Summer black bean and corn salad

  There are recipes for black bean and corn salads everywhere. So how original is this one? I have no idea but my kids devoured it. Not sure if they were just really hungry or if they loved it but I sure did and am very happy to share this ridiculously simple salad recipe that helped me find a use for some of my leafy green celery. 

  Black bean and corn salad 

As a meal this serves 2, as a side 4. 

Ingredients

• About 2.5 cups of frozen peaches and cream corn 
• 1 can no salt added black beans, drained 
• 2 tbsp chopped red onion
• 1 yellow sweet pepper 
• Fistful of celery leaves. Chopped. (About 1/4 cup when chopped)

Dressing. 

• Juice of 1 lemon
• 1 tbsp olive oil (adjust higher if using a large lemon)
• Pinch kosher salt
• Pinch freshly ground pepper
• 2 pinches cumin
• 1 pinch garlic powder

Method: 

Combine salad ingredients it a bowl and set aside to let corn thaw. (15-20 min)

Mix dressing ingredients in a jar and shake. 

Toss all to combine and serve! 

  
Seriously this dinner came together so quickly last night. I didn’t care if anyone even touched it but everyone tore right in. I served it as a meal with a pickle on the side just because my kids love pickles and olives. But it would make a fantastic side salad for a bbq. I will probably double the recipe next time so that I have leftovers for my lunch and not just the kids! 

Carrot Adventure.

  I got a beautiful assortment from Lufa farms in this weeks basket, but it came with a few challenges.

What to do with

Green Tomatoes (challenge in progress)
Carrots with full beautiful leafy tops (Challenge achieved)
“no so pretty” bag of veggies. (challenge achieved)

The not so pretty bag of veggies was the first thing I tackled, there were 2 onions in there, I also had some carrots nearing the end of their life span in my fridge and celery only fit for cooking. one thing came to mind. Stock. I had never made stock before but how hard could it be. I had fresh herbs growing outside and the veggie scraps from the meal I was making at the time. So in the pot with water went the onion, carrots and celery with an eggplant bottom, some bits of cauliflower stem  and a bunch of fresh parsley and a bunch of fresh oregano. the end result was a beautifully fragrant and flavourful broth (I added salt) that just cannot compare to what you buy in a box!! but now I just enlarged my challenge list to include:

Make something with homemade stock (Challenge achieved)

And then inspiration and a good google search hit. and I managed to deal with all but the green tomatoes in one delicious meal:

  Carrot PB soup with Vegan Carrot top pesto

I mostly stayed true to the respective recipes with the following variations:

SOUP:

I used 4 cups of my homemade stock instead of stock and water. I used chilli powder, ginger and garlic powder that I mixed into the peanut butter before adding to the soup, (instead of chilli sauce, something I do not have in my kitchen) I used an inversion blender because I find it does a better job with less risk of exploding in your face.

PESTO:

I used unsweetened coconut as it didn’t specify, otherwise I followed this and it turned out absolutely delightful. its slightly tangy citrusy notes go so well with the thai flavours of the soup.

  

A Love Affair with Eggplant

Eggplant is one of those strange foods that confuse children (what do you mean its an egg plant, it doesn’t look like and egg and it definitely doesn’t taste like one) and adults aren’t always sure if they like it or not (eggplant poorly done is pretty gross). I love getting my eggplants from Lufa Farms, they are always just the right size and the idea that my food grew on a warehouse rooftop right in the middle of my major city is, well delightful. Especially since whenever I try to grow anything the squirrels get fat and my planters end up empty. I had one in my fridge from my last order and although I really wanted to eat it, cooking in 30 degree weather isn’t really pleasant. So I needed something that required minimal time in front of the stove. And the following two recipes were born.

I love salt, so if you are less of a salt affectionado the first one may be a bit too salty for you, my kids didn’t really go for it (they aren’t used to salt, as I do not cook with it as a primary flavouring very often.) So I cannot in my right mind suggest you try feeding this to your kids either, but its a nice side dish for a summer dinner.

