I was never a green beans fan until I tried this recipe. I seriously could eat a massive bowl of this. It’s got the perfect mix of juicy, crunchy, tangy, sweet, spicy, slightly bitter (the beans) — perfection. It’s rare that you find a good green bean recipe, you know? So, enjoy!

Makes the perfect side dish with added benefits of vitamins and omega 3s (walnuts)! Or eat it as a meal on its own with added tofu (see below).

This recipe was created by my Naturopathic Doctor/Holistic Nutritionist Jennifer Baer. She’s the Director of Body of Knowledge Healing Arts. See, she knows what she’s talking about. Thanks for the recipe, Jenn!

Ingredients
3-4 cups green beans or haricots verts, washed and trimmed
1/3 cup walnuts, chopped and lightly toasted in pan
1/4 cup unrefined olive oil (optional — I don’t use oil in this recipe)
2 Tbs apple cider vinegar
2 Tbs fresh lemon juice
2 Tbs honey, heated briefly or run under hot water (made liquidy)
1 tsp mustard powder or 1 Tbs Dijon-style hot or grainy mustard
1/4 cup fresh dill, trimmed
2 Tbs finely diced shallot
Generous amounts of sea salt and fresh ground pepper (to taste) (optional — I don’t use the salt)

Instructions
Steam beans uncovered for a few minutes until bright green and tender crisp. Immediately cool under running cold water or in an ice bath. Drain well and set aside.

Combine all other ingredients well and pour them over the green beans.

Toss to coat and refrigerate at least 30 minutes before serving.

Optional: Add crispy tofu cubes (3/4″ cubes pan fried until golden brown on all sides).

Bon appetit!

Quintessence C. Challis (aka @TessChallis on twitter) has a much better photo of this fabulous, kids-will-love-it roasted cauliflower dish on her own blog. I overdid mine a bit. See, just because one has a “kitchen blog,” doesn’t mean one cooks remotely perfectly all the time, especially when said “kitchen blogger”’s 2-year-old decides he wants to toilet train while her cauliflower is roasting. But I digress….

At my corner organic health food store, they always have fresh cauliflower and, for some reason, I’m always compelled to buy it. This vegetable mystifies me a bit. It’s not green like other superfoods, but it’s super healthy — loaded with vitamin C, folate, fiber and various anti-cancer phytochemicals. In fact, it’s one of the only “white” foods that’s not bad for you — as opposed to white sugar, flour, rice, etc..

I love me some “Roasted Cauliflower with Rosemary and Garlic” for every-day dinners. Tess also recommends it for “Thanksgiving (or any special occasion) and can be prepared in advance.” Awesome.

My kids LOVED this cauliflower dish, and so did I. So much so that I bragged about it to my mother, on the phone, during dinner.

Here’s the recipe — stolen word-for-word with gracious permission from Ms. Challis herself. As she recommends, “simply toss all of the ingredients together and marinate overnight. Pop it into the oven half an hour before dinner, and there go you! Simple elegance.” CHECK IT:

INGREDIENTS (Serves 2):

2 teaspoons fresh rosemary leaf, stems removed and chopped
4 teaspoons olive oil, extra-virgin or regular
6 medium cloves garlic, minced or pressed
½ teaspoon sea salt (plus up to ⅛ teaspoon more if you like)
¼ teaspoon each: organic sugar (or sucanat) and ground black pepper
½ teaspoon balsamic vinegar
3½ cups chopped cauliflower (cut into bite sized pieces)

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Preheat the oven to 400° F. Place everything but the cauliflower in a large bowl and stir to mix. Next, add the cauliflower and combine well with the seasonings using a rubber spatula. At this point you can allow the mixture to marinate for up to 24 hours (refrigerated in an airtight container) if you like.
2. Spread the mixture onto a large ungreased cookie sheet, using the rubber spatula to scrape all of the herbs and spices onto the cauliflower. Bake for about 15 minutes.
3. Turn the cauliflower over with a heat proof spatula and bake for another 10-15 minutes, or until lightly browned and very tender. Remove and serve. Feel impressed with yourself for as long as you like.

Now that you’ve sampled a recipe, why not check out Tess’s awesome book (LOVE), Radiant Health, Inner Wealth: A Fun, Comprehensive Toolkit for Ultimate Wellness. This book is not only jam-packed with fun and fabulous recipes (we’ll be featuring more here soon), but also tons of guidance on everything from meditation to meal-planning, and a 2-week plan that will rejuvenate you and get you back on track when you’ve fallen off the wagon…*COUGH.* Cheaty highly recommends….

Isn’t Tess GORJ! Many thanks to Tess for sharing her cauliflower recipe with us. Check out her blog, too, for great info, samples of her recipes, and her signature sassy wit!

Enjoy the recipe. Let us know how it goes!

Love!

xo Haley-O

I’m working SO HARD right now to feel better. I’ve been feeling totally depleted lately. A diet consisting of pretty-much only almond butter, spelt bread, orange juice, soy chai lattes and multivitamins will do that to you.

