Curried Carrot, Sweet Potato and Coconut Soup

I had a surprisingly busy day off today. I got all my meals prepped for the next 7 days, did the laundry I’ve been avoiding since we got back from vacation, wrote my meal plan for next week, did some serious furniture rearranging (which is harder than it sounds when you’re by yourself!) did some gardening and cleaned the house. Phew! After all that, I was ready for a quick and easy meal that was also delicious!

Since sweet potatoes have just recently begun to show up at the local Farmer’s markets, we have been loading up! I thought this would be the perfect occasion to use them. Although peeling sweet potatoes is a little tedious, they are a great ingredient for big flavor with very little prep (and, call me crazy, but I actually love peeling sweet potatoes — and our compost loves the peels!) 

For some sweetness and saturated fat, I added full-fat coconut cream, which is amazingly rich and decadent, but balanced out by the heat that comes in the form of cayenne pepper in this dish. This soup could probably even stand to take on MORE carrots than I added without being overpowered with carrot-y flavor. Again, I think the richness of the sweet potato and coconut cream balance that out really nicely. 

I hope you enjoy this spicy, silky treat!

Ingredients:

• Dollop grassfed butter or coconut oil
• 1 large onion, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1inch fresh ginger, peeled and minced
• 2 tsp curry powder
• Liberal pinch sea salt
• Dash cayenne pepper
• Dash smoked paprika
• 5-6 large carrots, sliced
• 3-4 sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 2 cups of your favorite broth (preferably homemade)
• 1 cup coconut cream

Directions:

1. In a large stockpot, heat butter or oil. Add onion, garlic, ginger, curry, salt, cayenne, and paprika. Cook until fragrant.
2. Stir in carrots. Saute about 5-6 minutes.
3. Add sweet potatoes and stir, sautéing an additional few minutes. 
4. Pour in broth, bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and cover. Let simmer for 30 minutes.
5. Stir in coconut cream. Let simmer another 15 minutes.

Serve warm. Enjoy!

Sweet Potato and Chickpea Bites

As you can probably tell, I have a pretty busy life. Because I spend so much time running around and try to spend as few hours as possible slaving in the kitchen, I like to make little treats like these ahead of time and eat them throughout the week. 

These sweet potato bites are bursting with flavor and protein. They are small enough to be considered a snack, but nutrient-dense enough to satisfy your hunger. They are also great as a side dish. They freeze well and are easily transported. 

But most importantly…

They are delicious!

Ingredients:

• 4-5 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 1/2 cup chickpeas, soaked overnight and then cooked until tender
• 2 tbsp coconut milk
• Handful  of kale, chopped finely (it’s important those babies small!)
• Drizzle olive oil
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 tbsp nutritional yeast
• Sea salt and pepper, to taste
• Pinch red pepper flakes (optional)
• Olive oil or grassfed butter, for greasing muffin tins
• 2 scallions, sliced thinly

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 450.
2. Fill a small stockpot with water and bring to a boil. Carefully drop in chopped sweet potatoes and cook for about 10 minutes, or until tender. Drain and add to a small bowl with coconut milk. Mash roughly and set aside.
3. In a large skillet, heat olive oil. Add garlic, kale, paprika, salt and pepper. Toss in chickpeas and sauté until fragrant. Add chickpea mix to sweet potato mix. Incorporate well. Add red pepper flakes, if using.
4. Grease muffin tins and fill 3/4 of the way up with the potato batter.
5. Garnish with scallions.
6. Place in oven and bake for 20-22 minutes.

Enjoy!

Creamy, Garden-Fresh Tomato Basil Soup

Tomato soup is the ultimate in nostalgic comfort foods. It is, in my opinion, the perfect year-round soup. In the summertime, beautiful tomatoes start sprouting up all over the place; providing the most important ingredient for this delicious soup. To enjoy this soup in the winter, these same tomatoes can be canned and preserved so that they can be enjoyed just the same, months later.

You can also feel free to buy diced, canned tomatoes from the store or farmer’s market. There are a few things to keep in mind when doing that, however. 1. Make sure there isn’t any refined sugar or preservatives added to the tomatoes (You’d be surprised). 2. Make sure the cans themselves don’t contain BPA.

