Christina Najjar

Your pasta masterpiece – Exercise Your Creativity!

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This post is going to be a little different. Many people have recently asked me to teach them how to cook. I’m of the idea that cooking requires creativity, rather than just following a recipe. I’m a fan of adding ingredients that just feel right to me and that are in line with my cravings at the time. Pasta is an easy meal to train your creativity.

Delicious pasta meal

People often tell me they just don’t know which flavour combinations make sense. A good tip is to think of a meal – any meal – where you’ve had the flavour combination you’re about to attempt. Was it good? If so, it’s probably a safe bet. If you’re unsure about combinations in general, I recommend checking out The Flavour Thesaurus.

Your Pasta Masterpiece

What you need
Veggies – ideas: anything you would stir fry
Pasta (I used brown rice)
Just enough oil to coat – ideas: olive, sesame, truffle, avocado
Flavourful additions – ideas: sesame seeds, parsley, basil

If you have a hard time figuring out how much pasta and veggies you’ll need, try picturing it on a plate. I tend to not overdo it this way.

How to proceed
Start out by boiling the water for the pasta. Salt the water as desired. Add in the pasta when the water reaches a boil.

Heat a bit of oil in a frying pan. Throw in the veggies you want to stir fry. I add them as I chop them, so I start with the veggies that require the most cooking, and work my way to the ones that need the least cooking.

By the time the pasta is done cooking, I find that the veggies are done to my liking. Drain the pasta and coat immediately with the oil of your choice. Toss in the veggies and whatever else you would like to add. And there you go! An easy meal that’s both interesting and filling!

Make Your Own Coconut Milk (paleo, vegan, sugar free)

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If, like me, you go through tons of coconut milk, it may be advantageous for you to start making your own. First of all, it’s more economical. I can make it for $1 (or less) using coconut shavings, or I can buy it for $3.29 in Ottawa. Additionally, making your own is healthier. You get to control what goes into your milk; no weird binding agents or preservatives.

I’ve also been trying to be more conscious of reducing my waste. I could easily go through 2 tetra packs of coconut milk per week. That waste accumulates really quickly! I would much rather use and reuse my mason jars.

Coconut milk you can make at home

Make Your Own Coconut Milk (paleo, vegan, sugar free)

What you need
1 cup shredded coconut
3 cups boiling water
Blender
4 cup (1L) mason jar
Funnel
Fine mesh strainer or nut milk bag

What you do
Combine the boiling water and the shredded coconut in the blender. LET IT COOL DOWN. I didn’t wait, and I ended up burning myself. Because of the higher temperature, more pressure is required on the blender lid to stop it from overflowing. Avoid accidents by letting it cool down.

Once cooled down, blend for a few minutes. You won’t be able to get rid of all the coconut pieces so blend it until it’s to your desired thickness. Then, if you’re using a strainer, place your funnel in the jar mouth and the strainer on top of the funnel, and pour the coconut milk. If you’re using the nut milk bag, place it in a bowl and pour the coconut through the bag.

You can add a bit of vanilla and a liquid sweetener for taste, but it’s not necessary, if you want to skip that step.

Refrigerate for up to 5 days. A solid block of fat will form at the top. This can be blended in smoothies or heated to melt.

Homemade No-Poo Hair Gel

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Make your own healthy hair gel

A while back, I talked about how I gave up shampoo. I also mentioned that I was experimenting with hair gels. While I’ve heard of gels using aloe, the cost of flax is a lot more attractive to me, as a student. The one bag of Bob’s Red Mill flax cost me about $4 and will probably make me a number of batches in the triple digits. Each batch lasts me about two weeks.

With this gel, you get to choose what kind of hold you want. I wouldn’t suggest aiming for hair glue-type hold though, although I haven’t tried it. To attempt to tame the lion’s mane that I manage to grow with my human genes, I like to make my gel on the thicker side. I don’t recommend making the gel thicker than you need it. If boiled enough, the flax will become the consistency of egg yolks. This can leave a bit of a greasy feel on your hair if you end up using more gel.

The styling method that seems to work the best for my hair is getting just enough gel at the top to lay the frizz down (while my hair is still wet), and using a lot more of it from about ear level and down. Using a method I got from Curly Girl: The Handbook, instead of using a towel to soak up the water, I use an old cotton t-shirt. The typical towel material dries hair out too much. By the way, if you have curly hair, READ THAT BOOK! If you personally know me, I can lend it to you.

Anyway, let’s proceed to the gel making.

What you need
Small saucepan
1 cup water
1 1/2 tbsp flax – not flaxmeal
1/4 tsp citric acid – I find this at Bulk Barn or the bulk section of health food stores
Strainer
Airtight container
A few drops of essential oil (optional)

What you do
Combine the water and flax in a small saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Once it comes to boil, lower the heat to avoid an overflow of goo (yuck). You need to start watching the mixture closely at this point. It doesn’t take long for the gel to go from perfect to too thick. To get the thickness I need, I’d guess it takes about five minutes from the time it starts boiling. There is a such thing as making it too thick, and it becomes difficult to handle.

