Christina Najjar

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.

Vegan Quinoa Lentil Stew

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Quinoa lentil stew

Today is one of those days I’m glad I have some food on hand. I have a final exam in the evening, and I don’t really feel like cooking. I made this quinoa lentil stew a few days ago, and I still have a bit left. It’ll be my tasty last minute bite. My brain is too fried to provide you with my usual update and/or background story to the meal, so, enjoy!

Vegan Quinoa Lentil Stew

Ingredients
1 cup quinoa
1 cup red lentils
5 cups veggie broth
1 large carrot, peeled and grated
1 zucchini, quartered and chopped
1/2 cup sliced mushrooms
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp paprika

Directions
Combine quinoa, red lentils, and broth in a medium to large saucepan. Bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and add in the carrots and spices. Simmer for 15 minutes and add in the mushrooms and zucchini. Simmer for about another 15 minutes, until all the veggies are soft.

Vegan Sour Cream

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Homemade sour cream

If I may be completely honest, I’m not a condiment person. I hate ketchup. And basically any condiment you can think of. I however cannot deny the importance of condiments in sauce-making. While I may not be the type of person to spread a condiment on a wrap (unless it’s for the sake of a picture), I do make use of condiments to marinade things or for salad dressings and whatnot.

I stumbled upon an interesting recipe recently. I won’t say what that recipe is, because I adapted it to suit my dietary restrictions, and I plan to post it soon (I like to create a bit of suspense). I will say that it wasn’t a recipe I’d ever heard of, and I wasn’t able to find a vegan version of it. It called for a few different kinds of dairy products. While I was able to find substitutes for most of the dairy ingredients, I couldn’t think of one for sour cream, so I set out to make my own. A trip to Market Organics later, the sour cream was ready to be made.

I’m awfully sorry to my soy free friends. This recipe does contain soy. One thing I recently found out from my naturopath is that organic soy can actually be quite beneficial, provided that it’s not an intolerance. I always hear about how bad soy is hormonally, but as it turns out, the organic stuff is actually GOOD for hormonal issues. I was glad to find that out, because I like tofu, and it’s a source of protein, and it’s affordable. So if ever anyone gets on your case for eating too much sour cream, you can point out how healthy this recipe is.

Vegan Sour Cream

Ingredients
1 package organic silken tofu
1 tbsp oil of your choice (I like the ones that don’t taste like anything)
4 tsp lemon juice
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp sweetener (I use agave)
1 tsp salt

Directions
Open the package of silken tofu and drain it to the best of your ability without having to squeeze it. Place in a blender with all the other ingredients and blend until smooth. Refrigerate preferably for at least an hour before serving.

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.

3 Ingredient Vegan Sugar Free Strawberry Ice Cream

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3 ingredient strawberry ice cream (vegan)

There’s something really peaceful about doing nothing on a nice spring day. Next to me is an open door that leads to my partner’s backyard. I can hear the birds and the rustle of the new leaves. Something about it makes me want to cook anything just so I can go take food pictures outdoors. This is precisely what I did for the strawberry ice cream, except these pictures were taken in my own backyard (for a lack of better term). Oddly enough, it had never occurred to me before to go take pictures outdoors. The nicer weather has been around for a few weeks, and I’ve still been taking pictures indoors.

At my current apartment, the backyard is also a shared parking for the tenants, with tons of student balconies overlooking it. I do feel kind of shy going outdoors to take pictures because there’s almost always someone around (usually drinking). My partner and I will be moving to a new apartment in July with our own backyard. I’m excited to see what kinds of new photography possibilities it will allow. Or I could just sit outside, eating homemade strawberry ice cream.

This strawberry ice cream is so easy to make. Lots of recipes call for an ice cream maker, which can be rather disappointing when you don’t have one. Or, in my case, you have the bowl for the ice cream maker to add to a stand mixer that you don’t actually own. Because my current freezer isn’t the best, I can put the bowl of ice cream in the freezer and come back to it at any point without having to worry about thawing it a little bit first, though I’m not sure how what will be needed with other freezers. If you try out the recipe, let me know how it works out for you.

3 Ingredient Vegan Sugar Free Strawberry Ice Cream

Ingredients
3 very ripe bananas
1 1/2 cups frozen strawberries
1/4 cup full fat coconut milk

Directions
Blend all ingredients together. I used my immersion blender to blend the ingredients I’d placed in a bowl. You can also use a blender or a food processor. Freeze for at least an hour before eating.

1 Cup Quick Hot Cider

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1 cup quick hot cider

Mother nature is really testing us this year. Well, I guess it is every year. I’m not sure what to make of the seemingly never ending winter, and then the sudden onset of summer, then skipping back to spring. After having had a bout of really nice weather, spring feels a bit cold. On any given day, I’d love a cup of hot cider, but with the recent colder weather, cider is even more welcome.

Back in the day, I bought a lot of hot ciders at Second Cup. Then I discovered powdered hot cider mix, and I stopped spending so much money at Second Cup. Despite having access to easy mix, nothing is as good as actual hot cider, with real ingredients and all.

