Christina Najjar

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Black Pepper and Lime Potato Wedges (vegan)

May 26, 2014 by Christina Najjar Leave a Comment

I eat potato wedges to forget… Have you ever gotten to the grocery store, only to realise that you didn’t have your wallet? I did yesterday. I only realised it after having put all the items on the conveyor belt, so I couldn’t just discretely put everything back and pretend it never happened. I decided to do my groceries at a different store today. Since yesterday, every time I’m about to step out, I check my purse about five times to make sure I have my wallet on me.

Black Pepper and Lime Potato Wedges

A good way to forget about these kinds of problems is to eat black pepper and lime potato wedges. I almost always make them using yellow potatoes, but for some reason, this time, I decided I’d go for red potatoes. It didn’t turn out as nicely as the yellow potatoes usually do, so I definitely recommend sticking to yellow potatoes.

Black Pepper and Lime Potato Wedges

Ingredients
1 package yellow baby potatoes (About 680g/24oz)
Zest of 1 lime
Juice of 1/2 lime
Loads of ground black pepper
Olive oil to coat
Salt to taste

Directions
Preheat oven to 400F.

Cut potatoes into wedges. To do so, cut them in half. Lay the flat side down and make three wedges out of each half. Mix the potato wedges with just enough olive oil to coat them, salt to taste, and loads of black pepper. And I mean LOADS. Lay them out evenly on a baking sheet and cook for about 40 minutes, or until cooked to your liking, taking them out halfway through to toss them.

While the potatoes cook, zest the lime.

When the potatoes are done, toss in the zest and squeeze half of the lime over the potato wedges. You can add more lime if the lime is small or if you simply like extra lime.

Filed Under: Appetizers, Recipes, Sides, Snacks, Vegan Tagged With: appetizer, corn free, dairy free, egg free, gluten free, grain free, nut free, side, snack, soy free, vegan

Spicy Sweet Potato Fries With Curry Sauce

March 10, 2014 by Christina Najjar Leave a Comment

I’ve always disliked anything sweet potato. I felt that they were a cross between carrots and potatoes, and that they couldn’t make up their mind about what they wanted to be. The only sweet potatoes I enjoyed were my stepsister’s husband’s curry mashed sweet potatoes.

Sweet potato fries with dip

Then, recently, I started making my own sweet potato fries. For a few weeks, I was making them almost everyday. They’re a pain in the butt to cut, but hey, they’re tasty. The trick is to make them a bit spicy. Not so much that your mouth burns, but just enough to add a bit of a kick. For that reason, my measurements for the spices for the fries will be vague. Add the seasoning as you like it.

As a side note, this morning, I was having a conversation about remembering things I’m grateful for. I am grateful for many things, though I did want to mention one thing. I am grateful for you folks. Everyone who reads, shares, and/or comments on my posts. You all keep me going!

Sweet potato fries with dip

Spicy Sweet Potato Fries With Curry Dipping Sauce (vegan, paleo)

Ingredients

For the fries:
1 sweet potato
Salt and cayenne pepper to taste
Black pepper to taste – go generous

For the dipping sauce:
2 tbsp full fat coconut milk, refrigerated
1/4 tsp turmeric
1/8 tsp each: cumin, minced fresh ginger, ground cardamom, garlic salt

Directions
Preheat oven to 400F.

Cut the potatoes into fries and season them. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or adjust time if you cut your fries a different size from the picture. Take them out halfway through to flip/toss them.

In the meantime, prepare the curry sauce. Take the can of coconut milk out of the fridge. Slowly turn it over and open it from the bottom. The thick stuff will be sitting right at the top that way. Scoop up the needed amount and mix in the rest of the ingredients.

Filed Under: Appetizers, Paleo/Grain-Free, Recipes, Snacks, Vegan Tagged With: appetizer, corn free, dairy free, egg free, gluten free, grain free, nut free, paleo, side, snack, soy free, vegan

Easy Tapenade (vegan, paleo)

July 26, 2013 by Christina Najjar Leave a Comment

I had the day off on Wednesday. I spent almost the entire day cooking. I ended up making sweet and sour pork tenderloin, peach meatballs, a trial for something I’ve never made before but intend to give as a gift (update: it was a biscotti recipe), a snack (update: it was coconut date balls), and this tapenade.

Easy homemade tapenade

You won’t find me eating anchovies willingly. I didn’t even know tapenade was supposed to have anchovies until I started looking it up online recently (I’m a fan of appetizer parties). Thankfully, you can change it up to include different flavours, and it can still be quite tasty! So, I did just that. No anchovies in this tapenade.

