slivers of zucchini in hemp oil & lemon

This simple salad or side is so refreshing and summery. The trick is to use razor thin wisps of fresh zucchini, from their any combination of things would add to how delicious this salad is. In the early days of zuchinni blooms I served this salad with squash blossoms for a delicate and beautiful addition.

Simply assemble the following yummy ingredients:

2 small zucchinis sliced ultra thin using a mandolin

drizzle with the juice of 1/2 lemon + zest

and a good glug of organic hemp oil, or your favourite nut or seed oil

finish with course sea salt + pepper (I used a blend of lavender lemon salt today)

add a sprinkle of hemp seeds, and a gental shaving of a firm cheese like parm or pecarino.

enjoy enjoy enjoy

 

vegan carrot cake delux

hot damn! this cake is dense and divine, dark and date-a-lishous, the fresh ginger in this recipe is perfect. I used the rebar recipe I had posted earlier (see original) but this time I made some great adjustments:

Mix all ingredients together in one large bowl:
3/4 c olive oil

1 c light cane sugar

1 cup coconut milk

2 tsp vanilla

2 tsp cinnamon

1” knob fresh ginger finely grated

t sp fresh grated nutmeg

1 tsp sea salt

1.5 c spelt flour

1 tsp b.soda

1.5 c grated Carrots

2 over ripe bananas mashed

3/4 c grated apple

3/4 c coconut

1/2 c hemp seeds

1/2 cup flax seeds

1/2 c diced dried dates

pour into prepared pan, bake and enjoy.

*This will make a 9″ square cake or 9 little loafs or 12 muffins: 350º for about 28 minutes (for a pan cake)

Today I baked this recipe in a 9×13 sheet and halved the baked cake to add a layer of vegan creamcheese lemon frosting… just to be decadent.

pork and apple spelt “toad in the hole

A british classic, with a twist…

I was thawing a package of lovely locally produced pork sausage, when I was suddenly inspired to drown those “toads” in yorkshire pudding and bake them up into a puffy pan of crunchy caramelized onion and tart apple goodness. I used spelt flour for the yorkie dough, and made a lovely pork and maple glaze to serve by the bucket load along side the ‘pud. Here is the yorkshire pudding recipe (my mom’s), which I always use, in the case I did a single batch of dough.

1 hour before you want to eat, while your dough is setting up warm your oven to 425°

In a large deep pan, fry:

1/2 yellow onion

5 pork sausages

3 cloves of garlic

fresh rosemary spring (about 1 tbsp)

Let everything get nice and golden brown, then remove sausage from the pan and slice into 1 cm thick slices and add them back into the pan to brown both sides (you can skip this step but I love a well browned and crispy piece of sausage). Once you add the sausage back in, grate one tart apple into the pan and fry until the sausage is to your liking. Season with S+P.

Grease a large rectangular roasting pan with vegatable oil or bacon drippings if you keep those, and spoon the sausage mixture into the pan, evenly arranged. Keep the dripping and bits in the pan to make a gravy with!

Now pour your puddin’ batter over the pan and pop the works into the oven for 45 minutes.

Once set remove slice and serve with a glaze or gravy, or mint sauce!

seedy quinoa power salad

The perfect use for left over quinoa! A super seedy omega protein salad. As with rice and beans and lentils, when ever I cook quinoa I always cook enough to make a salad with the next day, even if you just add a scoop to the top of a green salad, it’s a nice addition. Anyway this was just a big fridge clean salad, complete with dressing made while standing in the fridge door.

 

2 cups of cooked quinoa

finely diced veggies:

2 small tomatoes

3 bunches of red kale

1/2 cucumber

2 green onions

1 cup of a small red cabbage shredded

 

Toss veggies with quinoa and add the following seeds:

1/2 cup hemp seeds

1/4 cup flax seeds

1/2 cup sunflower seeds

 

drizzle with equal parts:

hemp or flax oil (walnut oil would be really yummy too)

apple cider vinegar

 

season with:

S+P

lemon zest

 

toss and enjoy, or put it in a mason jar and take it for a hike in the woods to keep you going!

 

almond butter pad thai and citrus spinach salad

I know it has been a long time since my last post because when I went to find a picture for a recipe and found I have 5 images waiting to post! I guess I have some homework to do…. I have been really swamped with gardening, and getting ready for a little one year in the valley celebration this past long weekend, at least I have still been snapping pictures of the tasty bits along the way.

Everything here is getting green and blooming, and the little chards and collards are popping their heads out if the mulch, little purple artisan lettuce’s are lapping up the rainy drizzle and I am waiting for them all to grace out table. Tonight after running to town and rushing around the valley, I came home with two simple ingredients: rice noodles & goat feta from up the river.

I made two quick and delicious light dishes tonight that went beautifully together; an almond butter tofu pad thai with hemp seeds and a citrus spinach salad with feta and cabbage, complete with miso hemp dressing. yum and yum.

