Zesty & Spicy

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Marinated Cauliflower with Graines a Roussir & Preserved Lemon

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Marinated Cauliflower with Graines a Roussir & Preserved Lemon
 
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Recipe type: Appetizer
Ingredients
  • 3 cups of small cauliflower florets
  • ¼ cup of green olives (about 10), finely chopped
  • 3 garlic cloves, minced
  • 3 tablespoon of olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon of lemon juice
  • 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar
  • 1 preserved lemon, chopped
  • 1 tablespoon of chopped fresh coriander leaves
  • ½ teaspoon of powdered graines a roussir
  • Salt & pepper to taste
Instructions
  1. - Prep the cauliflower and keep only the florets. Measure about 3 cups of florets, steam them for 10 minutes.
  2. - Mix all the other ingredients in a big salad bowl and then mix in your steamed cauliflower.
  3. - Leave in the fridge to marinate for at least 1 hour before serving.

Easy & Humble Kale Soup

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“Eat your greens or you wont have any desert!”

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…probably a sentence everybody heard a few times during their childhood.  I don’t remember being over difficult to feed as a child, beside the terrifying grilled white cod filet with tomatoes my mom used to make (I still have nightmares about it, true story), so I was happy (most of the time) to eat my greens.

Kale was introduce to my diet much later in life.  I do not recall my mom or dad buying any but, back then, the trend was more to eat spinach and I clearly remember the creamed spinach side dish my mom used to make.  Let me tell you… THAT was insanely delicious and now that I think about it, I’ll have to ask her for the recipe next time I see her.

You could probably make this soup with baby spinach as well.  Why do I say baby and no regular spinach?  Only because I’m thinking the bitterness of the fully grown spinach might be a little bit too overpowering for the humble and light taste of this soup.  While you can still try, I’m thinking that by trying to cover the bitterness, you might feel the push to add more salt and we all know by now that salt is a big no no for our dear arteries.

You can rock this soup in about 1:30 maximum and that’s with the prep included.  For those busy and lazy week nights, a comforting soup made with real and a small amount of ingredients is always welcome.

Bon Appetit!

Easy & Humble Kale Soup
 
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Ingredients
  • 3 garlic cloves minced
  • 1 tablespoon of olive oil
  • ¾ to 1 cup of finely chopped (about 1 medium/big one)
  • 1½ cup of finely chopped carrot
  • 6 cup of chicken broth (no salt)
  • 4 cup of finely chopped kale leaves
  • ½ teaspoon of solar salt **
  • ¼ teaspoon of basil pepper ***
  • 1 tablespoon of low sodium soy sauce
  • ** Solar salt is something I discovered when I made my first batch of kimchi. It's basically aged sea salt and really has a nice and distinctive taste. You can obviously replace this salt by regular sea salt or table salt but I would much prefer sea salt just because of the yummy flavors.
  • *** Basil pepper is a spice blend of 3 types of peppercorns and basil leaves that I made last year and that will be on the blog this week but feel free to replace this with regular pepper. Like the salt measuring, feel free to tweak the quantity to your liking 🙂
Instructions
  1. - In a medium sauce pan, on the stove top at MEDIUM/HIGH heat. Start by gently grilling the freshly cut garlic and onion with the olive oil for 2-3 minutes.
  2. - Stir in the carrot, mix well and add the broth. Bring everything back to a gently broil, lower the heat and add the rest of the ingredients
  3. - Let simmer at low heat for 1 hour and serve!

Sweet Potato, Spinach, Broccoli Risotto

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I hope you’ll enjoy this fun vegan and gluten free risotto, perfect for a busy week night and a next day lunch! 🙂

