Roasted Carrot Crostini with Dill Pesto & Feta

I'm happy I decided to try to start posting recipes again just in time for Easter.  I love all food-related holidays but Easter is especially nice because after the heavier meals at Thanksgiving and Christmas, we now get to celebrate bright and fresh flavours that go along with the start of springtime.

Whenever I try to think of Easter recipes my mind always goes straight to carrots.  As part of our Easter dinner last year, my sister made roasted carrots and radishes with a lemon dill pesto (inspired by With Food + Love) and the flavours worked really well together.  So I decided to turn that concept into an appetizer, with the addition of feta because feta makes everything better!

This dish looks a little fancy but is really easy to prepare. I just chopped and roasted some carrots in the oven, then whipped together a lemony dill pesto in the food processor.  I toasted some whole wheat baguette slices, spread some of the pesto on top, then topped them with the carrots and feta. I loved how the bright flavours of the pesto balanced out the earthy carrots and salty feta.

I'm in charge of apps for our family's Easter dinner this year so I think I'll be making these again!  I hope you all enjoy the long weekend and have a happy Easter if you're celebrating it!

Roasted Carrot Crostini with Lemon Dill Pesto & Feta

Serves 10-15

Ingredients:

For the carrots:

1-1/2 lbs carrots, peeled and chopped into small, about ¼-½” pieces

1-2 teaspoons olive oil

Salt and pepper

For the lemon dill pesto:

1-1/2 cups packed fresh dill

1/2 cup packed fresh parsley leaves

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 cup chopped walnuts

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1/4 teaspoon each salt and pepper

Other:

1/4 to 1/3 cup crumbled feta

1 large baguette, sliced diagonally into thin slices (I used a whole wheat ciabatta loaf)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400°F. Toss carrots with olive oil, season with salt and pepper, and spread on a foil-lined baking sheet.  Roast in preheated oven for about 30 minutes, tossing halfway through.

Meanwhile, prepare dill pesto.  Place all ingredients (dill, parsley, garlic, walnuts, lemon juice, oil, salt, and pepper) in the bowl of a food processor (I used the smaller bowl) and process until the pesto is as smooth as you can get it.  Taste and adjust any seasoning or amounts to your liking if necessary.

When carrots are done, leave oven on, and spray baguette slices with cooking spray.  Set on baking sheet and let toast in oven for about 3-5 minutes, until toasted.

Prepare crostini by spreading pesto on baguette slices, top with crumbled feta and roasted carrots, and garnish with chopped parsley if desired.  Serve while carrots are still warm.

Buffalo Lentil Loaf

I always hated meatloaf as a kid, and I still do.  I can’t even say the word meatloaf without adding ‘shmeatloaf’ after it.  It’s funny that when I was young, it was more the vegetables, onions and little crunchy bits in the meatloaf that I hated, and now it’s the idea of a tray full of packed meat that turns me off.  A lentil loaf full of vegetables though?  Much more up my alley!

I know some people will have the same reaction I have to meatloaf when they hear the word ‘lentil loaf’.  Indeed, my fiancé in particular was extremely skeptical at the idea.  But even he ended up admitting that this was really good, so if you’re hesitant, I encourage you to give it a chance!

Why should you give this a chance over regular meatloaf?  Because lentils are full of fiber and protein to fill you up and give you energy, along with other important minerals like potassium, folate, and iron.  There’s also oats and a little egg for even more fiber and protein in this, along with vegetables like onions, carrots, and peppers for added nutrition.  Of course, I had to add a little extra appeal to convince the fiancé to try this, so I included buffalo sauce to give it extra flavour and kick, which I loved!  You could substitute bbq sauce though if you’re not into spicy food.

Though it takes a little time to cook, the result is worth it!  I love this lentil loaf on its own with a side of vegetables (mashed potatoes would be great too!), but I ate most of it in sandwiches for lunch.  Toast some whole grain bread, add some lettuce, barbeque or buffalo sauce, tomato, and a couple slices of lentil loaf and you’ve got a hearty, filling, and tasty meal!

Buffalo Lentil Loaf

Lentil loaf recipe adapted from In Sonnet's Kitchen and The Simple Veganista

Makes one 9x5 loaf, serves about 4-6 (or more depending on how you serve the loaf)

Ingredients:

1 cup dry brown lentils

2-1/2 cups water

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 small or medium yellow onion, diced

3 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 a large red bell pepper, diced

1 large carrot, peeled and grated

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon onion powder

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)

Pinch each of salt and pepper

1 cup rolled oats, pulsed in a blender or food processor a few times to more of a coarse crumb

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

1/2 cup buffalo sauce (your favourite brand, such as Frank's Red Hot Buffalo Wing Sauce or PC Buffalo Wing Sauce)

Glaze:
2 tablespoons bbq sauce (plus more for after baking, if desired)

2 tablespoons buffalo sauce

Directions:

Add lentils and water to a medium saucepan and bring to a boil.  Cover, reduce heat, and let simmer 25-30 minutes, until lentils are soft and water is mostly evaporated.  Remove from heat, drain any excess water, and puree about three-quarters of the lentils in a blender or food processor (or with an immersion blender).  Set aside to let cool slightly.  Preheat oven to 350°F.

