Guilt Free Snacking – Kale Chips

As a teacher, my summer downtime is filled with reading, doing craft projects and binge-watching shows on Netflix.  As such, I spend a good chunk of time parked on my couch – snacking!  That horrible, unnecessary, I’m-kinda-bored-so-maybe-I’ll-get-a-snack kinda snacking.  It’s great to have a healthy option in these desperate times and recently that has been my good old friend, kale.

I know, I know, kale is such a trendy superfood these days.  But seriously, best snack ever: kale chips.  I have two versions that I make, one is tangy and spicy while the other is cheesy, thanks to my good ole friend nutritional yeast (a.k.a. hippie dust apparently?)  Super easy to make, keeps for a few days if you make a bunch and totally guilt free since you made it, and it’s KALE!  Check out my recipes below:

Kale Chips

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Thoroughly wash and remove stalks from kale leaves
3. Tear into bite-sized pieces (try not to make them too small as they shrink when baked)
4. Place in a bowl and pour in seasoning of choice (see below), stir to coat all leaves. You want the leaves to have some oil and seasoning on them, but not to be drenched and wilty.
5. Pour onto pan covered in foil and bake for approximately 8 to 12 minutes (I find the time tends to vary depending on your oven and how much kale you’ve put on your pan. Check on them half way through and give them a quick stir.  You want them to be dark and crispy but not burnt and stuck to your pan.  If you can smell them, they should be done)

 

Lemon Seasoning:

Juice of half a lemon

3 tbsp. olive oil

Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

¼ tsp ground ginger (optional)

¼ tsp ground cumin (optional)

¼ tsp cayenne pepper (optional)

 

Cheesy seasoning:

¼ cup olive oil

3 – 5 tbsp. nutritional yeast

Kosher salt to taste

I Only Miss Hotdogs

Okay, confession time.  As a new vegetarian I don’t miss a lot of meat.  My body absolutely loves me for eating vegetables because it’s forced me to eat even healthier than I already had been.  I do find it annoying to eat at previously loved restaurants (hello Boston Pizza!) and having a hard time finding a vegetarian option but that has not been my biggest obstacle.  I have to admit, between all the roast chickens, steaks and pulled pork the thing I miss the most is, well, HOT DOGS.  I know their meat source is pretty questionable to begin with, but I miss them.

What do you eat along side mac n cheese?  Hot dogs.  What to you grab when you’re in a rush and need a cheap meal downtown?  Street Meat!  What is the staple of every ball game?  Hot dogs.  And what is the delicious summer BBQ favourite?  That’s right my friends, HOT DOGS!!!  Needless to say, I have had to fill a hot dog sized void in my life this summer (minds out of the gutter please!) and let me tell you, it hasn’t been easy.

I have tried just about every veggie dog and veggie burger option out there, and I gotta say, I’m not impressed.  However, my mom did recently find a delicious quinoa burger recipe, so I feel that there is hope.  While my first attempt did not come out as delicious as my mom’s (when does it ever come out as good as moms?) it was still a preeeeeeeeeetty good alternative to burgers and dogs for your average backyard BBQ.

We got the recipe from Chatelaine and it was super easy.  It is mainly cooked quinoa, and shredded carrots, mushrooms and zucchini.

I feel that this recipe can be pretty versatile depending on the flavour combination you choose.  The original recipe basically used salt and pepper, but the mild flavours of the veggies make it a pretty blank canvas.  My mom used red peppers and chili powder while I chose a little bit of cumin and a handful of fresh cilantro.  I even kicked it up a notch by cooking the quinoa in vegetable broth instead of water, yum!

I am going to play around with the flavours to find my perfect burger replacement.  Serve on a flat bread bun with traditional burger toppings and  potato salad and you have yourself a lovely summer BBQ meal!

While my quest for the perfect hot dog replacement continues, I think I found my go-to veggie burger.  Try it out for yourself, and let me know if you find any winning flavour combinations!

I Hate Avocadoes: Avocado and Tuna Salad

Have you ever had a food that you have willed yourself to love?  You know, something you really wanted to like but didn’t  so you hate it until you finally loved it?  No?  It is just me?  I did it with shrimp (the texture is SO weird, it’s what I would imagine biting an ear would feel like) and now I love them.  As a new vegetarian I have two new items on my ‘I-will-love-them-one-day’ list: avocados and chickpeas.  I can’t stand either.  Hummus? Yuck.  But chickpeas are such a lovely source of protein for vegetarians, and there is no denying the health benefits of good-fat-filled avocados.  Thus, I must love them both.

