Happy Solstice everyone! The longest night is upon us, and I think we’re all ready to welcome back the light. This time of year, for me, is all about inner reflection, looking back on the last years happenings. It’s an exciting time to realize the potential that you can harness in 365 days. This time last year I had a little baby bump and had no idea what to expect but now I have this sweet little angel and it all seemed to happen in the blink of an eye. I am so in love with life and the capacity for us all to achieve great things, to full fill our wildest dreams, to learn new skills, practice old ones and reformulate our outlook so that it serves us all the better.
After a day of frolicking around the city, people watching in the busy shopping mall and running around trying to get all the last minute goodies taken care of, I’m so glad that we’re celebrating solstice this year. The mad rush of the 24th is no longer looming because it just doesn’t matter, phew. Tomorrow morning we’ll get up slow, drink baileys and coffee, make a quiche or a giant frittata and open gifts while my dad films the whole thing. We’re roasting a beautiful free range turkey, complete with all the fix ins, and for the one and only time this year our entire family will sit down together and share a meal. I’m so incredibly grateful for all of this, I know what a monumental blessing it is to have a loving family, I wish everyone had that.
Now without further adieu, these little imitation ferrero rochers are delightful and a great little treat to spread joy with to all. I like to plop them into an egg carton for a makeshift box of chocolates. Of course, these beauties are free of unknown nasty preservatives or other weird ingredients, and I personally like them better than their commercial counterparts. All they need is some fancy gold wrapping and a little stick, et voila!
This tender tomato beef stew is spiked with sweet dried apricots and delicate creamy squash. We love it as an alternative to the old classic beef stew. I’m not sure how traditional this stew is, I know that in Argentina they usually add a healthy glug of wine, and a sweet pumpkin, I would love to travel there one day and learn how to make it all proper. Until then, this is my rendition, and I tell you it is pretty damn fine. With a nice glass of red this is a meal to warm your heart on a cold day.
We’ve finally arrived at my parents place for the holidays, it’s been a 2 day adventure to get here and I am so happy to get to spend time with my lovely, crazy family. There has already been a riot of inappropriate jokes and puns, and the fun has just begun. Bring on the good times, amazing food, heartfelt laughter and connection, I love love love it.
I adore cupcakes and I don’t think I’m alone. These precious parcels are totally grain free and incredibly moist, they are also beautiful to look at, which certainly doesn’t hurt. I’m glad this experiment worked out so well. I always try and get creative and invent things and sometimes there’s a flop. I tried to invent 3-ingredient hazelnut cookies which actually ended up being one giant cookie that didn’t even stick together. People say less ingredients = less complicated, I beg to differ. But today was a success and I am officially re- in love with matcha. I went on a huge matcha bender when I was pregnant and trying not to drink coffee. It was fun but I kinda overdid it. Now that I’ve realized matcha lends a lovely earthy fresh taste to baking, along with awesome antioxidants I think the dilemma is solved. Baby Mav is incredibly jealous of my cupcake and trying to steal it from me as I type this. No cupcake for you, baby!
The template for this recipe is really adaptable, I’ve used it for all sorts of muffins/cupcakes, like these pumpkin chocolate chip muffins. The vanilla cashew cream is the same recipe as my bite sized paleo brownies. Lately I’m obsessed with pistachios, I just think they are the most beautiful nut, I love adding them to salads like this one and of course their green and violet hue looks stunning with the earthy green of the matcha. You can find the original recipe template here.
Matcha Green Tea Cupcakes with Vanilla Cashew Cream and Crushed Pistachios
Author: Chantelle
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 6
Ingredients
Cupcakes-1 C almond meal or flour
½ tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
2 Tbs matcha green tea powder
2 Tbs raw cane sugar or honey
½ tsp lemon zest
2 Tbs coconut oil
1 egg
1 mashed banana
1 Tbs almond or coconut milk OR ½ C if you want to leave out the banana
Frosting-½ C raw cashews, soaked 6-8 hrs
¼ C water
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 Tbs honey
Topping-1/4 C crushed pistachios
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350F
Mix together dry ingredients, almond meal, baking soda, salt,matcha and sugar
Mix together wet ingredients, coconut oil, egg,banana, coconut or almond milk, combine with dry ingredients and don't over mix.
