Something Healthy For The Holidays: Crispy Kale!

I am grudgingly saying that I have a new favorite veggie. And it's only because it's crunchy, salty and so good for you. Crispy Kale Chips! I actually think I had been biased for all these years by an episode of "Cheers", where Woody ("Veggie-Boyd")  had to do a commercial extolling the benefits of kale. (Watch it here)

Kale is really rich in beta carotene, calcium, lutein, Vitamin K and Vitamin C.
Wishing all my American brethren a Happy Thanksgiving. Enjoy.

Recipe: Crispy Kale.

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:

1 Head of Kale
1 Tablespoon Good Olive Oil
Sparing use of some nice seasoning salt. (I like stuff from The Spice and Tea Exchange)

Pre-heat your oven to 350 F, and line TWO cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Tear leaves from stems of the kae into large bite sized pieces. (they will shrink, so keep them on the larger size). I find the easiest way to do this is break the "branch" at the base of the stem, then tear the leaves from each side of the stem. Thinner stems are fine to leave intact. The thicker portion tastes a bit to gnarly.

Throw all the leaves into a large bowl, wash and pat completely dry.

Once the leaves are dry, pour the oil over, and massage it completely over every inch of the leaves. This will ensure even crispiness and maximum enjoyment.

Lay the kale leaves onto the cookie sheets, and try not to overlap, so that all the kale will crisp up.
Sprinkle your seasoning (can sub in whatever you like, but I like the simpleness of just good salt).

Bake for about 10 minutes, rotating pans halfway through.

NB. From about 8 minutes onward, watch them closely, looking for the edges to just get brown. The difference between glorious crispness, and awful burnt bitter kale is not far!

Let me know whether kale is a favorite of yours, and how else you prepare and enjoy it!

The Vitamix Blender : A Guy's Tool And A New Recipe

I recently got a new Vitamix Blender. Given that I already own a stick blender, and a decent mixer, I never would have purchased one, but, while looking through my Air Miles reward options the other day, I came upon the Vitamix. On a whim, I clicked OK, and received the new blender about a week later (really impressive shipping time, Air Miles!)

Being a guy, I was naturally sucked in by it's car-like features. "Powerful 2-Peak Horsepower Motor" that propels the blade tip "to speeds up to 240 miles per hour"! It had a "Radial cooling fan and thermal protection system". The blades are "laser-cut, stainless steel hammermill". The 64 ounce container is "BPA free Eastmann Triton Copolyester". (Not sure what that means, exactly, but it sounds so damn good.)
I swear, it sounded like I was getting a new car, so I do hand it to whoever does the marketing for these guys. And I was getting for "free"!


Anyway, I am impressed with how well it blends everything, from ice, to frozen fruit, to hard vegetables, to nuts, to whatever. I would highly endorse one, if you can get over the price. Here's something I made with Liv today, using the blender. You could easily grate the carrots and sub in applesauce if you don't have a high powered monster like this. Enjoy.




Recipe: Carrot and Applesauce Cake (modified from the Vitamix Create Recipes Book)
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes

Ingredients
1 cup White Whole Wheat Flour (I like King Arthur)
1 cup All Purpose Flour
1/2 cup Sugar
2 teaspoons Baking Soda
2 teaspoons Ground Cinnamon
1 teaspoon Freshly Ground Nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt

6 Egg Whites
2 apples, quartered ( I just left in the seeds)
2 medium carrots

Instructions

• Heat Oven to 350 F and spray Loaf Pan with cooking spray
• Whisk together flours, sugar, baking soda, nutmeg and cinnamon
• Pour egg whites, apples and carrots into Vitamix Blender.
• Crank Blender up to 10 and tamp down ingredients for about 30 seconds to liquify everything.
• Fold wet ingredients into dry.
• Pour mixture into loaf pan
• Bake for about 25 minutes until toothpick inserted into centre comes out cleanly.

