Category: Easy Recipes

Healthy Homemade Maple Granola

Commercial granolas have a lot of sugar, fat and even salt added, so I tried to stay away from adding a lot of those to this recipe.  Nuts contain a lot of fat, but it’s a healthy fat, so you’re okay if you eat a moderate portion.  Two of the things I like about making my own granola are:  I know exactly what’s going in it, and I can change the ingredients to suit my own taste and what I happen to have on hand.  So feel free to substitute for your favourite nuts and seeds.  Do beware that some seeds, like flax and sesame, are more freely digested and therefore benefited from, if they have been ground  – probably not the best choices for substituting here.

What you need:

4 cups rolled oats

1/4 cup raw almonds

1/2 cup dried, not roasted, pumpkin seeds

1/4 cup raw sunflower seeds

1/4 cup coconut ribbon or other unsweetened,dried coconut

1/4 cup maple syrup

1 tablespoon butter (or oil for vegan and lactose-free)

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

dash of salt

optional: 1/4 cup raisins or other dried fruit

What you do:

1.  Combine the oats, almonds, pumpkin and sunflower seeds in a large bowl.

2.  Melt the butter and add the vanilla, salt and maple syrup to it.  Stir this liquid into the nut and oat mixture.

3.  Spread evenly onto a baking sheet, and bake at 350F for about 30 minutes.  Set the timer for 10 minutes, then give it a stir.  Stir again after another 10 minutes, then check and stir every five minutes until it is golden brown.  If you can hear the pumpkin seeds popping you know it’s done.

4.  Remove from the oven to cool and add the coconut and optional dried fruit.  I prefer to add the fruit with each serving rather than adding to the recipe, so the fruit stays moist and the granola stays crunchy.  That way I can also vary the type of fruit I add, whether it be dried (if I need to take it ‘to go’) or fresh.

5.  Store in an airtight container.  Of you think it will take you more than a few weeks to consume or give away parts of this recipe, it’s a good idea to keep it in the fridge.  Because  nuts oil they are susceptible to spoiling – refrigeration helps avoid this problem.

Corn Chowder, lactose-free

The sweetness of corn works well here with the salty-smokiness of the prosciutto and smoked paprika.  Roasted garlic comes in handy to perk up soups – sometimes when I’m baking I throw a bulb of garlic in the oven, wrapped in foil.  Then I store it in the fridge for future use.

If you don’t need to make this recipe lactose-free, feel free to use milk or half milk, half cream in place of the soy milk.

What you need:

100 grams prosciutto, chopped into medium-sized chunks

1 large onion, diced

1 leek, sliced

3 stalks celery, diced

2 teaspoons smoked paprika

1 large potato, chopped

1/2 cup chopped parsley

1 bulb roasted garlic

4 cups chicken stock

2 cans corn or a few cobs

2 cups soy milk

a few dashes of hot sauce

a few dashes of Worcestershire sauce

salt and pepper

What you do:

1.  In a large pot, cook the prosciutto for a few minutes, then add the chopped onions, leeks and celery.  Cook on medium heat until they are soft.

2.  Stir in the paprika and cook for a few more minutes.

3.  Add the chicken stock, potato, parsley and roasted garlic.  Cook for about 30 minutes on medium low heat.

4.  Add the corn and soy milk and let them heat up but not boil.  Add hot sauce, Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper to taste.

Mushroom Cream Sauce, lactose-free

I’ve used this sauce in my Mushroom, Turkey and Hot Italian Sausage Lasagna, as well as in crepes.  Of course you can use real milk or even a little cream if you can handle the real stuff!

What you need:

15-20 mushrooms

2 cloves finely chopped garlic

1/4-1/2 cup white wine

1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons butter or dairy-free “butter” or margarine

1/4 cup flour

2 cups soy milk

salt and pepper

What you do:

1. Clean mushrooms by rubbing with a damp cloth, then slice into pieces about 2 mm thick.

2. Add butter to a large frying pan on medium-high heat.  In small batches add the mushrooms, and after a few minutes of cooking, add a splash of wine.  Cook mushrooms until both sides have browned.  In the last batch of mushrooms add the garlic and cook as you did the others.

