From my kitchen to yours! Whether you’re new to cooking or have a knack for it, or have food sensitivities or eat everything – explore delicious real food recipes that I have created and photographed over the years.
I know it’s Spring, but truth be told I never stop using my slow cooker – whether hot or cold, I love soups and stews. The first time I made this Moroccan Lamb Stew recipe it felt like I big risk because come on – olives in a sweet tasting stew? I don’t think so. I’m not even a fan of olives really – but it works. For whatever reason it worked beautifully and deliciously.
I was convinced it would be a big fail, but instead it’s one of my favourites! There are so many flavours and textures in this stew it literally blows my mind every time I do it – and it’s incredibly easy and straight forward to do.
It just goes to show you that you never know what recipes might work out and become a favourite, so you might as well try to do it. After all, you never know what you’re missing out on if you don’t try. Sometimes recipes don’t turn out exactly how you planned – but rarely, will they be completely inedible – maybe just one or two times 😉
Modified by Sarah Maughan from…somewhere…
Ingredients:
2lbs lamb stewing meat (or beef – when I finally decided to take pictures I used beef in the above image)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped into large chunks
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 serrano chile pepper, ribs and seeds removed, chopped finely
1/2 cup red wine
1 cup beef stock* (homemade preferably but store bought is a-ok, gluten free if necessary)
3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
3 carrots, cut into large rounds
2 parsnips, cut into large rounds
1/2 cup dried apricots
1/2 cup pimento stuffed green olives
2 tbsp honey
1 tbsp oregano
2 tsp cumin
sea salt & pepper
1 1/2 tbsp corn starch (mixed in 1/4 cup cold water)
2 large handfuls finely chopped kale
*add more beef stock if you prefer more liquid – sometimes I add 1 1/2 – 2 cups depending on the juice from the veggies – but wait until close to the end to do this
Directions:
1. Turn your oven on to the broiler. Add stew meat to a lined baking pan and broil for 3 – 4 minutes per side. Transfer the stew meat and the juices it creates to the slow cooker. Turn the slow cooker on high (4 hours) or low (8 hours).
2. Add olive oil, chopped onion, garlic and serrano chile to a pan and sautee until onion is translucent – transfer to the slow cooker
3. Add all of the other ingredients into the slow cooker except the corn starch and kale – leave on high for 4 hours or low for 8 hours
4. Approximately 20 -30 minutes before you’re ready to eat, turn your slow cooker to high – if it’s not already on high – and mix the corn starch in 1/4 cup cold water and add to stew. Add kale (or steam separately and add on top like I did in the pic above) and wait for stew to thicken and kale to wilt.
Serve over brown rice, kasha, or nothing!
Freezes exceptionally well.
When that first hint of grilling season arrives – take advantage of it with this delicious grass fed steak marinade recipe! Although the steak isn’t dripping with juices, I assure you it is juicy with this marinade – I just re-plated it for taking a picture so I lost the juice that originally seeped out. Lesson learned!
Not sure what or why I mentioned grass fed? No worries, you must have missed out on this blog.
Last weeks lunch recipe contained red pepper, red onion and celery – so you can guess what I had leftover in the fridge when making this 🙂
Serves 4
Ingredients
1/2 cup Balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp maple syrup
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/8 tsp ground thyme
1 tsp ground black pepper
sea salt, to taste
4 servings of grass fed steak – approx 1 – 1.5 lbs cut into 4 or individual steaks
Directions
Serves 4
Ingredients
1 rib celery, diced into bite size pieces
1 green or yellow pepper, diced into bite sized pieces
1 red pepper, diced into bite sized pieces
2 tbsp diced red onion
2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and diced into bite size pieces
2 cups baby spinach, finely chopped
Dressing
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp maple syrup
1/8 tsp paprika
1/8 tsp ground thyme
pinch cayenne
1/8 tsp fine sea salt
1/8 tsp black pepper
Directions
You may be sitting at work right now thinking – “what should I make for lunch next week? Ugh, I hate making lunch, it’s so boring and tasteless”. Or maybe you make awesome lunches, but it’s still the same thing over and over again. What if I told you that you could have variety, different tastes, and different textures – all from the same food prep effort? That’s right.