We iced ours with a little icing sugar glaze, but it also tastes great on its own.

Let me know how this turns out for you!

Recipe: Low Fat Pumpkin Bread Pudding

The beginning of fall weather in Southwestern Ontario is always my favourite time of year. It's still beautiful out, but not quite as hot as the sweltering humid summer was. The nights are just starting to get a little crisp, and the mornings are perfect for fast paced running.

This type of weather gets me thinking about harvest foods and stuff to warm the belly a little. I pulled out an old recipe for pumpkin bread pudding, and continue to modify it, keeping treat-like, but still really, really tasty. Let me know what you think!

Low Fat Pumpkin Bread Pudding.

Prep Time: 10 minutes (+ bread soaking time)
Cooking Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients

1 cup Pumpkin Puree
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup pure Canadian Maple Syrup
2 cups milk (skim is fine)
2 egg whites, beaten
1/2 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp cloves
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla

1 loaf Day old French Baguette
3/4 cup plump California Raisins

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease an 11x17 baking dish.
Cut the loaf into 1 inch slices, and then cube as equally as possible. (I like keeping the crust!)
Put bread into a large bowl and pour milk over, mix and let bread soak for about an hour.

Combine brown sugar, pumpkin, egg whites, vanilla and spices. Mix well, then add to bread/milk along with raisins. Mix all ingredients together, and spread evenly in baking dish.

Bake for 40-45 minutes until top just gets crusty.



Enjoy!

Let me know how you like it!

Customize Your Granola Bar!

My kids are really good eaters. Honestly. They just don't always like the same things. My daughter, for example, loves tomatoes. She'll eat strawberries by the pint, and devours cucumbers. My son, on the other hand, tends not to like any of these things. He does, however, like apples, carrots and is a voracious meat eater. Doesn't matter what. Just meat.

The same situation often comes to snacks. Both kids like granola bars, just not always the same flavour. We'll sometimes buy them as a treat, but I've come to realize that letting them create and customize their own is cheaper, healthier, and a lot more fun.

I've created a little template below, that allows you to mix and match, making your bars as healthy, exotic, or   bad for you as you like! Enjoy.



Recipe: Customized Granola Bars
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 25 minutes.

1. Base Ingredient: 2 1/2 Cups, Total, of any of the following:
     Rolled oats, Puffed wheat, Rye Flakes, Barley, Red River cereal, or other combination.

2. Something Sweet: 3/4 Cups of any combination of the following:
     Honey, Grade B Maple Syrup (I like our local McLachlan Family Maple Syrup Farm), Molasses, Agave or other trendy sweetener.

3. Something Chewy: 1 Cup of any or all of the below:
     Dried Cranberries, Raisins, Apricots, Dates, Pineapple, Figs, Cherries, Blueberries etc. (Just keep the size of the fruit relatively small (ie, diced if larger, like dates).

4. Something Crunchy: 1Cup of any. (exclude peanuts if sending to school)
     Sunflower Seeds, Pepitas, Almonds, Walnuts, Peanuts. (chop larger nuts)
     Could also sub in Chocolate Chips, Reese's Pieces, etc.

5. Something to Hold it All Together: 1 Cup
      Try using Applesauce, Peanut Butter, Almond Butter, Pureed Dates, Nutella, Biscoff Spread, etc. (again, avoid peanut butter if sending these to school).


1.  Heat Oven to 325 F.
2.  Line an 8x8 Baking pan with parchment paper in cross-wise fashion with lots of extra overhanging.
3.  Mix dry ingredients together in a large bowl. (ie. base, chewy, crunchy). Add spice to taste. (ex cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, 1 tsp salt).
4. Mix wet ingredients together. ( ie. sweet, and something to hold it all together).
5. Combine wet into dry, and mix well.
6. Pour mixture into baking pan, and with the extra parchment paper overhanging, press mixture firmly and evenly in pan. When you think you've pressed it firmly enough, do it again and press a little more.

