Quinoa Pear Crumble

It's a breakky post! I had the morning off the other day so I indulged in creating this concoction. This is a kind of twist on traditional apple crumble. The "crumble" doesn't really crumble, it's really more of a mash.  It takes a while to put together so I wouldn't advise it for a regular morning meal, however you could do some prep the night before and put it together in about 20 minutes! Regardless, it's deliciously worth it. It could also be a healthier alternative to a dessert. Would pair wonderful with some vanilla coconut milk ice cream. Please excuse the messy presentation; I was too hungry to tidy it up before taking pictures.

Quinoa Pear Crumble

Ingredients:

For the filling:
1 pear (I used bartlett)
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 1/2 Tbsp maple syrup
1/2 tsp cinnamon

For the "crumble"
3/4 c cooked quinoa flakes (I used Go-Go Quinoa brand flakes)
1 1/2 Tbsp maple syrup
1 Tbsp chia seeds

Directions:

1. Dice up the pears and toss into a bowl with the lemon juice, syrup and cinnamon. Mix them all up until well coated and put into a baking dish. Bake this base for 30 minutes at 400 degrees
2. While the pear mix is baking, cook up some quinoa flakes. Once the flakes have cooked up, pour into a bowl and stir in the syrup and chia seeds.
3. Take the pear mix out of the oven after a half our and top with the quinoa-chia mix.
4. Put back into the oven and bake for another 15 minutes.
5. Take our the dish, drizzle with some syrup and dust with cinnamon. Food tastes better when it looks pretty.


I don't have the biggest sweet tooth so I mixed in about 3/4 c of unsweetened almond milk. This also made it more of an appropriate breakfast dish. However if you wanted it to be a dessert, toss some ice cream on.

Stay Happy.

Fresh Veg Pasta Salad

Pasta! What a wonderful, wonderful thing. It's quick, filling and absolutely scrumptious. I've grown particularly fond of Maria's Pasta - made from lentils, vegetables and my personal favourite - chickpeas. Packed with protein, the noodles taste like a regular pasta but with far more benefits. I needed something quick before work and this dish came into my life. Here it is folks:

Fresh Veg Pasta Salad

Ingredients:

For the pasta:
3/4 Maria's chickpea fusilli
1/2 yellow bell pepper
8 cherry tomatoes
1/2 Tbsp dried oregano
Salt & Pepper to taste

For the dressing:
1 1/2 Tbsp tahini
3 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp olive oil

Directions:

1. Put the pasta on medium heat to cook.
2. While the pasta is cooking, dice up the pepper and halve the cherry tomatoes.
3. Whisk together all the ingredients for the dressing.
4. Drain the pasta and then put back into the pot. Toss in the veggies and oregano.
5. Add the dressing and mix together until the pasta and veggies are well coated.
6. Add salt and pepper to taste, then serve.

The great thing about this dish is that it's so flexible. You can add any fresh veggies you have, herbs you like, etc. For a lighter salad dimply do and olive oil and lemon juice mix, adding a touch of apple cider vinegar. Eat up and enjoy!

Stay Protein Packed, dudes.

Green Sammy

After a homeless hiatus, Really Good Rabbit Food is back! First up is an oh-so satisfying sandwich I came up with one night after a long day of work. Biased as it may be to say, it truly is delectable.

Green Sammy

I got home one night after work and was  craving some fresh produce, but wasn't feeling salad. Opened up the fridge and some of my favourite ingredients presented themselves and just asked to be turned into a magical sandwich. I'm also a tad obsessed with tahini so it of course made an appearance. These portions made one sandwich (as pictured) with some left over. However I did use small rye bread, so I can imagine with full sized bread the ratio of filling to bread would match up.

Ingredients:

1 avocado 

3 Tbsp lemon juice

1 small beet

1/2 bunch of massaged kale

1 Tbsp tahini

1/2 Tbsp olive oil

Salt and Pepper to taste

2 slices bread (would work well in a wrap too!)

Directions:

1. Make the avocado mash: mash up an avocado with 1 Tbsp of the lemon juice and add salt and pepper to taste.

2. Massage that kale: Julienne the kale and toss in a bowl. Add a splash of olive oil and lemon juice and give it a rub until soft.

3. Make some tahini cream. In a small bowl whisk together 1 Tbsp tahini, 2 Tbsp lemon juice, 1/2 Tbsp olive oil, salt n peppa to taste. 

