beautiful day for a bike ride to bulk barn

got some fun health/bulk food stuff and then i made muffins! :)


dairy-free hemp granola cranberry date muffins:

1 cup 'hemp seed granola' (found this at bulk barn, its essentially just oats, sunflower seeds, hemp seeds, flax seeds, pumpkin seeds)
3/4 cup oats
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 ripe bananas, mashed
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup chopped pitted dates
3 tbsp honey
3/4 cup soy milk
2 tbsp natural peanut butter
6 frozen or not strawberries, halved and stem removed. (or 12 full ones whatever)

preheat oven to 350
mix together granola, oats flour, baking powder, and cinnamon.
mash bananas and add to bowl. add cranberries and dates and mix into oat mixture.
mix together honey, soy milk and peanut butter. add to mix until well stirred.
spoon into a lightly greased 12-muffin dish. top with a strawberry.
bake in preheated oven for 20mins ish.



i also made really good sweet-potato pizza:



curried sweet potato pizza:

Ingredients:
2-3 sweet potatoes, sliced into 1/2 inch rounds
1 tablespoon curry powder
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
1 large onion (sliced)
1 tablespoon curry powder
1 pizza dough
4-5 cloves garlic (chopped)
2 cups mozzarella (grated)
2 tomatoes, seeds removed and chopped
1 handful cilantro (chopped)

toss the sweet potatoes in curry powder and olive oil. bake in 400F oven for 30 minutes until tender.
meanwhile, melt butter in a pan. add the onion and cook on low until caramelized, about 30mins. add the curry powder and stir until fragrant.
prepare pizza dough on a greased pan. sprinkle with chopped garlic. spread the onions over the dough evenly. top dough with sweet potatoes, tomato slices, and cheese.
bake in 400F oven until dough is cooked, about 20mins. top with cilantro.

burritos

2 cups dried kidney beans, soaked overnight
1 onion
4-5 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp cumin
1 1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp chili flakes
1-2 cups jasmine rice
juice of 1/2 lime
tortillas or pita breads
cheese, grated
baby spinach/mixed greens
handful of cilantro
plain yogurt or sour cream

boil beans, garlic and onions until the beans are tender. mash in a bowl.
mix in cumin, chili powder, paprika, chili flakes.
meanwhile, put the rice in the rice cooker.
heat up 2 tbsp olive oil and fry beans. add some water if it's too thick.
warm up tortillas or pitas. mix together beans and rice. add lime juice.
spread bean mixture onto pitas. top with cheese, spinach, cilantro, yogurt.

why did the chick pea cross the road

i had lots of tomatoes so i made my favourite chick pea curry for dinner.


2 ½ tbsp olive oil
5 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
2-3 bay leaves
2 green chillies or chili flakes
1 teaspoon curry powder
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon gram masala
1 ½ onion, finely chopped
2 carrots, finely chopped
3-5 tomatoes, diced
1/4 cup chicken broth/stock
1 can chickpeas or 1 cup dried chickpeas, soaked overnight and drained.
Lemon juice
1-2 avocados
lime juice
naan or pita bread
rice

Boil chick peas for 15-20 mins until tender. drain

Heat olive oil in a pan. Add garlic, whole chilies, spices, and bay leaves and simmer on medium-low heat for 3 minutes stirring frequently.

Add onions and carrots and fry for 5mins on medium heat. Then stir in tomatoes and chicken broth. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes.
Stir in chick peas. Simmer for 5 mins until sauce starts to thicken slightly. Add lemon juice to taste.

Meanwhile, mash together avocado and lime juice in a bowl.
Serve chick pea mixture over rice and avocado mixture on the bread.



i also made blueberry spice muffins:

1 3/4 cups oats
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
pinch salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2-3 ripe bananas, mashed
1 cup frozen/fresh blueberries
3 tablespoons honey
3/4 cup soy milk
2-3 tablespoons natural peanut butter
handful of frozen/fresh raspberries/blackberries/strawberries

mix together oats, flour, salt, baking powder and cinnamon.
mash banana. mix banana and blueberries into dry ingredients.
in a seperate bowl, mix soy milk and honey and peanut butter. stir into fruit mixture.
scoop into muffin cups and top each with a raspberry/whatever.
cook preheated 350 degrees F for 20mins

the recipe i had also called for an egg and 3 tbsp of melted margerine. but i omitted them to make it healthier and they tasted fine. add more honey or a sprinkle of brown sugar to make sweeter.

dijon lentil and spicy salami casserole

my roommate stephanie bought this really awesome casserole magazine. every page looks delicious, and they have a section for healthy casseroles. i've made it twice and changed the recipe slightly but it was delicious both times!
apologies for the bad quality photos, i had to use my webcam because i am currently camera-less.

1 1/2 cups water
1 cup fresh green beans or frozen peas
2 or 3 carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch slices
1 large onion, chopped
1 cup of spicy salami, chopped or sliced thinly
1 1/4 cups dried red lentils, rinsed and drained
1/3 cup reduced sodium chicken broth or dry white wine or water
3 tablespoons hot dijon mustard
1 teaspoon dried thyme or cumin
1 teaspoon dried parsley
5 cloves of garlic, minced
1 1/2 cups bread crumbs
1 table spoon olive oil
lemon juice

prehead oven to 400F. boil water in a pot and add beans, onions and carrots. return to boiling and reduce heat and simmer for 8-10mins. remove from heat and add lentils and salami. in a bowl, combine broth/wine, mustard, thyme/cumin, parsley and 4 cloves of the garlic. stir into salami mixture.
transfer everything into an ungreased 2QT casserale dish. bake, covered for 25-30mins until lentils are tender. meanwhile, toss together breadcrumbs and oil. sprinkle over sausage mixture and bake uncovered about 10mins until crumbs are browned.
before serving, top with last clove of garlic and a few squirts of lemon juice. delicious!

(the version i made tonight had no beans/peas because i didn't have any. :( sad. )

avocados!

sorry for lack of updates, busy schedules and lack of cameras are the ones to blame.



i have recently been starting off my day with something i like to call a 'kermit the frog smoothie'. also known as shrek smoothie for a younger audience. it is surprisingly tasty and really great for energy!

kermit the frog smoothie: makes 2 smoothies

flesh of 2 avocados
1 ripe banana
2 scoops of vanilla yogurt (optional for vegans)
1 cup ish of soy milk (adjust to preferred consistency)
3 or 4 ice cubes
squirt of lime juice (also optional)

mix all the ingredients together in a blender. the lime juice isn't essential it's yummy without but it just gives an extra bit of flavour to make this smoothie dynamite.

serve with oatmeal. trust me on this one: instead of putting milk and sugar in your oatmeal, put a few scoops of this in. it's superbreakfast!
and as promised, it turns the precise shade of green as this fella: