Garlic Aioli Spaghetti Squash

I have loved spaghetti squash since I was younger, when my mom would top it with a little bit of parmesan.  I wouldn't go as far to say that it is just like pasta, as some claim. You definitely don't get that dense carb satisfaction that us carb lovers desire, but with the right topping it can mimic the flavour you get from pasta, just a much lighter version! Spaghetti squash is a great alternative for those trying to lose weight, people who want/need to eat gluten free or diabetics who are trying to avoid sugar spikes from white flour pasta (as mentioned in our Turkey Bolognese recipe.)

Ingredients:
1 medium-large spaghetti squash
3 cloves of minced garlic
cooking oil
1/4 cup finely chopped cilantro
1 tsp red chili flakes
1/4 tsp salt and pepper
1/4 cup parmesan cheese

Steps:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees Celsius
2. Cut spaghetti squash lengthwise (be cautious-it can be quite difficult to cut through!). Scoop out the stringy bits and seeds from the middle and lay cut side down in a roasting pan that is filled with about 1 cup of water and 2 tbsp of cooking oil. Cover with tin foil and cook for around 45 minutes until the flesh is soft.

3. Once the squash is finished cooking, take 1/2 cup of the water it was cooking it in and put it aside in a measuring cup.
4. Heat a saucepan with ~1 tbsp cooking oil. Add the garlic and red chili flakes and sauté until the garlic has browned.
5. Add the reserved water, salt and pepper and simmer for about 5 minutes.
6. Use a fork to gently pull the squash from the peel and create strands of the squash flesh.
7. Add the squash, along with the cheese to the simmering mixture and mix well.

I used this squash recipe to top my favourite Scalloped Tomatoes and the combo was so delicious, I didn't even feel bad going to second's and third's since it wasn't pasta! My family members, who sometimes don't prefer "healthier alternatives,"  even were fighting over who got more!

Hope you enjoy!

-A

Creamy Sage Butternut Squash Risotto

My family loves butternut squash soup. Unfortunately, as I've mentioned before, I am not a soup lover for some reason. I think I like my food with a bit more texture, so I decided to come up with a recipe that involved butternut squash, yet still had the carbs and texture I desired.
Butternut squash is a great addition to your diet. It is extremely high in many vitamins, especially vitamin A and C. Vitamin A is essential for healthy vision, among other things, and Vitamin C is a potent antioxidant that is important for many aspects of your health. It is also low in calories, with only ~45 calories for 100 grams.
This recipe is a great addition to those holiday meals, such as the upcoming Easter holiday.

Ingredients:

½ of a yellow onion, chopped

2 tbsp grapeseed oil
1½ cup arborio rice
30 oz canned butternut squash (or roast and blend fresh butternut squash)
¼ red chili flakes
1 tsp salt
3½ cups of chicken stock (with no added salt)
½ cup fresh, chopped sage
¼ cup grated parmesan
pepper to taste

 Steps:
1. Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion and stir until the onion has softened. Stir in the rice, until it is covered in the oil.
2. Pour in the chicken stock and half of the squash. Stir and add the chili flakes, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Add the remainder of the butternut squash and sage and simmer for 5 more minutes, until the risotto is creamy. Mix in the grated parmesan and serve.

Enjoy!
-A

Turkey Bolognese in a Spaghetti Squash Bowl

Diabetes is a pretty scary disease state that is affecting so many people these days. By 2020, the Canadian Diabetes Society predicts that 1 in 3 Canadians will have diabetes and for those of you that don't live in Canada, the World Health Organization predicts that 592 million people worldwide will have the disease (all stats are from the CDA).

Luckily, if you have pre-diabetes there are things you can do to lower the chance of it progressing 

to diabetes, and if you already have diabetes (besides taking your medications) there are things you can do to help your sugars be controlled. These things are the dreaded diet changes and exercise. 