4. Mix the cream and kale. Add the tahini cream to the massaged kale and mix until well coated. The final result should be slaw-like.

5. Slice that beet: Thinly chop up a small beet. Grating would work as well. 

6. Assemble the beautiful sandwich. I started by tasted the bread, spreading the avocado on one side, then topping with beets. On the other slice, spread out the massaged kale on the other side then put them together. 

Enjoy the classic sandwich with some non-traditional ingredients! 

Glad to be back now and share some more really good rabbit food!

xo

Pasta & Salad [THE NOMAD EDITION]

Hey folks,

For those of you who don't know me personally - here is the scoop. I've recently found myself without a home and have been moving around thanks to the generosity of many lovely people in my life. During this time it's been difficult to make food and blog about them. Tonight's meal however was quite a success. Slowly but surely, I'm learning to live and nourish from day to day. This evening a lovely feast of pasta and salad was had. So here it is, a great, balanced meal for those with a home and for those without. Featuring a very new and exciting product from our friends at Soul to Bowl Sauces... Cheese-less-ness sauce!

Ingredients (For the Pasta): (Makes 2 portions)
*1 bag Go Go Quinoa fussili pasta
250ml Soul to Bowl Cheese-less-ness Sauce
A pinch of chilli pepper & cayenne pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Toss the pasta in some boiling water, cook until ready.
2. In another sauce pot, bring the sauce to a heat until warm.
3. Drain the water from the pasta and combine with the sauce until well-coated.
4. Top of with some spices as desired (I used chilli pepper and cayenne pepper)


*Any other pasta will work, but I enjoy this one in particular because of the protein)


Here is the story with the salad.
I was really craving some fresh greens. I've discovered whilst travelling to a variety of grocery stores that many of them have make-your-own-salad bars. There are a variety of fresh veggies, fruit, nuts and dressings to use and all for a decent price. This is what I created today with that resource.

Ingredients (For the Salad) - *amounts varied*
Green Kale
Spinach
Coloured bell peppers
Chickpeas
Purple cabbage
Cherry tomatoes
Shredded carrots
Sunflower seeds
Avocado oil
Miso based dressing

A couple of notes to end:
Pasta and sauce are a great Nomad meal. I'm a big fan of the Soul to Bowl Sauces because of their high protein content since the base of them is cashews. All the ingredients are top-notch. It's a great up and coming product. I highly suggest trying some out if you are in the Toronto area!
Pasta is great because it is so simple to cook and always filling. Going with a rice or corn based pasta is great if you want to go gluten free. My personal favourite however is using bean or quinoa based pastas though because they have far more to offer nutritionally. They also taste essentially identical to regular pasta, so why not?

There it is, solid meals for those with a not-so solid home base.

Stay adventurous my friends.

Chocolate Fruit Tacos

Dessert can be breakfast. Or any meal of the day really.. I had this fruit taco for supper one day and it was wonderful. When I had it for breakfast the next day it was equally as wonderful. Enough chit chat though, here is how to make this healthy, delicious dish.

Chocolate Fruit Taco

Ingredients:

For the Tacos:
1/2c almond milk
1/4tsp baking soda
1/4tsp apple cider vinegar
1tbsp cocoa powder
1/4c gf flour
1/2tbsp maple syrup
1/2tsp baking powder

For the chocolate sauce:
1/2c coconut oil
1/2c cacao powder
1/2tbsp maple syrup

Directions:

1. Sift together all the dry ingredients in a bowl and whisk until well combined.
2. Add in the almond milk and maple syrup and mix, then add in the apple cider vinegar and whisk until all is smooth.
3. Put a pan on medium heat and add a bit of sunflower oil (to prevent sticking)
4. Ladle in approximately 1/3c of the mixture and flip once holes appear on the top. It should take about 4-5 minutes for the taco to be completed. This recipe yields about 4-5 tacos, depending on the size.
5. Chop any fruit of your choice (pictured is a combination of cantaloupe, fonzy melon and kiwi. It was fabulous)
6. Drizzle the chocolate sauce (make by melting the coconut oil, maple syrup and cacao powder together in a sauce pot) and maple syrup to your liking then enjoy!

Keep it real, my Taco friends.

Cheezy Sauce

Hey folks,

Here is an extraordinarily simply warm "cheese" sauce. I had steamed some broccoli the other night and wanted to top it off with something creamy, so I whipped together this sauce. It features nutritional yeast - an extremely beneficial, healthy ingredient, not to mention delicious. I use this stuff on lots of foods. It makes anything better. Its cheesy flavour make it the perfect base for this sauce. Warning : for you die-hard cheese lovers, this does not taste like cheese sauce, but it has a similar texture and taste. It is by no means a cheese imitation, just a lovely alternative.

