Author Archives: elaine

Brickworks, Sunchokes and Hazelnut Butter Cups!

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I honestly meant to get this post out yesterday but it didn’t quite happen.

In any case, hope you all had a fantastic weekend! I sure did:)

Here’s a little preview of what I got up to over here.

Saturday Morning

Fun at Evergreen Brickworks Farmers’ Market with Jenn & Lacie-Lu (Jenn’s pooch).

Saturday Market at Brickworks

Purchases made: Sunchokes from Vicki’s Veggies, Goat’s Milk Cheddar from Montforte Dairy & Arugula from some farm which I cannot remember the name (although the people working the booth were really quite kind).

Sunchokes (aka Jerusalem Artichokes) were a first-time purchase for me. The guy manning the booth told me they were similar in texture to potatoes, and after doing my own research I noted that they aren’t even actually artichokes.

You can see what I conjured up with these little guys further below.

Apparently the market moves indoors next weekend for the cooler months ahead, so I’m happy we were able to make it out one last time while still outdoors. It was quite the beautiful day considering we’re nearing the end of November!

Market Goods

And one of yours truly sporting a big bag of Arugula…

Next (after throwing our goods in the car) we hit up the beautiful trails behind the market grounds so Lacie could get a little off-leash exercise while Jenn and I enjoyed the fresh autumn air and scenic surroundings.

Once home from the market it was time to delve into my market goods. Lunch was a giant Arugula Salad topped with grated goat’s milk cheddar. Sorry – no pic.

As for the Sunchokes – check out what I had for Sunday night dinner.

Garlic-Roasted Sunchokes – Recipe

Give your sunchokes a good wash then slice them into ½ inch thick pieces. Toss them in a little EVO, sea salt and minced garlic (1 clove will do) and place them in a baking dish.

Washed Sunchokes

Place in the oven for about 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

Voila!

Garlic Roasted Sunchokes

I served them over a bed of millet and arugula. The taste did resemble an artichoke, although the texture was more like a potato (sort of) as the market-man informed me.

Hope I did Vicki proud;)

And last of all…

Saturday evening my good friend was throwing a Housewarming Party. I wanted to bring something delicious to share so I whipped up these little treats below. Sooo delicious and way better than Reese’s Peanut Buttercups! In my opinion anyways.

Hazelnut Butter love Cups – Recipe

Hazelnut Butter Cups

*makes approx 45+ bite-size cups

You’ll likely want to cut the below recipe in half, unless you’re bringing them to a party or trust yourself with having that many in your fridge! I made a few adult-sized cups as well (as you can see pictured above on the left).

Also note, the ones pictured above look a little bit goopy, but if you actually leave them in the freezer for a while the hazelnut butter hardens and you end up with a beautifully uniform buttercup – just like Reese’s! Either way though they still taste great.

______________________

Ingredients

2 x bars of dark chocolate (70% cocoa content or higher)

Hazelnut butter – 4 heaping tablespoons (or any natural nut butter of choice)

Pinch of sea (*the right ratio of sea salt to hazelnut butter is key – see instructions below)

Instructions: In a small saucepan, melt one of the bars over low heat until it’s liquid in consistency. Remove from heat and pour into bite-size paper baking cups lined on a baking sheet or tray. Pour chocolate into each cup filling just below half way.

Place baking sheet in the freezer for about 10 minutes so the chocolate sets.

In a separate bowl mix the hazelnut butter with a dash of sea salt. Stir the mixture well so it’s creamy and smooth in consistency. If your nut butter has been in the fridge for a while or you’re near the bottom of the jar, you may want to add a touch of coconut oil to facilitate mixing. You’ll want to taste the mixture and then decide if you need more sea salt or not. While you’re doing this melt the second bar of chocolate. Remember to keep the temperature low so it doesn’t burn!

Hazelnut butter filling

Remove “cups” from the freezer and add a small dollop of hazelnut butter onto the centre of each. You may need to spread it a little bit with a spoon.

Next, pour the remaining melted chocolate over each cup and fill to the top.