With Spring here to stay and Summer on its way, you may even notice your food cravings are changing so it’s time for a bit of a revamp anyways. Time for fresh food to reign again! Have you noticed you’re now craving cold fresh fruits and raw veggies again? Not so much feeling the soup and stew?
It’s funny how our environment can depict cravings – and believe it or not, there are reasons why our cravings change with seasons and temperatures, such as food availability. Our bodies are so smart!
I like to call this “Same, but different”. Its really easy to make – I promise. An extra bonus, they’re all gluten-free! I discuss this stuff with my clients all the time to try and make nutrition a bit easier and realize that you can play around with foods and make them different, but yet they can be the same too.
This is incredibly beneficial for those who crave tons of variety, but variety can make them crazy or feel unorganized, and for those short on time. You want variety, but the variety doesn’t need to be fast food – I can’t emphasize that enough. If you love and adore food, you probably already make the most awesomest of lunches. So keep it up! But for those who feel like making their lunch is PB&J or romaine leaves and chicken and end up feeling deprived, this blog is for you!
Let’s dive right in to see what I mean.
To do this, we need to pick a salad base that all three salads will have. Then from there, we pick three different mains that will make the salad different, but the prep for them all can be the same. For this particular example I’m choosing red pepper, celery, and purple onion for the veggies and sticking to the simplest of simple dressings made of olive oil, apple cider vinegar, maple syrup, sea salt and a tinge pepper. The mains that I chose are quick, easy and pantry friendly because my main goal is to get you started. You can really choose anything you want in terms of the veggies, dressing and mains and I highly encourage even more variety and fun on your end as you explore, but today is about simplicity and a step in the right direction.
Base, per 1 serving – (so chop more for as many salads as you are making)
½ red pepper, diced finely
2 tbsp diced red/purple onion
1 stalk celery, diced finely
¼ avocado sliced (I recommend adding this the day off)
*For a whole week I tend to use 2 red peppers, 1 whole onion, 1 whole bag of celery
Dressing, per 1 serving (make up however many servings you need in advance)
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp 100% maple syrup
pinch of sea salt and pepper
Salad main examples
Salad # 1: 1 cup organic canned chickpeas + 1 tbsp hempseeds
Salad #2: 1 cup cooked quinoa* + 2 tbsp goats cheese (optional dried cranberries)
Salad #3: 1 can tuna (preferably Wild Planet or Raincoast Wild tuna) + 1 tbsp pumpkin seeds (optional finely chopped apple)
Directions
*NOTE
For salad #2 you will require pre-cooked quinoa so this does take a bit more effort. I always recommend that people have individual servings of pre-cooked grains in their freezer for easy access so keep that little tip in mind 🙂
Have you ever tried to make homemade crackers? If you have, you likely ate them very slowly and savoured each and every one because of all the time and work put into making them! It’s worth it though. The satisfaction of eating a homemade cracker, especially a gluten-free rosemary infused cracker, is incredible. After you made it, you’re in this moment of awe – I made crackers!
Something normally seen as a filler food that you just dive your hand into a box and eat far too many in a comatose state, suddenly you will have great appreciation for. I’ve decided that all of my clients who are over-eaters of crackers (and not the good quality kind of crackers) are going to get the homework of making their own crackers from now on 😉
The thing I loved about these, is that even though the dough was delicate, once cooked, these cookies were sturdy! I expected them to crumble upon touching and never make it in my purse in tact, but alas, I was proven wrong. They are also deliciously crunchy and the rosemary flavour was overpowering in a great way. These gluten-free crackers were built to last! I made them in a few shapes and size, and my favourite were the square ones that I cut and cooked and then separated them.
created by Sarah Maughan – makes approx 60 1×1 inch crackers (very small)
Ingredients
1 1/4 cup Allergic Solution gluten free all purpose flour
1/2 tsp sea salt (plus a bit more for decoration)
1/4 tsp baking powder (ensure gluten free)
1/4 cup dried rosemary, slightly crushed in a mortar and pestle
1/4 tsp garlic powder
2 1/2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup warm water, plus more for your fingers
Parchment paper
Rolling pin
Directions
Best served with garlic hummus, an herbed cheese or eat as is!
