Healthy Life Lessons

Good morning and welcome to Wednesday! Lots of recipes for you this week. Though a kugel is a traditional Jewish dish, and often one served at Passover, this is something that you can make any time of year, regardless of your background. This recipe is healthy and only moderately sweet, so it makes a great, nutritious breakfast, brunch dish, or side dish for dinner. Most kugels contain a lot of eggs and many contain cheese, but this one is entirely vegan, as well as sugar-free and gluten-free. You can add in nuts and/or other dried fruits if you wish as well. It came together because Little A wanted to make something with me for our sedar at my in-laws and I didn't want to make another dessert, but also wanted to try and find something that would appeal to the kids. Apples and cinnamon is always a good bet! Apple Carrot Raisin Quinoa Kugel 1 cup quinoa 946ml carton unsweetened plain or vanilla coconut drinking milk (or almond milk) 2 apples, chopped 1 lb bag shredded ...

Happy hump day! Stuck for a meal idea today? This one works for breakfast, lunch or dinner! One of my favorite quick, healthy and satisfying meals is a scramble. Basically I throw in a shit-load of veggies, often some meat/veggie meat and/or cheese, spices and seasonings and egg whites and scramble it all up. If you are vegan, you could still make it by replacing the eggs with either mashed tofu, or chickpea flour. What's great is how versatile it is. You can so many different things to it, you never have to make it the same way twice! I use egg whites because I already tend to eat at least 6 whole eggs a week, but feel free to use whole eggs, if you prefer. The basic recipe is saute your ingredients (veggies, whatever else) in a large non-stick skillet.  Add 1 cup egg whites and cover skillet until egg whites are almost completely cooked. Add in cheese, if using, and cover until melted. Serve! Here are flavour ideas: Mexican Diced zucchini and/or peppers Chick...

Are you still in a sugar coma from Halloween? The girls are enjoying their daily treat from their Halloween stash, but to my surprise, we didn't have to cull them down after all. The girls volunteered to give Adam and I a huge portion of the candy they collected. After Adam devoured a pile of mini chocolate bars from their donation pile, I took the rest in to the office. Though I hate encouraging unhealthy food consumption, I've found that if you bring anything junky to an office, it always gets consumed in record time. Now lets talk potatoes. If you love potatoes but avoid them at all costs because you think they are unhealthy, well I have good news for you...you can (and should!) eat them! Potatoes, in and of themselves, are not unhealthy, its just that most people prefer to eat them prepared in unhealthy ways (fried or mashed with a ton of butter and cream). They are high in fibre and full of nutrients. They are also very satiating, meaning that relative to their ca...

Welcome to another week!  If another Monday isn't depressing you, then likely the events over the weekend are.  The gay nightclub shooting in Orlando has us absolutely horrified.  There are just no words.  When is all this hatred and violence going to stop?? Not sure how to segue from that to a recipe, but here you go... I love making massive egg white omelets or scrambles.  There is so many ways to flavour them and they provide a huge hit of high quality, low calorie protein.  Don't get me wrong, I am happy to eat yolks.  Its just I try to keep my whole egg consumption in line with the recommending 6/week max.  I often make fried or hard boiled whole eggs, but for an omelet or scramble, I stick with the whites and make honking huge ones, using a full cup of egg whites.  Believe me, if you want to quash hunger, these are great! The ways you can dress them up are limitless...with Mexican, Italian flavours, Greek, Japanese or Korean......

Okay, I know for sure I have a winning recipe when its vegan and Adam loves it.  That does not happen often!  As soon as we started eating this meal, he commented several times on how good it was, and wondered if the cauliflower was actually potato.  Ha! I've been dreaming up this one in my head for a while.  BBQ is one of the big food trends here in Toronto, and being the protein lover I am, its very tempting.  The only problem is...its far from healthy! It doesn't have to be, but its mostly red meat and the sauces are generally full of sugar.  Sure, a lot of them offer pulled chicken or BBQ chicken, but the sauces are still sugary, and they are usually served with white buns and not very healthy side dishes.  So I reimagined a BBQ meal that is both vegan and low-carb.  Oh, and also sugar-free too! Real meat provides so much unctuous flavour because of the fat and the carmelization you get when you cook it.  Because I was using a veg...

