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Sweet Potato Veggie Burgers

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I love a good veggie burger. I am constantly tweaking recipes or creating new ones depending on what we have on hand or needs to be used.  This recipe is a great base that you can add your favorite spices too or top with your favorite toppings. Freedom to create your own masterpiece of a burger!   We have a surplus of sweet potatoes on hand so this week we are making Sweet Potato Veggie Burgers!  It's different every time.  With the summer weather and we have burger fever! Serve your Sweet Potato Veggie Burger on your favorite kind of bun, over a large leaf lettuce, slice it up into a wrap or under a fried egg. Make as part of your Sunday Meal Prep and have as part of your week day salad lunch or stash a few in the freezer for a quick dinner option.                           … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Meatless mains, Plant-based, Seasonal Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Kale Stem Pesto (vegan)

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Given the amount of kale we consume on a weekly basis in salads, smoothies or chips, we throw out a lot of kale stems!  Historically, I would toss most straight in the trash but I was inspired by recipe I saw on Rachel Ray to put these kale stems to use in a pesto!  My version below, is dairy-free or vegan given our allergies in our house but one could easily add in a little grated parmesan. I now store the kale stems in a resealable bag on my freezer door until it's full then use them to whip up a quick pesto to throw on a pasta salad, spread on a sandwich, serve as a pasta main dish or to mix into roasted or steamed vegetables.  Pesto is a wonderful and easy thing to freeze in ice cube trays and have on the ready for quick meals or to stir into stir-fry or stews as added seasoning. … [Read more...]

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Nutritionally Nice Nutella

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Every Christmas my Mum would buy a box of Ferraro Rocher chocolates for an evening treat.  Us kids would anticipate the moment when she would reach up on to the high shelf in our kitchen cupboard and bring down the hazelnut delights.  Savoring every bite I would eat mine off in layers, eating the outer chocolate-nut coating, gently nibbling the wafer-like interior to get to the rich hazelnut cream that has my mouth watering now!  Ohh did I love that interior gooeyness!!  I wished for just a spoonful of just that alone! Little did I know that Nutella was essentially just that! Nutella is undoubtedly the best tasting and marketed hazelnut spread on the market.  Traditionally Italians spread this on bread or toast for breakfast but these days people make ice cream, cakes, cookies, serve it on crepes, sandwiches, you name it.  My husband discovered Nutella while we honeymooned in Italy having it every morning with his cappuccinos.   While delicious, Nutella is dessert-like, high in … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Breakfast, Desserts, Holidays, Plant-based Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Basic Vinaigrette Salad Dressing

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Before we had kids we used to make our vinaigrettes or dressings on the fly or if we were in a rush or being lazy we would just throw a little vinegar over our greens and be done. But since having kids I’ve embraced the idea of planning ahead and making more things in bulk for quick meal to put together meals. This one thing alone I swear helps keep my evening meals less chaotic and stressful. Even when I think I have tons of time something comes up or Mama’s attention is needed. So am babbling here I know! I now try to make a kid friendly and sometimes separate, adult friendly dressing I can throw on salads over roasted veg or dip bread into. Below is my basic vinaigrette, which I sweeten with maple syrup or honey to make more palatable for the girls. I like to change up the oils I use. Sometimes I mix a few tablespoons of olive oil with flaxseed oil or hemp oil or at the moment I am loving Udi's Oil DHA 3-6-9 Blend which is an award winning, plant-based (vegan) non-GMO omega … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Basics, Salads Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Pumpkin Delights

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It February already! Wow! I’m both shocked and excited because once we get through February we are over the hump for winter and spring is around the corner.   Despite it being February and we are officially past pumpkin season I noticed in our storage room how many cans of pumpkin we still have. May have over stocked this year but as you have seen from past blogs…we LOVE PUMPKIN!! The recipe below for Pumpkin Delights (had to come up with a name for these on the fly to boost excitement in my sleepy my girlies!!) came about from a kitchen scramble after realizing what little was left in the house for breakfast. Someone needs to hit the grocery store!! I was short on my gluten-free flour mix but we had a big old container of oats!   Given how many times we have had oats these past few weeks, knew I had to come up with something different and so these Pumpkin Delights were born. I was super excited and delighted (hence the name) to see how well these Pumpkin Delights turned out. … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Breakfast, Plant-based, Snacks Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Warm French Lentils

