This recipe section is a tad unorthodox -- these are my own "creations" and unfortunately I tend not to measure. I do everything to taste and there are also variations depending on what I have in my fridge. So these recipes are not intricate and not professionally designed, but they are healthy and I think they are also super yummy! Give them a try and let me know what you think.
Cooking to taste: For those of you who are not familiar with this method, it basically means that, instead of measuring out amounts when cooking, you simply add as much or as little of an ingredient as you like. For ingredients that you are new to, start off by adding a little bit and then slowly add more until the taste suits you. But be careful: often you need to add all the ingredients before it is safe to decide that any one of them needs some more to be added. Don't be afraid to play around and experiment!
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Recipes listed below:
Roasted Sweet Potato Chips
Cooked Fruit
Wheat-Free Pancakes
Super Easy Applesauce
Roasted Rapini with Garlic
Quick Coconut Curry Sauce
Vegetable or Chicken Stock
Soaked-Flour Spelt Pancakes
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Roasted Sweet Potato Chips
These are a great way to add carbohydrates to a meal without using staples like rice, bread or white potatoes (which most people eat too much of). They are also delicious!
Non-stick baking sheet (stay away from Teflon as much as possible. I got a non-stick, non-Teflon baking sheet from Williams-Sonoma and it is fantastic.)
Ingredients:
Sweet potatoes or yams
Salt and pepper
Spices (optional): oregano, basil, curry, garam masala, cumin, fennel seeds.
Set the oven to 400 F.
1..Peel the sweet potatoes (or yams).
2. Using either a chef's knife or a mandolin, thinly slice the sweet potato. All slices should preferably be around the same thickness for optimal roasting (and minimum burning!).
3. Brush the baking sheet with a light coat of olive, coconut or grape seed oil. Or, you could put the slices in a large bowl and toss with a small amount of oil.
4. Arrange the sweet potato slices on the baking sheet. You can slightly overlap them if you want/need to but they tend not to be as roasted and therefore not quite as good.
5. If you brushed the baking sheet with oil, then very lightly brush the tops of the slices as well. If you tossed them in the bowl, no further oil is necessary.
6. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Optional: oregano (my favorite), basil, cumin, garam masala or any other spice you enjoy.
7. Place the baking sheet in the middle rack and bake until the undersides are golden brown and the edges are just starting to become golden brown. They will be more uniform if you use a mandolin and less so if you sliced them by hand. Either way they are all delicious!
8. Transfer to a plate and let cool slightly. If they are not touching each other, some crispness with develop. Enjoy on their own or with ketchup.
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Grilled Fruit
I love this with my breakfast, or sometimes after dinner as a dessert. For breakfast, I cook it right next to an egg on a breakfast skillet and they are usually done at about the same time.
This can be done using almost any fruit but my current favorites are the following:
Peaches Pineapple
Apricots Figs
Ingredients:
Any of the above fruit in any quantity
Cinnamon
1. For the pineapple, cut slices about 1/4 to 1/2 thick. For the rest of the fruit, cut in halve. If using peaches, it is much easier if you buy freestone peaches -- this way when you cut the peach in half, the pit comes right out.
2. Place on a hot skillet, fry pan, grill or barbecue and cook until warmed through and the underside is golden brown.
3. Sprinkle with cinnamon (optional).
Enjoy!
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Wheat-Free Pancakes (with spelt or buckwheat flour)
I found a regular pancake recipe on the internet, cut out a lot of the fat and replaced the white wheat flour with spelt flour and they are delicious!! (Also, see my note on baking with spelt flour.) There is no sweetener in these pancakes, but they do derive some sweetness from the rice milk and the fruit. I like these pancakes the best made with spelt flour; but they can also be made gluten-free with buckwheat flour. Makes 8 pancakes.
1/2 cup light spelt flour
1/2 cup whole spelt flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt (I use Celtic sea salt - the "grey stuff")
1 cup rice or almond milk (Original works fine, but I like vanilla the best.) - if using buckwheat flour you may need slightly more liquid.
2 teaspoons oil - olive, grape seed, coconut (I like olive oil -- many people say they can taste it in baked goods, but I can't.)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Optional: chopped fruit or berries (I like chopped up apple or pear - approximately 1 medium sized apple or pear. I tend to use apple with spelt flour and pear with buckwheat flour. Pear has a somewhat heartier flavour that stands up to the nutty flavour of the buckwheat flour better than apples.)
