Red Lentil Fusilli 

Bean and lentil pasta is a game changer!   It tastes better than rice or corn pasta, fills you up more, and makes much better leftovers.   It has become so popular, you'll find it in the regular pasta section of most grocery stores (here is the most widely available brand).   This makes a super easy meal on a busy day, with a decent amount of protein.  I don't normally cook with eggplant, but I found two perfectly good ones in the discount section of Sobeys for less than two dollars (it's kind of like when you find an Italian cashmere sweater for less than ten dollars at the thrift store, you don't ask question, you just buy)!   

Ingredients: 

• ​​This red lentil pasta, but really any bean or lentil pasta will do (usually red lentil or chickpea)
• Two eggplants, cubed
• Two red onions, roughly chopped
• Two tablespoons of olive oil
• One half teaspoon dried thyme
• One half teaspoon red pepper flakes
• Salt and pepper
• One can of tomato paste
• This vegan feta 

Instructions:

Put the eggplant, onion, olive oil, thyme, and red pepper flakes in a Pyrex baking dish, stir it all up, and roast in a 375 degree oven for about 45 minutes.   Turn off the oven, stir the tomato paste into the veggies, and put the pan back in the warm oven.  Add the pasta to boiling water, stirring frequently in the beginning and less frequently towards the end.   Drain when the pasta is soft, and add it to the Pyrex dish, mixing well.    Add the feta on top, and this dish is ready to go!  

'Time To Go Grocery Shopping' Salad

This salad is a mix of what I picked in the garden and had left in my fridge, including:

• three cherry tomatoes from the garden
• two yellow Ontario plums
• one eighth of a red onion
• the bottom of a bag of snap peas
• roasted pumpkin seeds
• one small red beet that I accidentally pulled up while weeding (peeled and cubed)  

The more you cook, the better able you are to, intuitively, know which flavours will go together.   This salad was delicious! 

I put a white balsamic dressing on top (picture of the container below).   You can find these containers online; or often at kitchen stores, Winners, or HomeSense.   This dressing has crushed garlic, olive oil, white balsamic vinegar, mustard, salt, and pepper.   The bottle is super, because you just pour into it until you hit the mark! 

Thai Curry Soup with Red Lentil Tofu

This post is two recipes in one!   I absolutely love both of these recipes.   

First, the soup.   I used this recipe, with the following modifications:  
Ingredients:  

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 zucchini, sliced
• 1 small head of broccoli, chopped
• 1 onion, diced
• 3 tablespoons red curry paste, (this one)
• 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
• 6 cups broth (made with these bouillon cubes)
• 1 can coconut milk
• 4 ounces rice noodles
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• 3 green onions, thinly sliced
• ½ cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves
• ¼ cup chopped fresh basil leaves
• 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice

Instructions: 

• Heat olive oil in a large stockpot or Dutch oven over medium heat.  Add garlic and onion. Cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 3-4 minutes.
• Stir in red curry paste and ginger until fragrant, about 1 minute.
• Stir in broth, scraping any browned bits from the bottom of the pot.
• Stir in zucchini and broccoli. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and cook, stirring occasionally, until reduced, about 10 minutes.
• Stir in rice noodles, coconut milk, and fish sauce until noodles are tender, about 5 minutes.
• Remove from heat; stir in green onions, cilantro, basil and lime juice; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
• Serve immediately.

*I make it a practice not to boil coconut milk, as it often changes the taste in a way I find quite unpleasant.   

Second, the red lentil tofu.  This has become a staple in my kitchen.  I make big batches, and cube and freeze it.   It warms up nicely in my air fryer.   I use this recipe, following the instructions to make the tofu hold together as well as possible.  I do find it needs to be air fried and then each cube holds it shape well.    Quite a few of my vegan patients find this tofu alternative becomes a valuable tool for ensuring they get adequate protein.   

​Corn-Free Tacos

I don't tolerate corn well, and this means I usually don't buy things that contain corn for myself.   These taco shells are a game changer!   I feel really good after I eat them, and they make me feel really full.   The ingredient list is super simple - Cassava Flour, Avocado Oil, Pumpkin Seed Meal, Pumpkin Powder, Psyllium Powder, and Sea Salt.   

