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Cauliflower Steaks with Walnut Caper Salsa

Happy New Year, Friends!

Here’s to a happy and healthier year ahead. With that in mind comes lots of new healthy recipes and in 2018, I am definitely going to focus on more plant-based eats. I came across this amazing recipe a few weeks back from Bon Appetit and finally got around to making these delicious cauliflower steaks. Wow wow wow!! It is a new favourite that I’ll make again and again.

Check out the dish below (with a few modifications) from one of my favourite recipe sources – Bon Appetit

Cauliflower Steaks with Walnut Caper Salsa (yields 2-3)

Walnut Caper Salsa

  • ⅓ cup walnuts (toasted)
  • ¼ cup olive oil
  • 3 tbsp drained capers, patted dry
  • 1 chile pepper or hot pepper of your choice, seeds removed, finely chopped
  • 3 tbsp coarsely chopped parsley
  • 1 tbsp dried currants
  • 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
  • 1 tsp finely grated lemon zest
  • Himalayan Salt

Cauliflower 

  • 1 small head of cauliflower
  • Himalayan salt
  • 1-2 garlic cloves, finely grated
  • 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
  • 2 tbsp tahini
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 tbsp earth balance all natural spread or butter
  • 2-3 sprigs oregano
  • 2-4 strips lemon zest
  • Lemon wedges (for serving)

Salsa Prep:

  1. Preheat oven to 350°. Toast walnuts on a rimmed baking sheet, tossing once, until golden brown, 7–10 minutes. Let cool, then coarsely chop.
  2. Heat oil and capers in a small saucepan over medium, swirling often, until capers burst and are golden brown and crisp, about 8 minutes. Carefully pour oil and capers into a small heatproof bowl; let cool.
  3. Mix in walnuts, chile, parsley, currants, vinegar, and lemon zest; season with salt.** Salsa can be made 1 day ahead, covered with plastic, pressing directly onto surface. Bring to room temperature before using **

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Cauliflower Prep & Assembly:

  1. Remove the toughest outer leaves from cauliflower (leave on any tender inner leaves). Trim stem to create a flat base. Resting cauliflower on stem, cut in half from top to bottom, creating two lobes with stem attached. Trim outer rounded edge of each piece to create two 1½”-thick “steaks” (the stem should hold the florets together); set steaks aside. Very coarsely chop remaining florets.
  2. Cook florets in a large saucepan of boiling salted water until very tender, 6–8 minutes. Drain well, then process in a food processor with garlic, lemon juice, tahini, and 1 tbsp water until smooth; season with salt. Set aside. **Purée  can also be made a day in advance and heated before plating**
  3. Heat oven to  425° for roasting cauliflower.
  4. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high. Add earth balance spread or butter, swirl until melted, then add cauliflower steaks, oregano, and lemon zest. Cook, gently lifting up cauliflower occasionally to let hot fat run underneath, until steaks are deep golden brown (if oregano or lemon start to burn, place on top of steaks). Turn steaks and season with salt. Transfer skillet to oven and roast until cauliflower stems are fork-tender, 10–15 minutes.
  5. To serve, spoon about 1/4 cup cauliflower purée onto plates and place steaks on top. Spoon salsa over and sprinkle with salt. Serve with lemon wedges.

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Bon Appetit! xx

Chipotle Sweet Potato Noodles

I love Mexican flavours and try to often think of interesting ways to incorporate the flavour profiles outside of the beloved taco. Even though, I could eat taco’s every single day!

After a little inspiration from Pinch of Yum, this Chipotle Sweet Potato Noodle recipe is a new favourite dish added to the weeknight rotation!IMG_3283

Sweet, spicy, smokey, hearty and fresh; this noodle recipe is simple and healthy and an easy go-to recipe to whip up. The chipotle dressing and sweet potato noodles make for an amazing base that you can simply add any toppings of your choice and you are set for a delicious meal. I worked with what I had on hand, peppers, tomatoes, jalapeno, kale, avocado, pepitas, goat feta, and cilantro. However, this would be equally as awesome with some black beans and roasted corn. And you can easily omit the cheese to keep this vegan friendly.

Here’s the dish –

Sweet Potato Noodle Bowl (yields 4-6 servings)
  • olive oil
  • 2 sweet potatoes
  • 1 red pepper, diced
  • 1 jalapeno, diced
  • 1 tomato, diced
  • 1 avocado, diced
  • 1 cup chopped cilantro
  • 1 cup chopped greens – kale, spinach, arugula, etc (I love black kale!)
  • 1/2 cup raw pepitas
  • 1/4 cup goat feta or cojita (or opt for no cheese)

Chipotle Lime Dressing:

  • 1/3 cup olive oil
  • 2-3 tablespoons water
  • juice of one orange
  • juice of one lime
  • 2-4 individual chipotle peppers, canned in adobo sauce
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 1 teaspoon agave or honey
  • pinch of Himalayan sea saltFullSizeRender (8)
  1. Heat a little bit of olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add chopped peppers and saute until soft.
  2. Pulse the dressing ingredients in a food processor until smooth. Taste and adjust to your liking.
  3. Remove, wipe skillet and add a little more olive oil over medium heat. Add the sweet potato noodles and toss for a minute or two until softened (no more than 5). Also, toss in a 2 TBSP of the dressing to coat noodles.
  4. Once slightly cooked, toss the noodles, peppers, kale, cilantro, and pepitas together.
  5. Toss with the salad ingredients and top with tomato, avocado and crumbled cheese.