Meanwhile, heat oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat.  Add onion, garlic, red pepper, and carrot and sauté, stirring often, for about 5-7 minutes or until softened.  Stir in the spices (cumin, garlic powder, onion powder, cayenne, salt, and pepper), then remove from heat. 

Fold together the lentils, sautéed vegetables and spices, oats, eggs, and buffalo sauce in a large bowl or in the saucepan until combined.  Line a 9x5 loaf pan with parchment paper, spray lightly with cooking spray, and spread lentil mixture evenly in prepared pan.  Mix the 2 tablespoons each of bbq sauce and buffalo sauce for the glaze, and brush in an even layer on top of the loaf. 

Bake loaf in preheated oven for 45-50 minutes until the top of the loaf is dry, firm, and golden brown.  Let cool in pan for at least 10 minutes, run a knife around the edges, then use parchment paper to lift out of pan.  Top with a bit of additional bbq sauce if you like. Slice into 10-12 slices and serve however you desire – either on its own, in a sandwich, on top of a salad, etc.

Healthy No-Sugar Carrot Cake Date Balls

With Easter rapidly approaching (how is it this weekend already?!), I spent some time this past weekend trying to come up with a new Easter recipe to share.  Last year I stuck with an Easter egg theme with egg-shaped breakfast naan pizzas and Easter egg cheesecake bars, but this year I wanted to do something with carrot cake, which I consider a pretty standard Easter dessert and which is one of my favourite types of cake!

It seems like a carrot cake version of everything already exists though, like carrot cake oatmeal, carrot cake banana bread, carrot cake pancakes, carrot cake cheesecake, carrot cake whoopie pies, carrot cake rice krispie treats, etc., all of which look absolutely amazing, of course.  I haven't seen too many carrot cake versions of healthy no-bake balls, though, and after recently trying these oatmeal cinnamon truffles which I loved, I decided to make a carrot cake version!

These are super quick and easy to make, with oats, dates, and walnuts as the main ingredients, along with shredded carrots (obviously needed for carrot cake, and with a bonus of added nutrients!), and vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and salt to bring out the carrot cake flavour.

The end result is a sweet treat with a taste that really reminded me of carrot cake, even though dates are the predominant flavour.  I couldn't really taste the carrots, but I realized carrot cake doesn't taste like carrots either; you could always add more and adjust the ratio of other ingredients if you like though.  These would be a great sugar-free snack to have around this coming weekend to help balance out all the chocolate!

No-Bake Healthy Carrot Cake Date Balls

Makes about 18 balls

Ingredients:

1-1/2 cups large-flake rolled oats

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

12 medjool dates, pits removed, chopped into pieces

1 cup grated carrot (about 2 large carrots)

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Optional: raisins, unsweetened shredded coconut

Directions:

Add oats, walnuts, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger to the large bowl of a food processor.  Process until the mixture resembles fine crumbs.  Remove from food processor and set aside in a bowl.

Add dates to the food processor and mix until smooth.  I added 1 tablespoon of water to help them blend.  Add the carrots, vanilla, and oat mixture back to the food processor and pulse everything until combined and sticking together.  Taste mixture and add more spices or carrots if desired.

Remove mixture from food processor and roll into balls about 1” in diameter.  Keep covered in refrigerator and let refrigerate for at least a couple hours before eating for better texture.

Options:  If desired, you can add raisins to the balls to resemble carrot cake more; the date taste is already strong and sweet though so I didn’t feel it necessary.  Another option is to roll the balls in shredded coconut if you like; I’m not a huge fan of shredded coconut so I didn’t do this with all of mine but it sticks easily to the balls if you wish to roll them in it.

Chickpea & Veggie Brown Rice Barley Bowl with Tahini Dressing

Healthy "bowls" seem to becoming more and more popular these days both across the internet and in cafes and restaurants.  They have many names and variations, but the basic concept is that you combine a base of grains (like rice, quinoa, barley, etc), several different vegetables (raw or cooked), a protein or two (chicken, tofu, beans, nuts, or cheese), and a delicious sauce to tie it all together, thus giving you a complete meal in a bowl.

I find myself drawn to any healthy meal that ends in "bowl" because I love a meal with different textures, flavours, and colours that all fit together in one dish, and these bowls are easy to make super nutritious.

The problem with ordering them in a restaurant is that they're usually pretty expensive, and while making them at home can require a bit of effort, it's cheaper and you can make a lot so that you have delicious healthy bowls for lunches through the week!

For my version, I combined the following:

Base - a mix of brown rice, barley, and spelt (I used a PC blend of the three for convenience!)
Veggies - steamed broccoli, roasted beets and sweet potatoes, sauteed spinach with garlic, and grated raw carrots
Protein - I forgot to include this in the picture above, but I used chickpeas
Sauce - tahini dressing with soy sauce and sesame oil for flavour!