Finding ways to make tofu more interesting is an ongoing experiment, my kids love it but I get tired of eating the same protein with the same flavourings over and over again. Since it was again too hot to bake in the over my BBQ tofu was out (I do not have a grill, I really want one now but its not convenient in apartment living and I am pretty sure I would set fire to my place anyway) Since I had some indian insipired rice a friend had brought over during my recovery from surgery (I had one of my heart issues corrected a few weeks ago!) I decided to stick with similar flavours and it turned out quite nicely.  This, the kids ate.

Photos to come, I need a new phone or camera and so photos for the moment are pretty few and far between.

  

 Pan Seared Eggplant and Tofu
Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 1 brick extra firm tofu
• 1/2 medium eggplant
• pinch kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp tumeric
• 2 tsp Coriander
• pinch of cumin seeds
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp Cinnamon
• 1 tbsp dried currants 
• 1 tbsp olive oil

Method:
cut tofu and eggplant into bite sized cubes,  put in large mixing bowl and toss with currents, salt and spices. (you can adjust these to your taste)

Heat oil in a large non-stick pan over medium high heat (or use a bit more oil in a conventional pan) – you may need to work in two batches if you pan is small – put eggplant and tofu in pan in a single layer making sure all pieces contact the bottom of the pan, stir to flip the pieces every 3-4 min until eggplant is softened and tofu is browned.

Serve over rice or quinoa with a soy sour cream mint sauce (Sour supreme, lemon juice and a lot of dried mint.) 

Eggplant Patties
serves 2

Ingredients:
1 small eggplant of 1/2 medium, sliced into circles
1/2 cup Braggs soy alternative (or soy sauce)
1 tbsp PB2 (or 2 TBSP natural peanut butter)
1 green onion, sliced
3 tbsp chickpea flour
2 tsp olive oil

Heat oil in pan over medium heat.
toss eggplant with the rest of the ingredients in a medium bowl, be sure to cover the eggplant generously. if its too thin and doesnt stick to the eggplant add more flour.

in pre-heated pan place the patties and turn after 6-7 min, you may need longer depending on thickness of your slices, the eggplant is ready when it is completely softened. (the skins edges will sorta curve in and will become transparent)
wonderful served on brown rice cooked in veggie broth.

Scenes from the life of Dog

 Seriously? I love this toy but it’s not necessary to have me wear it.   

100% I am a big dog. 
What? Did you just say “walk”  

Most comfy place to sleep.  

My new friend. 

 

Molly is doing fantastically. Our biggest challenge has been convincing her the kids room is still INside the apartment and the next is why she doesn’t like some people. She’s transitioning to adult food which is complicated! But she so far is eating it (still mixed with puppy food) having a dog with kids sounds kinda loopy but it’s absolutely fantastic. Interestingly she isn’t a fan of fruit. She does like the human/puppy frozen snacks I made with PB and banana however. So do I! 

• 1 cup PB
• 1-2 mashed bananas
• 1/4 cup water (or soy milk) 

Mix with fork until well incorporated the PB and banana. Stir in the water then fill silicone molds or drop small amounts on a parchment lined tray and let set overnight. Once frozen you can keep them in a ziploc to save space. 

A noisy meditation

  What I wouldn’t give for a few moments to breathe. A minute even 30 seconds where there are no sirens, no trucks, no pitter patter, no fans or air conditioners, no squirrel squacks or the call of seagulls (who brought seagulls into my hood? Oh yeah that great big medical installation in my backyard.) just silent meditation retreat caliber silence. But living on a main thoroughfare in a major city means this is just not an option. So I need to take a new look at these noises, this constant stimulus and find my own peace. Be aware and acknowledge the sounds without judging them without letting them cause suffering. This however is easier to say than to do. It’s easy to ignore sounds to tune them out. But that usually leads to tuning everything out. So tonight I am enjoying the silent sounds of my oatmeal. I recognize the kids talking rather than sleeping. I hear the buses, I hear the traffic and the fan but I am attending to the sound of the spoon against the bowl, the oat bran mixing with my saliva and the squishy pop of the juicy raisins. It may be a strange comfort food but a bowl of hot cereal with raisins late at night is a symbol of relaxation for me. I like a certain texture in hot cereal and prefer oatbran or cream of wheat to actual oatmeal. here is my recipe for a good sized bowl of oatbran