I fell off the orange veggie wagon for a while.  For some odd reason, during my child bearing years I lost my taste for squash and sweet potatoes just like I lost my taste for pink fish.  Weird huh?  I was into red meat and white potatoes.  Did my body need stuff in those things?  Who knows??  Fortunately, I am back to my normal self and have now lost my taste for red meat again...white potatoes I no longer crave, but squash and sweet potatoes?  Oh yeah baby!! I've mostly been gorging on sweet potatoes, but I have also recently been demolishing mass quantities of squash.  When I was a kid, my mom made squash a lot, but usually only Butternut and Acorn.  Always mashed with a bit of butter and cinnamon.  I loved it.  But now there are so many more varieties widely available.  I've heard so much about Delicata and Kabocha, both extra sweet varieties with skin you can eat, but didn't often see them around.  ...

Unfortunately, I could not even get the girls to try these...which drives me nuts.  I gave them the whole how-can-you-know-you-don't-like-it-if-you-won't-even-try-it lecture, but to no avail.  In the end, its not so bad as I love these and if there are more for me, well so be it! They go great with things like...sweet potato fries, like the ones that snuck into the photo, ha ha! Maple Balsamic Brussels Sprouts 2 lb fresh Brussels Sprouts, trimmed and halved 1 tbsp olive oil 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar 1/4 cup Dijon mustard 2 tbsp pure maple syrup Pinch of salt and cracked black pepper, to taste Toss sprouts with all the other ingredients and then spread on parchment lined baking sheet.  Roast at 400F for 20-25 minutes. Eat.

I really love the complex flavours of Thai food, so I don't know why I don't make it more often.  It's actually quite simple.  If you have the time, you can add your meat raw and simmer in the sauce, or you can just use leftover meat or tofu and throw it in later, whatever.  As long as you don't overcook the meat or seafood, it's really quite hard to screw this up. This could even be a Passover dish if you serve it over cauliflower rice!  If you want to thicken up the sauce a bit (which you definitely would want to do if using cauliflower rice), add a tablespoon or two of coconut flour. Red Thai Curry (Vegan Option) 1 lb boneless cooked chicken, pork, beef, seafood or tofu 2 cloves garlic, minced 2 inch chunk of fresh ginger, minced 2-4 tbls red curry paste* 2 tbls fish sauce (or Ume plum vinegar for vegan) 1 can light coconut milk 1 broccoli, cut into florets 4 cups mushrooms, cut in half 2 red or yellow bell peppers, cut into strips...

Woe is me! It's hard to live with 2 picky kids and a husband who much prefers meat and chocolate chip cookies to much else.  Adam claims its me who is the weird one for loving fruit, veggies, whole grains and legumes as much as I do.  But I think he's the weird one. When he saw this meal he said, "That looks very full of fibre."  Yes, well it is, but it is also incredibly delicious.  And after trying it, my dear husband admitted this one is super tasty. Hearty dishes like this full of veggies and legumes in a rich, flavourful sauce are total comfort food for me.  And right now, thanks to this brutal winter, I need some comfort!  After a gorgeous spring-like day yesterday, we're apparently in for a big snow storm today.  Enough already!! This makes a large amount so feel free to half the recipe, or freeze leftovers for future meals.  If you like your beans on the softer side, start soaking them the night before.  As you can see fr...

Is it Monday again already?  Why do weekends go by so quickly?  After some relief from the cold temps, I hear they're coming back this week.  Grr! Well here is a hearty recipe to warm you up.  We enjoyed it for dinner Saturday night.  It is kind of a mash up of African-inspired dishes.  I found the Berbere spice blend I got in Kensington Market a few months ago and realized I hadn't yet opened it.  I started to think about what to make with it.  Traditionally its used to season chicken or meat, or to spice up a pulse stew made from lentils or split peas.  I kinda did both here.  But - maybe because it's winter - was looking for something a bit richer, so I threw in some peanut butter like I do when I make Nigerian Groundnut Stew.  Cabbage, peppers and sweet potato made their way in too because that's what I had in the fridge.  Best of all, I created a dish that is both healthy and delicious, containing meat for my carnivor...

