These little chorizo spinach and sweet pepper egg muffins are for all those breakfast avoiders in your life. They’re easy to pack away for a few hours after wake up when hunger strikes. J is taking an early morning course this week so these were the perfect fuel for ripping chainsaws.
Winter has brought a layer of sparkly fairy dust, the sun is shining brightly and little ice diamonds are draped upon every surface. All I want to do is curl up in a ball by the fire and sleep for days. Even though the beauty of the snow capped mountains is stunning I still feel like ducking out and jumping on a plane to Costa Rica. I suppose the true beauty in life is found with acceptance of where you are. The grass is always greener but there certainly are upsides to winter in Canada. A quiet chance to read, go within, read some more, write, make snow angels… ah who am I kidding, I want to be in a hammock on a beach right now. That is all.
If a magic genie granted me three wishes, one of them would be to peer inside the growing flesh of fruit of a pomegranate. They are such and interesting fruit with their many pockets filled with little surprises. Garnet jeweled seeds, this ancient fruit is rumoured to have been the real forbidden fruit. The sheer pleasure in eating a pomegranate fruit is worth the cost every now and then. Usually it coincides with a conscious moment of how very far some of our food travels. Our family certainly wouldn’t mind living somewhere pomegranates grow, maybe someday. Until then, a luxurious raw chocolate bark adorned with the fruit of royalty will do the trick.
Health Benefits of Pomegranates
-1 pomegranate is equivalent to about 40% of the daily recommended intake of Vitamin C
–Antioxidants in pomegranates are powerfully protective against free radicals which wreak havoc on our cells. Pomegranates have more antioxidants than blueberries, acai berry and grapes.
– Reduce Inflammation One study discovered pomegranate actually decreased production of a cartilage destroying enzyme, potential use as a treatment for osteoarthritis and maintaining joint integrity and proper function.
–Heart health Pomegranate juice has been shown to slow the formation of arterial plaque and even reverse it. They’re also beneficial for those suffering from high blood pressure.
1 C raw cacao paste OR ¾C cacao butter + 6 Tbs cacao powder
⅓ C maple syrup or honey
1 tsp coconut oil
¼ tsp sea salt
1 pomegranate, flesh removed
Instructions
In a double boiler melt cacao paste (or butter) with maple syrup and coconut oil. Mix in the cacao powder once everything is melted (if your not using cacao paste).
Prepare a baking dish lined with parchment paper, pour your chocolate mixture onto the paper and spread evenly.
Top with pomegranate seeds and sea salt.
Allow to set for an hour or so in the fridge.
Store the bark in the fridge if you live in a warm climate.
Let me just start by saying, I never knew making gravlax or lox as some call it, to be so astoundingly easy. If you’re unfamiliar gravlax is cured salmon, just as flavourful as smoked salmon without all the work. Seriously guys this is easier than cooking a salmon in the oven, it took me all of 5 minutes and 2 days in the fridge and the result is stunning! The colour from the beetroot is just unbelievable, wild salmon is beautiful to begin with but infuse it with beetroot and the monochromatic natural fuchsia hue is almost too pretty to eat. Almost.
Winter is officially here, it’s bloody hard to take a good photograph with the sun hidden behind the mountains all day. Now is the essential time to ensure we’re getting enough omega-3 and vitamin D. What’s more enjoyable way than salmon? Those who know me, know that I adore Jamie Oliver. His show Jamie Does, shows him gallivanting on foodie adventures all over the world. This recipe is from the Stockholm edition, I didn’t follow the recipe to the T but it worked out great anyways.
There you have it, I’m going to post my version of the recipe as well. This homemade beetroot gravlax is so beautiful just by itself but I have been enjoying it with fresh simple salads, poached eggs and with india curries.
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!
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.