This salad is super simple: spinach, one orange, some purple cabbage shaved thin, fresh goat feta, sunflower seeds, and a little shaved carrot all snuggled up in  my new favourite miso hemp dressing.

veggie wedgies

Something magical always happens between the sheets of fillo pastry, and this easy savory recipe is no exception. Hearty greens blended with local cheeses, caramelized onions, hemp seeds and grainy mustard is the perfect combination of flavors and textures for these little ditties. I served these along with a roasted squash soup, and it made for a great crunchy oozy accompaniment, but they would also make a lovely appy.

lemon ricotta and red kale rice gnocchi’s

‘Oh the way the ricotta coats the gnocchi’s in this dish is divine, I would happily eat a monster bowl of that alone with a squirt of lemon juice… but the added crunch and delicate bitter green of the red kale adds just enough vitamins and local greens to make you feel not to bad about eating a second scoop of gnocchi! This meal gets to the table in about 12 minutes!

Rapidly boil rice gnocchi’s in sated water until they float, remove from water and toss in a good glug of a fine extra virgin finishing olive oil seasoned with S+P, add 1 cup of fresh ricotta cheese and the zest from 1 lemon.

Meanwhile, using good olive oil in a deep cast iron pan brown:

1 small diced onion

3 toes of garlic

Add chopped kale from about 6 stocks and begin to wilt them, for about 4 minutes.

Then add the juice from the lemon you zested along with 2 handfuls of spinach, and some S+P. Remove from heat and cover for two minutes.

Bring everything together in a large serving bowl and finish with lemon lavender sea salt, serve and enjoy!

garam roasted pineapple & yam

Mmm my whole house smelled fabulous as these veggies and pineapple chunks roasted away in sweet juice sending wafts of garlic, cumin, cardamon and ginger throughout my home. I think I could happily sustain myself on a diet of grilled pineapple alone…. provided I lived in a climate where it was sustainable to grow my own pineapple that is! Until then it is a guilty pleasure with a heavy carbon footprint indeed. One I indulge in very rarely but do so enjoy, especially with a spicy chilli kicker.

vegan spelt chocolate cashew cookies

 These little cookies remind me of the quintessential home made cookie. A little crisp on the bottom, and flatter than the thick gooey cookies my retail store made, but no lesser of a cookie. The spelt flour I have right now is very white (although unbleached) and it makes for old school feeling treats. This recipe take nothing more than a single bowl a spatula and 15 minutes of your life, the time / pleasure ration is pretty high here.

In a large bowl mix

2 cups spelt flour

2 tsp bp

1 tsp bs

pinch sea salt

1/2 cup organic cane sugar

1/4 cup almonds

1/4 cup cashews

1/4 cup sunflower seeds

1/2 cup dark chocolate chips

In a glass measure potion all of the below

1/2 cup organic vegatable oil

2 tsp vanilla

2/3 cup maple syrup

pour wet over dry and mix portion and bake on parchment in a 350º oven for 12 minutes  & enjoy

iced hibiscus quencher

Nothing Nothing Nothing (shy of a icy cold micro brew) cools you down like a stunning pink refreshing hibiscus iced tea. When you are sweating and filthy from a hard day of garden work like I was today this simple drink restores and refreshes and tastes fabulous. If you have ever been to Mexico you have seen a those huge hot pink coolers full of this tea and if you tried some and fell in love with it as I did while living there, then rediscovering  this jewel will make you smile and bring back the smell sticky mango trees baking in the sun.

I just got my hands on lovely organic dried hibiscus flowers and this is my method of brewing a perfect ‘cupa:

boil 4 cups of water

add 2 tbsp dried hibiscus flowers

1 tsp lemon rind

juice from 1 orange and 1 lemon

1 tsp cinnamon chips (or stick)

Boil for 20 minutes

strain immediately and pour into a a heat proof glass jug.

* at this point you can add some maple syrup or organic cane sugar if you want it sweetened (Apple cider is nice too)

Let cool to room temp then stow it away in the fridge to get icy cold. Garnish with fresh slices of citrus and cinnamon sticks, and enjoy when you are good and dirty and hot!

a royal yorkshire pudding pizza

As a child growing in with a culinary combination of British basics and homespun 1 pot creations, I have to say this dish is my perfect leftover experience!

I had a 8×8 pan of leftover Yorkshire pudding… do you find this a shocking as I do? Really in my house and my mom’s house and my grandmothers house… we fork fight for every last piece of pudding, every time we gather for Sunday dinners. I was wise this time and doubled my moms recipe and baked off 2 pans full… Also the yorkies were late to the dinner table so our family and guests loaded up on the rest of the good old Sunday dinner spread.

