I’ve always like kale in soups but this salad is my favourite way to eat kale now. I have been eating absurdly large servings of this salad so I’m feeling like I should be entered into the running for dietary sainthood for eating this much raw kale.. Bacon notwithstanding. The first time I made a kale salad was on Christmas Day. I saw on Twitter that Martin’s Family Fruit store said they had a delivery of fresh Ontario kale and on the drive home to Waterloo from Barrie on the 23rd I asked them via Twitter whether they had any […]
Coleslaw with Beets and Quinoa
The inspiration for this coleslaw came from a couple of different places. The first was from a trip we took to Ste. Anne’s Spa in Grafton back in September for our 8th wedding anniversary. At lunch one day there was a cabbage salad served with a vinaigrette over quinoa. It was lovely but I prefer a richer dressing with cabbage. The second source of inspiration came from Jamie Oliver’s recent cookbook, Jamie’s Great Britain. He used a mayonnaise-based dressing on a huge pile of cabbage, carrots and beets that he ran through his food processor and then dressed them with mayo, mustard, cider […]
Quinoa with Grilled Veggies
I am very happy to belong to a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) again this year. This is our third year being CSA members and each year we know that we will be inundated with zucchini and summer squash (the yellow zucchini). I didn’t get time this year to get very creative with the zucchini and a lot of the other veggies we got in our CSA box combined with some sweet peppers from our pathetic little garden. Some people might like this served at room temperature but I serve this hot. The leftovers are one of my favourite lunches to […]
Rosemary and Lemon Grilled Chicken
This is a simple, moist, flavourful chicken recipe that is great for busy weeknights when marinating chicken breasts are the last thing you are thinking about when you run out the door in the morning. You can marinate the chicken for an hour or so if you have the time, or for 20 minutes while you get a few things done before you start cooking, like change into track pants and get your little one a snack before the hunger meltdown starts. This is really nice served with some simple potatoes cooked in an aluminum foil bag on the grill […]
Breakfast Banana Bread
Two weekends ago I had a pile of bananas in various stages of nastiness sitting on my counter, which can only mean one thing – banana bread. I already have a banana bread recipe on this site but it is really just a modified version of the lovely, sugar loaded, butter-infused loaf that I grew up with. In essence, my regular banana bread is cake which is nice for a treat but I wanted something that I could eat for breakfast and not feel guilty about. I didn’t want loads of sugar but I didn’t want it to taste like […]
Acorn Squash and Kale Soup
The acorn squashes from my lovely CSA this year were so adorably tiny due to the drought in the summer. I used six little bitty squashes in this recipe where I would have normally just used 3 regular sized acorn squashes. Actually, I don’t know for sure that they are acorn squashes but they look close enough and acorn squash is very easy to find in local grocery stores so I’m sticking to calling these acorn squashes. Feel free to peel your acorn squash but the size of mine and the toughness of the skin on the little buggers made […]
Swiss Chard with Garlic Scapes and Cultured Butter
It is two weeks now into our CSA share with Transpire Organic and I have a new favourite veggie – sautéed swiss chard. I am by nature a very picky eater and you couldn’t have paid me to eat wilted greens when I was little, but I thought I would give it a go. When I served myself this dish for the first time last week I was quite trepidatious as I brought the fork to my mouth. I was worried it would be like spinach, but it wasn’t at all. Swiss chard has a mild flavour unlike spinach, which […]
Lemon and Garlic Broccoli
This is probably one of my healthiest recipes and one that I have made so often, I could do it in my sleep. 9 times out of 10 if I’m serving broccoli, this is how I serve it. There are two steps to cooking it, boiling (or I sometimes steam it) and then sauteeing it in garlic oil and chili flakes. Just before serving, and this is key, I squeeze the juice of half a lemon over top but don’t squeeze the daylights out of it, just a good drizzle of juice is all you need. I have put too […]
Whole Wheat and Milled Flaxseed Pizza Dough
Like most people, I love pizza but the cheese covered white dough isn’t the healthiest. I don’t want to scale back on the amount of cheese that I use but I am willing to do something about the white dough. Also, my little boy, who also loves pizza, gets a bit of a system back-up if he eats too much cheese and not enough whole grains (I’m sure he will love that I shared that when he gets older). On a recent trip to the Bulk Barn (a great source for all kinds of different flours, seeds and for great […]
Kale, Pancetta, and Cheese Tortellini Soup
This is one of my favourite meals to make. It is healthy and pretty balanced. You get lots of kale, which is considered one of the super-foods in terms of nutrients, hearty cheese tortellini, beans for protein and of course pancetta. I hardly ever make a soup that doesn’t start with bacon of some sort. If you can’t find pancetta (or don’t have the inclination to look for it) you can use regular bacon. I get pancetta from the deli counter at the grocery store. I ask for thick slices but if they don’t have it at the counter I […]