Archive | August, 2015

Fermented Basil & Garlic Tomatoes

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Lacto-Fermented Basil & Garlic Tomatoes

When they’re in season, tomatoes rarely make it into a salad at my house, let alone into more complicated recipes. They taste so good, they disappear from the counter before I can count on them for dinner or any other future concept. I actually had to buy these tomatoes twice before I was able to make this recipe, I kept turning around and they were gone.

Lacto-Fermented Basil & Garlic Tomatoes

You might have the same problem at your house, making this recipe a challenge for you. Or maybe you are among the tomato-wealthy who don’t know what to do with all of the tomatoes growing in their garden (can we be friends? I’ll make you stuff).

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Potato-free Salad

Published on in Keto-friendly, Legumes, Main course, Nightshade-free, Nuts, Salad, Salad dressing By |
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Don’t get me wrong, I don’t have anything against potatoes. In fact, they are one of my favourite foods of all time. When you leave their skin on (and avoid French fries and potato chips), they are full of potassium and fiber. I even wrote a recipe for a bright and cheery purple potato salad last summer that is totally worth checking out.

The only problem with potatoes (beyond some of the unhealthy recipes that they find themselves in) is sometimes they take the place of veggies that pack more of an anticancer punch. Cauliflower, kale’s pale and flowery but feisty cousin, makes a great replacement for potatoes both flavour-wise and nutritionally. It is full of antioxidants, helps protect cells from DNA damage, has anti-inflammatory, antiviral and antibacterial effects and helps inactivate carcinogens. Seriously. I see this as a worthy swap, something worth trying out in all of your favourite potato recipes.

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Za’atar Roasted Veggies with Golden Buckwheat

Published on in Grains, Main course, Nuts, Seeds By |
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Buckwheat is one of my favourite grains. It isn’t actually a grain at all but a seed that is related to rhubarb (I don’t hold this against it), and it is gluten–free, despite its confusing name. So complicated and exotic for such a happy, doughy, laid back…..ingredient. It is not very dense, you can actually eat it raw (like in my fave dry cereal here), or scatter it on top of anything that needs a bit of chomp, like this delicious coconut yoghurt.

When it is cooked it reminds me of short grain rice or barley. Really comforting and ‘fat’ which may have something to do with the fact that it has the longest transit time in the gut of all of the ‘grains’. For this reason, it helps you feel satisfied and is also a great blood sugar stabilizer, which is crucial in fighting and preventing cancer.

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Heirloom Tomato Salad with Garlicky Millet & Avocado ‘Croutons’

Published on in Grains, Main course, Raw, Salad, Snack By |
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It has been a hot (hot!) summer in BC. Here in Vancouver, we’re the ones who usually get the rain, which makes our sunny days so green and lush (not to mention appreciated). This year everything is brown and dry and we actually had a few days when the iphone was telling us we had ‘smoke’ as our weather due to all of the forest fires raging in our province. A smoky, hot city is not a fun place to be (although, I imagine considerably more fun than the many places where the fires were actually raging), so I tried to focus on some of the good that would eventually come out of it.

Did you know that morel mushrooms thrive in the aftermath of a forest fire? They happen to be my favourite mushroom of all time, so this was definitely a silver lining. (To be clear, I would far prefer a forest fire-free summer over a handful of tasty mushrooms, but ashes and mushrooms are better than just ashes, right?) Another good thing to come of this is less related to fire and more related to the actual Southern Italy-like heat we were having, which equals a way above average tomato season for us.

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