What I Eat - Guest Chef Julie!

Before meeting Dielle I never would have thought to have vegetables for breakfast, but a year later and I’m hooked. This breakfast is my easy go-to. I’ll also often have a mixture of sliced avocado, fruits and veggies, or celery sticks with sunflower seed spread. Sometimes I make the smoothie at night and keep it in the fridge overnight.  It turns slightly brown from the avocado but it still tastes good.  

Breakfast - Fruit & Veggie Smoothie with Sweet Potato Fries

Smoothie Ingredients:
-1 Avocado
-1 Handful frozen cherries
-1 Handful blueberries
-2 Apples
-1 Handful chopped kale
-A few pieces of cucumber
-1 Thumb size piece of ginger, chopped

Cover with half apple cider, half water.  Blend til smooth. This makes about 4 large glasses.  

Sweet Potato Fries: sorry I forgot to take a picture!

Dielle has featured sweet potato fries on her blog before (December 2012) but I do them slightly differently. I don’t bother cutting the potato into fries; instead I just select skinny potatoes and then cut them into 0.5 cm thick disks. I toss them with a bit of olive oil and throw them on a cookie sheet. I bake them at 400 F for 15 minutes on one side and 5-7 on the other.

Tip: When I know I have an early morning coming up, I cut the potatoes at night and keep them in the fridge covered with water. In the morning I dry them with a tea towel and coat with oil as above.

Lunch - Salmon Lettuce Wraps

-1 can of salmon
-Chopped red onion to taste
-Renee’s poppy seed dressing
-Ground black pepper
-Lettuce for wraps

Local Blueberries with Ontario peaches

My mom, sister and I picked a tonne of wild blueberries this August near my sister’s cottage in Quebec (near Ville Marie). The picking was great and the blueberries even better!  I’ve also been devouring Ontario peaches while in season.  

Dinner -  Garden Beans with Wild Chanterelle Mushrooms, Kale Slaw and other Garden Veggies

One of my favourite things to do in the summer is to be able to make dinner mostly from the items in my garden or even my backyard. This summer my family and I picked wild chanterelle mushrooms near Hwy 533 (towards Mattawa, ON). They are lovely in a stir fry and awesome with some wild venison. Tonight we had them with garden beans…yum, yum.  

Bean mix

Ingredients:
-Green beans
-Yellow beans
-Half of a sweet onion
-2 handfuls of chopped chanterelles (washed well)
-1 clove garlic, chopped
-Herbamare, to taste

Instructions:

1. Saute garlic and onion til soft
   
2. In separate pot, steam beans until slightly soft
   
3. Cut beans into 2 inch pieces and add to pan with onion and garlic
   
4. Add chanterelles
   
5. Add Herbamare to taste

Kale Slaw

A friend introduced me to this kale slaw last summer and it has been a staple in my kitchen ever since. It’s really tasty and lasts in the fridge for days. This is a day-old slaw – the beets have already turned the carrots red.

Ingredients:
-4 cups chopped kale
-1 large beet
-2 carrots
-2 apples
-1 handful sunflower seeds
-1 handful currants

Dressing Ingredients:
-Olive oil (~1/4 cup….I don’t actually measure)
-Red wine vinegar (~1/4 cup)
-1 tsp Dijon mustard
-1 tsp honey
-Pinch of sea salt (or to taste)

Instructions:

1. Wash kale leaves and let dry
   
2. Cut kale into slender slaw–like pieces, put in large bowl
   
3. Grate carrots, beets and apples – add to kale (I use my Tupperware chopper to cut down on grating time)
   
4. Add sunflower seeds and currants
   
5. Add dressing to salad
   
6. Rub dressing into kale with your hands – this will soften up the kale and make it easier to eat and digest
   
7. Best to let sit for 30 mins or more before eating
   

Note: Photo not to be used as an identification tool. Be sure to collect mushrooms with someone who really knows their stuff as many are non-edible and/or poisonous.