halved
1/2 english cucumber, thinly sliced lengthwise and cut in half crosswise
20 kalamata olives, cut in chunks
about 20 lactofermented rutabaga strips

tahini sauce

1/4 cup tahini

juice of 1/2 a lemon

1 clove garlic, minced

salt, to taste

cayenne, to taste

2 Tbsp olive oil

water, to thin

2 tsp za'atar

optional: hummus, chickpeas, lamb, or chicken can be added to make the wraps more filling, and green onions, parsley and lebanese pickles would also be good additions, and if you don't want to use lactofermented rutabaga, you could just use pickled turnips, which are more traditional (see, this recipe is flexible!)

Directions

1. To make the tahini sauce, just whisk everything together or combine in a food processor or blender. Add enough water to achieve your desired consistency. If you're whisking, the tahini may clump a bit, just add more water or stir it for a little longer.

2. Distribute the vegetables (and olives and optional additions) evenly in each of the lettuce leaves. Place them in the bottom half, where the stem is stiffer.

3. Drizzle with the sauce.

4. Fold the top half over and fold the sides under.

5. Serve, with more tahini sauce if desired.

Wonderful Pork Hocks

I love pork hocks. The first time I bought some, I only bought them because they were one of the cheapest cuts of meat available. Since then, I've learned how wonderful these neglected little bits of meat are.They have many uses, and the meat is rich and fatty and full of porky goodness. Honestly, is there any better meat than pork? Especially if they're heritage Mule Foot and Berkshire Pigs, which have really flavourful, rich, and fatty meat.

Pork hocks are kind of like pig ankles, they're the cut right above the feet (which are also really great). The stuff I get includes meat, bone, skin, and fat. This is great, because I can use them for so many things!

The skin

Soup is the best thing to make with pork hocks, and I'm going to share a recipe for a soup/stew with pork hocks. Soup is best because not only do you get an amazingly delicious pot of soup, but you also get skin for cracklings, fat for cooking with, and if you don't use the meat in the soup, you can use it for other things. Maybe carnitas, cooked in the fat? Mmmm, that would be yummy. But I'm using the meat in the soup... hmm... Nope, I'll stick with the soup. It tastes just as great and it'll last longer.

To make the soup, first I cooked the hocks overnight in the slow cooker on low with some water and apple cider vinegar after letting it sit in the vinegar water for a few hours (pork needs to be marinated in an acidic medium). In the morning, I separated the meat, bones, skin, and fat. The meat gets chopped up and is later tossed into the soup, the bones remain in the soup, the fat can later be rendered and used for cooking, and the skin can be fried for cracklings. Mmmm, those cracklings were just stinkin' DELICIOUS! Crispy, fatty, salty, chewy, yummy, porky goodness. I don't even know how to "properly" make cracklings. I just sprinkled the softened skin with salt and pepper, cut it into chunks, and stuck it in a frying pan. You don't even need any oil because the fat that sticks to the skin is more than enough. Yeah, as delicious as the meat is, I think the skin is definitely the best part. Bonus: the skin spent some hours in the broth, giving it enough time to infuse the soup with lots of that wonderful, healing substance known as gelatin.

Mmmmm... cracklings

Black-Eyed Pea and Pork Hock Soup/Stew

Just a warning, this does take a long time (as in, make it the day before you want it), but most of that time is just waiting. Also, this makes a lot, so you'll have leftovers for later in the week or to freeze. And this is definitely worth the wait!

Ingredients

2 large pork hocks

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

1 huge onion, chopped

6 cloves garlic, chopped

3 celery stalks, chopped

4 carrots, chopped

optional: 2 bell peppers, chopped

2 medium sweet potatoes

1 tsp each: thyme, oregano, rosemary, smoked paprika

2 bay leaves

8 cups soaked black-eyed peas (more or less, depending on whether you want a soup or stew)

28 oz can of whole tomatoes, chopped, or can of chopped tomatoes

2 bunches kale, thinly sliced or chopped (if you can get collard greens, definitely use them! Superstore has a very limited greens section, so I chose kale) cabbage could be nice, if you want to try something different

salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

1. The day before you want some soup/stew, put the pork hocks in a slow cooker with the apple cider vinegar and cover with water. Refrigerate for a few hours, it doesn't really make a huge difference how many; do this either in the morning or afternoon.

2. Turn the slow cooker on to low and let the hocks cook overnight.

3. Separate the skin form the fat, the fat from the meat, and the meat from the bones. Throw the bones back into the broth. Chop the meat into bite-sized pieces and set aside. Keep the fat, render it, and use it for other dishes. Fry the skin with salt and pepper to make cracklings (have it with your breakfast instead of bacon!)

4. Add the black-eyed peas, onion, garlic, celery, carrots, sweet potatoes, spices, bay leaves, tomatoes, and optional bell peppers to the broth with the bones. Cook on low. (You don't really need the amount of time, do you? I just say it's finished when I want dinner. Or, just cook until everything's tender. Most things take about 8 hours on low.) You can add some water if you want it soupier.

