Tag Archives: healthy

Midnight Salad in the Garden of Blueberry

7 Feb

I don’t usually recommend late night snacking… however, last week after an unusually long day a tasty little salad did not seem too much of guilty pleasure. Late night snacks have their downfalls, the main one is that sometimes the ingredients necessary to make that perfect recipe are just not in your fridge or pantry. This recipe was the result of such a situation. Sometimes food made from scratch just tastes great!


Midnight Blueberry Salad
Ingredients
I package of baby spinach (about 4-5 cups)
1 cup of Blueberries
1 cup of crushed walnuts
1 cup of crisp bacon bits
2 TBS of apple cider vinegar
1 TBS of Dijon mustard
1 clove of garlic
salt and pepper to taste
lemon zest

Directions
1. On medium low heat cook bacon, until crisp on the edges;
2. While bacon cooks, in a large salad bowl combine blueberries and spinach;
3. In a small mixing bowl mix the pressed garlic, mustard and apple cider;
4. Once the bacon is cooked, remove and place on a separate plate (DO NOT THROW OUT DRIPPINGS!!);
5. Cut the bacon into small pieces and then add the garlic to the remaining bacon fat;
6. Let it cook for about 2 minutes or until you can smell the apple cider;
7. Toast crushed walnuts in oven at about 350 F until you can smell them – about 2 minutes;
8. Add bacon, walnuts and dressing to spinach and blueberries…and VOILA!

You can definitely change this recipe to your liking. This is one of the reasons it is so great. Varying a couple of ingredients keeps your taste buds happy. For example, if you don’t like mustard you can leave it out. This will make the taste of the dressing milder. Or if you prefer almonds throw some in. The flavors that make this interesting are the blueberries, the bacon and the tart flavor of the apple cider and garlic. Anything else can be switched… maybe some fresh blackberries? Mmmm sounds good!

If you have any questions drop me a line. In the meantime enjoy my Midnight Salad in the Garden of Blueberry .

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Shrimp, Shrimp, the magical food….

2 Feb

I love shrimp! I love the way they look and I love the way they taste. Shrimp are extremely versatile, not to mention you can add them to any recipe and all of a sudden, it seems exotic to your taste buds and above all yummy! I usually like preparing a bunch of shrimp and saving some for later. I add them to salads or even in my morning omelet. It’s great if you’re in a rush and feels like you don’t have time to eat healthily.

The other thing that I love is how great they are for you! Shrimps are full of minerals and omega-3 fatty acids as well as vitamin B12. So in essence this is a great combo! Good to eat and yummy too. Who would have thought they were packed with such good healthy stuff. What’s great about this Easy Tiger Shrimp Recipe, is how easy it is. I will give you a little intro on how to de-shell shrimp after that you should be set. Are you ready for some shrimp?

Easy Tiger Shrimp Recipe

Ingredients
2 1/2 cups of shrimp (uncooked and shells removed)
2 cloves of garlic minced or pressed
1/3 cup of dry white wine
1/2 tsp of chili flakes
1 tsp of butter or coconut oil
salt and peppers to taste

Instructions
1. If frozen soak your shrimp in water at room temperature;
2. Once fully thawed, de-shell them by finding the spine of your shrimp, where the shell meets and creates a gap;
3. Pull the shell off but leave the tail on;
4. Set pan to medium heat add oil/butter;
5. Add chili flakes and garlic to pan and cook for about 5 minutes or until garlic is golden;
6. Add shrimp and spread evenly on pan surface;
7. When shrimp begin to get pink turn up the heat to medium and add the wine;
8. When most of the wine is gone it is a good sign because your done!

I like placing the tiger shrimp on a bed of curried quinoa. The best thing about them is that they are great to have in your fridge because they are ready for any occasion! Healthy and yummy this early preparation will take off added stress of the “what to have for dinner” factor… or at least it will give you something to munch on while you make dinner. So try this easy flavorful shrimp recipe!

If you have any questions drop me a line!

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Teo’s Terrific Tuesday’s- Beets two ways….

29 Jun

Some more great food ideas from Teo!

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If you’re anything like me, beets are far from your mind in the
spring/early summer. Beets belong in the fall with all the other root
vegetables: boiled, roasted, pickled…served up with gherkins and
cocktail onions alongside your grand maman’s tourtière. But I can’t
stop seeing them these days. Tiny, bright beets at the tips of
ginormous veiny leaves, alongside decidedly summer fare like
cucumbers, tomatoes, and new potatoes. And after all, why the hell
not? Tiny, little, succulent, tender-as-they’ll ever be beets. Sign
me up.