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*Sarah Maughan and Empower Your Body with Food have no financial or business connection to any of the products mentioned on this page or throughout www.sarahmaughan.ca. Any products mentioned are personal choices and not meant for soliciting sales, or for financial profit for companies mentioned or for personal financial profit. All mentions are unbiased and for your informational purposes only to spread the word on good things 🙂
I was so pleased when Tammie, of Allergic Solution, said she had been working on a flour that was NOT white rice flour and potato starch. Those blends always boast they are “cup for cup” substitutions but I loathe baking with them because they are tasteless, nutrient depleted and unhealthy.
I was pleased to see that the Allergic Solution mix was sorghum, tapioca and navy bean flours. Wow! Now that’s a flour that makes a gluten free nutritionist a lot happier! It also doesn’t contain xanthan gum either, which is great because then it becomes optional to add depending on your preferences. I prefer not to use it these days simply because I’ve rendered it unnecessary through a lot of experimentation.
So this weekend, I took one of my family’s oldest and most used recipes and altered nothing but the flour that was added in. This is an ultra traditional recipe – lots of butter, eggs, sugar and white flour. The nutritionist and experimenter in me wanted to alter more than just the flour, but I really wanted to see what would happen. And do you know what happened? BAM. Childhood memories.
I brought it to a family brunch with my sister, mom and dad and since they had eaten this bread many times before, they confirmed it tasted delicious! Just like old times. We were all pleasantly surprised.
Here’s the recipe I used (which I made into mini muffins because we did that as a kid too)
Makes 20 – 24 muffins or 2 small loaves
Ingredients
1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
3 – 4 ripe bananas, frozen and defrosted, keep the juice
1/2 cup cold water
1 tsp baking powder (ensure gluten free)
1 tsp baking soda (ensure gluten free)
2 cups flour (sub in Allergic Solutions Gluten Free All Purpose Flour)
1 tbsp poppy seeds
1/2 cup chocolate chips
Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 375F and lightly grease the muffin tin or loaf pan.
2. Make sure the butter is at room temperature to ensure soft, but not melted.
3. In a large bowl, cream the sugar with the butter until smooth
4. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs, and then combine with the butter and sugar
5. Defrost the bananas and pour the extra juice and banana into the egg, butter and sugar mixture. Mash until combined.
6. Add the baking soda and baking powder to another bowl and mix it with the flour.
7. Slowly add the flour to the liquid mixture and mix gently until combined.
8. Add in 1/2 cup or less cold water – use your judgement for consistency
9. Stir in poppy seeds and chocolate chips.
10. Bake for 50 – 60 minutes (for the loaf) and 15 – 20 minutes for muffins.
*For best results with the loaf, we always let it cool slightly and then wrap tightly in tin foil when still warm, then let it sit over night and enjoy the next day!
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*Sarah Maughan and Empower Your Body with Food have no financial or business connection to any of the products mentioned on this page or throughout www.sarahmaughan.ca. Any products mentioned are personal choices and not meant for soliciting sales, or for financial profit for companies mentioned or for personal financial profit. All mentions are unbiased and for your informational purposes only to spread the word on good things 🙂
It’s always fun to make cake designs, especially for holidays. Easter is coming up so I thought I’d share an Easter Bunny Cake How-To that my family has been doing since I was a wee one. I have to admit, it wasn’t until the past 3 years that I learned my family did not invent this design, but I’m going to share it anyways and how we have done it.
Over the years I’ve also tried to modify it to boost the nutrition content – different cake bases, using chlorophyll to make the green “grass” instead of food colouring, and using real food for the face instead of candy – some of it worked out, some of it didn’t, but it’s always fun to experiment.
Now let me remind you, I’m a nutritionist, not a food artist. I try my best, but I’m still learning. So you’ll see out of the 5 pictures of Bunnies they all look different because they were different years, different cakes, different decorations and all fun experiments. One of them looks super creepy, so you don’t have to do that one, just have fun, be creative and enjoy!
