Baked Squash with Warm Black Bean Quinoa Salad

Here is a delicious (almost) meatless meal that will leave you satiated. I adapted it from this recipe. I used some leftover bacon fat, but to truly be meatless it should be replaced with more coconut oil.

Baked Squash with Warm Black Bean Quinoa Salad

INGREDIENTS
1 medium butternut squash
2 tablespoons coconut oil
2 tablespoons lard (bacon fat after frying bacon so there are tiny bits of bacon in it)
1 small onion, diced
1 clove garlic, diced
1 teaspoon curry powder (Madras Curry)
1 teaspoon red paprika
1 can (about 2 cups) black beans
1 cup quinoa
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon sea salt

DIRECTIONS

1. Cut the squash in half lengthwise. Place it on an ungreased cookie or pizza sheet, cut side down. Bake in the oven at 375oF for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until the skin is slightly brown, and has bubbles.

2. Meanwhile, measure 2 cups of water into a saucepan. Pour in 1 cup of quinoa. Bring to a boil, then turn down to simmer for about 20 minutes.

3. Put coconut oil and bacon fat into a heated frypan. Add the onions, garlic, curry powder, paprika and salt. Simmer for about 15 minutes until the onions are soft. Add a can of black beans (about 2 cups), then add the cooked quinoa. Mix the ingredients and let sit for about 5 or 10 minutes on warm.

4. Pour the black bean/quinoa mixture into a serving bowl. Mix olive oil and vinegar as a dressing, pour over the warm salad and stir in slightly.

5. Remove the squash from the oven when done. Place each half on a plate, cut side up. Place a pat of coconut oil (or butter) into the hollow, then spoon on some of the warm quinoa black bean salad.

Enjoy!

The Blue-est Blueberry Coconut Muffins (Vegan)

My niece is coming over for a visit today!  She's bringing me a painting she made for me and I'm really excited about it. I thought these blueberry muffins might be perfect, since they are eggless, milkless, and butterless.  They do have wheat though, so next time I would substitute with a different flour (I found out after she doesn't eat wheat either).

This blueberry muffin recipe is adapted from a recipe I found here.

The Blue-est Blueberry Coconut Muffins (Vegan) 

INGREDIENTS:
2 cups flour (I used whole wheat)
2 teaspoons Baking Soda
1/4 teaspoon Salt
1/4 cup real maple syrup (can be substituted for sugar or omitted)
1 cup coconut flakes
1 cup orange juice
1/3 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon Apple Cider Vinegar
2 cups Fresh or Frozen Blueberries

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat the oven to 375F. Lightly grease a muffin tin (I used coconut oil). In a medium bowl, combine together flour, baking soda, salt and coconut flakes. When mixed, add in the frozen blueberries.  In a large bowl, combine the maple syrup, orange juice, oil, vanilla extract, and vinegar. Mix well. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, stir until just combined. Don’t over stir. Fill the muffin tins about 2/3rds full.

Bake until a wooden skewer inserted into the center comes out clean, about 22 minutes.  I cooked mine for 25 minutes.

Remove from the oven and let it cool for 5 minutes. After that remove the muffins from the tins and cool on a wire rack.

I'm not vegan, so I served mine with butter and a little bit of orange marmalade.  Delicious!

The Best Melt In Your Mouth Ribs

My mother-in-law makes really good ribs, so tender they fall off the bone, so tasty I thought they were the best ribs I've ever tasted.  Until now.

I decided to try making my own ribs when I found them on sale for a ridiculously low price - almost 1/3 the normal price!  They were pork back ribs, and looked really nice, with lots of meat on them.  Mmmm.

Mom-In-Law takes all day to make her famous family ribs - cleaning them of fat and gristle, cutting them into smaller chunks, then cooking them for hours with a bit of water and barbeque sauce in a big turkey roaster. It's so much work. That's why I've never made them before this.  But... aha...I found this really simple recipe and thought I'd give it a try (Beth's Melt in Your Mouth Barbeque Ribs in the Oven from Food.com).  Like most recipes, I find I have to modify them - not because they aren't perfectly good as is, but because I usually don't have all the ingredients.  For example - I don't have hickory smoke. I don't even know where I would get any; I've never seen it in my grocery store.  So, I scrapped that.  I also scrapped the sugar.  I find extra sugar in recipes too sweet for me.  I also scrapped the paprika, the garlic and the red pepper.

