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Salad #4 Brussels Sprouts Coleslaw with Candied Nuts

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I was browsing through my favorite food blog – Dinner with Julie for some salad inspiration when I came across her recipe for Brussels sprouts slaw.  I don’t have a bad relationship with Brussels sprouts. Both my parents hated them as kids, so the first time I had tried one was as an adult. I’m always trying to find ways to serve them that even Brussels Sprout skeptics will enjoy. Brussels Sprouts are readily available in the winter so it seemed like a perfect candidate for Salad #4.

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Salad #4 Brussels Sprouts Coleslaw with Candied Nuts
Recipe type: Salad
 
Ingredients
  • Coleslaw:
  • 1½ lbs of Brussels sprouts (it doesn't really matter how much - big bunch)

  • Dressing:
  • ¼ cup grainy mustard
  • 2 Tbsp lemon juice
  • 2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar (or plain white, or white wine)
  • 1 Tbsp sugar
  • ¼ cup olive oil

  • Candied Almonds:
  • ½ cup chopped nuts (I used sliced almonds)
  • ⅓ cup sugar
Instructions
  1. Boil the Brussels sprouts in salted water for 5 minutes. (I was a little skeptical that these would be good, but they are really more blanched than boiled. Honestly they were great straight out of the pot. Be careful not too over cook them.)
  2. Drain the water and run the Brussels sprouts under cold water to stop them from cooking.
  3. If you have a food processor, you can use that to slice them up or you can cut them thinly by hand like I did. If they have a stalky bottom you may want to trim that off first.
  4. Whisk or shake the dressing ingredients together and toss over the slaw to coat. You only need a light coating, but you can use as much as you like.

  6. Candied Almonds Instructions:
  7. Heat frying pan to medium heat.
  8. Add nuts and sugar and stir for 3-7 minutes. You want to keep constantly stirring so your nuts don't burn. When the sugar caramelizes and your nuts are toasted you are done.
  9. Pour them onto tin foil to cool.
Notes
(adapted from http://dinnerwithjulie.com/2009/11/15/brussels-sprout-slaw-maple-pecans/)

Candied Sliced Almonds

Alternatives:

This salad would also be good topped with maple pecans like Julie did or bits of bacon.

Did they eat it?

Stephen – Surprising taste from Brussels sprouts.

Anne – This is delicious. I like them even better like this than cooked.

Deb – Not bad… for Brussels sprouts.

Gordie (3.5 years) – refused to try it

Dana – I thought this was great. I had used a Dijon mustard which I had in my fridge and I didn’t really like that in the dressing. But I don’t ever like Dijon mustard so that was no surprise. (but I used it anyway because?? and bought it in the first place because??) The slaw itself though was really good. I couldn’t believe how good the Brussels Sprouts were when they were blanched. I would definitely make this again, but I’d try it with bits of bacon instead.

Brussels Sprout Coleslaw with Candied Nuts

Salad #3 Blood Orange, Yellow Beet and Pomegranate Salad

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I’m still trying to convince Gordie that salads are not something he should automatically reject. He loves fruit salad, so I thought maybe a salad that was heavy on the fruit might be a promising avenue.

Two of my favorite fruits that are great in the winter are oranges and pomegranates and went searching for salad ideas. I found one that even included beets (which I still have a lot of). I toned it down a little to try and make it more attractive to little people, so I took out things like the onions and added pepper only for people who wanted it. The original recipe called for pomegranate molasses, which I was planning on substituting for balsamic vinegar. I happened to have pomegranate balsamic vinegar (seriously!) so I used that but any fruit or regular balsamic vinegar would be fine.

Blood Orange, Yellow Beet and Pomegranate Salad

(adapted from Epicurious Pomegranate, Beet and Blood Orange Salad)

Blood Orange, Yellow Beet and Pomegranate Salad

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Salad #3 Blood Orange, Yellow Beet and Pomegranate Salad
Recipe type: Salad
 
Ingredients
  • Seeds from 1 pomegranate
  • 4 sweet oranges (blood oranges are nice)
  • 3-4 medium yellow or red beets (or a mix of both!)