Fill cupcake papers ¾ of the way up, bake for 20-25 minutes
In a blender or food processor add the strained cashews, coconut oil, vanilla, honey and a pinch of salt, slowly add the water until the consistency is thick yet spreadable and super smooth and creamy.
Let the cupcakes cool before spreading with cashew cream frosting, top with crushed pistachios.
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All in all I’d say these are some damn healthy and satisfying cupcakes, as always it makes my heart skip a beat to hear what you think. Peace & love homies.
Those days when you wake up and realize the house is an absolute disaster, the plants are thirsty, the dust bunnies are about to come alive and yet all I want to do is cook and make more of a mess. The benefit of working in restaurants is you don’t usually have to do the dishes, creative prowess is unleashed when there’s no dishes involved, I swear. But I won’t let my creative urges be tamed, the dishes can pile up, until eventually someone decides to crank some bouncy tunes and get ‘er done. Until then, there’s this rejuvenating fennel salad speckled with sweet pods of the juiciest pomegranate ever, crunchy green and purple pistachios, salty firm organic feta all drizzled with a simple olive oil, lemon and sesame seed dressing. This salad is amazing by itself but I can only imagine would be the perfect side for lamb shanks or grilled chicken.
I know it’s time to get baking delicious festive treats but to tell the truth I haven’t been struck with the spirit yet. Actually it feels a lot more like March than December and I’m not complaining. Though I do hope there’s a bit of snow in Edmonton when we go for Christmas. By then I’ll likely post 7 cookie and treat recipes in 2 days because my mom decorates to the nines and even if there’s not a flake of snow on the ground it’ll still feel like christmas when we get there. Poor mom, she had to take down all her fake snow blankets and move baby Jesus and the crew over to a higher table so that baby Mav won’t pull them all to their demise. He’s getting pretty agile and his absolute favourite thing is to pull stuff off of high tables, but he’s certainly got some guardian angels watching over him. Yesterday he pulled down a light wicker shelf that had a heavy piece of pottery sitting on it along with my heavy golden snale, it missed him by an inch though I think he learned his lesson as it was quite the shock.
So, I always tell people I live in the clouds, which is true in a symbolic way but also in a physical way. Every year around this time the clouds really start to envelop us, swallow us up into their dreamy wisps, transport us to the land of long sleeps and somber walks through the misty forest. It’s nice to have a welcoming bowl of soup when you get home. That’s about all one can do in a land of clouds, dream, eat soup, play music, watch endless lost episodes on netflix (guilty) and eat more soup, okay and maybe some of that freakin’ amazing organic chocolate ice cream.
There’s something in me that waits for these short days and long nights, it is renewing in its way and brings a certain sense of retreat, but that it’s ok. We wrap ourselves in comfort foods and find that green stuff is at a major lack. Next year I’m going to try and build up some cold boxes to grow kale and hardy greens into the winter. I dislike buying greens from California or farther, the amount of energy it takes to get them here as opposed to what they give, it’s just heinous. Not to mention food prices are soaring, a woman in our area wrote a book on sustainable small town food dynamics and it’s distributed to food cupboards all over the place. The comparative living expenses and food cost in this area of BC (and most of Canada, likely) is akin to that of a third world country, not what most consider one of the richest nations in the world to be experiencing in their rural communities. Luckily there are a lot of amazing farmers who sell their produce at very fair prices and grow their food with love.
Squash is one of my favourite soup additions come winter, it’s loaded with vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin K, B vitamins and loads of essential minerals. It’s rich and creamy texture is welcomed warmly and paired with rich nutty brown butter and nutrient dense sweet potato topped with crispy bacon, it all makes for a mightily fulfilling meal.
