Category Archives: Recipes
Granola bars
As we all try to eat less processed foods with ingredients we can not pronounce, I thought I would share an easy and yummy recipe to make homemade granola bars. They are great for a quick breakfast or a snack during the day, between classes or after a workout. Enjoy!  🙂
Ingredients
- 2 cups (500ml) of rolled oats
- 1 cup (250ml) whole wheat flour
- 1/2 cup (125ml) ground flaxseed
- 1/3 (75ml) cup packed brown sugar
- 1 tsp (5ml) ground cinnamon
- 1 cup (250ml) raisins, chocolate chips or your favorite unsweetened dried fruits. Mix it up and find your favorite combination!
- 1/2 cup (125 ml) sunflower seeds
- 1/2 tsp (2ml) salt
- 1/3 cup (75 ml) honey
- 1 egg beaten
- 1/4 cup (60ml) canola oil
- 1/4 cup (60ml applesauce
- 2 tsp (10ml) vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 350F (180C) and oil a baking pan about 9 x 13 inch
Mix together all the first 8 dry ingredients and make a well in the centre.
Combine all the other 5 wet ingredients and add them to the well in the dry bowl and mix it up. Pat the mixture with a spatula in the baking pan so that it is nice and flat.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until the bars turn golden. Cool 5 minutes then cut in bars while still warm. Do not wait or they will be too hard to but!
Should make you 24 bars pieces and each will contain about 50 calories, 6g fat, 55 mg sodium, 22g of carbs, 3 g fibre and 3 grams of protein.
Green Soup / Crème Verte
This is a recipe that is based on the teaching of my aunt Raymonde. When I first moved into our house, she and my parents drove down from Montreal for weekend visits. We would go to the farmer’s market, which was quite fun with aunt Raymonde and my mom, and always came back with some sort of leafy greens (Swiss chard was her favourite). She taught us how to make a cream of vegetable with pretty much any leafy greens, although she often would only use Swiss chard leaves. My baby food purees for my boys when they were little were largely based on this recipe adapted with less spices. I have modified it over the years to what has become known in our house as the “green soup”. You can substitute pretty much any green vegetable in this recipe. Really whatever you have on hand including broccoli and their stems, asparagus etc…This is really a base for any cream of vegetable.
Cette recette est basĂ©e sur mes souvenirs de la cuisine avec Tante Raymonde. Lorsque nous avons dĂ©mĂ©nagĂ© dans notre première maison, mes parents et tante Raymonde venaient en visite de MontrĂ©al pour une fin de semaine de temps Ă autre. Nous allions souvent au marchĂ© des fermiers et revenions Ă tout coup avec des lĂ©gumes verts tel que de la bette Ă carde (drĂ´le de traduction!). C’Ă©tait sa prĂ©fĂ©rĂ©e et souvent le seul lĂ©gume vert de sa recette. Mes cubes de nourriture en purĂ©e pour mes garçons lorsqu’ils Ă©taient petits Ă©taient en grande partie basĂ©e sur cette recette. J’ai adaptĂ© et ajoutĂ© Ă sa recette au fil des annĂ©es pour crĂ©er ce qui est devenu dans notre maison comme Ă©tant la “soupe verte”. Vous pouvez remplacer Ă peu près n’importe quel lĂ©gumes verts dans cette recette. C’est vraiment une recette de base pour faire une crème de lĂ©gumes.
Ingredients:
- 1 bunch each rapini, swiss chards leaves, kale, spinach and coriander.
- 2 zucchini sliced (I often add leftover broccoli or asparagus).
- 5 potatoes (to thicken the soup, I often freeze leftover mash potatoes or cooked rice to use in this soup)
- 3 garlic cloves
- 1 large onions
- 3 tbsp of vegetable broth concentrate (powder or liquid). I have discovered the Better than Bouillon brand and it has become my favorite.
- 1tbsp of garlic salt and celery salt
- 1 tsp of pepper
In a large dutch oven or stock pot, place the coarsely chopped rapini and cover with water. Bring to boil and cook for 15 minutes. In a separate pan, fry the chopped onions and the minced garlic in oil for 3-4 minutes or until onion is browned. Add the zucchini and sweat for a couple of minutes. Add the onion mix to the pot with the rapini. Chop all the other greens and add to the pot as well. (If you are not using rapini, you would fry the onions in the stock pot and add everything in there). Add the potatoes cut into small cubes, 3 tbsp of vegetable broth concentrate and the spices. Add enough water to cover the greens completely. Again if you are not using rapini and do not have any liquid yet, you would add 6-8 cups of water or homemade broth.
Cover and simmer for 30-45 minutes or until the potatoes are tender. Remove from heat and using a hand blender (or a blender), puree the mixture.
Serve with crackers for a boost of antioxidants and vitamins!
Crème de citrouille de maman / Pumpkin soup from my mom
I added a category for recipes from my childhood where I will share recipes from my family, my heritage in the kitchen.
