Huckleberry-Basil Vinaigrette

So this was a solution I came up with for a huckleberry jam that I bought that was insanely sweet. You can substitute any jam for it or fresh/frozen berries if you have them on hand. You'll need a mortar and pestle or a blender. This will give you about 3 salads worth of dressing. It tastes amazing on baby spinach.
The main flavorings in this are the berry, a fresh green herb, and fresh/spicy garlic flavor. So don't use dried herbs or pre-minced garlic. The dried herbs will make the vinaigrette taste flat and the pre-minced garlic will give an oxidized, musky or slightly metallic taste to the vinaigrette. You would be better off finding a vinaigrette recipe including mustard and more ingredients if using those products.

1 T Huckleberry Jam
1 T fresh basil sliced
1 clove garlic minced
Pinch of salt
Pinch of black pepper
2 T olive oil

If you are doing this in a mortar and pestle, mix all ingredients except for the olive oil and grind until fully incorporated. Add oil and season to taste. If you are doing this in a blender add it all in, blend and season to taste.

Possible variations:
Strawberry/Basil/ Mint Vinaigrette
Orange/Cilantro Vin
Strawberry/Cilantro/Lemon zest Vin

Acorn Squash Puree Soup with Coconut Milk

Here's an extremely easy way to make a pureed soup that is creamy without having any dairy in it. You can substitute any root vegetable or squash for the butternut squash to make a slightly sweet soup with a bit of asian flair. I am not sure how potatoes would fare, but I am willing to give it a try someday. Try garnishing with fresh green herbs, a squeeze of lemon or lime, and hot pepper sauces for hot/sweet/sour soups that will taste decidedly southeast asian.

1 Whole Acorn Squash split in half and seeded
4 slices ginger, peeled
6 cloves of garlic
1/2 can full fat coconut milk*
1/2 tsp salt (optional)
1/2 lemon cut into wedges

Roast the acorn squash, skin side down in a casserole that is just big enough to hold them. Add 1/2 cup water to the bottom of the pan. Place 1/2 the ginger and garlic in each of the cavities in the squash. This will infuse the flavor into the squash as it cooks. Set oven temperature at 375 and cook for 45 minutes to 1 1/2 hours checking to see that all the squash is mushy. If there are parts that aren't all the way cooked through, you will end up with a lumpy soup. Let the squash cool and peel the skin off. Save the ginger and garlic to add to the puree. Cut the squash into pieces.
In batches small enough for your food processor, add portions of squash, coconut milk, ginger and garlic. Puree until smooth and souplike. Add water to adjust consistency.
Don't worry if the coconut milk doesn't seem to incorporate into the squash (i.e. there's chunks of white in the yellow) this will work itself out when you reheat it. Puree all of the soup and heat it back up to boiling. Add more cocunut milk if you like your soup creamier. You can add salt and sugar if necessary. Add lemon juice (squeezed from wedges) until the soup lastes slightly lemony.

My favorite way to eat this soup is with cilantro puree (fresh cilantro leaves blended into olive oil) and a squirt of sriracha.

One variation I have made on this soup was with carrots instead of butternut squash. I boiled the carrots until they were tender and used the boiling water to thin the soup as I pureed it. I added a little sugar to bring out the carrot flavor as mature carrots are more bitter than acorn squash. You'll be surprised how much more "carrot" flavor comes out with a small addition of sugar. It also tasted better without any garnishes.

*Always buy full fat coconut milk. Lowfat coconut milk is thinned with water and stabilizers are added. It is better for your wallet to just use less coconut milk and add your own water when necessary.

Middle Eastern Broccolini

So, since I had all the ingredients, I did a slight variation on my broccolini dinner from the night before and came up with a very different dish.

The bulghur was just wheat bulgur, lemon zest and a dash of cinnamon and nutmeg.

The broccolini was much different... I had medium salsa laying around, so I used that as a base for the sauce. This sauce ended up with a nice kick. You can substitute tomato product for the salsa to cool it down or kick it up with more sriracha and less oil.

1/2 cup salsa
2 T sriracha (rooster sauce, spicy tomato sauce)
1 Tsp Ras Al Hanout (middle eastern spice mix)
2 T dried currants
3 diced moroccan olives
1/4 cup water
1 T olive oil

Cook all ingredients for about 15 minutes until you can no longer taste the graininess of the spices. Add more oil if too spicy.

Broccolini
1 1/2 cups blanched broccolini
1/2 T olive oil
4 small crimini mushrooms, sliced thin
1 T sunflower seeds
2 Moroccan Olives, diced
1/8 cup of the sauce (above)
Squeeze of lemon
Water, if needed

Saute the mushrooms in olive oil until slightly browned. Add the sunflower seeds and toast for a bit. Add the olives, sauce, squeeze of lemon. Add water if need so the broccolini can be tossed in the sauce in the pan. Add the broccolini, tossing to coat, and cook until heated. Serve over bulghur.

No Sugar Added Apple Compote

So, I decided to try to cook apples without adding sugar, juice, or any more calories for a morning yogurt topping. I am also extemely against any sugar alternatives such as splenda, stevia or aspartame, so I didn't want to add any of those. What resulted was very low on the sweetness scale, but surprisingly good for breakfast. I also ended up adding one whole serving of fruit to my lowfat yogurt which makes for a very helathy breakfast. I found myself wishing I had slivered almonds to sprinkle on the top.

1 apple, peeled, cored and diced
1/2 cup water
1/4 tsp cinnamon
2 large pieces lemon zest
corn starch to thicken
squeeze of lemon

Cook apples, water, cinnamon and zest at a low boil until the apples have broken down, but aren't completely mushy. Add water if need to thin out apples to have a bit of water to make the sauce. Add cold water to about a tablespoon of cornstarch, slowly pour it in to the boiling apples while stirring, bring to a boil. Add a squeeze of lemon and stir. Serve over yogurt.

Greek Style Broccolini with Wheat Bulghur

So, in the interests of furthering my healthy food education, I have decided I am going to try and make a new recipe every day using some seasonal fruit/vegetable and make it either vegan or healthy. Here's the first one: Greek Style Broccolini with Wheat Bulgur! Yeah, it sounds kind of weird and the flavor profile was very different than what I am used to, but once I ate two bites, I couldn't stop. This also was the first time I haven't knee jerked garlic and onions into my recipe (mostly because I didn't have them) and I have to say they weren't missed.

1 cup blanched broccolini (my seasonal veg choice)
3 small crimini mushrooms, very thinly sliced
1 T toasted sunflower seeds
1 T olive oil
8 capers chopped
2 moroccan oil cured olives*, chopped fine
1/2 tsp chiffonaded mint, fresh
1/2 tsp chiffonaded basil, fresh
1 lemon wedge

Bulghur
1/2 cup wheat bulghur
1 cup boiling water
1 tsp mixed mediterranean dried herbs
1 large piece lemon zest

First, boil the water, herbs and zest for the bulghur, add the bulghur, cover and let sit for 20 minutes.

For the veg, saute the olive oil, mushrooms and sunflower seeds until they start to brown. Add the olives and capers and cook until the mushrooms are almost done. Add the broccolini and cook until heated. Finish with a squeeze of lemon and the basil and mint. Take off heat and let cook for 30 seconds. Taste. If it is too salty or sour, add some more olive oil.

*This was my first time trying moroccan olives. They are darker and more pungent than kalamatas and extremely salty. Use sparingly.