Christina Najjar

Spicy Double Chocolate Cookies (vegan)

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I decided to make these spicy double chocolate cookies because of a very specific craving. Have you ever tried that Lindt Chocolate Bar with jalapeno? I quite like it, but because of the dairy, I try to avoid eating it (though I do sometimes indulge in chocolate with dairy). I’m a fan of the combination of spiciness with chocolate.

Spicy Double Chocolate Cookies

Today was my first day off in a while. I had just worked seven days in a row, and the days off I’d had before that were spent studying for the last exam of my degree. I was able to relax for the first time in a long time. I got in the mood to bake, and I thought of Fettle Vegan’s Dark Chocolate Rosemary Cookies. I made these once, and they were quite tasty. However, because I’ve been craving spicy chocolate for a while, I decided to use the base for that recipe, but to change up the spice. By the way, if you ever do want to try making rosemary cookies, I strongly recommend you try Fettle Vegan’s recipe.

These are addictive, so make sure you have people to share these cookies with. The spice proportions I provide are just enough to give the cookies a bit of a kick, but if you want the cookies to actually be straight up spicy, you’re going to have to increase the amount of cayenne pepper.

Spicy Double Chocolate Cookies (vegan)

Ingredients
1 cup teff flour
1 cup almond flour
2/3 cups cocoa powder
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1/2 tsp salt
4 tsp flaxmeal
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tbsp cinnamon
1 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (or up to 1/2 tsp for spicier)
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup coconut oil, melted
1/2 cup water or non-dairy milk
2 tsp vanilla
Chocolate chips to taste (I used 1/2-3/4 cups mini chocolate chips)

Directions
Preheat oven to 350F.

Combine all the dry ingredients. Add in the wet ingredients and mix well. Spoon out cookie dough balls on a cookie sheet.

Bake for 11-12 minutes. Let cool for a minute or two, then transfer to a cooling rack. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.

Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

Chocolate Nut Butter Chia Balls (vegan)

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Chia balls are a great solution to a need for an easy snack. They combine nut butter, chia seeds, and rolled oats to provide a variety of nutrients. Because the chia seeds in this recipe aren’t exposed to much liquid, they’ll expand in your stomach to keep you feeling full longer. For that reason, make sure to drink enough water after eating these chia balls.

Chocolate nut butter chia balls

It feels weird to say that at this time tomorrow, I will have sat through the last class of my undergrad. I think I was a little worried I wouldn’t make it. My final exam will be next Monday, and then I’m really actually done. Last week, I officially got my spot in nutrition school. Things are finally coming together. It feels good! I decided to ride the “high” and make the chia balls after work. These really don’t require too much work and are loaded with nutrients.

 

Chocolate Nut Butter Chia Balls

Ingredients
1/2 cup chia seeds
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup nut or seed butter of choice
2 tbsp maple syrup
1 tbsp cocoa powder

Directions
Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Refrigerate for 30 minutes, then roll into 1 inch balls with your hands. Keep in an airtight container in the fridge.

Green Tea Muffins (vegan)

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I usually keep my posts nice and short, but this week, I want to bring up the issue of body image. If you would like to skip ahead to the green tea muffins recipe, scroll down to the picture.

For a very long time, society has told us that beauty meant being thin. While the definition of beauty has been expanded to include a bigger variety of body types, there still seems to be this ideal in place that being thin is attractive.

I raise this issue from the position of a small girl. I’m 5’2″ and wear size 00 or 0, depending on where I shop. It’s not that I’m unnaturally skinny; I just have a small build. I have what some people would call an “ideal” body shape: a small waist, and curvier hips.

So, what’s the issue? Let me bring up a few examples to demonstrate my concern. I work in retail, and my store has recently relocated. The new location has skinny mirrors, meaning that these mirrors that are designed to make people look thinner. I personally dislike the mirrors, but many customers seem to become excited at the sight of them.

Clothes shopping feels like an ordeal to me because I have such a hard time finding things in my size. Yet, when I complain to friends or coworkers about it, they’ll often take a sarcastic tone and reply something along the lines of, “Oh, poor you, you’re thin”.

Sometimes, conversations will turn to the topic of complaints we have about ourselves; “My feet are too big…” or “I’m so small that I never get taken seriously, since I look so young…”. What shocks me about these conversations is when someone’s complaint is dismissed with “Yeah but men like that”.

That should be plenty of examples to illustrate my concerns. Simply put, we are still letting society think for us. Rather than accepting our unique, beautiful bodies, we get stuck on how to fit a practically impossible mold in order to be perceived a certain way by others. That becomes exhausting quickly. Or maybe that’s just me.

The only person standing in your way is you. I know you’ve heard this many times. I feel that it applies here. Think of how much time to truly accomplish yourself would open up if you stopped getting stuck on the size of your thighs. On your deathbed, you won’t complain about how you wish you had toned your belly muscles more.

