As Spring and Summer start to roll in, my workouts seem to increase automatically…not to mention that I’m training for the Sun Run (my first 10k!!). I’ve been trying to keep my protein intake up, and so I used this shake as yet another excuse to give the Vita-Mix a workout, too! I’ve been using my new Vita-Mix blender like it’s my job…I can’t get enough of it! Despite the hefty price tag, I think it’s my best purchase ever! This is a great post-exercise drink, and I used my usual protein powder. I loved the light chai taste…doesn’t it almost look like a latte!?

This is another delicious recipe from my raw foods class. The class that this recipe comes from focused on high nutrition snacks. I would suggest making these in bulk as they can take up to 48 hours to deyhydrate. If you make one giant batch you can store them in the freezer. The chocolate used in this recipe contains only healthy ingredients- these snacks provide a perfect burst of energy for you….which is what a snack is really about.

Pineapple Dips

• Pineapple(s), sliced into 3″ x 1″ pieces

Last night was a ton of fun. I invited five friends over for some snacks and drinks before we hit the town. I love entertaining, I wanted a really fun menu with everything miniature!

Everyone was greeted with a Mini Peach-Pomegranate-Grapefruit Drop Martini.

Peach-Pomegranate-Grapefruit Martini

• 2 oz Absolut Peach vodka
• splash of pomegranate juice
• splash of grapefruit juice
• sugar
• orange zest

Put a bit of sugar into a bowl and stir in some orange zest. Run a piece of orange around the rim of your martini glass and then rim with orange-sugar. In a martini shaker, combine ice, vodka, and juices. Shake! Shake! Shake! Pour into prepared glass. Garnish with an orange slice.

And we munched on a fresh platter of veggies n dip

I made these Fig & Brie bites, which were absolutely delicious. I think you guys know about my love affair with brie…and these were no exception. MAKE SURE YOU FREEZE THESE BEFORE YOU BAKE. I actually couldn’t serve these because mine weren’t cold enough, so the brie ran everywhere…..but the scraps were amazing haha. I have one more batch ready, which I will freeze first.

Fig & Brie Bites (adapted from Food Mayhem)

Sour Cream Pastry

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2″ cubes
• 1/3 cup sour cream
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Filling

• 3/4 cup fig jam
• 10 oz wedge of brie cheese

To make the sour cream pastry, combine the flour, sugar, and salt in the food processor by pulsing a few times. Add the butter and pulse 4 times, then process for 10 seconds, or until it looks sandy.

Empty into a very large bowl and form a well in the center. In a small bowl, stir together sour cream, yolk, and vanilla extract. Place wet mixture in the center of the well and work from the inside out with a rubber spatula.

When the dough comes together, knead a few times with your hands and press together. Divide the dough in half and form a 3″x4″ rectangle with each. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight. (Dough can be kept for up to 3 days in the fridge or 1 month in the freezer.)

Remove one dough rectangle from the fridge and cut in 4 equal pieces. Keep un-used dough in the fridge.

Roll the piece of dough into a 14″ x 3″ strip on a lightly floured surface. Spread 1 1/2 tablespoons of preserves down the middle.

Cut the brie into thin slices a little less than 1/8″ thick. Cut off the rinds. Lay the brie down the middle on top of the preserves.

Lift the sides of the dough over the preserves and brie, folding one side over the other. Press down gently to seal.

Cut into 1-inch pieces.

Place them 1 inch apart on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper. Repeat with all the remaining dough, preserves, and brie. Place them in the freezer for 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F about 30 minutes before you are ready to bake.

Bake for 10 minutes or until golden. Remove to cooling racks to cool for 5 minutes before serving. Best served warm.

I also served Smoked Salmon Blinis. I love smoked salmon, and all seafood for that matter. I try to avoid salmon because I have a sensitivity to it, but what the heck, it was New Year’s Eve!!

Smoked Salmon Blinis (recipe found here)

For the pancakes:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon fresh chopped chives
• 1 ounce cream cheese, softened
• 1 tablespoon butter, softened
• 1 egg
• 3/4 cup milk
• 8 ounces cold smoked salmon
• Freshly chopped green onions, for garnish

For the sour cream sauce:

• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 teaspoon horseradish
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and chives.

In a small bowl cream together the cream cheese and butter until smooth.  Add the egg and whisk until completely incorporated.  Whisk in the milk.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and whisk until just incorporated and no large lumps remain.  Do not over-mix.

Heat a non-stick skillet over medium heat.  Spray lightly with non-stick spray then scoop the batter by the tablespoon into the pan.  Cook for one minute on the first side, flip, then cook for an additional thirty seconds, or until the cakes are golden brown and spring back when gently pressed in the center.  Remove to a plate to cool while you prepare the rest.

