Sesame Soba with Bok Choy

This is a quick and easy dish.  It's fresh, it's filling and it's great comfort food. Begin by preparing soba - a buckwheat flat noodle - by following the directions on the packaging.

While that's cooking, prepare the bok choy and mushrooms by slicing them and sauteing over high heat with a bit of sesame oil.

Add together the cooked noodles, bok choy, sesame, a whisper of grated ginger tamari sauce and mushrooms.

Plate the noodles with fresh sliced tomatoes.  The whole dish is ready in about 10 minutes.  It's a delight.

Almond-Ginger Spelt Scones [vegan]

A tasty sweet scone that's vegan - and delicious!!!

I used the 3:1:2 ratio (spelt and almond flour:refined coconut oil:almond milk).

First add the spelt flour, salt, baking powder, a bit of coconut sugar and coconut oil in a food processor.  Blitz until the mix looks like bread crumbs.  Then add in the almond milk and a splash of vanilla.  Pulse in the food processor just until mixed - don't over mix.  Add in candied ginger and whole roasted almonds - incorporate them gently as you press the dough into a parchment lined baking tin.  Score with a knife or baking chopper/scraper (like this one OXO Scraper).

Bake at 400F for ~25 minutes or until golden brown.

While it's baking, I made a simple syrup and added finely julienned orange zest.  This made a wonderful syrup that I mixed with icing sugar for the drizzle as well as sweetened the zest.

While the scones are still warm, drizzle the tops with a mix of icing sugar and the orange simple syrup.

Ginger-Chili Mung Beans with Coconut Black Rice

Richly flavourful, this dish packs lots of energy and fibre.  Although mung beans are generally available at most Asian grocers, they're not the most common legume.  They are, however, a delicious base for this curry-like recipe.

Start by rinsing the beans and adding equal portions of mung bean and water to a large saucepan and set on the heat.  Salt the water gently - season it, but remember that it will need to be adjusted near the end of the cooking process, so don't go wild with the salt. While waiting for the beans to start boiling, prepare the curry.  Ginger is the dominant flavour. To round out the curry flavour profile, you'll need a bit of garlic, chili pepper(s) and a medium tomato.  Place these ingredients in a blender with a can of coconut milk.  Blend until smooth.

Once the beans have started boiling, add the curry to the pan.  Return the mix to a boil before reducing the heat to a simmer.

While the curried beans are simmering away, prepare the rice as directed by the packaging.  Simply, add a bit of salt and a half-handful of shredded unsweetened coconut when the rice starts cooking. So easy!  There are a couple different types of black rice.  I used Forbidden Rice for this meal.

When the beans are tender, they're done cooking.  Be sure to season with salt according to your taste.

Curried Brussels Sprouts with Ginger Coconut Rice

A quick and easy way to make sprouts delicious.

First, halve the sprouts and remove the scruffy outer leaves.  Then, mix coconut milk, curry powder and salt.  This imparts a spicy richness to the dish.  Pour the mix over the Brussles sprouts and arrange on a baking tray.  Make it easy to tidy up by lining the tray with parchment paper.  I like to put these cabbage-wannabes in a cold oven and preheat to 400F - this cooks them quickly and browns the sprouts.

Serve with ginger coconut rice.  Simply add ginger, unsweetened coconut flake and a smidgen of coconut milk to rice and prepare as normal.

Gluten Free Stir-Fry

Often the stri-fry premix seasonings contain gluten or wheat ingredients.  Mixing the spices individually and using tamari (gluten free soy sauce), gluten can be eliminated from this delicious dish.  Deep frying tofu and marinating it overnight allows it to have a pleasant texture and full taste (which is a rare trait for tofu).

Classic flavours compose the seasoning: sesame, soy, onion, garlic, turmeric, chili and ginger.  Mixing Jasmine and black Forbidden rice yield a uniquely hued rice side-dish.