7. Bake for 25 minutes. Remove from oven, and let cool for 2 hours. Remove from pan and cut into desired size (squares or bars).

You can store these in an airtight container for 5-6 days. (if they last that long!)

Enjoy.

Quick Recipe: Hummus

Very rarely does my daughter request something healthy in her lunch, so when she asks for hummus, I really can't complain. Hummus is essentially a chickpea dip, which is OK by me. Chickpeas are an outstanding source of protein, fibre and zinc. The taste and texture is fabulous.

Promise me you'll never buy store bought hummus again. This recipe takes less than 5 minutes to construct, has no preservatives, very little fat, and tastes  fresher and brighter than anything you can buy in a package. Oh - and also costs less than a quarter of what you'll pay for at the grocery store.




Hummus
Preparation Time: 5 minutes.

1 14 oz can of chickpeas (garbanzo) beans
1/2 tablespoon tahini
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
salt and pepper to taste

Pour all ingredients into a mixing bowl and blend to desired consistency with an immersion blender.
I like to leave mine a little chunkier than smooth, so it sticks better to whatever you dip.
Serve with crunchy vegetables like carrots or celery or cauliflower, and/or flatbreads, pita triangles or bread.

I sometimes change up the spices, but the smokiness of the paprika is always the best thing for me!
Let me know what you think!

Recipe: Chocolate Oatmeal Protein Bars

Those of you that know me, know I am constantly on the look-out for the perfect snack. I try to eat small amounts throughout the work day, as well as soon after training as possible. Finding something satisfying to eat quickly between seeing patients can often be difficult. These have been some of the criteria I need to be met for my perfect snack.

• Portable.
• Satisfying. 
• High in Protein, high in fibre and low in fat.
• Can't get stuck in my teeth. (I'm dealing face to face with people)
• Can't have a strong odor. (see above)
• Has to actually taste good.

After many years of tweaking recipes, I think I've found the perfect "on the go" snack, for work, for training, for travel, for anytime. There's just enough sweet from the maple syrup, to satisfy my sweet tooth; just enough protein and fibre to satisfy hunger; just enough brightness from the OJ and spice to pick me up.

Perfect. Let me know what you think!

Chocolate Oatmeal Protein Bars

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Baking Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

3 1/2 cups Large Flake Oats ( I like Quaker)

4 scoops Chocolate Protein Powder

1/4 cup Dutch Processed Cocoa (I like Valrhona )

1 heaping tablespoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon cloves

1 cup Canadian Maple Syrup

1/4 cup applesauce

1/4 cup O.J.

Splash of Vanilla

2 egg whites

Pre-heat oven to 325 F.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the first 6 dry ingredients.

In another mixing bowl, beat the egg whites until slightly foamy. Then add the other 4 wet ingredients to the egg whites.

Pour wet into dry and gently fold ingredients together, until just mixed through.

Spray an 8x8 baking dish with your favorite cooking spray, and spread mixture into dish evenly.

Sprinkle top with more cinnamon, and bake in oven for 30 minutes.

Let cool and cut into squares to enjoy.

Can't Wait for REAL Strawberries!

Local strawberries will be ready to pick in the next month, and I can't wait. (Right Heeman's ?) Heeman's farm is  our local pick-your-own farm, and we've taken the kids there every June to get real strawberries. 

I used to eat the giant mutant strawberries from the grocery store, but realized I don't like the taste of cardboard when I eat my fruit. So, I put off my addiction for the luscious berries for the few weeks in June that we can get our own locally in Southern Ontario.

I finally realized that washing, stemming and freezing them in a single layer in a freezer bag allows me to extend the joy into the depths of winter, but nothing beats the warm juicy first ones of the summer.

A great article from the NPR last week ("The Secret Life of California Strawberries"), provides some nice insight into the massive tasteless strawberries we get the rest of the year. Although these berries have been bred to be big, disease resistant, colourful and productive, it is at the expense of taste. In the case of strawberries, big and beautiful is NOT always better.


