kitchen Archives - Page 13 of 29

Foodie Fridays | Sweet Potato + Leek Soup

When winter’s chill sets in {and oh, how it has set in!} I long for simple comfort foods to warm my body and soothe my soul. Soup is one of my favourite simple meals – a satisfying and gentle way to satiate the appetite on a cold winter’s night or the perfect lunch to carry me through a chilly afternoon. I often just look to see what vegetables I have in my fridge and then create from there. Here is a recent favourite that I hope to make again this weekend.

SWEET POTATO + LEEK SOUP

The Ingredients:
Whites {+ some green} of 3 leeks, washed + chopped
2 sweet potatoes, peeled + chopped
2 Tbsp ghee, extra virgin olive oil or coconut oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed and chopped
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp coriander
1 Tetrapak of organic chicken broth {946 ml}
1 tsp good flaky salt such as Maldon
Cracked pepper to taste

{I just love how simple ingredients can combine to create such rich and soothing flavour!}

The Method:

Wash, peel and chop the sweet potatoes and leeks. In a large pot, heat the ghee {or olive oil or coconut oil} and add leeks. Soften leeks over medium-high heat and then add sweet potatoes. Toss together and add in spices, then slowly add the broth. Simmer everything together for 20-30 minutes {or more} until the sweet potatoes break apart easily with your spoon. Either use an immersion hand blender to purée the soup or cool it and transfer to your blender. Purée until velvety smooth. Drizzle with a good extra virgin olive oil and garnish with fresh herbs such as cilantro or dill. Enjoy!

Wishing you all a warm + happy weekend filled with adventure, be it in your kitchen or on the slopes!

xo
s.

By Sarah Walker The Curated House|January 25th, 2013|0 Comments

Renovating Breakfast | Going Green

I have a confession to make. OK, I think maybe I’ve already made this one: I am not a fan of New Year’s Resolutions. Mainly because they feel like a set up. You gear up and gather together all your best intentions and declare to the world “I am going to CHANGE in 60 days or less!” and then you fall off the wagon somewhere around Day 12 and feel like you should hide under a rock to avoid the shame. Nope. Not for me.

That is not to say that I don’t believe in change. I do. Just gentle change. Lasting change. Keep-quiet-till-it-sticks change.

So, I’ve been making some changes.

If you follow my food posts, you’ll know by now that I have gone gluten-free in recent months. What I may not have shared is that the lead-up to this decision was a quiet 60 days of a rather strict anti-inflammatory diet. The basics of this diet included: no gluten, no dairy, no caffeine, no wine {and I tried not to whine about it} and staying off a list of other inflammatory foods like nightshades in an attempt to help my body heal. It. Was. Hard.

Gratefully, the 60 days ended just before Christmas so that I could reintroduce things like BUTTER. Man, I missed butter. And dairy in general. And my classic, daily breakfast of fat-free greek yoghurt, maple syrup and blackberries.

{photo – gabriela hansen}

This was {and still is for others} a happy, healthy breakfast and one that I looked forward to every morning. The thing is, I found that my body wasn’t happy returning to that much daily consumption of dairy. I can take it in small doses {the occassional yoghurt based sauce, some butter in cooking or baking, the rare bit of cheese} but not that much every single day.

So, what’s a breakfast-loving girl to do?

I had tried juicing my breakfast before. I had gathered together my best intentions and – resolution style – had tried to follow the classic “head of romaine, whole lemon, inch of ginger and a few drops of Stevia” green breakfast that skinny New Yorker’s swear by. But my taste buds fought me and won. I just couldn’t stick with it. Why? I think I realized it was missing three things: creaminess, a gentleness on the palate and some good fat.

So, I decided to get creative, and I’m very excited to share my new breakfast routine with you. If you’ve wanted {and struggled} to adopt a green smoothie start to your day, maybe this will be the one for you!

Here’s what I put in my morning kickstarter:

Juice of 3 large collard green leaves

Juice of 1/4 lemon

Juice of 2 baby cucumbers {or 1/2 an English cucumber}

Juice of 1 large apple

Once all of this is juiced, I transfer it to the blender and add the MAGIC. I seriously think these last 2 ingredients are what have transformed my green-smoothie-dreams into reality.

1/2 an avocado

2 Tbsp NutraVege Omega-3 {a vegetarian Omega-3 oil with more DHA than flax}

Liquify the avocado and oil into the juiced veggies/apple in your blender and voila! Breakfast.

The NutraVege has a remarkably gentle and slightly sweet, citrusy flavour that softens the overall taste of the smoothie. And because it’s a vegetarian source, there isn’t even a hint of fishy aftertaste. The avocado adds more healthy fats AND that creaminess that I was missing from the other green juices and smoothies I’d tried. I’m getting loads of vitamins and nutrients from the collard greens, lots of anti-inflammatory goodness from the cucumber, cleansing benefits from the lemon, and you know what they say about an apple a day! I’m so happy to say that I’ve found a breakfast I love that is brimming with health benefits and leaves me satisfied and energized for the morning. It is genuinely delicious and I hope you’ll try it!

