Christina Najjar

Orange Almond Chocolate Biscotti (vegan, paleo)

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Homemade orange almond chocolate biscotti

Oh, sweet vacation time. I’d say it was well deserved, too. Here’s a summary of what I’ve done in the last two days: lunch with my family, being a lazy bum. I slept 10.5 hours one night and 11.5 hours the other night. I know I could still sleep a long time during the rest of my vacation.

Since none of the things I’ve made so far during my vacation have been particularly bloggable, I bring you this biscotti. The pictures didn’t turn out great, but it tasted good, and that’s what counts. Truth be told, I don’t actually like biscotti, but my mother does. Her birthday is in a few days, so I did a trial run of the biscotti to make sure I’d get it right. We had lunch for her birthday yesterday while my sibling is in town. Because of how things have been at work, I didn’t get a chance to make it for her yesterday, but I told her I’d bring her a batch of biscotti sometime soon.

I based it off of this recipe.

Orange Almond Chocolate Biscotti

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups tightly packed blanched almond meal
1 tbsp arrowroot powder 
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup maple syrup
2 tbsp orange juice (from a fresh orange)
Zest from one orange
1/4 cup sliced almonds
1/4 cup chopped dark chocolate or cocoa nibs

Directions
Preheat oven to 350F.

Combine all the dry ingredients in a bowl. Add in the rest of the ingredients. Mix well. Place a sheet of parchment paper on a baking sheet. Spread the dough in a nice rectangle, about 2-3 inches wide at most. Bake for 20 minutes.

Let cool completely (about an hour). Then, preheat the oven to 250F. Slice crosswise into pieces no more than an inch thick. Turn the pieces so the cut side is flat. Bake for 10 minutes, turn them over and bake another 10 minutes. Turn off the oven and let the biscotti sit in the oven while it cools down.

10 Minute Coconut Date Balls (vegan, paleo)

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Snacks often seem to be a concern for people who switch to gluten free diets.  These coconut date balls come together fairly easily. They’re great for potlucks, or for hosting gifts when you just don’t want to bring a bottle of wine.

I know medjool dates are rather expensive. When I see recipes with medjool dates, I often wonder if I can just use regular cooking dates instead. If you’re going to make these, I recommend splurging. The medjool dates will be much easier to chop and will give you nicer results all around.

These coconut date balls take additions quite nicely. I sometimes add almond meal to give them a less date-y texture. You can also add some lemon zest and/or a bit of lavender to give these a bit of extra oomph.

10 minute coconut date balls (vegan)

10 Minute Coconut Date Balls (vegan, paleo)

Ingredients
1 cup medjool dates (about 12 dates)
Boiling water
1 tsp melted coconut oil
1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
More shredded coconut for coating (optional)

Directions
Pit and chop the dates using a sharp knife. Transfer them over to a large bowl.

Boil water and pour over the dates, enough to cover them. Let sit for 30-60 seconds, and then drain. Add in the coconut oil and shredded coconut. If using, pour the extra shredded coconut (about 1/4 cup) in a small plate.

Mix the ingredients with your hands until everything is well combined. Form balls with your hands, and then roll them in the shredded coconut on the plate. Then, place the coconut date balls in a single layer in a container. Refrigerate for at least an hour before serving to solidify.

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.

Spaghetti Squash Alfredo (vegan, paleo)

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Healthy pasta alternative: spaghetti squash alfredo

I’ve started to do some meal planning. It’s interesting to come up with as many meals as I can. I make a list of them, and every week, I pick a few things to make out of it. We buy what’s on sale and freeze it to save some money. There are  some naturally inexpensive meals that can be made.
One spaghetti squash gives me at least three large portions. Add a $1 zucchini, a package of mushrooms for $2.50, and a can of coconut milk for $1.50 and I easily have dinner for the two of us and lunch for at least one of us the next day. That’s definitely cheaper than all the Indian food we used to order.
If anyone has affordable dinner ideas, I’d love to know them!

Spaghetti Squash Alfredo (vegan, paleo)

Ingredients
1 spaghetti squash
1 can full fat coconut milk
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 zucchini, chopped
1 8oz package sliced mushrooms
Oil for frying

Directions
Preheat oven to 375F.

Cut the spaghetti squash in half lengthwise. Place flat side down on a baking sheet and cook for 40-45 minutes. It’s ready when you can easily insert a knife into the outer layer. With a fork, take out the spaghetti strands and pour them into a large bowl.

In a saucepan, heat oil and garlic over medium heat, tossing the garlic around. When it’s nice and brown, add in the mushrooms and the zucchini. Cook them to your liking and then pour the coconut milk. Bring to a boil. Add in the spaghetti squash and toss to coat nicely.