5. About 30 minutes before the soup/stew is done, add the kale and meat and cook until the kale's wilted.

6. Add salt and pepper, then taste to adjust for seasonings.

7. Serve with some paleo cornbread muffins, and enjoy!

Garden Vegetable Nori Rolls

Nori rolls are great for lunches, snacks, or side dishes! You get all your veggies conveniently wrapped up in a sheet of seaweed, which itself is very healthy. They're also super easy to make, no special sushi equipment required!

Garden Vegetable Nori Rolls

Ingredients

1/2 bell pepper, thinly sliced

1/2 carrot, shredded

3 inch piece of cucumber, julienne

1 avocado, thinly sliced

3 romaine leaves or the equivalent in other lettuce, thinly sliced (or if you're using baby greens, just leave them whole)

1 tomato, thinly sliced

4 nori sheets

optional: anything from your garden! spinach, zucchini, snap peas, even sprouts!

Directions

1. Have a nori sheet in front of you, shiny side down, with the lines running horizontally.

2. Place 1/4 of the sliced avocado near the bottom of one of the nori sheets. (you could also mash the avocado and spread it on. Leftover guacamole works great for this!)

3. Pile on 1/4 of each of the remaining toppings.

4. Starting at the bottom, roll everything in the nori tightly to create a firm roll. Dab a little water on the last centimeter from the end to help the nori stick.

5. Repeat for the other 3 rolls.

6. Starting with the first roll you made, slice crosswise with a very sharp knife. (I don't have a sharp enough chef's knife, so I usually use a sharp serrated knife.)

 

Avocado Sauerkraut Nori Rolls

This is one of my favourite nori rolls! Avocado and sauerkraut taste great together, and it's an easy way to consume more lactofermented foods. If you have some on hand, try adding some cucumber matchsticks, it's delicious!

Avocado Sauerkraut Nori Rolls

Ingredients

1/2 avocado, thinly sliced

1/4 cup sauerkraut

2 cups of mixed lettuce, or more (however much you can pack into the roll!)

2 nori sheets
optional: some cucumber, cut into matchsticks

Directions

1. Have a nori sheet in front of you, shiny side down, with the lines running horizontally.

2. Place 1/2 of the sliced avocado near the bottom of one of the nori sheets. (you could also mash the avocado and spread it on. Leftover guacamole works great for this!)

3. Pile on 1/2 of the sauerkraut and greens, and cucumber if using.

4. Starting at the bottom, roll everything in the nori tightly to create a firm roll. Dab a little water on the last centimeter from the end to help the nori stick.

5. Repeat for the other roll.

6. Starting with the first roll you made, slice crosswise with a very sharp knife. (I don't have a sharp enough chef's knife, so I usually use a sharp serrated knife.)

If it's really difficult to cut, wait a few minutes for the
avocado to soften the nori

Super easy and delicious! 

Spring Salad

A yummy, crunchy, fresh salad filled with springtime vegetables! Now, if only the weather would cooperate and realize that it really is spring! Anyway, even if the sunshine's running a bit late, this is a very enjoyable and filling salad that will make you dream of melting snow. Maybe it can even distract you long enough for spring to come. If only.

I find that the ripe avocado and lemon juice makes enough of a dressing to coat the vegetables and leave the salad with a light, mild, fresh taste, but if you like you can add some pepper and a drizzle of olive oil if you want it to be less light and mild. Just do so sparingly.

Black-Eyed Pea Chopped Spring Salad

Ingredients

1 stalk of celery, chopped

1/3 cup cooked black eyed peas

1/2 avocado, cut into a dice

1 large radish, chopped

1/2 cup or more sugar snap peas, coarsely chopped

2 inch chunk of cucumber, chopped

1 romaine heart, thinly sliced or chopped

1/4 large fennel bulb (or 1/2 a small one), chopped

fronds from the fennel bulb, chopped

1 green onion, thinly sliced

juice of 1/2 a small lemon

optional: other fresh herbs

Directions

1. Toss everything together.

2. If the black eyed peas you used weren't salted, add a bit of salt to the lemon juice before tossing with the rest of the salad.

Fennel-Tomato Ceviche Salad

Most raw foodists are vegan. If you buy industrialized meat, I can understand that. Personally, I think that if you get meat from a good source, it's fine to eat raw. Well, unless it's pork or poultry. If you're not vegan, things like ceviche and steak tartar are a great way to enjoy the benefits of raw foods. Raw meat is actually really good for you. This is a delicious way of consuming healthy raw fish! If you are vegan, or a raw vegan, you could probably just substitute some sliced mushrooms for the fish. This can be a light lunch or an appetizer.

