This isn’t just your typical diner style spanish omelette. It’s loaded with caramelized onions, smoky chorizo sausage, sautéed kale and garlic, sprinkle a little feta cheese if you’re into that, regardless this omelette is fantastic and will get any day off to a great start. I’m not a morning person, but I have a little person that pulls my hair until I finally roll out of bed at 7am. Seriously I’m trying to be better, this new season of motherhood and early mornings isn’t going to change anytime soon. Every morning I try and think of what I’m grateful for while I’m still laying in bed, this simple practice sets such a positive tone for the day. Hearty breakfasts like this one make mornings all the better, I let the onions caramelize for an hour while I sip my coffee and the house fills with inviting smells. I will become a morning person, yes, I will.
Heat a medium sized frying pan or skillet and add oil or fat (I used bacon fat)
Add onions and turn heat to medium, let the onions gain some colour before turning the heat down and covering for up to an hour (you can skip this step if you don't want caramelized onions.)
Add chorizo and garlic, turn the heat up and sautee for a few minutes before adding kale, cook kale until it just begins to wilt. Remove from pan and set aside.
For the omelette, whip 3 eggs together, add a touch of oil or fat to your hot pan, pour the eggs in a steady stream and turn down the heat. Use a spatula to pull the egg from the edges to the middle allowing uncooked egg to fill in the gap. Cover for 1 minute.
Add half the chorizo mixture along the middle of the omelette and feta if you like. Cover for another minute and plate. Repeat for however many omelettes you want to make. Adorn with green onions and a squeeze of lemon.
Self love can be hard to practice when you’ve got a whole lot of other people to love and take care of. Often our priorities contort and we put ourselves dead last. I think the paleo and primal lifestyles need to entail reflective processes that awaken our softer sides. Our hunter gatherer ancestors didn’t work as hard as many people think, the average “work week” was around 15-20 hours(1). This left plenty of free time to explore, have fun, make art, music, dance and just ponder the profundity of existence and what it means to be alive. I strongly wish our culture could return to its ancestral roots in this way, these acts of pleasure not only strengthen the self but also the community as a whole. We’ve been lead to believe that if we aren’t working and we aren’t consuming, then we are useless and bound to the confines of laziness. In whatever little ways we can, it’s important to reconnect to our roots, to take the time to create or to just bask in stillness, a rare creature nowadays. Personally I feel really happy and connected when I can get my dance on, not in da club or whatever but just in my living room or an empty field. What activities do you feel liberate you from the confines of the work and consume cultural dogma we live in?
Most don’t grow up in a way that teaches us how to listen to our bodies and know when we’ve pushed to hard and gone too far. So sit down, relax, have a piece of ridiculously healthy cheesecake, those hunter gatherers would’ve died for this luscious energy filled goodness. This recipe is fairly involved but the results are stunning and well worth it. I would normally make something like this for a celebration but this time I really just wanted a luxurious rich snack without any reason or logic- why not?
1 C date paste or around 8 whole pitted dates, soaked in warm water for ½ hour
½ tsp vanilla extract
2 Tbs cacao powder
½ C fresh squeezed orange juice
1 tsp orange zest
½ tsp sea salt
½ C cacao paste (unprocessed cacao not yet separated into powder and butter)
½ C coconut oil
½ C maple syrup
½ tsp flaky sea salt or himalayan rock salt
1 mandarin orange, peeled and sectioned (optional)
Instructions
For the crust, prepare a springform pan 7 or 9 inches and place a piece of parchment on the base with the edges underneath (this is just to help remove the cheesecake from the base)
In a food processor or high powered blender add almonds and hazelnuts, strained and rinsed, add dates and about 1 Tbs of their soaking water, blend until you reach a smooth and uniform consistency.
Add vanilla extract, salt and cacao powder and blend together, you may need to add a few Tbs of water or almond milk to get things moving and fully incorporated.
Press this mixture into the base of your pan and set aside in the fridge or freezer.
For the filling, heat a pot of water and place a heat proof glass or metal bowl over top. Add cacao paste, coconut oil and maple syrup to the bowl and allow it to slowly melt, stirring every now and then.
In a food processor or blender add soaked, rinsed cashews, orange zest and orange juice and blend until smooth. When everything in the bowl is melted add ¾ of the cacao mixture to the cashews, blend until super smooth and creamy.
Spread filling evenly on top of the crust and swirl remaining chocolate sauce on top, optionally you can also coat the mandarin pieces in chocolate and sprinkle some rock salt on top for serving.
Allow the cheesecake a few hours in the fridge to set, you could also put it in the freezer if you're in a hurry, just allow it to thaw out a bit before serving.