Another nice thing about these is that they're highly adaptable, so if you don't like the ingredients that I used, you can make whatever substitutions you like, as long as you maintain a variety of colour and textures!

Try using quinoa as a base if you don't like rice; substitute the chickpeas for chicken or tofu if you like; grate raw beets instead of roasting them; sautee brussels sprouts or kale instead of spinach; roast squash instead of sweet potato ... you get the idea!

This makes a filling lunch or dinner that will leave you feeling great.  If you're making enough to have leftovers (which I recommend you do!), just be sure to store the sauce separately or else it will get absorbed and leave the dish feeling sauceless, which won't be as good as sauce is the most important part!

Chickpea & Veggie Brown Rice Barley Bowl with Tahini Dressing

Inspired by several recipes, such as ones seen on Paint + Tofu, Dishing Up The Dirt, and Grace Bezanson

Makes 3-6 servings, depending on serving size

Ingredients:

For the Toppings:

~1 tablespoon olive oil

1 large sweet potato, chopped into bite-sized pieces

2 large beets, chopped into bite-sized pieces

1 head of broccoli, chopped into small florets

1 teaspoon sesame oil

1 clove garlic, minced

1 bunch of baby spinach (however much you like; I used a small container)

2 large carrots, grated (a food processor with the grater attachment works well for this!)

1 can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed

For the Base:

3-4 cups cooked brown rice and/or barley (I used a bag of mixed brown rice, barley, and spelt) or your favourite grain, such as quinoa (about 1 to 1-1/2 cups uncooked)

For the Sauce:

1/2 cup tahini

1/2 cup water

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

1/4 cup soy sauce

2 teaspoons sesame oil

1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon honey or agave

1/4 teaspoon each salt and pepper

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400°F.  Toss sweet potatoes and beets with olive oil, season with salt and pepper, and spread in an even layer on a foil-lined baking sheet. Roast in preheated oven for 25-35 minutes, until tender.  The sweet potatoes will likely be done sooner than the beets; just transfer them to a bowl and put the beets back in the oven.  I prefer roasting beets whole but this takes longer; if you have time, just roast the whole beet for 1 hour, drizzled with oil and wrapped in foil, then peel and chop it after.

Meanwhile, you can cook the broccoli, spinach, and your grains.  Steam the broccoli in a steamer basket over boiling water, covered, for about 2-3 minutes until bright green and tender.  Rinse with cold water and drain.  For the spinach, heat sesame oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  Add garlic and cook for 30 seconds (this is optional; you could also use a different oil if you like), then add spinach and cook just until wilted.  Remove from heat.  Cook your grains according to package directions; I cooked mine uncovered in simmering water for around 18 minutes, then seasoned with salt and pepper.

Prepare the dressing by whisking all ingredients in a small bowl until smooth.  Taste and adjust any amounts to your liking.  Note that this makes a lot of dressing and likely more than you’ll need; just save any extras for another use!

Prepare bowls by adding grains to the bottom, topping with vegetables (beets, sweet potatoes, broccoli, carrots, spinach) and chickpeas, and drizzling tahini dressing on top.  Toss to coat and season with salt and pepper, if desired.  You can eat this warm or at room temperature.

If you have leftovers, you can portion out everything together into containers except the sauce - that should  be kept separate and drizzled on right before eating so it doesn't get absorbed.

Lentil & Vegetable Stew with Cauliflower White Bean Puree

So I realize this isn't the most attractive looking plate of food you've ever seen...  I was cringing as I put together this post, wondering why I thought brown on brown on brown was a good idea for food styling, or why I didn't add a garnish on top for some colour.  I will hopefully redo these photos in the future, but I wanted to make sure I shared this now while you're still in the mood for hearty winter comfort food.  Not that winter seems to be showing any signs of ending soon!

Hopefully you're willing to get past appearances here because I promise the taste is worth it.  And not only is this dish comforting, filling, and full of flavour, but it's also really good for you!

This stew is made with lentils (obviously), onion, garlic, mushrooms, carrots, vegetable broth, plenty of seasonings, and a splash of red wine for good measure.  So you're getting a ton of vitamins, fiber, and protein to fill you up and keep you energized through the day or night.  I love using lentils in meals because they're a great source of protein, they're easy to cook, and they're really cheap!

And to make this even more of a protein power bowl, I pureed white beans with cauliflower to serve as the base for the stew.  Steaming and pureeing cauliflower is one of my favourite ways to eat it and I honestly like it even better than regular mashed potatoes.  Sometimes I'll puree cauliflower with chickpeas or white beans and some flavourful mustard and just eat that for dinner on its own, but it goes even better with a hearty stew on top! 

In case you're skeptical, or plan on serving this to picky eaters, I told Ryan that the cauliflower was just mashed potatoes, and after I'd finished watching him eat his meal while trying to hold in my evil grin the whole time, I told him it was really cauliflower and beans and he was completely surprised!