Cinnamon Raisin Oatbran

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup oatbran
• 1 cup milk of choice (plain or vanilla)
• 1 cup (more as needed) water
• 1/4 cup raisins
• 1-2 tsp vanilla
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• Pinch of brown sugar

Method:

Mix all ingredients into a small pot and turn heat to medium. Stir occasionally until it starts to bubble then stir consistently until desired consistency. I promise you, in our instant oatmeal world, the effort required to make this is beyond worth it. My daughter also adores this as a breakfast or before bed snack. Takes about 10 min total about 4 once boiling. 

 Same recipe works with regular 3-minute oats too. With steel cut oats you need a lot more time. Cream of wheat use 4tbsp  and up milk/water a bit. 

  

Best vegan gf or not pancakes ever. PB& chocolate high protein breakfast.

I would seriously eat these daily.  In fact we ate them before I could steal any for pretty pictures. These are not only good to eat, they are good for you. With their high protein value, they make a great satisfying breakfast.

I made these on a whim, I have been experimenting with flavoured soy milks in our pancakes for a while, and other fillings. Pancakes always leave me sorta hungry, so I usually end up making the kids pancakes and having something else. When I realized I was clean out of whole wheat flour I had a brain flash, if I could up the protein and fiber value in pancakes they would be more satisfying as a breakfast, so I started checking out my alternative flours and the chickpea caught my eye. with 6g of fiber and 6 g of protein per 1/4 cup (about the amount in 2 pancakes) it was a great solution, however I know how dense that stuff can be and pancakes should not be dense, so I went 50/50 with regular flour for what is a perfect density. since I was on a protein mission, and my son wanted chocolate ones, the thought of Reese came to mind, and how good PB and Chocolate is. I recently found PB2 a dry peanut butter powder, in a local health food store and have been trying to find ways to use it, why not add a bit of protein that way,  and of course, what goes better than banana with both peanut butter and chocolate!?  For the protein reason I used soy milk here but I often make my pancakes with almond milk, both work well but soy tends to make a flufflier pancake.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Banana Pancakes. 

• 1 1/4 cup chickpea flour
• 1 cup all purpose flour (gf version works well too)
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 tbsp cinnamon
• 2 cups soy milk (1/2 chocolate 1/2 plain)
• 4 tbsp apple sauce
• 2 smashed ripe bananas
• 2tsp vanilla extract
• About 1 tbsp chia seeds
• 2 tbsp PB2 (dry peanut butter product)

Mix the dry ingredients well in a bowl except PB2 and chia. I recommend using a fork for this. The density of the flours are a little different and they blend better this way. Add soy milk, apple sauce, chia, vanilla smashed banana and PB2 mix well with fork or whisk. Pour about 1/3 cup into preheated non stick pan on medium heat and flip when very bubbly.

This recipe makes 12-18 pancakes depending how big you want them. So for fewer than a family of 6 you might want to take only  1 cup and 3 tbsp of the dry mix, reserve the rest in an air tight container and halve the remaining ingredients to mix with the dry mix. But these also freeze and store really well for toaster pancakes or on the go snacks.

 

Never Ending Coleslaw Battle.

Coleslaw is something that seems on the surface so friggin easy to make that anyone could do it. Well, that was false, or at least I am not cut out to make coleslaw. Until today. I have no idea what finally clicked but I finally got the proportions, textures, flavours, and well not to toot my own horn or anything, but when you spend 2 years making bad coleslaw and finally score….. It is PERFECTION.

There really isn’t much else to say but that you should all make this. and the bonus is it doesn’t make the truckload most recipes make. ( I blather a bit after I give you the recipe)

 

Coleslaw that finally rivals the restaurants

Total time:15 min                                                                    Serves: 4-5

Ingredients:
Salad

1/2 head green cabbage
1/2 small red onion
1/3-1/2 red pepper, julienned in short sticks1 carrot, grated
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon lemon juice

Dressing

1/4 cup olive oil
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
1.6 oz sugar (I weighed this out, but is about 3 tbsp)
1 clove garlic (minced or pressed)
1.5 tsp dijon (use mild for kids or use less)

Method:

Chop the onion and cabbage in a food processor (or shred with a knife). add the grated carrots and julienned peppers.