Lemon Garlic Kale Chips

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Lemon garlic kale chips

Farmer’s market goodies tend to go in one day, maybe two if a larger quantity was bought. When I bought kale, I was debating between two flavours of kale chips. I settled on lemon garlic this time, but I’ll probably make the other flavour sometime soon. I’m excited for this other one. Are you excited? *suspense*
These turned out well enough that when doing groceries today, my partner asked me if I could make kale chips again tonight (the ones from this recipe were made a week ago). He doesn’t dislike veggies, but it can be difficult to get him to eat all his fruit and veggie portions for the day, so whenever he asks me for something with veggies, I make sure to make it.
All I had on hand for these was bottled lemon juice, but I’m sure fresh lemons would be ten times better.

Lemon Garlic Kale Chips

Ingredients
1 medium bunch green kale
1 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp lemon juice
salt to taste

Directions
Preheat oven to 350F.

Rip the kale off the thick stems. Cut it into pieces (similar size as for salads). Sprinkle the rest of the ingredients on the leaves and mix it all together using your hands.

Bake for about 15-20 minutes, turning them halfway through.

Vegan Paleo Custard Strawberry Pie

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Today, I finally went to the farmer’s market for the first time since I moved into town, seven years ago. My partner was looking for a fun way to celebrate our anniversary. He suggested all sorts of activities along the lines of zip lining and other adrenaline producing activities. I’ve been feeling awfully nauseated lately, so I pointed out that I’d be much happier just walking around the farmer’s market. To his surprise, he ended up enjoying it quite a bit.

I made this pie last week when my partner came home from a difficult day at work. One of the many good things about using coconut shavings instead of pie crust is the amount of time saved. This is especially true of a lot of gluten free crusts that don’t roll out as well as the wheat flour alternative.

If you want to know the truth, my partner and I finished this pie in one sitting. Rather than cutting it into slices, we dug in with our forks. I wish I’d made more.

Vegan Paleo Custard Strawberry Pie

Ingredients

For the crust:
1 1/2 cups unsweetened shredded coconut
6 tbsp coconut oil
2 tbsp maple syrup

For the custard:
1 1/2 cups unsweetened coconut milk (not the canned stuff)
2 tbsp arrowroot powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
Maple syrup to taste (I used about 3-4 tbsp)

Sliced strawberries to cover

Directions
Combine the coconut oil and shredded coconut in a medium saucepan over medium low heat. Make sure the shavings gets evenly coated as the oil melts. Once it’s evenly coated, add the maple syrup. Toss it regularly to avoid burning it. When it’s nice and brown, remove it from the heat and transfer it to a bowl. Refrigerate while you prepare the filling.

Combine about 1/4 cup of the coconut milk with all of the arrowroot powder and mix until it’s a uniform paste. Pour in the rest of the custard ingredients and mix well. You can make the custard in the microwave or on the stove top.

Microwave: Pour the mixture into a microwave save dish with a lid (a pyrex type dish). Microwave for two minutes. Take it out and stir it. Put it in for another two minutes, and then stir it again. Microwave it for an additional minute and a half and mix it again. If at any point it looks like it’s going to boil over, pause the microwave time and resume it after about 30 seconds.

Stovetop: In a small saucepan over medium-low heat, keep stirring the mixture until it comes to a boil. Remove immediately from heat.

Take out the mixture for the crust from the fridge and pat it down evenly in a pie pan or a pie dish. Pour the custard on top. You’ll probably need to spread it a bit.

Refrigerate it while you wash and slice the strawberries. When that’s done, take it out again and place the strawberries on top. If you’re smarter than me, you’ll place the strawberries in a way that allows for easy cutting of pie slices.

Vegan Paleo Breakfast Apple Crumble

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Vegan paleo apple crumble

Since discovering the secret to vegan gluten free pancakes, I’ve been making a lot of those. I wanted to make something different for an interesting Sunday brunch. Quinoa bake came up as an idea, but that just didn’t seem to fit my craving. I figured I’d use some of the apples I had in my fridge and put a nice topping on it. You could call this a non-traditional apple crumble.

I’m always up for expanding my cooking/baking horizons. I recently saw a recipe online that used tahini as a substitute for oil. It really gave me a new way to look at recipe creation. Not only does that cut down on hydrogenated fats, but it also increases the nutrient content in food.

This crumble isn’t your typical crumble with half a cup of brown sugar. It relies on the natural sweetness of the apples, the cinnamon, and the coconut, along with the flavour of the almond meal and the tahini. The minimal amount of maple syrup is plenty for this recipe. Cinnamon is also a helpful in balancing blood sugar levels. While I chose to serve this as a tasty breakfast, you could just as well serve it as a healthy dessert.

Vegan Paleo Breakfast Apple Crumble

Ingredients
3 small apples (or 2 large)
3/4 cup almond meal
1/4 cup desiccated coconut
2 tbsp tahini
2 tbsp maple syrup
About 1/2 tsp of cinnamon (or to taste)
Another 1/2 tsp of cinnamon

Directions
Preheat oven to 375F.

Peel and chop the apples. I like to place them in an aluminium pie pan. Sprinkle them with part of the cinnamon (you can really go on a to-taste basis here). Combine the rest of the ingredients in a bowl. Spread the crumble somewhat evenly over the apples.

Bake for about 15 minutes, keeping an eye on it. It’s ready when the crumble topping is pleasantly toasted.