While I might not be a fan of hummus, I am a huge fan of another dip: guacamole.  I decided to mimic traditional guac flavours in my salad to make it more appealing for my palette.  I chopped the avocados and tossed them with some fresh lime juice, sea salt and coriander before adding the rest of the salad ingredients.  Win!

Generally my formula for a good dinner salad is protein + variety of colour and texture + matching flavours.  I matched flavours in this salad using guacamole ingredients to match the avocados  and celery to match the tuna*.  I ensured a variety of colour by using peppers and carrots in addition to my greens, and variety of texture was achieved with pecans (crunch) and cubes of cheddar cheese (softness).  I dressed the whole thing in Italian dressing, but those truly health conscious folks among us might make do with a little olive oil in addition to that lime juice.  Whatever you choose, you are sure to have a hearty and protein rich salad.  Here is my recipe:

2 avocados

1 each, red and yellow peppers

1 tomato

2 carrots

2 stalks celery

1 can flaked tuna

½ cup chickpeas

1 small handful coriander (cilantro)

½ cup pecan halves

1 lime, juiced

Sea salt, to taste

Italian Dressing, to taste

Chop the avocados and coriander, placing in a large bowl.  Juice the lime, sprinkling the juice and sea salt over the avocadoes; toss.  Continue to chop the remainder of the ingredients, placing them in the bowl.  Add the flaked tuna, chickpeas and pecans.  Top with dressing of your choice, toss.  Enjoy!

*Yes, my salad does include tuna.  Technically I am a pescatarian which means that I do not eat any animals or animal products, with the exception of fish.  Many view being a pescatarian as a stepping stone to being truly vegetarian but for me it is just a personal choice.

Mom’s Banana Bread, Only Healthier

This past week has been crazy between rushing to work, running errands and working out.  I needed a quick breakfast and muffins are always my go to for a grab-and-go type morning.  The only problem is that with muffins I can never quite escape the feeling that I am eating cake for breakfast.  I was really craving my mom’s delicious banana bread, so I decided to take her classic recipe and health it up a little bit.

I swapped the all-purpose flour for a combination of whole wheat and flax meal, the sour cream for Balkan style yogurt and I reduced the sugar by half.  If you wanted to make it even healthier you could also take out the oil and substitute it for apple sauce, but I didn’t have any on hand.  I also added some walnuts and raisins, because who doesn’t love a little extra something in their morning muffin?

Flaxseed meal adds a rich nutty flavour, plus fibre and omega-3s, but I didn’t want it to make my muffins too dense.  I did a little research and found that the Livestrong website provides good substitution information for adding flax meal to your recipes.  I used Bob’s Red Mill Flaxseed Meal and their website also provides a wealth of information.  I also swapped the sour cream for Balkan style yogurt which is more protein and a whole lot less fat, without changing the texture.

Here’s my recipe:

1 cup ripe bananas, mashed

½ cup sugar

¼ cup canola oil

½ cup plain yogurt

2 eggs

½ cup each, all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, flaxseed meal (total of 1 ½ cups)

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

½ cup raisins

¼ chopped walnuts

In a small bowl mix the wet ingredients until well combined.  In a separate medium bowl mix the dry ingredients.   Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir until just combined (do not overmix!)  Line 12 muffin tins with paper liners, and spoon two tablespoons of batter into each.  Bake at 325 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes (or until muffins spring back when you press on the tops lightly with your finger, and a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean).  Enjoy!

Happy Friday everyone!

Superfood Trifecta Salad

Last night I didn’t have time to stop at the grocery store on my way home as planned so I had to make do with whatever I had on hand in my fridge.  Lucky for me, my new vegetarian self (more on that later) had packed my fridge full of superfoods such as kale and baby spinach.  I decided to use that along with some other ingredients I had on hand to make what is pretty much a superfood trifecta:  a warm salad with kale, quinoa and chickpeas.

The quantities in this recipe are approximate; since it’s a salad you can add as little or as much of any of the ingredients as you want.  You can even leave some out altogether or add some others not mentioned to suit your own taste.  My favourite thing about making salads is their versatility!