Raising a glass to your health this morning!

By Sarah Walker The Curated House|January 22nd, 2013|0 Comments

Foodie Fridays | Mediterranean Lamb Meatballs with Grilled Vegetables + Quinoa Pilaf

As the colder weather settles in, the chill in the air makes me long for comfort food. You know, the “stick to your ribs” kind that satiates the appetite and warms the soul. I’ve experimented with today’s recipe a couple of times before sharing it with you and it has fast become a family favourite. Our son could probably eat his weight in these lamb meatballs if I let him!

Lamb has oft been called the Healthy Red Meat. Something you may not know about lamb is that it has incredibly high protein content – 28g of protein in every 4oz – which is actually 55% of our recommended daily intake! The protein in lamb is nutritionally complete, containing all 8 essential amino acids in perfect balance. It’s also very high in B12, niacin and riboflavin which help with metabolic function and the nervous system.

{source}

Because lamb is raised on pastureland, the sheep graze on grass making it a very clean meat to eat. In fact, I once had a naturopath put me on a cleanse eating nothing but lamb and pears for 3 weeks! {Needless to say, that cleanse was not for the faint of heart.}

Not quite simple enough to be cleanse-worthy, this treatment of lamb is all about Mediterranean flavours in the form of fresh herbs, red onions and feta. Here’s the recipe:

MEDITERRANEAN LAMB MEATBALLS

THE INGREDIENTS

2 lbs lean minced lamb

6 Tbsp ground flax meal mixed with 12 Tbsp boiling water {soak 5 mins or longer}

1 large red onion finely diced

4 cloves of garlic, smashed + finely chopped

3/4 c. parsley, finely chopped

1/4 c. mint, finely chopped

1 1/2 tsp oregano

2 tsp whole cumin seeds

2 tsp whole coriander seeds

8 oz light feta cheese

2 tsp flaky sea salt {such as Maldon}

Cracked black pepper to taste

4 Tbsp ghee or coconut oil

THE METHOD

Start by combining the flax meal and boiling water and set them aside so they can become gelatinous {you can 2 eggs instead of the flax + water if you prefer}. Next, dry roast the cumin and coriander seeds in a hot pan until the aromas release and they turn golden. Transfer to a mortar and pestle and crush the cumin and coriander to a fine powder. Finely chop the parsley, mint, onion and garlic and mix together with the cumin, coriander, oregano, salt, pepper and feta in a bowl.

Next, add the minced lamb and mix very thoroughly so the flavours are evenly distributed. I then used a cookie scoop to evenly measure the size of my meatballs {approximately the size of a golf ball each}. Roll them between both hands to make them compact and neatly round.

* At this point you’ll notice my photo-journaling of the process tapers off…my hands were a serious mess! *

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Heat the ghee or coconut oil in a large pan on medium-high heat. Quickly sear all sides of the meatballs and then transfer them onto a cookie sheet. You will want to work in batches and carefully loosen them from the pan as you turn them. This part will require your patience-hat. Once they have all been browned in the pan, place them in the oven for 8-10 minutes to finish cooking.

Makes approximately 36 generous sized meatballs. You can either cut this recipe in half or do what I do and freeze some for future meals. I like having them on hand for busy nights when there’s no time {or energy} to cook, and they freeze quite nicely.

OK, so what to serve them with you might ask? Don’t worry. I won’t leave you hanging. I’ve got a couple of simple and delicious sides that compliment the lamb perfectly.

First, thickly slice 2 red onions. Slice 2 zucchini length-wise and drizzle all of these veggie with a bit of olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and sear on a grill or in a grill pan.

QUINOA PILAF

Meanwhile, put on 2 cups of quinoa with 4 cups of water to cook. Fluff with a fork when it is done cooking and add the following:

1/2 c. pitted Kalamata olives, finely chopped

2 green onions, finely chopped

4 oz feta cheese, finely chopped

1/2 c. cucumber, finely chopped

2 Tbsp lemon juice

4 Tbsp olive oil

As a very important side note, I read this article this week and will only be buying Canadian or North American quinoa from today forward. Will you join me in this? We can choose health for the communities of South America at the same time as choosing health for ourselves!

And last but not least, a fresh little sauce to pull it all together:

MINT YOGURT SAUCE

2 c. fat free Greek yogurt

4 Tbsp fresh mint, finely chopped

juice of 1/2 a lemon

salt and pepper to taste

I love the art of plating food. I try to plate dinner every night to make our meals appealing. It doesn’t have to be fancy, just intentional. For this meal, I started by creating a bed of the Quinoa Pilaf.

Next, I built a nest out of the grilled red onions and added a neat row of grilled zucchini to the side.

I followed that with a generous dollop of the Yogurt Mint Sauce, topped with 3 lamb meatballs and a sprig of fresh mint, and voila! A totally delicious winter meal with the summery fresh flavours of the Mediterranean to bring it to life!