I have a lot of work to do that in that regard, but it’s always good to reflect upon these things. Hopefully, you’ll join me in my reflection in order to unleash your potential!

Green tea muffins

Now, the green tea muffins! I’m a fan of matcha powder, but it’s on the expensive side. I had 5 free bags of tea to claim from David’s tea so I ended up getting 4 bags of matcha powder. Not bad, huh? I decided to make these green tea muffins as a solution to my boredom with my breakfasts lately.

Green Tea Muffins

Ingredients
1 cup brown rice flour
1/3 cup tapioca starch
3 tbsp potato starch
1 tsp xanthan gum
3 tbsp organic cane sugar or alternative
1 tsp matcha powder
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup water
1/4 cup oil

Directions
Preheat oven to 350F. Grease 6 cups of a muffin pan. Avoid using muffin liners. No, seriously. The muffins will stick to the paper.

In a large bowl, mix the dry ingredients together. Add the wet ingredients and mix well. Spoon into the greased cups of the muffin pan.

Bake for 20 minutes.

Braised Rutabagas (vegan, paleo)

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Every once in a while, I feel the need to try a new food item. Until a few months ago, I had never had rutabagas. The student-run convenience store on campus sells curried butternut squash. Inspired by that meal, my friend started making it at home. She encouraged me to do the same, so I figured I should. The beauty of it is that you can use any root vegetable. Because rutabagas are so good for you and I never include them in my diet, I figured I’d give them a try.

Once you look at the recipe I’ve posted, you’ll notice that the recipe is not for curried rutabagas. Outrage, right? I make everything curry… But sometimes, I just want to not smell like curry. So, when I made this meal today, I went through my spices and improvised this blend.

I think this is the first time I’ve used the word “braised” in a recipe title. I’m not going to lie, I didn’t know exactly what braising was until today, when I was trying to figure out the right name for this dish. It turns out to be a cooking method where you lightly fry the ingredients, and then you let them cook in a covered pot.

Braised rutabagas

Braised Rutabagas

Ingredients
About 1 lb or 1/2 kg cubed rutabagas
1/4 cup veggie broth
1 tsp parsley flakes
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp herbes de provence (or other herb blend, if you can’t find it)
1/2 tsp onion powder
Garlic salt to taste
Oil for frying

Directions
Heat a bit of oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the cubed rutabagas and toss around for about a minute. Add in the rest of the ingredients, reduce to medium low, and cover. Cook for about 45 minutes, or until the rutabagas are nice and soft.

Serve over rice.

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!

Dinner Rolls (vegan, yeast free)

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If you’re wondering just how dedicated I am to following my posting schedule these days, here’s how much. I had class scheduled from 1pm to 4pm, and dinner plans for 5:30. Having not had time to cook anything in advance, between the usual demands (full time work, school, you know the gist), I had to make a decision. Was I, once again, going to post late? I missed the second half of my class in order to run home before my dinner plans to make dinner rolls for you folks.

Homemade dinner rolls

Now, before you frown at me for missing half of my class, let me say this. Today was the first lecture for that particular course. We were only going to cover the introduction for those who had never studied the topic. I have a minor in that subject, so I figured I could miss half of the introduction. You’re probably thinking, “You’re a stranger, why would I care?” so I feel the need to mention that my mom reads my blog (or used to, at least).

Now, about the actual dinner rolls. This recipe comes from my early gluten free days. I was really badly missing bread, but I didn’t feel courageous enough to attack an actual loaf of bread (if you picture that literally, it’s actually quite a funny image). I figured dinner rolls would suit my craving, but I couldn’t find a recipe that fit all of my dietary concerns and which was also yeast free. I just didn’t want to bother with the yeast. Thus, this recipe was born. I’ve brought these rolls to many a potluck, since.

Dinner Rolls

Ingredients
3/4 cups brown rice flour
1/3 cup potato starch
1/3 cup tapioca starch
2 tsp xanthan gum
2 tsp corn free baking powder
1/2 tbsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp sugar
1 flax egg (1 tbsp flax meal + 3 tbsp water)
1 cup water
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 tbsp olive oil

Directions
Preheat oven to 375F. Grease 6 cups of a standard sized muffin pan. I use the 6-muffin aluminum pans you can get at the grocery store.

In a small bowl, prepare your flax egg and set aside.

Combine all the dry ingredients and mix well. In a separate bowl or a larger measuring cup, combine all the wet ingredients. Mix everything together and spoon out evenly into the muffin pan.

Cook for 20 minutes. Take out of the oven and remove the rolls as soon as you can possibly handle them. Otherwise, they’ll get soggy. Makes 6 rolls so multiply recipe as needed.

