Lunch

Simple Green Curry | Oil-Free | Vegan

January 12, 2017 By julia

Brrrr. It’s cold and time for a fave bowl of Thai comfort and flavour.

This green curry couldn’t get any easier.

Veggies.

Potatoes.

Coconut milk.

Curry paste.

That’s it, that’s all folks!

Plus, it’s oil-free. Why, you ask?

Well, let me tell ya.

Oil is a refined and has more calories per teaspoon than any other food group out there, with minimal nutrients. For the same amount of calories in 1 tbsp of oil (120 calories), we can eat 3 cups of kale, or 4 red peppers, or 4 cups of cauliflower, or 1 cup of potatoes. When we consume 1 tbsp of oil, it takes up a tiny amount of room in our stomach, therefore, won’t do the job of telling our brain that we are full and won’t lead to satiation. So, oil makes it’s super easy to dose yourself with high-fat, nutrient-deficient calories (in other words, gain unwanted weight).

We want as many nutrients, and as much bulk per calorie as possible.

This is great! This means, if we choose the right kinds of foods (whole, un-refined, plant foods), then we can eat in absolute abundance! High fives all-around for that!

You can check out Mic the Vegan’s video all about oil.

Below, you’ll see the way to saute without using oil that gives you a great flavour and caramelization.

Benefits:

Broccoli is like a broom for your intestines. It goes in there and cleans everything up (especially in it’s raw form, but lightly cooked is amazing too. It’s packed with vitamin C and K. It’s detoxifying and anti-inflammatory. As a cruciferous vegetable it’s packed with phytonutrients and fights off cancer and disease.

Onions and garlic have organosulfur compounds that have huge antioxidant properties to ward off disease, oxidative stress and cancer.

Sprouts are the most nutrient dense things you can consume! The opposite of oil. They’re raw and live, easily digestible and packed with nutrients, vitamins and minerals. Powerful little morsels.

Serves: 6

Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

large sweet onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, crushed
2cm ginger thumb, minced
2 heads of broccoli, chopped
2 red peppers, chopped
1 can coconut milk
1 jar green curry paste (112 grams)
3-4 potatoes, cubed (could replace with 2 cups brown rice, cooked)
1 cup green peas
sprouts for topping (mung bean, peashoots or sunflower sprouts)
cilantro, chopped, for topping
cashews, chopped, for topping (optional)

Directions:

Steam potatoes until your fork can pierce through them (about 15 minutes). On the other hand, cook up some rice if you like rice more!
Oil-free saute: Heat up a large, deep pan to medium. You know when it’s hot enough be doing the water test (sprinkle pan with water, and if a mercury ball forms, you’re good to go). Add onions to the heated pan. Stir frequently, until the pan is browned (about 5 minutes). Add enough water to de-glaze the pan (the onions should look brown and caramelized).
Add garlic and ginger. Saute 1 minute.
Add peppers and broccoli. Saute 1 minute.
Add half of the coconut milk with the whole jar of green curry. Mix these liquids together with the veggies until the curry is all mixed in. Then add the rest of the coconut milk.
Let simmer for 5-10 minutes. Add in the potatoes and green peas for the last 2 minutes.
Serve it up in your favourite big bowl and top it with sprouts, cilantro and cashews.

Spinach Gomae | Vegan | Oil-Free

January 5, 2017 By julia

Sometimes I just look at a bag of greens and am overcome with the feeling of ‘get in ma belly’!

Don’t we all have that feeling after the Holidays?

By the way, HAPPY 2017!

It always feels like this is the time to detox and cleanse the temple with a mountain of greens. But, how to get them all in?

There’s so many ways… juice them, blend them, mega-salad them, stir-fry them, steam them…

Gomae-ing them is one of my favourite ways to get through a massive bag of pop-eye’s secret weapon.

Just the other day I found the biggest bag of spinach I’ve ever seen at our neighbourhood grocery store. It just sat there saying “gomae it to me!”, so I did.