Pop back in freezer (or fridge) and let the chocolate set. It only takes about 10-15 minutes in the freezer and a little bit longer in the fridge.

Keep them in the freezer or fridge until they are ready to serve.

Next, watch these little decadent treats fly off the plate!

Yum!

With the holidays just around the corner, these would make the perfect treat for all your holiday party/gathering needs. Just swap the white baking cups for the holiday-themed ones!

Guaranteed not to disappoint!

xo Elaine

All Dressed up and Nowhere to Go!

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Well, except for the pit of my tummy!

And I’m talking about salads here – not kitty cats! That would be just wrong. I thought the above picture was fitting for the blog title though:)

Let’s face it, the salad dressing can either make or break the salad. While the perfect dressing can turn even the most basic salad into a delicious masterpiece, the wrong dressing on the other hand can turn the most beautiful salad into a deal breaker. Boo-urns!

A good salad I must say really comes down to what you dress it up with. So many people claim to hate salads, and yes for some, salads are an acquired taste if they’re used to eating dead, over-cooked food all day long. However, I personally think the people who hate salads are the same people who are dousing their salad in store-bought salad dressing or who perhaps equate salad with iceberg lettuce and a few chunks of unripened tomato. I think it’s suffice to say that the majority of bottled salad dressings out there just don’t make the cut. All it takes is to flip that store-bought dressing over and check out the long list of ingredients that read like a science experiment. Yikes – no thank you!

As I mentioned in an earlier post, the equation for making a really tasty salad dressing is really quite simple. Basically all bottled salad dressings are comprised of the three following tastes:

Acid + Fat + Sweet = Salad Dressing

If you’re buying store-bought there’s usually a number of additional additives in there as well, but if you’re making it at home you just need to make sure that you have these 3 key tastes covered. Next you can get creative with high quality sea salt, fresh herbs, garlic and spices to dream up any number of combinations.

Let me break it down:

Acid = Lemon or lime juice, apple cider vinegar, balsamic vinegar, etc.

Fat = Extra Virgin Olive Oil or if you have a fatty ingredient in the salad such as an avocado you can forgo the oil all together as the avocado will act as the fat and give it a creamy consistency. Oil on top of avocado is really quite unnecessary especially for people who are trying to lose weight. Although these are both “healthy” fats, there is no need to double up where you don’t need to!

Sweet = Natural sweetener of your choice (stevia, raw honey, raw agave, etc). Just remember that these natural sweeteners with the exception of stevia are still “sugar” so they should be used in moderation. If you’re eating a lot of salad and making your own dressings, which let’s face it you should be, then all that sugar (albeit natural) can really add up. Stevia is great for people who are watching their sugar intake and is the only natural sweetener that doesn’t feed yeast. I know I go on about stevia a lot but honestly I have found it to be one of the best tools for eliminating sugar from the diet.

Oftentimes my clients tell me that they don’t add sweetener to their salad dressings. What these people often don’t realize though is that practically every single bottled dressing contains sugar in one form or another, even if it’s artificial. This is the reason why when they make the switch to an oil and vinegar prepared at home it’s not long before they start to feel like something is missing (the sweet component) and go reaching for the store-bought dressing again because they don’t truly enjoy their homemade version.

Here are three super easy + delicious dressings that will make you fall in love with your salad;)

#1 Basic Dressing

* This is my “go-to” salad dressing of choice because it’s the quickest to prepare. I love this dressing on a salad topped with avocado or goat cheese. In either case I omit the oil.

Here’s the Basic Dressing in action topped on my favourite – Avocado Salad pictured below and Guacamole salad that I shared over on Joyous Health.

Ingredients

Juice of 1 lemon or approx 1/3 cup of Apple Cider Vinegar (depends on the size of your salad)

Stevia to taste (or natural sweetener of choice)

1 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil (optional)

Feel free to add fresh herbs, garlic, sea salt, etc.

Mix it up and pour over your salad.