I have a pretty easy and quick method for removing the skin from tomatoes. It takes almost no time at all and just a little bit of extra prep work, but it’s SO worth it. You won’t believe the difference between canned tomatoes and fresh ones until you taste it!

To peel your tomatoes:

1. Fill a large pot with boiling water.
2. Fill a large bowl with ice water.
3. With a small, sharp knife, make a small “x” in the BOTTOM of the tomato (not the stem-side). The x shouldn’t be too deep, just enough to surpass the layer of fresh surrounding the seeds.
4. Gently place the tomatoes into the boiling water. Remove after 10-15 seconds and immediately place in ice bath.
5. Skin should peel off very easily.
6. Dice them up and set them aside.

Ingredients:

• 3 tbsp avocado or refined coconut oil or butter (if you eat dairy)
• 6-7 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 large onion, diced
• 2-3 celery stalks, diced
• 2-3 carrots, diced
• 3 tbsp sprouted flour
• 1 tsp maple syrup
• 1/3 cup soaked or sprouted grain (rice, quinoa, etc.)
• 4 cups diced tomatoes (either fresh, using the method above, or canned)
• 3 cups coconut milk (any nut milk will do, or use cow’s milk if you eat dairy)
• 2 tbsp dried basil
• 1 bay leaf
• Liberal pinch of sea salt
• Pinch of black pepper
• Pinch nutritional yeast (for garnish)
• Chiffonade fresh basil (for garnish)

Directions:

1. Heat oil in a large stock pot. Toss in garlic, onions, celery and carrots. Saute for a few minutes. Add flour and stir. Add maple syrup and rice. Saute an additional few minutes, until the maple syrup becomes fragrant.
2. Add tomatoes, coconut milk, dried basil, bay leaf, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and cover. Let simmer for about 10-12 minutes and remove from heat. Remove bay leaf.
3. Garnish with basil and nutritional yeast.
4. Serve hot! Enjoy.

 

Chocolate, Peanut Butter and Coconut Smoothie

The perfect after-dinner fix for a severe chocolate craving!

Ingredients:

• 1 banana, peeled and sliced
• 1/2 cup ice
• 2/3 cup coconut milk
• 2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
• Small handful chocolate chips or cacao nibs
• Pinch maple syrup
• Pinch unsweetened coconut flakes

Directions:

Pull all ingredients except for coconut flakes into a high powered blender and puree until smooth. Garnish with coconut flakes. Enjoy!

Raspberry-Peach and Coconut Parfait

Quick and easy breakfasts are something I’m always trying to perfect. Anything that you can prep the night before and just throw into a blender or pop into the oven is a match made in breakfast heaven, in my book.

This smoothie-parfait is a great example of a quick breakfast that’s healthy, delicious, and does not require a lot of time.

I always like to add a creamy element to my smoothies, whether it’s nut milk or water kefir or vegan yogurt. Since I love fermented foods in the morning, I decided to use cultured coconut milk (yogurt) in this smoothie. You can find cultured coconut milk at most health food stores. Try to stay away from the flavored stuff, as the ingredient lists tend to contain many undesirable preservatives.

Aside from that, feel free to dress up this smoothie-parfait with any additional fruits or veggies that you like. Strawberries would be an excellent addition, as would blackberries, blueberries or watermelon.

For the granola on top, you can throw together a super quick homemade granola, the recipe for which I will post shortly, OR you can just use the store-bought stuff. Again, when buying anything packaged, read the ingredients carefully. You don’t need high fructose corn syrup to make granola, so if that’s on the ingredient list, it’s not a good sign.

Ingredients:

• 1 white peach, pitted and sliced
• 1 banana, peeled and sliced
• 1 cup frozen raspberries
• 1 pear, chopped
• 1 cup cultured coconut milk
• 1/2 cup almond milk
• Sprinkling of you favorite granola

Directions:

1. Place all ingredients except granola into a blender.
2. Puree until smooth and pour into cups.
3. Top with granola. Enjoy!

Ginger, Peanut and Coconut Stew

Ever have an idea in your head all day that you just can’t get out? Today was one of those days for me. The idea? To find a way to incorporate ginger, peanut butter, coconut milk, and kale into a cohesive dish that somehow ALSO included the many vegetables we needed to use up.

With all this beautiful produce popping up everywhere, Steve and I have found ourselves with veggies practically coming out of our ears! This soup was an attempt to utilize some of those veggies, while developing some rich flavor from the aforementioned ingredients.