  • Balsamic Dressing

  • 2 TBSP balsamic vinegar (fruit flavored or regular)
  • 1 TBSP honey (or rogers golden syrup)
  • touch of oil
  • sprinkle of freshly ground pepper
Instructions
  1. Roast beets using your favorite method. I like wrapping them in aluminum foil and then sticking them on a cookie sheet for 45-60 minutes, until a knife easily pierces the centre.
  2. Let them cool a bit and then take the skin off with a vegetable peeler.
  3. Cut the beets and oranges up into wedges.
  4. Add the beets, oranges and pomegranate seeds into a big bowl.
  5. Stir together the dressing ingredients in a small bowl and then pour over the salad ingredients.

Did they eat it?

Gordie (3.5 years): Loved the pomegrante seeds and oranges while we were making the salad. Was actually willing to try the salad, but bit into a piece of beet, exclaimed “it’s a potato!” and would not try it again.

Nicole (10 months): I’m pretty sure she thinks this was the best thing she had ever eaten. If she saw other people eating it she would demand that they share. Huge hit.

Stephen: “Good. Kinda weird”

Dana: This salad was good but it is not the quickest to throw together. Roasting the beets takes a while as does de-seeding the pomegranate. Gordie really loved helping take the seeds out. So I like that even pretty little kids can be involved in making the salad. It was really good though. It would be a great salad to make for a special meal or if you had company over for dinner.

3 down 51 to go.

Salad #2 Shredded Yellow Beet, Carrot and Apple Salad with Orange Ginger Dressing

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For our second salad I went in search of something to use the yellow beets that I had gotten from Eagle Creek Farm’s Winter CSA. Winter is not the easiest time to create a seasonal salad, but there is still quite a bit you can work with, beets included.

I came across a couple recipes for shredded beet salads. Now I’m no stranger to beets. I grew up on pickled beets and grew and roasted beets when I had my very first garden. But I had absolutely no idea that you could shred beets and eat them raw. At first I had thought this would fall into the category of, you can but would you want to (sort of like raw chicken, yeah, you can eat it raw but…).

But in fact when they are shredded they are very similar to the carrots. And yes, you can also use purple beets.

Shredded Yellow Beet, Carrot and Apple Salad with Ginger Orange Dressing Recipe

(adapted from Simply Recipes Morrocan Beet Salad)

Shredded Yellow Beet, Carrot and Apple Salad with Ginger Orange Dressing

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Salad #2 Shredded Yellow Beet, Carrot and Apple Salad with Orange Ginger Dressing
Recipe type: Salad
 
Ingredients
  • 1 large beet
  • 2 large carrots
  • 1 apple (I like granny smith)

  • Orange Ginger Dressing

  • ½ teaspoon paprika
  • ¼ teaspoon ground cumin
  • ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
  • pinch of salt
  • pinch of cayenne
  • juice of 1 orange
  • 2 tbsp honey
Instructions
  1. Peel and shred the carrots, beets and apples (the apple will also need to be cored). The beet will shred better if you cut it into smaller pieces first, think steak fries. If you have some kind of kitchen gadget to shred things, that would be handy. Put everything you've shredded into a large bowl.
  2. Add the ingredients for your dressing into a small bowl and blend well.
  3. Pour the dressing over your salad ingredients and mix. You will end up with quite a bit of dressing. You can use it all, it doesn't hurt for the salad to marinate in the fridge a little, and it can keep it from drying out or you can just add what you need if you are using it right away.

Alternatives:

  • If you are keeping it for a while you may want to use raisins instead of the apple, it’ll still taste fine, but the color goes a bit off over time.
  • You could also make the dressing as simply recipes did with lemon juice instead of orange juice and cinnamon instead of ginger
  • If you have a baby under 12 months you may want to substitute the honey for corn syrup, rogers golden syrup or maple syrup (I forgot so didn’t give it to Nicky).

Did they eat it?

Gordie (3.5 years): Tried some of the shredded vegetables before I put the dressing on it and made it into a salad.

Stephen: “Good. Cool and refreshing.”

Dana: I liked this salad. It was a real surprise as I didn’t expect much. It was pretty heavy on the ginger, I might reduce it if I was going to make it again. 2 down 51 to go.

Salad #1 – Roasted Sweet Potato and Cranberry Salad Recipe – 52 Salads

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I’ve decided to embark on a challenge to make 52 different salads over the next 52 weeks. I was inspired by my friend Misty’s 52 cakes challenge and my friend Jenny’s 52 cookies challenge. They sounded like so much fun I decided to do one of my own. But 52 weeks of cookies and cakes was not going to help me with my fitness goals for this year, so I’m going to do 52 salads instead.