#2 Classic Creamy Tahini Dressing

* This recipe makes approx 1 cup. Feel free to add your choice of fresh herbs or spices (i.e. cayenne) to change-up the flavour. This is a great one for those who love cream-based dressings but want to avoid the dairy.

**If you want to keep your food combinations straight, this dressing is best paired with vegetable salad. Feel free to throw some additional raw nuts or seeds into the mix (you likely won’t need it though as this dressing is pretty filling on its own) or some dried organic fruit if you desire. No avocado or cheese though if you are food-combining!

Ingredients

½ cup of raw Tahini (sesame seed paste)

½ cup of lemon juice (approx 2 x lemons)

1 tbsp of Tamari ( or ¼ tsp of sea salt)

1 clove of minced garlic

¼ cup of pure water

Stevia to taste or ½ tsp of raw honey (optional)

Pinch of cumin (optional)

Whisk all ingredients in a bowl or mix in a blender for a smooth consistency.

This dressing is also great as a dip and can be used in place of hummus. It basically contains the same ingredients as hummus minus the dense chickpeas so makes for a lighter (well-combined) alternative.

Who doesn’t love raw veggies with a tasty and delicious dip? Betcha can’t eat just one!

#3 Honey Dijon Dressing

This dressing pairs really nicely with a goat cheese & roasted-beet salad as pictured below.

Ingredients

½ cup of apple cider vinegar or lemon juice

1 heaping tbsp of Dijon mustard

1 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil (optional)

1 clove of minced garlic

Sprinkle of sea salt

1 tsp of raw honey (or 4-5 drops of liquid stevia)

Mix well and serve over your salad.

For more salad love check out my earlier post here.

Here’s to dressing those salads to impress!

xo Elaine

Real Food in the City…the Saga Continues

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Soup & Salad Combo at Hibiscus in Kensington Market.

For the second time this week!

Today the soup was butternut squash with parsnip, and I ordered the “works” for my salad. Hold the tofu and bean medley though please!

Those translucent looking things on my salad are kelp noodles, in case you were wondering. Yum! I actually just picked up a bag earlier from the health food store to sprinkle on my salads at home.

Perfect late lunch/early dinner for this cool Fall afternoon.

Happy Friday!

xo Elaine

Blueberry & Greens Avocado Smoothie

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Have you ever made a smoothie with an avocado?

It makes it so rich and creamy that is negates the need for any type of milk to thicken things up.

Here’s my favourite smoothie as of late…

I drank (or ate might be a better description) this glass of deliciousness all throughout the summer when fresh blueberries were in season, and now that we’re well into the Fall I’ve been using the local blueberries that I stored away in my freezer.

I entered the below recipe in the Organic Week Breakfast Challenge over at www.organicweek.ca. This week is organic week all across Canada (in case you didn’t know)!

*Blueberry and Greens Avocado Smoothie (Recipe)
*All ingredients are organic and/or local
1 cup of frozen blueberries
2 handfuls of baby spinach
1/2 an avocado
1 cup of filtered water
Cinnamon and a touch of raw honey to taste (or stevia)

Blend and serve.

If greens aren’t your thing you won’t even taste them. This recipe is kid approved too!

Slurp’s Up!

Comforting Sweet Potato and Carrot Soup (Raw Recipe)

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I love this soup.

Brimming with vitality, this soup is chock-full of enzymes, vitamins and minerals in their most useable forms. It’s the perfect addition to a meal or enjoyed out of a mug for a light and energizing snack.

Despite the fact that it’s a raw (non-cooked) soup it is actually still quite comforting and perfect for cool autumn weather. The addition of ginger and cinnamon spice it up and give it a warming effect in the body.

Comforting Sweet Potato and Carrot Soup (Raw Recipe)

4 cups of fresh carrot juice

1 large sweet potato peeled and cut into chunks

1 small avocado (or half a large one)

½ tsp of grated ginger

½ tsp of cinnamon

Stevia to taste (4-5 drops) – optional

Blend all ingredients in a high-speed blender. Serve immediately or store in the fridge in an airtight container for later. Do not heat.