Then, I called up some friends to come help roll up some vegan sushi with avocado, cucumber, yam fries, green onion, sprouts and mango.

This gomae is great to make ahead of time, because it’s yummy cold!

Boil

Cool

Strain

Squeeze

Mix in sauce and voila!

The key to gomae is to make sure the liquid from blanching the spinach is outta there. A liquid-y gomae is nobody’s friend.

After a few simple steps of boiling water, blanching spinach, draining and pressing it with a cloth or paper towel, you will have the spinach every gomae loves.

Benefits:

~ Spinach is actually packed with plant protein. Greens have a lot more protein that everyone thinks. We can easily get all the protein we need (which is only about 10% of our daily diet), from a vegan diet without even thinking about it! Because of the meat and dairy industries bombarding us with protein myths, we have a huge misconception and fear of becoming protein-deficient. The only way this would happen is if we were starving ourselves. And on the other end of the spectrum, too much protein is stored in fat cells, contributes to the onset of a variety of diseases, like cancer, osteoporosis, heart disease and impaired kidney function. So, stop worrying about protein, and start asking yourself about the nutrient quality and amount of fibre in each of your meals:)

~Miso is fermented! Yay! Eating a fermented food should be a part of each day. Fermented foods are packed to the brim with probiotics. This means your intestinal flora (in your gut), otherwise known as your second brain, will be healthy and happy. This will boost your immunity, improve your digestion and help balance out your good intestinal bacteria.

~ Sesame seeds are packed with copper (helps with rheumatoid arthritis), magnesium (for respiratory health), calcium (to prevent osteoperosis) and zinc (immunity boosting).

Serves: 4-6

Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

Large bag of spinach
2 tbsp sesame seeds (black or golden) for garnish

Sauce:

1 tbsp miso paste
1/2 cup tahini
1 tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp rice vinegar
1 tsp mirin (or organic cane sugar)
A bit of water to thin the sauce out

Directions:

Blanch spinach: bring large pot of water to a boil. Fill up your sink with cold water. When water comes to a boil, put a handful of spinach in there until soft (30 seconds to a minute). Scoop out spinach with a scoop colander, and put it into the cold water sink. Do this until all of your spinach is blanched. Then remove the spinach with the colander and squeeze out liquid. It helps to do this with a tea towel or paper towel.
Make sauce: add all sauce ingredients to a food processor and blend (alternatively add miso paste with a bit of water to a bowl and mix with whisk into liquid-y paste, then mix in the rest of the sauce ingredients to form the sauce)
Toast sesame seeds: heat pan to low-medium, then add in the sesame seeds. Toast for 3-5 minutes, stirring frequently.
Mix spinach with sauce, then top with toasted sesame seeds.

Turmeric Ginger Banana ‘Mylkshake’

December 29, 2016 By julia

The blender. Doesn’t it blow your mind?

With just a few ingredients, you’re on your way to taste bud heaven.

This time, think milkshake… but good for you. REAL good for you.

If you can get the actual turmeric and ginger root from your local grocery store, DO IT.

You could use the powdered, but this recipe is so much better with the real, fresh ingredients. If you have a hard time finding them, Spud carries turmeric and ginger root! Just order online from their website and it will get delivered to your door (use the code CRVAN-MURJUB for 20$ off your first order). While you’re at it, add a box of smoothie ready bananas for just 7 bucks and freeze them so they’re ready for your next smoothie session!

Then this creamy, spicy super smoothie so fast and easy to put together.

If you have a high-speed blender, this bevy is amazing blended until warm.

It’s the best thing to come back to after playing all day in the fresh powder.