Oh my how lovely to be able to sit and write without distraction. My little baby has just started pulling himself up to standing and I can’t take my eyes off him for 30 seconds. Luckily his papa gets him all snuggled up to go for walks in the morning. So somewhere between watching Mav crawl and climb all over the place I fit in good food. I gave the baby a bucket of onions to play with and set to work making these sticky honey garlic spare ribs from a local farm. Eating local can be really expensive sometimes but there are certain things that remain affordable. Buying cheaper cuts that need a little more lovin’ is a good way to save a buck. These rich, meaty ribs go really well with kimchi, you can buy it or make your own but it’s high probiotic zing pairs oh so nicely.
The days have become dark and short all of a sudden, sometimes I feel like I’m living in a cloud this high up in the mountains. There are rare days when it clears and you see the snow capped beauty in full shine, I love those days. I received this gentle reminder the other day that winter is all about going within, that our ancestors before electricity would’ve been sleeping for 12 hours at this time of year. Remembering to take it easy is so important. I get really hard on myself about not.doing.enough. when really I know that I do what I can, the time and space will come, but for now, it is what it is!
I made these paleo raw protein bars for my brothers birthday. He’s an avid cross fitter and thus devours huge quantities of protein at any given chance. I thought he’d enjoy these nourishing bars more than a fancy cake. He also got a gallon of my homemade bone broth to keep his joints limber and free from strain. These bars are yummy and really easy to throw together with ingredients you’ll likely have in your cupboard. You can switch up the toppings with whatever you have around, bee pollen, dried goji berries, hemp seeds,sunflower seeds, cacao nibs, coconut…the list goes on and on. You could also add a Tbs or 2 of cacao powder for chocolate protein bars. Ditch the cliff bars and try these on your next hiking adventure!
If you’re into re-wilding, paleo lifestyle,indigenous cultures and sustainability, check out this new documentary Origins. It’s free until November 22nd and definitely worth watching, you can tell a lot of work went into creating this film.
½ C date paste or around 6 whole dates, soaked in warm water to soften for a few minutes
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
½ tsp sea salt
3 Tbs coconut oil, melted over a double boiler
¼ C pumpkin seeds
¼ C sesame seeds
¼ C chocolate chips
Instructions
In a food processor or high powered blender add cashews, dates, coconut oil, vanilla and salt and blend until a smooth paste is formed.
Line a square baking dish with parchment and evenly spread the mixture,sprinkle with pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds and chocolate chip gently pushing them into the mixture.
Place in the fridge or freezer and allow to set for at least an hour before cutting into squares
I know these look like yam fries, they are stained orange from the paprika. I think I can safely say they’re even better than yam fries, more of an earthy robust taste that just doesn’t compare. The lime aioli is also spiked with garlic and begs you to drench every fry in it. Recently we ordered our bulk organic vegetables to store for the winter. Being relatively unfamiliar with parsnips, I only ordered 5 lbs. Now that I’ve tasted these I think I’ll be ordering more, the parsnip is a noble vegetable, it may look like a carrot but the texture and taste differ in a palate pleasing way.
We actually enjoyed these for breakfast with sunny side up pastured eggs, a great fuel for a productive happy day. It reminded me of being in some hipster cafe that charges fifteen bucks a plate. Parsnips, in reality are mighty affordable and wholly underrated. I can see the sign outside the bistro right now, “parsnip fries are the new yam fries” I wouldn’t contest.
Now if you want to make your own mayo, which I strongly recommend, check out this post on the easiest most foolproof way to do it. Also, feel free to switch up the aioli, I know not everyone in the world likes cilantro so even a simple garlic aioli would be stunning with these fries, they really are the star of the show.
3 large parsnips, peeled and cut into ¼ inch strips
1 Tbs smoked paprika
½ tsp cayenne pepper
½ tsp sea salt
2 Tbs coconut oil, melted or preferred cooking fat
½ C mayonnaise
¼ C cilantro, finely chopped
1 Tbs lime juice
2 garlic cloves, minced
Instructions
Preheat oven to 425F
Using a large bowl or ziploc bag, add oil, paprika, cayenne and salt. Add the parsnip strips, cover the bowl and shake until all the fries are evenly coated with spices and oil.
On a large baking sheet lined with parchment, spread an even layer of fries and bake for 30 minutes. For the last 5 minutes turn the oven to broil for extra crispy fries, just watch them closely.
Combine mayonnaise, cilantro, lime juice and garlic in a jar and shake well.
Serve the mayo drizzle over the fries or on the side.
Hey I'm Chantelle, my alter ego would be a mermaid if I wasn't such a terrible swimmer. I love writing authentically and cooking in my pyjamas. My favourite pastimes include eating avocados, travelling the world and hanging out with a toddler.