*Yes, the taco shell in this photo is broken, but I've bought three boxes now and usually only one shell has been broken, which I can live with.   

To make things even easier, I found these delicious Cuban Black Beans.   They're a bit runny for tacos, so you either have to boil them down a little bit, until more of the liquid evaporates, or use a spoon with holes to scoop the beans out. 

I added sliced green onions, shredded vegan cheese, and a few Sweety Drop Peruvian Peppers, and this was the best, AND EASIEST, meal I'd had in a while!        S
ea Salt

Charred Romaine with Lemon Dressing

Wow, this dish has been a hit when I'm serving people dinner!  I think it's a particularly nice way to eat lettuce in the winter; a way to keep it more seasonal.    It's also super easy and fast.   
 
Inspired by this recipe, but the dressing was changed to the following ingredients: 

• Zest and juice of one lemon  (I received this rasp as a Christmas present, and it was a game changer for zesting.  It makes the zest so fine, and then the flavour doesn't take over a dish) 
• Half cup olive oil
• One tablespoon of maple syrup
• One tablespoon of Dijon mustard
• Salt and pepper

The only other way that I strayed from the recipe is that I broiled the lettuce on a cast iron baking pan/sheet.  

Here are the instructions from the link above:
​
Step 1. Add all dressing ingredients into a glass jar with a lid. Shake vigorously until a thickened dressing forms. Set aside to serve with the salad.
Step 2. Turn your oven to the broiler setting, on high.  (I start by putting the walnuts in the pan and toasting them first.  Be careful, they burn QUICKLY!)
Step 3. Cut the romaine hearts in half, leaving the bottom intact so that the leaves stay together. You will have four halves of romaine.
Step 4. Coat in olive oil and sprinkle generously with salt and pepper on both sides.
Step 5. Place the romaine hearts, cut side down, on a large baking sheet and broil for 2-3 minutes, then flip and broil the other side for 2-3 minutes.
Step 6. Remove the romaine from the oven and place the hearts on a serving platter cut side up. Top each heart with toasted walnuts and grated parmesan.
Step 7. Drizzle with the dressing and serve warm or at room temperature.
Step 8. Enjoy!

Fried Zucchini, Bacon, and Nectarines

This breakfast was super fun because I bought all the ingredients on one farm stand tour this past weekend!   I highly recommend driving around the countryside, checking out the scenery and all the farm stands you run into.  Don't forget to bring cash.  

The bacon came from the Foxfire Heritage Farm farm stand.  

The zucchini came from a farm stand on Kells Road, in Powassan.    They aren't advertising anywhere.  They were super nice, their produce was amazing, and they'll pick what you want from their garden while you're there!  They are not open on Sundays.  I sliced the zucchini into medallions, coated them in a very small amount of olive oil and then this batter mix (gluten free- available at Sobeys), and cooked them in my air fryer.  

The nectarines came from the same farm stand, although they were brought up from southern Ontario.  I bought a giant box, and sectioned and froze most of them, after mixing them with some lemon juice. 

If you aren't local to the area, you can skip the rest of this entry.  If you are local, here are a bunch of options for local produce (that isn't a CSA farm share):

• Look up 'The Great Powassan & Area Farmstand Tour' on Facebook.   Unfortunately, their map hasn't been updated for this year (so a few of the farmstands were empty), however it is still accurate for most farms, and gets you on the right roads for new stands. 
• Check out Nipissing and Area Food Roundtable Local Food Map.  
• Visit the Powassan or North Bay Farmer's Markets

Fried Mushrooms on Toast

This was a weekend breakfast for me.  I don't like to spend a lot of timing cooking breakfast on work days, and mushrooms don't make my heart sing as leftovers.   So, the elements were:

• gluten free toast (Udi's) with vegan margarins (Becel), cut into little squares
• fried mushrooms and onions, with a mushroom-based 'wild rub for vegetables' I picked up at a farmers' market in Montreal a few years ago.  It seemed weird to put mushrooms on mushrooms, but the mix underwhelmed me and I wanted to use it up.  I think it underwhelmed everyone else too, since their website doesn't seem to be working now
• Daiya feta cheese (really good!)
• Cubed avocado

Pro tip:   Want to know how to have avocados last for a really long time?   Here is the formula.   Buy them super hard, and generally lighter green.  Keep them out of the fridge until they slightly indent under your fingertip when you gently press on them.   Immediately, and gently, put them in the fridge.   They won't have any bruises, and they will last forever.    It works every time!

