I love a good potluck, but there are only so many different ways to make pasta salad, potato salad, green salad, etc. This dish has a good balance of crunch, sweetness and tang. It’s always a hit, even with the people who are self proclaimed “meatatarians”.
This healthy and flavourful dish can be enjoyed with hot quinoa, or made chilled. Here is what you will need.
- 1 bunch of parsley
- 1 bunch of fresh dill weed
- 1 English cucumber
- 1 can of mixed beans
- 2 cups of cooked and cooled quinoa
- 1/2 of an onion (white or sweet)
- 1 ripe but still firm avocado
- 1 cup of cherry or grape tomatoes
- 1 sweet red pepper
- 1 sweet yellow pepper
Dressing
- juice of 2 limes
- 1/4 cup of avocado oil
- 1/4 cup of olive oil
- 2 tablespoons of cold pressed hemp seed oil
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 2 tablespoons of raw honey
- 1 tablespoon of mustard
To make the salad, cook the quinoa first and set aside. In a large bowl combine all your chopped vegetables.
For the dressing combine all ingredients in your blended of choice; I use a Vitamix. Pour over the salad and stir well.... Bon Appetit!
*as this marinates in the dressing, the flavours deepen.
I LOVE the fall season! The cooler weather, the changing leaves, and the seasonal foods. I made this smoothie recipe using some of my favourite fall flavours.
This recipe was designed for a high performance blender. I use a Vitamix. Please refer to your blenders owners manual for operation guidelines.
The bright fall flavours of sweet potato, apple, cranberries and ginger create this smooth, delicious alternative to apple cider.
Ingredients:
2.5 ml Ginger Root fresh peeled
250 g Ice Cubes
200 g Red Grapes seedless
25 g Cranberries fresh or frozen
2 Dates pitted
1/4 Sweet Potato cooked, cooled
1/2 Apple medium seeded, gala or fuji
Place all in the blender, and blend until smooth. Many of the ingredients can be substituted for others that you may have handy. I have used figs in place of dates, and a pear instead of an apple. Don't be afraid to be creative.
Give this recipe a try and let me know what you think.
I have a 5 year old boy. Now I don’t know about other boy moms, but this boy mom seems to always be cleaning and mending wounds caused by roughhousing, sports, the park, getting out of bed,😅 etc.
I developed this amazing and soothing salve to help heal cuts, scrapes and bruises. It is effective on bee stings, mosquito bites, and eczema as well. Give this recipe a try, and let me know what you think.
INGREDIENTS:
• 1 cup of Coconut Oil
• 1 cup of Olive Oil or Avocado Oil
• 1/4 Cup of Beeswax
• 1/4 Cup of Calendula Flowers
• 10 drops of tea tree oil (add 10 drops more for children over 10)
• 20 drops of Lavender (add 10 drops more for children over 10)
DIRECTIONS:
1. Put the coconut oil and olive oil in a double boiler. Melt the coconut oil if it isn’t melted already.
2. Add the calendula flower petals (dried) and simmer on low for around 2 hours. Make sure to stir a few times during the process. You can also add the oil and calendula to a crockpot and put on low for up to 3 hours.
3. Strain the mixture into a bowl through a cheesecloth.
4. Now add the calendula oil back to the saucepan and add the beeswax. Melt the beeswax.
5. Remove from heat and let cool for around 15 minutes.
6. Add the essential oils and stir.
7. Pour into a glass jar and store for up to a year! Makes 1 cup
** This recipe can be modified for hotter climates by increasing the beeswax content. This consistency is ideal for a cool climate, or wintertime.
• 1 cup of Olive Oil or Avocado Oil
• 1/4 Cup of Beeswax
• 1/4 Cup of Calendula Flowers
• 10 drops of tea tree oil (add 10 drops more for children over 10)
• 20 drops of Lavender (add 10 drops more for children over 10)
DIRECTIONS:
1. Put the coconut oil and olive oil in a double boiler. Melt the coconut oil if it isn’t melted already.
2. Add the calendula flower petals (dried) and simmer on low for around 2 hours. Make sure to stir a few times during the process. You can also add the oil and calendula to a crockpot and put on low for up to 3 hours.
3. Strain the mixture into a bowl through a cheesecloth.
4. Now add the calendula oil back to the saucepan and add the beeswax. Melt the beeswax.
5. Remove from heat and let cool for around 15 minutes.
6. Add the essential oils and stir.
7. Pour into a glass jar and store for up to a year! Makes 1 cup
** This recipe can be modified for hotter climates by increasing the beeswax content. This consistency is ideal for a cool climate, or wintertime.
A nice crunchy granola is a yummy way to satisfy that crunchy craving. However a lot of the granolas on the market are chalk full of hidden sugars and preservatives. Or if they aren't, they are super pricy. I believe that you get what you pay for, and I would totally pay for a healthier product, but this is such a simple thing to make, and we can easily do it at home. You might even have enough of the ingredients in your cupboard right now.
The best part is that this is a recipe that kids can help with. Let them choose some ingredients that they want, and then they are more likely to want to devour this tasty and healthy snack.
Ingredients
- 2 cups organic rolled oats
- 1/2 cup organic unrefined coconut oil
- 2 TBSP pure maple syrup(optional)
- 1/2 TSP pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup hemp hearts
- 1/3 cup pepitas
- 1/4 cup shredded sulphite free coconut
- 1/3 cup slivered almonds(optional)
Directions
- In a large mixing bowl combine the dry ingredients.
- Melt the coconut oil on the stove( I don't own a microwave, we threw it away a long time ago, but I'll save that for another post)
- Preheat the oven to 100 degrees
- I like to mix the oil, vanilla and maple syrup together before adding to the dry ingredients.
- Place parchment paper on your cookie sheet, and spread the granola mixture evenly.
- Put in the oven and bake for 30 minutes. Checking every 10 minutes to make sure that nothing burns, and that it bakes evenly.
Once its out and completely cooled, other things can be added if you want. Maybe some chocolate chips, raisins, dried cranberries, dried goji berries, etc. The options are pretty endless. Store in an airtight container.
Now that you have your homemade granola, you can use it to top yogurt and make a parfait, enjoy it as cereal with milk, or put some in a container and enjoy as a dry snack.
I hope you enjoy this simple recipe. Let me know if you try it, and what alterations you chose.
