peppermile iced tea

Ingredients

About 1 T fresh mint leaves (in a tea ball or sachet)
1 bag of chamomile tea
1 t raw honey (optional, to taste)

Boil enough water to almost fill a medium size teapot. Steep tea for about 20 minutes, then remove the chamomile and mint.  At this point, you can stir in a little honey if you wish. Wait for it to cool down closer to room temperature, then put the pot in the fridge and forget about it for a while.

Enjoy a refreshing glass, with ice if you like.

watermelon salad

This is an ic friendly version of a watermelon salad one of my friends served at a potluck a while ago. Serves roughly 4-5

1 mini red seedless watermelon, or half of one depending on size (if tolerated)
1-2 cups english cucumber, sliced
1 half pint box of blueberries
fresh mint sprigs (to taste)

Cut watermelon into slices, then remove the rind/outer part before cutting it into smaller chunks. Put into one large bowl or individually portion into several bowls. Add the cucumber slices and top with blueberries and sprigs of fresh mint. No dressing necessary!

red pepper sauce

Serves 3

Ingredients

1/2 cup cashews, soaked beforehand if necessary
2 red peppers, chopped
1/3 cup onion, chopped (optional- if tolerated)
4 garlic cloves, smashed and minced
1/2 cup veggie broth (ic friendly)
1/2 cup cooked sweet potato, mashed
about 3/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/2 t sea salt, or to taste
2 T olive oil
fresh pepper (to taste, optional)
1 t each dried oregano, basil, and savory

In a frying pan or cast iron skillet, saute peppers and onion (if using) together for about 20 minutes on a low-medium heat. Add garlic and stir for a couple more minutes.

Blend all ingredients together in a blender or food processor.

Note: If your blender is not very powerful, you can try blending just the contents of the frying pan, veggie broth, and sweet potato to start, before adding cashews, olive oil and seasonings, blending in the parsley at the end. If this is the case you probably also want to soak the cashews for several hours beforehand to make blending easier.

stir fry sauce

Happy summer everyone, and if you're a Canuck happy Canada Day!  I will be working on some cool summer recipes over the coming months if you want to check back.

Here is a tasty stir fry sauce with no soy sauce or miso (this was a challenge for me). I have been experimenting with coconut aminos (coconut seasoning sauce) as a soy sauce substitute. If you can't eat soy sauce this might work for you, although since it is an aged/fermented product it may not work for everyone. Please feel free to substitute for any ingredients here or leave them out. Also, of course feel free to add anything that you can eat but I can't!

Ingredients

1/2 - 1 cup veggie broth (ic friendly)
2 T toasted sesame oil
2 - 3 T coconut aminos (if tolerated)
1-2 T cashew, peanut or almond butter
1 t parsley flakes
1 t italian spice
1/4 t tumeric (if tolerated)
1/4 t garlic powder
salt and fresh pepper (to taste)

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl until well combined and then add to your stir fry.

Optional :  If you want your sauce to be thicker, you can thicken it with cornstarch or arrowroot starch. Combine starch with equal parts cold water first and then whisk it into your sauce on a low/medium heat for a couple of minutes. Start with just a teaspoon or two of starch as you can always add more if necessary (side note: sometimes it doesn't look like it has thickened but when you put it on your food you'll notice that it has).

useful substitutions

Here are a few substitutions that I have found useful.

kale and quinoa soup

Once you have a good broth, you only need a few ingredients to make a delicious soup.  Sometimes the best soups are just made with whatever you have on hand at the time.  Here's one of those I made that turned out well.       Serves 5-6

Ingredients

1/2 tin great northern beans, drained and rinsed (or equal amt cooked beans)
2- 3 cups kale
3-4 small carrots, chopped small
1 leek  (if tolerated - maybe add something else with a strong flavor if not using)
about 1 1/4 cups cooked quinoa
fresh thyme and sage
6 cups veggie broth
2 cloves garlic, smashed and chopped
2 bay leaves


If using leek, chop just the white/light green part and saute in olive oil in a frying pan or cast iron skillet for a few minutes, until softened. Add carrots and saute a couple more minutes.

Add garlic and herbs, saute another minute or so.

Bring 6 cups veggie broth plus bay leaves to a boil in a large pot then reduce heat to simmer.  Add the contents of the frying pan to the pot.

In the meantime wash, de-stem, and roughly chop kale. Add kale and beans to the pot. Simmer for about 10 minutes. Add quinoa towards the end.

You can serve it right away, or turn off the heat and let it sit for a little while so that the flavors can mingle.

sesame garlic dressing

1 T toasted sesame oil
1 T pear juice
1/2 t tahini paste (if tolerated)
pinch of garlic powder
pinch of salt and fresh pepper

Stir ingredients together in a bowl until well mixed.  Great with spinach salad or a green salad.

vanilla almond granola

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups rolled oats
1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut (no preservatives)
3/4 cup almonds
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
1 t organic pure vanilla extract
pinch of sea salt

Preheat oven to 300.  Spread the oats, coconut, and almonds on a baking sheet.  In a bowl, mix together the maple syrup and vanilla.  Pour maple syrup over oats, etc. and add a sprinkle of salt. Stir with a flipper until everything is well coated.

Bake for about 30 - 35 minutes, stirring with a flipper about every 5 -10 minutes.  When it's all looking lightly browned, you're done!

Remove from oven and transfer to a pyrex pan or glass container to cool, stirring once in a while. Store in a sealed container in the fridge.

Serve with unsweetened nut, rice or organic milk (or plain yogurt, if tolerated).  Add berries if you wish :).

pesto dressing

1/4 cup home made pesto
1 T Olive oil
1 T Pear juice
dash of salt and fresh pepper

veggie shepherd's pie

A hearty meal for the cold weather that smells lovely baking in the oven. When I make this, I usually do a double batch on the weekend to eat later in the week.      Serves  6

Ingredients

1/4 - 1/2 cup soup broth
4 - 5 medium red potatoes
1 small sweet potato
1 14 oz tin of brown lentils, drained and rinsed (or equal amt cooked lentils)
1/4 cup cooking onion (optional - if tolerated)
1-2 cloves garlic
1 carrot
1- 2 cups kale
1 head of broccoli
red pepper (to taste)
1/4 cup fresh or frozen corn
Fresh thyme and sage
Salt and fresh pepper (to taste)
Olive oil (small amount)

1 pyrex pan

Bring a large pot of water to a boil.  Wash and cut up the sweet potato and potatoes, removing any gnarly bits or rotten spots.  You can leave the skins on if they're organic.  Add them to the pot and reduce heat.

Heat up a little olive oil in a frying pan.  If using onions, dice them and add to the pan. Cook for a few minutes, until translucent.

Wash and chop the veggies and add them to the pan.  Saute for a few minutes, stirring often.

Smash and chop the garlic, add it to the pan and cook for a couple more minutes.

When potatoes are cooked (test them with a fork), drain the water.  Add 1/4 - 1/2 cup veggie broth and a bit of salt and pepper.  Mash with a fork or potato masher.

Add herbs to the pan and saute for another minute or so.

Preheat oven to 350

When veggies are somewhat cooked, transfer them to a pyrex pan.  Add the lentils and mix them together.  Add the mashed potatoes on top, making a relatively even top layer.

Put it in the oven and bake for about 30 minutes.

Additional notes: For a less potato-y crust, feel free to substitute one head of cauliflower for two potatoes.