It’s a great project for you to do with your kids or for you to surprise your family with. If you’re doing this with kids I highly recommend you bake the cake for them and get it all prepared to decorate. Then they can construct it using the visual instructions and have a blast decorating the own cake, kind of like gingerbread houses. Happy Easter!
My favourite chocolate cake recipe is a gluten-free, vegan, white sugar free cake from nourishingmeals.com but I opt out of using the xanthan gum and it works great! This is the cake that’s in the visual construction.
My favourite icing for the chocolate icing is the chocolate avocado icing that is so thick, creamy and 3 ingredients and zero white sugar as well! This is the icing that’s pictured in the visual construction of the cake.
I’ve also made the bunny cake using a my own recipe for a gluten free vanilla cake and the icing was a coconut milk based icing that I have to say turned out too thin so I won’t be sharing that. But if you have an amazing and healthy vanilla icing recipe please do share!
If you want to use other dyes for decorations here’s how you can use natural dyes and skip those artificial food dyes.
Flip the cake over and cut the cake in half
Add half of the icing to the underside of the cake facing you, and then fold in half
Press the cake together so that it stays like this
Make one shallow cut on a diagonal (you’re going to cut a V shape into the cake). DO NOT CUT ALL THE WAY TO THE BOTTOM, ONLY HALF WAY.
Complete the V shape cut out and ensure it meets the same spot half way down the cake.
Now you have a V-shaped wedge piece of cake. DO NOT THROW OUT.
Add half of the V shaped wedge to the other end of the bunny and secure it with a toothpick, This is the fluffy tail. The other half of the wedge, well, you can eat 🙂
Add icing to the entire cake and ensure fully covered. Ensure the tail area still looks like a tail and then you don’t completely fill in the V shaped hole you created, ensure it’s just a light amount of icing so you can still see the break (which is the neck of the bunny) but round it out with the icing.
Your bunny should now look like this.
Poke two small holes into the top of the head area of the bunny cake.
Grab some printer paper and draw half an ear onto the folded part of the paper
Cut them out and they should look somewhat like this – even them out if necessary
Draw pink into the interior of the ears
Fill in the outer part of the ear with a dark brown colour (or leave white for a vanilla cake and vanilla icing)
Fill in the back of the ears with all brown, or leave white for a vanilla cake vanilla icing bunny
Insert the ears gently into the holes you created into the head
Add your face! This bunny has almonds for the eyes and a raspberry for the nose, but you can also use raisins, or naturally sweetened jelly beans. Be creative! Whiskers are also great, although this particularly bunny doesn’t have them but see below for the many bunny faces you can create.
Your bunny should now look like this! Or a different face.
To display the bunny take some shredded coconut and mix in some chlorophyl until the desired green colour is created. This will be the grass the bunny sits on.
Display the bunny on the grass. Eat the bunny. Eat the grass!
Vanilla cake with vanilla icing, shredded coconut on top and chlorophyl died shredded coconut, raisin eyes, and naturally sweetened jelly bean nose and decorations.
Chocolate cake with chocolate avocado icing, shaved chocolate on top for texture, and naturally sweetened jelly beans for eyes and nose, paper whiskers
Vanilla cake with vanilla icing, no shredded coconut, black liquorice for the eyes, nose and whiskers (ensure gluten free)
Vanilla cake with vanilla icing, shredded coconut on top, raisins for eyes, naturally sweetened jelly bean for a nose, and liquorice whiskers (ensure gluten free)
Uh oh, another sweet potato recipe! We still had some sweet potatoes left from the hash I made that I took pictures of the other day (but really, when are sweet potatoes not in the kitchen) and I woke up on Sunday morning feeling really creative. Sometimes I buy ingredients to make something I’ve made before, but then at the last minute I think, hmmm, what else could I make with these ingredients? It’s a fun game I like to call “Same, but different”.
So this Sunday I got into stacking mode and made a gluten free mini sweet potato rosti egg sandwich! Now before you get super excited, the sandwich part is mostly for presentation. It’s too delicate to eat as a sandwich but when you use a knife and fork it’s all the same delicious taste to devour, savour and enjoy!
