Burrito Bowls: Two or Three Ways!

On my recent food  journey, I found one of the largest stumbling blocks to eating more plant based and less refined sugar has been my family's resistance to embrace this healthier lifestyle. It has been a tricky juggling act but I have found that my favourite techniques have been "hidden healthy", learning just how much I can hide without getting caught and working diligently to modify my traditional recipes to closely replicate the originals while improving on the nutritional value. Some days, I've even resorted to cooking 2 separate meals which is a total pain in the you know where! So, when I come across a meal that requires very little finagling to provide a meal that makes both me AND my family happy, I can truly do the Happy Dance.

While I was "away", my daughter introduced me to burrito bowls, which we could also call "deconstructed burritos" in the foodie world... ooooo how fancy! This is such a simple meal and easy to customize based on what you have on hand. You can make it completely plant based and without much effort, provide the meat eaters in your family with the meat they want. Yes, you can satisfy the vegans, vegetarians and the  omnivores without cooking 3 completely different meals! Wahoo! 

The hardest part about the Burrito Bowl is the prep work, and certainly if you have a knife, a box grater, a blender, a pot and 2 fry pans, you've got this covered.

Basic Burrito Bowl Components (some or all of the veggies ROCK)

• Brown Rice
• Refried beans
• Kale, mixed greens, or romaine lettuce, sliced finely into ribbons
• Carrot, grated
• Zucchini, grated
• Bell peppers, yellow, red or orange, OR a combination finely diced
• Green onions, finely chopped
• Tomatoes, finely diced/chopped
• Seasoned ground meat - beef, chicken, or pork (pasture raised and organic if possible)
• Sour cream or dairy free sour cream (scroll down the page to find the recipe) or organic plain yogurt.
• Old cheddar cheese, grated
• Fresh limes

Seasoned Ground Meat

2 tablespoons oregano

1 tablespoon chile powder

1 teaspoon cumin

2 teaspoon garlic powder (or 2 cloves of fresh garlic, minced)

2 teaspoons onion powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 lb ground beef, chicken or pork - pasture raised if possible

Mix all ingredients together.

Brown ground meat until well done.

Add 1/2 cup of water and seasonings and let simmer until liquid is absorbed.

Add additional salt if necessary. 

Refried Beans

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 medium onion, diced

2 cloves garlic minced

1 tsp chilli powder

2 cups black turtle beans or one 19 oz can, drained and rinsed 

2/3 cup chicken or veggie broth, plus more if needed (veggie broth for vegan or vegetarian)

Salt and pepper 

2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro leaves 

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until tender.
Stir in the garlic and chili powder and cook for a few minutes.
Stir in the beans and slowly add broth, cooking until the beans are warmed through, about 5-6 minutes.
Mash the beans coarsely with the back of a wooden spoon (I used a potato masher first), adding more broth to moisten, if needed. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. 

Stir in the cilantro** at the very end.

**Note:  If you don't have any fresh cilantro and IF you happen to have some cilantro pest cubes in the freezer, you can toss 2-3 thawed cubes in to the mix instead.

Assembly

In a large shallow bowl, I like to use a pasta bowl, put a scoop or two of  rice, meat (if using), refried beans, carrots, zucchini, greens, bell peppers, and tomatoes. Squeeze some fresh lime over the whole works; add a big dollop of sour cream, regular or non dairy and a sprinkle of cheese (if desired). 

There you have it... a meal for omnivores, vegans and vegetarians alike with not a lot of extra effort. For the vegans, HOLD all animal products. For the vegetarians, HOLD the meat, and for the omnivores, EVERYTHING into the bowl! This is the perfect meal to satisfy a variety of tastes - at the same time. I know I will need more of these kinds of meals to make meal preparation easier for me when I would prefer a plant based meal but my family would not. I will have to put my thinking cap on for that!

BUDGET TIP

Sometimes I mix a spoonful of mayonnaise in with about a 1/2 cup of yogurt to round out the flavour. It is almost a dead ringer for sour cream. Since I always have plain yogurt and mayo on hand, this is a great option because I don't always use sour cream in large quantities so the rest of the container usually spoils before I do. No tossing money in the green bin for this girl!