Fennel-Tomato Ceviche Salad

Ingredients

1/2 fennel bulb, thinly sliced

1 tomato, cut into 16 wedges

1/2 radish, very thinly sliced

1 cup fresh raw fish, thinly sliced (I used salmon)

1 ancovy, minced

1/2 tsp green peppercorns, minced

1 tsp capers, minced

juice of 1/2 a lemon

1 scallion, thinly sliced

1 garlic clove, minced

1/8 cup olives, chopped (I used kalamata)

pinch of salt

fennel fronds, chopped

balsamic vinegar 

olive oil

Directions

1. Combine the fish, anchovy, peppercorns, capers, lemon, scallion, garlic, olives, and salt in a bowl. Marinate in the fridge for about 30 minutes.

2. Arrange the fennel, tomato and radish on plates. It looks really pretty if you alternate the slices in a pinwheel formation.

3. Top the vegetables with the marinated fish.

4. Drizzle with a bit of balsamic vinegar and olive oil. 

5. Top with fennel fronds. Enjoy!

Lactofermented Rutabaga

Have you ever heard of lactofermenting? It's kind of like pickling, but instead of cooking the canned stuff, you just let it sit so that good bacteria grows and keeps bad bacteria from forming. Lactofermented food is probably the easiest, tastiest, and cheapest way of consuming probiotics. If you do it right, it can also be the healthiest! For more information on lactofermenting and why it's so good, read this. (There are also lots of great recipes for lacto-ferments on that site.)

Lactofermented foods should be part of your daily diet. My favourite vegetable ferments are sauerkraut, ginger carrot, lacto-fermented beets, and lacto-fermented rutabaga. Kombucha, kefir, fermented condiments, sourdough and yogurt are also good sources of healthy bacteria. I constantly have kombucha brewing, and it's one of the most delicious fermented food there is (well, it's actually a drink, but you get my point).

The recipe that I'm going to share today is for lactofermented rutabaga (you can also use turnips, they're pretty much the same, rutabagas are just cheaper here). I like them best when fermented with some brine from fermented beets (you could also use beet juice, or just add a few chunks of beets), because then they turn the most gorgeous shade of bright pink!

Lactofermented rutabaga can be used in salads and lettuce rolls (great with avocado), in falafel wraps, wrapped in other ways (especially good with tahini sauce), or as a garnish. These make seriously beautiful garnishes.

Lactofermented Pink Rutabaga

Ingredients

1 large rutabaga or 2 turnips, cut into matchsticks

1/2 to 1 cup leftover brine from fermented beets or beet juice, optional (you can also just throw a few chunks of beets in with the rutabaga)

water, to cover (preferably filtered)
1 Tbsp salt, or 2 Tbsp if not using leftover brine

Directions

1. Pour the brine and salt into a large jar, or two medium jars (whatever can hold all the rutabaga), stir until the salt is dissolved.

2. Put the rutabaga in in the jars/jars.

3. Add water to cover, leaving at least 1 inch of air at the top of the jar.

4. Close the lid, then leave the jars to ferment for about 3 days.

5. Refrigerate after they have finished fermenting.

These are extremely versatile! Use then in salads, as a garnish, in nori wraps, or other wraps! They taste especially good with middle eastern/lebanese foods, like falafel.

Here are some recipes that include lactofermented rutabaga:

roasted vegetables on raw rice (as a garnish)
warm salad (as a garnish)

rainbow kale salad

This post was shared at: Fight Back Friday April 19th

Turkey Vegetable Soup

This works with chicken too, just use two carcasses instead of one, or halve all the other ingredient amounts. Yummy turkey soup is a great way to warm up, get healthy if you're sick, stay healthy if you're not, or just to enjoy! It's also really quick to make if you have the stock and meat on hand.

Turkey Vegetable Soup

Ingredients

1 meaty turkey carcass, made into stock, meat reserved and chopped (include 1 bay leaf and a large chunk of ginger in the stock, remove the meat as soon as it's cooked then add the bones back to the pot to keep simmering)

2 stalks of celery, sliced

2 medium onions, chopped

3 carrots, chopped

2 bell peppers, chopped (yellow, orange ore red is best, and a combination looks really pretty)

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 bunches of kale, thinly sliced

1 tsp each of thyme, sage, basil, oregano (dried, or triple quantities if fresh)

2 tsp dried rosemary (or 2 Tbsp fresh)

optional: 1 tsp cumin, 1 tsp turmeric (for a slight curry flavour)

salt and pepper, to taste

2 Tbsp oil

Directions

1. Heat the oil in a large soup pot.

2. Add the onion and saute over medium heat until lightly browned. 

3. Add the celery and carrots and saute for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

4. Add the bell pepper, cook for another 2-3 minutes.

5. Add the garlic and all other seasonings. Cook for 2-3 minutes.

6. Pour in the turkey stock and bring to a simmer. Simmer until the vegetables are just tender.

7. Add the kale and turkey meat. Cook until the kale is wilted and all vegetables are tender. Taste to adjust for seasonings.