Barley with Brussels Sprouts, Spinach,Edamame, and Cashews

Has anyone else noticed that Brussels Sprouts are sort of everywhere in the foodie world at the moment?  
Usually they are just a traditional BORING side dish for Christmas or Thanksgiving dinner….although this year my baby blisters sweet heart was our Christmas dinner Chef who made us a Brussels sprout dish that actually really changed everything for me about what I thought I knew about Brussels Sprouts.
Brussels Sprouts are actually REALLY Cool!
ANd Barley …its like a grain that has been under your nose this whole time
and you never thought of putting it in anything else but beef stew
Don't you LOVE re inventing ingredients!
(oh my I am nerd totally admitting to it …I am good with it)

So if you are ready to invite these yummy ingredients into your world…keep reading!

Barley, Brussels Sprouts,Spinach,Edamame,&Cashew Delight!

2 Cups Water
1/2 Cup Barley
1 Cup Frozen shelled Edamame 
1 TBSP extra virgin Olive Oil or Coconut oil
1 TBSP Minced peeled Fresh Ginger, minced
1 clove Garlic, minced
10 small Brussels Sprouts, trimmed and thinly sliced
1 Bunch Spinach, stems removed
1/2 Cup Cashews, coarsely chopped
Red Pepper Flakes

To make your dish:
Bring the water, barley, and a pinch of salt to a boil in a medium saucepan.  Reduce heat, cover, and simmer until grains are just tender, about 40 minutes.

Once Barley is done add your Edamame to the pot, stir, and cover.  Remove from burner and let sit while you prepare the rest.

Heat oil in large skillet over medium heat.

Add Ginger and Garlic; cook, stirring for about 1 minute.

Add Brussels Sprouts and cook stirring until bright green and tender (about 2 minutes)

Make room in centre of pan, add a touch more oil.  Add spinach and cashews and cook stirring until spinach is wilted (about 2 minutes)

Next Stir in your Barley / Edamame mixture.

Season with Salt and Pepper and red pepper flakes

SERVE enjoy!!!

xoxo
Ashie Girl

Carrot Ginger Cashew Cream Soup

A staple for my weekday lunches at work is a beautiful yummy flavourful soup.

I can whip up a huge batch of one of my fav soup recipes, portion size in mason jars and I have a week of healthy food ready to go. 

The real fun begins when you get fancy with toppings something simple like a  great big squeeze of lemon or lime juice, adding a lot of something green like micro greens & cilantro, even some crumbled fetta  YUM!

Tomorrows lunch basket has homemade corn tortillas left over from fish tacos.  They are great on the side or toasted and cut into long strips and sprinkled on top.

The cashew cream is a trick that you will be so happy to learn.  

Start by Soaking 3/4 cup of cashews over night or even when you think about making this soup pop them in water…the longer they soak the creamier your final product will be.  

Once soaked the cashews will be quite soft.  

Drain off the water you soaked the nuts in, add to your blender with 1 cup of fresh water, blend till creamy…you may have to stop the blender to push the goodies down to the blades a few times.  End result is a think cream you can add to lots of different dishes to create the look and feel of 'cream' but this version is dairy free…perfect for an Arbonne cleanse when we want to eliminate dairy. 

SO here is the recipe!

A simple Carrot Soup For Clean Eating!

serves 4

2 tablespoons unsalted butter or extra-virgin coconut oil

1 onion, chopped 

              1 clove Garlic, minced

2 pounds carrots, peeled and chopped - 1/2-inch chunks

              1 Cup Celery, chopped               

              1 thumb sized chunk of Fresh ginger, diced 
       
              1 good dollop of Cashew Cream :)

1 1/2 cups / 360 ml of water, or to cover

In a large soup pan over medium-high heat add the butter and onion. Stir until the onions are well-coated, and allow to sauté until translucent, a few minutes. Add shopped celery, carrots, and the ginger. Allow to cook another minute or two, and then add the cashew cream, salt, and water, adding more water to cover if needed. Allow to simmer until the carrots are tender, 10 - 15 minutes, and then puree using a blender or hand blender until the soup is completely silky smooth. This next part is important (with any soup) - make any needed adjustments. Add more water if the consistency needs to be thinned out a bit.