A lot of recipes online call for whole cloves and cinnamon sticks that you simmer in a large pot of apple cider for 45 minutes or so, but when you live alone and want one quick cup, it seems like an awful lot of work. This recipe calls for ground spices instead to skip the long prep time, which means that the spice will settle with the pulp at the bottom of the mug. If that bothers you, you can always give it a good stir, but I didn’t notice a difference.

1 Cup Quick Hot Cider

Ingredients
1 cup bottled apple cider – the good stuff with the pulp that settles at the bottom
1/8 tsp (scant) ground cloves
1/8 tsp (scant) ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp brown sugar (optional)

Directions
Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan. Slowly bring to a boil over low-medium to medium heat. Pour in a mug. You can add a cinnamon stick or a slice of apple to serve. This recipe can easily be multiplied to serve more.

Detox salad

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The people around me must be getting tired of hearing about this detox I keep talking about. Unlike lots of other detoxes, it’s not harsh, and doesn’t work by depriving your body of its essential nutrients. The idea is to cut out toxins by going vegan, gluten free, sugar free, and alcohol free for a week, and to eat organic as much as possible. During that week, you eat foods with detoxing properties. Here is the link to the website.

This salad is more than some side dish. The quinoa provides protein, making this a full meal. For added protein (and tons of other nutrients), you could even sprinkle some hemp hearts on there, but I prefer to use hemp hearts in places where I won’t taste them as much.

Instead of cooking one cup of quinoa by itself, I made the salad at the same time as the cilantro lime quinoa, which is also good detox food, and which will keep in the fridge for a few days as well. The good thing about quinoa is that you can make enough of it over the week end and keep eating it for most of the week without having to constantly cook more.

Detox Salad

Ingredients
1/2 cup chopped cilantro, lightly packed
4 large leaves kale, ribs removed
1/2 cup chopped carrots
1 cup cooked quinoa – for raw, soak overnight
1 tbsp + 1 tsp (4 tsp) raw apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp olive oil

Directions
Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. It will be good for at least three days in the fridge (provided that your greens aren’t already at the end of their lives).

Make Ahead Meals in Jars (vegan)

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You may have already read my post about slowcooker freezer bags. If so, you know I’m a fan of preparing food ahead of time to cut down on preparation time when my schedule gets hectic. Right now, it’s getting hectic. I have a lot on my plate, and not in the tasty, big belly, burping kind of way.

With my upcoming move, I need to empty everything in my pantry.  On the plus side, I’m guessing I’ll be saving on groceries. But on the downside, it could get boring quickly. So, I’ve attempted to make some interesting dry meals in jars to keep things interesting.

Make ahead vegan meals in jars

Make Ahead Meals In Jars

Apple Raisin Oatmeal

Make ahead vegan meals in jars

Ingredients
2 cups oats
1/2 cup each: coconut shavings, raisins, and chopped dehydrated apples
1 tsp cinnamon

Directions
Add the mix to 5 cups of boiling water. Cover it and let it simmer. Stir occasionally. Remove it from the heat after 10 minutes and let it sit for 5 minutes before serving. You can add a few tablespoons of sugar to the dry mix, but I’d rather add a sugar free sweetener once it’s cooked. Serves 4.

Curried Coconut Red lentil soup

Make ahead vegan meals in jars

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups red lentils
1/4 cup coconut
1/2 cup dehydrated onion flakes
2 tbsp parsley flakes
1 1/2 tsp turmeric – replace the cumin and turmeric with curry powder if you’re missing one of them
1 1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp ground ginger
1 veggie bouillon cube*

*I buy mine in the bulk section of natural food stores. Make sure to read the ingredients, as some contain gluten and/or corn. The ones I buy have a bit of maltodextrin, but I haven’t been reacting to them. I’m supposed to mix them with two cups of water, but I find it makes everything too salty, so I use 1 cube per 3 cups of water.

Directions
Add mix to 7 cups of boiling water. Simmer covered, stirring occasionally. Cook for 30 minutes. Serves 4.

Note: the amount of spices in this recipe reduces the required amount of broth, which is why 1 bouillon cube is enough for 7 cups of water.

Apple lentil soup

Make ahead vegan meals in jars

Ingredients
2 cups green lentils
1/2 cup dehydrated apple slices, cut up
3 tbsp dehydrated onion flakes
1 tbsp parsley flakes
1 tsp ground ginger
2 veggie bouillon cubes
1 bay leaf

Directions
Add mix to 7 cups of boiling water. Simmer covered, stirring occasionally. Cook for 30 minutes. Serves 4.

Quinoa Rice Bowl

Make ahead vegan meals in jars

Ingredients
2/3 cup quinoa
2/3 cup rice of choice (make sure its the 2:1 water to rice ratio kind) – I use Uncle Ben’s Wholegrain Perfection
1/3 cup dehydrated veggies
1/2 tsp chilli powder
1 veggie bouillon cube

Directions
Add mix to 3 cups of boiling water. Simmer covered, stirring occasionally. Cook for 20 minutes. Serves 4.

Note: you can play around with the quinoa and rice proportions as long as you have 1 1/3 cup total of rice and quinoa. I would usually put more quinoa, but I ran out this time.

And there you have it, 4 meals prepared in jars in next to no time!

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Christina Najjar - Natural Nutrition

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