I love salads, but I often find myself too lazy and disorganized to actually make them. I’m going to use this challenge to help me get in the habit of making salads and getting my family to eat more vegetables.

Additionally, my three year old son Gordie turns his nose up at anything labeled a salad so I’m going to try to see if I can win him over and
get him to try some salads.

For this challenge I am going to try to:

  • Make really different salads rather than subtle variations
  • Use a variety of sources for inspiration
  • Use seasonally available ingredients
  • Focus on salads with lots of vegetables that would work as a snack or side dish and will keep a few days in the fridge.

At least for the time being I’ll also be choosing salads that are dairy free as Nicky is sensitive to dairy products.

I’m taking suggestions so if you have a favorite salad that I should try please let me know!

Now onto our first salad:

This salad was inspired by one that they make at Sunterra Market. They use green peppers which is quite pretty but the ones at the store when I went were all squishy. That’s one of the things that’s so great about making salads, a recipe is really only a guideline.

Roasted Sweet Potato and Cranberry Salad

Roasted Sweet Potato and Cranberry Salad

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Salad #1 – Roasted Sweet Potato and Cranberry Salad Recipe – 52 Salads
Recipe type: Salad
 
Ingredients
  • 1 large sweet potato cubed and roasted
  • 1-2 red or green peppers chopped
  • 1-2 green onion sliced
  • handful of dried cranberries
  • handful of pumpkin seeds
  • Maple Dijon Dressing
  • ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 Tbsp maple syrup
  • 1 tsp dijon mustard
  • 2 tsp white wine vinegar (or red wine or just white vinegar)
  • salt and pepper
Instructions
  1. Mix the salad ingredients in a large bowl. Whisk, blend of shake the dressing ingredients together until they are well mixed. Use your hands to cover the salad with the dressing. You will probably have a bit more than you really need.
  2. Note: When you are roasting the sweet potatoes test them often, you want them to be cooked but not mushy or they will just fall apart in the salad.

Did they eat it?

Gordie (3.5 years): Did not try it because it is a salad even though I presented him with just a piece of sweet potato

Nicky (10 months): Loved it, sweet potato and red peppers were a huge hit

Stephen: “Good. Doesn’t really seem like a salad though.”

Dana: I adore this salad. I would absolutely make it again. Aside from having to roast the sweet potatoes it’s super easy to throw together too.

So there you have it – 1 down 51 to go.

Surprisingly Easy Sponge Toffee Recipe–Dairy Free

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Surprisingly Easy Sponge Toffee Recipe

One day my husband suggested we try to make sponge toffee (think the inside of a crunchie bar. Neither of us had much experience making candy and we expected the process to be difficult.

Nothing could be further from the truth. It’s easy and quick to make and dairy free to boot. It’s also a pretty impressive looking science experiment to do with the kids. The candy is too hot for little kids to help with during the reaction, but older kids will love helping and younger kids will still be impressed.

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Surprisingly Easy Sponge Toffee Recipe–Dairy Free
 
Ingredients
  • 2.5 cups sugar
  • ⅔ cup corn syrup
  • ⅓ cup water
  • 4 tsp baking soda
  • 2 tsp vanilla
Instructions
  1. Grease and line a metal cake pan we used wax paper, but greased parchment paper is often recommended. (Do not be tempted to use a glass pan, you want something that has some bend to it).
  2. Get your baking soda and vanilla ready.
  3. Stir sugar, corn syrup and water in a 12 cup pot over medium heat until sugar dissolves.
  4. Put in a candy thermometer. Do not stir while you wait for it to come to a boil.
  5. When the temperature reaches 300F (hard crack stage) remove it from heat.
  6. Quickly whisk in the baking soda. This will cause the mixture to bubble up (you’ll want your kids who are not actively helping to stay back – it’s hot!)
  7. Whisk in the vanilla.
  8. Immediately pour into the prepared pan. Let it cool in the pan for about 2 hours. The mixture may be kind of uneven on top but resist the urge to smooth it out, that will pop the air bubbles.
  9. Break it into pieces and enjoy!