Note: This recipe was inspired and adapted from Natalia Rose’s Pumpkin Pie in a Bowl Recipe from her book Detox for Women.

Hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I do.

 

Love,

Elaine

Pssst…Exciting News (This just in!)

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Hello Everyone!

I’m super excited to announce that starting this week I officially have clinic hours at Cantadora Naturopathic Health Centre located on Ossington Avenue here in Toronto. I’m thrilled to be part of an all-star team of female health practitioners – 2 naturopathic doctors, 2 registered massage therapists, an osteopath and an aromatherapist. I’ll be joining as the resident nutritionist. If you’re ever in the area, pop your head in and say hi! I’m just getting set-up so I don’t have a set schedule as of yet but there’s a good chance I may be inside:) For more info on the clinic and the services you can check out the clinic website. We’re having our annual open house on Saturday October 1st from 4pm until 8pm as an opportunity for people to come in and meet the team and enjoy complimentary mini-treatments and consultations. It’s going to be a bit of a pre Nuit Blanche affair. For those of you who are familiar with it, Nuit Blanche is an annual all-night celebration of contemporary art here in Toronto. We might even have a friend of the clinic come in and do a mini art installation during the open house. How fun! More details to come but mark the date in your calendar.

Just as a side note, I’ll still be seeing clients outside the clinic for those who are unable to make it in, along with skyping for those who live far away!

Here are a few pics of the clinic that I snapped with my camera yesterday. I’ll take some more of the inside later.

View from outside

Did I mention that the clinic is also across the street from one of my favorite restos? This could be dangerous;)

Hope you come visit me!

Elaine

Garlic Roasted Cauliflower (3 in 1 Recipe)

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Cauliflower.

Not the most popular of vegetables, and definitely not at the top of most grocery lists. People either seem to like it or they don’t. It’s never one of the first crudités to get gobbled up on the veggie tray at a party, nor does it often get packed in the school lunch among the carrot and celery sticks.

Strangely enough, when I was a kid it was one of my favourite veggies. And it wasn’t because I knew it came from the family of cancer-fighting cruciferous veggies, or that it was rich in Vitamins C & K, Folic Acid, Potassium and phytonutrients such as indole-3-carbinol and quercetin among others. If only I knew then what I know now I may have convinced all my little kiddo friends to reevaluate their feelings about cauliflower and give it the chance it truly deserved.

Although cauliflower can be enjoyed raw, especially when paired with a really delicious dip such as hummus, I find most people are won over by its taste when they try it in one of its many cooked forms.

Here’s a classic recipe that is super-duper easy to prepare. It can be eaten in its basic form or taken a step further in a few different directions to create two additional tasty dishes that can be added to your weekly arsenal of recipes!

Garlic Roasted Cauliflower

1 head of cauliflower

1 ½ tbsps of Extra Virgin Olive Oil

2-3 cloves of garlic minced

*Pecorino Romano grated (optional)

(*A hard cheese made from sheep’s milk that is often used interchangeably with parmesan)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375 F

Cut the cauliflower into florets and toss it with the olive oil and minced garlic in a casserole dish.

Place in oven for approx 20 minutes.

Remove from oven and top with grated Pecorino Romano (approx 2 tbsps)

Place back in oven under broiler for 3-5 minutes so cheese melts.

Serve up!

Garlic Roasted Cauliflower

Or…take the recipe one step further and create a delicious and healthier substitute for mashed potatoes (same same but different…and better!!!)

Garlic Roasted Cauliflower Mash

Repeat the same steps as above but place the final product into a blender omitting the Pecorino Romano.

Add ¼ cup liquid of your choice for a creamy texture. For a really creamy texture reminiscent of mashed potatoes I suggest adding 100% pure organic cream, or you can add your own dairy substitute of choice.

Add 1 tbsp of chopped chives or thyme.

Blend all ingredients in a high-speed blender or food processor until it is the consistency of mashed potatoes.

Serve and enjoy!

Or, if you’re craving a warming bowl of soup…

Garlic Roasted Cauliflower Soup

Make the original recipe but omit the second step where you top with grated cheese.