3.  Heat the soy milk.

4.  Heat 1/4 cup butter/substitute in a pot.  Add the flour and cook, stirring, for a few minutes.  Very gradually add the soy milk – add a little, then stir until incorporated into the flour mixture.  Continue adding the milk gradually, until it has been incorporated.  Add a splash or two of wine and continue to stir.  If it’s very thick, add a little more soy milk or wine.

5.  Season with salt and and quite a bit of pepper.

Turkey and Hot Italian Sausage Tomato Sauce

Here’s a tomato sauce you can use for spaghetti or lasagna – I made it up to go in my Mushroom, Turkey and Hot Italian Sausage Lasagna.  It’s pretty easy to make, and just requires a bit of cooking time.

What you need:

3 spicy italian sausages

400 to 500 grams ground turkey

1 -796 mL can crushed tomatoes

1 -796 mL can chopped tomatoes

1 onion

3 cloves garlic, chopped

1 cup white wine

1 bay leaf

2 tablespoons olive oil or butter

1 tablespoon brown sugar, or to taste

a few shakes of chili flakes

salt and pepper

What you do:

1.  Remove casings from the sausages, then cook them in a large pot until the meat is no longer pink, adding the turkey meat and chopped garlic part way through.  Break up large pieces of meat and remove excess fat.

2.  Add the canned tomatoes, the whole onion, garlic cloves, wine, bay leaf, olive oil or butter and chili flakes to the meat.  Cook on low heat for about an hour, or more if you’ve got the time.

3.  Remove the onion and bay leaf, and add the brown sugar, salt and pepper to taste.

Feel free to make a big batch and freeze part of it.

Broccoli Salad with Yogurt Dressing

Broccoli is packed with Vitamins C, K & A, as well as folic acid, fibre and a whole bunch of other nutrients.  So the challenge is to find new ways to serve it up, and preferably raw, as that’s the best way to keep all the valuable nutrients intact, or so they say.  I’ve adapted this recipe from one I found on everybodylikessandwiches.com.  I prefer to add the nuts and dried cherries on top – the nuts stay crisper, and the fruit looks prettier.  If you’re serving it all right away and plan to have no leftovers, you can get away with tossing it all together.

This one can be whipped up in no time at all!

What you need:

1 head broccoli, broken into small pieces

2 tablespoons finely diced red onion

1 tablespoon mayonnaise

3 tablespoons plain yogurt (I don’t use low-fat yogurt ever!)

juice of 1/2 lemon

a few dashes of hot sauce

1-2 teaspoons honey

salt and pepper to taste

1/4 cup toasted slivered almonds

1/4 cup dried cherries, cut in half (or raisins or cranberries)

What you do:

1.  Toast the almonds – I do this is a dry frying pan on my stove top.  I just heat it to medium-low, then give it a stir every once in a while, keeping an eye on it do it doesn’t burn.

2.  Combine mayonnaise, yogurt, lemon juice, hot sauce, honey, salt and pepper.

3.  Put the broccoli and onions in a bowl and toss them with the dressing.

4.  Top with dried cherries and almonds just before serving.

Brown Rice Lentils with Salsa

My mom gave me this recipe many years ago, and it was an old faithful of mine for a long time, especially when I was looking for something economical, healthy, and still yummy.  I’ve modified the original recipe only by adding more veggies.  It’s pretty easy to make!  Most of the time you need for this one is cooking time – you can be done in just over an hour, including 45-50 minutes of cooking time.

What you need:

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

4 cloves garlic, chopped

3-4 carrots, chopped

8-10 mushrooms, sliced

1 teaspoon soy sauce

3/4 cup brown lentils, dry

1 cup brown rice

3 cups water or broth

tomato salsa, to serve

What you do:

1.  Heat a large pot to medium heat, and add the chopped onion once the oil is hot.  Let it cook for a few minutes, stirring from time to time, until slightly browned.

2.  Add the garlic, mushrooms and carrot, cooking for a few minutes.

3.  Add soy sauce, lentils, rice and water.  Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low, and cook 45 minutes with a lid on.