Once it’s reached the desired thickness, strain the gel into an airtight container. Mix in the citric acid and essential oil, if using. The citric acid isn’t necessary, but it will help make the gel last longer. Keep the gel in the fridge when not using.

I suggest rinsing the strainer as soon as you use it. It won’t take long for the seeds to cake onto the strainer, and cleaning will be a lot more difficult. Alternatively, you can place the seeds in a tea ball to boil the mixture and discard them at the end.

Easy Pickled Veggies

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Do you ever eat out of boredom? I certainly do. I’ll eat whatever I find that’s ready to go. Rather than eating junk food, I’ve decided to keep pickled veggies on hand. I always ate pickles as a snack when I lived with my family. They were always too acidic for me though. Also, unfortunately, some pickles contain gluten (watch out for malt vinegar).

When making your own pickled veggies, not only can you choose the veggies you want to pickle, but you also get to pick(le) the flavour you want. I went with the theme of uncrushed spices, but you can really just use your favourite spices.

This was a bit of a fun project. It didn’t take long to do, but I got to get excited about waiting long enough for the flavours to have blended. If you’re a foodie and a student, this project might be just what you need during midterms. Not time consuming, but an effective procrastination method.

I am providing you with the recipe for the brine I made, but it can be modified to suit your taste, so get creative!

Easy Pickled Veggies

Easy Pickled Veggies

What you need
Veggies of your choice
Jar (about 1L)
Saucepan
1 cup water
1 cup apple cider vinegar
2 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp salt
Bay leaf
1 tbsp whole mustard seeds
1 tsp whole peppercorns
1 tsp whole coriander seeds

What you do
Start by putting the spices in a saucepan over medium heat to mildly roast them (not the bay leaf). Keep them moving in the pan to not burn them. Heating them up will help bring out the flavour. You can do this for about two minutes before adding the rest of the ingredients. Stir well to dissolve the sugar.

While the brine warms up, fill the jar as much as you can. If it’s not full enough, the brine won’t reach the top of the jar once you pour it. Even after the jar looked full, I was able to keep shoving carrots between other carrots.

Once the brine reaches a boil, remove it from the heat and pour it into the jar. It will need to cool down before going into the fridge. These pickles aren’t shelf stable so you don’t want to keep them more than a month.

Let them sit in the fridge for 3-4 days to allow the flavour to get into the vegetables.

Lentil Sprouts (using materials you have at home)

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Between midterms, having a cold, and this outrageous winter, I haven’t really been consistent with my grocery shopping. My veggie supply is running out. I was considering growing all kinds of veggies in my living room, but after doing some research and asking around, I’ve concluded that it’s not worth it. I decided to make lentil sprouts instead.

Lentils just starting to sprout

They require so little effort and are ready in just a few days. In theory, this works with anything that has seeds. Herbs, beans, chia seeds, you name it. For more gelatinous seeds, I hear you need special equipment though, so don’t try this method with chia seeds. If this is your first time, I recommend you try this with your favourite kind of bean.

I’m looking into getting a sprouter because I’d like to do a lot of sprouting, but having gotten so excited about getting started, I didn’t want to wait until I had the sprouter to start. Today, I show you a method to sprout that you can try with what you already have at home.

Lentil Sprouts

Sprouting lentils

What you need

A jar
A strainer, cheesecloth, or pantyhose
An elastic
Seeds to sprout
An abundance of water

How to proceed

If you’re using some kind of bean, start by sorting through them and picking out the ones with spots on them. Then, rinse the seeds thoroughly. To give you an idea of the amount you might want to use, after your initial soaking, the beans will have more than doubled in size, and once they start sprouting, your batch will increase in size even more. Many website suggest starting with half a cup to one cup.

Once you’ve rinsed the beans, place them in a large jar. They shouldn’t take up more than about a third of the jar. Pour water in the jar almost all the way to the top. The jar needs to be covered but it needs to be able to breathe as well, so this is where the cheesecloth or the pantyhose comes in handy. I had neither, so for this step, I used paper towel. Keep it in place around the rim of the jar with an elastic. Let it sit for up to a day in a cool place.

Lentil sprouts

Lentil sprouts

Once it’s been sitting for no more than a day, the seeds need to be rinsed very well to avoid mold. If you have cheesecloth or pantyhose, this can be done directly in the jar through the fabric. Because I had neither, I transferred the set-up to my strainer. Once you’re done rinsing, make sure you’ve gotten rid of every last drop of water. Leaving water at the bottom of the jar will increase chances of mold.

Lentil sprouts

From this point on, you want to rinse the seeds/sprouts every 8-12 hours and keep them dry otherwise until they’re done. This can be anywhere between 2 and 7 days, depending on the temperature in your dwelling and how you like your sprouts to look. To store them in the fridge, make sure they are very well dried. They can be kept in a ziploc bag or a plastic container.