Put the final product in the blender (as with the “mash” recipe) with the addition of 3-4 cups of veggie broth (more or less depending on the consistency of soup you desire).

Blend until smooth.

Pour into serving bowls and top with grated Pecorino Romano and/or chopped herbs of choice (both optional).

Here’s to cancer-fighting cauliflower in all its delicious forms!

Elaine

Embracing your inner Beach Babe (A recipe for the locks!)

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Bettie Page

I realize that the end of summer is fast approaching and our days of lying around on the beach are unfortunately limited. However, it never occurred to me until just the other day when a few of my lady friends asked me how I pulled off my “wavy beach” hair that I even considered writing a post about it or sharing my DIY recipe.

This goes out to all my sisters, the ones who want to rock the beach babe look all year round regardless of ever stepping foot on a beach. Perhaps you have dead-straight hair and wanna give it a little added oomph, or maybe you have that “in-between” type hair, not quite straight but not quite perfectly wavy either and you need a little “somethin somethin” to help it along. I fit into this latter category.

For the summertime I am much of a “wash and go” type of girl, for two reasons mainly. One – I basically boycott my hairdryer as it is waaayyy too hot in my non air-conditioned apartment to turn the thing on, and two – I can’t be bothered to put in the time or energy to blow-dry it out nicely. I’d much rather be out in the sunshine.

A few months ago when I saw a “beach-wave” hair spray in the beauty section of one of my favourite health-food stores, I have to say I got a little excited. I had my eye out for one for a while, but most of the sprays I had seen previously contained other questionable ingredients that I didn’t feel comfortable spraying on my hair. I flipped it over to see what the ingredients were in this more natural brand…water, sea salt and lavender oil - that’s it!! I knew I could replicate it at home without paying the $20 price tag so that’s exactly what I did.

After doing a little research on the web here’s the recipe I came up with.

I should also mention that this spray works better if you already have a little natural wave in your hair.

DIY: Beach Babe Hair Mist

1 cup of filtered water (room temp or warm)

1 tbsp of sea salt

10 drops of lavender essential oil*

A spray bottle that holds at least 8 fl oz

If you have a larger spray bottle feel free to double the recipe

* The oil helps to add softness and shine to your hair while minimizing the drying effects of the sea salt. It also makes your hair smell perty! You can add other essential oils if you don’t dig the smell of lavender.

Instructions:

Pour all ingredients into the bottle using a funnel to avoid spills. Give it a shake and spritz over damp hair. Create more defined waves by scrunching your hair and twisting sections into ropes with your fingers.

I also use this spray on dry hair in between washes. Seeing as I only like to wash my hair a few days a week, a few spritzes of this helps to freshen it up with the smell of natural lavender and re-texturize loose waves.

Here’s to being a beach babe all year round!

Elaine

Cranberry Seed Hippy Granola for Kids and Life Lessons Learned in the Kitchen

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I always like getting adventurous in the kitchen, and yesterday Sunday afternoon I set out to do just that! My mission was to create a healthy nut-free granola bar for school lunches, chock full of nutritious goodness that children would love. A recipe that even the busiest parent could muster up the time and energy to pull off – and best part, no baking required!

See I’m giving a corporate talk tomorrow today on the topic of meal planning for busy parents and I wanted to give them a healthy replacement option for all the garbage granola bars out there on grocery store shelves. You know the ones…laden with hydrogenated oils and rancid fats, artificial this and that, refined sugar and grain? Yeah, those ones! So I was going to make them, refrigerate them, and then bring them in tomorrow today for all the parents to try. I wanted to impress them with my mad skills in the kitchen and hopefully sway them from ever buying another mainstream granola bar again!

Here they are! They look pretty tasty and granola bar-like, eh?

Don’t be deceived. No-bake granola bar attempt #1 = FAIL!!

