Category: sides

Wicked good gauc!

When we’re on a budget the first thing to go is all the pre-made dips and fancy foods. If you’re into checking prices you already know that the Whole Foods guacamole, while delicious, is bloody expensive! Making homemade gauc is super easy and worth the effort. Here’s our current fave recipe:

Ingredients:

  • 3 ripe avocados
  • 1 red onion (chopped)
  • 3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
  • 10 cherry tomatoes (quartered)
  • Juice of 1 lemon / lime
  • Pinch of salt
  • Dash of EVOO
  • Handful of cilantro (optional)
  • 1/4 cup of corn (optional)

 

Recipe:

  1. Chop onion and put in a large bowl. Soak in the apple cider vinegar for 5-10 minutes. This “quick pickle” approach will take the edge off the onion. This is the secret ingredient!
  2. Cut the avos and to the bowl with the onions and stir will while roughly mashing with a fork. Immediately add the juice of the lemon.
  3. Add the tomatoes, oil and salt + any other ingredients stir well
  4. Keep in the fridge until ready to eat
  5. Watch it disappear 🙂

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Roasted Rainbow Carrots

Ingredients:

  • 1 bag of baby carrots (rainbow or orange, preferably organic)
  • 2 tablespoons coconut oil / avocado oil / EVOO
  • a few grinds of salt
  • pinch of cinnamon / cumin (optional)

Recipe:

  1. preheat the oven to 400F
  2. Toss the carrots in oil and seasoning
  3. line a roasting tray with parchment paper
  4. bake for 45 mins. shaking occasionally to avoid burning.

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Maple roasted brussels

Every now and again Mark and I try to calculate how many meals we’ve cooked together since we met on Carnaby St. that one fine random day on August 22, 2008. We’ve never come up with an exact number although we do know it’s in the THOUSANDS! If I’m being honest, I can’t take a lot of credit for the majority of those dishes. Mark has always done the lion’s share of the cooking while I do other very important things, like pouring the wine and entertaining him.

Although over the last year, being a stay-at-home mom with a little (very hungry!) mouth to feed, has caused me to up my cooking game. Doing more of the meal prep myself has caused me to appreciate how lucky I am to be the wife of such a talented cook. Mark developed this super easy simple brussel sprouts recipe and it is perfection.

2 lbs brussel sprouts
2 TBSP Pure Maple Syrup
Generous lug of EVOO
Salt

Preheat oven to 400F. Line a baking tray with parchment paper. To prep the brussel sprouts, cut off the tail and chop in half. Remove outer layer if the leaves look wilted.

Place the brussel sprouts in a large bowl and coat them in salt, olive oil and pure maple syrup. Roast in the oven for about 45 mins. Shaking occasionally until outer layer is crispy and golden brown.

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Superfood salad

Once upon a time when we lived in London and had oodles of time on our hands we would make very elaborate meals that involved endless evenings in the kitchen drinking copious amounts of red wine and chatting for hours while we cooked. These days, with our 18 month usually nipping at our heels shouting “up up” as we cook, we strive for simplicity. One of our favorite things to make / eat back in the day was the Leon cookbook Superfood Salad. It is very green – chock full of yummy veggies and freshness. Sadly we haven’t made it since the baby was born because even though it’s not that complicated, it involves a few too many steps.

With spring around the corner, I’ve been craving more GREENS, so we came up with this stripped down version of a “superfood salad” – it’s just fresh raw kale marinated in a green goddess dressing topped with pumpkin seeds.

Serves 1 hungry adult. I’ve been making this as my lunch when baby J is napping so the below is for an individual portion size, but this recipe can easily be doubled by using a whole avocado and more of everything. I’ll work on figuring out exact quantities for a family sized version and update the post ASAP!

Green Goddess Dressing:

1/2 ripe avocado
2 TBSP EVOO
2 TBSP Braggs Apple Cider Vingegar
1 tsp runny honey
salt & pepper to taste

Salad:

A few handfuls of kale
2 TBSP pumpkin seeds

First mash the avocado. Add all the other ingredients and mix together in a medium sized bowl. The dressing should be nice and thick, but still liquidy. If needed, add a bit more EVOO / Apple Cider Vinegar.

To prepare the salad, just toss a couple of handfuls of raw kale into the bowl and coat the leaves in the dressing. Finish it off by adding the pumpkin seeds. Allow to marinate in the fridge for 10-15 minutes or longer if you can stand the wait!! For extra protein add a runny hardboiled egg, smoked salmon, beef or chicken on top.

RachelLeave a comment
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