Back After A Year Long Hiatus

Today is my first day back at blogging.  I haven't written for well over a year and it isn't because I don't enjoy doing it.  Sadly, life got busy, I took on a temporary job, I struggled with some difficulties and, in a nutshell, I just couldn't find the time. Today I have some time, or rather, I have decided take some to blog despite the fact that my house is upside down and there are a number of things I really should be doing. So, today I am sitting at my keyboard and making an attempt to write, proof, and post something worth sharing.  Wish me luck!

Just to catch you up, I have been busy practicing my passions... cooking and eating.  I have been working on my "eat more plant based journey" and have dabbled in a variety of food choices including "raw", "dairy free", and gluten free".  I have embraced the green smoothie as an almost daily breakfast of champions; I have been buying fewer made for me products like salad dressings, granola, and jams, opting to make them in my own kitchen from scratch (or as close to scratch) as possible.  I have tried a variety of meatless dishes that have incorporated more lentils and beans and have been met with a less than thrilled family... <sigh> BUT on a happier note, I have managed to re-create much healthier versions of my "traditional" desserts using less conventional/traditional ingredients (shhhhhhhh) with great success and cutting down on our refined sugar intake!  I am still working on my ever present task of "hidden healthy" to help my family eat better, even if unknowing.  I am also lucky to have sourced out cleaner and more ethically raised chicken, turkey and pork.  Hopefully soon, I will be able to find some grass fed beef and then I can feel better about eating meat when that is on our family meal menus.

I have spent much time perusing other wonderful food blogs such as Oh She Glows, Joyous Health, Pure Ella, The First Mess, and My New Roots, just to name a few.  I have spent a great deal of time reading about these ladies and have been busily getting to know them through the stories, food and recipes they share; not to mention salivating over the gorgeous pictures they post. YUM-YUM-YUM!  Food blogs like these provide me with great inspiration and help me to learn about a whole new way of cooking and eating.

I still regularly visit the more traditional food web sites like Canadian Living and Chef Michael when I am looking for particular recipe. Sometimes I make the recipes as written, while other times, I tinker with them subbing out some ingredients for healthier options or because of dietary requirements... just to practice. As a side note, I do find it interesting that even the more traditional cooking sites like Canadian Living and Chef Michael are providing recipes using less typical ingredients and even providing wonderful food for those with specialized dietary requirements (gluten free, dairy free, vegan, etcetera). At the end of the day, I do find one common thread within the pages of all that I have been reading and that is to use REAL food, fewer or no "made for you" ingredients, and to enjoy whatever it is you create.  With that said, I would like to share a few of my successes in the year of my hiatus.

Vegetarian Pizza

My vegetarian pizza made with a homemade whole wheat crust, my marinara sauce lovingly topped with diced bell peppers (organic only please), sliced mushrooms and zucchini, kale, sliced tomatoes and a few handfuls of mozzarella cheese. This pizza is perfect for our Friday pizza and a movie family night!

Beet Borcht

My beet borcht by Canadian Living.  A hot and hearty soup for dinner.  Topped with a healthy dollop of organic yogurt for a vegetarian option OR how about some Vegan Sour Cream by Oh She Glows?  Who could not love this soup with it's gorgeous crimson colour and the sweet and tart flavours? 

Macaroni & Cheese

Who would have thought to add butternut squash mac 'n cheese? Canadian Living, that's who! I was inspired by their recipe and decided to give my Mom's classic recipe an update and apply some hidden healthy. I opted to play with my Mom's recipe because it used real cheddar cheese instead of a cheese product. You can blitz the sauce with your immersion or regular blender and you will end up with a gorgeous cheese sauce and not a single sign of a vegetable. Can you see any squash? My family couldn't either. this mac & cheese was cheesy, comforting and creamy... just like my mom's traditional recip! I am still tweaking this recipe and will share it once it is perfected! 

Going forward, I hope to continue with some regular blogging. I miss the creative outlet! So until I come back, please check out some of my favourite foodie sites. Do try some of their recipes, but most importantly, cook for you and your family. Eat REAL food, lovingly prepared by YOU and feel better!

