We make this often and it has never been posted! How is that possible?!?

Probably because the minute my life involved owning a school, I kissed every speck of spare quiet time good-bye! :) 

I'm so glad I snapped some pictures of it one night, in the hustle of getting home late from work, and whipping up a delicious meal that included leftovers for the lunch the next day.

In the hustle of a very busy school year start this year, I knew in the back of my mind I hadn't posted a recipe a over a month (sad to have broken my record) and it was slowly eating away at me that I had no time to do what I love - sharing recipes! So, to my delight, when I logged in today to attempt to pull together a post, I found a slew of drafted posts, waiting for finishing touches. I must have known my life would be wild this August/September and prepared ahead of time. Does it say anything about me that I completely forgot that I had did that? Eek.

So, lucky me! I have a recipe ready to share!

And lucky you, twice over, because not only do you get this EASY PEASY curry recipe that comes together in less than 20 minutes, you don't have to hear me talk forever about it! No more stories, just food. It's all about the food because that's the whole reason I have this food blog. For the love of healthy food. So, let's get to it. 

Enjoy!

Creamy Chickpea Curry

Ingredients:
1 can diced tomatoes with juices
1 can coconut milk
1 onion
2 cloves garlic
tbsp ginger
2-3 tbsp curry powder, turmeric,  and curry paste (or your own concoction of flavour!)
tbsp honey
salt/pepper ro taste
1 can rinsed chickpeas
​Cooked brown rice or quinoa

What to do:

1) Heat diced onion and garlic over medium heat in a bit of oil or water. I used a cast iron pan for this dish. Stir around until smelling good.

2) Add in spices and can of tomatoes. Increase heat and add in coconut milk. Bring to a light boil. 

3) Add honey, reduce heat to simmer.  Add chickpeas and salt/pepper to taste.  Simmer for as little or as long as you wish. Serve over rice/quinoa. Yum!!! 

It tastes as good as it looks. 

It was amazing.

And just like teaching, this amazing gem came without a plan, on the fly, just working with the ingredients available to me. It was on a whim. It came out of a plan gone sour from lack of ingredients for another recipe. It came from fresh farm veggies sitting in the fridge waiting to be used. It honestly just came out of my head and went straight into my belly. Aaaaamazing. 

Garden fresh summertime veggies in a sweet and saucy balsamic glaze, mixed with my most precious staple - spaghetti noodles. Ummmmmm, yes, please!  And sprinkled with roasted pipits because, hey, why not. This dish surprised my tastebuds, and my daughter, who saw this heap of vegetables and gobbled it down. Yes, that's right folks - my 3 year old cleaned her plate from this dish. I feel like I should get an award for that big feat alone. Phew! 

I give you this, awesome 10 minute dish for supper tonight. 

Enjoy! 


Balsamic Spaghetti with Garlic Scapes, Zucchini, and Roasted Pepitas

Ingredients:
Spaghetti Noodle of Choice (We used whole wheat)
1 small onion, diced because who likes long pieces of onion? Not me. 
1 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil or water for sautéing 
*Cast Iron Pan - Seriously, get one, use it. Makes this dish better, I swear.
1 small zucchini, chopped
1/2 red pepper, chopped
4 garlic scapes, chopped 
1 ripe tomato, chopped
4 swiss chard leaves (or green of choice, optional), chopped
Balsamic Vinegar (don't measure - add bits at a time until taste is right for you)
2 tbsp Honey or Maple Syrup 
Extra Virgin Olive Oil for added Sauciness, optional
1 tsp hot pepper flakes
chopped fresh basil and oregano, as much as you want (or dried)
sea salt/pepper to taste
1/2 cup pepitas

What to do:

1) Cook noodles according to package. Set aside until ready to add in. 

2) Heat oil or water in cast iron pan over medium heat. Add onion. Cook and stir until smelling awesome and slightly coloured. Add in garlic scapes. Keep on stirring. Keep on cooking. Keep on smelling amazing. 

3) Add in rest of veggies and stir, stir, stir. Add a bit more oil or water if needed. By now, they should be getting a bit browned from the awesomeness of a cast iron pan. 

4) Add in a drizzle of balsamic. Stir. Add in a bit more. Reduce heat to low-medium. Add in honey, hot pepper flakes, fresh basil and oregano. Stir to coat and mix. Add a touch of oil if you want it a bit more saucier. Taste test. Add sea salt/pepper and more balsamic if you'd like. (I did) Add in noodles and toss to coat. Turn off heat.

5) Roast pepita seeds in a small pan over medium heat then sprinkle over top of noodles. Eat up and return back for seconds. No judgement here.

End of July? Really?

I have so many food posts I want to make and not enough time in my days to do them!

Arg! 

When I looked at my dwindling days left in July and the list of food posts waiting to be shared with the world, I decided you all might like this one. Tasty, sweet, decadent, and ridiculously easy chocolate cupcakes and icing. I can't go wrong, really. Anyone will give these a try. I think. 

Until I mention they're vegan, of course. They might be absolutely amazing and even just a wee bit healthy for you, but dare I say they're vegan.

On our journey through health and happiness over the past... 5 years? 10 years? I'm not sure how you would calculate the journey. I mean, every step of it counts if you figure how we even got to the point of caring about health and happiness. Anyway, what's important here is that we discovered over the years that food is key. It is essential, delicious, and unfortunately, unevenly produced/distributed/packaged/disguised. At any given point, it's actually far too difficult to know exactly what you're eating, where it came from, and how it it plays a role in your body's health.

So, what we learned is that if we truly valued our health and happiness so much, we had to know more about food. And so we learned. We are still learning, and have found a love for a specific kind of food far beyond what we ever would have imagined. And our love has grown to this solely because of our quest for health and happiness. Vegan food.

It's more than just saving animals. But I won't get into that now. That's what makes people tune out and think I'm a nut case. (Which I kind of am, anyway, self-proclaimed) All I gotta tell ya is it's not always easy being a lover of vegan food. It's not always looked at with open minds and open hearts. It's a bit exhausting to be met with such resistance, when honestly, it's from the heart that it all comes from.

If more and more are investing in health and happiness, it means more and more will most likely discover veganism. Which means more people might actually give these delightful chocolate cupcakes a try.  I hope, anyway. 

Give them a try!  You might surprise yourself to enjoy such a simple, dairy/egg-free treat. And the icing - don't even get me started. DATES! Yet another fantabulous way to use them. Sweet! 

Chocolate Cupcakes

Ingredients: (makes 12-ish)

• 1 cup almond milk
• 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
• 3/4 cup coconut sugar
• 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil or coconut oil (make sure milk is warm!)
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/3 cup cocoa powder
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt

What to do:
1. Preheat oven to 350 fahrenheit and put muffin liners in your muffin pan. 
2. Combine milk & vinegar and let sit for 5 minutes.
2. Add sugar & oil, blend until combined and frothy.
3. In another bowl, combine dry ingredients. 
4. Slowly add dry to wet ingredients until no longer lumpy.
5. Scoop batter into muffin liners, about 3/4 way up. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes. Let cool. 

Date Icing
​Adapted just a wee bit from this excellent site: Wholefully 

Ingredients:

• 2 cups dates, pitted
• 1 cup boiling water
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• Pinch salt

What to do:

1. Place the dates in food processor. Pour boiling water over dates and let sit for 10-15 minutes until the dates are very soft.
2. Blend water and dates on high until smooth. Add in the cocoa and salt. Continue blending until well-mixed.
3. Chill the frosting until cool (about 3 hours) before spreading on cupcakes.