Any-Flavour Green Smoothie Template

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Breakfast on the go. That’s how I try to live my life. I know, it’s terrible, but it’s an improvement. At least I try to actually eat something now. Or drink it, in the case of this green smoothie. I’ve been walking to work for the last two weeks, now that the weather is nicer, and that my bus pass has expired. I feel that $96 a month is a bit steep for a 5-10 minute bus ride, especially when the alternative is vitamin D and exercise.

My breakfast method is the following: make a green smoothie while I get ready in the morning, pour it in my reusable bottle, and drink it whenever I have to wait for the pedestrian light to pop up at intersections. Since I’m going to stand around and wait anyway, I might as well do something useful. If you think I should just drink my smoothie while walking, you’ve never seen what kind of a clumsy disaster I can be.

If you’re detoxing, try replacing the milk substitute with water. Milk substitutes can often be quite processed, which makes them less detox friendly. You can add a sugar free sweetening syrup instead to improve the taste.

Any flavour green smoothie template

Any-Flavour Green Smoothie Template

Ingredients
1 cup frozen fruit (I like raspberries)
1 ripe banana
1 cup greens (spinach is my favourite, or try kale, parsley, romaine lettuce, beet greens, chard, carrot leaves,  or dandelion leaves)
1 cup milk of choice (water can be used for detox, raw, paleo, etc.)
1-2 tbsp seeds (hemp hearts, chia, and flax are my favourites)
Optional: sweetener of choice to taste

Directions
Combine all the ingredients in a blender. The order that works best in my blender is (bottom to top) greens, frozen fruit, banana, seeds, and then milk. Find the order that works for yours. Blend for two minutes or until nice and smooth.

Carrot and Zucchini “Spaghetti” with Spinach Pesto

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Just recently, I ordered the Jamie Oliver All purpose 3-in-1 Peeler to help me finely julienne veggies. My mandoline makes the pieces too big to use as a replacement for pasta, and reducing my carbs isn’t such a bad idea. It took me an entire zucchini to figure out how to use it properly (do I ever feel silly), but now that I know how to use it, it’ll make my life so much easier. The peeler comes with a regular peeler head and a soft fruit peeler. I suppose I’ll probably end up using them at some point, but the real reason I purchased it was for the julienne head.

I had a lot of spinach in the fridge that was threatening to go bad, and I didn’t want to throw it out. I really enjoy pesto, but pine nuts are out of my budget. For this recipe, I opted for pumpkin seeds. Surprisingly, it’s hard to notice the difference. This makes me wonder about the necessity of spending $7 for a small container of pine nuts.

This meal is good detox food. The garlic is particularly cleansing, and the use of spinach, pumpkin seeds and raw veggies takes it that extra step further. You may want to reconsider this meal if you’ll be interacting with people though. It’s not exactly low on garlic. Or eat it with some green tea, and swish some mustard around in your mouth after.

Carrot and Zucchini “Spaghetti” with Spinach Pesto

Ingredients
2 large carrots
2 large zucchinis
3 cups baby spinach
1/4 cup raw pumpkin seeds
3 cloves garlic (I used 4, it was too much)
3 tbsp olive oil
Salt to taste

Directions
Julienne the carrots and zucchinis into a large bowl. Place the rest of the ingredients in a food processor. Process until it’s reached the desired consistency. Pour it over the julienned veggies and toss until well mixed.

Butternut Squash Soup (vegan, paleo)

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This butternut squash soup came to be because I always want to experiment with food. I didn’t really eat squash growing up, unless you count that phase of raw zucchini in salads my mom went through about ten years ago. That phase didn’t last very long. My sibling and I made sure of that. The convenience store at school sells butternut squash curry which I do enjoy, so I thought it was time I gave it a try in the kitchen.

Butternut squash soup

Winter squashes are always interesting to deal with. If I cut some everyday, I’ll end up looking like The Rock. Except with hair. I do have to say that butternut squash is easier to deal with than spaghetti squash. I should add that this recipe is not for you if you’re looking for 5 minute prep. For another butternut squash soup, try this recipe.

Butternut Squash Soup

Ingredients
1 medium butternut squash
1 cup celery, chopped
1 cup carrots, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
6 cups veggie broth
1 tbsp chili powder
A bit of oil for frying (optional)

Optional garnish: coconut milk and more chili powder

Directions
Start by peeling the squash until it becomes bright orange (you usually need to peel two layers). This can easily be done with a veggie peeler. The skin is pretty soft. Cut off both ends. Remove the seeds and the other goo inside. Slice crosswise into 1 inch slices, and chop the slices into 1 inch cubes.

Heat a bit of oil in a large soup pot over medium heat. Add the onion, celery, and carrots. Toss around every so often until the veggies become fragrant and the onion and celery are translucent, about 10 minutes. Add the other ingredients. Bring to a boil and cook until the squash is soft, about half an hour (depending on how big your pieces are). Remove from heat and use an immersion blender to puree the soup.

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Christina Najjar - Natural Nutrition

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