Category: recipe

One of my goals this year is to increase my vegetable intake. Now to be very honest with you I am a picky vegetable eater. I have a thing against crunchy vegetables (will not even touch lettuce!). So I like my vegetables cooked, boiled, steamed, roasted and I am sure you get the picture! I was on Pinterest ‘researching’ and I found a whole bunch of pins on curried cauliflower – I thought it was brilliant and tried out my own take on it (most of the recipes called for roasting them and I chose to cook my in water and olive oil to ensure a nice soft crunch).

One cauliflower head

1-2 tbsp of curry powder (to suit your own taste)

1-2 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil (just enough to fry the cauliflower)

salt and pepper to taste

1. Cut up the cauliflowers into small pieces.

2. Combine the olive oil and cauliflower in a pot.

3. Top with curry powder, salt and pepper and mix.

4. Add in enough water to almost cover the cauliflower (this will all boil away in the end to allow the cauliflower to fry at the end).

5. On medium heat boil the cauliflower until the water has evaporated.

6. Still on medium heat, fry the cauliflower until golden. This took roughly five minutes.

NOTE: If you are not the biggest fan of spicy food stick with one tbsp of curry powder – I found that 2 tbsp will make it spicier. Also stove top cooking times can vary so please adjust your cooking times and temperatures to your oven.

I decided to play around with my Dad’s Banana Cinnamon Bread recipe (gasp! If he knew….) and throw in some apples and a pear. It turned out so well – very soft and moist. The recipe is very similar to the Banana Cinnamon Bread recipe posted with some new tweeks.

3 ripe bananas, mashed
1/3 cup melted butter
1 cup of sugar
1 egg beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon of cinnamon

3 medium apples

1 pear

 
1. Preheat oven to 350F.

2. Peel and core the apples and pear. Soften the apples and pear by cooking them on low heat in a small amount of butter. Once softened enough to be able to mash with a fork, combine them with the bananas and melted butter.

3. Add the sugar, beaten egg, vanilla and mix.

4. Add the baking soda and salt, mix.

5. Add the flour, mix.

6. Sprinkle the cinnamon on top (add more if you love the taste of the cinnamon – I’m sure I added more than a teaspoon!!) and mix thoroughly.

7. Pour the mix into a buttered 4×9 loaf pan. Bake for roughly forty five minutes to an hour. Always make sure to use a toothpick to check if it is cooked in the centre! Allow to cool and then serve.

Walmart had Maple Leaf Prime ground turkey and chicken on sale last week so I stocked up as much as my freezer could hold! Our family loves chili all year long so I decided to make a healthier version for us. Here is what we did:

– 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

– 1 large onion

– 2 medium carrots sliced

– 1 cup of fresh spinach

– 3 garlic cloves diced

– 1 1/2 cups of freshly diced tomatoes

– 1 can diced tomatoes

– 1 pound of ground extra lean turkey or chicken

– 4 tbsp dry black lentils 

– 4 tbsp cumin

– 1 tbsp chili powder

1. On medium heat, saute the onion, garlic cloves, carrots in a large pot until slightly golden.

2. Add the turkey or chicken meat. Stir until the meat is cooked through.

3. Add the spinach and continue to cook until the spinach has been cooked through.

4. Add the cumin and chili powder and cook for another minute to absorb the spices.

5. Add the fresh tomatoes and cook for another minute to two minutes or until the tomatoes become slightly absorbed. 

6. Add the diced tomatoes and allow to cook on medium heat for roughly 30 minutes or until the majority of the tomatoes have been absorbed. 

Enjoy! I was able to make not only dinner with this recipe but also two freezer lunch meals with this – perfect for busy work weeks!