The gorj Hugh Jackman has gone vegan. Further motivating me to keep this wonderful lifestyle up. Go Hugh! For full deets, check Brendan Brazier/Vega’s blog. Hugh’s following Brazier’s diet plan and wrote the forward to the latest edition of Brazier’s bestselling Thrive.

Ooo! And even more deets in this interview HERE!

Love!
xo Haley-O

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

As many Torontonians in my area know, one of the best pea soups in the city can be found at United Bakers — a Kosher-style restaurant in Lawrence Plaza. It’s not my favourite place to go because it’s not exactly chic…, not at all chic, and because I usually see half the people I knew in high school when I go there — and I like to relax when I dine. I used to take out their pea soup and their Greek salad ALL the time. But, now that I’m vegetarian, I can’t eat these dishes. The pea soup has butter in it, and, of course, the Greek salad has cheese in it. Until now, I haven’t met a pea soup as great as theirs, though. Until now….

Meet the best low-to-no-fat pea soup on the planet — right here in Cheaty’s kitchen, and soon in yours if you take my word for it. This soup tastes EXACTLY like United Bakers, without the BUTTER, and without any added fat. The secret, I think, is in the carrots and sweet potatoes….

CHECKIT!

Ingredients:

2 cups dried split peas (rinsed)
6 cups water (or vegetable broth)
1 onion (chopped)
2 cloves of garlic
2 carrots (sliced)
2 stalks of celery (sliced)
2 handfuls kale or spinach (chopped)
1 potato (peeled and chopped)
1 sweet potato (peeled and chopped)
1/2 tsp dried marjoram
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp ground curmin
Sprinkle of pepper
Sprinkle of salt (optional, to taste)

Instructions:

1. In a large pot, combine peas, water/broth, onion, garlic, carrot, celery, potato, sweet potato, and marjoram, basil, turmeric, and cumin. Cover loosely.

2. Let it simmer, medium heat, until the peas are tender — approx. 1 hour.

3. Scoop as much of the soup as you like into a blender and puree until smooth. I like my pureed soups a LITTLE crunchy and colourful, so I puree about 3/4 of it. If you want a perfectly smooth soup, you can use a hand blender, of course, or transfer the whole thing to a blender or food processor.

4. Return the soup to the pot, stir in the pepper (and teeny bit of salt to taste — only if you feel it’s necessary).

Storing: I’ve kept this soup in my fridge for up to a week. I ladle up only what I need each time because it’s not good to keep reheating it.

This soup is so hearty it’s a meal in itself. Enjoy! And let me know how you like it!

Love!
xo Haley-O

I’ve been cooking up a STORM lately. It’s part of my New Year’s Resolution. I’m going to stop going to Starbucks and ordering take-out and START cooking and REALLY paying attention to what I’m putting into my body. And, INDEED, with a little motivation, some good slippers, some help from must-have STAR cookbooks, like…

…and a little creativity, I am SO good to go. I’m, like, DINING in my own home.

This particular recipe was adapted from Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero’s brillers tome Veganomicon (recipe p. 201). And it is UNBELIEVABLE. My little 2-year-old was begging me for “MORE NOODLES, MAMA!” And I…. I could not SPEAK while eating this dish. (I was even able to take a GOOD PHOTO of it — see above? — which NEVER happens; I am NOT a food photographer most days.)

In my adaptation of the recipe, I lowered the fat and salt content, and I added chickpeas for protein — making this a complete, one-dish vegan meal!

OH! And some of the ingredients may seem scary, I know. But, just buy a pack of Udon noodles (I used Kamut), some delicious Umeboshi vinegar (or Mirin, a Japanese rice wine), some brown Miso, and, really, any mushroom will do — I splurged on Shiitakes because they’re apparently among the most healthful. Just go out and buy them. Be adventurous! It’s no biggie, really, and the recipe’s a cinch.

Speaking of healthful, among the shiitakes, the miso, the umeboshi vinegar, the kale and the chickpeas (cooked from scratch), this is not only a ridiculously delicious dish, but it’s also a disgustingly HEALTHY dish.

Check it!

INGREDIENTS

1 package Udon noodles
1 tbsp Oil (I used olive oil – and cooked dish at low to medium heat)
1/2 Onion (thinly sliced into “half moons”)
3 cloves Garlic (minced)
1/2-1 cup Shiitake Mushrooms (stemmed and chopped)
2 tsp fresh Ginger (grated/minced — use 1 tsp ground ginger if you must!)
1 tbsp Umeboshi Vinegar (OR Mirin)
1 cup Water
3 tbsp Brown Miso

2 cups cooked Chickpeas
2 big handfuls Kale (lovingly tear it up into bite sized pieces)

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Cook the Udon noodles (see package instructions).

2. Meanwhile, using low-to-medium heat, sauté onions, mushrooms, and garlic in the olive oil — until onions and shrooms are just softened (about 5 or so minutes).

3. Sprinkle ginger and continue to sauté a little longer.

4. Next comes the umeboshi vinegar, water and miso. Sauté, sauté, sauté.

5. Add the kale and chickpeas, stir it up, and cover until kale is softened.

6. Add in the noodles, mix, and mix.

7. I’d let it sit for a bit — allowing the noodles and chickpeas to really absorb the flavours — if you can resist, that is….

8. ENJOY!

9. Let us know if you LOVED it, too!

Serves 4-6.