Month: October 2017

Appetizer Vegetarian · Vegetable sides

10 minute Portobello pizzas

Belinda

The perfect low-carb pizza with the added flavor of earthy portobello mushrooms and ready in 10 minutes!.
From the wonderful blog, “Cafe Delites”

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Serves 6

6 portobello mushroom caps, stems removed, washed and dried with a paper towel
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 tsp minced garlic
6 tsp Italian seasoning (or a dried oregano and basil leaf blend), divided
3/4 cup pizza sauce (garlic and herb)
1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese (or a pizza cheese blend)*
30 miniature-sized pepperonis**
6 or more cherry or grape tomatoes, sliced thinly
Salt and pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to broil / grill settings on high heat. Arrange oven shelf to the middle of your oven.

Combine the oil, garlic and 4 teaspoons of the seasoning together in a small bowl. Brush the bottoms of each mushroom with the garlic oil mixture and place each mushroom, oil side down, on a lightly greased baking sheet / tray.
Fill each mushroom with 2 tablespoons of the pizza sauce per cap, 1/4 cup of mozzarella cheese, 6 pepperoni miniatures and tomato slices. Broil / grill until cheese has melted and is golden in color (about 8 minutes).

To serve, sprinkle with the remaining Italian seasoning (or mixed herbs), and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Recipe Notes
*I find using dry cheese such as shredded mozzarella gives the best results. Using fresh mozzarella may cause the mushrooms to release some liquid during the broiling / grilling process.
**For the miniature pepperonis, I bought normal-sized pepperonis and cut them with an apple corer like this one to get miniature sized ones. (I used 8 slices.) However, you can use whatever you can find!

TIP: Do NOT over bake them! They WILL release a lot of liquid if left in the oven for too long! Make sure your oven is preheated well and HOT when putting them in.

Fish · Gluten Free

Creamy garlic Tuscan salmon

Belinda

A stunningly creamy, silky restaurant quality recipe from the blog “Cafe Delites”

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4 Servings

4 salmon fillets, about 6 oz each and skin off (or Trout or any white fish)
Salt and pepper, to season
2 tsp olive oil
2 tbsp butter
6 cloves garlic, finely diced
1 small yellow onion, diced
1/3 cup dry white wine (OPTIONAL) — (do not use a sweet white wine)
5 ounces (150 g) jarred sun dried tomato strips in oil, drained of oil
1 3/4 cups half and half *SEE NOTES
Salt and pepper, to taste
3 cups baby spinach leaves
1/2 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese, (do not include for dairy free option)
1 tsp cornstarch (cornflour) mixed with 1 tbsp of water (optional)**
1 tbsp fresh parsley chopped

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Season the salmon filets (or fish if using) on both sides with salt and pepper, and sear in the hot pan, flesh-side down first, for 5 minutes on each side, or until cooked to your liking. Once cooked, remove from the pan and set aside.

Melt the butter in the remaining juices leftover in the pan. Add in the garlic and fry until fragrant (about one minute). Fry the onion in the butter. Pour in the white wine (if using), and allow to reduce down slightly. Add the sun dried tomatoes and fry for 1-2 minutes to release their flavors.

Reduce heat to low heat, add the half and half (or heavy cream), and bring to a gentle simmer, while stirring occasionally. Season with salt and pepper to your taste.

Add in the spinach leaves and allow to wilt in the sauce, and add in the parmesan cheese. Allow sauce to simmer for a further minute until cheese melts through the sauce. (For a thicker sauce, add the milk/cornstarch mixture to the centre of the pan, and continue to simmer while quickly stirring the mixture through until the sauce thickens.)

Add the salmon back into the pan; sprinkle with the parsley, and spoon the sauce over each filet.
Serve over pasta, rice or steamed veg.

Recipe Notes
*Half and half is an American product, made from equal parts light cream and milk. Feel free to use half light cream and half 2% milk (or full fat if not worried about calories and fat counts), in place of half and half.
Alternatively, use all light cream or heavy cream.
**For a gluten free option, find GLUTEN FREE Cornstarch where available

Breakfast · Dairy-free · Egg based · Gluten Free · Vegetable-related · Whole30 compliant

Shakshuka with tahini and olives

Belinda

This is the most wonderful brunch or lunch, oozing with flavor and goodness.

