Recipes

Every now and again I like to prep a big batch of veggies to munch on during the week. I typically like to make hummus to eat with them, but I wanted to try something new with ingredients I had on hand. (Making a dip is a great way to use up leftover veggies in the fridge!)

Enter the White Bean Hummus with Kale and Zucchini!

This is a fresh hummus you can enjoy in the winter or summer months and it’s perfect to eat with all of your prepped veggies or even as a sandwich spread.

There’s nothing quite like having a good snack in the house and what’s better than having a snack that uses real ingredients!

As part of my 2019 intentions, I’m (slowly) trying to wean out packaged snacks and focus on making real-food snacks at home.

I’ve been buying Koukla Delights, which are delicious, but I wanted to create something that I could easily make at home.

Enter Coconut Almond Cookies!

This is a wonderful and satisfying little cookie to snack on throughout the week (if they last that long) and they only have four ingredients!

Inspired and adapted from Koukla Delights’ Vanilla Coconut Bites.

Looking for another snack idea? Try my Date Balls with Coconut and Walnuts!

It’s squash season and a great time to take advantage of making soup!

This soup is one of the easiest soups you’ll ever make which is why I wanted to share it with you.

Winter squash is full of amazing nutritional benefits that will help to boost our  immunity all winter long:

• It has been shown to help the body balance sugar levels after eating
• It’s a top source of vitamin A because of its carotenoid content
• It’s high in fibre
• It’s a good source of Vitamin C
• It even has Omega-3 fats!

So you can see that eating butternut squash (or any orange and yellow winter squash in general) is a great option to stay healthy all winter long.

Easy Butternut Squash and Leek Soup

• 4 cups or so of butternut squash, cubed (1 inch) (For my post on how to cut a butternut squash go here!)
• 1 large leek, cleaned well and sliced width-wise
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tbsp ghee (butter works too or add another tbsp of EVOO)
• 1 tbsp curry powder
• 2 tsps of high quality sea salt or pink salt
• 3-4 cups of chicken bone broth or stock of choice

How to make it:

• In a large dutch oven or pot, heat the ghee and oil over medium heat and add the leeks. Sauté for about 5 minutes until a bit golden.
• Add the curry powder and cook it with the leeks for another minute. This process helps to bring out the flavours in the curry powder.
• Add the butternut squash and cook for another 2 minutes, mixing it in with the leeks and curry powder.
• Add just enough chicken bone broth to cover the vegetables by half an inch or so. This is a pureed soup so you don’t want it too watery. Bring to a boil.
• Turn down the heat, add the salt, cover and let it simmer until the squash is fork-tender–about 20 minutes.
• When the soup is ready, use an immersion blender or regular blender to puree the soup.
• Return to the pot to heat a bit more.
• Serve topped with a glug of olive oil.

Easy peasy! Let me know if you make this! My kids loved it and asked for seconds which is rare in the household.

Steph

Ahh butternut squash. You love to eat it, but you hate to cook it because it’s a pain in the butt(ernut) to cut.

So instead of buying it and cooking it, you pass on by it in the aisle while it cries after you yelling “Really! I’m not that hard to cut! Come back!”

Give the poor squash a break will ya!

Squash is an excellent source of many vitamins and nutrients, which are especially important in the colder months, so I really want you to get to know those squash a bit better.

This week I wanted to share with you an easier way to cut butternut squash–or just squash in general.

Below are my tips!

Tip 1: Dude you NEED to have a sharp knife.

That old knife from Ikea that you had in university isn’t going to cut it anymore (no pun intended).

Buy a new knife (I bought a couple of chopping knives from Loblaws last year for $25 that work really well) and at the same time buy a knife honer.

What the heck is a knife honer? It’s a metal rod that you use to ‘straighten’ your knife between sharpening sessions. I say ‘straighten’ because technically it doesn’t sharpen, it straightens the blade, but it feels like it’s sharper. Anyway just get one and use it right before you cut a big squash. (Learn the proper way to hone a knife here).

Having a sharp knife will make your life easier in many aspects of your cooking life.

You may actually enjoy cooking after having a sharp knife! Yes–it’s possible to love cooking! I promise!

Just be careful though. If you’re not used to your new sharp knife you could put too much pressure down into the cut than you need to and you could slip and slice your fingers.

Tip 2: Don’t feel like you need to cut squash in half length-wise.

I see so many recipes calling to cut squash in half the long way. No wonder people run away from squash! If I had a dull knife and I had to cut it length-wise in half I’d be running away too.

In my opinion you can get the same result by doing the following (this is for butternut squash):

• Cut the butternut squash in half width-wise first.
• Then cut it length-wise if you are simply going to roast it in bigger pieces.

I personally like to peel my butternut squash and then dice it to roast because it doesn’t take as long to roast than if it were in bigger pieces.

• Peel and dice = 25 mins roasting time
• Don’t peel and roast in larger pieces = 40+ minutes

So after I’ve cut it in half, I peel it (using my sharp knife!) by resting the cut, flat side down on the cutting board. Then I peel it using the knife down toward the cutting board. I suppose you could use a peeler too, but the skin might be a bit too thick for that. Then I scoop out the seeds and dice the squash into 1-inch pieces.

At this point you can either roast it, or if you like you can steam it in a steaming basket.

I don’t recommend boiling it though (or any vegetable for that matter) because as soon as you boil food, the vitamins and nutrients go from the food into the water, which most people pour down the drain.

Tip 3: Don’t peel it!

Did you know you can eat squash skin? Yes! So technically you don’t even have to peel it.

Ok if you’re making soup you should probably peel it, but if you’re roasting it for a side dish then forget about it. This past summer I cut butternut squash into thin wedges and cooked it on the BBQ. It was good!

I think this is the most I’ve ever talked about butternut squash so I think I’ll leave it there. I just want you to give the poor thing a chance because it’s so, so good.

I’ve got a great recipe on the blog for butternut squash and leek soup–try it! Or try it in a curry or in a mash or even as a sauce for mac and cheese. Roast it to eat with sausage or fish or chickpeas. The sky is the limit and your body will love you for giving it some winter squash love.