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Years ago, I made a Warm French Lentils dish on a whim when we had my former boss and his wife over for dinner. We served it along with freshly caught scallops, some greens and a good bottle of wine. The scallops were supposed to be the star of the meal but these lentils literally stole the show. While cooking, they made our house smell so amazing the guests asked if we could skip appetizers and go straight to dinner!   Their our mouths were watering! I have since tweaked the recipe a little, to use turkey bacon instead (which the girls preferred and is easy to get nitrate free!). The recipe below for French Lentils has become a regular on our rotation and a meal the girls request often.  So popular it was even requested as their birthday dinner meal and as a Christmas eve dinner. There are many lentils out there but the best lentils to use for this is are Puy.  Puy lentils are very small and dark in color and are from an area of France called Le Puy in the Auvergne (hence … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Main dishes, Meatless mains, Plant-based, Sides Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Crunchy Millet Granola

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School is back in session this week and I've got our morning meals ready to go with a new yummy homemade granola! Love having something quick and easy to serve the kiddos in the morning that will fuel their growing bodies and expanding minds.  Cereal used to be my go-to but I have a love/hate relationship with cereal as a mom. I love that it provides a quick, objection-less meal for kids in the morning but I don’t love the sugar content and nutritionally low quality of the ingredients that you find in your typical cereal. Despite its limiting qualities, I do have to say that I really LOVE cereal.  I’m an honest recovering cereal addict. I could eat a bowl (or two) for three meals a day, every day and be sooo happy! I just LOVE the stuff!! This is where knowledge gets in the way, but knowing what I do about nutrition and what growing young bodies need, I had to cut off our family’s relationship with packaged cereal for breakfast. For years cereal was not only a meal, but also a … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Breakfast, Snacks Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Chicken Rice Soup

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This Chicken Rice Soup is probably one of the easiest homemade recipes.  You drop the items in a big soup pot and literally step away while it cooks.  This is a great recipe to make ahead of time for a quick and easy meal when you have no time to spare.  Using homemade Chicken Broth makes the chicken rice soup incredibly medicinal, healing and just what the doctor ordered if you are feeling under the weather.  Of course using boxed chicken broth or stock cubes is also great and makes this soup even faster to whip up! This version of chicken rice soup is a basic one but one that you can add to or modified depending on what you have on hand and your tastes. For a fun variation, try swapping the rice with your favorite pasta or quinoa for a little extra protein. To make this soup vegetarian, replace the chicken broth with vegetable broth and the chicken with some chickpeas or black beans.  Try adding in some extras to spice things up (a little red pepper flakes), top it with some … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Main dishes, Soups Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Chicken Broth

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One of the easiest staples to have on your back burner….literally! Homemade chicken broth is one of the easiest things to throw together, takes no skill or fancy kitchen equipment, just a little bit of your time to reap the benefits. Vegetable or chicken broths are great to have on hand to cook beans or grains, throw into sauces, stews or to turn into the base of a soup. The longer cooking time will give you a rich medicinal broth that is perfect as a base for a meal or to simply sip on throughout the day. ONCE YOU LEARN HOW TO MAKE THIS CHICKEN BROTH YOU WILL BE HOOKED! So save those chicken bones and unused vegetables that you were thinking of tossing. Instead throw them into a big pot with some water and a few spices. The chicken broth recipe below is a robust one that will pack in the nutrients, like medicine in a pot. No need to peel things, just chop them up to fit in the pot.  If I don't have all the ingredients listed (or the time to chop) I use a simpler version to make … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Basics, Main dishes, Soups Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Vegetable Curry in a Hurry

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There is nothing like a hot bowl of vegetable curry !  Having parents who grew up in London, meant curries were a regular in our meal rotation when I was a kid. Indian also became a favorite of my dearest Maman, who was French to the bone, but having lived in England for most of her life, learned to love a good curry. When I was growing up, curries were usually reserved for a weekend meal when Dad would hit the nearby Indian spice shop to stock up on the requisite spices and Indian treats like poppadoms he couldn’t get from our local grocer. Attracted by the exotic fragrances of the spices, us kids were pulled into the kitchen by the delicious smells, eager to help out and be the official taste-testers to help judge how spicy our dinner should be! Dad didn’t usually cook from a recipe but relied on his vivid memory of the curries he had as a young man and the lessons he learned from the Indian grocer below his flat in London who first introduced him to Indian food. Fast forward … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Main dishes, Meatless mains, Plant-based Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,