smoothie of champions

for a few years now, thanks to my old room mate sandra, i picked up the habit of making fruit smoothies for breakfast when i have the right ingredients around. a great smoothie for me includes kefir because it has calcium, active cultures and it's easier to control sugar intake with kefir rather than fruit juice. in my case, i prefer plain kefir because i like to limit my sugar intake but i don't always stick to plain when there are so many wonderful kefir flavours like blueberry, peach, strawberry, raspberry, vanilla, açai and pomegranate.

this morning, i made the best, most amazing smoothie of my life:

strawberry mango smoothie (for two)
one mango (i prefer the philippine mango variety)
8-10 small strawberries; or, 5-6 jumbo strawberries (just remember, the smaller, the more flavour)
2 bananas
4-5 ice cubes
1.5 cups of kefir. (i used blueberry!)

place everything in a blender and alternate between chop ice and puree. when everything's blended, pour into a glass and enjoy. it's a great way to get your calcium, fiber, tons of vitamin C and potassium. it takes less than five minutes to make. plus it's a great breakfast to tide you over until lunch.

yummy recipes: mushroom spinach sauté with quinoa

i have to start this off with the following confession: i love karina's kitchen. i only discovered it about two years ago but i was inspired by her writing and knowledge on how to make gluten-like things without gluten. i mean, after 4 years of no foccacia, finding her recipe was like seeing a ray of godly light! i'm not playing around. in fact, i could credit that blog with inspiring me to try different flours to come up with my own gluten-free buckwheat crust for my quiche.

anyway, the point is that this recipe is not truly my own. karina's recipe for warm spinach salad was the inspiration for the recipe below. i have to give props where they are due because it was her recipe that made me wonder what would happen if i used the ingredients i had on hand at the time.

this dish can be used as a side dish but works well on it’s own as the star of the show. this makes a perfect lunch the next day and if served with eggs, makes a super-yummy and great breakfast.

1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
12 crimini mushrooms with stems removed, chopped
2 teaspoon of garlic paste*
1 tablespoon of ginger paste*
2-3 big bunches of spinach, stems trimmed
5-6 twists of pepper mill
1 tablespoon of wheat-free tamari soy sauce
juice of 1 lemon
2 cups cooked quinoa

*if you don't have one, go out and get a ceramic ginger grater. the advantage is that you make your own FRESH garlic/ginger pastes that don't have any preservatives or salt. not to mention how much MORE incredible the dish is when using the fresh grated stuff. there aren't even words adequate enough to describe what it does to overall flavour.

prepare and cook 1 cup of quinoa. if you don't really know how to prepare quinoa, here's a really great primer from saavy vegetarian that works really well. alternatively, karina's kitchen has a much simpler approach if you have a rice cooker handy.

start a large skillet on high heat. when the pan is fully heated, add the olive oil and the onions. saute for two minutes, until translucent. then add mushroom and sauté for another 3-5 minutes, until onions and mushrooms caramelize.

add garlic and ginger paste and sauté for 30-45 seconds. add spinach and pepper then let sit in the skillet for a minute before stirring. add soy sauce and lemon juice ad carefully stir. in another minute, the spinach will start to wilt and decrease in volume. keep sautéing until the spinach is still bright green but wilted through, about 30 seconds to 1 minute more.

i prefer my spinach just wilted and bright green. overcooking it makes it more brownish green (like the frozen stuff); the longer you cook spinach, the more slimey it becomes.

squeeze lemon juice over spinach and let juice cook off a bit. remove from heat.

immediately fold in quinoa and stir until well mixed. serve immediately.

makes 3-4 servings

optional toppings:
gomasio
bragg’s liquid aminos
tamari sauce
green onions/chives
parsley/cilantro
crumbled feta

serve with:
fried eggs
avocado slices
sliced fresh tomatoes
grilled tomatoes
grilled pork or lamb chop, chicken breast

my leek quiche, gluten-free sunshine style

i love quiche. it was one of the foods that i truly mourned losing when i had to go gluten-free. i used to make it quite often, with whatever i had lying around. my favourite part, besides the pate brisé, was the egg custard that suspended whatever ingredients in it's smooth, velvety hold. and true to my french genes, the custard is the stick i use to measure a quiche's worthiness.