Is there anything better than a breakfast that looks this good, and is full of real food + veggies? All ingredients are easy to find, inexpensive and makes a great gluten-free, paleo, dairy-free, grain-free, vegetarian friendly breakfast/brunch which means, it pretty much caters to any lifestyle (and any guest) as long as you aren’t allergic to eggs 🙂
Created by Sarah Maughan, Serves 4
Ingredients
For the Rosti – makes 8 mini rosti (4 sandwiches)
1 large sweet potato, grated with the skin
1 egg
pinch sea salt
1/4 – 1/2 tsp chili powder
extra virgin olive oil for the pan – approx 2 – 3 tbsp per batch
For the inside
4 eggs, fried
1 avocado, sliced into rounds
1 tomato, sliced into rounds
2 cups spinach, wilted
extra virgin olive oil
Directions
*PLEASE NOTE – these cannot actually be eaten like sandwiches, they are too delicate. Please use a knife and fork and devour the heck out of it and enjoy the food presentation 🙂
Have you ever gone out for brunch or breakfast and looked forward to having those fried crispy potatoes on the side? Who doesn’t! It’s the ultimate comfort food. Well, it’s no secret I have a love of sweet potatoes, so its no shocker that I transformed this into a go-to breakfast side dish. Chalk full of real food with higher nutrients than its counterpart, or most breakfasts for that matter – it’s a breakfast you can feel good about getting behind!
created by Sarah Maughan, Serves 4
Ingredients
2 sweet potatoes, chopped into bit size pieces with skin (optional to peel)
½ red pepper
2 stalks kale, steamed removed, finely chopped
½ small onion
1 carrot, chopped (optional to peel)
1 tbsp coconut oil
pinch sea salt
pinch pepper
1/2 tsp dried basil
Directions
1. Sautee onion, chopped sweet potato and carrot on med-low heat with the coconut oil until onion is clear and potatoes are slightly soft.
2. Add in chopped pepper and kale and cover with a lid or plate until almost cooked through. Continue to stir occasionally.
4. Mix in spices, heat a bit more and serve!
You can serve this with eggs in any form, decadent proscuitto egg cups, gluten-free organic sausage/bacon, or sprinkle some chopped almonds and goats cheese on top for a more complete meal. Enjoy!
I was house sitting at my parent’s house and there wasn’t much left in the fridge except eggs, green onion, spinach and prosciutto and some unsweetened almond milk. I thought about making an omelette but then I remembered seeing somewhere that you can use prosciutto to line ramekins it will act as a bowl for the egg. Sold!
I had no idea what almond milk would taste like in the eggs, but let me tell you, it added a hint of sweetness (ironically, because it was unsweetened) and made the eggs so soft, fluffy and smell like deliciousness.
Sometimes kitchen risks work out 🙂
Sarah Maughan – serves 1
Ingredients
2 slices Prosciutto (ensure of great quality and gluten-free)
2 eggs
1 tbsp sauteed veggies (I used green onion and spinach sauteed in olive oil)
black pepper
splash of unsweetened vanilla almond milk
1 small ramekin (or more for more recipes)
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350F
2. Line a mini ramekin with prosciutto in an “X” form and fold over into the inside on a slight diagonal to make into a cup. Ensure no parts are hanging on the outside of the ramekin and that no holes are in the “cup” you make.
3. Bake for 10 minutes until crispy
4. Sautee veggies if you haven’t already
4. Mix eggs in a small bowl with the unsweetened almond milk and sauteed veggies, and pour into the lined ramekin, sprinkle with black pepper and bake until cooked through which is approximately 15 – 20 minutes.
Enjoy alone or with some fresh fruit, sweet potato hash, or maybe a gluten-free zucchini muffin!
Every holiday and event is revolved around food, you can’t really escape it. Especially the Super Bowl, which is notorious for rich, decadent and not so healthy food. But does all your food have to be deep fried, covered in processed cheese, and breaded for you to enjoy it? No, not at all. You know this, you don’t eat like this all year long (hopefully) so you know you enjoy other foods. There’s no need to eat just plain green beans, but you don’t need bacon wrapped sausages either – time for balance, like bacon wrapped green beans 😉
It’s also good to remember the most important part of the Super bowl – THE GAME! But, you will be eating food, so let’s explore some options to change up some favourites to help boost their nutrition without losing some of that flavour.
