Breakfast - Rice Cakes, Sunflower Seed Butter, and Apple Slices

What can I say, this is a great breakfast for when I don't have much time!  

Dinner - Spicy Chickpea Stew  (Leftovers) 

Usually, I either make up my own recipes or use ones I find online.   I don't really buy cookbooks anymore, I find that the combination of my current knowledge, cookbooks I already own, and the internet is all that I need.  However, I recently found an amazing cookbook that I felt compelled to buy - 'At Home In The Whole Food Kitchen - Celebrating The Art of Eating Well.'    Someone else has already created a pdf of the recipe for this stew, which came from this cookbook, so here it is!   The only changes I made were to leave out the almonds and the salt, and to modify the Harissa recipe (see below).  It was extremely delicious!  

Harissa is an amazing flavour combination from North Africa that I'd never run across before!  Here's a link to a pretty standard Harissa paste (though perhaps leaving out the tomato sauce and the red pepper).   And, here's how I intend to make it going forward:

Ingredients
1 tablespoon cumin seeds
1 tablespoon coriander seeds
1 tablespoon caraway seeds
2 teaspoons ground paprika
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper, or more to taste

Instructions
Put the seeds in a frying pan over medium-high heat and toast, stirring continuously.   You'll know they're done when they become fragrant and/or turn brown.   Transfer to a spice/coffee grinder and grind until fine.  Add paprika and cayenne.  Then, keep in mind that the dishes you serve it with will taste even better with lemon juice and garlic.   If you store the spice blend in an airtight container in a cool, dark place it will keep for a few months, at the very least. 

Breakfast - Roasted Potatoes and Avocado

I cut up the potatoes the night before, and boiled them for about ten minutes. Afterwards, I coated them in oil and seasonings and laid them out on baking sheets...this way all I had to do in the morning was turn on the oven!   I haven't prepared potatoes this way before, normally I just cut them up raw and fry them in a frying pan.   They were really good, and delicious with avocado!

These potatoes came from a farm outside of Powassan, but I also often buy organic potatoes because they are one of the dirty dozen. 

Lunch - Sushi

I really enjoyed my first time eating at the The Kabuki House, where they were kind enough to make my friend and me a special platter that didn't include any shellfish or tempura.   As long I remember to bring my own Tamari Sauce, sushi is a great lunch option!

Snack - Roasted Fava Beans

I'm 99% sure I found these at Sobey's, but I've forgotten.   At any rate, they were a nice treat!   For some reason, all of my friends I offered these to commented on how crunchy they were.   I'm not sure why this was surprising, but it really seemed to catch everyone off guard.   Unfortunately, I noticed I started reacting to these if I ate them too frequently, I'm not sure what I'm reacting to (there isn't an obvious source of gluten). 

Dinner - Tofu and Kale Salad

I diced the tofu and cooked it at a medium heat with San-J Szechuan-Style Sauce until the liquid had evaporated and the tofu had absorbed the sauce.    I didn't enjoy this sauce on a stir-fry, but it's really good on the tofu!

The kale salad was made with organic kale (rinsed and chopped), a chopped organic apple, sunflower seeds, and a flavoured balsamic vinegar (that had been massaged into the kale).   There's a new shop that just opened in North Bay that specializes in flavoured olive oils and vinegars, Adoro. 

Breakfast - Oatmeal

I picked up this instant oatmeal mix at Independent Grocers.   This is a good opportunity to remind everyone what has happened with labeling laws in Canada.  The government has placed a restriction on labeling any oat products as gluten-free.   This means gluten-free products containing oats can't advertise anywhere on their packaging that the product is gluten-free (instead they say they are 'wheat-free').   Since the company that produces this instant oatmeal is called Glutenfreeda, they have actually been forced to remove their company name from their packaging!   Oats contain a protein called avenin, which is very similar to gluten in structure, which leads to about 1 in 5 people with Celiac disease being unable to tolerate oats.  

I ate this breakfast with a couple of mandarin oranges. 

Applesauce!

I got the organic Ida Red apples (pictured above) from Springmead Farm through Dalew Farms.  I ate some fresh, made an apple crisp, and made a large pot of apple sauce (pictured below).   To make the apple sauce I cored the apples, cut them into wedges, and boiled them with a bit of water at a medium high heat until they were soft, stirring occasionally.   It usually takes at least an hour, depending on how many apples you are using.  I used an immersion blender in the sauce after I was done cooking it to make sure there weren't any hard peels left.   This sauce was so delicious it didn't really need any sugar or cinnamon, which I was surprised by!

Lunch - Cabbage and Apple Dish

This surprisingly delicious dish is simply made with red cabbage, apples, apple cider vinegar, and cayenne pepper (if you want it spicy).   I cut up the cabbage and apples and put them in my dutch oven with a few tablespoons of water.   I leave it at a medium heat until the cabbage is soft and the water has evaporated, stirring occasionally.  If you use a softer apple it will dissolve into a sauce, but some apples will keep their form.  At the end I add the apple cider vinegar (a few tablespoons) and the cayenne pepper (to taste).  You can top this dish with seeds or nuts for some added protein.  

Dinner - Burger, Salad, and Chips

This was a delicious dinner prepared for me by some friends!  I ate a hamburger without the bun (topped with mustard and homemade ketchup), romaine lettuce mixed with Renee's Poppy Seed Dressing, and potato chips.