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Dig In. xx

Chipotle Lime Shrimp Tacos

This taco dish comes together in a snap and is probably one of the most delicious tacos I have ever had! It will easily become a household fav, so don’t be shy to double up on this recipe as you’ll definitely want the leftovers.

Marinated to sweet and spicy perfection, these grilled shrimpy’s pair perfectly with just about any topping. I like to mix mine up with homemade pico de gallo, guacomole, mango, cabbage and extra cilantro.

Ingredients: (makes about 8 tacos)

  • 6 tbsp lime juice
  • 2 tbsp chipotle in adobo sauce
  • Salt & pepper
    1/4 c olive oil
  • 2 cloves garlic.
  • 1lb shrimp
    1/4 c honey
  • Zest of 1  lime
  • corn or wheat tortillas

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  1. Marinade shrimp for 2 hours or more.
  2. Mix together, 1/2 cup fat free sour cream  , 1tbsp chipotle in Adobe sauce, 1 tbsp lime juice, zest of 1 lime , 1 clove garlic, make this while shrimp marinade’s so flavours mellow.fullsizerender-12
  3. Cut up avacodo, shredded cabbage , cilantro, mango’s , tomatoes etc. for garnishing taco’s.
  4. Cook shrimp till pink and then put together as taco’simg_1519

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Betcha can’t eat just one! xx

Blackened Tilapia

I’ll admit that I always get nervous each time I mix these spices together, in fear that it is going to be too much flavour in all the wrong ways but I always end up being blown away with how well they blend together.

To save yourself some time, mix up 4 x’s the amount of spice, that way you always have this spice on hand.

Blackening Spice:

  • 3 tbsp paprika
  • 1 tsp himalayan sea salt
  • 1 tbsp onion powder
  • 1 tsp ground black pepper
  • 1 tsp cayenne pepper
  • 1/2 tsp dried oregano
  • 1/2 tsp cumin
  • 1/2 tsp garlic powder

Blackening Spice

For the Fish:

  • 4 tilapia fillets
  • 3 tbsp coconut oil
  • lemon wedges

Blackened Fish

  1. Mix spices.
  2. Pat Tilapia dry, coat with spice mix, allow to sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes.
  3. Heat oil on med-high heat, heat until hot.
  4. Cook fillets for 3 minutes per side or until fish is opaque and can be flaked.
  5. Plate and squeeze with lemon juice.

Blackened Tilapia

Keep it Spicy! xx

Wild Mushroom Freekeh Salad

Freekeh is the new grain on the block and I can see why! This ancient super grain offers a ton of nutritional value and an earthy, smoky flavour that is super delicious.

When compared to other ancient grains, Freekeh ranks high in protein and fiber. Offering almost twice as much as our beloved quinoa. It’s also low in fat, low on the glycemic index, packed with iron, calcium and zinc – it really is a super grain! It’s versatility also offers you the ease of swapping out the other grains in your favourite dishes whether they are savoury or sweet and adding in this nutty substitute. Seriously, give it a try! I don’t think it’ll replace quinoa any time soon, but it is a very nice change. 🙂

A salad that I am super obsessed with this summer is this Wild Mushroom Freekeh Salad that I cam across on Canadian Living. So simple and so tasty, it was an instant household winner. Plus, it was a major bonus that the only thing I had to buy for this recipe were the mushrooms. Everything else I had on hand or growing in the garden – ahh the perks of summer!

While this recipe was perfect the way it was, I did make a few tweaks based on what I had on hand, and whenever I cook mushrooms I always add garlic and white wine (it just naturally  happens!). Here’s the  dish with a few of my modifications below.

Wild Mushroom Freekeh Salad

Wild Mushroom Freekeh Salad

Lemon Vinaigrette:

  • 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest
  • 2 tablespoons lemon juice
  • 1 teaspoon liquid honey
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • pinch pepper

Salad:

  • 1 cup freekeh rinsed
  • 1 teaspoon earth balance or butter
  • 2-3 cups oyster mushrooms torn
  • 1-2 cups shitake mushrooms torn
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • 4 tbsp of white wine
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 2 cups diced vine-ripened or plum tomato
  • 4 cups packed baby arugula

Ingredients

  1. Lemon Vinaigrette – In large bowl, whisk together oil, lemon zest, lemon juice, honey, salt and pepper. Set aside.
  2. Salad –  In large saucepan of boiling salted water, cook freekeh according to package instructions. Drain and rinse with cold water until cool. (Refrigerate in airtight container for up to 2 days.)
  3. In large nonstick skillet, melt earth balance or butter over medium heat; cook mushrooms and salt, stirring often, until softened, 5 to 6 minutes. Add in garlic and white wine and cook for another 3-4 minutes.
  4. Add freekeh and tomatoes to vinaigrette; gently toss to coat. Gently stir in mushrooms and arugula.

Wild Mushroom Freekeh Salad

Get Freekeh. xx