Nutritional Benefits


Strawberries are an excellent source of Vitamin C, folic acid, antioxidants and fibre. These vitamins may help  boost the immune system, lower blood pressure, lower LDL cholesterol, and improve GI function, not to mention helping to manage weight by making you feel full longer.


RECIPE: STRAWBERRY COMPOTE.

Use this recipe as a topping for ice cream, a spread on toast, or just eat it out of the jar! Just promise me you'll use fresh, local strawberries.

6 Cups Strawberries

1 Cup Sugar

1 Cinnamon Stick

1 Tbsp Balsamic Vinegar

1 Tbsp Grand Marnier

Splash Vanilla (after)

Hull and Halve Strawberries

Mix with Sugar, cinnamon, balsamic and let berries macerate 1 hour in Heavy Saucepan

Stir over medium heat x 20 minutes.

Add vanilla after off heat.

Do you wait all year for local berries, or do you cave in and buy whatever's available?
Let me know!

Roasted Chickpeas

Chickpeas are pretty fantastic. The name is great to say; it`s alternative name, Garbanzo Beans, is just as great to say!
They`re an excellent source of fibre, protein, iron and folate.

A 100g serving of them provides 165 calories, 7.6 g fibre, 8.9 g of protein, almost 3mg of iron, and .1 mg of folic acid. Outstanding. And they taste great.

Most of the production and consumption occurs in India, the Mediterranean, and Western Asia, but we should really follow their lead. Eaten on their own as a snack, simply made into hummus, transformed into falafels, socca flatbread, or, as in this post, roasted for a healthy treat!

Eat as much as you like! They`re great for you - easy to make, easy to eat, easy to change up.

RECIPE - ROASTED CHICKPEAS

1 can chickpeas (796ml)
1 tsp olive oil
Generous amount of Kosher salt
Generous amount of Smoked Paprika

Heat oven to 400 F. Rinse chickpeas and pat dry with paper towel. Spread evenly on cookie sheet. Pour olive oil over chickpeas and massage lovingly. Sprinkle salt and smoked paprika and shake to distribute evenly.
Bake for 15 minutes, shake pan to redistribute, and return to oven for another 15-20 minutes, until just turning brown.

Let cool for several hours, to allow the chickpeas to get a nice crunch on, and enjoy!.

VARIATIONS

Try subbing in sugar and cinnammon for the salt and paprika for a sweet treat.
Try switching paprika for onion powder, dill and a little balsamic vinegar!
The possibilities are endless. (Liv wants to try cake mix and sprinkles :) )

Let me know how this turns out for you, and if you try anything different!

Chunky Monkey Protein Smoothie

I Looove Frozen Bananas.
Wait. Let me rephrase that.
I reeeaaallly love Frozen Bananas.
I keep a large ziplock bag with a good size stock of 'em. They're great for giving texture to smoothies, ice cream (The best one ingredient ice cream!), dipped in chocolate, sprinkles. . .you get the idea.

This chocolate banana smoothie is one of the greatest tasting things I've ever made. Also one of the easiest to make. For all smoothies, shakes, soups, etc. I highly endorse getting an immersion blender. They are highly versatile - just stick it in the vessel you're preparing your ingredients and go. I use the Kalorik Stick Blender, based on suggestions by America's Test Kitchen.

High in protein, low in fat, and just plain good for you. Enjoy.

RECIPE:

CHUNKY MONKEY PROTEIN SMOOTHIE


250 cc (1/2 cup) Chocolate Milk
15 ml (1 tablespoon) Cottage Cheese
1 Scoop Chocolate Protein Powder
1 medium frozen banana


Roughly chop frozen banana into chunks. Add all ingredients into large cup. Blend.
Enjoy.




NUTRITIONAL INFO.

Calories: 260 calories
Protein: 22 g
Fat: ZERO!
Carbohydrates: 42 g