How to Steam Broccoli is a guide to get crisp, bright green broccoli every time without a steamer. Using simply water and broccoli, this easy and nutritious cooking method is a breeze to master.
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Ever since we watch “Cowspiracy” (a documentary surrounding the harsh environmental impacts of cow, pork, and chicken consumption) we’ve been making a point of trying to eat minimal to no meat once per week. This is a massive challenge for me given my husbands large “need” for meat products and my requirement for high iron meals for my growing kids. Enter the soba noodle / tofu tag team that is this Peanut Tofu Noodle Bowl.
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We started a cookbook club!! It’s amazing. A larger group (there’s around 15 of us in total) vote for a cookbook and set a date to feast together. The concept is fairly straight forward; we each make a recipe from the chosen cookbook and get together to sample each one. That way we all get to try multiple dishes from the cookbook and decide if we want to purchase the book or not. It’s a very pleasant way to test out new cookbooks, see each other, and generally have a good time.
Our first cookbook was Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi. Plenty is not new by any means, but was randomly selected out of a few suggestions that came in from the group. The dish shown above and shared below was my recipe pick, Soba Noodles with Eggplant and Mango. I really liked this dish, it’s served at room temperature so I could make it in advance and has really great vibrant flavours that I normally wouldn’t be attracted to. I’ve made it a few more times since cookbook club and since I hardly ever remake a recipe this should speak volumes.
The dish that was picked as the favourite from our group was the Black Pepper Tofu dish. Almost everyone said it was their favourite. Other interesting points from the book was that although it is a vegetarian cookbook nothing came off as particularly healthy. The amount of fat (oil and/or butter) per recipe was actually somewhat alarming. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not part of the fat police when it comes to food, but 10 tablespoons of butter in one savoury dish is a bit shocking. We actually skimmed some butter off of one dish to make it less greasy.
Overall Plenty, was well received. Out of 10 I’d wager that most people gave it a 7. I don’t believe anyone from the group ran out to buy the book after cookbook club, but it’s worth the time to check it out from your local library. It is a great resource to feel inspired by vegetables.
Our next meeting is this weekend and we’re doing Donna Hay’s The New Easy. It got the most votes out of 8 different books that were being considered. I’m making the Salted Chocolate and Caramel Tart … I can’t wait to eat it 🙂
Do you have a cookbook you’d like to suggest for our next session? I’d love to hear about it.
Yields 6
Soba Noodles with Eggplant and Mango
10 minPrep Time
30 minCook Time
40 minTotal Time
Ingredients
Instructions
For a brief period of time I had to cut out dairy in my diet due to the needs of our newest baby’s (Lucy) sensitive tummy troubles. Problem resolved and I am back on the dairy train, but I wanted to share this recipe as I loved it’s flavours. To fulfill my daily requirement of chocolate and sweets I had to come up with some dairy alternate recipes to compensate. Enter a Vegan Chocolate and Pomegranate Mousse Tart.
The base of this tart is Oreo cookie crumbs. After much research through my friend “Google” it appears that the jury is out as to whether or not Oreos are actually vegan. What I do know is that I can eat them freely as they are Baby Lucy friendly. If you’re a strict vegan go with a vegan brand of chocolate cookies.
These cute little tarts are filled with yummy pomegranate flavour, the comforts of chocolate cookie crumbs, and drippy chocolate.
Yields 6-10
Comforts of chocolate cookie, bright pomegranate flavour and drippy chocolaty goodness.
20 minPrep Time
20 minTotal Time
Ingredients
Instructions