M.I.A…..

No not in Miami, but in Hawaii!  I haven’t blogged in awhile…I know “bad blogger”! I just haven’t had the same motivation to post lately. There seems to be less time because I walk my baby I mean Puppy Stella every morning and night if I can-unless it rains like now! I also haven’t taken many pics of my good eats , we are busy eating and trying to get the kids off to soccer 3 times a week sometimes.

I had a fantastic month, Tony and I went to Hawaii (Maui & Honolulu) for 1 week-it was magical and felt like our second honeymoon, just so romantic and laid back as if we were the only 2 people in the world! My son received 2 certificates of Honour and has finished Sec 1 today…we are so proud!

I was very honored to be my niece’s sponsor on her Confirmation this past week-end…isn’t she a darling!

We had some good eats in Maui…the pineapple and shrimp were to die for! This was a dish of avocado, shrimp, pear and pineapple…so yummy!

Quinoa Quick!

Seriously a quick but versatile grain that is so filling and nutritious…I add any veggie -but my favorite is chopped onion and tomato with fresh herbs like parsley or cilantro. I use a lime, garlic and olive oil dressing…really simple but so good!

rawlicious with chickpeas

How fresh is this salad…it’s so easy to eat raw veggies so full of energy, enzymes and makes for a great lunch!

Broccoli provides daily calcium needs and fibre as well as chick peas with protein.

Chili and Chocolate…

I got this recipe from trying to change it up a little bit…my son loves chili and he loves chocolate so I thought of trying this recipe for him-he has no idea! 

2 tsp cumin
2 tsp coriander seeds
2 large dried chillies

2 onions chopped
2 sticks of celery chopped
2 cloves of garlic
2 tsp sunflower oil

2 tins plum tomatoes (or use fresh)
1 tin haricot beans
1 tin black eyed beans
1 tin aduki beans
1 tin kidney beans
1 tin black beans (I used soaked and coked dried beans)

1tbs cocoa powder
1tbs paprika
1 tbs sweet chili sauce (or tomato ketchup)
2 tbs tomato puree
S&P to taste

Dry fry the cumin, coriander and whole chillies and when aromatic grind, add to the slow cooker pot. Add the tinned tomatoes and rinsed and drained beans (I reserved half the black beans and their liquid and blitzed them with a stick blender before adding – this will add colour and thicken the sauce).

Fry the onion, celery and garlic and add to the chilli. Add the cocoa, paprika, sweet chilli sauce and tomato puree, stir and allow to gentle bubble for a few hours.

Serve with any of rice, grated cheese, guacamole, salsa.

Beans & Fennel au Gratin….

1 Small bulb of fennel
½ can Cannellini beans (rinsed well)
Butter
Splash Milk
1 oz Cheddar or other cheese
½ oz Parmesan or other hard cheese

Slice the fennel into ½ inch slices, place in a sieve and pour a kettle of boiling water over, arrange with the beans in a buttered gratin dish, top with a few knobs of butter and a splash of milk and grate the cheese over. Season to taste with S&P.

Bake in oven ( 350F) for 20mins until piping hot and the cheese is starting to turn golden.

BLACK BEAN QUESADILLA…sin QUESO!

 

Black Bean & Butternut Squash Tortillas
Handful black beans
Handful aduki beans
½ small butternut squash cooked
¼ green pepper finely chopped
¼ yellow pepper finely chopped
Handful peas & corn
1 tbsp chilli powder

Tortillas….there are so many out there…any would work great, just mix all gredients and spread over tortilla and fold. Grill on hot BBQ plate or pan!

Quinoa and black bean salad

This is another quick dish with so much flavor and fibre

1 cup cooked quinoa

1 cup cooked black beans

chopped yellow pepper

chopped green onion

fresh parsley or cilantro

dressing: some olive oil, lemon juice, garlic and herbamare (cumin I love with cilantro)

goat, dry cottage cheese or feta sprinkled over top (optional)

Keeps for a great lunch too!

Pizza no…Polenta yes!

I was having a nice dinner with the kids sans hubby when all of a sudden I just wanted a piece of the pizza the kids were having with -a spinach, avocado and carrot salad and some potatoe fries- and I had my dill herbed fish (so flaky) because I am so sensitive to wheat and it brings me down etc..So I decided to “test” once again the reaction of 1.5 slices along with my healthy dinner. It tasted good the chewy and salty but it made me crave more processed food -I am in PMS so I did crave sugars and had some chocolate too. I woke up feeling groggy and had such weird dreams and ofcourse the itchy nose and sneezing began for about 1 hour. I should really stick to other grains like spelt, chickpea flour and cornflour but I really didn’t think I was in the mood for pizza until I saw it staring at me in the face saying I’m so small just eat me! Oh well Live & Learn right ?

Anyways Polenta is a great comfort food anytime of the year…so basic but anything goes in the mix…tomato sauce, veggies any herbs etc 

Here cornmeal is used for polenta, it’s quite easy but you must keep stirring the polenta to not get a grainy texture. 

Ingredients

• 1 L Water
• 250 g instant corn meal
• 1 stick Butter
• 2 handfuls Parmesan grated
• chopped parsley

1. Bring the water to boil in a large pan, then slowly stream in the polenta whisking continuously.
2. Once it’s mixed, continue to stir over the heat for 15-20 minutes.
3. Stir in the butter and parmesan.
4. You can add a little more water to make it the right consistency.
5. Season add chopped parsley and serve straight away.

rawgasmic!

 

I can’t say enough how great I feel with all this energy I have by eating so much unprocessed and raw foods. I don’t feel heavy or tired. I truly believe some unnatural foods take so much energy to digest they leave me exhausted and craving more processed foods, but when I eat whole foods in their natural state I am getting all ny nutrients and I don’t crave any other foods. I am really trying  to incorporate move plant based foods into our daily meals. I still eat organic chicken, wild fish and sometimes organic red meat for my son who loves steak-I just can’t anymore.

Raw food takes time to get used to the idea but once you understand how simple it really is it because second nature. I rely on fresh fruits, veggies, legumes, seeds and nuts 80% of the time. The rest well it’s because I still love my seafood, organic eggs and chicken.  There are so many foodies out there with many recipes using raw ingredients I was amazed how creative they are like for lasagna (zucchini for noodles and nuts for cheese and sundried tomatoes for sauce) and this is not cooked because the food cannot be cooked over 115 degrees. Very interesting to me and I found a Raw Food restaurant in Montreal- Crudessence -that I will be tasting next week-end I can’t wait!

So try to eat more fresh raw veggies at every meal, you’ll see the difference it makes!

just beet it

Roasted beets can be so boring right? but if you add some other ingredients it really is a sweet and nutritious veggie. I enjoy them roasted with sliced onions, olive oil and  and lightly seasoned with herbamare in the oven until tender. You can add orange juice or balsamic vinegar or just  some water to prevent them from getting too dry as they cook.  

The trick not to get your hands all stained red is to wear gloves  or just use clear plastic baggies over your hands  as you peel them