Most people think the main thing affecting the blood sugars is added sugar. Sweet foods and added sugar do indeed cause a quick increase in blood sugars but they are not the only culprits. One "hidden" source of sugar is in carbohydrates, but not all carbohydrates are considered equal. As we know, carbohydrates are broken down in the body to glucose ("sugar"), which is a good thing because this is what our cells use for energy! But people with diabetes, who already have excess sugar in the blood do not want to be eating carbohydrates that can cause a spike in glucose. This can happen with starchy vegetables or grains that have been processed more, i.e. white flour, white bread, etc. Eating non-starchy vegetables and grains with more fibre can help manage blood glucose levels. Fibre slows the digestion of food and slows the movement of sugar into the blood so that the spikes of sugar after a meal are reduced. 

Another way to delay or prevent the development of type 2 diabetes, in people with pre-diabetes is weight loss. Easier said than done!

Below, I included a recipe that can tackle some of these problems. It is extremely flavourful, but substitutes pasta with spaghetti squash-a non-starchy vegetable (causing less of a sugar spike), which is drastically lower in calories compared to pasta (to help with weight loss).

Look at the difference in calories and total carbohydrates for the same serving size!

This recipe also uses turkey instead of beef-a leaner meat, that helps cut down on the saturated fats and Greek yogurt instead of cream-which also helps cut down on saturated fats. 

Ingredients:

2 medium spaghetti squash

~0.5 kg ground turkey

2 tbsp cooking oil

4 cloves of garlic

1 tbsp oregano 

1/4 cup chopped fresh basil

1/2 tsp red chili flakes

1¼ cup red wine (Note: diabetics should limit alcohol, but most of it is cooked off in this recipe)

28 oz can of diced tomatoes

2 tbsp tomato paste

1 tsp salt

1½ tsp pepper

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/4 cup plain 2% greek yogurt 

Cooking the Spaghetti Squash:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees Celsius
2. Cut spaghetti squash lengthwise (be cautious-it can be quite difficult to cut through!). Scoop out the stringy bits and seeds from the middle and lay cut side down in a roasting pan that is filled with about 1 cup of water and 2 tbsp of cooking oil. Cover with tin foil and cook for around 45 minutes until the flesh is soft.

Making the Bolognese:
1. While the squash is cooking, heat the 2 tbsp of oil in a large cast iron skillet along with the garlic. Add the ground turkey and cook until no longer pink. Stir in the oregano and red pepper flakes and mix well.
2. Add 1 cup of the red wine and stir in well.
3. Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and then simmer for ~10 minutes
4. Add the nutmeg, greek yogurt, the rest of the wine (¼ cup) and the basil. Simmer for another 10 minutes until it has thickened

Pull the Squash out of the oven. Separate the flesh with a fork to get the spaghetti like strands and top with the bolognese sauce. Add with a small amount of parmesan, if desired.

Enjoy!

-A

Shrimp Lettuce Boats

Balancing working full time (with my school practical rotations), working out, hanging out with friends and completing assignments can be really difficult, especially when you enjoy eating healthy and preparing most of your meals from scratch. This is one recipe I like to make when I'm in a rush, and it gives me a good balance of vegetables, protein and a high-fibre carbohydrate.

Ingredients:
1/2 tsp red chili flakes
1 tsp hot paprika
1 tsp chili powder
1 tbsp olive oil
~12 prawns
1/2 cup frozen corn
1/2 of an avocado, cut into cubes
1 medium tomato, diced
3-4 large romaine lettuce leaves
1/2 cup of cooked quinoa (I used red but it doesn't really matter what type you use)

Steps:
1. Mix the olive oil and spices in a small bowl and set aside
2. Fry the prawns with a bit of cooking oil until they turn pink
3. Add the frozen corn and once it has almost completely cooked add the tomato, avocado, and top with the olive oil and spices.
4. On a plate lay out the washed romaine lettuce and fill evenly with the cooked quinoa. Top with the shrimp mixture.

Enjoy!
-A

"Pad Thai"

This is my version of pad thai, hence the quotations. It is more of a combo of a stir-fry and pad thai. This is an extremely quick recipe, that can be whipped up in under 30 minutes, especially if you have leftover meat. In this recipe, I used shrimp, but in the past I have substituted left-over chicken breast (even with jerk sauce on it) and left-over ground turkey. 