A quick way to cheat at this without having to make the cashew cream is just to soak your cashews then add them to your soup near the end.  The cashews will blend up nicely…to be honest this is how I did it today so the pictures you can see the cashews are creamed but could be totally undetectable if you make the cashew cream before hand.

PS 
Search "cashew cream" on my blog to turn up another great soup recipe with cashew cream :)

Enjoy!!!!

xoxo 

Ashie Girl

Wheat Free Vegan Pancakes

These are an original recipe from Barbara Mindell of Amped on Nutrition on Quadra Island
and her latest cookbook "Cooking Your Bummers Out"
If you haven't gotten a look at this cookbook I highly recommend it
Her best recipes that she kept secret for years are printed through its pages
So many of these recipes make it to my favourites list
Her Bean cakes
Peanut Sauce
Zoo Zoo Balls
AND these Vegan Waffles
transformed into pancakes since I am too lazy to pull out the waffle maker
These Freeze beautifully pop into the toaster for healthy food on demand

Wheat Free Vegan Waffles

- 1 Cup of Dry Lima Beans (soak overnight in 3 Cups of Cold water)
- 3 1/2 Cups Rolled Oats 
- 6 TBSP Agave Syrup (optional)
- 1 1/2 TBSP Flax Meal
- 2 TBSP Baking Powder
- 3 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 2 tsp Salt
- 4 1/2 Cups Fresh Water

Soak your Lima beans overnight in 4 cups of fresh cold water.
In the morning discard water and rinse with fresh water
Next place your lima beans in a saucepan with 2-3 Cups of Water
Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 1/2 hour.
Your Lima Bean goodness is ready to use!

Add all ingredients to the blender, blend until smooth and light and foamy.

Pre heat griddle or Pan on medium heat scoop batter with 1/4 cup measure to make pretty Pancakes!

Tahini Maple sauce

- 1/2 Cup Tahini
- 1/4 Cup Maple Syrup

Choose your most favourite pretty small bowl
combine your Tahini and maple goodness
Next try not to spoon this onto everything in one sitting
Tahini is Sesame butter…Sesame seeds are LOADED with Calcium 

My advice to you..
Make a big ol batch of these Pinners freeze em up
Smugly toast them up whenever you make tea
Spread Tahini
Use the energy it brings you to preform a Random Act Of Kindness
YOu may just make someones day

Full Tummy
Strong Bones
Big happy Heart

xoxo
Ashie Girl

Mini Apple Crisps In Mason Jars

This weekend was my Dad's 68th Birthday
Saturday was a Sunny Afternoon
He and my mother traveled all the way to Nanaimo for a quick visit and an outing saturday outing  Wishing my sisters were with us too…..We strolled commercial street downtown Nanaimo stopping at Perkins to have soup and Sandwiches together.
Bodo was a champ and tagged along showing us his favourite Stair sets he would like to skateboard if ever given the opportunity…
We had such a nice time together.  Always too short.
Another epic milestone is my 200th Blog Post!

I find this incredible and exciting.  Goes to show you how doing something little every once in a while can really add up.

SO what to post for a 200th post
Well…Having my Dads Birthday makes it feel special but as for a recipe I thought I would keep it simple and classic
These Mini Apple Crisp Mason Jars are SO perfect for Picnics and lunches or just portion sized desserts.  This version is very healthy gluten free with Buckwheat Flour
…Making a batch of the real deal Apple Crisp for some members of my family might have been a good idea and one that would be easy to pull off as these Jars come together in a snap.

MOSTLY my family are real champs when it comes to my blog food…tasting and trying my ideas and creations for 200 posts I would say they deserve real dessert…maybe next time ;)

Like I said these mini desserts come together in a snap you make the apple filling, make the crumble assemble into your jars and bake YUP right in the jars convenient right!