All said and done I slipped the untouched sheet of crispy yorkie pud into the fridge only to be garbed today in caramelized onions, lemon wilted spinach and our friends  home made goat feta. Mmm, I don’t think I need to explain that the forks came out with vengeance again over the last piece!

My mom’s yorkie recipe can be used for lovely thin crepes on which we slather lemon curd or just lemon juice and sugar. To make crepes with this, omit the last addition of water and brown on a well oiled pan, both sides

Mom’s pudding recipe

In a large bowl wisk together

2 eggs

2 cups milk

2 cups white flour ( I use spelt)

pinch salt

cover with a clean tea towel and let sit at room temp for much of the day… not sure if this is essential or not, but my mom always did this and so do I.

Right before cooking and 1/2 cup water.

Pour batter into oiled:

cupcake containers for pop over type of puds bake 18-20 minutes at 375º

or into a large baking pan for a cake style pudding bake 45 minutes at 375º

or you can use my moms method and if you are serving pudding with a roast beast cook your roast in the centre of a  large deep pan, once your happy cow is 40 minutes from complete, pour the batter around the roast, your pan should be greasy and your pudding will have lovely drippings and crunchy bits.

Now in the rare event you have leftover yorkies: try this out: dress the pudding with a drizzle of good olive oil, S+P, 1/2 caramelized onion, 2 handfuls of spinach wilted quickly in a hot pan with lemon juice, top with goat feta and finish with some chili flakes. Warm the pud in a 300º oven for 20 minutes, then broil for about 5 minutes. Get your forks ready and may the fastest fork tidy up the last of the dish!

killer vegan black bean soup

This soup was super delicious, hearty and tasted meaty and fabulous.

soak overnight+ 2 cups of black beans

In a large deep dish pot brown in olive oil:

1 yellow onion

4 celery stocks

1 jalepeno

4 toes of garlic

Once brown add:

1 L veggie stock

1 L hot water and simmer black beans in broth for 35 minutes

Season soup with

1 Tbsp tequila sunrise

1 Tbsp chipotle chili

1 Tbsp cayanne

2 Tbsp cumin

S+P

the juice and zest from 1 lemon

1 Tbsp red curry paste

1 Tbsp miso

splash of braggs

Once your beans are fork tender zip up 2/3 of the soup with an immersion blender (you want to leave some beans whole for texture).

Now Add:

1 cup corn kernels

1/2 cup of coconut powder (or 1 can of coconut milk)

and continue to simmer for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile cube 1/2 package of herbed tofu and brown it off quickly in olive oil seasoned with S+P.

To finish your soup add the fried tofu and garnish with fresh chives.

cream-cheese spelt puff pastry

This is the third batch of flakey divine puff pastry I have made in as many days. Testing some various adaptations I  have stuffed said pastry with all sorts of lovely fillings: The first batch was filled to make little pork pot pie pockets. After enjoying and sharing these smoky savoury pies I wanted to play with Chamela Giri’s summer chai spice so I created these cinnamon chai hemp  twists. This is a lot of pastry dough to have made in a week but the method and recipe below makes a lovely and simple flakey silky stretchy dough that is really a treat to work with. I used white spelt flour in all versions and the recipe is part butter part creamcheese. Which amounts to a pretty fail proof pie dough. I know the idea of pie dough can be daunting! trust me i know! I have spent the better part of my professional baking career avoiding pie crust, sticking to tarts and loafs. This recipe however has strengthened my pie crust confidence, and certainly I will keep coming back to this adaption.

In a food processor pulse together:

1 1/2 cups organic white spelt flour

1 pinch sea salt

1 tsp organic cane sugar

now add and pulse 10 times

4 oz cold butter cubed into small 1″ pieces

*your mixture should look crumbly

now add and pulse 30 times

8 oz cold cream cheese cubed into small 1″ pieces

*your mixture should now be shaggy

Turn mix out onto spelt floured surface, and gently kneed the dough together about 5 times. form into a large round form and cool for 30 minutes in a (repurposed) plastic bag.

Roll your dough out onto a spelt floured surface and begin to work with a rolling pin into a large silky sheet.

From here you can get incredibly creative.. make pockets, bake a pie or try these darling little twists, just be sure to wash your pastry seams and tops with a simple egg and milk wash, and seal any seams with neat fork tines.

To make the chai spice hemp twist

Mix together in a small bowl 4 tbsp butter, 4 tbsp dark cane sugar, 2 Tbsp summer chai spice blend, 2 tbsp cinnamon, pinch of sea salt. fork together into a crumbly mixture. Do this in a glass or metal bowl, which you can soften in the oven while you are warming it to 350º

Roll your dough to about 1/4″ thick and spread chai mixture over the top of the dough. Cut into long rectangles 1/2″ wide by about 5″ long. twist them  a few times and set on baking sheet, wash with egg and bake for 15 minutes.

ENJOY!