  This dish was inspired by the beautiful organic beets my lovely neighbour Lisa gave us last week.  I love beets and I decided they were the perfect ingredient to create a super-healthy Valentine's dish.  Admittedly, my love doesn't get all that turned on by beets...nor by most grains, beans or greens.  These things are more my thing.  But he doesn't have to worry, I will be sure to make him one of his favorite meals (anything involving chicken, pizza or pasta) next weekend, which is Valentine's weekend, after all. Nevertheless, while Adam confessed that he was initially scared by how healthy this dish appeared, he was surprised by how good it tasted.  It's never going to rank up there as one of his favorites, but then he has never been a big fan of quinoa and the most complimentary thing he says about beets is that they are 'fine'. I think this dish rocks, and even the girls were thrilled by the colour, the beets turn everything purple......

Cooking yummy things doesn't have to take a long time.  Really!  And cooked from scratch foods tastes so much better than what you buy premade.  Usually, it's also way healthier. Want an amazingly delicious dish in 20 minutes?  This has just 3 major ingredients, and all you do is stick it in the microwave.  Forget about French fries, this dish made with healthy fats and seasonings blows em' out of the water!! This can be a side dish, or, if you add a can of chickpeas and some chopped kale, it can be an entire, superfast meal. Amazing 20-Minute Coconut Curried Potatoes 4 large potatoes (white waxy or yellow-fleshed baking potatoes both work fine), cubed 1 can coconut milk (full fat works best) 1 tbls curry powder (mild or spicy) 1/2 tsp sea salt, or to taste Toss all ingredients together in microwave-save baking dish and cover.  Cook on high for 10 minutes and then stir.  Cook for another 10 minutes and serve.

Today I am grateful that I recently found a healthy dish both kids like.   Trying out a new recipe on my children is always scary.  New things are not always welcomed and often are not even given a chance.  So I was a bit hesitant to give tacos a try when Big A mentioned she likes them.  On many occasions she has made such claims only to decide she doesn't like said item, because I didn't make it 'right', although she can't often articulate what that means and/or even if I made it the same as my mother-in-law/daycare/friend's mom or whoever happened to make it the way she does like it.  I have been especially reluctant to try anything new because Little A is going through a phase of extra-pickiness right now and has suddenly decided she hates all sorts of food she used to love (sweet potatoes, potatoes, chicken, fish...).  But I bit the bullet and decided to give tacos a try. To my surprise and delight, BOTH girls gobbled these up.  I honestl...

After having unseasonably warm weather all fall it very suddenly turned cold.  All of a sudden we've had to dig out the winter jackets and the mittens. It seems like I've gone from slathering on sunscreen to prevent burns, to skin cream to prevent dryness overnight.   But I don't mind. It means gorgeous fall foliage, cosy afternoons with steaming cups of tea, deep sleeps cuddled up under the comforter, and hot, hearty meals...including lots of stews, pastas and curries. This kind of came together just by throwing together what I had in the house but it turned out so amazingly delicious, I had to share it.  You can sub different veggies based on whatever you have lying around and I am sure it will still me fabulous.  Adam really loved this one too, which given his carnivorous preferences, means it's got to be pretty awesome. My curry turned out pretty green and white because I used a purple sweet potato that was white fleshed....

I hate food trends.  Admittedly, it's probably because they are usually pretty unhealthy.  This is definitely the case with the big food trends of the past few years: Burgers, cupcakes, and bacon on everything.  Silly! Of course, I find diet trends just as annoying.  They are generally based on pseudo science and never end up being very effective.  Mark my words, even with gluten-free and paleo diets being all the rage, I bet there will be few positive changes in the overall health and weight status of the North American population. The bacon thing is particularly stupid: cured and processed meats are quite possibly the most unhealthy thing you can eat.  Period.  Cancer and heart disease city.  You can poo poo my warnings all you want, but do you really think it will be worth it when you're wasting away from colon cancer? Okay, enough of my scare tactics.  If you want all the smoky, salty deliciousness of bacon, without the crap, jus...