Ingredients:

Sauce:
1½ tbsp Thai Sweet Chili sauce
1/3 cup of Thai Fish sauce
3 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp white wine vinegar
1 tbsp reduced-sodium soy sauce
2 tsp red pepper flakes
~2 tbsp ketchup

~20 prawns
3 cloves of garlic
3 eggs, lightly beaten
5 medium carrots, sliced in the food processor  
3 tbsp natural peanut butter
1/2 cup of chopped cilantro
1/2 package of 454g rice noodles, cooked
2 limes to garnish

Method:
1. Whisk together all ingredients for the sauce in a small bowl and set aside for later
2. In a wok or large skillet, heat cooking oil and fry the garlic and shrimp, until the shrimp has turned pink. Remove from the pan and set aside. 
3.  Add more oil to pan if needed and scramble the eggs. 
4. Once the eggs are almost completely scrambled, add the peanut butter and let it fry in the pan for a few minutes, then add the carrots and the sauce (I like to use peanut butter instead of adding chopped peanuts at the end because I find that if you have leftovers, peanuts do not taste as good the next day if mixed into the entire mixture)
5. Add the cooked rice noodles. Mix together well. Then add the cilantro and the cooked prawns (if using left-over meat, I add it with the carrots to heat it up from the fridge) 

-A

Vegan Beet Cake with Avocado Frosting

In honour of Melissa's, as well as my dear friend Krysta's birthday, which we celebrated this weekend, I am going to post a healthy birthday cake option. Unfortunately, they live out of town so my family and I had ate it all before they had gotten a chance to try any, oops :).
This recipe is extremely rich and only for devoted chocolate lovers. Besides the higher sugar content, which is typical for any sweet treat, it is relatively healthy alternative to classic chocolate cake and even sneaks in some vitamins and minerals with the beets and avocados. It can even be made gluten free by substituting out the wheat germ for an extra half cup of gluten-free oat flour.

Ingredients:
Batter:
1 cup oat flour
1/2 cup wheat germ
1/2 cup cane sugar
1/2 cup coconut sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 tsp ground coffee
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 salt
1/4 cup canola oil
1/2 cup of packed beet
3/4 cup almond milk
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp vanilla

Icing:
2 avocados
1/2 cup cocoa powder
~7 tablespoons of maple syrup or more depending on sweetness preference

Steps:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees celsius. Mix all of the dry ingredients in a bowl. Add the oil to the wet ingredients.
2. Blend a cooked beet in the food processor and add to the wet ingredients. Mix well and then add the dry ingredients to the wet.

3. Line an 8 inch cake pan with parchment paper and oil the edges. Add the batter. And enjoy licking the bowl, since it's egg free! The batter was actually so delicious, I think I even liked the batter more than the cake (even though that was still good). I realized after I had stuck the cake in the oven that I had gotten a little out of control licking the bowl....

Cook the cake for 35 minutes until the toothpick comes out clean.

4. Make the frosting by using a hand blender to combine all of the ingredients. Add more maple syrup as desired.

5. Once the cake is done, let it cool and then frost the cake. Use toothpicks to keep up saran wrap, and cover the cake. Keep in the fridge overnight or make it in the morning and keep it in the fridge until night and then serve.

-A

Red cabbage sweet potato turkey soup

Soup is one of my favourite things to eat, especially when it's cold out! This is
a variation of my staple soup I make all winter, ground turkey and cabbage.

Ingredients:
1 package ground turkey
1 large onion
3 cloves garlic
1 medium sweet potato
1 can white beans
1 carton chicken stock (or from scratch)
2 cups spinach
1 bunch cilantro
1 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 head of red cabbage
Sage
Thyme
Hot chillies

Directions: Coat the bottom of a pot with the oil, add the onions and garlic,
once they are soft add the turkey to brown. Then add the chicken stock and
4-8 cups of water. Add in all veggies, spices and bring to a simmer.

Enjoy!
-M

Pumpkin Curry Soup

Yesterday, Mel and I hung out all day, enjoying the ravine before winter hits. By the end of it we were so exhausted we just wanted to make something quick and easy for dinner.

