Welcome spring with Balinese cucumber salad

BY: JANET CRAIG

Looking for a new salad idea to welcome spring?

This is a gluten and oiĺ free vegan salad which is really refreshing. Make it using the new Spiralizer tool, which is available in several dollar stores.

 

Ingredients

• 4 oz of dry roasted peanuts unsalted or raw peanuts toasted
• 4 oz (100 grams) rice vermicelli
• 1 English cucumber, spiral cut
• 1 bunch of green onions chopped
• 2 tbsp fresh cilantro or parsley chopped
• 3 tbsp rice vinegar
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp chilli paste or dry red chilli flakes – optional

Directions

1. Cover noodles with boiling water let sit for 3 minutes (drained).
2. If you need to toast nuts, place in dry stir-fry pan on low and shake for five minutes. Be careful – they tend to toast quickly.
3. Spiralize the cucumber then add all ingredients topping with peanuts.

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Chef Janet Craig recipes are simple, healthy, delicious and ABI friendly.  You can find out more about her HERE.

Pate anyone? Introducing: walnut lentil pate!

BY: CHEF JANET CRAIG

This is a vegan recipe that even I had a hard time figuring out it was not meat! It’s a quick and easy appetizer or can be spread on a sandwich. Looking for a New Year’s treat anyone? Just saying …

Ingredients 

• Walnut Lentil Pate
• ¾ cup raw walnuts
• 1 cup cooked lentils (I prefer Le Puy)
• 1 large yellow onion, chopped
• 1 clove garlic chopped
• 2 tablespoons wheat free Tamari sauce
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 tablespoons olive or walnut oil
• Salt & pepper to taste
• ¼ tsp cayenne or smoked paprika (to taste)

Directions:

1. Sauté onion and bay leaf in 2 tbsp oil until soft. Then add garlic, continuing to cook until caramelized. Add salt, pepper and paprika. Remove the bay leaf.
2. Toast walnuts on baking sheet and 400 degrees F for five to seven minutes, shaking the pan. Remove and cool.
3. Place lentils, walnuts and all other ingredients in a food processor until creamy – enjoy!

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Chef Janet Craig recipes are simple, healthy, delicious and ABI friendly. You can find out more about her HERE.

A new way to enjoy green beans

BY: CHEF JANET CRAIG

Are you looking for a new way to enjoy your greens?

This lovely recipe can be prepared in advance and served as a cold side salad in the vinaigrette or warm in same sauce!

Blanche Beans

Any green vegetable such as asparagus, broccoli, and rapini can be blanched, here’s how:

• Bring a large pot of salty water to a boil. Prepare a large bowl of ice water with ice cubes.
• Depending on the size of the vegetable place, in boiling water one to four minutes. Drain and place immediately in ice water.

Herb Vinaigrette

This lovely dressing can be used as a dunking sauce for fresh bread too. I often double or triple it and leave in the fridge for any salad.

• 1 tbsp grainy dijon mustard
• 1 tbsp honey
• 1 large shallot, minced
• 2 tsp each of any fresh herbs – I use basil, dill, tarragon, parsley, mint, chives and cilantro
• Zest and juice of one large lemon
• 1 tbsp sherry or tarragon vinegar
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1/3-cup good olive oil

Whisk together shallot, grainy mustard, lemon juice, sherry vinegar, thyme, tarragon, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Gradually whisk in oil, I use a hand blender or small food processor to get it creamy.

Pour on top of vegetables and enjoy!

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Chef Janet Craig recipes are simple, healthy, delicious and ABI friendly.  You can find out more about her HERE.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Warm up with delicious, gluten free almond rice bars

BY: CHEF JANET CRAIG

To say the least, it’s been a wet fall in Toronto. Here’s something to warm up to: a delicious, vegan, rice bar that’s low in sugar, gluten and dairy free – enjoy with a warm cup of tea or your favourite hot beverage!

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup liquid coconut oil
• 1/2 cup almond butter
• 1/2 cup brown rice syrup
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries or cherries
• 1/2 cup cocoa nibs or dairy-free chocolate chips
• 4 cups rice cereal
• Slivered almonds as garnish

Directions:

1. Line an 9 x 9 inch pan with parchment or wax paper
2. Place rice cereal and dried fruit in large bowl
3. Mix together almond butter, coconut oil, rice syrup and vanilla in another glass bowl and heat in a pot until you can stir everything easily together. Let cool for two to three minutes.
4. Add mixture to cereal and stir well with spatula.
5. Mix in the chocolate and pat into the pan. Garnish with almonds.
6. Chill then cut into small bars and enjoy!