This recipe is, of course, for olive lovers. I would like to say that there’s such a big difference between olives you buy in a can, and olives sitting in oil. Not only are the olives in oil much better for your health, but they also taste infinitely better. I like to buy the ones that I can scoop out myself because I can choose how much oil to include. I also find that most grocery stores offer a bigger variety of olives that way.

Easy Tapenade

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups pitted black olives
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp capers
1 clove garlic
1 cup flat leaf parsley, stems removed (NOT packed down)

Directions
Roughly chop the garlic. Combine all the ingredients in a food processor. Pulse until it looks as chunky or pureed as you like it.

Filed Under: Appetizers, Paleo/Grain-Free, Recipes, Snacks, Vegan Tagged With: appetizer, corn free, dairy free, egg free, gluten free, grain free, nut free, paleo, side, snack, soy free, vegan

Hummus in 5 minutes (vegan)

February 4, 2013 by Christina Najjar Leave a Comment

When I was little, my mom used to make authentic Lebanese hummus regularly. I’m not going to lie. I hated it. I’d put up a fight every time she’d try to feed me the smallest amount of hummus. Then, when I became a vegetarian in high school, I discovered store bought hummus. It doesn’t taste like the authentic stuff, but hell, it’s so much better!

Until recently, I didn’t know that I had a functional food processor. How is that possible, you may ask? I had a food processor sitting in a box in my apartment, but when I had tried to use it in the past, I hadn’t assembled it properly. So, when I tried turning it on, nothing happened.

Every time I wanted hummus, I would dish out the $5 for a small container of store-bought hummus. Then, last week, it dawned on me that I keep all the ingredients for hummus on hand. No need to do groceries to make it, and it’s super healthy! And this time, when I used my food processor, it worked!

I like to use canned chickpeas because it’s so effortless, but you could just as well cook them from scratch. I decided to adapt this recipe to make it taste like the store bought stuff. More lemon, less tahini. More yummy, less icky.

Homemade hummus

Hummus in 5 minutes (vegan)

Ingredients
1 large can chickpeas (19oz/540mL)
1/3 cup reserved chickpea water
5 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp tahini
2 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
1/2 tsp salt

Directions
Drain the can of chickpeas into a cup so that you can add some chickpea water to the humus. In a food processor, add all the ingredients and process for 1-2 minutes, stopping at least once to scrape down the bowl.

Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.

Filed Under: Chickpeas, Recipes, Sides, Vegan Tagged With: appetizer, corn free, dairy free, egg free, gluten free, grain free, main course, nut free, side, snack, soy free, sugar free, vegan

Falafel Patties (vegan, sugar free)

January 23, 2013 by Christina Najjar Leave a Comment

Balancing school, work, and other life demands is usually quite time consuming. This is one of the many reasons I’m a fan of out-of-the-pantry recipes. I suppose they’re the equivalent of “Just add [insert select ingredients]!” mixes for those not afflicted with Belly Monsters Syndrome. Falafel patties are great for those days when I just don’t have time to get to the store.

Homemade falafel patties

I like to know I’m not eating all kinds of weird chemicals, and I have to do it on a budget. When I go to a health food store, I stock up on gluten free flours that I buy in bulk to save money. I always have lemons on hand for my daily lemon-hot water, but you could just as easily use bottled lemon juice if that’s what tickles your pickle.

While this is not your traditional falafel, you can treat it as such. I like mine with lemon tahini dipping sauce, but do as you wish. You can shape them into smaller patties or cut them up to add them to wraps.

Falafel Patties

Ingredients
1 cup chickpea flour
2 tsp parsley flakes
3/4 tsp garlic salt (or garlic granules and salt)
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup warm water
2 tsp lemon juice
Oil for frying

Directions
Combine all the dry ingredients in a medium or large bowl and mix well. Mix in lemon and hot water. Let sit for about ten minutes for the water to get absorbed a little. The batter should be fairly thick, but not solid.

Lightly oil a frying pan. Over medium heat, drop batter by tablespoonfuls and spread it a bit with the back of the spoon. Cook for three minutes. Flip and cook for an additional two minutes.

For my lemon tahini dipping sauce, I just mix tahini and lemon at a 2:1 ratio, but experiment and see what you like.

Filed Under: Chickpeas, Mains, Recipes, Vegan Tagged With: appetizer, corn free, dairy free, egg free, gluten free, grain free, main course, nut free, side, snack, soy free, vegan

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