As a goal, try to have some healthy choices available for you and your guests. That way, everyone has a choice.
Here are my top 3 suggestions to ramp up the nutrition without sacrificing flavour.
Try my Nothin but Beans n’ Flava black bean dip for your game satisfaction. Dip your chips or veggies in this without too much hesitation because you’re getting some quality protein and lots of delicious spices!
Have salsa available as a lighter flavour adder – I recommend a homemade version because they taste extremely fresh and have more nutrition to each bite. See below for my favourite recipe.
Switch sour cream for plain greek yogurt or a cashew sour cream (recipe below) – you can ramp up the protein and probiotics or ramp up the good for you fats without sacrificing creaminess. Well done! This works great in a layered dip.
Serve guacamole which is rich of healthy fats instead of dips filled with artificial flavour enhancers and loaded with processed cheese.
Even better – provide fresh sliced veggies for dipping in some of the dips to switch from chips every once and awhile.
See below for an amazing layered dip you won’t believe it’s dairy-free and packed with nutrition! (there’s nothing wrong with dairy, it’s just nice to switch up the nutrients every now and then)
Add black beans, chopped veggies like sauteed green pepper and tomato, add spices like chili powder, salsa, use less cheese (splurge on the great organic stuff) and use organic tortilla chips – the nachos won’t sacrifice flavour because it will be touched with a bit of cheese, cooked veg, spices, salsa, and black beans! Way more flavour to go around.
Serve guacamole, salsa, and plain greek yogurt as your dips for the nachos.
Baking chicken wings (if you buy organic you’re doing yourself even more of a favour) can have just as much juice and crunch as deep fried ones. Make sure you boil them in water for a long period of time (or cover and bake on low for a few hours before roasting). Instead of using a sugary BBQ sauce, try using a spicy dry rub instead, like my jerk seasoning (recipe below). Bake at a low temperature for a longer period of time, increasing the temperature in the last few min for that crunch. And these are spicy! A real crowd pleaser.
Ingredients
2 tbsp dry minced onion
1 tbsp onion powder
4 tsp ground thyme
2 tsp sea salt
2 tsp ground allspice
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp cayenne (or less for less spice)
Brush meat lightly with extra virgin olive oil and bake or grill according to meat directions. The dry rub can be stored in a tight container for later use as long as no raw meat has touched it.
This dip is loaded with healthy fats, protein and real food ingredients – so don’t even worry about eating the whole thing 😉
Layer in a large dish – cashew sour cream (recipe below), Nothin but beans n’ flava dip, Guacamole (2 avocados, lime juice, sea salt), Salsa (recipe below), and top with cashew crumbled “cheese” (recipe below). Though, feel free to use good quality cheese on top or a greek yogurt in place of cashew sour cream – this is just an outside of the box idea 🙂
wholefoodsmarket.com
Ingredients:
Directions:
Place cashews in a cup or small bowl and cover by about 1/2 inch with boiling water. Let soak 30 minutes.
Drain cashews and place in a blender with vinegar, lemon, salt and about 1/4 cup water. Blend until very smooth, adding more water as required to purée the mixture. (I used almond milk and it gave it a better consistency)
Ingredients
1 cup cashew
1/8 tsp garlic, minced
1 tbsp lemon juice
¾ cup nutritional yeast
Directions
Ingredients
1 ripe tomato
1 tbsp red onion, finely chopped
½ tsp garlic, minced
1 tbsp lime juice
1 tbsp cilantro, chopped
To taste, salt and pepper
Optional: jalapeno or Serrano chili for spice
Directions
Enjoy the game and if you’re going to be grazing all day long just get yourself a game plan, no pun intended. Know the food for the day – or if you’re heading to someone else’s party make sure to eat delicious whole food when you can that day. No need to aim for perfection, yet no need to make your pants burst at the seams too 😉
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