Dead Simple Suppers: Indian Spiced Beans and Spinach

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I love the combination of beans and tomatoes. I especially love recipes like this one, where I can have all the ingredients I need just waiting in the cupboard (and freezer) for a day when I’ve forgotten to plan dinner. You can use this as the main dish by adding a bun or some rice to the side – it would also be nice on top of some pasta or couscous. Or you can make it a nutritious side dish instead and serve it with sausage or chicken.

Dead Simple Suppers: Indian Spiced Beans and Spinach

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Dead Simple Suppers: Indian Spiced Beans and Spinach
 
(adapted from Rachel Ray Magazine)
Ingredients
  • 1 Tbsp canola oil
  • 1 onion chopped
  • 1 large can of diced tomatoes (28 oz)
  • 3 tsp ground coriander
  • 1.5 tsp ground cumin
  • ¼ tsp garam masala
  • ¼ tsp tumeric
  • 1 can of beans rinsed and drained (the original recipe called for chickpeas, I used navy beans)
  • salt
  • 1 package of chopped frozen spinach
Instructions
  1. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium high heat.
  2. Add chopped onion and cook for a few until slightly browned on the edges.
  3. Add the spices, and tomatoes and frozen spinach. Cook until spinach is almost completely thawed. (If using chickpeas you can add them now too as they are more robust than navy beans).
  4. Add beans and cook until heated through.

Indian Spiced Beans and Spinach

(adapted from Rachel Ray Magazine)

Ingredients

  • 1 Tbsp canola oil
  • 1 onion chopped
  • 1 large can of diced tomatoes (28 oz)
  • 3 tsp ground coriander
  • 1.5 tsp ground cumin
  • 1/4 tsp garam masala
  • 1/4 tsp tumeric
  • 1 can of beans rinsed and drained (the original recipe called for chickpeas, I used navy beans)
  • salt
  • 1 package of chopped frozen spinach

Directions

  1. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium high heat.
  2. Add chopped onion and cook for a few until slightly browned on the edges.
  3. Add the spices, and tomatoes and frozen spinach. Cook until spinach is almost completely thawed. (If using chickpeas you can add them now too as they are more robust than navy beans).
  4. Add beans and cook until heated through.

Dead Simple Supper: Salsa Pasta Salad

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Now that I have two kids, I’m finding it even more difficult to get a healthy dinner on the table. When I’m sleep deprived, I lack both imagination and enthusiasm in the kitchen. On top of this both my kids are having problems with milk and many of my go to easy meals rely on cheese.To assist me in avoiding takeout and providing my family with nutritious meals without a lot of effort, I’ve decided to blog about some dead simple suppers to help give me inspiration while meal planning or (more likely) while trying to figure out what on earth we’re going to have for supper tonight.

Salsa Pasta Salad Recipe

DSC_0160

Ingredients

  • 1 package of macaroni or other whole wheat noodles
  • 1/4 of a small precooked ham cubed
  • 2 bell peppers (any color) chopped
  • 1 cucumber chopped
  • handful of frozen peas
  • Salsa

“Directions”

  1. Cook pasta until al dente and cool under cold water.
  2. Put in a large bowl along with vegetables and ham (the peas can go in frozen).
  3. Add salsa just to coat and mix well. Add salt and pepper to taste.
  4. Serve cold or room temperature.
If you’re feeling more ambitious, try this pasta salad recipe from my friend Heather’s blog. It’s perfect for the summer when you’re looking for something light that doesn’t require a lot of cooking.

Peanut Butter Banana Yogurt Pancakes

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Our pancake kick continued, but the blueberries we used in our previous recipe didn’t last. So I thought I’d try a new modification. I love peanut butter and these pancakes are fantastic. A little skiff of peanut butter on top while they are still warm makes them even better. They’d also make an awesome peanut butter and banana sandwich.

