Mango and Red Cabbage Coleslaw

Coleslaw, at least the traditional creamy kind with mayonnaise, isn’t my favourite. But throw in some fresh fruit and dress it up with a vinaigrette instead, and I’m in heaven! This particular variety uses mango, green apple, red cabbage, and carrots.

Use as much or as little of the dressing as you like.

Raw
Gluten-free
Serves 6-8
Prep time: ~20 minutes.

Ingredients:

1 large ripe mango.
1 head red cabbage
2 large carrots, peeled if desired.
1 red onion.
2 green apples.
1 large handful fresh mint.
1 large handful fresh coriander.
1 lime, juiced.
1/3 cup lemon juice.
2/3 cup olive oil.
1 tbsp whole grain mustard.
2 tbsp maple syrup.
1 clove garlic.
1 piece fresh ginger, about 2 cm square, peeled.

Cooking Instructions:

To make the dressing, place the ginger, garlic, salt, pepper, lemon juice, mustard, and maple syrup into a food processor/blender/use an immersion blender, and blend until combined.

Slowly stream in the olive oil until nicely emulsified. If you don’t feel like doing that, just do it by hand in a bowl.

Set the dressing aside. Slice the mango and the apple into thin strips. Use either a grater or a mandoline to shred the cabbage, red onion, and carrots. Chop the coriander and mint very finely.

Mix all of the vegetables in a large bowl, and add in the lime juice. Pour in the dressing and toss it all together.

Let sit in the fridge for a little while to let all the flavours mingle together, then serve!

Easy Granola

Breakfast: the most important meal of the day. Unless you, like me, wake up at 4 am for work and can’t really eat anything before 6 am. That bakery life. But I do like a quick bite in the morning before I head out for the day, and a handful of granola makes a good snack later on in the day too!

This is similar to the granola we make at my workplace, but with a few twists to make it to my liking.

This recipe can be gluten-free if you use gluten-free oats. Sidenote: while oats themselves don’t contain gluten, the vast majority of oats are processed in a way that contaminates them with gluten. So don’t feed regular oats to your Celiac friends!

Serves 8
Prep time: ~40 minutes, largely unattended.

Ingredients:

5 1/2 cups rolled oats.
2 cups walnuts, crushed up into bite-sized pieces.
2 cups slivered almonds.
1/2 cup sunflower seeds – the kind without the shell.
1 cup dried fruit (cranberries, dates, raisins – you decide!).
2 tsp ground cardamom.
2 tsp cinnamon.
1 1/2 tsp salt.
1/2 cup brown sugar.
1/4 cup maple syrup.
1/2 cup vegetable oil, to bind it all together.
2 tsp vanilla extract.

Cooking Instructions:

Preheat your oven to 325 F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper (depending on the size of your baking sheet/oven, you might need to do this in two batches).

Mix together all of the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add in the sugar and spices, and mix well. Pour in the wet ingredients, mix it all together, then dump it out onto the baking sheet, spreading it out into a thin layer.

Bake for approx. 3o minutes, stirring every 10 minutes with a spatula, until the granola is nicely browned and mostly dry. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely. Break up any larger chunks, and store in an airtight container. Voila!

Vegan Rice Bowl

Kind of similar to the Quinoa Black Bean Bowl I posted several months ago, this is a relatively easy recipe that can be tailored to your personal tastes!

I’ve included two variations of this style of bowl – one with brown rice, fried tofu, and fresh vegetables, and the other with a brown-and-wild rice medley with roasted sweet potatoes, broccoli, and beans.

This recipe can be gluten-free if you use gluten-free soy sauce and substitute the flour for another gluten-free flour (I’ve used brown rice flour for this, and it works quite well).

Serves 6
Prep time: ~30 minutes for the tofu bowl, ~45 minutes for the sweet potato bowl.

Ingredients:

For the tofu bowl:

200 g extra firm tofu.
2 tsp sesame oil.
1/2 tsp Chinese five-spice.
2 tsp soy sauce.
1 tsp grated ginger.
1/2 – 1 cup flour, for coating the tofu.
pinch of black pepper.
2 cups brown rice, rinsed.
2 large carrots, peeled and grated into thin strips.
2 large beets, peeled and grated into thin strips.
1 bell pepper (red, orange, or yellow), sliced into very thin strips.
6 large handfuls spinach (or other greens – bok choy would work nicely), washed.