Since this is the time of the season where pumpkin is all the rage we decided that we should probably use it in our recipe. We chose pumpkin soup but since I am not a fan of soup because I like actually having something to chew on for dinner (especially carbs :P) we used it as a sauce to put over rice. 

Ingredients:

-We were lazy and just used a 796ml can of pumpkin

-500 mL can of coconut milk

-500 mL of chicken broth (reduced sodium)

-large piece of ginger grated

-4 cloves of garlic

-half of an onion

-half a stalk of cilantro

-2 tsp red hot chili flakes

- 3 tbsp curry powder

- 1 tbsp cumin

-2 tbsp brown sugar

-2 tsp turmeric

-2 tsp coriander

It was extremely simple and quick. All we did was fry the spices, onion, ginger and garlic with olive oil in the pot and then added the pumpkin, coconut milk, broth and sugar and let it simmer for about 15 minutes. At the very end we added in the cilantro and it was done! You can eat it as a soup or on rice if you want something a little more substantial. 

 -A

The Green and Beige Salad

This is probably one of the ugliest salads since there is a serious lack of colour as it is completely only beige and green, but do not discount it based on that; it is very healthy and easy to make on days you are in a rush. I love eating this salad as a complete meal for dinner when I am rushing home from school and off to work and it makes great use of any leftover chicken you may have. I used to make this recipe with couscous and to be honest it tasted a lot better with that but to increase the nutritional value I substituted it with quinoa and only use that in the recipe now.

Ingredients:
Romaine Lettuce (around 6 pieces off the stalk or if you have a premix you can use about half of the package)

1/2 of a leftover chicken breast (or if I'm making fresh chicken I like to season it with Jerk Seasoning)
~10 Croutons
Half of a large cucumber slices
1/2 cup of quinoa
1 tbsp olive oil
Lemon Herb Seasoning-I like to use brands with no added salt

Toss this all into a large bowl and eat! Quick, simple and healthy!

-A

Healthy Quinoa Jambalaya

This week Mel and I found out that we are going to be living 4 months together in Calgary for our last year of pharmacy rotations. This will give us tons of time to cook things together and be creative. I think we come up with some of the better recipes when we are together; I am more of the structured person in the kitchen, thinking logically before adding an ingredient and how much of each ingredient should be added, which sometimes can cause me to be less creative and miss out on adding different unique ingredients. Mel on the other hand has no patience in the kitchen and doesn't like to think about things before she does it so she just throws random ingredients in. This makes her recipes really unique with creative and cool ingredients but can sometimes make her recipes go awry.

This quinoa jambalaya is one of my favourite recipes we have made together and represents the balance between our two cooking styles when we work together.

Ingredients:
746 ml Can of Tomatoes
1 cup Quinoa
4 Chicken Chorizo organic sausage (we found this at the Strathcona Farmer's Market I'm not sure where else you can find it, so you can just replace it with normal chorizo if need be, it just won't be quite as healthy)
~1 1/2 cups Reduced sodium chicken broth
2 Large carrots
1 Onion
1 Red pepper
1 Jalapeno
2 stalks celery
2 cloves garlic
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp each of: chili powder, cumin, red hot chili flakes, hot paprika
1 tbsp olive oil

Step 1: Empty the juices from the tomato can into a 2 cup measuring cup. Top off the remaining amount with the chicken broth until it makes up 2 cups. Bring to a boil in a saucepan and then add the quinoa. Turn to low and cook for 15 minutes.

Step 2: Chop the chorizo into about half inch thick pieces. Ours was frozen so we had to cook it a bit before we could do this. Chop the onion and cook with the chorizo until no longer pink.

Step 3: Have your sous chef chop up all the vegetables. We grated the carrots but chopped the rest of the vegetables and minced the jalapeno and garlic

This is my sous chef hard at work ;)

Step 4: Mix all the spices into a bowl with the oil and mix well adding it to the chorizo in the pan. Add all the vegetables to the onion and chorizo and cook for about 5 minutes- we both prefer our vegetables still a bit crunchy but if you like yours completely soft you can cook it for longer

Step 5: Add the can of tomatoes and the quinoa to the vegetable mix and simmer for about 10 minutes. Mel hates chunky tomatoes but I love them so we had to compromise and blended it up slightly with the immersion blender before adding.