1. Mix together both spelt flours, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium-sized mixing bowl. In another smaller bowl, mix oil, rice/almond milk and vanilla.
2. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and fold together. Be careful not to overmix. (Overmixing causes those little bubbles you see to get worked out of the batter and it is these little bubbles that makes the pancakes rise.)
3. Once the ingredients are almost combined (but not quite) add in the fruit and continue folding until just combined. As for how much fruit to add -- I throw in as much as I feel like, making sure not to end up with a batter that is all fruit!
4. Heat a fry pan or griddle on medium and brush lightly with oil (I find that silicone brushes work miracles -- it allows you to have much less oil on your pan and achieve the same non-stick result.) With large spoonfuls (these pancakes can be as large or small as you want) of batter in the pan and cook until you see bubbles formed on the top and the edges are longer look wet. Flip over and cook until nicely golden brown -- this second side doesn't take long, perhaps about 30 seconds or so.
Serve and enjoy!! I like to eat them with the applesauce recipe I have below -- it's really easy!
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Super Easy Applesauce
I made applesauce a few times with my mom as a kid and remember it being a long process. Also, many recipes say to strain out the fiber. I say, No way! This is the easiest applesauce ever and it is full of fiber-y goodness and really sweet with nothing added.
Empire apples - as many as you want.
1. Peel the apples and cut into cubes.
2. Put apple cubes into a sauce pot with a little bit of water (1/8 to 1/4 cup at the very most) and cook on low-medium. If the bottom apples seem to be cooking too quickly and carmelizing (turning brown) turn heat down. Once apple pieces have puffed up, stir a few times until mixture looks like applesauce. Depending on how much liquid you added and how thick you like your applesauce, boil down to desired consistency.
Enjoy! I love this on pancakes or sometimes just in a little bowl with a spoon.
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Roasted Rapini with Garlic
Rapini is really great steamed as well, but I hated the mess I always seemed to make and the big pots to clean. So I started doing it this way and am now hooked. Because the garlic gets roasted along with the rapini, it comes out with a fairly mild taste. White balsamic vinegar is milder than red balsamic; if you like the red, you will love the white! Note: The first time you make this recipe, watch the rapini closely so that it doesn't burn. Then the next time you make it, you will know the ideal time for your oven.
NOTE: over the summer, when rapini seemed to be larger, I was roasting for 7-9 minutes at 400F. Now, with the smaller winter rapini that I am finding at the store, I am roasting at 350F for 5 minutes. I am also brushing the cookie sheet with coconut oil and then drizzling olive oil once the rapini is on my plate.
Rapini - washed and thick ends of stems cut off. I usually cut just above the twist tie from the supermarket.
Garlic - 1-2 cloves
White balsamic vinegar (If you like lemon juice, it is a healthier substitution, but balsamic vinegar is my vice!)
Sea salt
Black pepper
Coconut oil
Olive oil
1. Preheat oven to 350F.
There are 2 ways to go about the step; either one is fine. The first one is lower fat.
2. (a) Lightly brush baking sheet with coconut and place rapini on sheet OR
(b) Place rapini on baking sheet and drizzle with coconut oil.
I usually keep my rapini somewhat dense on the sheet, but in a single layer. Usually this works out to about 1/3 of a rapini for a regular-sized baking sheet.
3. Mince or crush garlic and place on top of rapini, spread out.
4. Roast for approximately 5-7 minutes until rapini is bright green and the edges of some of the leaves are a bit crispy. The first few times, make sure to watch since every oven seems to cook at a slightly different rate.
5. Remove from oven and using tongs, place on a plate. Drizzle with olive oil, white balsamic vinegar and sprinkle with sea salt and black pepper to taste.
So delicious!
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Quick Coconut Curry Sauce
This is a really easy sauce to make; it's actually something I just whipped up, but I think it's delicious. So far, I have only put it on broccoli and white fish, but it should also be good on other vegetables and with chicken or lean red meat. Increase the ingredient quantities as needed.
2 tablespoons coconut milk
1 tsp coconut oil
1/4-1/2 green curry paste (I have one from Thai Kitchen) - this is to taste
Pinch of salt
Squeeze of lemon juice (to taste)
Combine all ingredients in a pan over medium heat and thoroughly mix together. Pour over vegetables, fish, chicken or lean red meat.
