From the cookbook, “otsu means something strange, quaint, stylish, chic, spicy, witty, tasty, or romantic.” This is a simple, flavourful dish with many possibilities. The ginger-sesame dressing would go well noodles, veggies, salads and would also be good as a marinade for meat. In this recipe it is mixed with soba noodles, braised tofu, green onions and cilantro. The recipe also calls for cucumber, but mine was mushy and gross so I used celery instead. I also included some fresh chard from our garden and used toasted flax seeds instead of sesame seeds as a finishing garnish. Yum! This recipe was quick and easy and I can see going back to it over and over.
I feel like my diet has been lacking in vegetables lately. With that in mind I returned to Super Natural Cooking knowing that I’d find something that would satisfy my craving for healthy, wholesome food. I was actually looking up the Muhammara-Slathered Kabobs recipe to make for some friends later this week when I saw this stir-fry recipe.
The recipe involves a bit of prep work and it suggests you get it all done before you start cooking. Once the ingredients are ready the dish is really quick to make.
Everything comes together really easily, smells delicious and provides plenty of fresh, wholesome ingredients… tofu, cashews, garlic, ginger, chiles, asparagus, spinach, fresh mint and basil. I served the stir-fry with quinoa and it was really good. Definitely another do-again!
I love recipes like this! Take a list of base ingredients, plus what you need to stick them all together, and then play around with the flavours. Ok, so that’s not exactly what it says in the recipe, but that’s essentially what you can do… similar to the granola recipe.
Here, oats, toasted walnuts, oat bran (I didn’t have any so used sunflower and pumpkin seeds), and brown rice cereal make up the base. For flavour the recipe calls for cranberries and crystallized ginger, but I’m not a fan of crystallized ginger so I added some raisins instead. All of these ingredients are held together by a mix of brown rice syrup and sugar mixed with vanilla and some salt. Easy! Took me about 10 minutes to make. The bars are pretty sticky, but they are very tasty and would definitely settle a grumbling stomach. Will definitely do again… maybe with apricots and almonds? I nearly threw in some chocolate chips this time around, but decided to save that for another go – maybe along with some banana chips? Lots of options!
Here is a delicious, flavourful and warming soup. We enjoyed it for dinner last night and I’m looking forward to the lunch leftovers today. You can’t go wrong with coconut milk paired with a squeeze of lime and the sweet potato croutons and wild rice make this a hearty, healthy soup.
The wild rice is simmered with onion, shallot and red curry paste (I’ll use more curry paste next time) and for the first time I finally cooked the wild rice long enough so that it wasn’t a jaw workout to eat. Heidi advises to cook the rice for 40 minutes or “until the rice starts to soften, split and show its fluffy insides.” That was a great tip since even after 40 minutes it felt a bit tough to me and finally started to split after around 55 minutes.
While the rice is simmering I made the sweet potato croutons. They turned out well, but I wasn’t too thrilled with pan frying the 1/4″ chopped pieces until crispy. Next time I might try baking them and tossing every 10 minutes or so. Simple and delicious ingredients though: chopped sweet potato, coconut oil and salt.
Once the rice is done a few more flavourings are added (mmm turmeric) as well as a can of coconut milk. Lime juice is squeezed in and the soup is served, topped with the croutons. Delicious!
There’s been a bag of shelled edamame in my freezer for what feels like forever and getting back into making recipes for this blog seemed like a good opportunity to use it. The ingredients in this salad are pretty high on the list of “power foods” – edamame, soybeans, hijiki (a sea vegetable), miso, unpasteurized honey and spinach – lots of antioxidants, minerals and other essential nutrients.
I had a bag of dulse in the cupboard and so I used that instead of the hijiki, and next time I would increase the amount. The salad came together easily and the dressing too. I will definitely make the creamy miso dressing again for other salads.
I really like recipes that call for “handfuls” of greens since I tend to always try to sneak in more veggies than specifically called for. I used a whole clamshell of baby spinach and could still have gotten away with more. The recipe makes plenty of dressing so no need to skimp on any of the salad components. I’d never bought daikon before and standing in front of the bin full of various sizes in the grocery store looking for the 1/2 daikon that the recipe calls for was a bit tricky, but here, to a certain degree, size doesn’t matter. The daikon and a carrot are shredded and then sliced into matchsticks (a step I skipped) so add as much as you like.