See in the pic above they look really great because they just came out of the freezer after being in there for about 30 minutes. As soon as they sat out on the counter for a little while (after cutting them), these little babies started to crumble. Big time! How could I bring these into my corporate talk on Tuesday today? My granola bars would be the laughing-stock of the boardroom. Furthermore, what parent in their right mind would want to put a granola bar in their child’s lunchbox if it crumbled before they even packed it. “Might as well have just bought the store-bought ones” I could imagine them exclaiming. And more so, what kid wants to be “the kid” with the crumbly granola bar on the first day of school. Not cool! No kid wants sticky granola crumble stuck in their pony-tail or to the front of their shirt.

Not being one to give up very easily I started to ponder how I could turn this crumbling situation around.

Voila!

Here we have Cranberry Seed Hippy Granola for Kiddos (I basically just pulled the bars apart)! For all of you granola lovers out there this is for you. Toss it in your yogurt if that’s your thing, or sprinkle it over top of your “healthier” cereal for a little added sweetness. My method of choice?  Sprinkled over a sliced banana with a splash of almond milk (pictured below).

(Actually, I think I may have added that splash of almond milk after I snapped the picture.)

Now, remember this is more like a treat than an everyday staple, it’s sweet, granted using natural raw honey. If you are transitioning your child away from their “Fruit Loops” or other sugary breakfast cereal, a few tbsps of this mixed in with a lower sugar alternative would a nice option, or half a cup of this mixed in with some sliced up fruit would be another. They could even eat it straight up! It can also still be a replacement for a granola bar (my original intention), you’ll just need to include a reusable container and spoon to go along with! And remember, it’s still way better than all those mainstream granola bars.

Recipe: Organic Cranberry Seed Hippy Granola (Nut-free)

2 cups of organic rolled oats

½ cup of raw sunflower seeds

½ cup of raw sesame seeds

½ cup of raw pumpkin seeds (not pictured above bc I didn’t have any on hand)

1 cup of dried organic cranberries (or other dried fruit of choice)

1 tbsp of ground cinnamon

½ cup of organic chocolate chips (optional)

¾ cup of raw honey (you can try tapering it back to ½ cup to start) – honey must be liquid consistency for blending purposes. You might also try mixing 1/2 cup of raw honey with 1/4 cup of black strap molasses for a different flavour.

Instructions:

Combine all ingredients except the honey in a large bowl and mix well.

Next slowly drizzle the honey over the mixture and mix well so that all dry ingredients are covered. I suppose you could just omit the honey, however, seeing as this was made with the kiddos in mind as a “treat” or alternative to all those sweet granola bars, the sweetness is key here.

* Store in the refrigerator in an airtight container

 

Life Lesson Learned?

Don’t assume a recipe is going to work out if you’ve never tried it before and better yet, don’t wait until the last-minute to attempt a first-time trial when you need the goods in a pinch. Procrastinating never gets you ahead of the game. That’s just the way the cookie (er, granola bar?) crumbles.

Be back soon!!

Elaine

Quinoa Salad – A Crowd Pleaser

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Here’s one of my favourite “go-to” dishes when attending dinner parties, potlucks and the like. It’s super simple to make and takes almost no time at all to prepare. Secrets out! Most importantly though, people always love it!

This is what I brought last night to a “healthy foodie” potluck hosted by a fellow nutritionist. At these types of gatherings there are usually always at least a couple of people in attendance who have one food restriction or another. Vegan? Intolerant to gluten? Bring it!!

Quinoa Salad Recipe

2 cups of quinoa cooked on the stove top per instructions. (Use 2 cups of water per 1 cup of quinoa. If the you didn’t buy the quinoa pre-rinsed ensure you rinse it in a strainer prior to cooking to wash off the *saponins.)

*soap-like chemicals that interfere with digestion

5 radishes chopped

1 bunch of Italian parsley chopped

2 celery stalks sliced finely

2 spring onions sliced finely

Dressing: Juice of 1 lemon + a drizzle of Extra Virgin Olive Oil + sea salt to taste

After the quinoa has cooled, mix in all veggies and drizzle with the dressing and mix again.

 

Easy Peasy.

xo Elaine