We topped ours with green onions to serve

-A

Gluten-Free Acorn Squash Pancakes

My mom always makes acorn squash soup and I'd have to say I am not a fan of squash soup at all! This weekend she baked the acorn squash in preparation for the soup so I decided to steal some and see if I could use it to make something a little tastier.
The pancakes turned out pretty well, I mean full fat and flour pancakes are probably a little better but these are a great healthy alternative that don't make you feel guilty eating pancakes every weekend! The topping is the key to making these pancakes yummy and is pretty healthy as well.

Pancake Ingredients:
1/2 scoop of Whey protein
1/2 cup of Oat bran (make sure it is a gluten free brand such as Red Mill)
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup acorn squash
1 egg
1 tbsp maple syrup

Topping Ingredients:
1/2 cup plain greek yogurt
Pumpkin seeds
Walnuts
2 tsp almond milk
1 tsp maple syrup

Step 1: Mix all the pancake ingredients together and fry in a frying pan. I stole my acorn squash from one that was already cooked but if you need to cook it you can cut it in half and put it in the oven at 350 degrees until it is soft (around 45 minutes).

Step 2: Mix the yogurt and almond milk and top the pancakes.

Step 3: Roast the pumpkin seeds and walnuts to bring out their natural oils then toss over the yogurt

Step 4: Drizzle the maple syrup to top

-A

Chia Seed Breakfast Pudding

In many recipes, chia seeds are used as a substitute for eggs or even sometimes butter. This is because, as you may have noticed, chia seeds when exposed to moisture, form a gel.

Chia seeds are a good source of protein, so when paired with a fruit, can make a great breakfast.

I was originally going to make a vanilla flavoured pudding, but when I accidentally grabbed the wrong jar and added almond extract, I decided to go with the flow and continue this recipe as an almond flavoured one.

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons of chia seeds

~¼ cup of almond milk

One banana

A drop of almond extract

Vanilla bean

Almond Slivers

This recipe is really quick to make. Put the chia seeds in a bowl and stir in the almond milk and almond extract. Put in the fridge and let it sit for a couple of minutes, this is great time to go get dressed or do your hair. After a few minutes, go check to see if it has coagulated and if it has top with a sliced banana, slivered almonds and grate some vanilla bean to top.

I was surprised at how tasty this was, but it didn’t completely fill me up, so I paired it with a poached egg.  

-A

Jalapeno Hummus

I got accepted into a pharmacy course in Italy this spring and I am leaving in less than two months! This realization has really inspired me to eat healthy over the next couple of months so I can be in shape for this trip. After looking extensively at pictures online (when I should be studying), I realized that the majority of my trip is going to be a food festival, eating pizza, pasta, cheese and drinking wine and limoncello pretty much everyday. This is inevitable, so it made me think I should probably be in the best shape going into this trip so I only come back a small whale. On average, I would say I eat quite healthy on a day to day basis and even though I don't eat a lot of processed foods, I am going to try and decrease this amount even more over the next couple of months.
One processed food I eat every single day is hummus. At school, I always have hummus for lunch. Although the hummus we buy is scrumptious and so convenient, it probably has a lot of unnecessary oil and salt in it that I don't need so I decided I should stop being lazy and make some myself and that's what led to this recipe.

Jalapeno Hummus:

Ingredients:
2 tbsp Tahini
1 whole Jalapeno
1 clove of garlic
1/4 tsp of Cumin
1 can of rinsed chickpeas
1/4 cup of plain greek yogurt
1 tsp water
1 tsp oil
1/2 tsp sesame oil
Juice from half of a lemon
1/2 tsp salt

Usually when I make hummus I add way more garlic, but since I am taking this to school I thought I'd spare my peers. I also usually add a lot more olive oil because it gives it a nice taste and creamy texture but in the interest of health I substituted a lot of that oil with greek yogurt.

The recipe is very easy, just take all of your ingredients and dump them into a food processor until the mixture is smooth.

I usually eat it with pita chips but red pepper slices, carrots or celery work well too! Remember that although hummus tastes good, it is still made with beans so be careful not to eat too much :)
-A