J’ai crĂ©Ă© une nouvelle catĂ©gorie pour les recettes de mon enfance oĂą je partagerai les recettes de ma mère et de tante Lucille, Claire etc..enfin mon hĂ©ritage dans la cuisine.
As long as I can remember, my mom pureed the pumpkin after halloween and made a soup. Years ago when I asked her for the recipe, it was something like “well you should put 1/3 of tomato for the pumpkin you have and the 1/4 of milk of whatever tomato you put etc….”. Soooo, I experimented over the years and these are my proportions and my twist to it. Basically the more you like the pumpkin taste, the less tomato you put. My sister tells my mom is now putting NO tomatoes and just a bit of milk so basically anything goes 🙂
Mine here is more red because I felt like it. When I make some after halloween, I will upload a more orange picture so you can see the variety!
Depuis que je suis toute petite, je me rappelle ma mère et tante Lucille qui prĂ©paraient une crème de citrouille. Lorsque je lui ait demandĂ© la recette, il y a plusieurs annĂ©es, la rĂ©ponse fĂ»t: “Ben tu mets 1/3 de tomate pour la quantitĂ© de citrouille que tu as et puis Ă peu près 1/4 de lait pour ce que tu as mis de tomates etc…” Donc, au fils des annĂ©es, j’ai expĂ©rimentĂ© et adaptĂ© les proportions selon mon goĂ»t. En fait, plus vous aimez le goĂ»t de la citrouille, moins vous mettez de tomates. Ma soeur me dit que ma mère cette annĂ©e, en a fait en mĂ©langeant simplement sa purĂ©e avec un peu de lait….donc Ă peu près n’importe quoi!
La mienne est plus rouge ici car j’avais un goĂ»t de tomate mais je mettrai une photo de ma prochaine recette après l’halloween qui sera plus orange pour bien dĂ©montrer les possibilitĂ©s de variations!
Ingredients
- 6 cups of pumpkin puree (which I will show how to make in a future post. Do not buy cans!) / 6 tasses de citrouille en purĂ©e (sera dĂ©montrĂ© prochainement, n’achetez pas les conserves!)
- 1 1/4 cups of crushed tomatoes or tomato sauce. I put my homemade tomato sauce because I prefer the tomato taste so my soup is more red 🙂 / 1 1/4 tasse de tomates écrasées ou sauce tomate maison. Je mets ma sauce tomato car je préfère le goût des tomates 🙂
- 3 cups of milk / 3 tasses de lait
- 4 cups of chicken broth (which I often omit) / 4 tasses de bouillon de poulet (que j’omets souvent)
- Nutmeg, salt, pepper, fine herbs to taste (I put a few teaspoon each) / muscade, sel, poivre et fines herbes au goĂ»t (j’en mets quelques cuillers Ă thĂ©)
- 2 onions / 2 oignons
- 3 garlic cloves / 3 gousses d’ail
Add a little oil in your pot and fry diced onions and minced garlic. Add the rest and heat through.
Faite revenir les oignons hachĂ©s avec l’ail Ă©mincĂ© dans un peu d’huile. Ajouter le reste et rĂ©chauffer jusqu’Ă ce que les goĂ»ts soient bien mĂ©langĂ©s.
I add either a dollop of plain yogourt to the bowl or grated parmesan. Eat with Ace cheese crackers…Yum!
Je rajoute une cuiller de yogourt nature au plat de service ou du fromage parmesan râpĂ© au goĂ»t. DĂ©guster avec les craquelins Ace au fromage….dĂ©licieux!
Tomato Avocado salad with anchovy dressing
Here is an easy and excellent salad that can be prepared with very few ingredients and served at a fancy dinner as well as a casual night with a few friends….or just for you 🙂
Ingredients
- 2 tomatoes ripe
- 1 avocado
dressing
- 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 4 tsp anchovy paste
- 2 tsp dijon mustard
- 1 small clove garlic minced
- pinch salt and pepper
- 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Cut the tomatoes in thick slices starting with the bottom of the tomatoes. Discard the stem. Then cut each slices in 2 and arrange on  a rectangular platter.
Cut the avocado in 2 from top to bottom and remove the pit. Thinly slice the avocado lengthwise without breaking the skin. With your fingers, slide the peel away and pop the wedges out. Arrange on the platter on top of the tomatoes.
In bowl, whisk together all ingredients except the oil, then add the oil slowly as you whisk until thickened and well mixed.
Sprinkle on the tomato-avocado mixture and you are done!
Banana chocolate chip muffins – the best!
This is the best chocolate chip muffin recipe I have ever tried so it has become our favorites as well as my kids’ friends’ favorite 🙂
Here again the secret ingredient is VERY ripe banana so keep freezing them!
Ingredients
Dry ingredients
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1.5 cup whole wheat flour (or all white flour)
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
Wet ingredients
- 2 eggs whisked together
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 cup buttermilk ( or 1 cup milk and 1 tsp white vinegar, let sit for a minute)
- 1 cup mashed bananas (or 2 whole banana mashed)
3/4 cup of chocolate chips (or as much as you want)
Mix all the dry ingredients together in one bowl and the wet ingredients together in another bowl.
Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients bowl and add the chocolate chips. Mix with a fork just until ingredients are moist. Do not over mix.
Paper line muffin tray (or spray oil in them) and pour the mixture up to 2/3 of each cup.
To pour the mixture in the cup, I use 2 large spoons. Use one spoon to scoop from the bowl and then bring it over the cup and use the other spoon to slide the mixture out of the spoon and into the cup.
I make 18-20 good sized muffins but you can fill up the cups a bit more and make less.
Bake in centre of 375C oven for 20 to 25 minutes depending on your oven.
Insert a toothpick in the middle to see if they are cooked. It should not come out with wet dough on it 🙂
Let cool and eat.
These muffins freeze very well. Keep what you can eat for the next few days in a plastic container or a ziploc in the fridge and freeze the rest. Take them out the day before you want to eat some.
Easy smoothy
I have been making these for my boys since they were little. They are super easy to use and best of all, you can use any left over or bruised fruits you may have so no waste!
When you see a fruit is getting overripe, cut it up and freeze it in a ziploc. You can mix and match fruits. Bananas are the key ingredient here to make it “smooth”. The more brown and overripe, the better. Again, when some fresh bananas are turning, freeze them whole, you don,t even have to peel them, how easy is that! The other important part is to have some frozen fruits on hand so don’t be shy, freeze up peaches, melons, any berries, apples etc… The recipe here only uses strawberries but basically any mixture of fruits will do.
Ingredients
- 1 whole container of 750 g plain yogourt. If you need more protein in your diet, use greek yogourt. You can use flavoured yogourt but then you should omit the maple syrup and it will overpower the fruit.
- 3 tablespoon of maple syrup. We are lucky to have our uncle’s artisanal syrup from Quebec, so it is the best sweetener but table syrup will do. You can adjust the quantity based on how sweet you would like it!
- 1 ripe banana, the browner the better, frozen or not
- 1 cup of mixed fruits, here we used strawberries. Whatever you have frozen or you can buy frozen fruits.
- 1 tbsp of flaxseed. I add flaxseed because it is good for you but several other seeds can be added as well. They also can be omitted as it does not affect the taste, just the “goodness” level 🙂
- You can add a bit of milk if you want it less thick.
From the Webmd.com website:
Although flaxseed contains all sorts of healthy components, it owes its primary healthy reputation to three of them:
- Omega-3 essential fatty acids, “good” fats that have been shown to have heart-healthy effects. Each tablespoon of ground flaxseed contains about 1.8 grams of plant omega-3s.
- Lignans, which have both plant estrogen and antioxidant qualities. Flaxseed contains 75 to 800 times more lignans than other plant foods.
- Fiber. Flaxseed contains both the soluble and insoluble types.
This recipe’s main cost is the yogourt since you should have frozen your fruits as you had them  and saved them from being thrown away 🙂 The syrup and seed you can buy one time and use them for several months. This recipe will make 4 serving cups for the young ones and young at heart 🙂
Here are the very simple steps:
- Put all ingredients in a blender. I usually put the yogourt last to make sure the fruits get well pureed.
- Hit the puree settings and let it fo its work for about 2 minutes
- Serve
How hard was that!! And very yummy
Mediterranean Roasted Cauliflower Salad
This is a favorite at my table as well as a big hit whenever I bring a side at a dinner party. The secret is the anchovy paste.
You will need:
- 1 head of cauliflower
- 5 tbsp of olive oil:
- 2 tbsp of lemon juice
- 2 tsp of anchovy paste
- 1/2 cup of kalamata olive (black ones):
- 2 tbsp of capers (find them with the olives)
- Salt and pepper
This recipe will make 4 portions. Of course, you need to buy bottles of olive oil, lemon juice etc…but once you have them, you can use them often. This recipe will cost roughly $6.00 when calculating proportionally.
Start with a head of cauliflower particularly in season. Cut it in large florets and place in a bowl then sprinkle with some olive oil salt and pepper. You will need roughly 2 tbsp of oil and 1 tsp of cracked pepper and salt.
You can roast it in the oven at 400F for about 15 minutes (depending on the oven) or if you have access to one, the BBQ is the best. Roast them by turning them every 4 minutes. The key is to get the nice brown markings without the burning 🙂
In both case, they should still be al dente (crunchy).
Next, let them cool so you can handle them. Meanwhile mix 3 tbsp of olive oil with 2 tbsp of lemon juice and 2 tsp of anchovy paste. Whip the ingredients with your fork until the paste is well integrated in the mixture.
Cut the florets in bite sizes, place in a pretty bowl and add 2 tbsp of capers, 1/2 cup of kalamata olive pitted (buy them already pitted, much easier) and the olive oil mixture.
Mix it up and VoilĂ !
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