You can also eat the stew on its own if you prefer, and if your leftovers thicken up more than you like in the fridge, just add a splash of water or vegetable broth before you warm it up (this makes great lunch leftovers!)

It may not be pretty, but this is just what you need to get through these never ending winter days!

Lentil & Vegetable Stew with Cauliflower White Bean Puree

Recipe adapted from Unprocessed People’s Lentil Not Roast

Makes about 4 servings

Ingredients:

For the Lentil Stew:

1 cup dry green or brown lentils

2 teaspoons olive oil

1 lb (two 8oz containers) white or crimini mushrooms, chopped (around 2.5 cups)

2 large carrots, peeled and diced

2 medium yellow onions, peeled and diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 teaspoon cumin

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon dried basil

1/2 tablespoon dried thyme

1 tablespoon tomato paste

2 teaspoons cornstarch

1/2 cup red wine

2 cups low-sodium vegetable broth

2 bay leaves

2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce (use vegetarian Worcestershire sauce to keep this vegetarian/vegan)

Salt and pepper

For the Cauliflower:

1 large head of cauliflower, chopped into florets

3 cloves garlic, crushed

1 can white kidney beans, drained and rinsed

2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil

~1/2 teaspoon each salt and pepper

Directions:

Bring 2 cups water to a boil in a medium saucepan.  Add lentils, reduce heat to medium-low, and let simmer uncovered for 20-30 minutes, until cooked through and water is absorbed. Set aside when done.

Meanwhile, in a separate large saucepan or dutch oven, heat olive oil over medium heat.  Add mushrooms, carrots, onion, garlic, and dry seasonings (cumin through thyme), stir, and let cook for around 5-7 minutes, stirring often.  Add tomato paste, stir to coat, and let cook for about a minute. Add cornstarch, stir to coat, and cook for another minute.  Add red wine and let simmer for about 3 minutes.  Add vegetable broth and bay leaves and lower heat to a simmer.  Add lentils and let simmer for at least 5 minutes.  Remove bay leaves, stir in Worcestershire sauce, and season to taste with salt and pepper.

While your lentil stew is simmering, prepare the cauliflower bean mash.  Add cauliflower and garlic to a steamer basket and steam over boiling water, covered, for about 10 minutes.  Transfer to a food processor, add white beans, and process until smooth.  Slowly add olive oil, then season with salt and pepper.

Serve lentil stew warm over pureed cauliflower.  Garnish with chopped parsley if desired.

Asian-Inspired Mandarin Quinoa Salad

I don’t know if it’s the call of summertime (and bikinis) or just the longer hours of daylight available in a day, but over the past month I’ve started fitting a lot more exercise into my schedule.  I’d only just started getting into fitness in January but started off pretty slowly so I didn’t overdo anything (I have a bad knee that likes to act up a lot), but when new fitness classes became available in May, my sister and I started trying out a bunch and so far we've kept it up!

I’ve discovered a love for Zumba (my favourite of all classes; I am hopeless when it comes to the more salsa-esque moves but it is still so fun!) and yoga, along with a love/hate relationship with bootcamp style classes, which are so hard but also so effective!  And tonight I’m going to try my first AquaZumba class (basically Zumba in the water), which should be interesting!

All this exercise not only has me craving healthy food more, but also needing quick dinners that can be waiting for me in the fridge when I get home later than normal and am starving! I especially love quinoa salads for this purpose because they keep well in the fridge, are full of protein, and can be customized to endless flavour combinations!

I’ve been wanting to try an Asian flavoured quinoa for a while, and when I started thinking of ingredients to include in one, I remembered this mandarin chicken salad I made a while ago and loved.  So I decided to incorporate many of those same ingredients into a quinoa salad – I kept the red pepper, carrot, edamame, and mandarin oranges, added green onion, almonds, and orange juice in the dressing, and left out the chicken because there was already plenty of protein in this salad from the quinoa, edamame, and almonds (though you could certainly add chicken if you like!).

This was so fresh and every bite was full of flavour, with a wide range of textures from the crunchy red peppers to juicy oranges and buttery soft edamame.  Regardless of whether I can keep up my fitness motivation or not, I know I’ll still be making this quinoa many more times this summer!

Asian-Inspired Mandarin Quinoa Salad

Makes 2-3 main dish servings or around 6 side dish servings

Ingredients:

For the Quinoa:

1 cup uncooked quinoa (I used golden & black mix)

1 cup vegetable broth, optional

1 cup shelled frozen edamame

1 red bell pepper, chopped

1 to 1.5 mandarin oranges, peeled and chopped

2 large carrots, grated

2 green onions, chopped

1/4 cup sliced almonds, toasted if desired (I was too lazy but almonds are usually better toasted!)

