Archive | October, 2015

Crispy Roast Broccoli & Cauliflower

Crispy Roast Broccoli & Cauliflower

I remember being about 15 when my Mom read an article about broccoli’s anticancer powers. We were a pretty vegetable-y family already but she said, why aren’t we eating more broccoli? So we did. A lot, for a while. I remember feeling good that we found this out, and that it was awesome that we could actually prevent cancer by eating broccoli.

Crispy Roast Broccoli & Cauliflower

As a kid cancer scared me. It felt like a monster that dropped out of the sky to land on people who you love. I had grandparents who had had it, friends of the family, a young girl who I shared a hospital room with when I got my appendix out, and of course there was the movie Beaches (present day Beaches would have Bette juicing up a storm at that beach house, right?!). It just seemed random, awful and scary. But then there was this broccoli news…

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Indian Cauliflower Curry

You guys are going to want to make this. It has everything in it to keep your body busting with health and wellness and spices to keep you warm against the draft of the leaves falling off of the trees. It tastes like the opposite of last week’s (Canadian) thanksgiving dinner (and leftovers) too, an exotic journey in the other direction.

Classically, butter chicken is made with cream and sometimes actual butter, so it makes sense that it was always my fave, it’s basically French food with a charming Indian accent. This dish is inspired by butter chicken but I have changed enough of its components that I don’t think I can get away with calling it butter cauliflower. It is still sort of butter cauliflower though.

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Salad for One with Lemon Hemp Ailoli & Smashed Chickpea Croutons

When I used to teach regular cooking classes, one of the questions I would get all the time was ‘how do I cook healthy food for one?’ It would come from someone who lived alone or was trying to cook healthier for themselves, while still cooking for their less vegetable-y enthusiastic family.

I like to think that if I lived alone I would still cook well for myself, but the truth is, I have gotten home, realized I was solo for the night and had popcorn and Netflix for dinner -I totally get it. It’s way more fun to make fun food when you have someone to share in the excitement of it. The same goes for if you’re making beautiful healthy food that no one else is interested in eating; it makes you less inspired to try new, healthy recipes.

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Shitake Miso Gravy with Rutabaga Purée

Here’s a tip: you don’t need flour to make gravy. I discovered this when I first started dating my now husband who is (and apparently always has been, even in past lives) gluten-free. Personally, I might have said ‘hey Wes, don’t eat the gravy’ but instead when we went to my parent’s house for dinner, my Mom would make a gluten-free version of that and EVERYTHING ELSE and the rest of the family would avoid it.

Eventually, as I started cooking for nutritionally-minded clients, this early incarnation of my Mom’s g-free gravy got me thinking (I also started to understand the inflammatory effects of gluten). She would use rice or potato flour in place of the wheat flour and it tasted pretty much the same (My Mom was the best cook). From a whole food perspective, wouldn’t it be better to just use some fresh potato as thickener? Or even better, other flavourful, starchy vegetables?

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