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Vegetable or Chicken Stock
The variations in quantities are for smaller or larger pots of stock. I try to have all the ingredients approximately equal in terms of volume -- but there are really no hard and fast rules here. As for simmering time, I have seen recipes that call for about 2 hours of simmering time, but the way I learned at home, was just to let it simmer on low all day long. Now I do either one.
Carrots - 2 or 3 large
Celery - 2 to 4 stocks
Parsley - 1 handful to one bunch
Onions - 1 or 2 large yellow or white
Garlic - anywhere from 1 clove to 1 bulb
Bay leaves - 1 to 3
Black peppercorns - anywhere from 6 to 24
Salt - to taste
Optional - herbs such as rosemary or thyme - 1 or 2 sprigs
Leeks - 1 or 2 - can use instead of onions or in addition to
Chicken - a whole carcass, a whole chicken (with meat on), necks and backs, bones from a piece of chicken (eg. breast or leg).
1. Put all ingredients into a medium-sized soup pan or large stock pot and just cover with water. (If your large stock pot is not really full, even once you have added water, you haven't put enough ingredients. Add more chicken and/or vegetables and then cover with water again. If you put significantly more water than to cover, your stock won't have much flavour.) Do not overfill remember this is going to need to come to a boil and you don't want it to overflow.
2. Bring to a boil with the lid on. If you happened to overfill a bit, leave lid off until some of it has boiled down.
3. Once stock has reached a boil, reduce heat so that it is simmering gently. Leave lid on and let simmer for anywhere from 2 hours to 6 hours plus.
4. Once done, you need to let it cool down in order to put in the fridge overnight. If the weather is very cold (zero or below) you can put the pot outside for a few hours or overnight (make sure it's not so cold that it freezes overnight though) or into a sink filled with cold water. Once cooled down, place in fridge overnight. At this point, you could always remove the chicken and vegetables if you want.
5. The next day, skim the fat off the top. The fat will be round, flat, off-white and hard. Then remove the vegetables and chicken. Most people just throw them out. I have on occasion, sliced up the celery and carrots and put them in as a really easy broth. You can also take any chicken bits off the bones and put in for a really easy chicken soup. Preferably, fresh chicken and fresh vegetables should be used; most of the nutrition has come out of vegetables as you boiled them.
6. Put in the freezer in freezer-safe containers.
TC
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Soaked-Flour Spelt Pancakes
1 cup whole spelt flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup of water (you won't use it all)
1 tablespoon of one of the following: lemon juice, lime juice, apple cider vinegar
1 pear or 1 apple or 1 - 1 1/2 cups of berries -- chopped; blueberries, raspberries or blackberries can be left whole
Coconut oil
The day before pancakes are to be eaten:
1. Soak 1 cup of whole spelt flour in a little more than 1/2 cup of water. I first added 1/2 cup of water and then approximately another 1/4 cup of water. I only added enough water to make the consistency similar to a pancake batter consistency. I prefer pancakes that have a muffin-like consistency, so if you like thin, flat pancakes, just add more water.
2. Add 1 tablespoon of lemon (or lime) juice. Apple cider vinegar can be used as well. (You don't taste any of these in the pancakes.)
3. Cover and let sit at room temperature for 12 - 24 hours.
The next day:
1. Carefully add and mix in 1 teaspoon of baking soda. In a conventional pancake recipe, the baking soda is mixed in with the flour so that it gets evenly distributed. When you add the baking soda, try to sprinkle around evenly and have no areas of concentration. Fold through a couple of times (it will mix in better once you add the fruit.)
2. Chop (large or small, to preference) one pear or apple or use about 1 - 1 1/2 cups of berries. Add to mixture and fold until just combined.
3. Heat a skillet or pan on medium heat and brush with coconut oil. If you don't like coconut oil, grapeseed oil is also a good choice.
4. Cook pancakes until golden brown on each side. Usually a couple of minutes on the first side and then 30 seconds to 1 minute on the second side; but I always check the colour.
5. Add whatever you like: fruit sauce, low-fat organic yogurt, coconut oil (spread it on) with a touch of Celtic sea salt or Himalayan salt, Easy Applesauce or my favorite combination: coconut oil with a touch of salt and drizzled with agave syrup.
TC