Christina Najjar

Acorn Squash Wedges (vegan, paleo)

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Happy December! Thankfully, this year hasn’t been too too cold just yet, unlike last year. I am trying to eat more seasonably, though, so I’ve been eating quite a few root vegetables this winter. I had actually never tried making acorn squash until yesterday, but I figured I really should. It turns out that acorn squash is one of the easiest winter squashes to cut. The first time I made spaghetti squash, it took me about 20 minutes just to cut the damn thing open.

Acorn Squash Wedges

I won’t try to take credit for this recipe because there are all kinds of variations on these online. I just figured I’d make this a little more allergy friendly. I enjoy this way of spicing acorn squash. It plays with the squash’s natural sweetness and gives it that warming quality. Make sure you have a sharp knife before starting, or you may end up fooling around for a while, or cutting yourself.

Acorn Squash Wedges

Ingredients
2 acorn squashes
2 tbsp coconut oil, preferably in liquid form
1-2 tbsp coconut palm sugar (or to taste)
Salt, pepper, and chili powder to taste

Directions
Preheat oven to 400F (or preheat it when you’re done cutting the first acorn squash).

Cut the squash into wedges. To do that, use a sharp knife to slice off the top to remove the stem. Then, slice the acorn squash where there are ridges.

Place the wedges into an oven-safe pan. Spread the oil and coconut sugar evenly between the wedges, then add salt, pepper, and chili powder.

Cook for 20 minutes. If sauce starts to accumulate at the bottom of the pan, pour it back onto the wedges. Continue to cook the squash for another 20 minutes.

Let cool for a few minutes before eating, but serve it hot.

Thyme Mushrooms (vegan, paleo)

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I would love to be able to socialise and attend all kinds of cool events and tapas parties. These thyme mushrooms would be such an easy dish to add to the menu. Maybe with some tapenade? They require little work, but still taste fancy. If you can make them in a cast iron pan, all the better. It will give them that extra bit of flavour and toast the cap nicely.

Make mushrooms interesting with this thyme mushrooms recipe

Unfortunately, there will be no partying for me this week. Things have been rough, physically. I feel like I’m getting next to no sleep and working rather long hours. A cold has been making its rounds around my work, and it appears to have found its way to me. I guess it’s a good reminder to take better care of myself.

I hope your week is better. Maybe you’re going to all kinds of cool tapas parties? I’m not going to lie, I made these right when I got home from work last night and wolfed them down because I was too hungry to savour them. You don’t have to wolf them down, though. Grab a toothpick and slowly enjoy this mushroom plate.

Thyme Mushrooms

Ingredients
1 package button mushrooms (about 225g)
1/4-1/2 tsp thyme
Coconut oil for frying
Salt to taste

Directions
Heat a bit of oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Throw in the mushrooms, cap-side down, and sprinkle thyme and salt. Leave the mushrooms to cook until the cap is nice and toasty, then toss around for about a minute to pick up the extra thyme and share juices.

Remove from heat and enjoy!

Black Pepper and Lime Potato Wedges (vegan)

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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.

Spicy Sweet Potato Fries With Curry Sauce

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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.

Zucchini Fritters: A protein rich snack (vegan)

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I tried making zucchini fritters when I had a bag of ten zucchinis from Costco in the fridge. I used a recipe that I found online, but found it quite disappointing. So, I decided that I wanted a better recipe. I improvised a recipe using some of my favourite ingredients instead. These turned out quite tasty the second time around – I put too much garlic salt in my first batch. These would go well with a tahini sauce.

Zucchini is one of those vegetables that’s underrated. While it’s not as nutrient dense as, say, broccoli or kale, it does still contain essential nutrients. It’s a great way to boost your daily intake of vegetables in subtle ways. For instance, it can be added to smoothies and juices without adding flavour, can be spiralized or julienned to use as noodles, or can be integrated into chocolate cakes to make them moist and dense.

A little known fact about zucchini is that it’s mucilaginous. Big word! What it means is that it has a “slippery quality”. This makes it easier to digest for those who have digestive issues. Additionally, those who suffer from ulcers may find mucilaginous vegetables soothing.

Zucchini fritters

Zucchini Fritters (vegan)

Ingredients
1 zucchini
1/2 cup chickpea flour
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp parsley flakes
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1/8 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp lemon juice
1-2 tbsp water (optional – see directions)
Oil for frying

Directions
Shred the zucchini using a julienne peeler or a mandoline. Then, add the other ingredients and let sit for a few minutes. The salt will “sweat” the zucchini to provide the needed liquid. If it’s not enough, add one or two teaspoons of water to blend the ingredients.

Heat a bit of oil on a frying pan over medium heat. Drop patties by tablespoonful and flatten them a bit. Cook the patties for a few minutes, and then flip them. Cook for a few more minutes, then remove from the heat.

Curry Roasted Pumpkin Seeds (vegan, paleo)

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If you need to know anything about my cooking, it’s that I like to curry everything. I especially love to curry things that you wouldn’t expect to see curried. It’s my chance to be creative and make something “new”. Since I’ve never had curried pumpkin seeds, I thought this would be an awesome thing to experiment with.

Curry Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

I’ve been so busy lately that Halloween snuck up on me. Every year, I get really excited about Halloween, I plan my costume way ahead of time, and I make sure to have a pumpkin carving date with my friend Sylvie. On Sunday last week, I realised that it was the week before Halloween and that I hadn’t planned anything Halloween-y. So, my friend came over on the Tuesday for pumpkin carving. She turned hers into an alien.

The store didn’t have any smaller pumpkins, and I wasn’t going to dig a knife through pumpkin flesh two inches thick, so I decided to etch my design. Little problem… I don’t have the tools for it. In the end, I used a flat screwdriver. I had to figure out a way to get creative, right? This is how it turned out:

Carved pumpkin (roast the seeds with curry for a healthy snack!)

I was really tired by the end of decorating my pumpkin. This doesn’t look very difficult to do, but without the right tools, it’s exhausting. Anyway, I got two pumpkins’ worth of seeds, so I roasted them and coated them with curry spice.

Curry Roasted Pumpkin Seeds (vegan, paleo)

Ingredients
2 larger pumpkins’ worth of seeds*
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp each: garlic salt, cumin powder, turmeric
1/4 tsp each: onion powder, ground coriander

*If you use one pumpkin, the flavour will be stronger but just as good – or you can cut the recipe by half.

Directions
Preheat oven to 325F.

Rinse the seeds really well. There should be no pumpkin strands left on the seeds. Drain them and dry them off a bit. They don’t need to be completely dry. The oven will take care of that for you. Blend the spices in a little bowl and then add to the pumpkin seeds. I did this directly on the baking sheet and mixed it all with my hands.

Then, lay the seeds out on a baking sheet in a single layer. Bake for about 20 minutes, give or take a couple of minutes. Watch them near the end to make sure they don’t burn. Remove them when they’re done to your liking.

Easy Tapenade (vegan, paleo)

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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.

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Christina Najjar - Natural Nutrition

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2122B Montreal Rd
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