Shake the dressing ingredients in a jar or whisk in a bowl, dump over veggies and toss. refrigerate before serving for best flavour.

  I realized a few things as for my previous errors

1. I tended to take the easy route and toss everything in the food processor. Clearly even just aesthetically the different veggies do well with different textures.

2. I was too light on sugar

3. I was too heavy on vinegar

4. I really do not like celery seed as much as I thought I did in my coleslaw. Oregano is much better.

Sweet potatoes…. I love you, I love you not

We hung out with our cousins one weekend this summer (well many weekends, but one particular weekend inspired this post). It was fun, and I discovered that their kid too used to love sweet potatoes and now turns his nose up at them. I’ve heard this strange story from other parents too. I understand sometimes liking things sometimes not, I understand liking only certain preparations of foods, but going from basically a sweet potato monster to absolutely refusing to eat them, this fairly typical toddler transition baffles me.

For us, and my cousin, this happened sometime before their 3rd birthdays. Now, just after their 4th birthday I am starting to see a sweet potato revival. I have continued to cook with and serve sweet potatoes. Usually accepting that the leftover sweet potato dish would be my lunch.

I really like sweet potatoes, it was the magical food on holiday plates. Cooked in generous amounts of butter and brown sugar candied sweet potatoes and I are good friends. Yet even prepared this way (with vegan butter) my children refused to touch them, I was baffled. I still am because I am drooling just thinking about these!

I tried mashing them with vegan butter, brown sugar, pumpkin pie type spices and still nope. I tried plain and boiled
(sometimes with toddlers the simpler the better) big nope. I tried in soups and stews, which worked only if accidentally ingested. I tried fries (only if the frozen variety, made by the grandparents and served with mayo). I roasted them in very shape I could think of (nope). I was out of ideas. Then my mother had a craving for sweet potato chips. So we made some. In the oven, with olive oil and salt. And 2 out of 3 preschool aged children ate them. (The lone hold out has since relented to these) We had a collective mom mouth drop and a way to make sweet potato chips for the future:

Sweet Potato Chips

serves: 6                prep time: 15minutes          bake time:40min approx

Ingredients:
3 sweet potatoes cut into chips, carefully!, with mandolin or by hand
1-2  tsp olive oil
1 tbsp kosher salt
1 tsp fresh ground pepper

Method:
Pre-heat oven to 400
Lay sliced potato out on a parchment paper lined baking sheet (you may need to make 2 batches) sprinkle half the salt and the pepper over the potatoes drizzle the oil over them toss with your hands to coat them all toss with rest of salt and the lay in a single layer on the baking sheet, any that don’t fit just keep aside for the next batch.
Bake for about 45 min turning once or twice, watch carefully as they go from perfect to burnt very quickly. They are still a little soft when “perfect” allow to cool a few minutes on a cooling sheet or wooden board. They will crisp up a bit more as they cool.

Easy, healthy (use other seasonings, or salt preparations like herbamare to cut back on the sodium content), and sweet potato hating kid approved!

Since this particular weekend, homemade sweet potato chips and fries go over extraordinarily well. We even had a french fry dinner.

 

Pumpkin Soup for Halloween (or anytime)

I think this is the absolute easiest soup to make, it requires so few ingredients, takes no time to cook and it is delightful. It requires a lot of tasting, which makes me feel like a real chef! I have make this when I have opened canned pumpkin for something else (like my honey cake).

My first Rosh Hashanna featured this soup!