While the cakes cool prepare the sour cream sauce by adding the sour cream, horseradish and salt to a small bowl.  Whisk to combine then let stand ten minutes.

To prepare, spoon a heaping 1/4 teaspoon of the sauce onto the center of the cakes.  Top with a piece of the salmon.  Garnish with the chives.  These can be assembled up to one hour in advance.  Serve at room temperature.

I have always wanted to make sliders, and I decided to make these lovely Lentil Walnut Burgers from Oh She Glows, into sliders! They look so adorable and almost to cute to eat.

Lentil Walnut Sliders (adapted from Oh She Glows)

• 3/4 cup canned lentils
• 3/4 cup walnuts, toasted
• 1 piece bread, toasted OR 1/3 cup breadcrumbs
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 2 tsp ground coriander
• 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• Freshly ground pepper
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 chia/flax egg (1 tbsp ground chia or flax + 1/4 cup water)

Directions: Preheat oven to 350F. In a small bowl make the chia or flax egg and set aside.

Toast the walnuts by placing the walnuts on a baking sheet and cooking at 350F for about 12 minutes until golden brown and delicious. Let cool.

In a food processor, process the garlic, walnuts, toasted bread OR breadcrumbs, spices & seasonings until combined. Now add oil and lentils and pulse until coarsely chopped (some lentils should be visible and left chunky). Add the flax or chia egg and pulse a bit more until combined. Now shape small patties with hands and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a non-stick mat. Bake at 350F for about 35 minutes, turning once. When almost done, add cheese (if using), and let melt in the oven for about a minute.

I served these on slider buns, with spinach, avocado, ketchup, mustard, and havarti cheese. Enjoy!

My friend Taylor said, “These are the best f*cking burgers ever!” LOL

As if we didn’t have enough shots in our near future, I thought I’d kick things off with a shot that wouldn’t make our stomachs (and livers!) cringe. A simple Thai-Spiced Pumpkin Soup served in shot glasses.

Thai-Spiced Pumpkin Soup (adapted from 101 Cookbooks)

• 2 acorn squash, pumpkins, or other smallish winter squash (I used one can of pumpkin puree, and one acorn squash)
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
• clove minced garlic
• 1 14-ounce can coconut milk
• 1 teaspoon (or more) red Thai curry paste
• water
• 2 teaspoons fine grain sea salt (or to taste)
• sprinkle of red chili flakes

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and place the oven racks in the middle.

Carefully cut each squash/pumpkin into halves (or quarters). Slather each piece of squash with butter, sprinkle generously with salt, place on a baking sheet skin sides down, and place in the oven. Roast for about an hour or until the squash is tender throughout.

Saute garlic clove in a bit of olive oil in a soup pot. When the pumpkin/squash are cool enough to handle scoop it into a large pot over medium high heat. Add the coconut milk and curry paste and bring to a simmer. Remove from the heat and puree with a hand blender, you should have a very thick base at this point. Now add water a cup at a time pureeing between additions until the soup is the consistency you prefer – a light vegetable stock would work here as well. Bring up to a simmer again and add the salt and chili flakes (and more curry paste if you like, I used about 10 teaspoons of curry paste, but the kind I used was very mild.)

To round out the evening before we headed downtown, was a selection of festive cookies. I made shortbread 3-ways, snowflake sugar cookies, and rumnog pecan cookies (vegan, and to die for!) .

I’ve started to notice some leaves on the ground, but I’m choosing to ignore them and milk these last couple weeks of sunshine. I know that soon my ice cream maker will be headed back in storage, and so I decided to make one last batch of homemade ice cream. I chose a recipe that is vegan, and features really natural ingredients- I even got to use the mint growing in my garden! This mint chocolate chip ice cream doesn’t taste like the kind you buy at the grocery store. It’s much more refreshing and it tastes like real mint leaves. I love that it uses coconut milk instead of cow’s milk, so that I can actually eat it! It might be a little bit too minty for some people, but I haven’t had regular ice cream in so long that I really enjoyed this.

Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream (recipe from here)

• 1 cup fresh mint leaves
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 14oz can full fat coconut milk
• 1/4 cup baby spinach leaves, packed
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 cup vegan chocolate chips

In a medium saucepan combine the mint leaves, sugar and water and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Let it steep for 15 minutes.

Pour the contents of the saucepan into a blender jar, add the coconut milk, baby spinach, vanilla and salt. Liquefy for about a minute or until smooth and green.

