Rhubarb Salsa with Garlic Crostini

Before June ended, I wanted to come up with a recipe using rhubarb that wasn't a dessert. Typically, rhubarb is used in pies, crumbles, and crisps. But I wanted to try a rhubarb recipe without having to add a lot of sugar to the recipe. Then it came to me. Why not make a salsa out of rhubarb? It's fresh, it's tasty, and it's extremely easy. This salsa recipe makes a great snack or appetizer, and can also be used to top chicken, fish, tacos, and nachos.

Rhubarb Salsa

Ingredients:

• 2 cups finely diced fresh rhubarb 
• 1/2 cup sweet red pepper, chopped
• 1/2 cup sweet yellow pepper, chopped 
• 1/2 cup  fresh cilantro, chopped 
• 3 green onions, tops only, chopped 
• 1 jalapeno pepper, finely chopped
• 1 garlic clove, minced 
• 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice 
• 1 tablespoon of agave 
• sea salt and ground black pepper to taste 

Directions:
1. Blanch rhubarb in a saucepan of boiling water for 10-30 seconds. Remove rhubarb from heat promptly and rinse under cold water until rhubarb is lukewarm or cool.
2. Place rhubarb in a glass bowl. Add remaining ingredients and mix well.
3. Refrigerate for an hour to let the flavours combine.

Garlic Crostini

Ingredients:

• 1 baguette, sliced 1/4 inch thick 
• 3/4 cup of olive oil 
• 3 cloves of pressed garlic 
• Sea salt and ground black pepper 

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Arrange baguette slices on two large rimmed baking sheets
2. Combine oil and garlic in a bowl and whisk.
3. Brush both sides with oil and garlic, and season with salt and pepper.
4.  Bake until golden, 15 to 20 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through. Let cool on baking sheets.
5. Top crostini with rhubarb salsa, and serve.

Health Benefits of Rhubarb

Rhubarb contains antioxidants like lycopene and anthocyanins, helping to fight off disease. It has been found to help lower cholesterol, boosting your heart health. Rhubarb stalks are a good source of fibre, benefiting your digestive health. It contains vitamin K, an essential property that helps with blood clotting, protecting the bones and help fighting off liver and prostate cancer. Rhubarb is also an immune booster due to its high levels of Vitamin C, calcium, potassium, and magnesium.

July Eating

July is right around the corner and this means that there are more options in vegetables in fruits. This is peak season and you'll start to see our local fruits and vegetables get juicier and more colourful. Cooking couldn't get any more exciting and our diets couldn't be any more diverse. This is the time to experiment with flavour, so don't be afraid to stock up on fruits and vegetables you usually wouldn't buy, because everything is delicious right now!


When shopping for seasonal fruits and vegetables this next month, look out for these products:

Vegetables:

• Beans (Green, Wax), Beets, Bok Choy, Broccoli, Cabbage, Carrots, Cauliflower, Celery, Corn, Field Cucumber, Garlic, Lettuce, Mushrooms, Onions (Green/Cooking), Peas (Snow, Green), Peppers, Potatoes, Radicchio, Radishes, Rapini, Rutabaga, Spinach, Sprouts, Sweet Potatoes, Tomatoes, Zucchini 

Fruits:

•  Apricots, Blueberries, Cherries, Currents, Gooseberries, Peaches, Plums, Raspberries, Strawberries, Watermelon 

                       
                                                             

Breakfast Quinoa

We've all heard it before. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Whether this is true or not, breakfast is a meal that should never be missed. After a good night's sleep breakfast fills our empty stomachs, fuels up our bodies with energy and sets us up for the day. A healthy breakfast should be filling enough to keep you satiated until your next snack or meal, incorporating complex carbohydrates and protein. An example of a great meal for the morning is hot or cold cereal with fruit and nuts. The recipe below is a healthy and filling hot cereal using quinoa, and its delicious!

Breakfast Quinoa

Yield: 1 serving
Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups of unsweetened almond milk 
• 1/2 cup rinsed quinoa 
• 2 tablespoons of maple syrup 
• 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon 
• 1/2 cup of fresh blueberries
• 1 sliced peach 
• 2-3 tablespoons of hemp seed

 Directions:
1. Add almond milk, cinnamon and quinoa to a small saucepan. Bring to a boil then simmer covered until most milk is absorbed, about 15 minutes.
2. Remove from heat and stir in maple syrup and fruit.
3. Top with hemp seed and an extra pinch of cinnamon to flavour.

This is the kind of recipe where you can add or substitute any of the ingredients. Feel free to use any kind of seasonal fruit along with nuts, seeds, or sweeteners such as honey or agave. This recipe is a delicious way to eat quinoa and is sure to fill you up and give you energy to get through a busy morning.

What is quinoa? 