For the Dressing:

2 tablespoons fresh mandarin orange juice (squeezed from about half a mandarin)

2 tablespoons rice vinegar

2 tablespoons sesame oil

1/2 teaspoon chili garlic sauce (optional for a bit of spice)

1-1/2 teaspoons honey (use agave or brown sugar to make this dish vegan)

2 teaspoons soy sauce

1 garlic clove, minced

Dash each of salt and pepper

Directions:

Bring 1 cup water and 1 cup vegetable broth to a boil in a medium saucepan.  Add quinoa, cover, and reduce heat to simmer for 15 minutes.  Remove from heat and let sit, covered, for 5 minutes, then remove lid and fluff with a fork.  Let quinoa cool.  (Note that the vegetable broth is optional to add a little extra flavour; if you choose not to use it then use 2 cups water total instead)

Meanwhile, cook edamame according to package directions - I added my edamame beans to 1 cup of boiling water, let them simmer for 3-4 minutes, then drained and rinsed them.  Also whisk together all ingredients for the dressing in a small bowl and set aside.

Once quinoa has cooled to room temperature, combine quinoa, edamame, red pepper, oranges, carrots, green onions, and almonds in a large bowl.  Pour dressing overtop and mix to combine.  Serve at room temperature or chilled.

Smoked Salmon & Avocado Fresh Spring Rolls with Soy Dipping Sauce

While my wishing for the snow to stop seems to have worked because we haven't had snow the last few days, now we are getting rain - A LOT of rain! - much of Southern Ontario has been issued a special rain warning with flood watches for the week.  I guess the old saying "be careful what you wish for" has some truth to it - so now I'm wishing that the phrase "April showers bring May flowers" is also true, and that the May flowers part includes May veggies!  And to help wish Spring along, I made spring rolls - clever right?  :)

When it comes to spring rolls, I actually much prefer fresh rolls made with rice paper than the more common deep fried version, because the focus is on the fresh ingredients inside the roll, whose flavour isn't masked by a thick fried wrapper.  Plus fresh rolls are super easy to make - just lay some ingredients you like on a circle of rice paper and roll it up!  Rice paper wrappers get pretty sticky when they're wet so they'll stay together well as long as you wrap them up tightly.  The only down side is they have to be eaten pretty soon after making them so they don't harden, but with these smoked salmon and avocado rolls, you won't have any problem eating them all up right away!

Here are the ingredients I put in my fresh rolls: smoked salmon, avocado, carrots, cucumber, basil, lettuce, and a sprinkle of sesame seeds.

Just soak your rice paper wrapper, lay it on a clean surface (I used a damp paper towel), place your ingredients in the bottom half, then roll it up!  Easy peasy!

I loved how the creamy avocado and smoked salmon paired with the crunchy veggies in these fresh rolls, but the best part was the soy dipping sauce that infused the whole thing with even more flavour - it's an absolute must!

If smoked salmon isn't your thing, I also love these sweet & spicy kiwi mango fresh rolls with lime dipping sauce.  And if you have other fresh rolls flavour combos that you love, let me know - I have a ton of rice paper wrappers to use up now!

Smoked Salmon & Avocado Fresh Spring Rolls with Soy Dipping Sauce

Adapted from Eating Well

Makes 6 fresh rolls

Ingredients:

For the Fresh Rolls:

6 (9-inch) rice paper wrappers

6 pieces of lettuce

1 (100g or 3-4oz) package smoked salmon, in 6 slices

1 large carrot, peeled and julienned (you might not use the whole carrot)

Half a cucumber, julienned

1 ripe avocado, sliced (you might not use the whole avocado – I only used about half of one but that was being stingy)

1/4 cup sliced basil

1 tablespoon sesame seeds

For the Dipping Sauce:

2 tablespoons soy sauce

2 tablespoons rice vinegar

1 teaspoon sesame oil

1 teaspoon minced ginger

1 teaspoon sweet thai chili sauce

2 teaspoons sugar

1 green onion, chopped

Directions:

Have all of your components for the spring rolls prepared before you start rolling them (i.e. slice your carrot, cucumber, avocado, basil, and salmon, and have the lettuce and sesame seeds ready to go).  

Soak one rice paper wrapper at a time in a shallow dish of hot water for about 10 seconds until it is soft and bendable.  Remove, let excess water drip off, and lay on a damp paper towel (the original recipe suggests a cutting board, which would work too, but I liked to keep the wrapper damp).  Lay lettuce on bottom third of wrapper, top with a piece of salmon, a few pieces of carrot, a couple pieces of cucumber, a slice or two of avocado, a bit of basil, and a sprinkle (about 1/2 teaspoon) of sesame seeds.  Fold the wrapper up over the filling and roll into a tight cylinder, folding in the sides as you go.  Remember that the wrapper will stick to itself, so make your folds where you want them, as it can be hard to undo!  Repeat with remaining wrappers and filling.  Cut each finished roll in half.

*Note: I also tried rolling one with the ingredients placed in the center before rolling and found that it worked that way too, but I preferred starting to roll from the bottom.

To prepare dipping sauce, whisk all ingredients together in a small bowl.  Serve rolls immediately with the dipping sauce, or refrigerate for up to 4 hours covered with a damp paper towel so they don’t harden (the original recipe suggests individually wrapping them in parchment or wax paper).