By the way HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

I’m going to share what I am chatting away about in this week’s email to subscribers (subscribe on the homepage).
Here’s s few things I can leave you with while we’re shooting into 2017:

Try not to get overwhelmed about the things that didn’t happen in 2016, or the things you hope to achieve in 2017. This life of ours is all about the adventure. The best gift we can give to ourselves is to be grateful for each present moment and appreciate the relationships, achievements and things that we have now.
Don’t be like T HIS GUY, trying to get it all over-with and done at once.
Just ENJOY the process! We’ve all got mundane things to do in this life (think chores, some work, etc), but what if we switched our mind-set into being excited to do those things, and ignore the part of our brain that dreads what’s to come?

I can’t waaaait to answer emails!
I’m SO stoked to do the recycling!
Cleaning the house? YES!!!

Imagine how fun life would be if we truly believed everything was amazingly fun? Something to think about…

OK, now back to winter in a cup.

The benefits of this drink are endless. But, here’s just a few to be excited about…

Benefits:

–Turmeric is one of nature’s best anti-inflammatory. Eating it with black pepper drastically improves it’s absorption into your hot bod, magnifying the benefits. It’s also great for bloating, digestion, blood purification, skin conditions, cancer-fighting, plus it aids in fat metabolism.

–Ginger is well-known for it’s anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties. This makes it a great answer for combatting seasonal flus and making your immune system super-human. Ginger is also a star when it comes to nausea and muscle pain.

–Bananas are packed full of beneficial carbohydrates, with fibre and a bit of protein! They really are an all round healthy food that if I lived on a deserted island, all I would need is bananas. There’s a reason monkeys go bananas over bananas, and it makes up most of their diet. Smart monkeys. They also decrease bloating (especially for that time of the month ladies!), build lean muscle mass, help your muscles recover faster and give you a boost of clean, whole food energy.

Anti-Inflammatory Turmeric Ginger Banana Mylkshake

Time: 5 minutes

Serves: 1-2

Ingredients:

2 bananas, peeled
2-3 centimetres turmeric root, chopped (start with less, and add more if you can handle the spice!)
2-3 tsp ginger root, chopped
3-5 dates (depending on size, but I used 5 small bahri dates. 3 medjool would do the trick)
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup almond milk (or less if you want it thicker)
little pinch of pepper
cinnamon to top

Steps:

Throw all of the ingredients into a high speed blender. Blend for 1 minute (or until warm).
Pour into your favourite mug and sprinkle with cinnamon

Note: This goes well with last week’s Raw Vegan Chocolate Orange Christmas Bites

Oil-Free Curry Roasted Chickpeas

November 17, 2016 By julia

Sometimes you just need something savoury to crunch away at.

Chips are usually what we all turn to for that crunchy, salty, savoury craving cure. But, chips come with saturated fat, usually too much salt, and sometimes some pretty bad additives. Your body doesn’t thank you after downing a whole bag of chippies.

These little morsels, on the other hand, will cure that craving, and your body will sing hallelujah!

Oil-free, cholesterol-free, nutrient-dense and delicious!

A perfect road tripping snack too. I’ll be making a couple batches of these for my trip to Sin City this week.

Las Vegas Baby! I’ve never been. We aren’t the type to vacation to cities… we usually are the ones planning adventure mountain bike, paddle board or tropical trips. But it’s been raining, there were cheap tickets, and there’s a first time for everything! I’ll let you know about it when I return… Or follow @juliamurrayski on Instagram for updates, and @hookedonplants for the vegan eats I find.

Just a few days of hot weather and good people watching before the winter season. Why not right?

Do you have any Vegas recommendations for me???

OK, back to the crispy snacks.

Benefits:

Chickpeas have been used to treat high blood pressure, lower cholesterol, and pack that easily digestible plant-protein. Adding these or other legumes and beans to your diet with help you live longer with more energy!

Himalayan salt is the most pure salt you can use and is packed with minerals and vitamins (it even trumps sea salt, which also may have trace chemicals depending on the water source). Table salt, on the other hand, is stripped of it’s minerals and vitamins to a substance that is 95% sodium chloride and synthetic chemicals that will lead to high blood pressure, kidney damage, water retention and a whole lot more.