Quinoa is a fairly new grain on the American scene that is native to Central America. Although most would call it a grain, it is not from the grass family and is closely related to beets and green leafy vegetables. Quinoa is high in amino acid lysine, which is an amino acid that is commonly low in other grains. Lysine is extremely valuable because it is an essential amino acid that our body cannot produce but is necessary for optimal health. Lysine is important for proper growth, and it plays an essential role in the production of carnitine, a nutrient responsible for converting fatty acids into energy and helping to lower cholesterol. Lysine appears to help the body absorb calcium, and it plays an important role in the formation of collagen, a substance important for bones and connective tissues including skin, tendon, and cartilage. Quinoa is also a complete protein containing all 8 essential amino acids, as well as being high in fiber and phosphorous. Quinoa has a mild, slightly nutty flavour, is gluten free and is easy to digest. Quinoa has been considered a superfood and can easily be cooked in hundreds of ways. Cookies, puddings, soups, stews, casseroles, salads, you name it.  Love what you hear? Quinoa might be your new best friend.

Blueberry Matcha Smoothie

In the past week, Mother Nature has made it pretty clear that summer is here. The weather in Toronto has been spectacular. Hot, humid, and sunny. My favourite kind of weather! Although I love the heat, the heavy and humid air causes my appetite to decrease. During these heat wave like days,  I skip bigger meals and snack on cold foods and drinks throughout the day. Smoothies are one way I satiate my craving for a refreshing snack, and they usually do the trick to cool me down. Smoothies are also a great way to get me eating something filling and healthy when my appetite is low.

This smoothie recipe was inspired by Booster Juice's smoothie called "Mind Over Matcha". This blueberry matcha smoothie is delicious but high in calories and full of sugar, consisting of 495 calories and 50 grams of sugar for a 24 ounce serving size. No healthy snack should be over 250 calories or that high in sugar, or it just turns into a dessert. So here's a re-creation of this delicious blueberry matcha smoothie, under 200 calories and only 13 grams of sugar for a 20 ounce serving size.

Blueberry Matcha Smoothie

• 1 cup of blueberries 
• 1 cup of ice
• 1 1/2 cup of unsweetened almond milk 
• 3 teaspoons of matcha
• 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract 

Before you start, boil the kettle and let it cool for 5-10 minutes. You will be using this water to whisk the matcha and cannot use freshly boiled water or it will burn the tea and make it bitter. Once the boiling water has cooled, whisk the matcha in a bowl with 1/4 cup of water from the kettle. Add the bluberries, almond milk, whisked matcha, ice, and vanilla extract to the blender. Blend until smooth. I also sometimes add protein powder to my smoothies, which can add anywhere between 100-150 calories. If you don't find the smoothie sweet enough, add banana or another sweet fruit, but keep in mind the more ingredients you add to a smoothie the higher in calories it becomes.

What is Matcha? 

Matcha is a high grade powdered Japanese green tea that has a slightly sweet yet vegetal flavour and earthy aroma. It is much more concentrated than loose leaf green tea, making a cup of matcha exceedingly higher in vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and amino acids. Due to its richness in nutritional value, matcha has numerous health benefits. Matcha has been found to be an energy booster, fat buster, cancer fighter, calorie burner and detoxifier. Because matcha is high quality grade tea, it may not be found in a grocery store. To ensure that you find a good quality matcha, visit a tea shop such as David's Tea. Not only do they have great tea, they also have very knowledgeable staff that can teach you a thing or two on how to brew a perfect cup of matcha. You may also find that the the matcha you find at shops are a little expensive because it is specially crafted high quality tea, and because matcha production in Japan is limited. But I would say it's totally worth the splurge, even if you buy a small quantity to start!

Carrot Ginger Juice

Oh ginger, how I love thee!

Ginger is one of my favourite ingredients. Not only do I love the refreshing bite that ginger gives, it has many health benefits. The medicinal use of ginger in Asian and Indian cultures dates back to 4th Century BC, and is still used to this day in traditional medicine. It has been used for thousands of years to treat nausea, upset stomach, and digestive problems. Today, studies are finding numerous benefits of ginger, such as its effective use as an anti-inflammatory.  For example, ginger has been found to help decrease the pain and symptoms of arthritis and other joint problems. Ginger has also been found to help prevent and fight illness and disease, such as colds, flus, and cancer.  Some other beneficial uses of ginger are to treat morning sickness, heartburn relief, migraine and headache relief, respiratory problems, and to aid circulation.

Because ginger has numerous health benefits, it should be an ingredient incorporated into your diet as often as possible . One easy and delicious way of using ginger is in your juices. The juice recipe I am positing today is a great immune booster, detoxifier and digestive aid. This recipe makes a single serving of juice (approximately 8 ounces) and is best had in the morning 20 minutes before breakfast because ginger and lemon stimulates bile secretion and digestive fluids, promoting quicker digestion of foods.

Carrot Ginger Juice

• 2 carrots 
• 1 apple 
• 1/2 lemon 
• 1 inch cube of ginger

If you would like a milder taste, the ginger skin can be scraped off with a teaspoon. The lemon can also be peeled to avoid bitterness. 

What do the Ingredients Provide? 