Sweet Potato, Spinach, Broccoli Risotto
 
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Ingredients
  • 4 cups of hot water
  • ½ cup of Glutenberg/Chartier maple beer **
  • 1½ cup of shredded sweet potatoes
  • 1 cup of finely chopped spinach
  • ¾ cup of finely chopped broccoli
  • 1 tablespoon of olive oil
  • 1 cup of Arborio rice
  • 2 big fresh garlic cloves
  • 2 tablespoons of nutritional yeast
  • ¼ teaspoon of salt
  • ¼ teaspoon of ground black pepper
  • Garnish idea:
  • Finely chopped basic leaves
  • **  The recipe calls for ½ cup because that's all I have left in my fridge but you could easily add one full cup of beer (and or white dry wine if you can find this beer anywhere) and remove ½ cup out of the water quantity.
Instructions
  1. - In a flat bottom pan, on the stove top, at MEDIUM/HIGH heat - Start by adding the tablespoon of olive oil with the garlic.  Wait till it start sizzling, then add your raw, uncooked Arborio rice and stir well to make sure the all little grains of rice are well covered with the oil and garlic.  Keep stirring non stop for an extra 1 to 2 minutes while making sure that nothing is sticking at the bottom of the pan.  If it does, lower the heat a bit.
  2. - Pour the beer and keep stirring while all the rice absorb the precious liquid.
  3. - Start adding your water, add the first cup, keep stirring constantly, add the veggies all in one shot and keep adding the rest of the water ½ cup at the time.  The whole process should be about 15-20 minutes maybe less.
  4. - Never stop stirring while everything get's absorb and when you're getting close to the end of your water and the texture is getting nice and creamy, start lowering your heat to MEDIUM/LOW.
  5. - Stir in the nutritional yeast, add the salt and pepper and you're done!

Chewy, Decadent Paleo Brownies with Nutty Topping.

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I could never be 100% paleo.  Pretty much like I couldn’t be 100% vegetarian or vegan.  I’m just one of those people who strongly believe that almost everything can be good in moderation unless there is some sort of medical condition going on.  Since food is part of the simple pleasures of life, I don’t like to have constraints when it comes to be creative in my kitchen.  Some days I’ll be vegan or vegetarian.  Others, I’ll jump on a big juicy steak with baked and stuffed potatoes.

Every meals or snacks will be influenced by my mood and I will always follow these simple life’s food rules:

1- Try to eat a little bit of (almost) everything in moderation.

2- Try to always eat more vegetables, fruits, mushrooms than meat.

3- Prior fish to red meat.  Choose tofu, tempeh and seitan over fish and meat.

4- Eat food that are alive, like kimchi, miso, tempeh, sprouts etc…

5- Drink lots of teas, everyday.

6- Make sure that in those daily teas there is at least 1 matcha tea and 1 mushroom infusion.

7- Stay Active, work out.

8- Everything is always better homemade, so make it!

Beside that I’m pretty loose.  Eat what your heart desire, try to always choose a healthy, non fatty alternative to your munchies and push your boundaries, get out of your comfort zone to discover new tastes and textures.  Don’t close your mind to other culinary cultures and jump in.

Although I do not like to have constraints when it comes to my personal foodie life, it’s still fun and challenging to create recipes that are following a certain regiment.  Have you heard of the Paleo or Caveman diet?  Here’s a little Wiki article if you are curious to learn about what it mean to be 100% Paleo.

The basics you need to remember; Dairy Free – Grain Free – Gluten Free and Legumes Free.  All potatoes are a big no no but you can still eat some sweet potatoes sporadically.  All soy products are off limits but miso is accepted because the fermentation will make the soy beans easier to digest.  Flours made of Coconut and Almonds are your best friends, coconut oil and olive oil should be your preferred fat.

A good friend of mine have a condition that could be helped by becoming Paleo but I really don’t see him being able and/or wanting to follow all these rules.   Just because I knew he was coming to dinner last Saturday, I decided to create an entire Paleo menu from scratch and today I’m presenting you the decadent dessert I made.  Seriously, this is by far one of my favorite desserts ever.  Paleo or not, I’ll be making another batch of these very soon and I know that you might just become addicted if you dare trying it.

For the people who likes very chewy, almost gooey brownies, these are for you!  The soft texture of the carob brownie and the crunch of the nutty topping is really making these little bites fun to eat.  Hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I’m enjoying eating it.  …right now, as I’m writing

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Basil Tea Cookies (Gluten Free)

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Just the perfect butter cookie texture with the delicious aroma and flavor of the basil.  For everybody who had an over flow of fresh basil last summer and made my recipe for BASIL SUGAR, this is the recipe I told you so much about.  These gluten free butter cookies are just out of this world and even Max who usually the type of guy who’s gonna go for the big double chocolate cookies with a ton of fat and calories beg for these ones…

Give them a try and you’ll see 😉

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