1 sprig fresh rosemary, destemmed and roughly chopped
1 Tbs melted bacon fat or oil of choice
¼ C butter
6 C chicken or vegetable stock
½ tsp sea salt
fresh cracked pepper
6 slices of bacon, chopped
Instructions
Preheat oven to 400F
In a large bowl combine squash, sweet potato, onion, garlic and rosemary, toss with bacon fat or oil until evenly coated and spread onto a baking sheet or roasting pan. Roast for 35-40 minutes.
In a large pot melt butter on medium and allow it to cook on med-low until the milk solids in the butter turn brown.
Add your roasted vegetables, stock and salt and pepper and bring to a simmer.
Heat a heavy pan and add bacon, cover on medium heat and allow bacon to get nice and crispy.
Puree the soup with an immersion blender or transfer it to your blender until smooth and creamy.
Serve topped with a dollop of sour cream or coconut cream and a spoonful of crispy bacon.
We all know those people who are “meat and potatoes” kinda folks, my pops is one, so is my sister. These little bites are their kinda food, so if your throwing or attending holiday parties and you need to please everyone, these are your ticket to the hearts of meat and potatoes people everywhere. I seem to morph into a meat and potatoes kinda gal when winter hits, the comfort and nourishment inherent in a beef stew that’s been simmering all day long, or crispy roasted potatoes with roast chicken or eggs for breakfast. Necessary additions for bone chilling Canadian winters. But then spring arrives, and summer and again I morph into a near vegan, fresh raw salads and berries in abundance, oh the days of yore.
So this is my first ever entry into a contest (omg) hosted by the little potato company, who lovingly hooked me and a bunch of other Canadian food bloggers with a few bags of their fabulous little potatoes. It’s no secret that I have a penchant for all things dubbed “little” or “baby”, they are just so much better than their large counterparts. These potatoes are no exception, especially the blue ones, I adore blue potatoes and all blue foods for that matter. It wasn’t easy choosing what to do for my entry, there are endless potato ideas afloat in my head. I thought given the holiday season that it would be nice to make some food on a stick, because a. everything tastes better when its on a stick and b. its the season of potlucks and holiday parties where typical hors doevres lack the robust filling qualities which these balsamic rosemary glazed meatballs and roasted garlic potato bites provide.
I hope to throw some more delicious holiday appetizer recipes at you before the new year, soon we’ll be embarking across the province to visit my parents. I’ll be pumping out loads of healthy treats and holiday favourites so stay tuned and sign up for my newsletter to not miss a post.
Balsamic Rosemary Glazed Bison Meatballs and Roasted Garlic Potato Bites
Author: Chantelle
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 20
Ingredients
Meatballs- 1 lb. ground bison (you could also use beef)
¼ C white onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tsp fresh rosemary, finely chopped
½ tsp sea salt
½ tsp pepper
1 egg
Potatoes- 1 lb. little potatoes, I mixed blue and yellow potatoes
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbs fat of choice, I used bacon fat
1 sprig fresh rosemary, removed from stalk
Glaze- 1 C balsamic vinegar
1 tsp raw cane sugar (optional- speeds up the process)
1 sprig fresh rosemary, left intact
20-25 little skewers or toothpicks
Instructions
Heat oven to 400F
Pre-boil the potatoes for about 10 minutes. Drain well and add to a baking dish or cast iron skillet with your fat, garlic, rosemary and salt. Roast for 40 minutes turning halfway for evenly golden potatoes.
For the meatballs combine ground meat with onion, garlic, salt, pepper,rosemary and egg. Form into little 1½ inch balls about 1 Tbs worth of mixture and place on a lined baking sheet with a metal rack. Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown.
For the glaze add balsamic vinegar, sugar and rosemary and let it reduce until it reaches a syrup like consistency, about 20 minutes. Pour the glaze over top of the meatballs.
Skewer a roasted potato and a meatball and serve with extra balsamic.
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.