   

 
   

Father's Day Dinner - Salads - Part 2

Of course we can't just have meat for Father's Day! What goes better with ribs than a potato salad and a cabbage and apple salad? The nice thing about both of these salads is they are make ahead. Perfect sides for entertaining because you can make them in advance! The other nice thing about salads is they make it easy to include MORE veggies into our daily meals. As an aside,  some folks might find having 2 "creamy" salads on the same dinner plate is a bit of overkill, but since my goal was to use up things in my fridge and take advantage of what was in season, slightly mis-matched meals happen. If I hadn't had a craving for potato salad, I might have been inclined to cook the baby potatoes and serve them with a little butter and chopped parsley to avoid "creamy dressing monotony". No one complained though, and the plates were empty, so I guess I'm golden!

 

Our local farmer's market has been on the go since May and I have been going every Saturday to take advantage of our local and fresh produce. Randy laughs at how excited I get over a bag of mixed greens... please go easy on the arugula Bea (FYI, for my taste buds, a LITTLE arugula goes a long way)!  Fortunately for me, my favourite vendor, provides us with a heads up on Facebook as to what goodies are going to be at the market on Saturday. This helps a lot with meal planning. I always shop the farmers market first, before going to the grocery store just in case they are out of some of the items I was planning to get. 

For my local Quinte West readers, I strongly urge you to visit Bea and Dan at the market. You can't go wrong with fresh, tasty and CHEMICAL FREE produce! Please visit their web site -->  Natural Themes Farms - Produce  And just in case you are interested, these folks also have a variety of indigenous plantings for your garden --> Natural Themes Farms - Native Plants  ... a well deserved shout because of the eco-holic in me!

 

 

This past Saturday, I was able to procure some beautiful baby potatoes, green onions, carrots, and spinach. The spinach was earmarked for breakfast smoothies and some side salads through the week; the carrots and the rest of the veggies for our Fathers Day feast, (oh, and the carrot tops ended up in a pesto for the carrot soup I made)! The baby potatoes and the green onions definitely rocked our potato salad and the carrots were great along side of the shredded green and purple cabbage (already in my fridge) in my supercharged cabbage and apple salad.

 

The following dressing recipe for the potato salad is actually a salad dressing I have been making as a substitute for the store bought variety which I no longer buy.  Now that I have fine tuned the seasoning, Erika doesn't mind it as much and has finally accepted the fact that Kraft Ranch Dressing will no longer be found in our fridge. My recipe is quite mild in flavour as I was mimicking the store bought version. 

If you would like a more flavourful dressing for your tossed green salads, feel free to increase the quantities to 1/4 tsp for the onion powder and the garlic powder; 3/4 tsp parsley and 3/4 tsp dill (fresh or fresh-frozen). Keep in mind, no matter which seasoning proportions you choose, the flavours will take at least 2-3 hours in the fridge to develop and intensify. I like to make my dressing the day before for best results. 

Since I already had a batch of my Ranch-like dressing in the refrigerator, I used it for dressing the potato salad. The only catch is, I had already used it some of it for salads and then I didn't measure how much was actually left before I poured it into the potato salad... DUH! If I had to GUESS, it was a little more than 1/2 a cup. Given this conundrum, I am providing you with the full recipe for my dressing. If you have any leftovers after dressing your potato salad, I strongly urge you to try it on your favourite mixed green salad! You might just be able to give up store bought Ranch dressing too.

Potato Salad

Serves 4-6

1.5  quarts of baby potatoes, mine were red skinned, purple and white 

3 eggs, hard cooked from happy chickens

4 green onions, whites finely chopped, greens thinly, sliced

3 stalks celery, finely diced

1/2 lime, juiced thoroughly

1/2 tsp salt, a few grinds of pepper

Dressing

(Make ahead 2 hours or the day before is recommended)

1 cup organic yogurt

1/2 cup mayonaise

2 pinches of salt

1/8 tsp onion powder

1/8 tsp garlic powder

1 heaped tsp dried parsley (fresh is you have it)

1/2 tsp dill (I had some fresh stuff in the freezer) If using dried, I would start off with 1/4 tsp or so, and after about an hour, check for flavour. I find dried herbs can be more intense in flavouring than fresh. You can always add more, it's hard to take it out!

