Pasta with veal and zucchini tomato sauce

Over the last couple of months I had been investigating what types of food are appealing to my 2.5 year old son who refuses to eat any fruits and vegetables. The hate for all colourful food items is relatively new and is not caused by true dislike but a simple refusal to put them in the mouth. Faces made out of tomatoes, cucumber and corn did absolutely nothing, in fact they made a matter worse as he would refuse to eat anything after seeing them on a plate. I knew a different approach was required. I found the secret, it lies in finding those few accepted ingredients and building an increasingly healthy food repertoire.

#easyfoodcreations #toddlerapprovedrecipes #healthyeating

Ingredients:
500 g canned chopped tomatoes
2 tbsp tomato paste
5 prunes, chopped
1 tbsp dried oregano
2 chopped zucchini
1 tbsp finely chopped fresh parsley
500 g ground veal
3/4 medium onion, chopped finely
2 cloves garlic (optional)
3 tbsp oat bran
3 tbsp flax meal, mixed with 6 tbsp water
1 tbsp ghee, butter, or oil
1 -2 tsp allspice
Salt, pepper
4-5 dried wild mushrooms rehydrated and finely chopped

1. Melt butter in a sauce pan and add onion and garlic. For a few minutes until softened.
2. Add meat and dried mushrooms and cook for another 4-5 minutes.
3. Add remaining ingredients and let them cook on a gas mark 2 for 30-40 minutes. If you want you can hold off with adding meat and blend all other ingredients after about 15 minutes of cooking.
4. When the sauce is almost ready cook pasta.
5. Serve warm with some sprinkled cheese (optional) of your choosing (I used naturally smoked cheddar in this dish).
6. Enjoy!

Cabbage Soup

#easyfoodcreations #healthyeating #cabbage

With the new year's resolutions one of the goals is to eat certain foods more frequently - cabbage is one of them.
Cabbage is a great source of fibre, vitamin C, iron, vitamin K, folate, and potassium.

Ingredients:

1 small head of green cabbage, finely chopped
2 large carrots, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
1 large onion, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, crashed and chopped
2 lean sausages (I used lean beef sausages)
1 can of tomatoes
1 litre of stock (I used chicken stock)
2 tbsp of butter
1 tsp fennel seeds
1 tsp caraway seeds
2/3 tbsp dried origano
2/3 tbsp dried thyme




1. In the large pot melt butter and add fennel and caraway seeds. Wait for them to start popping.
2. Add onion and garlic  and cook for another couple of minutes until translucent.
3. Add sausage and cook for another minute.
3. Add carrots, celery, and cabbage, and remaining ingredients. All ingredients should be covered in liquid. You may need more stock or water. Cover and cook on gas mark 2.8 for about 40-50 minutes.
4. Serve hot.
5. Enjoy!

Lemon Poppyseed Muffins

#easyfoodcreations #healthyeating #muffins

I love lemon poppyseed muffins; they are probably my favourite. Unfortunately too often they are  too soggy, too sweet, too unhealthy. I created a healthier version of the muffin and it turned out to be a bit hit.

I make only 6 muffins instead of 12 as there are only 3 of us. So if you want 12 muffins you will need to  double the ingredients.

Ingredients:

0.5 c spelt flour (You can use whole wheat. I prefer the taste of spelt but it is up to you)
0.5 c all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
0.5 tsp baking soda
0.25 tbs vanilla powder
0.25 c raw brown sugar/honey mix (I prefer to use more honey than sugar but it is up to you. You can use other sweetener if you want to.)
1 tbsp poppy seeds
1 tbsp of flax seed mixed with 1tbsp of water (you can use 1 egg instead or additionally)
0.5 lemon, juice and lemon peel
0.25 c butter or oil (I used grapeseed oil)
0.5 c coconut milk (nut/seed milk, or regular milk)

1. Mix all ingredients well.
2. Pour into muffin forms and let stand until oven is preheated to 177c.
3. Bake at 177c for 20 minutes.
4. Enjoy!

Baking Basics: Rye Bread Starter

I did not post any recipes for a while so I have some catching up to do. Over the last few months I have been experimenting with "real" bread making using bread starter. To my surprise I discovered that it is a lot easier than expected. My first starter turned out great except that I needed to wait a little longer than some people claimed in their recipes. I made the starter again based on what I learned what works, how it works, and if something is out of balance how to know that and how to fix it. Today I am going to share with you how to make it by showing pictures day by and explaining what is going on.

#easyfoodcreations #healthyeating #breadstarter

Rye Bread Starter

DAY 1

0.5c cooked, room temperature water

0.5c dark rye flour (from Bulk Barn)

Place ingredients in a plastic or glass container with a lid (not air tight). For mixing use plastic or wooden spoon. Cover the container with a lid and place near the heater in winter or leave it on the countertop in summer to ferment.