Asian-Style Chicken Noodle Soup

Even though it's now officially Spring and it seems like everyone's already talking about spring produce like asparagus and peas and all those bright and crunchy fresh veggies, it's hard to get into the spring mindset when this is your view out the window:

With the seemingly never-ending snow and cold, I'm naturally still craving warm and cozy comfort food.  And with a sore throat signalling the start of another cold yesterday, I quickly developed a particular craving for the ultimate comfort food, chicken noodle soup.

But because I couldn't show you guys just any old chicken noodle soup, this one has a twist!

This soup takes on an Asian flavour with the addition of ingredients like mushrooms, bok choy, cilantro, fish sauce, lemongrass, and lime juice, and the use of soba noodles instead of more traditional egg noodles or other pasta.  This gives the soup such a great depth of flavour that still has the comfort factor and familiar taste of chicken noodle soup but is a little more exciting!

Even better, the addition of ingredients like ginger, garlic, and spicy chiles are great for fighting off a cold (at least I hope that's what I'm telling myself!)

If you're lucky enough to live somewhere that actually felt like spring on the first day of spring, send some warm and sunny thoughts up north!  In the meantime, I can't really complain when I have a giant pot of this delicious soup to keep me warm :)

Asian Chicken Soba Noodle Soup

Loosely adapted from LCBO’s Food & Drink

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon canola oil

2-inch piece of ginger, peeled and minced

3 cloves garlic, minced

8 oz sliced mini bella or crimini mushrooms

1 large carrot, julienned (I used a couple handfuls of pre-sliced waffle cut carrots instead)

1 yellow onion, chopped

2 liters (8.5 cups) chicken broth

1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

1 tablespoon frozen chopped lemongrass (or 2 stalks lemongrass)

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, fat trimmed off

2 tablespoons fish sauce

1/2 teaspoon chili garlic sauce (or more if you want it to be really spicy!)

8 oz soba noodles*

4-5 heads baby bok choy, ends trimmed and sliced lengthwise

Juice of half a lime

2-3 green onions, thinly sliced

Salt and pepper

Cilantro and additional lime wedges for serving, if desired

Directions:

Heat oil in a large pot over medium-high heat.  Add ginger, garlic, mushrooms, carrot, and onions.  Cook for 5-7 minutes until softened, stirring often.  Add chicken broth, red pepper flakes, lemongrass, and chicken breasts.  If using a lemongrass stalk, remove the outer stalks, cut into chunks, smash, and wrap in cheesecloth – you will need to remove it before serving.  Bring to a boil, cover, and reduce heat to a simmer.  Let simmer for about 20 minutes, until chicken is cooked through.

Remove chicken breasts and set aside.  Add fish sauce and chili garlic sauce to broth and stir.  Add soba noodles and cook in the simmering broth for 5 minutes.  Meanwhile, shred chicken.

Add bok choy and shredded chicken to the pot and let cook for another 2-3 minutes, until bok choy is slightly wilted.  Remove from heat.  Stir in lime juice and green onions, and season with salt and pepper to taste.  Use a sharp knife or clean kitchen shears to cut some of the soba noodles in half, otherwise they will be difficult to divide into bowls.

Serve with additional lime wedges (I highly recommend this) and cilantro, if desired.

*Note: I used soba noodles because I have a ton of them to use up right now (and I like them!) but you could substitute rice noodles if you like.  Just cook them separately according to the package directions (usually soaking in hot water), toss with a bit of sesame oil to keep them from sticking, then add to the soup at the end.

Kenyan Ugali with Peanut Stew

So it's been a fairly busy and stressful week here, with tons of school work I’m behind on, blog problems, knee problems, and icky weather, among other things.  And during weeks like that, it’s amazing what some comfort food (and a bottle of wine) can do to help you relax in the evening!

This dish probably isn’t what most people would think of as comfort food, but it’s definitely one of those hearty and cozy meals that fills your belly and warms your soul, and just so happens to be one of the tastiest meals I’ve had in a while.

I’m sure some of you are waiting for me to explain what on earth “ugali” is, and to be honest, I’d never heard of it until I made this dish. From what I’ve learned, it’s a starchy staple dish in several African countries.  It’s very similar to polenta, and is made of just white corn meal that’s cooked with water to a thick, dough-like consistency (not creamy and smooth like polenta), and it's usually eaten with some sort of meat or vegetable stew. Fortunately my sister has been to Kenya and tried ugali a few times there, so she was able to give me some advice as I was making it and assure me that the thick texture was how it’s supposed to be!