Black Bean Brown Rice Bowl (vegan)

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I wasn’t able to come up with a better name for this meal. It would be easy to put the word “Southern” in front of the dish name, but that would be false advertising. It is a black bean meal. It has brown rice. You serve it in a bowl. It is a complete protein, though, so eat up! The thing I like about this meal is that it can be eaten hot or cold. If you let it sit overnight in the fridge before serving, the flavours blend together for extra tastiness.

It looks like this summer will give me a hard time blog-wise. My apartment is on the warmer side. It’s 24C outside right now, and it already feels too warm indoors to use the oven or the stove. I guess that’s what happens when you live on the 5th floor with massive windows but only a small window opening. Let’s wait and see what happens when it’s 45 degrees in July. I do have plans to do a mostly raw detox at some point when I have more time to cook, so maybe this summer will be more about no-cook recipes.

I rushed home yesterday after work to cook this and write this post. My schedule’s been so packed. I’m still working full time (and beyond) while taking summer courses, with the hope of finishing my bachelor’s degree in July.

Black bean and rice bowl

Black Bean and Brown Rice Bowl

Ingredients
1 cup uncooked brown rice
2 cups water
1/2 tsp chili powder
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 cup button mushrooms, sliced
1 small onion, finely chopped
Approximately 1 1/2 cups tomato sauce (or salsa)
1 can black beans, drained
Salt to taste

Directions
Combine rice, water, and chili powder in a small to medium pot and bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer until all the water has been absorbed.

In the meantime, chop the bell pepper and the onion and slice the mushrooms. Cook in a skillet or a frying pan with a bit of oil over medium low heat until the onion is translucent, then remove from heat. When the rice is done cooking, combine all the ingredients together and serve.

No Cook Carrot Salad (vegan, paleo)

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Today is probably the hottest day we’ve had so far this year in Ottawa. Like, carrot salad for dinner hot. While I was running around town getting a bunch of stuff done, I stopped into Starbucks to get hydrated. The barista commented that I was a in earlier than usual. When I told her I was just stopping in and that I didn’t have a blog post for today, she said, “But what about your fans?”

No cook carrot salad

So, for my readers, I went home and I made something that didn’t require the oven. My apartment is on the 5th floor, so it’s even hotter in there than outside. I seem to always have carrots and apples in the fridge, no matter how long it’s been since I’ve done groceries. In the winter, when I just couldn’t get to the grocery store, I made a raw carrot salad for dinner out of desperation a few times. It tastes good, but it won’t make a full meal if you’re looking for something protein packed.

I julienne the carrots using my trust Jamie Oliver Julienne Peeler, but you can use a mandoline or buy bagged julienne carrots. If you’re really committed, you can also just chop the carrots into juliennes slices. Let me know if you do that, because that’s pretty hardcore.

No Cook Carrot Salad

Ingredients
3 large carrots, peeled and julienned
1/2 granny smith apple, chopped (and peeled, if not organic)
1/4 cup sliced almonds
1 1/2 tsp raw apple cider vinegar
1 1/2 tsp raw honey

Directions
Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Serve immediately or refrigerate for no more than a couple of hours. If you plan to prepare the salad ahead of time, add the sliced almonds when you’re ready to serve it. If kept longer, the almonds will soften.

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 realize that you didn’t have your wallet? I did yesterday. I only realized 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. So, 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.

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

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.

Coconut Popsicles (paleo, vegan)

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One of my dear friends recently moved a few hours away. We talk food a lot, and she gives me all kinds of recipe suggestions and requests to post on here. Her list of dietary restrictions is worse than mine, but includes most of my dietary restrictions.  Her latest request was for popsicles. She’s a big fan of coconut, so I went for straight-up coconut popsicles this time. If you’re wondering what I mean by “straight-up coconut”, check out this recipe for raspberry cream popsicles I posted last year. It’s a coconut based recipe, but the popsicles aren’t coconut flavoured.

Homemade coconut popsicles

Last week, I mentioned that it was finally warming up in Canada. I know it’s technically still only Spring, but one never knows how long to expect the nice weather to last. We didn’t really get much of a summer last year, and then Winter was exceptionally long. For this reason, I’m jumping right into Summer-mode, lest Summer be over in the blink of an eye.

So, Nic, this one’s for you. And for anyone who enjoys coconut, summer, popsicles, or any combination of those.

Coconut Popsicles

Ingredients
1 can full fat coconut milk, refrigerated overnight
1/4 cup maple syrup
2 tbsp coconut shreds

Directions
Take the can of coconut milk out of the fridge. Slowly turn it upside down and open it. That way, the thicker part of the coconut milk will be at the bottom and the liquid qill be at the top. Drain the liquid, or save it for something else (try adding it to smoothies).

Scoop out the fatty part of the coconut milk into a bowl. Mix all ingredients well and pour into popsicle moulds. Freeze for at least 4-6 hours (depending on your freezer).

Makes about 3 popsicles (depending on the moulds you use) so multiply as needed.

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Christina Najjar - Natural Nutrition

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