Ingredients:
(Enough for 1 head of broccoli)

1/2c plain almond milk
1/2c nutritional yeast
1tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1tsp chilli powder

Directions:

1. In a small sauce pot, whisk together the nutritional yeast and almond milk over medium heat until the mixture comes to a simmer.
2. Add in the salt, pepper, and chilli powder and whisk until well combined.
3. Leave on stove for about 2 minutes them remove and poor! Best served warm, preferably over veggies. Nomz.

Stay cheesy, friends.

Tropical Smoothie Bowl

Summer timez calls for smoothie timez. Here is fruity and tropical smoothie, all the flavours are fab. Mango, Kiwi, Banana… you really can't go wrong. Drink up, friends.

Tropical Smoothie

Ingredients:

3 Kiwis

1 Banana

1/2c Mango

3/4c Cold water

1tbsp Chia seeds

Goji Berries & unsweetened shredded coconut to garnish

Directions:

1. These directions are super easy and quick- toss in all the ingredients in a blender and blend. Pour into bowl or cup, top with garnishes and drink.

Stay Quenched, friends.

Cilantro Fries

Hello my rabbit friends- Here is a fun, summery side for all those BBQ evenings or even just a late night snack. Everyone loves potatoes. They are so versatile and wonderful. I like fries just as much as the next person, but I'm not a fan of the deep-frying aspect, so I bake instead! This version of fries comes as quilt-free as they can. There is still oil, but it isn't overwhelming. The addition of cilantro to kick-up these potatoes give them a nice, fresh and light yet full flavour boost. Here it goes:

Cilantro Fries

Ingredients:

2-3 Russet potatoes
1 tbsp fresh cilantro (cilantro paste would work as well)
3/4 tbsp grapeseed oil or sunflower oil
salt & pepper to taste (I like using pink himalayan rock salt and fresh cracked black pepper)

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. In a baking pan toss in the cut potatoes, cilantro, oil, salt & pepper until potatoes are well coated.
3. Spread the potatoes out evenly across the pan, ensuring none of them are over top of each other.
4. Put the fries in the oven and let bake for 12 minutes.
5. Take out, let cool and serve. I really like dipping them in hot sauce. The freshness of the cilantro and kick of the hot sauce compliment each other very well.

Stay kickin, potato lovers.

Pepper Zucchini Alfredo

Pasta posts two days in a row! Here is a quick and easy pasta recipe using Soul to Bowl Vegan Alfredo. I love this product so much- it's quick, easy and just scrumptious. Adding some veggies to it makes it that much better! Here it is folks:

Pepper Zucchini Alfredo

Ingredients:

For the sauce:

1/2c Soul to Bowl vegan "alfredo" sauce
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
1/4 zucchini, quartered
2 tsp cracked black pepper
1/2tsp cayenne pepper
1tsp chilli powder

For the pasta:

I like using red adzuki bean pasta, or red&white quinoa pasta - but any variety works!

Directions:

1. Put the sauce on the stove and bring to a simmer on medium heat.
2. Toss in the veggies and spices and stir every 3-4 minutes, leaving on medium heat.
3. After about 9 minutes, turn the stove off and toss in cooked noodles.
4. Mix the noodles in until well coated, serve and munch.

Stay peppery, cool cats.

Zucchini Tomato Pasta

After a long day out and about,  a nice plate of paste is one of the most wonderful things. I've recently fallen in love with Red Adzuki Bean pasta. It's low in carbs, full of protein, and oh-so tasty! I whipped together a simple little tomato-based sauce to go with it and my hunger was satisfied. Here is the recipe, you fine folk:

Zucchini Tomato Pasta

Ingredients:

For the sauce:

1 medium tomato, diced

1/2 small zucchini, cut into quarters

1/4c water

1 1/2tsp turmeric

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

a dash of salt & pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Bring the tomatoes and water to a simmer and mash them until a saucy consistency is reached. 

2. Toss in the zucchini until it's softened a bit.

3. Add in the spices, stir and let sit for about 5 minutes.

4. Add the cooked pasta into the sauce pot and mix until well coated.

5. Top off with some nutritional yeast then serve and enjoy!

Stay saucy.