Ugali is super easy to make and also really cheap – all you need is cornmeal! (I found white cornmeal in the Mexican section of my regular grocery store). And though it’s normally made with water, I used half vegetable broth to cook my cornmeal just to infuse some extra flavour into it. The consistency of the final product is so thick that you could grab a ball of it in your hand (and indeed you can use that to dip into other dishes or grab meats or veggies), and while I think it would normally be served in one big ball in the shape of a bowl, I broke mine up a bit so you could see the texture here:

The ugali makes a great base for a stew, and I paired mine with a rich and creamy peanut vegetable stew.  I added carrots, black beans, and parsley to the original recipe, so I’m not sure how authentic my stew is or if it would ever be eaten with ugali, but it was so good that I didn’t care!  The finished dish was full of veggies and protein, was super filling, and just so hearty and comforting.  If you’re in need of a dish to warm your soul and are looking to try something new and a little different for dinner, I highly encourage you to give this a try! 

And if you like trying new cuisines, my friend Courtney just redesigned her site with a focus on ethnic vegetarian food, so go check it out at The Fig Tree!

Kenyan Ugali with Peanut Stew

Adapted from The Ethnic Vegetarian

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

For the peanut stew:

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 medium yellow onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 tomatoes, chopped

1 green bell pepper, chopped

2 carrots, peeled and diced

1/2 a jalapeno or chile, seeds and veins removed, minced

Dash of cayenne pepper

Salt and pepper

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed

1/2 cup smooth peanut butter

1/2 cup hot water

For the ugali:

2 cups vegetable broth

2 cups water

1/2 teaspoon salt (optional)

4 cups white cornmeal

Chopped parsley for serving (optional)

Directions:

Heat olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium high heat.  Add onion and saute until softened, about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Add garlic, tomatoes, green pepper, carrots, jalapeno, cayenne, and salt and pepper to taste.  Let cook for 10-15 minutes, stirring often.  Mix together the peanut butter and hot water in a small bowl until smooth.  Add black beans and peanut butter mixture to the vegetables and let cook on low heat for about 10 minutes, until thickened slightly.

Meanwhile, bring the vegetable broth and water for the ugali to a boil in a medium saucepan.  Slowly and gradually add the white cornmeal, stirring constantly with a whisk to prevent lumps from forming.  Reduce heat to medium-low and continue to stir regularly until the mixture pulls away from the sides of the pot and becomes very thick, about 10 minutes (mine took less time).  Remove from heat.

Serve by dividing ugali among bowls and spooning peanut stew overtop.  Top with parsley and season with additional salt and pepper, if desired.

Harvest Snack Cake

I probably should have posted this recipe a little closer to Thanksgiving (which was this past weekend), because it would have tied in with it with perfectly, but I just haven’t been very organized lately! 

Canadian Thanksgiving is a celebration to give thanks for “the bountiful harvest with which Canada has been blessed” (source), along with all the other good things in our lives, especially our family and friends.  I love that there is a holiday specifically dedicated to celebrating the harvest and all the amazing food we are lucky to have readily available here!

I’d love to tell you that I made this cake in honour of the harvest and Thanksgiving, but I honestly didn’t make the connection until now.  Still, this harvest snack cake is a great way to celebrate fall food and flavours!

This cake is easy to make, will fill your kitchen with the smell of fall, and is full of good-for-you ingredients like carrots, apples, and walnuts.  Plus, it uses whole wheat flour and contains no butter or oil, so in my books that makes it a pretty healthy snack.  Of course, there’s still sugar in it, so I’m not putting “healthy” in the title, but I certainly don’t feel guilty about eating a piece for my snack every day!

Harvest Snack Cake

Adapted from Taste of Home

Makes about 16 squares

Ingredients:

2 cups whole wheat flour

1 cup packed brown sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

2 large eggs

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3/4 cup grated carrot

3/4 cup grated apple (about 1 large apple – if one apple doesn’t reach ¾ cup, you can increase the amount of carrots so total grated carrots + apples = 1.5 cups)

1 cup raisins

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F.  Line the bottom of a 13x9 baking pan with parchment paper and spray lightly with cooking spray.  Soak your raisins in hot water for 5-10 minutes so they won't absorb the moisture from your cake during baking (drain your raisins before using them).

Whisk together the dry ingredients (flour to ginger) in a large bowl.  In a separate medium bowl, whisk the eggs, applesauce, and vanilla.  Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and fold together with a spatula until just incorporated.  Fold in the carrots, apples, raisins, and walnuts.

Spread the batter evenly into the prepared pan, and bake in preheated oven for 30-35 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.  Cool on a wire rack.

Note: I knew I wouldn’t eat all of this in a few days, so I kept about half of the squares in the freezer and found that they froze well.

Sesame Soba Noodle Salad

I'm back!  I had a wonderful, relaxing week on vacation in beautiful Cuba, but now I'm having a hard time adjusting back to work and reality!  I apologize for the lack of posts lately, as well as my delay in checking in with other blogs (I currently have over 800 unread blog posts in my Google Reader to get to!), but I'm hoping this tasty and refreshing sesame soba noodle salad will help make up for it!