Pumpkin Soup

Serves 8             prep time: NONE!       cook time: 15min

Ingredients:

1 can pure pumpkin puree or approx 2 cups homemade
4 or more cups of vegetable broth (to desired consistency, I often use up to 6 cups)
3 tbsp maple syrup (adjust to taste)
1/2 tsp ginger,
1/4 tsp allspice
a dash of nutmeg  or add a tbsp of pumpkin pie spice mix instead of all spices.
optional: dehydrated onion, or fresh onion. parsley as garnish
about 1/4 cup Tofffuti Sour Supreme (or regular sour cream)

Method:
if using fresh onion chop very finely and saute in a little oil until soft and transparent.
add all the pumpkin and vegetable broth and dehydrated onion flakes if using that in a large pot, whisk together over medium heat. add more broth until the consistency is smooth and not too thick. add maple syrup and spices,  (sometimes I make this only with nutmeg) and bring to a gentle boil (do not let it get to a rolling boil) reduce heat to low and allow to simmer 5-10min. Serve with 1-2 tbsp of sour cream, garnish with some flat leaf parsley.

Happy Pumpkins for a fun “holiday” of giving and receiving candy. In religious communities there may be a lot of debate and disagreement about such a day, but my sweet children dressed as a Brave princess and a fireman are anything but violent, pagan or inappropriate. I have no problem with the day as long as it is just about having fun, enjoying some fall produce and maybe a little (or a lot) of sugary treats.

As for the soup: My kids enjoy the sour cream part, they do not really like creamy soups, but they enjoy mixing the sour cream into the soup and will eat a decent amount just because of this novelty. Since this is not a meal soup I have no problems with this and it allows them to experiment a bit.

Lentil Flexi Spaghetti Sauce

This mild, high protein vegan spaghetti  sauce doubles as a fantastic chilli. It falls into one of the recipes I try to keep in my freezer but fail because it is the first thing I go for when it is there.

This is one of those recipes that gives well to emptying the fridge. It is never quite the same because I always adjust the exact vegetables based on whats in my fridge.

Red lentils are just so flexible, inoffensive and healthy. If my stomach allowed me I would eat lentils so much more often, all legumes but red lentils especially.

The recipe for a normal serving of sauce serves 6, I happen to like sauce on my pasta not pasta on my sauce so it is more like 4 servings around here, I eat about as much sauce on my pasta as I would in a bowl as a chilli.

Lentil spaghetti sauce
Serves 6

Time: 45min-1hr

2-3tsp olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2-3 large cloves of garlic, minced
1 grated carrot (or finely chopped)
2 stalks of celery (3 if using small organic celery hearts), finely chopped
1/2 – 1 red pepper, finely chopped
1/2 zucchini, finely chopped
1 cup red lentils
2 cups vegetable broth
1 can tomato paste
1 can drained, no-salt added diced canned tomatoes
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1 tbsp fresh parsley, or basil (1 tsp of dried)
1/2 tsp salt
cayenne pepper to taste (omit for kids)

The easiest way to prepare these veggies is tossing it all (including the garlic and carrots) in a food processor and pulsing to a fine chop. it doesnt result in pretty chunks of veggies but it renders them all perfectly tiny for a kid friendly sauce in seconds. I suggest you do this in two batches (carrots, celery, onions, garlic first, then while they sautee do the red pepper and zucchini)

In a large saucepan, heat oil over medium and  cook onion, garlic, celery, carrot, as they start to soften add the zucchini and redpepper cook until all veggies are tender. (about 5 min)

Add lentils and broth and cover to cook for 25-35 min (until lentils are cooked) add the tomato paste, tomatoes, oregano, parsley and cook for another 15 minutes (lentils will go sorta mushy)

Variation: replace the oregano and basil with cinnamon (1 tsp) and all-spice (1/4 tsp) it completely changes the dish in an instant. I love it both ways but I prefer the traditional spices for serving on a pasta.

Tip: Generally this sauce needs no sweetening, but occassionally I get the balance wrong in the veggies I suppose and I find it needs a dash of something,  a little brown sugar works well as does honey if you use it.

Baby friendly: Omit the salt, and you can use an immersion blender to render the sauce even thinner, or entirely into a puree.  My kids have never had pureed pasta sauce cause I cannot be bothered.  (this trick works too for picky husbands, you can even use this as a base for a meat or soy protein sauce to really increase the protein content)

As mentioned, this freezes super well.

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