It's kinda nice to have just a 4 day week ahead.  After a very full and active day running around Downey's Farm and then bouncing on trampolines at Skyzone , all 4 of us were exhausted and starving last night.  I thought the extra long weekend might make it even more difficult than usual to get the girls out the door to school this morning, but things went relatively smoothly. This year we didn't do a traditional Thanksgiving meal.  But believe me, I didn't miss the turkey, stuffing thing at all.  I cooked up some pretty yummy things this weekend, if I do say so myself! I dreamed up this recipe, like I usually do, at some random moment.  Actually, I was trying to think of a new way to use pumpkin.  If you like sweet, savoury dishes, you will absolutely love this.  If not...well then you're weird. If you don't want it spicy, you can omit the chili. No matter what, you'll end up with a delicious, comforting curry to warm you up on...

  Another dinner I treated myself to in honour of my birthday last weekend was this thing of beauty.  It turned out awesome, partly because I found some spelt pizza dough at Whole Foods that produced a perfect crisp, chewy crust.  These dough balls are also smaller than the ones I usually buy so I was able to roll the pizzas thinner and I didn't get the food coma/hangover the next day that I sometimes get when I make pizza (which might also have something to do with how much of it I eat!).  In addition, I used less cheese than usual and realized I didn't miss it a bit thanks to the fabulous, flavourful toppings.  Adam loved this pizza too so I think I'll definitely be making it again. Other tasty additions, should you desire, would be artichokes, feta cheese and/or red onion. Enough (whole grain) dough to make 2 large pizzas (use whatever homemade recipe or store bought dough you like) Mediterranean Pizza Sauce 1 can tomato paste 1 cup water ...

  I didn't get around to making myself a cake for my birthday this year, or any sort of sweet treat for that matter.  I think it's because it was a Wednesday and it's been super busy around here, or maybe because I just haven't really been in the mood.  But when I started to think about what I was in the mood for, one of the things that jumped into my head was sweet potato chickpea roti.  I never said I have a normal head! I might be a weirdo (or so my family tells me all the time) but sometimes I do come up with some pretty stellar recipes and this one is definitely a winner.  Sweet, tangy, savoury and - if you want - spicy.  Even my meat-and-potato-loving husband loved this dish.  And really, what is there not to love?? If you don't want roti, you can serve this as a curry as is or over a grain such as brown rice, quinoa or millet. Sweet Potato Chickpea Roti 2 large sweet potatoes, roasted and peeled 1 onion, diced 1/2 head of green...

  I have been suffering through this terrible cold that Adam was generous enough to share with me.  It really flattened me.  I developed laryngitis, which is always really convenient when you work as a therapist.  But that was nothing compared to the really really really sore throat I had for the first day.  That sucked.  The congestion isn't much fun either.  Fortunately I finally feel significantly better this week but I am still really congested. Anyways, this cold is my excuse for not getting this Rosh Hashana recipe up until today.  Adam and my mother-in-law were particularly complimentary about this dish, but then we all tend to love root veggies.  Really, how can you not love them, when you roast them, they practically taste like candy! I am particularly fond of parsnips and should really make them more often. Oh well, better late than never.  This dish doesn't just have to be for Rosh Hashana, of course, frankly I th...

Shana Tova!  Happy New Year to everyone celebrating Rosh Hashana today!  We are attending the new shul we joined today for the first time and we're all excited.  For me, it's just exciting to be part of a community. It's finally starting to cool down a wee bit, and I couldn't be happier.  Soon - hopefully - it will feel more like autumn, my favorite season, than summer.  And with the cooler temps comes lots of my favorite comfort foods.  One of my favorites is chili.  This is a new spin on a vegetarian chili I recently came up with and its a winner.  It's also super quick to make. I left everything chunky because I like it that way, but you can go the more traditional route and dice everything up in small pieces.  It's delicious on its own, but I love it best served over brown rice or quinoa. Speedy Pineapple, Roasted Veggie & Black Bean Chili 1 tsp olive oil 4 zucchini, cut into strips or di...