Ginger is known to have more than twelve types of antioxidants  and contains potassium, magnesium, phosphorous, protein, calcium, zinc, iron, and Vitamins A, C, E, B3. Ginger also has manganese in it which builds resistance to disease, protects the lining of the heart, blood vessels, and urinary passages. Silicon is found in ginger as well, which helps promote healthy, skin, hair, teeth and nails.
Carrot is also high in potassium, magnesium and phosphorous, and is an excellent source of Vitamin A, C, D, E, K, B1 and B6. Potassium is a key mineral in our body, thus high consumption of it keeps the organs in our body in optimal condition. Carrot has been found to be an  effective cleanser and helps to regulate blood sugar levels. An important tip is to not peel the carrot before juicing because most nutrients are concentrated just under the skin. To clean it, brush the skin and rinse with water.

This is a very simple and easy juice to make. I love the bite that the ginger and lemon give and find that this recipe is another favourite of mine. Go ahead, try it!

Curried Sweet Potato & Carrot Soup with Cucumber Raita

Whether it's a damp summer day or a hot summer night, soups are a great way to soothe you or cool you down. I love making soups because it's an easy way to use seasonal vegetables and is a nice alternative to eating salads. There are various ways of eating and making summer soups but the recipe I am posting today is a cooked soup that could be eaten warm or cool. It is a curried sweet potato and carrot soup topped with a cooling dollop of cucumber raita.

Curried Sweet Potato and Carrot Soup 

Yield: Serves 4
Ingredients:

• 4 cloves of garlic 
• 2 cooking onions 
• 2 cups of chopped carrots 
• 2 cups of chopped sweet potato 
• 1/4 cup of vegetable oil or canola oil 
• 4 cups of vegetable stock 
• 1-2 tablespoons of curry paste 

Directions:

1. Mince the cloves of garlic and cut the onions into eighths. Set aside. Chop the carrots and sweet potato. 
2. Heat oil in a soup pot over medium-high heat and add the onions. Saute the onions for 4-5 minutes. Add garlic, carrots, and sweet potato and saute for 2-3 minutes. 
3. Add 4 cups of vegetable stock and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover partially, and simmer until carrots and sweet potato are tender, about 15-20 minutes. Cool slightly. 
4. Puree soup in batches in blender. Return soup to pot. If you have a hand blender you can also use it to puree the soup. This way you don't have to puree it in batches. When blending the soup, try to leave chunks of vegetables. This adds a nice texture to your soup.
5. Once pureed, add a tablespoon of curry paste. If you like a stronger curry flavour like myself, add another 2-3 teaspoons of curry paste. Taste the soup as you add each extra teaspoon to  make sure the strength of curry flavour is to your liking. 

Cucumber Raita 

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup plain greek yogurt 
• 1/2 cups chopped seeded and peeled field cucumber 
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro 
• 1 tablespoon chopped green onions 
• 1/4 teaspoon ground coriander 
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

Directions: 
Mix all ingredients in medium bowl. Season to taste with salt. Chill raita, covered, until ready to serve.

Once the soup cools, add a dollop of cucumber raita. Because curry adds some heat, the raita is a great addition to cool the flavour of the soup. Enjoy! 

Green Antioxidant Juice

Waking up can be hard to do. I often find myself needing a pick-me-up as soon as I get out of bed and juice seems to be the answer. I have started replacing coffee with juice and find that the juice provides me with more energy to kick start a busy day. The recipe below is a favourite and is an excellent way to wake you up and get your day started.

This recipe makes about 2 1/2 cups of juice. This is a juice that is high in fiber, so it is a good amount if you would like to have a couple of glasses throughout the day or if you are sharing with a friend. If you would like only one glass to your self, split this recipe in half.

Green Antioxidant Juice:

   
• 4 cups of Spinach 
• 4 cups of Kale
• 3 Granny Smith Apples 
• 2 Carrots 
• 1 peeled Lemon 
• 4 Celery Stalks 
• 1 cup of Mango (Optional)
  

The mango adds extra sweetness to the juice, but the juice is tasty without it. Some may even find the mango makes the juice a little too sweet. You can try both ways to see which version you like better. Also, peeling citrus fruits  before you push it through the juicer is a good idea to avoid making it bitter.  You can add ice to the juice to cool it down, it makes for a refreshing drink on a hot summer morning.

  

What do the ingredients provide?

Kale and spinach are high in fiber, along with Vitamin A and calcium. They are very high in antioxidants and help prevent cell damage and disease. Kale and spinach also provide Vitamin C, Folic Acid, Vitamin B6, and potassium. Carrots are also high in antioxidants and Vitamins A, C, D, E, K, B1, and B6. Along with being vitamin rich, carrots are a great source of biotin, potassium, calcium, and magnesium. Celery is particularly high in Vitamin A, but also provides Vitamin C, B1, B2, B6, calcium, magnesium and potassium. 

Due to the healing properties of the ingredients, this juice is especially useful as an anti-inflammatory and for fighting and preventing disease. It is also a great detoxifier since it is fibrous and aids digestion and bowel movements.

This juice is at the top of my list and is a must try. If you are new to juicing and would like more information, you can also check out my page on Juicing.