Cook the potatoes in lightly salted water, until just tender. The time will depend on the size of your potatoes... but 6-10 minutes should do the trick.

Drain, and cool quickly in an ice bath. Drain again and pour out onto a cookie sheet lined with a tea towel. I like to make sure that there is no extra moisture on the potatoes.

Hard cook the eggs and let cool.

Peel the eggs, place them in a large mixing bowl and then mash with a fork. Make sure the egg white in small bits.

Add the baby potatoes to the eggs. For the small ones, cut them in half; for the ones that are bigger then single bite-size, cut them in quarters. Toss the eggs and potatoes. 

Add the salt, pepper, diced celery and green onions. Toss again to evenly distribute everything.

Add a 1/2 cup of the dressing and the juice of the lime, gently combine. If your salad still looks a little dry, add a few tablespoons more of the dressing and stir. Repeat as required until you get desired consistency... just make sure your salad is not drowning in the dressing, unless you like it that way of course! 

Scrape your salad into a sealed container and let stand in the refrigerator for at least two hours. You will want the dressing and potatoes to be very well acquainted and the salad nice and cold at serving time. 

Now on to my cabbage and apple salad (on steroids)... I assume it's a hit at every potluck I attend because I come home with an empty bowl!

OOPS! I forgot the garnish for the picture.

Cabbage and Apple Salad - Supercharged
Serves 6-8

***For shredding the cabbage, I like to use my knife, but feel free to use your food processor.  I use my box grater with the course shred size for the carrots.***

3 cups red cabbage, shredded
1/3 medium head green cabbage, shredded
3 medium carrots, grated
3 large leaves curly kale, stemmed and sliced chiffonade style (in RIBBONS)
3 tart/sweet apples like McIntosh or Empire, chopped with skins on.
1 cup dried cranberries

Dressing
1 cup organic yogurt
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 tbsp. balsamic vinegar

1-2 tsp maple syrup (optional)
2 pinches salt

Garnish
3/4 cup toasted walnut pieces or
3/4 cup pumpkin seeds or
a combination of both

Combine the shredded green cabbage, carrots, and cranberries together in a large bowl. Put back into a large Ziploc bag or large sealed storage container.  This allows the cranberries to plump up with the moisture from the veggies. Store the shredded red cabbage separately, otherwise it will turn the salad pink.

About an hour before serving time, you can take the cabbage mix and red cabbage out of the fridge and combine together. Add in the chiffonade kale and chopped apple. 

 

This salad is SO pretty

Starting with about half of the dressing, pour into the salad and stir till combined.  Continue adding the dressing until the salad is well coated but not drowning.  Put back into the fridge to stay cold.

At serving time, sprinkle salad with the nuts/seeds for a garnish.  If there are nut and seed allergies, leave them out of the salad, put them on the table and let guests sprinkle there own garnishes themselves.

Yes, it was a super tasty Father's Day dinner. There was no family mutiny, I ended up with leftovers, and it was a nice family dinner. Randy's mom joined us too!

Petit Pan Squash or Zucchini & Potato Latkes

 

The promise of summer comes and goes.  One day we are melting, the next we are making a dash for the warm clothes we finally put into storage.  Yikes!  What is a girl to do? On those warm weather days, I love the lighter foods, but when the mercury plummets for this time of year, I crave warm comfort food, like these sumptuous squash and potato latkes.  Crisp on the outside with a soft and delectable inside. How can you go wrong? In addition to how satisfying these tasty bites are is the fact that they are SO budget friendly and made from basic pantry and freezer items - for me, a match made in heaven... Tasty, affordable AND made from around the house ingredients!

My recipe is my adaption of a Canadian Living recipe for Mini Zucchini & Potato Latkes for appetizers.