If you’re not sure what to do with the sprouts once they’re done, you can eat them straight, or put them in salads, sandwiches, or whatever recipes you find online. I really enjoyed my lentil sprouts in salad.

Probiotic Sauerkraut

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Homemade sauerkraut

Anyone who spends enough time with me knows how I feel about probiotics. In your digestive system, there are all sorts of microorganisms that help you stay healthy, your gut flora. Medication, alcohol, sugar, and many other factors can harm your gut flora. This can lead to all sorts of health problems. Probiotics help restore your gut flora. Probiotic supplements are available, but not all are of good quality, and the good ones can be really expensive. This is why I’m a fan of sauerkraut (the benefits, not the taste, bleugh). It cost me all of $2 for the cabbage and about $5 for the salt because all I had on hand was iodised salt. The salt will last me for many, many uses.

Now, I know you might be asking yourself why you would make sauerkraut when you can conveniently buy it at the supermarket. Unless otherwise specified, the jarred stuff you buy at the grocery store doesn’t have the probiotic benefits. So, if you’re interested, let’s get started!

Probiotic Sauerkraut

What you need
1 cabbage (red or green)
Non-iodized salt (I use 1 tbsp, but work to your tastes)
A large bowl (or two)
Jars – I reused two pickle jars
Patience

How to proceed
Quarter the cabbage. Remove the really thick ribs and the core. Take one quarter, lay it down on one of the flat sides, and slice it as thin as you possibly can without adding your fingers to the ingredients. Put the shreds into a bowl. I needed two bowls to fit all the cabbage.

Add the salt now – it will help you for the next step. Because I was using red cabbage and I didn’t want to go to work looking like a smurf, I used plastic gloves, but I just ended up ripping right through them. You might as well not bother with that.

This is where the fun begins. What you’re going to want to do now is start “massaging” the cabbage. Basically, you’ll be grabbing handfuls of shreds and making a fist with your hand, squeezing the cabbage. Kind of like when people with curly hair scrunch their hair. What this will accomplish, after you’ve repeated enough times, is squeeze the juice out of the cabbage and soften it. The salt helps speed that up. The first bowl took me half an hour because I wasn’t sure what to do, but the second bowl took me about seven minutes. You want there to be enough of the cabbage juice to cover all the cabbage once you pack it down in a jar, which is precisely what you’ll want to do at this point (unless you’re easily amused and want to keep squeezing the cabbage).

Make sure the cabbage is packed down as much as it can be in the jar so that the juice level stays higher than the cabbage level. Any cabbage which isn’t covered runs the risk of developing bad bacteria. Now you close the jar and you wait. I suggest doing other things while you wait, like going to work and sleeping, because you’ll be waiting a while. For me, that was four days. Some people say it takes longer though. Open the jar once a day to release the (foul-smelling) gasses. If your house/apartment/unspecified dwelling is too warm, you may start to see mold. You can remove a thin layer of sauerkraut without having to discard the whole batch, if that happens.

When it’s done, the finished product will be a different colour than the cabbage was when you bought it (or stole it, not that I encourage this). A few days after it’s started fermenting, taste it once a day to decide when it’s at the point when you like it. When it gets to that point, you’ll want to transfer it to the fridge.

Because I dislike the taste of sauerkraut, I add a generous amount of olive oil and black pepper when I dish it out, and it actually turns out to be quite tasty. You can cook it or fry it or whatever it is that people do with it, but that gets rid of the probiotic benefits.

Allergy Friendly Baking Powder (corn free)

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Some typical ingredients for baking contain hidden sources of gluten, corn, and whatever else you might have food sensitivities to. I’ve had to research every ingredient I use because I’ve had some bad surprises in the past. I’d never really given much thought to what baking powder was until my naturopathic doctor pointed out that to heal properly, I’d need to cut out every source of corn (and other allergens), including baking powder.

Allergy friendly baking powder corn free

You know how they say your life flashes before your eyes before you die? I think that something similar happens when you find out something you love is out of your reach (baking, in this case). After my ND mentioned the concern with baking powder, Jann Arden’s “Will You Remember Me” started playing in my head, as I remembered all those fun moments in my kitchen.

Let me say this. There’s nothing that’s going to stop me from baking. I decided to look up how to make my own baking powder. Don’t let the cost of cream of tartar deter you. That small container is actually so much bigger than it seems. Alternatively, you can buy it in bulk from a health food store or Bulk Barn for much cheaper.

This recipe made one cup. I keep it in a plastic container in my refrigerator. This makes it last longer, but make sure to put deodorising baking soda in your fridge, or the baking soda in this recipe will take up that job. You’ll end up with baking powder that smells like your produce and whatnot. Anyway, here it is the baking powder recipe.

Allergy Friendly Baking Powder (corn free)

Ingredients
1/2 cup cream of tartar
1/4 cup baking soda
1/4 cup potato starch or arrowroot powder – arrowroot is more expensive though

Directions
Combine all the ingredients. Store in an airtight container in the fridge. Simply use this as you would in any recipe!

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Christina Najjar - Natural Nutrition

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