For the sweet potato bowl:

4 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 cm cubes.
1 tbsp olive oil.
2 tsp Za’atar (Middle Eastern blend of herbs and sesame seeds), or other herbs.
1 small head of broccoli, cut into florets.
1 small head of cauliflower, cut into florets.
Juice of 1/2 a lemon.
1.5 cups brown rice, rinsed.
1/2 cup wild rice, rinsed.
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed.

For the dressing (goes with both bowls):

1/3 cup soy sauce.
1/3 cup apple cider/balsamic vinegar.
2 tbsp tahini.
2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped.
splash of hot sauce.
pinch of black pepper.
1 cup vegetable oil (olive oil works well).

Cooking Instructions:

For the dressing:

Add the soy, vinegar, tahini, garlic, hot sauce, and vinegar to a blender/food processor. If you have an immersion blender, use the beaker that came with it. Blend the dressing, slowly dribbling in the oil.

Alternatively, mince the garlic very finely, and then just mix it all together in a bowl with a fork. Depends on how much effort you want to expend.

For the tofu bowl:

Cook your brown rice in a rice cooker, or in a pot on the stove according to package directions. Add a splash of oil and a pinch of salt to the water. While it cooks, it’s time to press and marinate your tofu.

This is how I like to press my tofu – place it on a bed of paper towels on a large plate, then place another plate on top. Put something heavy on top of the plate (a couple of cans or a cookbook work well!), and allow it to press on the tofu for at least 10 minutes.

Once you’re done pressing the tofu, cut it into 1 cm cubes. Place the cubes in a bowl along with the sesame oil, soy sauce, five spice, and ginger, and mix well. Set aside to marinate for at least 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, grate your carrots and beets. You want them to be as long as possible, but nice and thin! If you don’t have a grater, you can sliced them into a very fine julienne. Slice your peppers up too.

When the tofu is done marinating, get a large frying pan on high heat, and add enough oil to generously cover to bottom of the pan.

Prep a large shallow bowl with the flour. Add a pinch of black pepper to the flour for seasoning. Roll the tofu in the flour, tapping off the excess, and then add it to the pan. Fry the tofu, flipping it so it cooks evenly on all sides. Once the tofu is browned and crispy all over, remove it from the pan and pat off excess oil on a paper towel. You could also deep-fry the tofu, if you feel like going to the effort of it.

Serve with the brown rice in the bottom, then the spinach, then the sliced vegetables, then the tofu. Add as much or as little dressing as you like!

For the sweet potato bowl:

Mix the rice all together and cook either in a rice cooker, or on the stove. This amount of rice should use about 4 cups of water and take about 45 minutes. Add a splash of oil and a pinch of salt to the water used to cook the rice. Now, time to prep everything else.

Toss your sweet potatoes with some olive oil, salt, pepper, and the Za’atar. Pop them in an oven at 400 F/190 C for approx 30 minutes, until they’re crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.

When the sweet potatoes have about 10 minutes left in the oven, heat a lidded frying pan over medium heat with a splash of oil in the bottom. When the oil is hot, add your broccoli and cauliflower. Cook, covered, for a couple minutes, then add your lemon juice. Stir every so often, keeping the lid on the pan, so that the vegetables steam in the lemon juice. When they become tender, season with salt and pepper, then take them off the heat.

Stir the black beans into the rice mixture, then serve with the rice on the bottom, then the broccoli and cauliflower, and top with the sweet potato. Add as much or as little dressing as you like!

Stuffed Acorn Squash

I love squash. And I love stuffing vegetables with things (stuffed bell peppers and tomatoes are some of my favourites), so this is a great combination for me and all other squash lovers!

Squash have a very long shelf life, and tend to be fairly inexpensive. So if you, like me, are having trouble finding affordable produce because you live in Canada (where nothing grows between October and March), keeping a couple squash around can make planning dinner easier!