For my first starter I used 1c of each and it took a long time to ferment. Using smaller quantity cut the time significantly. Also each feeding strengthens the starter so it is a lot better faster.

DAY 2
Today we are feeding the starter for the first time. It is best practice to do it at the same time of the day. This allows the starter to have enough time to ferment. This is especially important at the beginning when starter is not very strong. Once it gets stronger you can feed it twice a day; I will explain in the following days when you may want to do that.

At day 2 you will not see any bubbles yet nor you will smell anything - it is too early yet.

1tbsp dark rye flour

Add flour to the starter and mix well using plastic or wooden spoon.

DAY 3
We are anticipating that we will be making a bread within next 2-4 days hence we need a little more starter. We want to wait until we start seeing first bubbles to double the starter. If you do it too early you may lengthen the time required for fermentation.
Today we can see some small bubbles on the surface and it is starting to smell of rotten apples.

2 large tbsp dark rye flour
0.5c cooked, room temperature water

Add ingredients to the starter and mix well using plastic or wooden spoon.
Note: I made a mistake here on purpose to explain how to fix it. The perfect mix should be the same amount of water and flour.

DAY 4
Today we can see more bubbles but some separation of water and flour occurred. This is an indication that our starter is too watery and requires more flour.
The smell of the starter today is a mix of rotten apples and dirty laundry - we are getting close to a perfect starter.

2 large tbsp dark rye flour
Add flour to the starter and mix well using plastic or wooden spoon.








DAY 5
The starter is ready to be used; it is full of bubbled. It looks like a sponge and has a smell of fresh yeast.














Notes:
1. If you are not planning to use your starter within next few days you can store it in the fridge. When it is in the fridge you do not need to feed it. You will need to take it out and feed again 3 days before you want to make your bread.
2. You can keep your starter outside all the time but remember to feed it once a day.
3. If your starter is becoming too strong (too sour) you may want to dilute by:
a)  by adding more flour and water
b) by feeding it twice a day for a couple of days
4. Wait at least half a day after last feed before using the starter. Usually I wait one day when I have a new starter and half a day when starter is more sour.
5. When you are making bread with fresh starter you need to add proportionally more starter (usually I add 5 -6 tbsp). When your starter is older and stronger you will need to add a lot less (at times I use only 2 tbsps).

Good luck in making your starter. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Lemon and Orange Raw Bars

#easyfoodcreations #healthyeating #rawdesserts

I felt like having some almonds the other day. From my previous raw desserts I knew that almonds and coconut go really well together. I also thought why not add my other favourites - lemon and orange -to the mix. A delicious dessert came out!

Serves: 12

Ingredients:
1c almonds
0.75-1c coconut
10 prunes (you can use dates or figs if you prefer)
1 lemon - juice and zest
0.5 orange - juice and zest
0.5t cinnamon
0.5t vanilla powder

1. Process all ingredients together until they start forming a ball.
2. Place the mix on the parchment paper, flatten to form 1-2 inch thick block.
3. Place in the fridge for at least one hour.
4. Enjoy!

Mushroom Miso Soup

#easyfoodcreations #healthyeating #soup

I had some leftover chopped carrot, celery, and a mushroom. It turned out they are a perfect match with a plan miso soup.

Serves: 4

Ingredients:
1L of veggie or chicken stock
4T miso (I used genmai miso)
50g chopped mushrooms (I used portabella)
10g dried wild mushrooms
50g dried wakame, reconstructed
150g tofu (silken, soft or medium would be best)
1 carrot
1 stalk celery

1. Soak dried mushroom for 10 minutes, then chop into smaller pieces.
2. Julien carrots an celery stalk and cut into 1inch pieces.
3. Chop fresh mushrooms into smaller pieces.
3. Bring stock to boil and add julienned vegetables and mushrooms. Cook on a gas mark 3.5 for about 10 minutes.
4. Take a little bit of hot stock and mix it with miso. Add mixture to the stock.
5. Take tofu out of the packaging, dry it lightly with a paper towel and cut into small cubes (1cm x 1cm).
6. Cut reconstructed wakame into smaller pieces
7. Once soup starts boiling add tofu and wakame pieces. Lower heat to gas mark 2.4 and cook for another 5 minutes.
8. Enjoy!

Healthy Treat: Banana and sesame seeds muffins

#easyfoodcreations #healthyeating #muffins

Serves:12 regular muffins

Ingredients:
0.75c whole wheat flour
0.5c oat flour
1c rolled oats
1 egg
0.75c honey
2t baking powder
0.5t vanilla powder
0.5t cinnamon
0.25t nutmeg
2 overripe bananas
5T sesame seeds, toasted
0.75c coconut milk (or any milk you like)
0.25c olive oil

1. Preheat oven to 200c .
2. Mix all dry ingredients together first.
3. Add all wet ingredients, egg, and mashed bananas. Mix everything well together.
4. Fill muffin pans 0.75 of the way.
5. Bake for 25 minutes.