This is actually a dish inspired by a meal I ate in a Japanese restaurant on my earlier trip to Singapore.  I wasn't exactly sure what I was ordering when I requested the soba noodle salad, but I certainly didn't expect to see lettuce and noodles mixed together!  I didn't have high hopes for it when it appeared in front of me, but was pleasantly surprised when I took a few bites.  Since the noodles were cold, the whole salad was light and refreshing with an interesting mix of textures that worked well together.  But what really made the dish stand out was the delicious sesame dressing that was served with it.  

You may remember the picture I posted of the dish back in my recap of what I ate in Singapore, where I promised I would try to replicate it back at home.  Well, I stayed true to my word and recreated it the weekend after I got home from that trip!

The salad part was easy - I just used some of my favourite salad ingredients, topped them with a pile of cooked soba noodles and a garnish of sliced nori and sesame seeds.  The salad dressing was a little harder as I had to play around with different ingredients quite a bit until I found the perfect balance, but I think I ended up with a pretty amazing dressing!

This salad tasted just as good as the one I remembered eating in Singapore - it was cool, fresh, and full of flavour thanks to the filling sesame peanut dressing.  It's great for summer and I will definitely be making this again now that my trip to Cuba has given me a taste of the hot weather I have to look forward to!

Sesame Soba Noodle Salad

Inspired by a dish I ate at Rakuzen in Singapore

Serves 2

Ingredients:

For the Dressing:

2 tablespoons peanut butter

1 tablespoon tahini

2 tablespoons sesame oil

2 tablespoons rice vinegar

1 teaspoon low-sodium soy sauce

1 clove garlic, minced

1 teaspoon minced ginger

1 teaspoon honey

Dash of salt

2 tablespoons water

For the Salad:

4-6 oz soba noodles (depending on desired amount)

Lettuce (desired amount for 2 people)

Sliced cucumber, carrot, mushrooms, and snowpeas (or other desired salad ingredients)

For Topping:

1 sheet of nori, thinly sliced for garnishing

2 tablespoons sesame seeds

Directions:

Cook soba noodles as per package ingredients.  Drain and rinse well with cold water.  Let cool.

In a small bowl, whisk together all ingredients for the salad dressing.  Taste and adjust any amounts to your liking, and add more water to thin it out if necessary.

Divide lettuce and salad ingredients between two bowls/plates.  Top with cooked cooled soba noodles.  Garnish with nori and sesame seeds and serve with sesame dressing.

Mandarin Chicken Salad

I’ve been fortunate enough to travel to Asia a few times now, and while I love experiencing the incredible and diverse food Asia has to offer, one of the things I always find myself missing is a fresh, crisp salad. A lot of vegetables over there are cooked, and sometimes you can’t trust the fresh ones because they may have been washed in tap water. Towards the end of my trips, I actually start dreaming about raw vegetables and would give up all the amazing food there just to have one bowl of refreshing salad!

So the first thing I did when I got home from my most recent trip was to make myself a giant bowl of salad! I wanted to make something with Asian ingredients though, and realized it was the perfect time to try a salad recipe I’d had bookmarked for a year but kept forgetting to make: this mandarin chicken salad from Munchin with Munchkin. While it looked like a lot of ingredients to buy, I actually had all the ingredients for the dressing already, and I didn't mind buying the vegetables because I knew I'd eat whatever was leftover as a snack, so it was money well spent!

I changed quite a few little things with the recipe in order to suit my tastes (and based on what ingredients I had on hand), so be sure to check out the original recipe too so that you can also adjust the ingredients to your tastes! You should also check out the rest of Kris’ amazing blog while you’re there – it was just voted the Best Recipe Blog in The Kitchn’s Homies awards!
This salad was so fresh and flavorful and exactly what I was craving after my trip. I loved how the sweet mandarins were balanced by all the crunchy vegetables, and the sweet and sour vinaigrette gave it the Asian flavour I was still desiring. I have a feeling I’ll be craving this salad a lot more now that I know how much I love it!

Mandarin Chicken Salad

Adapted from Munchin with Munchkin

Serves 2

Ingredients:

For the Dressing:

1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1/4 teaspoon chili garlic sauce (optional for a bit of spice)
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon dark brown sugar
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 teaspoon sweet Thai chili sauce 
Dash of salt

For the Salad:

1 boneless, skinless chicken breast, cooked and shredded into small pieces (I cooked mine in sesame oil)
2 cups lettuce
1/2 red bell pepper, cut into thin strips
1 medium carrot, cut into matchsticks
1/4 cup snow peas
1/4 cup shelled edamame, cooked as per package directions
2-3 mandarins, segmented
2 tablespoons ground peanuts (ground in a food processor)
2 tablespoons sesame seeds

Directions:

In a small bowl, whisk together all ingredients for the dressing. Taste and adjust any amounts to your liking. Set aside.

In a large bowl, combine salad ingredients, toss with dressing, and divide salad between two plates/bowls, with the peanuts and sesame seeds sprinkled on top.

Notes:

- Next time I might eliminate the carrots and snow peas and increase the mandarins. Choose ingredients and amounts to your own taste!
- Optional additional toppings may include green onions, cilantro, and chow mein noodles