I chose acorn squash for this recipe mostly because they’re small and easy to handle, and because a couple of acorn squash can easily feed 4 people. Or 2 very hungry people.

Gluten-free
Serves 4
Prep time: ~60 minutes

Ingredients:

2 small acorn squash, sliced in half and de-seeded.
1 tbsp olive oil.
1 tbsp vegetable oil of your choice (olive oil, butternut squash seed oil, you decide!).
1 large onion, diced.
3 cloves garlic, minced/crushed.
1 cup brown rice, rinsed.
2 cups vegetable stock.
500 g mushrooms, finely sliced.
1 handful walnuts, crushed.
1 handful pecans, crushed.
1 small handful dried fruit (raisins, currants, etc – optional).
1 small handful fresh thyme, chopped (or 1 tsp dried).
1/2 tsp nutmeg.
1/2 tsp cayenne (or to taste).
salt and pepper, to taste.

Cooking Instructions:

Preheat your oven to 375 F/185 C. Line a large baking tray with aluminium foil. See if your squash halves will rest hollow-side-up without falling over. If so, great! If not, slice a little bit off the back side to make sure it won’t topple over later.

Rub the inside of your squash generously with olive oil, salt, and pepper, then place the halves hollow-side-down on your baking sheet. Bake for approx 30-45 minutes, until the squash is nice and tender. This will depend on how big your squash is.

Meanwhile, making the stuffing – start out by heating a large pot on medium heat with a tablespoon or so of oil in the bottom. when the oil is hot, add in your onions, garlic, and mushrooms. Cook until the onions are soft and translucent and the mushrooms are nicely cooked, this should take 5-10 minutes.

Stir in the nuts, dried fruit, thyme, nutmeg, and cayenne. Next, add in the rice and vegetable stock. Simmer until the liquid is all absorbed and the rice is cooked, about 20 minutes.

When the squash is done, remove it from the oven and flip it hollow-side-up. If the cavity is smaller than you’d like, scoop out some of the squash and mix it in with your filling. Spoon your filling into the squash, being careful not to poke holes in the skin. If you do poke a hole, seal it up with a bit of tinfoil.

Cover the squash with tinfoil as best as you can, to keep it from burning, and pop it back into the oven for about 10 minutes. Serve piping hot!

Mulligatawny

An English soup, based off of an old Indian recipe. The name comes from the Tamil words “Milaku”, meaning pepper, and “Tannir”, meaning water.

This soup often has rice in it, but I personally prefer to use red lentils – they add a nice colour to the soup, and they’re chock full of nutrients!

You can puree this soup if desired, but I personally prefer to leave it as is.

Prep time: ~60 minutes
Gluten-free
Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

1/4 cup mild vegetable oil.
1 onion, sliced into thin strips.
1 carrot, thinly sliced.
1 zucchini, diced.
4 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed/minced.
1 thumb-sized piece ginger, peeled and finely diced (or grated).
2 small apples, peeled if desired, cubed.
1 can tomatoes.
2 tsp curry powder.
2 tsp ground cumin.
1 tsp ground coriander.
1 tsp smoked paprika.
1 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp cinnamon.
1/2 tsp nutmeg.
1 tsp crushed red peppers (or to taste).
1/2 cup red lentils (uncooked).
4 cups vegetable stock (you may want more).
1 can coconut milk.
Salt and pepper, to taste.
1 small handful fresh coriander, to garnish.

Cooking Instructions:

Place a large pot on medium heat, and add in the oil. When the oil is hot, add the onions, garlic, zucchini, and carrots. Cook, stirring often, until the onions become soft and translucent. Next, add the ginger and the apples. Stir well, and cook for a few more minutes.

Dump in the tomatoes, along with all of your spices. Stir well, making sure the spices have been mixed throughout evenly. Now add in the lentils and your vegetable stock.

Turn the heat down to medium-low and simmer gently for about 30 minutes. When the lentils are cooked and the vegetables are soft, stir in the coconut milk. Season with salt and pepper, then serve piping hot, with a sprig of fresh coriander on top.