Peanut Butter Banana Yogurt Pancakes

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Peanut Butter Banana Yogurt Pancakes
 
(Adapted from Bed & Breakfast Inns Online)
Ingredients
  • 1 Cup Flour
  • 1 Tablespoon Sugar
  • 1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
  • ½ Teaspoon Salt
  • ¼ cup Peanut Butter
  • 2 Large Eggs
  • 1 Cup Plain Yogurt (Balkan is nice)
  • 1 Ripe Banana Mashed
  • 2 Tablespoons Butter, Melted
Instructions
  1. Mix dry ingredients in a medium sized bowl.
  2. Add the peanut butter to the dry ingredients and mix well. It’ll have a crumbly texture when it’s In a large bowl, beat eggs, add yogurt, melted butter and mash in the banana. You can do this by breaking it into pieces and then mashing it up with the whisk or you can mash them first. They need to be small but do not need to be completely mashed. If you hate mashing you could even just slice them thinly.
  3. Add the dry ingredients to the wet (half the time I do this backwards, but this way you don’t have flour mixture stuck to the bottom). Mix just enough so that you no longer see any dry flour.
  4. Cook the pancakes on a medium-high heat for about 2 minutes per side. If you haven’t cooked them before try doing a test pancake before making a whole bunch

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Blueberry Banana Yogurt Pancakes

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I almost never make pancakes. I made some off hand comment that used the word pancakes (what on earth could that be? I cannot for the life of me figure out how you use the word pancakes without saying something like “let’s have pancakes”). Regardless, Gordie thought this was the best idea he had ever heard. I managed to get out of making pancakes for lunch but promised he could have them for dinner.

I put this together so I could feel like even though we were having pancakes for dinner, we were getting some decent nutrition too. Whole wheat pancakes always seem to be lacking something so I decided to add things to the pancakes instead. Plain yogurt, a banana and blueberries make these a lot more nutrient dense than your average pancake as well as sweet and moist.

Blueberry Banana Yogurt Pancakes

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Blueberry Banana Yogurt Pancakes
 
(Adapted from Bed & Breakfast Inns Online)
Ingredients
  • 1 Cup Flour
  • 1 Tablespoon Sugar
  • 1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
  • ½ Teaspoon Salt
  • 2 Large Eggs
  • 1 Cup Plain Yogurt (Balkan is nice)
  • 1 Ripe Banana Mashed
  • 2 Tablespoons Butter, Melted
  • 2 Handfuls of Blueberries
Instructions
  1. Mix dry ingredients in a medium sized bowl.
  2. In a large bowl, beat eggs, add yogurt, melted butter and mash in the banana. You can do this by breaking it into pieces and then mashing it up with the whisk or you can mash them first. They need to be small but do not need to be completely mashed. If you hate mashing you could even just slice them thinly.
  3. Add the dry ingredients to the wet (half the time I do this backwards, but this way you don’t have flour mixture stuck to the bottom). Mix just enough so that you no longer see any dry flour.
  4. Add the blueberries and gently fold them in.
  5. Cook the pancakes on a medium-high heat for about 2 minutes per side. If you haven’t cooked them before try doing a test pancake before making a whole bunch.

 

Easy Roasted Beets

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I starting making these when we had a community garden plot. I had planted things like beets and turnips that I read grown well in Siberia. I figured it they grew well there, I  shouldn’t have a problem. And it totally worked, they were awesome. This year, I tried a square foot garden and had no luck whatsoever with my beets or turnips. I’m not entirely sure why, but if you had more luck than I did, this recipe is great.

Easy Roasted Beets

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Easy Roasted Beets
 
Ingredients
  • Beets trimmed and washed
  • Extra virgin olive oil
  • Balsamic vinegar
  • Freshly ground pepper
  • Aluminum foil
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 400F.
  2. Line a baking tray and wrap each beet with aluminum foil.
  3. Roast beets for approximately 40 minutes. Longer if you have big beets, less if you have small beets.
  4. When the beets are cooked through, take them out of the oven. I recommend covering your hands when you work with the beets, gloves are good, but I hate now they make my hands smell so I usually just use two sandwich sized ziplock bags.
  5. Peel the beets. If the beets have been cooked long enough, the skin should slide right off with your fingers.
  6. Cut each beet in half and then slice into half moons. It looks pretty to have full circles but the beets can be pretty slippery. Halving them first can really save your fingers.
  7. Put the beets into a bowl and toss with the olive oil, vinegar and pepper. If you think they need a bit more flavor, add more vinegar. You only need enough olive oil to coat and the pepper can get to be too much pretty quickly.

 

Note: Beets contain quite a lot of natural dye. When you eat them this goes through your body with predictable purple/red results. This is perfectly harmless but can look a little alarming if you are not prepared. 🙂