It’s a wee bit challenging to eat well as a vegan. It’s like, when you pledge to become a vegan, you also pledge that you will EAT REALLY REALLY WELL. Indeed, part of being a vegan is being gentle and compassionate to your own body. And, I have not been. I’ve been so preoccupied with my children, and their health and well-being, that I’ve made no time for my own SELF-CARE. Cooking seems to take too much energy, and all I want at the end of the day, is to sit on my arse and eat sweet, and almond-buttery and BREAD-Y goodness…. But, my lips are chapped, and my energy is low, and I slip in and out of dark moods all too easily. Not a good sign.

So, yesterday, I vowed to make a change. I decided not to make any strict rules that I would end up breaking and berating myself for breaking. Instead, I decided just to eat a little better. To eat some meals and maybe even some greens.

Well, the FREEZING weather here in Canada made it difficult for me to fill my fridge with vegan delicacies (lettuce). But, I did have some KALE in the fridge…. And, I steamed it with my dinner….

…and it was good. I liked it. I didn’t put a single seasoning in it, and I LIKED it. Kale is an AMAZING vegetable. It’s one of the healthiest in the world — as are most dark-green leafy vegetables. Maybe it was so tasty because my body really needed it…. I’m not sure. But, go for it, Gorgeouses. Pick yourself up a bunch of kale, steam it gently in half a cup of water, and enjoy….

If your body doesn’t welcome the plain steamed kale as much as mine does, add a teaspoon of low-sodium soy sauce (or tamari sauce), a minced garlic clove or two, and some pepper. Let us know how you like it!

Guess who else liked it…? Josh-O and the RASCAL. The monkey didn’t try it. But, it’s okay, because she LOVED my latest concoction: “NATURE’S CANDY.”

Last night at dinner, Monkey asked me if she could have CANDY for dessert. Instead of saying “noooo,” I said, “sure! I’m making you ‘Nature’s Candy.’” She was SO. EXCITED. Squealed for joy! When I finished making it, I walked into the dining room and confidently handed her “Nature’s Candy.” And, to my delight (and surprise), SHE LOVED IT.

She loved it SO MUCH…that she POSED with it….

Later, when she was in bed, she said she really liked “Churchiss Candy.” So, you better get the recipe, eh, Gorgeouses!? HERE IT IS!!!

NATURE’S CANDY

INGREDIENTS (serves 2)

1 apple
1 kiwi
Raisins
(Really, any fruit will do; but, the raisins are a must!)
Tablespoon walnuts (optional; great for added omega 3s)

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Chop up fruit and throw in a bowl.
2. Sprinkle with raisins.
3. Serve with chin up and big smile! AND MAKE SURE YOU CALL IT “NATURE’S CANDY,” or some other name with “candy” in it…. They’re LOVE IT! Hee!

I know I’ve been a BAD BAD food-blogger these days. HORRIBLY terrible. But, you know? I have a good excuse. Well, two good excuses: 1) a computer on the fritz; 2) I’ve been OFF food and cooking since I had the flu (or whatever that was) last week.

So, I have this computer for, like, 10 minutes. So, I thought I’d ask you something: HOW DO YOU WASH YOUR BROCCOLI?

I washed my broccoli tonight. And, I washed it. And, I washed it.

Lo and behold, though? I found not 1, not 2, but THREE spiders in the florets. THREE! Little black bulbous spiders that I was JUST ABOUT TO EAT.

Vegan notwithstanding, I did NOT want to ingest ANY spider with my broccoli. After the third spider, I decided enough was enough, and I tossed all the florets.

I’m not sure I can ever eat another broccoli floret again!

The same thing happened to me with brussel sprouts that I bought in university. Bugs EVERYWHERE, and I didn’t realize it until halfway into eating them, when I turned on a better light…. Eeeek. Can you say, “Survivor“? How ’bout “Fear Factor“?

I guess I’ll just have to settle for the frozen florets from now on….

So, today, I challenged myself….

GOURD! I cooked the gourd! From scratch. I should SOOO become a member of the GOURD SOCIETY…of CANADA! Ahem.

Here’s what I did. With pics. ‘Course…. Love.

INGREDIENTS
(serves 4-6)

1 super large GOURD/butternut squash or any squash, really (you could also use frozen squash, but it’s not the same!)
2 tbsp agave nectar* OR maple syrup (OR, probably, brown sugar)
Pinch cinnamon
Pinch nutmeg
Pinch salt
Pepper to taste
Cooking spray (preferably a nice organic cold-pressed canola oil spray)

*Agave nectar is a BRILLERS substitute for sugar. It’s nutritious and diet-friendly because it’s relatively low on the glycemic index.

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.

2. Cut GOURD in half. Scoop out seeds and stringy flesh with large spoon.

3. Lightly spray the squash with cooking spray….

4. Lay the two halves of the squash on lined baking sheet (I use Silpat), cut side down….

5. Roast for 40 minutes — until it looks like THIS….

6. MEANWHILE, mix agave nectar (or syrup) and spices in a medium-sized bowl.

7. Scoop out the beautifully-cooked squash, place it in the bowl with the agave mixture, and mix and mash with a fork.

8. Et VOILA!

YUM! It was a real hit. RASCAL LOVED IT. And, so did I…. The agave nectar gave it the perfect sweetness….

Enjoy! And, let us know how you like it!

As I explained at Cheaty Monkey…. I had salad in my teeth when I took this picture — hence the blurry-grey molars. I do NOT need a root canal, in other words. Been there done that with my front tooth 10+ times. Aren’t you glad you asked?

xo Haley-O

Recipe adapted from….