Ingredients:

2 cups pre-soaked and cooked chickpeas (or 1 large can drained and rinsed)
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp himalayan salt

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F
Pat down chickpeas with paper towel or tea towel until most of their moisture is off.
Mix chickpeas in a bowl with lemon, spices and salt
Spread evenly on parchment covered baking pan/cookie sheet
Roast for 30-45 minutes (until crunchy), taking them out to shake around every 10 minutes.
Watch close near the end so they don’t burn!
Eat as a snack, or add them to soups, salads, or stews! (Like the spicy cabbage one below)

Easy Vegan Pizza

November 3, 2016 By julia

Going plant-based doesn’t mean you have to miss out on pizza parties. No way. You can make that pizza and eat it too.

Vegan pizza can be just as delish, yet way more nourishing than your usual suspects on the pizzeria menu.

Homemade roasted tomato sauce, thinly sliced potatoes, a truck load of veggies, and you’re on your way to a pizza party packed with pizzaz. There will be more than enough satisfying tastes and textures so that you can call it comfort food.

The thinly sliced potatoes first up on the layering order, give the pizza a decadent texture when you bite into it. These spuds laying on top of the italian roasted, roma tomato pizza sauce will sky-rocket your taste buds to pizza heaven.

I like mine without the vegan cheese, but Davey still doesn’t get how pizza can be pizza without some kind of cheese 😉 I’m sure lots of you are in the same boat.

So, we used Follow Your Heart mozzarella shreds for his, and a healthy sprinkle of nutritional yeast for mine.

Benefits:

-Roasting tomatoes actually increases the availability of their phytochemicals. Eating plants in their raw form is usually the way to make sure you receive all the nutrients they are carrying, but tomatoes are one of the very few that actually become more beneficial to your body when you cook them.

–Red Peppers bring you some of the highest amounts of vitamin C (for immunity), vitamin A (for eye health), antioxidants, and folate (to help prevent anemia). Green peppers are actually just unripe red peppers with half the vitamin C, and a bitter taste! Go for the most colourful red option.

–Nutritional yeast (I wish there was a better name for this!) is packed with B Vitamins! B vitamins are vital for your nervous system and energy. It’s also antiviral, anti-bacterial and immune-boosting. Plus it’s a great source of protein and B12 (great for vegans).

Serves 6 (great for left overs)

Takes 1 hour

Ingredients:

Tomato Sauce:

8 roma tomatoes
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp basil
Pinch of Himalayan rock salt

Pizza:

Pizza dough for 3 pizzas- use your favourite store-bought, or here is a good recipe
5 new potatoes, thinly sliced with mandolin (or by hand)
1 red onion, diced
2 red peppers, chopped
5 white or crimini mushrooms, sliced
zucchini, diced
a few handfuls of spinach
1/2 cup coconut flour, or your flour of choice (for rolling dough out)
1 tbsp coconut oil (to spread on pan for non-stickyness) ALTERNATIVELY just use parchment paper
Follow your Heart mozzarella vegan cheese
OR….
1/4 cup nutritional yeast

Directions:

Make tomato sauce: Preheat oven to 425 degrees F, slice roma tomatoes length-wise and place cut-side up, single layered on parchment paper covered pan and sprinkle with salt. Roast for 25 minutes (you will see caramelization in action). Blend tomatoes in high speed blender with spices until smooth.
Lightly oil pizza pans with coconut oil, or just use parchment paper. I often use my cookie sheets, and make square pizzas.
Sprinkle coconut flour (this is gluten free, but you can use any flour) on clean counter and roll out pizza dough as best you can! I’m no expert here.
Spread dough onto pan. Cover with pizza sauce.
Layer the thinly sliced potatoes all over the pizza.
Layer the rest of vegetables on the pizza.
Sprinkle with cheese (or don’t).
Bake in 425F oven on the middle rack for 18-20 minutes, or until golden brown crust.
With one minute remaining, sprinkle the spinach across your pizza.
Sprinkle on nutritional yeast when served.

Lunch

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