My Recipes

Leftover Rice Hack

Do you have some leftover rice in the fridge? Here is a delicious way to give it new life

Ingredients:

2 cups leftover rice

1 Spring onion

I clove of garlic

2 tbsp of ghee

Directions:

1. Chop the spring onion, shallot, garlic

2. Warm up the ghee in the saute pan

3. Cook the onions and garlic in the pan for a few minutes until fragrant

4. Add the rice into the pan and combine.

5. Allow it to warm through and serve

Serves 2

Fragrant Tomato Salad

We had some lovely roma tomatoes in the fridge and the herbs in our garden were growing really well...so that lead inspired a gut healthy, fresh and fragrant salad.

The quantities are not specific for this one because I sort of played it by ear; that makes it more fun doesn't it?

Ingredients:

4 or 5 plump roma tomatoes

A handful of mint leaves

A handful of basil leaves

A handful of parsley leaves

2-3 tbsps of olive oil

half a lemon

salt (sea or pink himalayan) and pepper

Directions:

1. Roughly chop the herbs

2. Quarter the roma tomatoes

3. Squeeze the juice out of the lemon

4. Combine all ingredients in a bowl

5. Add salt and pepper to taste and enjoy

Serves 4

Easy Beet Salad

I like my food colourful and fast!

I cheat a bit on this one; I don't have time to prep beets from scratch so I buy organic cooked beets from Love Beets. Available in Costco and most grocery stores. They are typically vacuum sealed in 3 or 4 depending on the size. A box will have 2 vacuum sealed packages in it if you purchase at Costco

Ingredients:

1 package of cooked beets

1 red bell pepper

1 yellow bell pepper

4 celery stalks

1/2 red onion

1 lemon

3 tbsps of olive oil

salt (sea or pink himalayan) and pepper

Directions:

1. Slice the beets into rounds and then quarter

2. roughly chop the remaining ingredients

3. squeeze the juice out of the lemon

4. combine all ingredients into a bowl

5. Add salt and pepper to taste and enjoy

Serves 4

tip: I like to use a bowl with a cover so that I can store in the fridge

Oat Flour Banana Bread

Yep! It's gluten free and it's difficult to stop eating after one slice.

When we have super ripe bananas we peel and freeze them in a large freezer bag. Then once I have 4 I make a batch of banana bread. most recipes call for2 or 3 but I like 4. especially because it helps add moisture to gluten free flours.

When creating this recipe, I started with a highly rated recipe for moist banana bread that I found online and adjusted it so that it aligned with culinary nutrition principles.

I opted to add dark chocolate chips but you can add walnuts if you prefer.

You can also choose to make this recipe into muffins.

Original recipe credit: Taste of Home; Best Ever Banana Bread

Ingredients:

1-3/4 cups gluten free oat flour

3/4 cup maple syrup

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs or egg substitute equivalent if making vegan (Bobs Red Mill egg replacer)

4 medium ripe bananas, mashed

1/2 cup avocado oil or melted coconut oil

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 and 1/4 cup dark chocolate chips

Directions:

1, Preheat oven to 350

2. Grease a loaf pan with coconut oil or avocado oil. Add a piece of parchment paper across the width of the pan so that the base and long sides are covered by parchment.

2. Combine all dry ingredients (excluding the chocolate chips) in a large bowl

3. in another bowl mash the bananas

4. Add the eggs, oil and vanilla to the bananas. Mix well

5. Add the banana mixture to the dry ingredients mixture and mix until well combined

5. Fold in 1 cup of the chocolate chips

6 Add the mixture to the prepared loaf pan

7. top with 1/4 cup of the dark chocolate chips

8. Bake for about 1.5 hours, but test with a toothpick periodically after about an hour depending on your oven. You want the the toothpick to come out of the bread clean but you want the bred to remain moist and get golden brown.

9. Let cool before removing

"Seedy" Energy Balls

This recipe was created out of desperation. I was at our cottage and I wanted to make some energy balls as a quick snack and I realised I didn't have any ripe bananas, which is something I like to use as a base in energy balls to hold them together.

I looked in the pantry at my dwindling supplies and pulled together a combination that is not only yummy but packs a lot of nutrition into a few bites.