​

Halibut, Roasted Cauliflower, and Wild Rice 

I've fallen in love with my air fryer, which allowed me to prepare this meal pretty quickly (aside from the time the rice cooked).   I cooked the cauliflower in it, after tossing it in olive oil and onion powder, and then I drizzled some vegan ranch dressing on top.   

Fish:  I thawed frozen, wild halibut and pan fried it with this togarashi seasoning.  It's described as a Japanese table condiment, like salt, but I didn't really care for it that way.  However, it was amazing on this fish!   

Rice:   Friends brought me this hand harvested wild rice they picked up in Michigan on a tour around Lake Superior.   It smells divine!   I made it with a veggie bouillon cube, and topped it with chopped green onions and sweety drop peppers (here's a link, although I did not buy them from this particular supplier).   Sweety drop peppers are so good I'm planning on ordering them in bulk.   I can almost guarantee you'll like them too, if you get a chance to try them. 

Beet Pasta
I'm starting to think I say this a little too frequently, but, I promise, this dish tastes much better than it looks!    I discovered this recipe watching 'Nadiya's Time To Eat' on Netflix.   Here is the link, if you would like to check out the original recipe.  I like that show, and this dish, because everything is easy to make quickly! 

Here is how I made this dish:
I picked about 10 small to medium sized beets from the garden.  I rinsed them, and then put them in a steamer basket and steamed them until they were soft enough to easily poke through with a fork.   Then, I plunged them in cold water, and pushed the skins off with my thumbs.  I combined them with the following ingredients in my Vitamix high-speed blender:

• four large cloves of garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
• about a half cup of raw cashews
• about a quarter cup of olive oil
• salt, to taste
• about a half cup of water
• about a teaspoon of dried dill 
• about a teaspoon of chili sauce

I blended them all up until the sauce was smooth and hot. Then, I boiled up these amazing organic black bean spaghetti noodles, drained them, and put the sauce on top.   Besides being high in protein, one of the things I really like about these noodles is that they don't stick together after they cool down!

Kale-Onion Dehydrator Crackers

So, after years of debating whether or not it was worth the investment, I finally bought a dehydrator!    I really lucked out, because the first cracker recipe I tried was glorious!   

Also, for those of you contemplating the purchase, I was brave and didn't buy an Excalibur, despite its reputation as being the best on the market.  Instead, I bought a Cosori.   I had expected to let it rattle along in the basement; but I discovered it looks great on the kitchen counter, is relatively quiet, and it warms up the kitchen in the winter!    It was also MUCH cheaper.  

Here is the recipe for these amazing crackers.  The only way I deviated from the recipe (because, of course, I wanted to make it easier) was to score the crackers at the start of dehydrating, so that I could just set it and not think about them anymore.  They turned out amazing!  

Ingredients

• 1 cup pumpkin seeds soaked overnight in water with a ½ Tb of salt, then drained
• 2 cups kale
• 1.5 onions
• ½ cup chia seeds soaked in cup water minimum 30 minutes, up to overnight
• 2 Tb extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tsp sea salt
• ½ Tb thyme
• ½ Tb rosemary

Instructions

• In a food processor, pulse together pumpkin seeds, onions, kale, salt and herbs.
• Drizzle in the olive oil while running once you have a chunky paste.
• Stir in the gelled chia seeds to combine well.
• Spread onto squares of parchment paper about 0.5cm thick. (You’ll need about 3 sheets.)   Score them into the size of crackers you'd like, I used the edge of a spatula.  
• Dehydrate @ 140ºF for approx. 12 hours

* I did THE STUPIDEST THING I'VE EVER DONE when I was making this recipe.  I was using my mother's food processor, and I got impatient and tried shoving the kale through the feed tube with a butter knife.  Of course,  it slipped from my fingers and fell into the running processor, which immediately seized and irreparably died.   So, that was sad, BUT, it meant I had to buy a new food processor, which I'm actually pretty excited about!   Stay tuned, I'll probably want to show it off!