I will never pass on an opportunity to use coconut milk in a stew. It’s thick, sweet, and wonderfully full of saturated fat. It also brings a creamy element to the stew that is unmatched in any other (non-dairy) ingredient.

Ginger and peanut have always seemed like a natural match, to me. Their flavors nicely compliment one another. I didn’t have any whole peanuts, as I tend not to use them in cooking or baking, but I did have a massive jar of crunchy, homemade peanut butter.

I also added broccoli and cauliflower to the stew, which may seem odd but actually worked quite nicely.

Feel free to omit/add/change up any of the veggie combinations or spice levels, as well as substituting brown rice noodles for the rice (which I totally would have done if I’d had any).

Enjoy!

Ingredients:

• Drizzle olive or avocado oil
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 cups broccoli florets
• 2 cups cauliflower florets
• 2 carrots, roughly chopped
• Liberal pinch of grated ginger, or 1 tsp dried ginger
• 1 tbsp green chili paste
• Pinch cayenne pepper
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 3 cups vegetable broth or water
• 1 cup coconut milk
• 1 cup long grain rice
• 7-8 heirloom tomatoes, diced (you may also use canned tomatoes but make sure they come from BPA-free cans)
• 4-5 tbsp peanut butter
• 2 handfuls spinach or kale
• Juice from half a lime

Directions:

1. Heat oli in a large stockpot. Add onion and garlic. Saute until translucent.
2. Add broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, ginger, paste, cayenne and salt and pepper. Saute for a few minutes, mixing well as you go.
3. Add broth, coconut milk, rice, tomatoes, and peanut butter. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and then simmer, covered, for 25 minutes.
4. Add kale and lime juice and serve warm.

Enjoy!

Summertime Avocado Smoothie

There is nothing like a creamy, cold smoothie on a summer day. It’s chilly and refreshing, but also very nourishing. Many folks who eat (drink? Can you “eat” a smoothie?) green smoothies make the mistake of adding vegetable after vegetable– but forgetting to add any saturated fat. As you know, digestive systems have a difficult time breaking down the fiber of raw green vegetables without the addition of a little bit of saturated fat to help the process along.

This smoothie delivers two types of saturated fat — one in the form of avocado and the other in the form of coconut oil (feel free to add coconut sugar, additionally, if you like a sweeter smoothie).

Use spinach or kale as your base of greens, keeping in mind that kale should be removed from its steps before incorporated.

Stay cool and enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 1 avocado, pit removed
• 2 handfuls spinach or kale
• 1 cup coconut milk
• 1 tbsp flaxseeds
• 1/2 cup frozen mango
• 1 tbsp coconut oil
• Drizzle honey OR agave nectar OR maple syrup OR coconut sugar

Directions:

Place everything in a high speed blender and pulse until smooth.

Cinnamon Walnut Coffee Cake

I wish I could say I was the type of person who only craves dessert after dinner. Alas, that is almost never the case. A few weeks ago, in fact, I woke up on a Saturday morning with the fiercest craving for cake! What kind of cake goes perfectly with a Saturday morning cup of coffee, you ask? Why, coffee cake, of course!

This is my take on a classic coffee cake with a cinnamon streusel-like topping. There are very few ingredients in it, which is nice on the pocketbook, and it’s relatively easy to put together. If you’re in a time crunch, you can get your topping ready first so that you’re all set to put in top of the cake and throw the whole thing in the oven!

Ingredients (cake):

• 1 1/2 cups flour (whole wheat, all purpose, or buckwheat)
• 1/2 cup unrefined sugar (I like coconut)
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 2/3 cup coconut yogurt (cultured coconut milk)
• 1/3 cup virgin coconut oil
• 1/2 almond milk (soy or hemp will also do)
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Ingredients (streusel topping):

• 1/2 cup unrefined sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 2 tbsp coconut oil, melted
• 3/4 cup walnuts, chopped roughly

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Spray or oil an 8 x 8 inch baking pan. Set aside
3. Stir together topping ingredients. Set aside
4. Whisk together flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
5. Fold in oil, milk, sour “cream”, and extract.
6. Pour in baking pan and cover with streusel.
7. Bake for 30 minutes.

Enjoy!