Best treat for a hot day: Cold beet soup (chlodnik)

#easyfoodcreations #healthyeating #hotday

This recipe comes from Poland where we eat a lot of beets. I created my own version based on the ingredients that are available in Canada. For this recipe I used all local ingredients since everything is in season right now.

Beets are very nutritious and in spite that it is one of the veggies that is rarely eaten by many Canadians.  Since it is very rich in fibre, protein, iron,  it should show up on many more plates more often. Beets are so versatile that in Poland we eat them raw, cooked, cold and warm, in desserts and juices.

Cold Beet Soup

1 bunch of beet roots with greens (look for ones with fresh and crunchy greens)

2c water

3T lemon juice or 2T vinegar 

3-4 garlic loves, crashed

3 scallions, finely chopped

1 cucumber, take seeds out and finely chop

1 bunch of radishes, finely chopped 

1 bunch of fresh dill

2c Greek yoghurt ( I use full fat but it is up to you)

1. Chop finely beet roots and beet greens. Then put them in a pot with water, lemon juice and garlic. Cook them on a low medium heat for about 40 min or until beet roots are tender.

2. Let beet soup cool at room temperature. 

3. Add yoghurt and all chopped ingredients. Mix well and chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour.

4. Serve by itself or with sliced boiled egg.

5. Enjoy!

Fibre Bomb: Fibre loaded meatballs with my signature tomato sauce served with zucchini noodles

This recipe is a result of another nutrition course I am taking on Coursera. The professor mentioned that most people only consume about 13g of fibre a day, which is only about 1/3-1/2 of the daily recommendation. When I did a review of my eating habits I discovered that I consume 45-50g of fibre a day so I decided to share some of my tricks how to incorporate more fibre rich foods into dishes that typically have no or minimal fibre content.

#easyfoodcreations #healthyeating #fiber #meatballs

Meatballs:

0.5kg chicken thighs without skin (you can use breast if you want lower fat option, I use thighs as they have more iron and there is not much extra fat added in this recipe)

2.5c  red lentils (I soaked them overnight but it is not necessary) cooked with some spices (cumin, paprika, dried garlic, dried oregano, dried onion). Blended until fairly smooth.

1 egg

1.5c oats blended into a flour

4 cloves of garlic, pressed

1 onion, chopped and lightly sautéed

1. Sauté onion and garlic, then blend them.

2. Mix all ingredients together.

3. Bring a pot of salted water into boil (if you add salt the water they cook faster as salt traps the heat hence increases boiling point, if you prefer you do not need to add it)

3. Form balls with your hand. You will have around 40 meatballs.

4. Cook meatballs until they start floating. 

Tomato sauce:

1kg of crashed tomatoes, I used canned as fresh ones are quite expensive so I prefer to eat them raw

10 prunes, finely chopped (sweetness from prunes will offset the sourness of the tomato sauce, also it will help thicken the sauce)

1 onion, finely chopped

4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped 

2T fresh basil

4T dried oregano

1T butter or olive oil

1. Sauté onion and garlic in butter for a few minutes, until they start browning.

2. Add crashed tomatoes and prunes, cook on a medium low heat for 10-15 minutes

3. Add herbs and cook for further few minutes.

4. Add cooked meatballs and cook with the sauce for about 5 minutes.

Zucchini noodles:

2 large zucchini

1. Use spiral slicer to creat zucchini noodles.

2. Bring a pot of water into boil.

3. Cook zucchini noodles for 30s to 2 minutes depending on the firmness and size of the zucchini. Do not overlook!

ENJOY!