Which means basically that I was using two ingredients - Pork Ribs, and Barbeque Sauce.  That's so simple, even I can do that.

1. Take the ribs out of the plastic package and rinse them under lukewarm water. Okay.
2. Remove the thin membrane on the backs of the ribs.  If you are lucky, you can peel one end - usually the skinnier end, and then grab it tightly and peel it all the way off the entire rib.  Three out of four worked that way for me.  The first one, before I got the hang of it, was an exercise in patience.  
3. I looked at them for a while.  They looked...naked.  Like they needed something added.  So I pulled the Chicken Gourmet Spice shaker out of the pantry and shook it all over them, front and back. On one rib, I used Montreal Steak Spice. You could probably try your own variety of spices. (The Chicken spice was really good.)
4. Place them on two individual sheets of aluminium foil, shiny side out, with the meaty side of the ribs down.  Then wrap them tightly with another top sheet of foil, folding the edges together to form a tight seal.  This is the secret.  Then place them all on large cookie sheets. 
5. The oven is set to 300F or 325F (my oven seems to need an extra 25 degrees), and once in the oven they cook for about 2 to 2 1/2 hours.  The meat should shrink away from the bones.
6. Once they are cooked and tender (test them), then unwrap the foil on the top, turn them over so the meaty side is up, and smear lots of barbeque sauce on them.  I use a Chicken and Rib Barbeque Sauce.
7. Turn the oven on Broil, and broil them for a few minutes on high until the barbeque sauce begins to sizzle onto the ribs.  

These ribs are so SO good, I can't tell my Mom-in-Law about them.  The meat is SO tender, and REALLY does just fall off the bone and melt in your mouth.

Ah....I'm hungry already for more. Plus I ate them all before I took a picture.  Must make more!! :D

The Best Ever Eggless Pancakes

My five year old niece was over for a sleepover at my place on Thursday. She's a bit of a fussy eater - as most children are. She's slept over twice before and both times despite my greatest efforts only ate bananas - for supper and for breakfast.

Opening my fridge, I knew I could cross of red peppers, kale, lettuce. She looks at me: "what about pancakes?".  Only I don't have any eggs.

My other older niece is a vegan. She once made egg less pancakes using flaxseeds. So I knew it was possible. I googled.

Out popped this recipe:

1 cup flour (I used organic stone ground whole wheat)
2 tsp baking powder (I heaped them)
1 TB sugar (I used brown sugar)
1 cup milk (I used organic coconut milk)
1 TB vegetable oil (I used grape seed oil)
1TB water
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp cinnamon
2 TB butter (I added olive oil)

Seriously I had my doubts. There was nothing to stick it together. But it seemed good when I mixed it up. It was a bit frothy so maybe I didn't need to heap the baking powder. I heated a non stick pan and added a tiny bit of oil.

The one side browned up really nicely. I flipped them. It didn't take long. We dished them up with bananas, strawberries and real Canadian Maple Syrup.

They really were delicious. My little niece even asked for seconds. :)

I would definitely make these for company.

Creamy Coconut Carrot Coriander Soup with Curried Apple and Fresh Mint

Oh. I think I outdid myself today. 

Seriously. This soup is so yummy. 

2 cups coconut milk. I used the fresh organic kind that you ddrink, like a soy milk. Mmm.

2 cups water

7 or 8 or 9 carrots sliced

2 apples cored and sliced. Leave the skin on though. 

1 tomato

1 Tbl Red Curry paste

1 tsp cumin seeds freshly ground

1 tsp coriander seeds freshly ground

1 tsp pepper seeds freshly ground

1 tsp sea salt

Bring the coconut, water, carrots and apples to a boil then simmer for about 40 minutes. Add the Red Curry paste and the freshly ground spices. I use a separate coffee grinder to grind the spices. I only use it for Spices, I have another one I only use for coffee. Sprinkle salt on top. Let it simmer for another 10 or so minutes. 