 

INGREDIENTS
2 cups grated zucchinis, about 3 or 4 small (I used frozen petit pan squash that was grated and in my freezer from last fall)
1 tsp. salt
Several grinds of black pepper (to taste)
3 medium Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled (about 1 lb)
3 green onions; green parts too, white parts finely diced, and green parts thinly sliced
1 egg from happy chickens, lightly beaten (next time I will try a Flax egg)
3 tbsp. all-purpose flour or oat flour for gluten free
Keep 1/4" vegetable/olive oil combination in pan for frying (add more as required)

INSTRUCTIONS
With a box grater, coarsely grate zucchini. Transfer to fine meshed sieve and sprinkle with 1/4 tsp. of the salt and toss; let stand for 30 minutes. Using tea towel squeeze out liquid.

 

Because I used 2 cups of grated petit pan squash I had in the freezer, I thawed it over night in fine mesh sieve to drain the excess water. Then I put it into the tea towel to squeeze out the moisture.  

 

Transfer to large bowl.

 

Coarsely grate potatoes. Using tea towel, thoroughly squeeze out liquid; add to zucchini.

 

With fork, stir in onion, egg, flour, pepper and remaining salt to combine. (Since I used frozen squash, I added the full amount of salt to the mix.)

 

 

 

In large skillet (I LOVE my cast iron fry pan!), heat enough vegetable oil to cover bottom of pan over medium-high heat.

 

Add a scant 1/4 cup measure of the  potato mixture per latke, leaving at least 1 inch  between each; flatten slightly.

 

Cook latkes, in batches, adding more oil as needed and turning halfway through, until golden and edges are crisp, about 5 minutes.

 

Drain latkes on paper towel-lined racks.

 

To Make-ahead: Remove paper. Let stand for up to 4 hours or cover and refrigerate on rack for up to 24 hours. You can also freeze which will allow you to make ahead longer.  Just remember to thaw before reheating.

 

Reheat on a baking sheet in 400°F oven (375°F for convection), 6 to 8 minutes.

 

 

 

I made these ahead as an experiment.  I froze them in a single layer on a baking sheet and then popped them into a storage container and returned them to the freezer. When I was ready to use them, I set them out on a baking sheet to thaw.  Once they were thawed, I was ready to reheat them.  Leave yourself about 1 to 1 1/2 hours for counter top thawing. 

 

To Reheat:

I preheated the oven to 375° F. While the oven was preheating, I placed my baking sheet in to preheat as well.  Once the oven came to temperature, I let the baking pan continue heating for a few more minutes. I wanted the pan to be super hot. 

 

I, then, quickly took the pan out of the oven, placed the thawed latkes on the baking pan in a single layer. I let the latkes reheat for 4 minute, then carefully turned them, and continued re-heating for another 4 minutes or so. I watched to make sure they didn't start to darken too much.

 

I was very pleased at this reheating method. I would have to say, they were as good as freshly cooked.

 

My favourite way to eat latkes is to serve them with my homemade applesauce and a dollop of sour cream.  Tonight, I used a non-dairy sour cream substitute made from cashews, lemon juice, apple cider vinegar and a pinch of salt. I got my recipe from Oh She Glows, one of my go-to vegan recipe sites.  This stuff is guilt free, has good fat, and is really tasty!  I highly recommend this condiment substitute. You could even flavour it up with herbs, or garlic and a little Dijon and use it as a creamy dressing or when I am eating my occasional "chippies for the hippies", a dip.

Zucchini and Potato Latkes

 

INGREDIENTS
2 cups grated zucchinis, about 3 or 4 small (I used frozen petit pan squash that was grated and in my freezer from last fall)
1 tsp. salt
Several grinds of black pepper (to taste)
3 medium Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled (about 1 lb)
3 green onions; green parts too, white parts finely diced, and green parts thinly sliced
1 egg from happy chickens, lightly beaten (Next time I want to try a Flax Egg!)
3 tbsp. all-purpose flour or oat flour for gluten free
Keep 1/4" vegetable/olive oil combination in pan for frying (add more as required)

INSTRUCTIONS
With a box grater, coarsely grate zucchini. Transfer to colander and sprinkle with 1/4 tsp (1 mL) of the salt and toss; let stand for 30 minutes. Using tea towel squeeze out liquid.

 

Because I used grated petit pan squash that I had in the freezer, I thawed it over night in colander to drain the excess water.  Then I put it into the tea towel to squeeze out the moisture.  

 

Transfer to large bowl.

 

Coarsely grate potatoes. Using tea towel, thoroughly squeeze out liquid; add to zucchini. 

 

With fork, stir in onion, egg, flour pepper and remaining salt to combine. (Since I used frozen squash, I added the full amount of salt to the mix).

 

In large skillet, heat enough vegetable oil to cover bottom of pan over medium-high heat. Add a scant 1/4 cup measure of the  potato mixture per latke, leaving at least 1 inch (2.5 cm) between each; flatten slightly.

 

Cook latkes, in batches, adding more oil as needed and turning halfway through, until golden and edges are crisp, about 5 minutes.

 

Drain latkes on paper towel-lined racks. (Make-ahead: Remove paper. Let stand for up to 4 hours or cover and refrigerate on rack for up to 24 hours or freeze.

 

To Make-ahead: Remove paper. Let stand for up to 4 hours or cover and refrigerate on rack for up to 24 hours. You can also freeze which will allow you to make ahead longer.  Just remember to thaw before reheating.

 

Reheat on a baking sheet in 400°F oven (375°F for convection), 6 to 8 minutes as described above!

 

 

Non-Dairy Sour Cream

by Oh She Glows

 

INGREDIENTS

1 cup raw cashews, soaked at least 4 hours, or overnight

1/2 - 3/4 cup water, add as required
2 tsp fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1/4-1/2 tsp fine grain sea salt, to taste

DIRECTIONS
Place cashews in a bowl and cover with water.  Soak for a minimum of 2 hours preferably over night or 8 hours if you have time.

Drain and rinse the cashews and place in the blender

Add the lemon, vinegar, salt, and about half the water. Blend on HIGH until smooth.  You may need to scrape down the sides. 

Continue adding the water a little at a time until it is thick and smooth.

Transfer to a small container and store in the refrigerator until read to you use.  It will thicken a little more as it sits.

Pancakes For Dinner, Chia Seed Jams, And A New Smoothie

For dinner on "Meatless Monday", we had my daughter's favourite breakfast...pancakes! Ok, I know my goal is to eat fewer meat based meals, but as it turns out, our meatless meal night fell on Monday and I was wanting to make do with pantry and fridge items already on hand!  Not to mention, I really had a craving for pancakes!  I took my "go to" pancake recipe and tinkered with it, yet again.  

It is essentially a half and half white flour and whole wheat flour recipe, with a little wheat germ tossed in for good measure. This time, I cut the white flour back by half and subbed in some quick cooking oats.  I also used almond milk instead of dairy milk. The pancakes were just as tasty, a little more dense than usual, and the batter didn't brown as well as usual.  Recently, I learned that I can make oat flour by whizzing large flake oats in my food processor with the S-blade.  I think I will give this a try next time and substitute the white flour with the oat flour instead. Perhaps this will lighten the texture a bit and allow the pancakes to brown better.  I will let you know. 

To make our pancake supper a little more special (and sneak in a little more nutrition), I made a raw chia seed strawberry jam out of my frozen strawberries and tried the Oh She Glows recipe for a cooked vanilla blueberry Chia seed jam.  Both jams were fabulous!  

Basic Pancakes

 

INGREDIENTS

3/4 cup almond milk

2 tbsp canola oil

1 egg

1/4 cup white flour

1/4 cup quick cooking oats  (next time try oat flour)

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1 tbs wheat germ

2 tsp baking powder

2 tbs sugar (I used organic evaporated cane juice)

1/2 tsp salt

 

DIRECTIONS

Combine all dry ingredients in a bowl and whisk together

In another bowl, combine all wet ingredients together

Preheat cast iron frying pan over medium heat

Stir dry ingredients into wet ingredients until just blended. Do not over mix.

Wipe fry pan with a light layer of cooking oil

Ladle batter into pan, cook until golden brown on the bottom and there are bubbles on the surface of the pancake. Flip and continue cooking until light brown on other side.

Keep warm in a 200°F oven.