Prep time: 10 minutes.

Ingredients:

1 cup gluten free rolled oats

1/4 cup raisins

1/4 cup sunflower seeds (no husk, salted or unsalted)

1/4 cup pepitas

1/4 cup flax seeds

1/4 cup chia seeds

3-4 tbsps of a nut butter

Directions:

1. Add all the ingredients into the food processor

2. Blend just until the ingredients are combined but there are still some "chunky" bits

3. With clean wet hands, create the balls with about a tablespoon of the mixture

Creates 10 to 12 balls

Breakfast Mango Green Smoothie

I developed this recipe during a time when I had been researching foods that were supportive for Crohns disease

As a snack this recipe can be 2 servings of 250ml. But as a breakfast the full recipe should be consumed

Tools Required: cutting board, chef knife, high speed blender, measuring spoon

Prep time: 5 minutes. Note you can prep the dry smoothie ingredients in advance and store in the fridge in a glass container the night before.

Blender time: 1 minute

Ingredients:

1/3 cup avocado

½ cup kale (de-stemmed)

½ cup oat milk

1 cup water

½ cup fresh mango

1tbsp chia seeds

1tbsp ginger

1tbsp coconut oil

Directions:

1. Cut the avocado and mango into large cubes

2. Wash the kale and remove the leaves from the stems

3. Peel the mango and cut up coarsely

4. Peel and coarsely cut up the ginger

5. Measure and melt the coconut oil

6. Add all ingredients into your blender and blend until smooth. The consistency should be fairly thick but still liquid

Gut Healthy Black Bean Soup

I adapted this recipe on a chilly fall day when I looked in the pantry and noticed I had some cans of black beans. Black beans are a great source of soluble fibre and also contain pectic which helps the stomach feel fuller longer.

I found this recipe online but needed to make some adjustments (additions and omissions) to make it more gut healthy and aligned with food sensitivities

Tools required: large soup pot with cover, cutting board, chef knife, measuring cups, measuring spoons, spice grinder, hand blender or vented blender, wooden spoon

Inspired by Jennifer Segal's "Black Bean Soup"

Servings: 4

Prep Time: 20 mins

Cook Time: 45 mins

Total Time: 65 Minutes. Optional: Add 65 minutes to make the vegetable broth in advance (recipe below)

Ingredients:

2 tbsp coconut oil

2 medium organic yellow onions, coarsely chopped

4 large garlic cloves, smashed and coarsely chopped

2 medium organic sweet potato, peeled and diced

5 cups organic vegetable broth (recipe for optional vegetable broth from scratch included)

1 tsp ground coriander seeds

2 (15-ounce) cans organic black beans, drained and rinsed

3/4 tsp oregano

1-3/4 tsp ground cumin

2 tsp ground turmeric

2 inches of grated fresh ginger

1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

1/2 tsp sea salt

1 tbsp fresh lime juice (or roughly the juice of 2 limes)

¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro

1 avocado diced

Directions:

1. Heat the coconut oil (or ghee) over medium heat in a large soup pot.

2. Add the onions and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until onions are soft and translucent, about 8 minutes. Make sure NOT to cook until brown. You don’t want to caramelize the onions.

3. Add the sweet potato and vegetable broth, cover and bring to a boil for about 15 mins until the sweet potato can be pierced easily with a fork but is not fully cooked.

4. Grind the coriander seeds

5. Add the black beans, oregano, ground coriander, cumin, ginger, cayenne pepper and salt and bring to a boil.

6. Turn the heat down to medium, cover and allow to simmer for about 20 minutes.

7. Remove pot from the heat

8. Use a hand held blender to puree the soup in the pot until it is fully blended. Or transfer the soup in batches to your blender to puree it.

Note: If using a standard blender, add the soup in batches so that you don’t fill the carafe more than halfway. Leave the hole in the cover open and loosely cover with a dish towel to allow the heat to escape. Pour the blended soup into a clean pot.

9. Juice the limes to extract the juice if you are using fresh limes. Add the lime juice to the soup. Stir.

10. Ladle the soup into bowls and top each bowl with freshly chopped cilantro and cubes of avocado (roughly ¼ cup).