Happy Birthday Dad I love you

Crumble Topping:

-1/2 Cups Gluten Free Rolled Oats
-1/2 Cup Dark or Light Buckwheat Flour
-3 TBSP Coconut Oil, Melted
-2 TBSP Coconut sugar or other natural sweetener (optional…I left this out apples are sweet)
-1 tsp ground Cinnamon(I used my Epicure Apple Pie Spice!!! Ask my Friend Tanya about Epicure)
-Sea Salt

Apple Filling:

- 4 Cups diced apples (I used 2 Large apples)
- 1 TBSP Lemon Juice
- 1 TBSP Maple Syrup
- 1 tsp Chia seeds or ground flax meal

Preheat oven to 350

To prepare crumble topping:
In medium Bowl mix together all crumble topping ingredients until fully combined. Set aside.

To prepare filling:
In a large bowl, toss together all the filling ingredients.
Divide mixture evenly amount 6 oven proof 250 ml glass mason jars.
Top with crumble.
Place jars on parchment lines baking sheet and bake for 40 minutes.
Cool completely, fasten lids, transfer to your picnic basket
Don't forget the spoons!

Enjoy!

xoxo
Ashie Girl

Chakra Caesar Salad from Oh SHe GLOWS

Hello all,

Vegan Caesar Salad
Because my son LOVES Caesar salad
and I just couldn't wait to try this recipe
Nutty Herb Croutons…OK so these are Bread Free Croutons…Crayzee right!

So I served this to the kid without saying a word
He questioned the Croutons….but gobbled them up anyways after I explained…

Me: 'oh honey they are from Oh she glows'

Bodo" 'OH! ok…Thanks mom'

SO these went over without a question.  The dressing is creamy and so yummy.  The croutons have a great crunch.
As Angela Liddon (author of Oh She Glows) points out you certainly will not look at croutons the same way after trying these…taking the time to make these is time well spent as they store up to a month in a tightly sealed container.

This is a fabulous prep ahead meal for your crazy work week that your whole family will gobble up.  Just wash your Romain toss and BOOM
Your the Dinner time hero again!!!! (*sigh* you make it look so easy!)

NOTE: A Prep ahead note is that you will need to soak your almonds overnight.
This creates a creamy texture once you have removed the almond skins.  When they are soaked for at least overnight they come off easily.  This step is not mandatory but I think makes a real difference in texture.

Nutty Herb Croutons: 

1 Tbsp ground flax seed 
1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic
1 Cup raw almonds
2 Tbsp Chopped sweet Onion 
2 Tbsp fresh packed parsley, or 1 tsp dried
2 Tbsp fresh packed Basil, or 1 tsp dried
1 tbsp fresh rosemary, or 1/2 tsp dried
1/2 tsp dried oregano

1/4 tsp fine grain sea salt or to taste

1.  Preheat oven to 300.  Line large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.

2.  In a small howl, combine the flaxseed, oil, and two TBSP of water and stir.  Set aside for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the mixture has thickened.

3.  In a food processor, pulse the garlic to mince it.  Add the almonds and process until finely chopped. Add the onion, parsley, basil, thyme. rosemary, oregano, salt, and flaxseed mixture and process until a sticky ball of dough forms.

4. With your fingers, sprinkle small portions of the crouton dough onto the prepared baking sheet, using roughly 1/2 tsp of dough per crouton.  Place the croutons 1 inch apart on the baking sheet.

5.  Bake for 20 minutes, then gently flip the croutons and bake for 10 -15 minutes more, until golden.  Watch the croutons closely neat the end of the baking time to make sure they do not burn.

6. Let the croutons cool on the pan for 10 minutes.  They will firm up while cooling.  Cool the croutons completely and store in an airtight glass jar for 2 -4 weeks.


Chakra Caesar Salad:

1/2 cup while raw almond
1 whole head of garlic, for roasting, plus 1/2 clove garlic, minced (optional)
1/4 Cup extra virgin olive oil
4 Tbsp fresh Lemon juice
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1/4 to 1/2 tsp fine grain sea salt, to taste
1/4 tsp dry mustard 
1/2 tsp black pepper

1.  Place the almonds in a bowl and add enough water to cover.  Soak for at least 12 hours or overnight.  Drain and rinse the almonds.  Remove skins.

2. Preheat oven to 425

3. Cut off the top of the garlic head so all the raw cloves are exposed.  Remove any losse skin.  wrap the head in foil and place it on a baking sheet.  Roast the garlic for 35-45 minutes. or until the cloves are soft and golden.  let cool for 10-15 minutes until cool enough o handle.  Remove foil and squeeze garlic cloves out of their skins and into a food processor.