Strain the mixture into a medium size mixing bow.  Let it cool in the fridge for an hour or until the bottom of the bowl feels completely cold.

Once chilled, strain it again into your ice cream maker’s bowl, and freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions. (I used my KitchenAid ice cream maker attachment). Place a food storage container (where you want to keep your ice cream) in the freezer.

A few minutes before the ice cream maker is done churning, melt the chocolate chips in the microwave in a dry glass bowl.

When the ice cream maker is done churning, remove your food storage container from the freezer and spread about half of the ice cream on the bottom. Drizzle about half of the melted chocolate all over the ice cream and stir to break up the chocolate into tiny chips. Repeat with the other half of the ice cream and the rest of the melted chocolate.

Cover the bowl and freeze until firm. Serve and enjoy!

The other day I hankerin’ for cornbread. (Did I just say hankerin’…?) The fact that I felt like cornbread is pretty weird considering I’ve eaten it about twice in my life, and the most recent time was several years ago. I told my mom, and she was down. I searched for a few recipes, looking for one that might use a healthier flour than white flour, and I settled on Heidi’s recipe for ‘Firecracker Cornbread’. I didn’t change too much in her recipe, but I baked the bread in a 12-inch cast-iron skillet, and it took about half the time. I topped it with butter and drizzled it with plenty of honey and my mom and I both enjoyed it. I really liked that it had fresh corn in it, and I loved the subtle spicyness from the red pepper flakes.

Also, please check out my latest Examiner article. It’s a review on this really great asian vegetarian restaurant in Vancouver called Whole Vegetarian Restaurant. My mom and I went for lunch and we ordered so much food that they moved us to a bigger table LOL. It was delicious, though. Unfortunately I was an extremely bad food blogger and didn’t have my camera on me!! Talk about unprepared….I guess you’ll just have to trust me on this one

I can honestly say that dill pickles are literally one of my favourite things in the entire world, and they always have been. I have been known to polish off a jar in a day or two the odd time, and it’s mandatory that they are always in my fridge. They are essential after a night of a few too many drinks, and I have always said that they cure any stomach ache I may have. I also used to drink the pickle juice when I was little but that’s a different story….

My mom found a recipe for ‘overnight’ pickles, and we were super stoked to try this recipe out. Neither of us have any idea of how to can or preserve anything, so this seemed like the best solution for us to try homemade pickles! We picked up some pickling cucumbers at the grocery store, found a couple of mason jars, and began our pickling mission.

It literally took ten minutes to make these pickles, and we were patient enough to wait 2 or 3 days before eating them. Not going to lie- jar one was gone in a matter of minutes. They were delicious and they have a great crunch to them! My dad loved them, too, and hinted that we better go by some more cucumbers! You can play around with the vinegar that you use, and experiment with leaving the cucumbers whole, or slicing them. I liked sliced better!

Easy Overnight Dill Pickles

• pickling cucumbers, washed, and sliced or left whole
• enough jars for the pickles to fit in
• fresh dill
• garlic, thickly sliced
• 1 tbsp mustard seeds
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 cup white wine vinegar
• 1/8 cup salt
• 1/2 cup sugar

Fill jar with fresh dill, garlic, and pickles. Boil the remaining ingredients in a saucepan, until sugar and salt are dissolved. Pour mixture over pickles and close jars. Place in the fridge for a day before eating.

This has to be one of the most delicious ways to eat kale. It’s such a simple preparation but I could munch away on these kale chips forever! Forget potato chips or chocolate- this is my kind of treat!

Kale is an amazing vegetable. Besides looking super cool, it is rich in Vitamin K, Vitamin C, and calcium. There’s about a bazillion other nutrients you get when you eat kale and all for extremely few calories. I’ll definitely be adding kale to my ‘to-grow’ list for my garden!

Baked Kale Chips

• 1 head of green kale
• a tbsp olive oil
• pinch of sea salt

Preheat the oven to 200 F. Wash the kale and dry it well. Tear the kale into smaller pieces (get rid of the tough middle stem). In a bowl, toss it with olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Place on a lined baking tray and bake for 20 minutes, remove and toss the kale, place in the oven for another 15-20 minutes, until dry and crisp. Enjoy!

I really love having healthy muffins on hand for snacks- I just keep them in the freezer and then heat them up whenever I need a little boost. I really find that so many muffins are more like dessert than healthy snack so I think it’s better to just make them at home. These ones are fantastic- very little sugar, healthy protein packed quinoa, flaxseeds, and great flavour. I topped these muffins with a bit of butter and honey or almond butter. The quinoa makes them have a unique chewy texture that I had to get used to- they never tasted bad, I just hadn’t had a muffin with that texture before. Vegan or not, these are very enjoyable and you can feel good about eating such a nutritious muffin!