Now, many people are not beet fans. It’s alright. I must admit that
I wouldn’t touch them myself until my late teens. And then, I
suffered through them for a while, convinced that–given their colour
and weird-ass taste–they had to be good for me. But now I love them.
And you should too.

These are two of my favourite beet recipes. If you are a tentative
beet-er, you may want to start with the cooked salad. If not, go
ahead and try the raw beet one. Either way, you’ll get lots of iron,
potassium, magnesium, phosphorous, and vitamins A and B. Beets are an
excellent detox-booster, as they tone blood and feed red blood cells.
Enjoy!

Beet slaw

For this recipe you will need
ingredients
5-9 beets, depending on the size
2-3 limes, depending on how many beets
1 carrots (optional, for colour)
1 clove of garlic
3-4 tbsp sunflower oil
Salt and pepper
1-2 avocadoes, ripe

Directions
1. Do not peel the beets if you can help it–the skin has most of the
fibre. Scrub them well, and maybe peel them a bit towards the top
(where the root meets the stem) and the skin is thicker. Peel around
any bumps and rought spots, but otherwise leave the skin on.
2. Grate the beets using the bigger setting on a cheese grater (I
have a flat handheld grater and it is a god send). Watch your
fingers. Try to grate directly into the bowl or you will have a
purple kitchen.
3. Grate the garlic into the beets. Raw garlic is an excellent
antimicrobial (ie, a yeast killer, it rids the intestines of bad
bacteria to leave room for the good ones to grow) and this is an easy
way to get some in. But if you are not a raw garlic fan you can skip
it here to no great harm.
4. Grate your carrot in for colour. I mean, the whole thing will be
purple, but some people like shades.
5. Squeeze your limes and toss the juice in with the beets.
6. Drizzle in the sunflower oil and toss well. Season to taste.
Place salad in serving bowls.
7. Cube your avocado and serve on top. Try to get a chunk of avocado
with each bite. Awesome…

Beet and corn salad

For this recipe you will need
ingredients
5-9 beets, depending on the size
1 red onion (or half if very big)
2-3 handfuls of frozen corn (ie, 1/2 to 1 cup), thawed
1 bunch of parsley, I prefer flat leaf (ie, Italian) in this recipe
but there is absolutely no reason why
3-4 tbsp of apple cider vinegar
Salt and pepper
Sunflower oil

Directions
1. Cook your beets. It takes a long-ass time. Be patient. When a
fork can make some headway in but they feel like they would still
crunch a bit, they’re ready.
2. Rinse your beets and soak in cold water. Peel them (the skins
should just rub off, but sometimes a little help from a knife is
welcome).
3. Cube them. You are going for bite sized pieces. Don’t chop too small.
4. Slice your red onion THINLY. You are going for quasi-Goodfellas
slivers. Toss them in with your beets.
5. Wash and coarsely chop your parsley, toss it in.
6. Drain your corn and toss it in.
7. Salt and pepper to taste.
8. Add vinegar. Drizzle with sunflower oil. Toss. Toss again. Eat!

PS. Beet greens are a whole other level of adventurous. Try
sauteeing them or steaming them. The trick is to cut the bitterness,
so add a little bit of orange juice or, oddly enough, balsamic…and
lots of salt and olive oil.

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The Kale Salad of Awesome

18 May

This salad is definitely a healthy treat. Last summer I had the chance to have some of this great salad when a friend of my mine passed down the recipe. WARNING, this is a hearty filling salad and may become addictive, that is why I call it The Kale Salad of Awesome.


For this Recipe you will need
Ingredients
1 large bunch of Kale
1 one medium/large ripe avocado
2 carrots
1 lemon
1 garlic clove, or more if desired
Olive oil
salt

Directions
1. de-stem Kale ( remove all the tough spines on the leaves)
2. Pour olive oil on kale ( be generous)
3. massage bit size leaves with olive oil until all the leaves are coated
4. let it soak up the oil while you…
Wait about 15 minutes. Time you can use to prepare the other ingredients.
5. cut up the carrots julienne style
6.cut the avocado in two halves cut lengthwise and crosswise incisions into the meat
7. juice the lemon
8.press the garlic
9. Salt the kale leaves generously and TOSS
10. Add lemon juice, avocados and carrots
11. TOSS TOSS TOSS

This salad is awesome for many reasons:
Reason number one, the ingredients are super healthy ! Kale is amazing, I usually buy mine at Rachelle Berry, its fresh and organic and yummy. Reason number two with regards to awesomeness, is the textures in the salad the ripe avocado and the hearty kale leaves are a great contrast that is enchanced by the garlic and lemon. Reason number three, the salad will not wilt even with the dressing after a night in teh fridge. So you can definitely make this salad to have the next day.

If you have any questions drop me a line!

Have a happy kale time !

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