The unimaginable happened the other day when my dad asked for kale chips. His usual response to vegetables, especially leafy green ones, is to snub them or drench them in cheesy or creamy sauce. For him to request a vegetable dish is uncharacteristic, but for him to request kale, well I have a hard time believing I’m not dreaming. I made them several years ago at a family gathering in too hot of an oven and burned most of them so I was surprised that he remembered that and wanted more. They do still taste like kale but there is a richness from olive oil and then just salt or flavoured salt makes them that much more palatable. Continue Reading →
Sugar Pumpkin Soup
Sugar pumpkins are a small, sweet variety of the famous round orange squash synonymous with autumn. They fall into the hardier winter squash family (unlike lighter summer squash like zucchini) filling bins and tables at all the markets and grocers this time of year. Cooking with winter squash can be very rewarding or very disappointing, especially with the simpler dishes like soup. Continue Reading →
Salt Baked Purple Potatoes
Roasting potatoes in a bed of coarse salt makes the inside light and fluffy while crisping up the outside. Baked potatoes are a simple and classic side dish but it can be tricky to get the right texture when preparing them on their own without a big piece of meat in the same pot to provide moisture and seasoning. Using a few handfuls of salt takes all the guesswork out and works consistently, even if the ratios, time and temperature are a bit off. Continue Reading →
Vanilla Cardamom Roasted Fruit Salad
A violent storm has just made its way through, the first one after months of nearly constant sun. It is still periodically pouring rain and a persistent wind has been whirling around and rattling what remains of the rose bushes outside my kitchen window. It’s feeling like fall has come but there was still a pile of perfectly ripened summer fruit on the counter so it seemed like the perfect scenario to try a roasted fruit salad. Continue Reading →
Moroccan Spiced Cauliflower Couscous
The days are still hot but they are ending earlier and earlier and the nights have a cold edge and the early morning light reflects through dense morning fog before the sun gets high enough to burn it off. The market stands are still abound with fresh and fragrant summer fruits and vegetables but I am starting to long for some of the tastes of autumn. A dish like this combines the lightness of summer with the grounding side of autumn. Continue Reading →
Chocolate Cherry Pecan Stacks
I started getting interested in nutrition around fifteen years ago and have been a pretty dedicated health freak for most of that time. I have found the secrets to keeping healthy eating desirable are trying out new foods to keep the monotony at bay, trying out different combinations and cooking techniques to not feel deprived, and indulging in the “naughty” foods I like, but combining them with some more nutrient dense ingredients. Chocolate for example, is a potent source of both caffeine and sugar, two stimulants that can easily throw off our bodies’ balance. Continue Reading →
Roasted Summer Vegetable Pasta Salad
Pasta is the epitome of both flexibility and comfort food. Whole grain pasta with a tonne of summer vegetables is my brother’s current specialty so we have been enjoying it a lot lately and I wanted to change it up a bit by incorporating legumes (lentils and beans) in a couple different ways. Continue Reading →
Rosemary Shallot Mushrooms
Sautéing mushrooms with some herbs and flavourings like rosemary and shallot creates a delicious side dish good on its own or that can be added to omelettes, pizza, pasta and panini or used to top steak, baked potatoes or rice bowls. The process seals the outside, browning the edges and keeps the insides juicy. Continue Reading →
Tomato Chipotle Soup
Soup is not the most summery dish but this is the best possible time to get tomatoes. The market shelves are full of plump, firm and incredibly flavourful tomatoes just waiting to be eaten. On a slightly cooler, ideally rainy, lazy afternoon or evening this is a nourishing meal to put together and leftovers can be frozen until the temperatures take a dive and the leaves start to turn. Tomatoes are famous for their lycopene content, a carotene that acts as an antioxidant in our bodies. Continue Reading →
Raspberry Kefir Smoothie
Kefir is a fermented milk product very rich in probiotics. It is similar in texture to regular yogurt, thick and creamy but not as thick as Greek yogurt and it has a slightly tart taste. If we have yogurt why bother with kefir? Well it is an even better option because it tends to have more strains of beneficial bacteria, or probiotics, in higher quantities. It is to yogurt what kale is to iceberg lettuce- not substitutable in every circumstance but a more nutrient dense option. Continue Reading →