i went about two years before i started to attempt making gluten-like foods with gluten-free ingredients. not because it was hard but because i was afraid of what would happen. as i discovered bob's red mill gluten-free line, namaste brand pizza crust, bread crust and brownie mox, i started to make things i missed. as i discovered alternate flours like quinoa, almond/hazelnut meal, buckwheat (ironic, i know, that it has wheat in the name but is gluten free), millet, kamut and others, i figured i can easily make a good quiche.

i've come to rely on bob's red mill gluten-free all purpose flour, it is but one of many options and also depends on personal taste, but i find that prefer to combine it with something heartier, like a meal or a darker grain like buckwheat. since i really love buckwheat (les crêpes au sarrasin de mon enfance avec ma grandmère durant les étés!!), i figured the crust result could be nothing short of spectacular...

i used a typical pate brisé recipe but swapped out the wheat flour for 1 cup of buckwheat flour and 1.5 cups of gluten-free all purpose flour. roll out the dough between two pieces of wax paper until large enough to fit into a 8" to 10" tart pan, be sure to butter the tart pan carefully before laying the dough in. typically the dough is just over 1/8 of an inch thick once rolled out. once the dough has been laid in, pop it back into the fridge for 15-20 minutes. pre-heat the oven to 400F.

once dough has set in the tart pan and chilled, using a fork prick a few holes and pop into the oven for 15 minutes. remove from oven and let cool.

now to start the filling:
1 T butter
1 T olive oil
1 medium leek, sliced in 1/4" rounds, white and as much green as can be used
1 medium onion, sliced in rounds
4 eggs
1 cup heavy cream
pinch of sea salt
4-5 twists of the pepper grinder
2 sprigs of tarragon, oregano, thyme or sage
1 cup grated gruyère cheese

in a sautéing skillet, heat the oil and butter on a medium high flame. add the onions with a pinch of salt and sauté until soft, about 5 minutes. add leeks and sauté until onions are slightly browned and caramelised, another 5-6 minutes. the leeks should be soft and even lightly browned. remove from heat and set aside.

in a bowl, add eggs and whisk until blended. add cream and beat very lightly, not more than 4-5 beats of the whisk. add salt, pepper and herbs, mix and set aside.

take the pan with the cooled crust and evenly spread the onion/leek mixture throughout the pan. slowly add in the egg mixture, taking care to not spill any of it on the crust. if there is too much egg mixture, use in the morning for your scrambled eggs. they'll be divine!

top off the tart with the cheese, add a few last twist of the pepper grinder on top and pop the quiche into the oven for 25-30 minutes, until the top is golden brown. remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes. pop the bottom out of the tart pan, slice into 8 pieces and serve with a green salad or roasted asparagus.










the coolest thing about a recipe like quiche is that you can literally put anything in the custard - bacon, ham, prosciutto, italian sausage, chorizo, seafood, green onions, shallots, red or green peppers, squash, zucchini, fennel, potatoes, spinach, chard, peas, tomatoes, just about anything you have lying around and need to get rid off. the combinations are endless. my dad's wife sometimes uses ground beef and curry. once she used left over boeuf bourgignon and it was delicious. experiment and find your signature combination.

also feel free to experiment with cheeses. try emmental if gruyere is too sharp. white cheddar, fontinella, asiago, goat cheese, feta, mozzarella, provolone, harvati with jalapeno, parmesan, romano or pecorino are good. even a blue cheese like gorgonzola or fourme d'ambert will do nicely with the right ingredients. try an epoisse or pont l'eveque if you like bold cheeses, they're amazing.

what's your cooking personality

i am addicted to quizzes. especially the ones that supposedly tell you something about yourself that you didn't know.

so imagine my joy when i stumbled on NYT's article on on healthy cooking and found a quiz telling me which of my personality traits manifests itself in my cooking!

turns out i'm an innovator (big surprise). i chose E on the first four questions and A on the last question. but i would say i'm a blend of innovator and healthy.

i'd be lying if i said i didn't take inspiration from NYT's health section recipes. in fact, my current favourite soup is the pureed carrot soup but with a few modifications: i roast the carrots first to bring out the sweetness, i skip the sugar , i add a roasted bulb of garlic to give it a nice contrast to the carrots and fresh herbs, i only use salt to sweat the onions while sauteeing them and i only use olive oil. it's simple and tasty and it's so easy to make.

so, what's YOUR cooking personality?