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Chef Janet Craig’s recipes are simple, healthy, delicious and ABI friendly.

You can find out more about her HERE.

For the most important meal of the day: fruit breakfast bars

BY: JANET CRAIG

Dare we say it?  With the new school year just around the corner, breakfast is about to get a lot more hectic for some of us. And even if you, or no one in your household is heading back to the Big S-, September still feels like it’s time for a new start, right?

So here’s a new way to start your day – with Janet’s make ahead Fruit Breakfast Bars – they’re easy, delicious and a great start to your morning! And the best part: no prep is needed in the morning, they’re already done!

Base Ingredients –  can be done in food processor

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
• 1 1/4  cups rolled oats
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces

Fruit Filling

• 1/4 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon grated lemon zest
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 cup berries (raspberries, blueberries or strawberries) fresh or frozen
• 1 cup jam (of the same fruit)
• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled

For the Base:

1. Butter the bottom and sides of a 9-by-13-inch glass or light-coloured metal baking pan. Put a long piece of parchment paper in the bottom of the pan, letting the parchment extend up the two short sides of the pan and overhang slightly on both ends. (This will make it easy to remove the bars from the pan after they have baked.) Butter the parchment.
2. Put the flour, brown sugar, oats, salt, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon in a food processor. Pulse in short bursts until combined. Add the butter and pulse until loose crumbs form.
3. Reserve ½ of the mixture.
4. Pour the rest of the mixture into the prepared pan and use your hands or the back of a large wooden spoon to push the crust into an even layer at the bottom of the pan. The crust should touch the sides of the pan. Bake until golden brown for 10 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let the crust cool. Keep the oven on while you make the filling.

Fruit Filling

1. In a medium bowl, whisk sugar, lemon zest, cinnamon and flour together. Add the fruit, lemon juice and butter and use your hands to toss gently until the berries are evenly coated. Then mix in the jam.
2. Spread evenly over cooled base then sprinkle remainder of the crumbs on the top.
3. Bake at 360 F for 35 minutes rotating once so bars brown evenly.
4. I like to add nuts to the topping – almonds, walnuts or pecans are nice
5. Cool and cut into squares. Can be stored up to three days in the fridge or frozen.

 

 

 

 

Chef Janet Craig recipes are simple, healthy, delicious and ABI friendly. You can find out more about her HERE.

On Homemade Soup Day: cream of roasted garlic & onion soup

BY: CHEF JANET CRAIG

It’s Homemade Soup Day! And Janet Craig has a great, hearty homemade soup for you – enjoy!

• Ten whole cloves or two whole heads, cleaned
• Four cleaned, washed leeks, chopped
• Three yellow or white onions, peeled and chopped
• Two large white potatoes peeled and cubed
• One tetra pack of good quality chicken broth
• ¼ cup butter
• Two cups Vermouth
• One cup milk
• One cup whipping cream
• Fresh parsley, chives to garnish

1. Place all cleaned vegetables into buttered roasting pan.
2. Cover with broth and wine. Roast 1 hour at 350 F.
3. Put cooled vegetables and remaining fluid into a food processor and pulse until rough chunks.
4. Add cream and pulse more. Taste and season with white pepper and salt then add milk to thin, if needed. Garnish with fresh herbs
5. Serve hot with a dollop of cheese, either Asiago or Stilton, in the bowl.

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Chef Janet Craig recipes are simple, healthy, delicious and ABI friendly.  You can find out more about her HERE.

Super Simple, Decadent Salted Caramel Sauce

BY: CHEF JANET CRAIG

This simple, decadent sauce for either fresh fruit or ice cream is the current trend, ‘salt with sweet.’ Enjoy this weekend, or, heck, anytime!

4 cups white sugar

¾ cup boiling water

3 sticks salted butter (1.5 cups)

¾ cup whipping cream

4 tsp salt – this is where you can use specialty salts such as Fleur de Sel (find out how to fake speciality salts, HERE)

1. In a heavy saucepan, place sugar on medium heat and watch it caramelize. This is a lengthy process and you can’t leave it. Stir with a wooden spoon – not a metal one – as this will get too hot to hold.
2. When the mixture is as golden as you wish (it turns brown quickly) remove from heat.
3. Carefully pour in boiling water, stirring constantly.
4. Add butter and whipping cream and keep stirring until texture becomes creamy.
5. Add salt to taste.

This recipe can be halved. I store it in sterilized jars in the fridge for two weeks or freeze it for a gift.

Chef Janet Craig’s recipes are simple, healthy, delicious and ABI friendly.  You can find out more about her HERE.

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