1 cup quinoa

1 bunch kale, chopped

2 cups baby spinach, chopped

1 red onion, minced

1 lemon, juiced

1/4 cup olive oil (plus some for cooking)

1 cup feta cheese, cubed

1 cup chickpeas

1/3 cup dried cranberries

1/2 tsp kosher salt

1/2 tsp ground ginger

Pinch cayenne pepper

Salt and Pepper to taste

1. Rinse the quinoa in a sieve under cold water until the water runs clear.  Place the washed quinoa in a pot, adding two cups of cold water and some salt.  Bring to a boil.  Once boiling reduce heat to medium low, cover and cook for 15-20 minutes (or until the curly Q ‘tails’ of the quinoa are visible)
2. Place some olive oil in a pan.  Wash the kale and baby spinach.  Remove the hard stalks from the kale.  Stack the leaves of the greens and chop them roughly (don’t worry about making the pieces too small, the size reduces as they cook).  Place the greens in a pan and cook on medium-low heat for 3-5 minutes.  If you wish you can put a splash of water in the pan and cover for a few minutes until the leaves are limp.  Remove from heat and place in a salad bowl.
3. Mince red onion and cook in olive oil over medium-low heat for 3-5 minutes (or until onions begin to sweat).  Remove from heat and place in salad bowl with greens.
4. Chop feta cheese into cubes.  Place dried cranberries and chickpeas in bowl with the rest of the ingredients.
5. Juice the lemon.  Add the 1/4 cup of olive oil, and spices and whisk.
6. Place the cooked quinoa in your salad bowl.  Drizzle your lemon/olive oil dressing over top and mix to combine.  Top with feta cheese and serve warm.

This salad is great served warm but I also love it the next day for lunch when all of the flavours have combined.  I eat it cold for lunch and it is just as good, maybe even better.  Enjoy!

Turmeric Detox Drink

I have been hearing a lot lately about the health benefits of turmeric.  It is a powerful anti-inflammatory, natural antiseptic and potent painkiller among many other benefits.  I began reading about it when I came across it in a Chickadvisor article about detox drinks; apparently turmeric is also a powerful liver detoxifier.

I recall my Indian grandmother using turmeric as a natural remedy to numerous ailments over the years; she has made it into a paste and applied it directly to skin to reduce swelling, and added it to tea to ward off the first signs of a cold.  I mentioned my interest in its health benefits to her and she told me that CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta recently mentioned drinking a turmeric tea every day.  Hey, if it’s good enough for Dr. Sanjay Gupta, it’s good enough for me!

Here is my recipe for a detoxifying turmeric tea:

2 cups water, boiled

½ lemon, juiced

2 tbsp honey (or to taste)

1 tsp ground turmeric

½ tsp ground ginger

Pinch cayenne pepper

Pinch cinnamon

Place water in kettle and bring to a boil.  While the water is boiling, mix the lemon and honey in a mug until combined.  Stir in the spices creating a thin paste.  Once the water is boiled, combine with the spice mixture.  Keep the spoon in your mug while you’re drinking and stir often to prevent the spices from settling on the bottom of the mug (makes for an extremely unpleasant last sip!)

I have been drinking this tea when I feel a cold coming on (sniffles?  Sore throat?  Time for turmeric tea!) and it has been a miracle drink.  At first it is a strong flavour to get used to, but now that I have been drinking it often I am finding I have become a fan of the unique tangy, spicy and sweet flavour.  Sanjay Gupta’s version even uses almond milk instead of water,  while I imagine would serve to further dilute the strong spicy flavour.  Try it out and let me know what you think!

The original recipe I based mine upon can be found here.  Enjoy!

Related articles

• Top 5 Ways to Kick a Cold (yogapeelnyc.com)

Sunday Morning Smoothie

I love waking up early on the weekend.  It is so quiet and peaceful, and I find I get my best thinking done in these moments.  This Sunday I decided to head to an 8 am yoga class, and I felt great about it.  Waking up early, working out, and having the rest of my day ahead of me!  To get me started I made a hearty Mocha Banana Smoothie.  Here’s my recipe:

1 cup milk

1 whole banana (frozen, cut into chunks)

1 tbsp cocoa powder

1 tsp espresso powder

1/4 tsp cinnamon

2 tbsp soy protein powder (optional)

Blend and enjoy!  This was the perfect start to my day.  Not too heavy before a hot yoga class, but filling enough to get me going without feeling hungry.