Almond Quinoa Muffins (adapted from Veganomicon)

• 1 cup unsweetened soy milk
• 1 tbsp ground flax seeds
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup maple syrup (I used slightly less)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp almond extract
• 1/4 cup almond meal
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 1 1/4 cups cooked quinoa
• 1/2 cup currants or dried blueberries

Preheat the oven to 350 F and lightly grease a 12 cup muffin tin. In a bowl, whisk together the almond milk and ground flaxseed and let sit for one minute. Whisk in oil, maple syrup, vanilla and almond extracts.

In a seperate bowl, sift together flour, almond meal, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and spices. Add the wet ingredients to the dry, mixing until just incorporated. Fold in the cooked quinoa and currants/blueberries and mix until the large lumps are gone. Pour into the muffin tin and bake for 18-20 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Earlier in the week, in one of my culinary classes, we were all asked to bring in a dish that represents comfort food for us. We then headed to the kitchen and go to explain the dish we brought, and then share it with the class. One of my favourites was what my Chef brought in. He is from the Middle East, and he made beautiful, soft, homemade pita bread with hummus, a fava bean dish called Fool Meudane, and wonderful falafel. I was so impressed and inspired that I wanted to make the very same meal for my family! I decided to add a cumin-carrot salad to the meal, as well. Something I love about these dishes is that they all happen to be vegetarian- yum!

I’ll be sharing the recipes over the next little while, and I’d like to start with a basic hummus recipe that gets topped with the fool meudane. My chef informed me that this is not a traditional way of serving it, but hey, he did it….and I liked it!

Basic Hummus

• 1 19 fl oz can of chickpeas
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 3 Tbsp tahini
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• pinch of salt and pepper
• 3 Tbsp finely chopped parsley

Combine all the ingredients, except olive oil in a food processor and blend until smooth. Drizzle in olive oil and blend. Stir in parsley and top with paprika.

Fool Meudane (original recipe can be found here)

• 2 cups frozen fava beans
• 1 clove of garlic
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 1/4 cup lemon juice (add tbsp by tbsp, until you get the amount you want- a 1/4 cup may be too much for some people)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp parsley, chopped
• 1 small tomato, diced

In a frying pan, heat the olive oil and add the garlic, stir until fragrant. Add the fava beans, lemon juice, and salt. Cover and cook for a minute or two. Add the diced tomato, cover and simmer 2-3 minutes. Turn off the heat, and mash the ingredients with a fork until chunky. You don’t want this dish to be perfectly smooth. Garnish with parsely and drizzle with olive oil.

To serve these, spread the hummus in a bowl leaving a hole in the middle, add the fool meudane in the centre, sprinkle with smoked paprika, and drizzle with olive oil.

So I have dabbled in a couple of raw food dishes, such as the raw cheesecake I tried in the summer. I’m feeling a bit less than myself lately and was sick over the past week or so. Because I am in pastry school, I find myself consuming a lot of sugar, and I basically went from a near zero sugar diet, to one where I’m bringing home cakes, pies, tarts, and bread several times a week, and while a lot gets shoved in the freezer right away, it’s the odd bites that catch up to us. I want to start cleansing my diet again, as my school winds down, and wean myself off the sugar once more. I thought a good place to start would be a raw food dish, and though I don’t necessarily think that having a completely raw diet is the best diet, I know that I can count on raw food recipes to provide light, healthy nourishment. I got the recipe from here and only slightly modified it. I really enjoyed the dressing and used it on several salads I had in the following day or two. This was a very nice lunch, and also a great side dish at dinner. Enjoy!

Raw Vegetable Pasta

Dressing:

• 1 inch ginger
• 3/4-1 cup olive oil
• 2 tsp sesame oil (toasted)
• Juice of 1 lime
• 4 tbsp mellow white miso
• ¼ cup maple syrup
• zest of one orange
• 1/3 cup water

Blend in a blender or food processor until creamy and emulsified.

Pasta:

• 1 large zucchini, sliced with a vegetable peeler
• 1/2 red pepper, sliced into matchsticks
• 1 carrot, sliced into matchsticks
• 1/2 small cucumber, grated
• Scallions or green onion to garnish
• Sprinkle of raw sliced nuts of your choice
• handful of cilantro, chopped

Prepare and mix all veggies, save the scallions or green onion. Toss them with 1/4 cup sauce, adding more if necessary, and sprinkle with scallions. Sprinkle with sliced nuts and cilantro.