All in all, a pretty tasty and healthy recipe. Definitely a do-again!
This coleslaw comes together super quick with an easy vinaigrette made of apple cider vinegar, lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper. The coleslaw itself has cabbage (of course), toasted walnuts, thinly sliced apple and lemon juice. It’s got just enough sweet and just enough sour, balanced nicely by the earthy walnuts. Apple cider vinegar is great for getting your digestive juices flowing and so makes a great starter dish. Walnuts are a great source of omega-3 fatty acids which are essential for the body and act as potent anti-inflammatories. Good enough reason for a second helping!
Here is a recipe I’ve made a few times and might try again sometime soon on the barbecue. I think it’s a great idea, an easy way to cut down on refined white flour and increase your whole grain intake and excellent for those of you that find the whole bun part of hamburgers a little overwhelming (I know you exist!!).
In this recipe, the burger bun is made of sprouted or canned (I used a bit of both) garbanzo beans, sprouts, cilantro, lemon zest and the usual eggs, bread crumbs, salt, pepper, etc. The mixture is shaped into patties and fried in a pan. Once browned, the patty is sliced in half and filled with whatever delicious fillings you can think of. I found sprouts, avocado, tomato, thinly sliced red onion and some dijon to do the trick. For my barbecue version, I’m imagining roasted red peppers, hummus, fresh chard and goat cheese. Easy and delicious! The burgers in the photo are served with Crunchy Slaw Salad.
I’m sitting in 30+ degree heat in my little apartment, fighting with my cat for the prime seat in front of the fan. Ok so I realize 30 degrees probably isn’t so hot for a lot of people, but in Vancouver, it’s hot. I’m dreaming of cooler weather and that has brought me back to some recipes I made back in the spring, but neglected to blog about.
The Spring Minestrone soup recipe was nice and fresh with in season greens. I’m not going to think much about the whole “hot soup” part right now, since soup is one of the last things I’d consider having, but needless to say, it was welcome all those months ago.
The recipe was easy to follow and felt very wholesome to eat – brown rice, lightly steamed bright green asparagus, snow peas and shelled peas with just enough added flavour from some garlic and shallots. Nice and simple, filling and delicious.
I definitely enjoy Chinese food, but when trying to cut down on bad fats, eat more veggies and generally improve the quality of my diet, I typically don’t turn to the stand-by Chinese take-out. I was interested to try this recipe to see how the millet stood in for the rice as well as whether or not this could enter the rotation of our easy to make weeknight meals.
The recipe was simple enough and uses ingredients that you’re likely to have on hand. I found it really helped to have everything chopped, sliced and shredded ahead of time since it all comes together pretty quickly in the end, and even says so in the recipe (thanks for the heads up!). Again, it was easy to increase the amount of vegetables and would bump it up even more next time. I might also add some bok choy, spinach or other greens like that for more of a veggie kick.
The dish was ok. The egg was good, but didn’t stand out quite as much I would have liked. I do like that this recipe includes a lot of protein, with the egg and also tofu and I might even use more than the 2 eggs it calls for next time. And as with all of Heidi’s recipes, I liked using the millet for a new and alternative twist on the standard fried rice. The green onion, garlic, ginger and shoyu sauce is a pretty delicious, no-fail combo and maybe next time I’d bump up the quantity of these ingredients for more of a flavour punch. All in all it was good, but definitely could be improved with some tweaking.
I’ve made granola before using a few different recipes so I was interested to see how this one turned out. Granola is pretty flexible; mix together oats, nuts, seeds, dried fruit, sweetener and some kind of oil and bake until browned. This recipe was no different aside from varying the quantities of a few ingredients. It also called for orange zest which I omitted since I’m picky with citrus flavour and don’t feel like it belongs in granola.
I like the ingredients used in this recipe (coconut, honey, coconut oil) and I think next time I’ll try for more of a tropical variation as suggested in the recipe by using macadamia nuts and tropical dried fruit. I used walnuts, dried apricots and raisins in the batch I made and it was delicious. Why spend the big bucks on “deluxe” granola at the store when it’s so easy to make and customize your own?
I’ve eaten this with almond milk, sprinkled on top of a sliced banana and with yogurt, and by the handful. Such a versatile breakfast and snack food!
Super Natural Cooking