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Serves 2 – 4 (but can easily be augmented)

3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
4 large organic, pasture-raised eggs
3 medium tomatoes – roughly chopped
1/2 medium onion-diced
5 cloves garlic-roughly chopped
2 tsp smoked Spanish paprika
1&1/4 tsp harissa
1 handful green olives – pitted and roughly chopped for garnish
salt and pepper to taste

For the tahini mixture;
2 tbsp tahini
1 clove garlic-finely grated
2 tbsp lemon juice
Approx 1/4 cup water
pinch of sea salt

In a bowl, whisk together the tahini, garlic and lemon juice. The mixture will be clumpy. Keep whisking and slowly add 1 tbsp water at a time until the tahini loosens and can loosely coat the back of a spoon. Season with a pinch of salt- set aside

Heat a heavy bottomed pan over medium heat. Add the oil, onions and garlic. Season with a pinch of salt and sauté for 10 to 15 minutes until soft.
Season the onion mixture with the smoked paprika and sauté for 60 seconds- stir constantly to prevent burning.

Add the tomatoes and season with a pinch of salt and pepper. Stir, lower the heat to medium low and cover with a lid. Cook for 10 to 15 minutes. Stir in the Harissa.
NOTE- If the tomato mixture dries out during the cooking, add 1-2 tbsp water.

Remove the lid and crack the eggs into the sauce one at a time.
TIP- Use a spatula to create a small “well” in the sauce and add the egg into the well so that the eggs cook in the sauce rather than over the top of it.

Cover with a lid and cook until the whites have hardened but the yolks are runny; approx 6 to 8 minutes.
For firmer yolks, cook for a bit longer.
Remove from the heat, drizzle with the tahini and garnish with the olives

 

Dairy-free · Salad · Uncategorized

Crunchy fennel salad with grapes, dates, olives and almonds

Belinda1 Comment

This is a really fabulous and interesting salad with wonderful texture and flavor. It’s so quick to make and has a real “wow” factor

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Serves 4

1 cup thinly sliced fennel (make sure you cut off the hard core)
1 cup red seedless grapes, cut in half
3 oz green unstuffed olives, pitted and quartered lengthways
5 Medjool dates, pitted and sliced thinly lengthways
juice of a medium lemon
1 tbsp good olive oil (or a little more if you like)
salt and pepper to taste
3 oz toasted slivered almonds
2 oz shaved pecorino romano cheese

Combine the fennel, grapes, olives and dates in a medium sized bowl.
Drizzle with the olive oil and lemon juice and season with salt and pepper.
Toss to coat evenly.
Just before serving, mix in the toasted almonds and pecorino cheese.

Serve

Beverage · Breakfast · Dairy-free · Do-ahead · Gluten Free · Vegan · Whole30 compliant

Carrot cake smoothie

Belinda1 Comment

I happen to be married to someone who adores carrot cake, so when I found this recipe recently, there was no way I wasn’t going to include it. I mean, a healthy smoothie tasting like carrot cake??

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1 cup carrots, peeled and then grated (if you have a high powered blender like a Vitamix, you could probably just roughly chop them)
1 organic banana, frozen
1 1/2 cups coconut/almond milk(or other non-dairy milk of your choice)
1/4 cup raw unsalted cashews, soaked for two hours (or 1/4 cup homemade cashew nut butter)
1 tsp good vanilla extract
1 good sized Medjool date
1 tbsp organic raw shelled hemp seeds, or protein powder.
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger or 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp ground cloves

Optional – instead of the hemp seeds, for additional nutritional support, you could also opt for a scoop of Protein Powder, either the Vanilla Chai or straight Vanilla would be great.

Directions: Add all of the ingredients to your high speed blender and process until smooth and creamy. Top with a little cinnamon and a pinch of grated carrots. Enjoy immediately.

Appetizer Vegetarian · Do-ahead

Easy foil-baked feta cheese

Belinda

It hadn’t occurred to me to bake feta cheese before but this is absolutely delicious served with crusty bread. It still holds it’s shape and the juices are a beautiful red and green color. You will think you are in the Greek Islands as you eat this.
Recipe c/o Vicky Bhogal.

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Serves 4-6

4x 7oz (roughly) blocks of Greek feta cheese. (Don’t use French, as it’s too mild)
Extra virgin olive oil, a generous glug for each foil parcel
2 large garlic cloves, very thinly sliced
1 tsp dried red chili flakes
a handful fresh oregano leaves, finely chopped
4 fresh plum tomatoes chopped
2 tsp tomato puree
a handful capers
half a red onion, thinly sliced
aluminum foil

Preheat the oven to 400F
Create 4 individual foil pouches by tearing off 4 large large strips of foil and placing a block of feta on each with enough foil to wrap over.

Divide the rest of the ingredients between the 4 feta blocks, fold up the foil on each, and bake for 10 mins.

Serve hot with lots of good crusty bread