Month: March 2018

Cucumber Infused Gin & Grapefruit Mimosa

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Ingredients:
  • Cucumber
  • Gin
  • Ice
  • Sparkling Rose
  • Grapefruit Juice 
  • Pineapple Juice (optional)
  • Fresh mint
Method
  1. Start by stripe peeling some cucumbers.  Use a peeler to make stripes down the side and then thinly slice. 
  2. Put some ice in a shaker with cucumber slices and gin and shake it up.  If you don’t have a shaker, no worries you can skip this step.  
  3. Put a few ice cubes in a glass with a couple slices of cucumber and pour one or two shots of gin and give it a stir.
  4. Fill ⅔ of the way full with a sparkling rosé (I used Yellowglen Pink).  Top with grapefruit and pineapple juice. 
  5. Garnish with a bit of fresh mint and enjoy. 
You can switch it up and add whatever juice you like.   Sometimes if I can find oranges and grapefruit on sale I will juice some and use that.  Instead of using ice you can also use frozen berries.

Roasted Red Peppers & Garlic

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Ingredients:

  • Red peppers (about 3-4 – enough to fill a baking tray)
  • 1-2 heads of garlic
  • EVOO (a few spoonfuls)
  • Salt & pepper
  • Splash of balsamic vinegar
  • Optional: Other seasonings (I usually use chipotle)
Method
  1. Heat oven to 430 degrees.
  2. Cut peppers into halves or quarters.
  3. Cut the top of garlic head off and wrap in aluminum foil.  Line pan with aluminum foil and parchment paper.
  4. Mix extra virgin olive oil (EVOO), salt, pepper, tiny bit of balsamic vinegar and seasoning of your choice (I used Chipotle and Garlic Lovers Flavor God seasoning).
  5. Baste both sides of peppers, tomatoes and garlic.
  6. Cook for 20 mins, flip, baste and check every 15 minutes until peppers start to blacken on the edges.
  7. Turn off oven and crack the door for another 10 mins.  Take out and cool.  Save oil and charred bits they are great to add to salad dressing or hummus.

Caramelized Onions

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Caramelized onions are a staple in almost every meal I make. They are a great way to start off tasty sauces, add to homemade hummus, add to veggie tacos/burgers and the list goes on and on! I like to make a large batch and save the leftovers for an easy addition for future meals.

Quick kitchen hack: You can freeze extras in silicone ice cube trays for quick single-use add-ins.

Ingredients:
  • 2 tbsp Coconut Oil
  • 3-4 large Onions
  • Splash of Balsamic Vinegar
  • Salt & Pepper (to taste)
Method
  1. Dice onions.
  2. Put a couple spoonfuls of coconut oil in a pan over medium-high heat and add diced onions.
  3. Cook for a few minutes until you see a few golden edges, season with a splash of balsamic vinegar and season with salt and pepper.
  4. Turn down to low heat and put the lid on for around an hour, (the longer the better), stirring occasionally.
  5. At the very end, remove the lid, turn up to high, stir constantly until the excess liquid evaporates and the onions get little colour.
  6. Turn off, add more salt and pepper to taste and let rest.

Slow Cooker Method:

You can also throw all the ingredients in the slow cooker on low and let them do their thing overnight or longer. You get a slightly different taste but it’s a big timesaver.

 

Easy Bruschetta Mix

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This Easy Bruschetta Mix is super simple, very diverse and the flavours continue to get even better with a little bit of time.
Ingredients:
  • 1kg Tomatoes
  • 2 Red Onions (small or 1 large)
  • Handful of Basil
  • Balsamic Vinegar (few splashes)
  • Olive Oil (few splashes)
  • Salt & Pepper
  • Nutritional Yeast (few spoonfuls)
Note: I made a large batch but you can really use whatever you’ve got on hand. 
Method
  1. Dice the tomatoes whatever size you like. Mine were about 1 cm.
  2. Dice red onion really small.
  3. Chop up basil fairly fine.
  4. Mix ingredients together in a bowl.  The next bit is all about taste testing.  Add a drizzle of olive oil, a splash of balsamic and season with salt and pepper.  Taste until you get a flavour that you like.  Add a bit of nutritional yeast, give it a good stir and season more.
  5. Serve as a dip, make traditional bruschetta on toast, add it to sandwiches, wraps or serve with rice.