Since our dinner was breakfast, I thought it would be fun to make smoothies to drink with our pancakes.  I used some fresh pineapple, a frozen organic banana and then decided to be adventurous and tossed in half a red pepper and 1/4 of a yellow pepper, organic of course.  The peppers were sweet and turned our smoothie into a pretty pinky-orange concoction.  I added just a touch of honey for a little extra sweetness and used a combination of almond milk and water to blend.  I thought it was yummy... The kid, not so much!  The only down side was that the peppers did not blend as smoothly as the pineapple and banana so there were teeny chunks through out the smoothie.  Perhaps, if I get a Vitamix one day, this won't happen?  Anyway, a good experiment and the smoothie was lovely with the pancakes!

It was a real treat to have breakfast for dinner.  We even ended up with 2 extra pancakes for a mid week instant breakfast for Erika!  


TIME SAVING TIP!
If you like making pancakes for weekend breakfasts, I highly recommend that you make a double batch.  Then you can take the extra pancakes and cool them on a baking rack. Once they are cooled, leave them on a cookii sheet in a single layer and freeze.  Once the pancakes are frozen,  put them into a large Rubbermaid container or a freezer bag. This  makes it easy to grab one, two or more pancakes in the morning.  The pancakes can be reheated in the microwave or thawed first and then put into your toaster.  Serve your favourite fruit topping or with maple syrup, Yum!

Easter Feast and Cleaning Up Traditional Recipes

The week following Easter was super busy and even with my best intentions, I could not get my blog posted before we had a little weekend get away. So here it is Monday, 2 weeks after Easter, and I am finally posting some tasty tidbits about the Easter Feast I promised a while back.

We got a lot of mileage out of our Easter dinner... and that is good for my budget!  We had "ditto" one night; the hubby and the kid had turkey while I reheated 2 of my meatless Salisbury steaks to serve with the mashed potatoes, dressing, and all the rest of the feast. YUM!  

 

Speaking of my Salisbury steaks, I had  2 left so I served them as hamburger patties with all the traditional fixings, homemade fries and a side spinach salad.  I a thrilled to have found a veggie based option for the upcoming BBQ season.  I will, however, be trying out a few other veggie burgers, including one from my favourite celebrity chef - Michael Smith.

So, as a promised, I was going to tell you about my Hot Cross Buns.  These buns have been a Good Friday tradition for the past 18 years.  My tried and true recipe is from the Better Homes and Gardens Desserts Collection circa 1967 with a few substitutions, namely butter for the salad oil, and adding some candied mixed fruit and peel to the currents or raisins (depending on what I have on hand).  Given my recent food journey, my tried and true recipe has undergone a few more transformations, and successfully I might add!
 

Traditional HC Buns        Cleaned Up HC Buns

White flour                      1 cup white flour substituted for whole wheat

White sugar                      substituted organic evaporated cane  juice 

Butter                              substituted butter for equal amount coconut oil

Next time, I am going to try a half and half ratio of white flour for whole wheat. If that works out well, the final recipe upgrade will be to try a flax seed egg!

Now on to my Easter Feast!
 

Pan Dressing
My dressing is made up of sautéed diced onion and celery, organic this time. Then a healthy teaspoon of thyme a tablespoon of sage and several grinds of pepper and a teaspoon of salt.  Then sliced dried apricots, Thompson's raisins and dried cranberries are sautéed with the onion/celery mix until everything is fragrant and heated through.  This wonderful mix was tossed with half a loaf whole wheat and a half loaf whole grain bread, cubed, 3 Macintosh apples, cubed and a little olive oil and mayonnaise.  I will have to work on a plant based option, but we will get there!  An oval roasting pan was lightly greased with some olive oil and covered with foil and then tossed into a 375 F oven for 45 minutes.

Cranberry Sauce

This year I substituted honey for the white sugar. Not a vegan option, but certainly a better option to the refined white sugar.  It was lovely.  Next time I am going to try the maple syrup sweetening. 

Sweet Potato Mash

When I first started making sweet potatoes to go with my celebration feasts, I used to gently simmer in a little orange juice or water.  Now I have opted for baking them at 350 F till soft.  When they cool enough to handle, I cut them open and scrape the flesh into a bowl.  Traditionally, I add a little butter, some whipping cream, the zest of an orange, 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg and 1 teaspoon cinnamon.  This year I was going to sub out the butter for a little coconut oil and sub the cream out for some almond milk. This was not do-able because one of my guests has a nut allergy, so I will try these at Thanksgiving!

