Tag Archives | ginger

Mashed Curried Vegetable & Navy Bean Soup

Mashed Curried Vegetable & Navy Bean Soup

Something that never ceases to amaze me is the versatility of vegetables. I try to use the lesser-known ones too, mostly to show you what to do with them when you see them and to highlight their nutrition stats, but if all you can find where you live are the most basic of veggies, you can still make a huge variety of recipes.

Mashed Curried Vegetable & Navy Bean Soup

Take a look at the vegetables used in this recipe. They’re just the everyday stuff found at the farmer’s market or any grocery store (where I live). But this soup tastes rich, exotic and nourishing, not at all like a yawning fridge.

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Szechuan Green Beans

Szechuan Green Beans

If you’ve been following us for a while, you will know that when you see we are making Szechuan green beans, they are going to be a little bit different than what you’re used to. Like, in a good way though. No pan/deep-frying, no store-bought sauces, just bright, real food flavours that help our in-season green beans strut their fresh stuff.

Szechuan Green Beans

Green beans are a favourite around here once they finally hit the farmers market. The rest of the year, I find they can taste a bit like plastic straws, which I think is why people don’t always get super excited about them. But when they are grown locally and eaten close to when they were picked, they are sweet, tender, and even juicy.

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Crunchy Vietnamese Jicama & Cabbage Salad with Grapefruit and Fresh Herbs

You will not really find this salad in Vietnam. This is the salad I wished was in Vietnam after I ate a bad grilled banana dessert and decided I would probably never eat (or travel) again. SOmething fresh and living and low on the food poisoning possibility scale.

I love Vietnamese food (and Vietnam! And the Vietnamese! So much!). I love the large amounts of greens and herbs and general freshness. I love how light and clean it all tastes. There would likely be ground pork and lots of fish sauce in this if it was more authentically Vietnamese, but this salad is just inspired by what I love about Vietnamese food.

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Spiced Pear Baked Steel-cut Oatmeal

I know I’ve mentioned it here before, but I don’t have the warmest feelings towards traditional oatmeal. I think it is because I was ruined by those instant packs as a kid. You know, the ones you rip open, pour into a bowl, observe with excitement all of the sugar mixed in with the oats and add tepid water to? Bonus points if there were pictures of cute animals on the pouches.

As a semi-adult making my own oatmeal and realizing how much actual sugar I needed to add to make it taste like the stuff I was familiar with was sort of embarrassing and so I just lay off it altogether.

My husband loves it though and will order it any time we go out for breakfast and even make it when he’s feeling inspired. So when we went surfing a few months ago (baby belly and I were surf-watching/walking/reading), I knew we were staying in a place with a questionable kitchen situation (a kettle) so I decided to try something. I filled a big mason jar with instant (not ideal) oats, chia, hemp hearts, dried fruit and lots of warming spices (as seen in this recipe) and shook it up.

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