4.  Add the soaked almonds, oil, lemon juice, Dijon mustard, salt, dry mustard, pepper, and 1/4 cup water to the food processor and process until smooth, topping to scrape down the bowl as needed.  Add the minced raw garlic if you'd like the dressing to have a more intense garlic flavour- otherwise leave it out.
5.  Place the lettuce in a large sale bowl and pour your desired amount of dressing on top.  Toss until fully coated.  Sprinkle the nutty herb croutons over the sale just before serving.

Gluten Free Sugar Free Dairy Free YUMMY OAtmeal Raisin Banana Cookies

Pre heat oven to 400

In a medium sized bowl:

1 small Banana
1tsp vanilla extract
1 Egg
(Mash & mix then set aside)

In another medium sized bowl:

1/2 cup rice flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
(Combine dry ingredients)

Add dry ingredients to wet stir to combine

Add 1/2 cup oatmeal

Add 1/4 Cup Raisins (This could be chocolate chips)

Add 1/4 Cup Walnuts or other favourite seed or nut (optional)

Mix it up !

Drop onto parchment on cookie sheet in level tablespoon heaps

Bake 15 mins

Enjoy!

Favorite Veggie Burger

The RAIN is here…..
Time to accept it
The school age kids bringing home colds
The Leaves are changing to brilliant Yellow,Orange, and Red
The Patter of rain on your rooftop
COzyness is here!
Dark mornings
and Dark evenings
Speaking of those dark evenings….
time to make comfort food
easy healthy food that freezes well
ready for those evenings that you REaLLy! REALLY do not want to cook
Enter the secret weapon
VEGGIE BURGER
Making a batch of these is well worth the effort
They keep in the fridge for up to a week
or freeze for a meal down the road

They are awesome on a yummy multi seed bun with avocado grainy mustard vine ripe tomato crisp lettuce….

They are awesome in a lettuce wrap

They are awesome crumbled over salad

No matter what you really can't go wrong

This recipe is from the OH SHE GLOWS cookbook by Angela Liddon
Her recipe was inspired by Shelly Adams author of the Whitewater cookbook
The only adjustment I made was to use brown rice in the place of breadcrumbs
Breadcrumbs work great as a binder and soak up any excess liquid creating less crumble
But I found my brown rice version was just as solid.  Just make sure you cook your rice a bit overdone so it is a bit stickier than usual…but honestly just leftover rice will work great

The Recipe:

3 Tablespoons ground Flaxseed
1 (15 oz can/425 -g) can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 Cup grated Carrots or Sweet Potato
1/3 Cup Finely chopped fresh Parsley or cilantro leaves
2 large garlic cloves, minced
1/2 Cup Onion 
1/2 Cup Sunflower seeds
3/4 Cup Oats, processed into a Flour
1/2 Cup Cooked Brown Rice
1/2 TBSP Olive oil or Coconut Oil
2 TBP Braggs or Tamari
1 tsp Chili powder 
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp ground cumin 
3/4 to 1 tsp fine grain sea salt
Fresh ground black pepper

Dig out your food processor if you have one:


1.  Process your Oatmeal into a course flour, transfer to a bowl for later

2. Preheat Oven to 350.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper

3. In a small bowl combine the flax seeds 1/3 Cup warm water and set aside for 5-10 minutes

4. In a large bowl mash black beans into a paste, leaving a few black beans intact for texture.  Stir in the rest of the ingredients and flaxseed mixture.

5. Use your food processor to quickly mince your garlic and chop your parsley.  Transfer to bean mixture
6. Add about 1/2 an Onion to your food processor should be about the right amount.  Transfer to bean mixture.

7.  Grate Carrot and to bean mixture.

8. Stir in the rest of the ingredients including flax

9. With a 1/3 Cup scoop measure out clumps of burger onto a clean surface.

10. wash and wet your hands to shape burgers and lightly squish.  Place the patties onto the prepared baking sheet.

11. Bake the patties for 15 mins, gently flip them and bake for another 15-20 mins, until patties are firm and golden.