The carrots should be soft. When they are ready get a hand blender and blend up everything into a thick puree. If its too thick add a little more water. 

Spoon into a bowl and top with a fresh mint sprig. Voilà

Yum. Yum. Yummy! 

Rainbow Pizza...anyone?

Fridays are usually pizza night at my house. I love thick cheezy pizzas loaded with toppings that weigh so much you have to carry them with two hands. My favourite is ham and pineapple with green peppers, mushrooms and fresh tomatoes. It is usually take out.

The real dilemma is that I just finished watching Vegucated, a documentary about three meat-lovers who go vegan for six weeks. I don't have anything against vegans. My neice is a vegan. But I love the taste of meat. And ham and pineapple is a perfect pizza combination. But part way through the film they show some clippings of meat rendering plants.

How could 2 short minutes have such a profound impact on me? Well, with tears streaming down my face right there and then I decided I would never eat meat or poultry again.

Now what the heck was I going to do about pizza Friday?

I'm lazy. Have I mentioned that yet? So the thought of me actually leaving the house to get pizza dough was out of the question. But I have a bread maker. Yay!

How to make whole wheat pizza dough in the bread maker. I got this recipe from Sparks Recipes. It's called:

Jenny's Whole Wheat Pizza Dough
2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour (I use stone ground organic)
1 cup water
1 Tbl olive oil
1 Tbl honey
1 tsp yeast
1/2 tsp salt

I also added:
1 tsp italian herbs seasoning

Set bread maker on Dough and go lay on the couch for 45 minutes.

Okay. Get up. Turn on the oven to 375F.

Get the topping ready:
For pizza sauce I used a Sweet Basil pasta sauce.
1 cup canned pineapples sliced thin
2 cups fresh spinach leaves
2 tomatoes sliced

When the dough is ready, sprinkle some cornmeal on a pizza pan. Spread the dough evenly over the pan. Spread the pasta sauce thinly (or thickly) over the crust. Bunch the spinach on top then place the pineapples and tomatoes on top to hold the spinach leaves down. Mine was about two inches tall. :)

Place in the pre-heated oven for about 30 minutes. Cooking time depends on your toppings and amount of sauce so you'll have to judge how long it needs. If you aren't sure you can cut the pizza into slices to check if the dough is cooked. If its not ready just put it back in the oven .

Okay, and now for the real surprise!! Serve with sliced pickled beets. It' s awesome!!! And so colorful. And so tasty you wont even miss the meat. How cool and yummy is that!

Peppery Rotini Cheesed Together with Sauted Spinach and Tomatoes

Some days just scream out for comfort food. Today was one of them. That little groundhog must have been delerious when he said winter was over on February 2nd. It snowed here heavily on Sunday and I got sore arms shoveling the foot of snow off my driveway, my sidewalk, my neighbours sidewalk, and the sidewalk of the people that don't talk to me. Hey every little bit of good karma helps, right? 

Anyway after a week of stress and sad news, I needed some love in the form of melted cheese and pasta. Yup. Carbohydrates to sooth the soul and get those feel good endorphins running. 

This recipe came from Spark Recipes. I don't remember exactly which one though. I usually look at about ten different recipes and then sort of combine them. Leave some things out. Add other things. 

2 cups of rotini pasta

4 cups of fresh spinach

1 red pepper

Coconut oil

Asiago cheese

Chedder cheese

Set oven to 350F

Boil the pasta for about 15 or 20 minutes in enough water to cover them. The pasta should be slightly al dente but more on the cooked side than the al dente side. Meanwhile cut up the red pepper into bite size slices and saute them in the coconut oil. Add in the spinach on top of the red peppers and add a tablespoon of water, then cover. This will lightly steam the spinach. Drain the pasta well. 

Pour out the pasta into a flat oval casserole dish. Grate some chedder cheese on top. Pour the red pepper spinach mixture on top. Grate some more cheese on this. Stir up the layers a bit so its mixed. Grate more cheese on top. Place in the oven and bake for about 30 minutes. 

Top with grated asiago cheese And fresh ground pepper. And enjoy!