Jello Fruit Salad
My husband Randy grew up with a Jello fruit salad served with his celebration dinners, raspberry Jello is his favourite. Typically this salad was made with Jello and tinned fruit cocktail.  This year, I cleaned up the traditional recipe by using fresh fruit instead of the tinned stuff with BPA liners.  I chose green grapes, apples, and pears because these fruits are reminiscent to the fruit cocktail I have always used. Next time I want to try my hand at a home made jelly using homemade raspberry juice and agar, assuming I can find it!Then, it will be a totally cleaned up!  Ultimately, my main goal is to have a plant based alternative but to have a "jello" that is free from fake flavours and to cut back on the sugar is a definite PLUS!

Angel Food Cake

I had 11 egg whites left over from some egg yolk intensive recipes from Christmas.  I froze these in my mason jars and waited patiently to find a use for them.  Obviously, if you are egg free, there is not much that can be done to "clean up" Angel Food Cake.  The main thing for me is, that I am stretching my food budget by using up my saved leftovers.  Frozen, then thawed egg whites beat up perfectly for any egg white recipe - meringues, cakes, etc.  I even keep adding egg whites on top of others in the freezer and change my label as I go.  This way, I can save my egg whites till I have enough for the next Angel Food Cake I want to make.  Next time I make an Angel Food Cake, I plan on changing my white granulated sugar to organic evaporated cane juice to see if the results are the same.  I see no reason for there to be any problems!
 

Lemon Curd
This time, I made 2 kinds of lemon curd.  For my traditional one, I used egg yolks (saved the whites in the freezer), lemon juice from organic lemons, regular white sugar, and of course butter.  The result was a smooth and lemony spread. Very good.  Next time, I will see how Earth Balance Vegan Spread works, and organic cane juice, just to clean up the traditional version a little.

I also prepared a vegan lemon curd inspired by a recipe I found at lunchboxbunch with a few modifications and I was pleased with the end results!  I only use almond milk so I used that instead of the soy milk.  I didn't think the vegan curd was going to be as yellow as I would like (with the absence of egg yolks for colour), so I threw in a few pinches of Turmeric.  It was a smashing success!  Also, since I didn't have any Earth Balance Vegan Spread, I used coconut oil.  Finally, after I let the curd cool, I decided it was a little too thick for my personal liking so I heated it back up to whisk in a little water.  When it cooled for the second time, it was the perfect consistency.  All in all, it was a really tasty alternative to the traditional lemon curd, a little more tart perhaps, but a very good replacement.  You couldn't taste the coconut oil either because the bright taste of the lemons shone through.  Next time I make it, I will try making it with the Earth Balance which I think might smooth out the flavour a little, just like butter does in the traditional lemon curd.

For both versions of the curd, I didn't bother straining to remove the lemon zest.  I don't mind it, but if you are looking for a perfectly smooth product, press through a fine mesh strainer.

 

Vegan Lemon Curd On the LEFT; Traditional on the RIGHT

Vegan (Plant Based) Lemon Curd

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup almond milk
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons cold water
• 1/2 cup organic evaporated cane juice 
• 1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 2 tbsp freshly grated lemon zest                                                           
• 1 tbsp cornstarch
• 5 tbsp dairy free spread (I used coconut oil)
• 3 to 6 pinches of turmeric for colour (optional) 

Instructions

• Dissolve the cornstarch in the water
• Put almond milk into saucepan.
• Whisk in the starch/water slurry and turmeric if using.
• Cook on medium for around 2 minutes.
• Add the lemon juice, lemon zest and sugar.
• Stir constantly until the mixture starts to bubble.
• Remove from heat and stir in non-dairy spread.
• Cool in the fridge and enjoy.

Our yummy Easter dessert!

 

 

So as you can see, there are all kinds of baby steps to improving your every day diets.  Even the fancy feasts can still be mouthwatering AND still reflect better food choices.  It just takes a little planning and experimenting.