This is a great dressing for a simple garden salad.
Ingredients 

• Garlic clove, minced
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• ¼ cup raw apple cider vinegar
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1-2 tablespoons raw honey, as needed for sweetness
• ½ - ¾ cup extra-virgin olive oil
• Salt and pepper, to taste
  
  

Method
Mix all of the ingredients in glass jar, then seal the lid and shake until the honey dissolves and the ingredients are well combined. Adjust flavor to taste. Let the dressing marinate for at least 30 minutes before serving. 

Ingredients 

• 1 package cherry tomatoes
• 1 large cucumber
• 2 avocados 
• Juice of 1-2 limes
• 2 tablespoons olive or avocado oil
• Handful chopped parsley  
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 2 tablespoons pumpkin seeds (optional)
• 1 cup cooked quinoa

Method

• Cut the cherry tomatoes in half and add to a bowl
• Slice the cucumber in half and then cut into thing slices, add to the bowl
• Cut and dice the avocado and add to the bowl
• Add the lemon, oil, salt, and pepper and mix well.
• Mix in the cooked quinoa
• Garnish with parsley and pumpkin seeds
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*This salad keeps well for a day, you can take to work and serve over rice crackers or make lettuce wraps with it.  

This soup is packed with immune boosting ingredients that will help you start feeling better faster. 

Onion and garlic are considered anti fungal, antibacterial and decongestants. Celery is loaded with antioxidants, flavonoids, vitamin C, vitamin A, folate, potassium, calcium, fiber, vitamin B12, magnesium, and vitamin B5. Mushrooms are high in B vitamins, fiber, iron, potassium, riboflavin, selenium and zinc. Turmeric is a natural antiseptic and anti-inflammatory. Cumin is high in vitamin C and has anti-fungal properties. This recipe is easily doubled and freezes really well.

Ingredients

• ½ a medium onion chopped
• 1 large garlic clove minced
• ½  teaspoon turmeric
• ¼ teaspoon cumin
• ¼ teaspoon coriander
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2-3 medium sized carrots chopped
• 2-3 celery stalks chopped
• 1 small box mushrooms sliced thin  (I use shitaki)
• 1 quart bone broth
• 2 lemons or limes
• 1 avocado (optional)
• 1 bunch of cilantro (optional)

Directions

• In a large soup pot on medium high add 1 tablespoon of olive or avocado oil. Add the onions and cook until translucent.
• Then add the garlic, cumin, coriander, turmeric, salt and pepper. Stir until it becomes fragrant, 2-3 minutes.
• Add the carrots and celery cooking until they begin to soften.  Then add the mushrooms and cook for an additional 5-7 minutes.  Finally, add the broth and bring to a boil. Once it comes to a boil reduce to the heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes.
• Turn the heat off, add the juice of the lemon or lime and stir.
• Serve warm. You can top it off with some diced avocado and cilantro.

 

This is a delicious and super easy to make treat with lots of  healthy spices and sweetened with maple syrup. This bread makes a wonderful hostess or holiday gift.  
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Last week I was overflowing in overripe bananas, so it was the perfect time to experiment and try making a sugar free banana bread. I have plenty of recipes that use honey or maple syrup but the end result was too sweet for me. Bananas have so much natural sweetness, so not adding any sweeteners allows the flavor to shine through.  

After a few failed batches and a few tweaks here and there I think I have come up with a recipe that I like. The "sweetness" in this bread comes solely from the bananas, so I recommend you use very ripe ones--the more brown spots the better.     

This bread is great on it's own, but is also really tasty toasted with some butter. 

Preheat oven at 350 degrees. Grease and loaf pan with coconut oil or coconut oil cooking spray. 

In a large mixing bowl add the almond meal, coconut flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. 

Melt the coconut oil at very low heat until barely melted (you don't want it to get too hot).

In a medium bowl whisk the eggs then add the coconut oil and vanilla extract. Mix well. Add the mashed bananas and mix until everything is well incorporated. 

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, mix well until all the ingredients are well incorporated. If using nuts mix them in.

Pour batter into your greased loaf pan (I use this one).

Bake for 30-45 minutes. Let cool for an hour and serve.  

We have been in a salad rut at home. You know, that point where you have been circulating the same three or four salads week in and week out for months? Lucky for me, this rut coincided with a short trip to Toronto where I not only took a break form cooking every night but also had some wonderful food which sparked my creativity.

When eating out I always order a side salad--it's any easy way to get your veggies in and balance some of the more indulgent choices that happen when we travel. On our last night in the city we had a delicious meal at Woods Restaurant. Naturally, I ordered the green salad and was super impressed. The ingredients were simple  but the dressing was AMAZING...citrusy, tangy and with a hint of sweetness. It reminded me of a dressing I made fairly regularly a few years ago, so naturally when I got home I had to try and dig up the recipe. The dressing is a recipe from our grocery delivery service Washington's Green Grocer (if you live in the DC/VA/MD area I highly recommend them), but I changed up some of the salad ingredients based on what I had in my fridge. 

Dressing 

• 1/4 cup olive oil 
• 1/3 cup lime juice (I love limes so I increased this to 1/2 cup)
• 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
• 3/4 teaspoon salt 
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder or 2 teaspoons fresh grated onion (I used the fresh onion)
• black pepper to taste

Salad

• 1/2 head finely chopped green cabbage
• 1 medium watermelon radish sliced into match sticks (you could use 3-4 regular radishes if you can't find watermelon radishes)
• 3-4 medium celery stalks finely sliced
• 1 avocado diced
• 1/2 box of spicy microgreens (optional)
• 1-2 green onion finely sliced (green part only)
• 2 tablespoons hemp seeds (optional) 

For the dressing:
Put everything in a glass jar and give it a good shake. You can keep any leftovers in the fridge for a few days. 

For the salad:
Pour 2-3 tablespoons of dressing at the bottom of your salad bowl (add more if you like heavier dressed salads), add the cabbage, radish, celery, avocado and microgreens. Toss well and make sure the dressing is evenly distributed. Let the salad sit for at least 15-20 min. to allow the flavors to develop. Right before you serve garnish with the green onions and hemps seeds. 

This salad goes really well with grilled chicken or shrimp. 

Let me know if you try it! Do you have any "go to" dressings and salads?