4.  If it’s still a little watery at the end of the cooking time, just turn the heat up a little and cook it off.

5.  Serve with salsa, and you’re ready to go!

Carrot Lentil Soup with a hint of coconut

I started out making a completely different soup, trying out a new recipe, and part way in I thought about that bit of coconut milk I had in the fridge.  So I forgot about the recipe,added the coconut milk, and ended up with this lovely soup.  It’s only a bit of coconut milk, so it’s not the main flavour, but it gives a bit of creaminess.

What you need:

3 rashers bacon

1 onion, finely diced

1 clove garlic, sliced

1/4 teaspoon chilli flakes

1 teaspoon garam masala

2 large carrots, grated

3-4 cups chicken stock (or turkey)

3/4 cup lentils

3/4 cup coconut milk

salt and pepper

What you do:

1. Fry bacon until crispy; place on paper towels to soak up the excess fat, and chop once it is cool.

2.  Heat the oil in a pot then add the onions, cooking until slightly browned.  Add garlic, carrots, chilli flakes and garam masala.  Cook for a few minutes.

3.  Add bacon and lentils, then pour in the chicken stock.  Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and cook until the lentils are cooked, about 40 minutes.

4.  Add coconut milk, and season to taste.  you may not need to add much salt, as the bacon will give it a bit of saltiness.

Options for serving:  top with a bit of yogurt or squeeze a bit of lime on top.

Bacon Shortbread

Yes, you read that right – bacon shortbread.  I heard about this and had no intention of making it, but then I mentioned it to a few people and they said they’d really like to try it.  So I gave it a try, and . . . it’s actually good!  Sweet and Salty are a great combination!  Please comment if you try this recipe, as people might need a second opinion.

Really, I just made shortbread and added some bacon to part of the recipe, and made the rest regular shortbread.  So you can do that, using  just a few slices of bacon, or you can make the whole recipe below.

What you need:

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature (no substitutions!)

1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

2 drops almond extract

1 & 3/4 cup flour

pinch salt

1/3 cup crispy bacon, finely chopped

What you do:

1.   Cream the butter, then beat in the sugar.  Add the vanilla and almond extracts and beat until light in colour.

2.  Add flour, salt and bacon and mix with a wooden spoon until combined.

3.  Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for one hour.  (If you make the dough ahead of time you can refrigerate it, but make sure you take it out of the fridge about an hour before you want to roll it out or it will be rock hard!)

4.  Roll dough to about 3/4 of a centimetre thickness, on a floured table.  Use floured cookie cutters to cut shapes, then place them on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet.

5.  Bake at 325 F for 15-20 minutes or until lightly browned.  Cool on racks, then refrigerate.

Green Beans, Sundried Tomatoes and Brazil Nuts

The cupboards are  bare except for the few ingredients I threw together to make these beans.  It’s surprisingly good – so good that I think I need to go out and buy more sun-dried tomatoes so I can make it again.

What you need:

green beans

sun-dried tomatoes, in oil

brazil nuts

salt

butter (or substitute for vegans)

What you do:

1.  Cut the ends off the beans and cut them in half.  Pour a few centimetres of water into a pot and bring it to a boil.  Add a teaspoon or so of butter to the water, then add the beans.  Cover and cook 3-4 minutes, until they are cooked but still a little crisp and bright green.

2.  Chop the sun-dried tomatoes, about 1/2 a tomato per serving.  Chop the brazil nuts, about one nut per serving.

3.  Drain and lightly salt the beans.

4.  Arrange the beans on plates, topping with tomatoes and nuts.  Enjoy!

Fruit wrapped in Prosciutto with Arugula

Well, this one started out as just persimmons, but I was growing frustrated trying to wrap each of the slippery little things up neatly with some arugula tucked inside.  So I cut my losses and grabbed the apples and asian pear I had on hand.  In the end it was great to have some variety.

What you need:

200 grams prosciutto

fruit – persimmons, crisp apples, asian pear

arugula

What you do:

1.  Cut the fruit into wedges.

2.  Place  a few pieces of arugula on a slice of fruit, then wrap with the prosciutto.  For the smaller pieces of fruit I used half a slice of prosciutto.

3.  Arrange on a platter, along with a few unwrapped pieces of each fruit.

Serve right away, especially if you are serving apple: the apples will brown and the prosciutto will dry out if it sits of long.